West Wing FF: Stars that clear (have been dead for years) [gen, R]

[black_eyedgirl]

Title: Stars that clear (have been dead for years)
Fandom: West Wing
Characters: Toby, Josh (Sam, Will, CJ, background CJ/Danny and past canon pairings)
Rating: R
Genre: Angst
Length: 5,700 words
Disclaimer: All belongs to Sorkin and Wells.
Warnings/Spoilers: Potential spoilers to end of S4. Character deaths and violence
Summary: This was the only way to

Comments

[thecolourclear]

placeholder. I have to pack. But oh, the ending was just full of so much lovely. I can't even make it right what I want to say. But I'll be back. Promise. Poke me if I"m not.

[black_eyedgirl]

Thank you for dropping in and reassuring me that this was readable, especially since you were in a hurry! I'm glad you liked the ending - I was hammering at it for a while, so I'm happy it worked :)

[gingasaur]

Oh, I had tears in my eyes right from the beginning. Fantastic.

[black_eyedgirl]

Really? I'm glad, not for the crying, but that it worked without having explained what was happening first. I was worried about that. And, yes, okay, I am weirdly pleased I made you cry! Thanks so much for commenting :)

[gingasaur]

I'd say it did work, yes. :D I was able to get what was happening without needing to have it all spelled out and that's another thing I really loved about this.

Haha, well, I say it's always good to make people cry with fics, and it's even better to cry over one. :3

[smilebackwards]

OMG! I knew you were going to kill Sam! And then the hits just kept coming. Regardless of the pain, this was awesome. I loved the mention that Sam refused a priest, and that at the end Toby realized Sam wasn't afraid. At least Josh and Will survived. They'll fix the world, won't they??

[black_eyedgirl]

Oh, honey, I did try and warn you! I kinda couldn't help it - I was writing what would hit me hardest, and trying to write something different for me. So I kinda had to kill my best-beloved. I'm really happy you liked it even without Sam. (Though, really, it is all about Sam even when he's not there!). And yes, there's room for Josh and Will to fix things. Toby thinks so anyway.

Thank you for the feedback, and I'm sorry. I'll write something happier next time. Either that or this angsty Mal/Simon I was planning.. ;)

[raedbard]

Okay. Ready?

Okay. *gathers breath* You know how I said that your AU was your best? Well, I'd like to change my answer. (I know you won't agree, but that's okay. And you know what my favourite favourite is anyway. ;)) But really: this is astonishing. There are precious few slips or sentences I had to read twice before I understood them. And I think you're coming into the first of your stages of brilliance. Which is not to say that you weren't brilliant before (I'm all with the back-handed compliments this week; ask Amanda) but this is a different, more mature kind. That yours came to you three years earlier (in terms of how old we are) than mine came to me is something I choose not be jealous of. ;) Basically, I'm probably going to end up saying that each new story is your best for a while. ;)

Anyway. I said this to melliyna, but in the hands of someone less talented, this could so easily have been 1984-lite and have been all the poorer for it. You've filled me full of questions of the 'why?' 'how?' 'when?" variety *and* managed to scare me

[raedbard]

The descriptions of the ex-White House reminded me of Serenity, or of something someone (possibly wisdomeagle) said about it: that what got to them most wasn't Book or Wash or whatever, but the process of making Serenity into a Reaver ship - the desecration. This struck me the same way and if it was a film and not a story, you can bet I'd be in tears over it the same way that if we ever go to DC you'll be embarrassed by me trying not to cry at the sight of the Washington monument. ;)

The little room had been for him and Sam; it was his alone now.
*sigh* There is a very weird domestication vibe that runs through all this story for me. I don't know if it's just this line that set it off or what but it's there. I guess because they have become family and better than lovers. And I am choosing to believe that this line is proof of what I want to see between Toby and Sam. (Although I think there are echoes elsewhere too. You can't fool me. ;))

He stood in its centre with a balled fist over his eyes. He was a widower twice over. He had lost two

[raedbard]

And that should have been all: that Sam had approved. But Sam was not here, and this man was, and the two facts tripped over themselves in Josh’s head, tied together.
This is the last three points all put together: amazingly good prose, the feeling that this is really how I *actually* feel about the last season and the sense of role reversal with:

Toby glared. “Me. Anything else?”
:D Aww, Toby. I do love you. It's also a gently painful reminder of how Sam isn't there but things carry on - coffee has to be bought (I love that they don't so much go out for food but they do go for coffee *g*), plans made etc. Just with that hole in the middle.

Will Bailey stood up. “Mr Lyman. My name is Will Bailey, my father was General Thomas Bailey. I met Sam after I was arrested. We coordinated a defence which, while ultimately unsuccessful, lead to a dialogue which continued after I was released and until his-”And now, Will Bailey son of General Thomas Bailey, I kinda adore you also. This is all the best bits about Will - standing up to prove

[raedbard]

“Can we have a minute?” Toby asked, and the room cleared. CJ may have been leader, but Toby was boss.
*chest swells* My boy. (Seriously. I do that. *goes to hide again*)

Toby was arbiter of disputes, and it was his view of what Sam Seaborn had or hadn’t been that would become official history. He had the language to make it so.
Re-reading this now that I've read the end, this seems an even sadder line than it did the first time around. *sobs* True though.

Sam was the sacrifice and Josh was the saved, the last in a long line. Josh would make it the last.
Foreshadowing = ouch. :(

Sam hadn’t walked into the enemy’s midst and overthrown the tables. He hadn’t been angry at the destruction of their year-old kingdom, though he would rant and rage about the misspellings in their police files. He could direct emissaries across the country but needed hazard tape to stop him tripping down the steps into his office.I LOVE THIS. The denial of Sam as a Christ-figure without actually saying so. The references! The prose! The ranting about

[egyptian_moon]

That was simply beautiful. I adore it. The fact that it tells us so much about what is going on, while telling us very little about how it happens, and yet it all makes so much sense is just amazing. And the whole idea is oddly scary and a bit overwhelming for one to fully take in in one reading (which is why I'll probably be back a few more times).

Oh, and this “I’m sorry, but no. Sam says to tell you that we drank the Kool Aid.” is truly the best, as it's fitting as something both Toby and Sam would say.

[black_eyedgirl]

*g* I'm glad it made sense without all the details - sometimes the process of writing means you forget that your readers don't know everything you know, and they might need to!

I'm really glad you liked it, and thanks for commenting :)