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brightknightie) wrote2021-07-17 08:12 pm
brightknightie) wrote2021-07-17 08:12 pm
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"Moving On" by Susan G.
During dinner tonight, I was re-reading some of Susan G.'s FK fanfic that I have on my Kindle. (I have most of her FK fanfic on my Kindle, and on a hard-drive, and in the Cloud. Susan G.'s FK fanfic is not just my favorite, it's nigh unto deutero-canon.)
By chance, I came across a little story called "Moving On" of which I had no conscious memory. Oh. My. Goodness. It was very nearly like getting to read a new Susan G. story.
I can't seem to find it online to link to it for you. Her family kept her site up for years after she died, but... not forever. She died before the AO3 came along. And many of the FK-specific archives have now closed.
So: Spoilers. Told from Natalie's perspective, "Moving On" is set (and was likely written) not long after the start of second season. Nick is helping Natalie move into her new apartment. Moving is tedious, but Nick's help makes a big difference, and Natalie is optimistic about her new place and a new start, maybe taking some time off work to really fit it out to suit herself, not to just accept what's already there and what she already has. Contrarily, she also has difficult, memory-laden reactions to unpacking a framed photo of the day her brother graduated from law school; she drops it and the glass breaks, and much is symbolized. When they're done for the evening, and Natalie declines Nick's offer to take her out to eat -- after a sweaty moving day, she doesn't feel like being seen in public -- she agrees instead to let him fetch her some Mexican fast food. But when he opens the door... there's Janette, clearly coming to tell Natalie something. Natalie, who wants to know what brought Janette to her new doorstep, persuades Nick to go get the fast food, that she will be fine. She reminds him not to run red lights. Janette plays a little at helping Natalie unpack -- just puts some books on a shelf -- and drops portentous veiled warnings of unnamed peril on the way for Natalie, and that perhaps it would be best for Nick and Natalie both if Natalie moved on out of his life. Janette leaves. Nick returns; he flew instead of driving. And Nick and Natalie chat while she eats the flight-cooled fast food, without the sauce packets that he accidentally dropped a few streets over. End.
It's so early-second-season. So classic. So ... refreshing.
Susan, we were so lucky to have you while we did. I trust you know now how much good you did, in all the ways, all your life.
By chance, I came across a little story called "Moving On" of which I had no conscious memory. Oh. My. Goodness. It was very nearly like getting to read a new Susan G. story.
I can't seem to find it online to link to it for you. Her family kept her site up for years after she died, but... not forever. She died before the AO3 came along. And many of the FK-specific archives have now closed.
So: Spoilers. Told from Natalie's perspective, "Moving On" is set (and was likely written) not long after the start of second season. Nick is helping Natalie move into her new apartment. Moving is tedious, but Nick's help makes a big difference, and Natalie is optimistic about her new place and a new start, maybe taking some time off work to really fit it out to suit herself, not to just accept what's already there and what she already has. Contrarily, she also has difficult, memory-laden reactions to unpacking a framed photo of the day her brother graduated from law school; she drops it and the glass breaks, and much is symbolized. When they're done for the evening, and Natalie declines Nick's offer to take her out to eat -- after a sweaty moving day, she doesn't feel like being seen in public -- she agrees instead to let him fetch her some Mexican fast food. But when he opens the door... there's Janette, clearly coming to tell Natalie something. Natalie, who wants to know what brought Janette to her new doorstep, persuades Nick to go get the fast food, that she will be fine. She reminds him not to run red lights. Janette plays a little at helping Natalie unpack -- just puts some books on a shelf -- and drops portentous veiled warnings of unnamed peril on the way for Natalie, and that perhaps it would be best for Nick and Natalie both if Natalie moved on out of his life. Janette leaves. Nick returns; he flew instead of driving. And Nick and Natalie chat while she eats the flight-cooled fast food, without the sauce packets that he accidentally dropped a few streets over. End.
It's so early-second-season. So classic. So ... refreshing.
Susan, we were so lucky to have you while we did. I trust you know now how much good you did, in all the ways, all your life.