John Callahan, the cartoonist, once got a rejection that said "Either write with your other hand or become a plumber." I just hope I don't get that.(And two sets of kerfuffles...oh my)

Okay. erika, I just want to read them now. Which one starts where. I'm confused, and a natural spoiler ho, but I'm trying to be good for your stories. I want to read them right.

Is it eccentric or a pain that I don't know? I could send the first five pages of F/T, though. Insent shortly. Too bad also, I suck at the link thing.

Gee, Cindy, you don't have a visible profile.If I have your address I'll send what I have. All but like 4 are T/F in lj. Longest.Onenight.Stand.Evah. (got to overcome his scruples.)

erika, I'm camb1b at netscape dot net, but you don't need to mail them to me. Just tell me which one starts here and which starts in LJ and I'll suss it out. I don't mind threadsucking and Nillying. It's like a commercial break. The kids don't let me read anything uninterrupted for very long, anyhow.

edited because I'm a dumbass and didn't read your whole post.

I'll just start in LJ and figure it out. As long as one story doesn't jump from here to LJ without warning (or vice versa), I'm good.

Insent the first five pages. A lot of talk, no nudity yet. Enjoy. Livejournal starts with page six. And The Sex. And Tormented!Bayliss and Bawdy!Faith.(sort of their defaults, really.)Backstory: Adena Watson- the 11 year old girl whose murder was Tim's first case...that he couldn't officially solve...he had to let the guy go free. still tears him up. Bayliss was molested...he's not admitting it yet.

A little post-Chosen fic that was rattling around my brain.

Mama Can

Mama can buy fifty pieces of Hidden Hills Gold off of the Home Shopping Network in one sitting. She's the kind of viewer that calls in to gush, "Mary Beth, I'm from Chicago and I just want to say that you are just the sweetest host ever." She says she has a lot of making up to do for all of the years that she couldn't just sit around doing nothing. And she says everything's better when it's on Flex Pay. "Paying all at once is a bitch, Janice. I should know. When you get a little older, you'll understand." At least, that's what she says.

Mama can fit the whole world under her coat. That's what Leroy Burden said one day after Mama dropped me off at school. All the kids laughed. I was so mad. I told Mama when I got home. I wanted to hit him, but Mama said no. She said boys like him always get what's coming to them. In this world, it's not worth your time to be angry and bitter. She made me promise not to do anything the next time he started in on her. Besides, she said, she had packed on a few pounds since back in the day. I didn't hit Leroy Burden, but I did call him a freak the next day. The teacher found out and told Mama. They made me apologize. "You don't know freaky, little girl." That's what Mama said.

A lot of people think my mama can't do anything. But they don't know how wrong they are. I seen her once moving so fast. I didn't know anyone could move that fast, let alone my mama. I found an old picture of her one day in a box tucked way in the back of her closet. It was a bunch of girls, not much older than me, standing out in the middle of the desert in front of a big yellow school bus. The school bus said Sunnydale on the side of it. My mama was in the middle with a cast on her arm. She wasn't smiling but she said she was happy that day when I asked her about it. "Pictures don't always give the full story." At least, that's what she says.

I don't pay attention to what most folks, especially Leroy Burden, say about my mama these days. Because I know the truth. My mama can do a lot of things. Why, my mama can even save the world with only one good hand.

Oh, Jesus, Kat.

That's so damned beautiful.

Why, my mama can even save the world with only one good hand.

I'm going to blame hormone cycles for the absolutely ridiculous way that line made me tear up. Or maybe just the sheer perfection of it all.

Kat, that's really stunning. Beautiful and simple and complete.

Deb, plain text is easiest, but I can certainly convert it from a Word doc just fine.