Rather a Story

Title: I See My Light Come Shining (From the West to the East)
Summary: With the Trials at an end, Dean thought that Sam would be fine and that they'd be able to turn the page on it all. As it turns out, he was wrong... Written for cleflink for spn_summergen.
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Show-levels of gore. Spoilers to the end of Season 8.
Neurotic Author's Note # 1: Oh my goodness, dear cleflink, I tried so hard not to have unrelenting angst in this, and, um… I'm not sure I entirely succeeded. I blame Season 8, and the show in general, because unrelenting angst seems to be a Thing™ lately. I hope you like it anyway! It was a really gratifying story to write, even if it was hard.
Neurotic Author's Note # 2: I would also like to thank the lovely betas who stepped up to rescue me from myself at the last minute: embroiderama, harrigan and moviegeek03. You are all marvelous and if I were there in person I would shower you with kisses! <3
Neurotic Author's Note # 3: The title is taken from Bob Dylan's song I Shall Be Released. It felt appropriate. :)
Neurotic Author's Note # 4: Yes, I know, I'm posting this really late after reveals. I am so swamped with RL that I've been neglecting all things fandom. Sorry!

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( I See My Light Come Shining (From the West to the East) )

Title: Like a Skunk at a Garden Party
Summary: Fusion 'verse. Dean takes Sam and Perry for a walk, with unexpected consequences.
Characters: Dean, Sam, Perry, Castiel
Rating: PG
Wordcount: 4,726
Warnings: None! How awesome is that?
Disclaimer: The usual 'not mine, no profit,' etc.
Neurotic Author's Note #1: This was written as a present for the lovely and talented de_nugis, as a general thank you for being an awesome person. Darling de_nugis, you are spectacular in all ways, and I hope that 2013 treats you ever so much better than this year!
Neurotic Author's Note #2: I owe many thanks also to yasminke who helped me brainstorm this little story on Twitter, because my writing brain has been broken for so long that it has trouble coming up with things all on its own.
Neurotic Author's Note #3: After the last instalment of Fusion, I decided it was time I give the boys a good day again. The point of the 'verse, unlike Show, is not unrelenting misery. ;)
Neurotic Author's Note #4: Many thanks go out to glovered et al, who organized this event. You guys are the best!

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( Like a Skunk at a Garden Party )

Title: The Burning Bridge
Summary: Written for spn_j2_bigbang. Season 6 AU. With no end in sight on their quest to restore Sam's soul or to figure out just what Crowley is up to in his search for Purgatory, Sam and Dean break off in order to investigate a string of mysterious deaths in which the victims exhibited all the signs of radiation poisoning with no apparent cause before their deaths. The case takes a darker turn, however, when soon after they begin investigating Sam begins to exhibit the same symptoms as the victims. Suddenly Dean finds himself facing the disturbing dilemma of whether it might not be easier to let go of this empty-shell version of his brother and simply let the illness take its course...
Artist: The brilliant and awesomely talented tripoli
Link to Art: http://tripoli.livejournal.com/492758.html
Characters: Dean, Sam, Cas, Bobby, OCs
Rating: PG-13
Wordcount: 21,403
Disclaimer: All recognizable belongs to the CW.
Warnings: Levels of violence commensurate with the show.
Neurotic Author's Note #1: There are several people to thank for this! First off, my fantastically talented artist, tripoli, who illustrated this story in such an imaginative way. I am in awe, because she touched on all the important notes of the story in incredibly creative ways that would never even have occurred to me. There's also rainylemons, who not only beta'd the crap out of this story, but did the usual hand-holding she always does when I wailed unendingly to her about my writing, and once again served as my own personal medical encyclopedia without ever once complaining or balking. I love you, darling! Any mistakes concerning the subject matter found herein should of course be attributed to my lack of understanding, and any remaining grammar/spelling/syntactical mishaps are also all mine. And last but not least, wendy and thehighwaywoman for the herculean task of running the spn_j2_bigbang.
Neurotic Author's Note #2: So this fic has gone through about a million permutations before it ended up here. A long, long time ago, there were conversations with a few people, de_nugis included, about a story about Sam with radiation poisoning. I kept meaning to write it, and even signed up for a prompt by poor shangrilada in order to try to get this done, but it never happened. Instead, I started writing it for the hc_bigbang, but when that challenge didn't work out, I gave myself one last push in order to get it done for the main Big Bang, and here it is!
Neurotic Author's Note #3: Okay, confession time. This story is actually a shameless fix-it attempt on my part. No, seriously, this is the story in which I attempt to fix ALL the things about S6, and a couple of earlier things too. Yeah, I got nothing. On a purely storytelling front, this was a surprisingly difficult story to write, mostly because Soulless!Sam was and continues to be a bit of a mystery to me. That being said, I am quite pleased with how it turned out, in the end. I hope you'll all enjoy it!

( The Burning Bridge )

Title: Smile Even in the Dark
Summary: A wee coda-type thing to 7.17. Or more like wish fulfilment, IDK.
Characters: Sam/Dean/Cas (ish. It mostly reads like gen.)
Rating: PG-13
Wordcount: 2,884
Disclaimer: Not mine, never mine. Woe.
Warnings: None. Swearing, maybe?
Neurotic Author's Note #1: Written for silverbullets, so it's unbeta'd & written fast.
Neurotic Author's Note #2: Is it too much to want ALL the cuddles forever? I don't think so.

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( Smile Even in the Dark )

Title: Among Your Friends and Kindred
Summary: Fusion 'verse. It's Christmas day, and nothing bad happens at all. No, really.
Characters: Dean, Sam, Cas, Bobby, OFC, Perry
Rating: PG-13
Wordcount: 4,590
Disclaimer: They're still not mine. I am determined to give them a happier ending than the show, and maybe that will entice them to come live with me.
Warnings: Swearing, that's about it.
Neurotic Author's Note #1: I thought I'd give the boys a good day, no strings attached. What better day than Christmas, right? I don't think the boys have ever had a really good Christmas on the show... So this is set shortly after God Bless Us, Every One.
Neurotic Author's Note #2: Uh, a good day doesn't mean I can't give into my kink for Sam with respiratory issues, right? Right. Totally. *cough*
Neurotic Author's Note #3: As usual with most of my Christmas-themed Fusion stories, this title is taken from a Christmas carol, God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen.

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( Among Your Friends and Kindred )

Title: Making it Work
Summary: Fusion 'verse. Just before his surgery, Dean figures out that he's maybe not coping as well as he thought he was with all of this.
Characters: Sam, Dean, Bobby, others
Rating: PG13
Wordcount: 5,408
Disclaimer: Still not mine, alas.
Warnings: Swearing, angst, the usual.
Neurotic Author's Note #1: It's kind of weird how this turned out sort of like a Season 7 fic, what with Dean drinking and not really coping with stuff, but at least we know it turns out okay, right? Right.
Neurotic Author's Note #2: This is set right after The Here And Now. Same day, actually.
Neurotic Author's Note #3: Unbeta'd, as usual. I am filling in the gaps in the storyline and messing around with the 'verse and having fun. :)

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( Making it Work )

Title: Not the Fall, but the Landing
Summary: Fusion 'verse. This time around, it's Castiel who needs rescuing.
Characters: Dean, Sam, Castiel
Rating: PG-13
Wordcount: ~4,400
Disclaimer: None of it is mine. Alas.
Warnings: Show levels of violence, occasional swearing, lots of gore
Neurotic Author's Note #1: What better way to kick off the New Year than with an instalment of the Fusion 'verse, am I right? Right.
Neurotic Author's Note #2: Unbeta'd, as usual. Set between Many Happy Returns and Bless Us, Every One.
Neurotic Author's Note #3: Also, yes, this is my unsubtle way of including moar Cas in my 'verse. ;)

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( Not the Fall, but the Landing )

Title: Bless Us, Every One
Summary: Fusion 'verse. Castiel accompanies Dean and Sam to Dean's office Christmas party.
Characters: Castiel, Dean, Sam
Rating: PG-13
Wordcount: 5,883
Disclaimer: Some people have told me that early S7 is a little like Fusion, but I don't think it really counts.
Warnings: The usual for Fusion. Language, angst, all that.
Neurotic Author's Note #1: From a prompt by roque_clasique at the current meme going on at hoodie_time. Dean's leg is messed-up forever and ever (obvi), and he has to use one crutch to get around. He and Sam have settled down somewhere, have been there a year or so, and they get invited to a neighborhood holiday costume party. "Dress up like your favorite holiday character!" Dean goes as Tiny Tim. By the end of the party he's drunk and giggly and won't stop squeaking, "God bless us, one and all!"
Neurotic Author's Note #2: Okay, this is poor roque_clasique's prompt in spirit only. I'm not linking it at the meme because it ended up not being about Dean and being mostly about Cas and about Sam. Dean is in here a fair bit, but I don't think it counts enough as hurt!Dean to qualify for the meme. /o\ I'M SORRY, ROQUE!
Neurotic Author's Note #3: This is set waaaaaaay after Many Happy Returns. Same year (which in the Fusion timeline would actually put it in 2013, since unlike Show I am a big fan of continuity), about seven months later. For those of you who are wondering, yes, I will eventually explain what happened to Cas in a different story.
Neurotic Author's Note #4: This got way longer and more meandering than I intended. Oops? It's also unbeta'd.

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( Bless Us, Every One )

Title: Fly a Little South of Heaven
Prompt/Summary: Written for nicole_sill for Novakfest. The prompt was: Jimmy meets Cas in a different vessel.
Characters: Jimmy, Claire, Amelia, Castiel
Rating: PG-13
Wordcount: 1,808
Disclaimer: Nothing recognizable belongs to me.
Warnings: Slightly disturbing imagery.
Neurotic Author's Note #1: I would be remiss if I didn't thank my indefatigable beta yasminke for going over this thing for me and fixing a whole lot of broken sentences and indecipherable English. Thank you!!
Neurotic Author's Note #2: I'm not really sure where this came from. Okay, well, yes, it came from a chat I had with twoskeletons while I was mulling over what to write for my prompts, but yeah... it's a little odd. I hope you like it, nicole_sill!
Neurotic Author's Note #3: For the record, I like geese a lot. ;)

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( Fly a Little South of Heaven )

Title: In Your Arms Tonight
Summary: Set directly after Frontierland. Dean can't remember the time he last saw Sam laugh or even smile. When he tries to remedy that, things go even further than he anticipated, not that anyone is complaining. Written for salt_burn_porn, for a prompt by mollyamory that went: I'm only laughing near you.
Characters: Dean/Cas/Sam
Rating: NC-17
Wordcount: ~5,500
Disclaimer: Nothing recognizable belongs to me, more's the pity.
Warnings: Spoilers up to 6.18. Recreational drug use. All the porn! Also angst and schmoop. It's a triple-threat. ;)
Neurotic Author's Note #1: Uh, so this is my attempt at a threesome. No idea if it works.
Neurotic Author's Note #2: Also, much like the last time I participated in salt_burn_porn, Dean refused to shut up for the first 2,000 words, so while this is technically PWP, please be patient until you get to the actual porn. Sorry.
Neurotic Author's Note #3: I haven't had time even to re-read this. I cannot guarantee that it makes sense. Further apologies, but this is what you get when ratherastory writes porn to a deadline.
Neurotic Author's Note #4: Furthermore, the angst and the schmoop kind of tried to take over, repeatedly. You've been warned. ;)

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( In Your Arms Tonight )