Country of the Heart [Master Post]

[ratherastory]

Title: Country of the Heart
Summary: Written for spn_gen_bigbang After being hospitalized for meningitis, fifteen-year-old Sam finds himself put in a foster home while John is investigated for suspected abuse. Against all of Sam's expectations, his foster family turns out to be a caring couple with the kind of home Sam only ever saw from the outside while he was growing up, making him feel even more conflicted about the kind of life his own family leads. To make matters worse, John leaves town to go on a routine hunt in spite of his upcoming custody hearing, prompting Sam to wonder if his own father and brother might be relieved to have him —and his constant demands for normalcy— out of the picture. When his father goes missing, followed by Dean when he goes after him, Sam quickly discovers that they need him just as much as he needs them, and sets out to bring his family back together again, for good.
Characters: Sam, Dean, John, OCs. (mostly Sam)
Artist: naisica
Link to Art: http://naisica.livejournal.com/170659.html
Rating: PG-13 for language and show-levels of violence
Wordcount: 23,606
Disclaimer: All fun, no profit. Please don't sue.
Warnings: Sam!whump like whoa, mild swearing,
Neurotic Author's Note #1: Many, many thanks go to yasminke, who beta'd this thing, and embroiderama, who not only beta'd but also gave me lots of useful insider information on VA. Further thanks go to icelily01 who, many many months ago sent me a huge document on how CPS works in VA so that my story would at the very least hold together. All remaining mistakes are mine.
Neurotic Author's Note #2: I was lucky enough to be paired up again with the extraordinary naisica, who some of you may remember was the artist for my 2010 spn_j2_bigbang, Nihil Inherit. I suggest you immediately go and click on her art post and tell her how absolutely phenomenal her work is. The amount of thought she puts into the composition of her art blows my mind every single time, and the artwork she did for this story is no exception. Go now! I will wait while you do that.
Neurotic Author's Note #3: If this fic feels very long on Sam and very short on anyone else, not to mention really long on whump, it's because it was originally from a prompt by rainylemons for the ohsam Sam-focused h/c challenge, which I then converted to this challenge, with her permission.

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[Part I]
[Part II]
[Part III]



Icon!

Comments

[amber1960.livejournal.com]

Oh! The art is so lovely and evocative, I can't wait to read the fic...

[yasminke.livejournal.com]

Gorgeous artwork for your lovely story.

[ratherastory.livejournal.com]

Isn't it beautiful? I would love to be one-quarter as talented as naisica. :D

[ratherastory.livejournal.com]

It's beautiful, isn't it? Thank you again for all your help!

[mimblexwimble.livejournal.com]

That is some gorgeous art! Bet it fits a gorgeous story!

[ratherastory.livejournal.com]

I can't believe how lucky I got with this. It seems as though naisica and I have some serious overlapping taste in stories. ;)

[naisica.livejournal.com]

Hon, just want to tell you again: great story:)))) I love your Sam He is completely adorable
And I posted atr post. Sorry for delay :o

[ratherastory.livejournal.com]

No worries, I did a rush posting job this morning before work. I've added your link to this page already, and I will be leaving feedback when I get home tonight. I'm so thrilled I got you as my artist again! We make a great team. :)

[naisica.livejournal.com]

We make a great team. :)

Yes, we are:)))))))

[nwspaprtaxis.livejournal.com]

*squeals*

THE ARTS!!!!! THE ARTS ARE STUNNING!!!! (and I already flailed over at naisica)

I also can't wait to read this story.... *wonders why I has to do boring, monotonous cataloging at werk when the library is essentially a safety hazard and I am holed up in some kind of lounge....*

[sinka.livejournal.com]

Amazing artwork! It's really evocative!. And the summary looks awesome too! I really can't wait to read this. And n't worry about the excess of Sam in the story, my dear, such a thing like a 'too much Simply? simply doesn't exist!

[ratherastory.livejournal.com]

Isn't the artwork gorgeous? I swear, this girl gets more talented every day. :)

I hope you like it! There's very little Dean in the story, I'm warning you, although what little Dean there is is awesome!Dean, so hopefully that'll make up for it.

[ratherastory.livejournal.com]

The attention to detail in the artwork is just breathtaking. All the symbolism, the thought put into the choices of colour and lighting... just gorgeous.

I personally have NO trouble with a lot of Sam in my story, but I know that some people are partial to Dean, or at least want both brothers to get equal screen time, so I felt I should at least warn them about what they're getting into.

[ratherastory.livejournal.com]

♥

[nwspaprtaxis.livejournal.com]

It's not that I don't like or am opposed to Sam... it's just that I GET Dean more and Dean feels almost like a second skin to me in terms of POV. To be honest, though, I love all your stuff too much to pass it up. Pretty much I read you for YOUR WRITING, not because of which characters are centric. But thanks for the heads up. :)

[(Anonymous)]

gah, the art is gorgeous! had to comment on that first before i go and read!

[4422shini.livejournal.com]

holy shit, this is totally what i need right now. i've just finished reading 120 pages on death and dying and i need some goddamn brain candy. huzzah!!! *runs off to read*

[yasminke.livejournal.com]

It is.

And I didn't do much — nothing much was needed, tbh.

[ships-harry.livejournal.com]

Hell, that was fantastic. Bit of a heartbreaker there, too. But kinda wonderful with it. I loved Sam here, coping by himself, and distant Dean, doing his best.

And yeah, for all that John *also* tries really hard and loves his kids and is Decent Folks, the people trying to talk down Sam had a pretty solid point that the situation probably wasn't exactly ideal.

Are you likely to pdf this at any point? It's the sort of thing I'd like to re-read :).

[ratherastory.livejournal.com]

I'm so pleased you liked it!

And yeah, there are so many ways that are wrong about how John raised those boys. He meant well, but I think a convincing argument can be made for childhood abuse.

I'll be cross-posting it to AO3 today, so you'll be able to get the .pdf there. :)

[sandymg.livejournal.com]

This looks so good. Can't wait. Need a PDF so I can read commuting. I didn't see it on AO3 yet -- did you post it?

[ratherastory.livejournal.com]

Yup, it's there! Posted it last night. :)

[sandymg.livejournal.com]

Link? A search of the story title doesn't work and if I put in your name there are many many many pages ;)

[ratherastory.livejournal.com]

http://archiveofourown.org/works/253327

:)

[vail-kagami.livejournal.com]

Congratulations! You have been recced at spn_littlebro!
(http://spn-littlebro.livejournal.com/3605.html)

[reggie11.livejournal.com]

Wow, that art is breathtaking! I'm looking forward to reading the story.