Wednesday Giles Recs
This week's recs come from the Third Annual Watcher Love Ficathon, from October 2006. This was a small ficathon, but there were several absolutely lovely Giles/Wesley stories produced.
The Road Not Taken, by wesleysgirl, rated FRM. I admit this was the story written to my request, but as I said at the time: "This is not at all what I had expected, and I am utterly delighted that it wasn't, because it is infinitely better." It's set during S5 of AtS and post-NFA, shifting back and forth in time, and it's just tiny glimpses of the way Giles and Wesley's relationship builds, with an ending full of hope. It's a wonderful story, and I fall in love with it again every time I reread it.
bethynyc wrote I'll Give You Nothing Less (FRAO). This is another gorgeous story, and another that weaves two time periods together deftly--during the last two seasons of BtVS (and the corresponding seasons of AtS), and then a post-NFA future, in which Giles and Wesley find a few years of respite before returning to the fight. It's impeccably paced and wonderfully hot, and not without moments of humor (Giles and Wesley's first kiss is a delight), and yes, it's another one you really, really should read.
Stay, by margarks, is pre-slash, and FRT rated; in S4 of AtS, some time between "Deep Down" and "The House Always Wins," a very broken Wesley comes to Sunnydale to tell Giles that Cordelia is missing. Margie gives wonderful broken!Wesley, and, of course, we all know how well Wesley breaks. This story makes my heart ache in the same way canon of that period did; it's dark, but the ending gives us hope for a better (and slashier) future.
My final rec is a happier one: soft_princess's Just One Little Dance (FRT). The author warns that this is "fluff to end all fluff," and it is, but it's quite sweet, and a pleasant established-relationship story; it provided a wonderful balance to the heartache and angst in many of the other stories. Read it after "Stay," and be glad there's a universe where they were spared so much pain.
I hope you'll give some of the fic here a look, if you haven't already, and if you enjoy it, please, remember to tell the authors!
The Road Not Taken, by wesleysgirl, rated FRM. I admit this was the story written to my request, but as I said at the time: "This is not at all what I had expected, and I am utterly delighted that it wasn't, because it is infinitely better." It's set during S5 of AtS and post-NFA, shifting back and forth in time, and it's just tiny glimpses of the way Giles and Wesley's relationship builds, with an ending full of hope. It's a wonderful story, and I fall in love with it again every time I reread it.
bethynyc wrote I'll Give You Nothing Less (FRAO). This is another gorgeous story, and another that weaves two time periods together deftly--during the last two seasons of BtVS (and the corresponding seasons of AtS), and then a post-NFA future, in which Giles and Wesley find a few years of respite before returning to the fight. It's impeccably paced and wonderfully hot, and not without moments of humor (Giles and Wesley's first kiss is a delight), and yes, it's another one you really, really should read.
Stay, by margarks, is pre-slash, and FRT rated; in S4 of AtS, some time between "Deep Down" and "The House Always Wins," a very broken Wesley comes to Sunnydale to tell Giles that Cordelia is missing. Margie gives wonderful broken!Wesley, and, of course, we all know how well Wesley breaks. This story makes my heart ache in the same way canon of that period did; it's dark, but the ending gives us hope for a better (and slashier) future.
My final rec is a happier one: soft_princess's Just One Little Dance (FRT). The author warns that this is "fluff to end all fluff," and it is, but it's quite sweet, and a pleasant established-relationship story; it provided a wonderful balance to the heartache and angst in many of the other stories. Read it after "Stay," and be glad there's a universe where they were spared so much pain.
I hope you'll give some of the fic here a look, if you haven't already, and if you enjoy it, please, remember to tell the authors!