Rosemary, for Remembrance (Stargate Atlantis) 3/3 COMPLETE

[mhalachaiswords]

Rosemary, for Remembrance 3/3
A Stargate Atlantis story

Summary: And then there was the time John Sheppard turned into a girl and no one thought it was strange but Rodney McKay.
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: Sony and MGM own all things Stargate Atlantis. I but borrow.
Spoilers: Follows Season 5 "The Shrine"; spoilers for episodes up to then.
Pairing:

Comments

[djinanna]

This was fabulous. I keep saying "I'm not a gender-swap fan" but then keep reading them because they're often such a wonderful view into the characters, um, characters.

Now here you've got a great new twist on the genderswap, both in how it's functioning initially and in the resolution. And the title (and name of the character) is absolutely perfect. Just thinking it, "Rosemary, for Remembrance", gives me huge chills up and down my back. And the ordeal for John/Joan and Rosemary is described just enough to let the reader's imagination fill in the details and *shiver*.

I generally like stories with the loose ends tied up neatly and the questions raised all neatly answered - unless those loose ends & questions are the lead-in to a sequel, of course - but the loose ends/unanswered questions here are kinda perfect, leaving this story-verse as a weird and mysterious universe and the Ancients as skeevy bastards (too bad you didn't get this finished in time to post at sgaflashfic (er, that should be) sga_flashfic's "skeevy Ancients" challenge!) and not everything able to be explained at our present level of knowledge.... And it just fits the story. And trying to explain all the details in something like a genderswap can lead to disappointing over-explanation or even a never-ending WIP.

Though I will admit, I am curious about the *why* behind this skeevy Ancient's actions. Why stalk this family?! How long was the stalkery behavior going on, I mean, how much longer than just that old-old picture? And what was the point (if any) of John/Joan and the living/dead Rosemary... Was there some foreknowledge going, an attempt to mold John/Joan into someone who'd fit Atlantis better - or was it something more sinister and/or pointless.

And I like the little hint that Rosemary once did remember what had/was happened/happening, along with the info that she remembers now. No little kid should have to remember something like that ::hugs little!John/Joan tight:: though at the same time, remembering her life doubled (as John/Joan does), where one part is "alive" and the other part is "dead" -- damned skeevy Ancients!

Anyway, I very much enjoyed this story. It was veryvery much of the thought-provoking!