Skinny Love Series by Afiakate (PG-13)

[oceloty.livejournal.com]

Fandom: SPOOKS (MI-5)
Pairing: Lucas North / Elizabeta Starkova
Length: 3 short stories (about 2000 words total)
Author on LJ: afiakate
Author Website: Afia on Fanfiction.net
Why this must be read:

The relationship between Lucas and his ex-wife Elizabeta was fraught with lingering glances, strained conversation and smoldering looks; well-intentioned lies, and unintentional betrayals.  Underneath was the sense that, despite eight years, a divorce, and someone else’s child, the two of them still shared an intense connection they didn’t really know how to deal with. Who was the handler and who was the agent, and could they ever be just people around each other, with two intelligence services manipulating both of them?

These three stories show both Lucas and Elizabeta struggling with their feelings for each other and their difficulties dealing with Lucas’ return to London in series 7 after eight years in a Russian prison. “In Which Elizabeta Reflects” is a short drabble which reflects on her experiences and the hardship of Lucas’ disappearance.  “Skinny Love” examines both perspectives and the turmoil of Lucas’ return. “Back Pay,” the longest of the three, is about Lucas’ struggles to adjust to life amidst eight years of accumulated emotional baggage and financial compensation.

Instead of vilifying either character, these stories show both Lucas and Elizabeta as sympathetic, complex characters, caught up in a complex web of competing loves and loyalties.

Excerpt:

What did eight years mean? Her life had moved on; she had remarried, had a son, re-decorated their house, and took a different job.

Looking at him had been painful. Lucas had spent eight years in a Russian prison. For all his handsome features and broad shoulders, he was gaunt and exhausted and looked shell-shocked. His face was more hawkish then ever, all planes and angles, a mathematician’s dream come true. His eyes, even in his confusion, had been cold and biting.

Later as he sat on the bench, his hands had been trembling. Elizabeta had felt both reviled and relieved. He was here, relatively whole, shaking at her words of deceit.

She steeled herself; she knew she had to seem completely sincere. This lie, after all, was the price of his life.



Skinny Love (550 words) on FF.net

In Which Elizabeta Reflects (180 words)

Back Pay (1500 words) on FF.net