I loved and I loved and I lost you
by abby82

category: Missing Scene
rating: Explicit
word count: 9,250
warnings: None
author’s note: In one of my first LFN stories I made an offhand reference about "a wet and amorous Michael" early on in his relationship with Nikita. I always wanted to revisit that and see what kind of shenanigans these two could get into with that scenario. It was also a nice day/night contrast to the more somber bathtub scene from "Third Party Ripoff". One is at the dawn of their relationship and the other is on the eve of their forced breakup.

All sorts of viruses have been doing the rounds in the office, but it still seemed I caught this cold out of nowhere until I struggled to sleep on Monday night. People with fireworks until at least 11pm didn't help, but constant sneezing was the major issue. The end result was getting up on Tuesday feeling I'd barely slept. At least I was already going to be working from home because of the dentist appointment. I wasn't sure how I'd get through it with the way my nose was constantly running, but the actual appointment went fine. It was just that I needed two boxes of tissues to get through the rest of the day. Yesterday went better. I had planned to be in the office on Wednesday but my head felt so dull in the morning and I wasn't sure if it was going to be another day constantly holding onto a tissue, I worked from home. Today, I felt better in the morning, so I felt ready for the office. That did mean trying to fight the cough with water and hot drinks at times, but it was OK.

I'm on leave tomorrow so I can set out for Brighton in the afternoon. I'm hoping the cough settles a bit more, otherwise going to the concerts might be a bit stressful.

Finished since the last reading post
When Will There Be Good News?, which I liked.

The Voyage Home by Pat Barker. I think I've enjoyed the previous two in the series more than I did this one, but it was still good.

Currently reading
Started reading Co-intelligence by Ethan Mollick. Also started reading The End of Innocence by Simon Garfield. I don't think I've made progress with anything else.

Reading next
I've got a library book waiting

Placeholder - please check back later.

feroxargentea would like to spread the word that the AO3 is archiving all the fanfic from the 1990s paper-and-ink X-Files fanzine "DTA" (Dreaming the Answers).

If someone whose fic was published in DTA wants username/contact info updated, added, or removed, or doesn't want her/his fic archived, please reach out to them. More info here and also here.


I worry about the huge gulf between what was normal to do with wallet names in decades past and what is safe today. Look at any vintage kids' comic book, and you will find not just the full names but the full street addresses and ages of small children printed in the letters columns, just like the full street addresses of adults on letters to the editor in newspapers. No one would do that today! The '90s and '00s were a time of transition between an old reality and this current one.

This is my fannish space; I rarely mention non-fannish things here. I'm going to share one now:

If you can, tomorrow, Saturday, October 18, 2025, please consider attending a peaceful, patriotic, pro-America, "No Kings Day" gathering. To easily find a grassroots local event near you, try this map: https://www.nokings.org/#map .

You don't have to do anything except show up and be present with your neighbors. Let's thwart the gaslighting and reassure each other that, indeed, we are the majority, this isn't the way things are supposed to be, and constitutional values still matter.

Thank you.

trickortreatex has posted a new list of needed pinch-hits, which some of you may be interested to know includes Forever Knight (TV) and The Lost Boys (movies). Check it out.

If you're planning to sign up for hlh_shortcuts '25, you have ~10 hours from when I'm writing this. I got my sign-up in this morning.

At this time, the sign-ups summary and requests list show 15 players, with 15 requests and 14 offers for the main TV series, 4 and 5 for The Raven, and 8 and 5 for the movies. (If you're into the comics, novels, cartoon, or other subsidiary properties, just say so; someone else is likely to be, too.)

The last time I went to Knit + Stitch, or the Knitting and Stitching Show as it was, was in 2019. No matter how much I enjoyed my day there, I've never quite forgiven it for giving me what seemed like a mild cold for a week, which was swiftly followed by what I think was bronchitis during the time I was also covering for my colleague (away doing jury service) in the lead-up to a release.

So today was the first time since. I hadn't really planned to go until about a couple of weeks ago, so by then it was more or less pointless to look at workshops and stuff. So I didn't. The journey to Alexandra Palace is a bit of a trek but it went fine in the morning. I've previously used the shuttle bus from Wood Green tube, but this time I skipped the tube and took the Elizabeth line (Paddington to Farrington) and Thameslink (Farrington to Finsbury Park) and Great Northern (Finsbury Park to Alexandra Palace) trains instead. And I treated the walk up from the train station as useful hill training. I had planned a shopping list of sorts but nothing really caught my eye. So I didn't actually buy anything and didn't stay very long.

Afterwards, given I was already in London, I went out to look at backbags because my larger one is starting to fall apart. I've had it for years and used it all the time, so that's no wonder. The other day at work, a colleague was praising her Roka backbag so I was curious to see the options. But looking at them in person showed they weren't quite what I was looking for. But I found one that I liked, so I bought it.

Back in Reading, I went to Waterstones to browse for a little while and emerged with two books. As if I didn't have enough piling up already. And I've got one in transit that I ordered online. Royal Mail are doing their best to deliver on days I'm not in. After the first attempt on Wednesday, knowing I was going to be in the office on Thursday since I missed Tuesday, I requested Friday, only for them to skip yesterday completely and try to deliver today when I was still in London. Looks like I'm going to have to go to the delivery office to pick it up, and the earliest I can do that is probably on Wednesday.

Dear hlh_shortcuts author,

Thank you for sharing your Highlander love and creativity this year!

TLDR: My personal tip-top favorites are: gen; PG-13 and below; first through third seasons; Duncan, Tessa, Richie, Darius; Duncan/Tessa; choosing the hard right over the easy wrong; choosing to care and to hope; the power of friendship; history, whether as setting or reference; grief and bereavement; fighting the good fight; and the immortality fantasy as hyperbole/metaphor for real life. I also enjoy many other things, so it's fine if none of these click for you!

No need to read on unless you really want to. This post is long. :-D

( Likes, dislikes, crossovers & character-specific prompts )

Again, thank you! Whatever you love best in HL, celebrate that, and I'm sure to enjoy it.

Posting my spook_me fic a little early, mostly because today is October 11th and the story is set on October 11th (though 70 years ago). My prompts were "ghost" and "graveyard."

The death of fifteen year old Abigail Redmond cast a long, long shadow across the whole of "Grantchester" season 2. The tragedies of her life, her death, and all that that followed spoke to the failures of the adults in the community.

One such adult was Daniel Marlowe.

Maybe that stayed with him. Maybe that stayed with her.

11 October 1955 (rated T; nothing above "show level," but be mindful that Abigail's story was a distressing one)