Templum Bellonae

John and Rodney go on a vacation which doesn’t turn out quite as planned.

“Oh, shut up,” Rodney said, panting, when he climbed out after five laps and dropped back into his chair. “We don’t have much of a swimming season in Edmonton. I bet I could kick your ass ice skating.”

“Sure, and if that were a real sport instead of something teenage girls do, maybe I’d care,” John said, tipping the bag back for the last crumbs.

“A man who uses as much hair gel as you do should not be casting aspersions on teenage girls,” Rodney said. “You want to take a walk along the beach?”

“As long as you don’t ask me to hold hands,” John said.

Ordinary Life by Shalott and Speranza

Atlantis

I have a long queue of other stories waiting to be recommended, but sometimes a story comes along, so wonderful that it sweeps you away, and this is one of those.

A selection of passages from scholarly works treating the events following Atlantis’s break from the SGC and Earth, interspersed with the story of those same events. My mind boggles at the amount of work that must have gone into this, over and above the work of conceiving and creating such a marvellous tale.

“Yeah, I like it,” John said, sitting back.

Rodney jerked a sharp look at him. “You mean, I actually get to name something?”

“Just this one thing.”

“Oh, well, fine. So an electronic identity card that serves as a provisional IDC, situates its owner within a trust network, and can be used to effect trades in units of Mars Bars?”

“Exactly,” John said. “It beats the fuck out of Amex.”

Although there’s McShep, it’s really mostly a gen story.

Written by the Victors by Speranza

What he’d broken, Ray suddenly realized, was the part of him that said that hanging out in the Arctic to look for a dead guy’s hand was a really stupid idea.

I don’t really know what to say about this story, but trust me - Speranza is always brilliant.

Flying Blind by Speranza

I really haven’t recommended enough of Speranza’s stuff. She just has so much that it’s hard to choose what’s best. To describe the plot of this story would ruin it, but suffice it to say that it’s fun and hilarious.

Chicago’s Most Wanted by Speranza

Dead Zone

I’ve never heard of Dead Zone, but Speranza provides a good introduction to it before the story, so I wasn’t confused at all. This is set in the TV universe, and it’s plotted like an actual case like the ones they solve on the show. It’s quite a good mystery and a good story.

The Big Picture by Speranza

When Francesca comes onto him, Fraser takes desperate measures.

“Constable, a moment!” Welsh beckoned, and then ushered Fraser into his office. “Look, uh, I am required by federal law to give you a copy of this handout, produced by the City government, regarding sexual orientation—”

Fraser blinked as Welsh handed him a lavender-colored booklet. “Uh—”

“—and your right not to be harassed. I think you’ll find that today’s police force is very understanding about these things.”

“Lieutenant, there’s been some mistake.” Fraser blurted. “I mean, there was one woman in Stillwater with a very masculine face, but-”

The Price of Expedience by Speranza and Mia

Post-COTW AU. Franny becomes the comedian, Huey and Dewey run the bowling alley, Welsh tuns for office, Thatcher stays at her desk and Turnbull joins CSIS (yikes!) RayV and Stella go on the arctic adventure honeymoon, and while they’re there they visit RayK and Fraser…who have six kids.

With Six You Get Eggroll by Speranza

Fraser does bodyguard duty for a Russian ballerina. Ray does bodyguard duty for Fraser.

“The opera’s fine, Ray,” Fraser said tightly. “The problem is Ms. Kassilov. Her interest in me appears to transcend even the broadest notion of ’security’. Or perhaps we’re simply not defining ‘bodyguard’ in the same way. There may, I suppose, have been a translation error–”

Translation error? It took him a second and then he got it. “Fraser–are you saying she’s hitting on you?”

“Hitting on me?” Fraser sounded desperate now. “Ray, she’s beating me to death.

I love the section titles in this story, too–the way the scenes move from Chicago to Canada to Russia.

The Bodyguard by Speranza