crack_van | Mockingbird by hiyacynth (R)

Hi hi. I'm victoria p. and I'll be driving the ~~Impala~~ crack van this month for Supernatural fandom. I will be reccing a variety of gen, het and Wincest this month, including a few stories in which Sam gets turned into or was born a girl, which is kind of my bulletproof kink in this fandom.

Fandom: SUPERNATURAL
Pairing: Sam Winchester/OFC
Length: novel-length (approximately 80K words)
Author on LJ:

hiyacynth
Author Website: stories tag on LJ
Why this must be read:

The story is AU after "What Is and What Should Never Be," i.e., "All Hell Breaks Loose" never happened, so things with the psykids etc. play out differently, and as "Mockingbird" begins, Sam and Dean are still recovering from what it cost to defeat the yellow-eyed demon. Sam starts having visions of fire again, but he's been hollowed out by his experiences with the YED, and Dean's just barely holding the two of them together when they arrive in a small town in Oregon, trying to figure out what's triggering Sam's abilities now that the YED is gone.

Sam gets involved with one of women who works at the motel they're holing up at, and in my personal favorite part of the story, Dean develops a wonderful friendship with the woman's three-year-old daughter.

"What'd you dream about?" Dean tipped his head side to side, cracking his neck, as Sam sat on the room's single chair and sipped his drink. God, this was a crap motel to beat all crap motels. Slimy shower, itchy sheets, no kitchenette, no coffee maker. And though a small part of Dean was glad to see Sam doing something as normal as going out for coffee, he hated Sam wandering off on his own. And he didn't like that in the three weeks since Sam had first left him sleeping in a motel room, Sam had never once brought him back a cup of coffee.

"Nursery fire," Sam said as off handedly as if the dream had been about talking dogs.

Dean felt leftover crusts of sleep tearing free from the corners of his eyes as they widened. His mouth dropped open to ask a question, but he didn't know which one. He closed his mouth and opened it again, and finally the question stumbled out. "Any—anybody we know?"

Sam shook his head. "A baby. Girl, I think. The dad was putting her in pink PJs." Sam tilted his head, possibly interested. "Could be a boy in hand-me-downs, though. There was an older kid, too. Definitely a girl." He waved his hand vaguely, measuring out a height somewhere between knee and hip height. "She was crying, but the guy wasn't paying attention."

"And then?" Dean prompted, though he was pretty sure he knew what was coming.

"The usual. Fire. Charred corpse on the ceiling. Screaming kid. Some blood."

"Huh," Dean said. His mouth was dry, but his stomach was twitching nervously and his T-shirt was suddenly sticking to the cold dampness in his armpits.

It's a magnificent story -- long, tightly plotted, well paced, seriously engrossing, heartbreakingly true to both Sam and Dean and their mythos, and full of wonderful original characters I came to really care about and want to see more of. There's the formation of a family of choice for Sam and Dean, and a really smart use of To Kill a Mockingbird, both literally and thematically.

Obviously, I really enjoyed it (that's kind of an understatement, if you couldn't tell), and I think you would, too. So, you know, carve out some time and give it a whirl. Make sure to leave a comment if you enjoy it, too.

Mockingbird by

hiyacynth

~*~