Story: Daddy’s Girl
Author: betawho
Rating: All Ages
Word Count: 1196
Author’s Summary: Somebody makes Mels cry and little Rory goes and sorts them out.
Characters/Pairings: Mels, Rory
Warnings: None
Recced because: While we got a glimpse of Mels growing up alongside her parents, there are just so very many possibilities to explore during those years. This story very concisely draws out a number of things that will only make sense to Rory later and that mean the world to Mels at the time. It’s heartwarming and sweet, and it ends just perfectly.
“You’re useless! Nobody wants you. You don’t even have a father!”
Rory heard the taunts and ran toward the cluster of kids gathered around the slide. He found Mels in the middle of it, as he expected, facing off with Justin, the school bully.
Justin was twice Mels’ size, towering over her, beefy in the shoulder and larger than any fourth grader had a right to be. Mels was smaller, slighter, with her pigtail hanging down her back. Rory winced, knowing what was going to happen.
from http://bit.ly/KP7eyy
Story: Five Stages of Grief
Author: Vilinye
Rating: All Ages
Word Count: 1510
Author’s Summary: Just because he’s not human doesn’t mean he doesn’t grieve. Time may heal wounds, but even time travallers can’t escape loss. Eleven reacts to the death of Sarah Jane Smith.
Characters/Pairings: 11th Doctor, Amy Pond, Rory Williams, Luke Smith, Sarah Jane Smith, Sky
Warnings: Character Death
Recced because: This one’s a bit of a change of pace. As we saw in “The Wedding of River Song,” the Doctor does not take it well when he learns he’s missed his chance to visit a companion one last time. What we haven’t seen in canon is how he reacts to Sarah Jane’s death, and this story fills that gap. I’d advise having tissues handy.
He drops the phone back on its cradle. Maybe the noise will jolt him out of this nightmare. He hasn’t been sleeping enough recently–he’s overdue for a lie-in. Five hours or so, that should do the ticket. Lack of sleep can cause bad dreams, can’t it? He’ll ask Rory when he wakes up.
Because he will wake up, he always wakes up from bad dreams eventually. He pulls on his bow-tie, wondering why it’s suddenly so tight. The patterned tweed scratches his skin like sandstone.
from http://bit.ly/LKIwkK
Story: The Pitter-Patter of Tiny Converse
Author: XxTARDISGirlxX
Rating: All Ages
Word Count: 83,880
Author’s Summary: ‘Right, Rose,’ said the Doctor quickly, ‘from what I can gather, in around five seconds time, I’m gonna be about two feet high, with a snotty nose and a squeaky, whining voice. Don’t panic, just make sure you pick me up and run, alright?’ ~ The Doctor is turned into a two year old. As we’ve all come to expect, mayhem ensues!
Characters/Pairings: 10th Doctor, Rose Tyler
Warnings: Language
Recced because: I have to admit that I have a bit of a soft spot for regression!fics. And the Doctor really is spectacularly good at getting himself into ridiculous situations in any case, which apparently increases exponentially when he’s suddenly a toddler. This is a fic I turn to on days when I really just need something that’s going to make me laugh so hard I forget whatever was bothering me.
Rose watched for a moment as he managed to pull the bulky box closer to the edge of the shelf, before looking down to the sulking Doctor who had, only a moment ago, plonked himself on the floor at their feet, seemingly exhausted, and clinging to the promise that a banana milkshake from a McDonald’s drive thru was in order if he was a good boy for the next five minutes.
Which was why she nearly fainted on the spot at the sight of the very much Doctor-vacated space between them.
from http://bit.ly/KsLTwx
Story: Blocking Your Own Shot
Author: Arnica
Rating: Adult
Word Count: 84,540
Author’s Summary: Eighteen days into his suspension, Ianto tries to start putting things back together by tearing them all down first.
Characters/Pairings: Jack/Ianto, Ianto/OC, Jack/Ianto/OC
Warnings: Explicit sex, language
Recced because: There are at least dozens if not hundreds of “What Ianto did during his post-Cyberwoman suspension” fics out there. This is one of the best I’ve read. It delves into just how seriously messed up Ianto is, and more than that, what it takes to piece him back together. The OC, Cheyenne, is gritty and flawed and mirrors many of Ianto’s dysfunctions through a different lens in really interesting ways. It’s not, however, a strictly character piece (though I would call it highly character-driven), and while parts are extremely steamy, it’s not PWP. It’s also got a solid action/adventure plot that sort of sneaks up on the reader, as it sneaks up on Ianto.
“So!” He tilts his face up to the closest camera. “This is me informing you that Torchwood can go fuck itself. You can take your retcon, your curfews, and your mandatory monitoring and shove it up your arse sideway Jack!” He shoves two fingers right up to the lens, obscuring the view with the rude gesture that he doesn’t care is childish before pointing the gesture sideways across his chest. “Deuces.” Lisa would have loved it and he slams the door so hard it shakes at the thought.
***
He deliberately cuts through as many blind spots as he can on his way to the club. The line is full of punks and hipsters and he skips it because the owner is a Riftugee and as far as he knows Ianto is still going to be the one doing his audit in six months. The bass is so loud it makes the spot on his arm where a hairline stress fracture healed slightly out of line ache and it pulls him onto the middle of the dance floor. ‘Have fun, Jack, picking out just one more pale Welsh boy in black in the middle of a dark strobe lit club.’
from http://bit.ly/K7ZDPc
Story: Put Down Your Pencils and Get Ready for the Practical Exam
Author: Netgirl_y2k
Rating: All Ages
Word Count: 1270
Author’s Summary: That was the dinosaurs. Anybody fancy a trip to see some saber-toothed tigers?
Characters/Pairings: Clyde Langer, Rani Chandra, Tenth Doctor
Warnings: None
Recced because: What’s better than Clyde and Rani traveling in the TARDIS with the Doctor? Crack!fic about Clyde and Rani traveling in the TARDIS with the Doctor! It’s very funny and very fun, and it’s practically guaranteed to leave you smiling.
The blue box materialised on the road just ahead of them, the door was flung open and there was the Doctor. “Clyde Langer! Rani Chandra! Fancy meeting you two here on this street where I knew you’d be, and where I’ve materialised for no real reason.”
from http://bit.ly/K4Dkdc
Story: Into the Fire
Author: Daystar Searcher
Rating: Teen
Word Count: 777
Author’s Summary: A warrior like Leela would be the first volunteer for any dangerous, last-ditch plan the Doctor would have against the Daleks. And they would want to make an example of her.
Characters/Pairings: Leela, Eighth Doctor
Warnings: Implied major character death / torture (nothing very explicit in the fic itself, however)
Recced because: Yes, I’ve yet another short fic to rec to you, but one that’s incredibly powerful. This is Leela, Warrior of the Sevateem, at war against the Daleks. The writing is evocative, and Leela’s characterization is perfect. You can hear her voice in the narrative, and feel her fierce spirit. Leela herself would approve of this fic, and I can think of no higher praise.
The Daleks are filled with fury, screeching like thwarted birds of prey above her, and this means that she and the Doctor have won. She will hold this as a fire in her heart.
from http://bit.ly/LEQA5R
Story: Never Ever Been
Author: honeynoir
Rating: All Ages
Word Count: 565
Author’s Summary: ‘You have saved so many things, tucked them away.’ Idris/Doctor. Spoilers for 6x04.
Characters/Pairings: The TARDIS
Warnings: As noted, spoilers for “The Doctor’s Wife”
Recced because: It’s a story written from the TARDIS’ point of view during “The Doctor’s Wife,” and it’s as mad and wonderful as the TARDIS herself.
He has a face. It’s different seeing it with eyes. The others have faces as well (you once made them a bed with a ladder, but you never really thought about their faces). You’d like to see more faces; six don’t seem like very many. You haven’t even seen your own (prodding at it with the fingers wasn’t as enlightening as you’d assumed it would be).
from http://bit.ly/K7mOHj
Story: Lost in Translation
Author: Pitry
Rating: All Ages
Word Count: 646
Author’s Summary: The Doctor and Jack talk all the time: one of them opens his mouth and words come out. They never listen.
Characters/Pairings: Tenth Doctor, Jack Harkness
Warnings: Spoilers for “The Sound of Drums” / “Last of the Time Lords”
Recced because: Pitry knows a lot about linguistics, and she shows off her expertise here with her speculations about the effect of time travel on language. As fascinating as that is, however, the real power of this story comes from its quiet build and the incredible punch at the end.
And now that they’re both locked up here, in their cell, the alien who speaks millions of languages and himself, he speaks to the Doctor in his own tongue, the language that’s been dead to him for years and years, a language fit for a time travelling society.
from http://bit.ly/Jg5iMS
Story: Color Coded for Your Inconvenience
Author: Lyricwritesprose
Rating: All Ages
Word Count: 1124
Author’s Summary: Peri and the Doctor talk about visual spectrums. The conversation goes to the obvious place.
Characters/Pairings: Sixth Doctor, Peri Brown
Warnings: None
Recced because: Lyricwritesprose gets recced here a lot, and there’s a reason for that. This story shows off the author’s skill with descriptive phrases, characterization and verbal banter, and as a special bonus, it’s got the best explanation for the Sixth Doctor’s coat that I have ever come across.
She was on the upper deck of a hoverbus, on what the local tour guides called a camera safari. She was leaning idly against the railing, face shadowed by a broad-brimmed white hat, thinking about colors. The hue of the savannah had given her a mild craving for lemon chiffon pie, the kind you got in tiny roadside diners from waitresses who called you “honey.”
She didn’t have to look up to know who had joined her at the railing. “Doctor,” she said, “do you see the same colors that humans do?”
She got the Unamused Look. “For the fifty-fourth time, there is nothing wrong with my coat.”
from http://bit.ly/JVd9Ug
Story: The Real Reason the Doctor and Rose Tyler Never Had Sex
Author: azriona
Rating: Teen
Word Count: 315
Author’s Summary: Exactly what it says on the tin, kids. The reason that the Doctor and Rose didn’t have sex has NOTHING to do with the hour the show was aired.
Characters/Pairings: Tenth Doctor/Rose Tyler
Warnings: None
Recced because: It’s hilarious, and like the best humor fics it needs no other excuse. But even better, the humor comes from a well-known fact about the Doctor that I’d never thought about in this context until I read this fic. The result is total win.
from http://bit.ly/Kxlvim
