'Priceless' was the first story I read by you and it seems almost ironic that you should choose to epilogue that particular story to use as your swansong.
Again a lovely and moving piece of work that so infinately sums up the brothers relationship and how it has changed over the seasons. Sad but beautiful. Sunrise and Sunset.
Applauses.
Thank you for sharing your talent.
Wend xx

Great story! Sorry to see you've stopped writing fanfic, your stories were fun to read.

A charming S4 story - and those are rare. I was delighted if very very behind in reading when I got the alert on your story and glad for whatever reason that prompted you to write such a thoughtful true to character piece.

Phoebe

Jeez, what to say?

The dedication alone pretty much rendered me speechless, but being as this is a remarkable piece of work, I'm gonna do my best to leave a coherent review.

First of all I have to thank you for the wonderful prequel to this story, a fic that I would've eventually gotten around to reading, but one that this surprise submission of yours brought to my attention sooner rather than later.

This story, like "Priceless," is astonishingly well written as are all your fics, and I'm sure I'm not the only one that is sorry to read that you are not returning to the ‘world of writing’ on a regular basis. That said, you've left us with many spectacular stories to read and for that I thank you. :)

I LOVE the idea of Dean and Sam going off somewhere to “reconnect” and you managed to make it happen in a completely heartwarming and believable way.

It’s so nice to see the boys actually talking about the changes that have occurred since their time apart, and as much as I loved, and enjoyed the entire story the ending bit said it all:


*Perhaps they hadn’t really resolved that much but they’d eased a fair amount of the tension between them and for that he was grateful. And when he thought about it he was certainly in a better position than he had been the last time they drove away from here.

Then he’d been clinging to blind faith, to a desperate hope that he would save his brother. And while things hadn’t worked out on that front, while he’d faced his worst nightmare twelve months later, the important thing was they were both here, now. A little battered around the edges, but alive.

Together.

And whatever else might come, to Sam that was still something priceless.*


BEAUTIFUL.

Thank you so much.

When you care about the work you do, I think nerves come with the territory. :) But fear not, this was a lovely piece. I love that, in the wake of all the apocalyptic action we've had recently, this is just a nice, reflective brotherly moment - something we all need.

I think you really captured Sam's inner conflict in this paragraph: 'He’d spent four months imagining what his brother was going through, thinking about it almost every minute of the day, and unfortunately for him he had a very good imagination ... Memories or not, it had happened. And would still be happening, were it not for the intervention of a god that Sam had a few issues with right now.' There's a lot going on inside that pretty head and this is it in a nutshell.

Wonderful insight into Dean too: 'He was used to knowing exactly what his little brother was thinking and, while on some level that was still true, on many other levels it was no longer the case. The Sam he’d left behind when the hell hounds had come for him would never have done or said the things this Sam had over the past weeks. He certainly wouldn’t have thrown his lot in with a demon, of all things.' Dean is having a hard time with all the changes in Sam (as are many of the fans!) and that made this story that much sweeter. Well, sweet and bittersweet.

But, most importantly, you captured the essence of the show - the brothers being brothers. I think Kripke needs a reminder of that, once in a while. Sigh.

Beautiful story.

Cheers, Sculls

I want to start by saying that finding this in my e-mail completely made my day. Even if this is only a one-off, I'll take what I can get. ^_^

This was excellent. You captured the tension from both of them this season beautifully. And you did it without some of the anger present in some other stories. Though the anger is coming later on in the season. It was also a very nice follow up to Priceless. Thanks for giving us at least one more story. Hugs and many hits!

That was a great story. I went and quickly reread the first story "Priceless". This tied in nicely with the S4 story line as well as your previous endeavour. No pressure, but I do think your do a great job writing and would look forward to more if you were so inclined. Take care.

Thank you for the smile.

When I saw your name in my alerts and that you had written a follow up to "Priceless", my first thought was you had read my mind. I had wanted to send you a message and say hi, but thought it would be rude to also mention requesting a follow up story about Sam's sunrise promise or (a visit with Toby and Jean) as I had read you were currently not writing.

Thanks for the much needed brother moments and scenes. You have just reminded us all how well you can capture the brothers and their voices. You have the fourth season mood down too.

There were different sentences you wrote that were so true, because I think we as fans miss them too.
'Sam missed the days when it felt like it was them against the world.
Dean's thoughts, 'He should have been celebrating his return from hell, revelling in being back on the road and hunting evil again with his brother. Instead he was struggling to reconnect with the one person he’d known better than anyone...'
'It had been too long since they’d teased each other like this without the sharp edge to the comments that had appeared lately. There was no bite to the words, no distrustful tone. It felt almost like the old days.'
'It was Sam’s turn to smirk now... thinking exactly the same thing. Fleetingly he found himself wishing he could stop time right at this moment, so they wouldn’t have to go back to the life that was waiting for them.' - I wish they could have a moment like this too.

I love that the brothers did try to talk at the end and kinda apologize.

This was such a treat to read a new story from you.
Thanks for sharing it with us.
Hope all is well, take care.
Lori

Really a lovely story about their making it up to each other, coming full circle back to "Priceless" which you smoothely wove into the last sentence too.

The beautiful description of the sunrise and solitude reminded me immensely of Robert Frost's poem "Nothing Gold Can Stay". *happy sigh*

"'Do I look like I'm four years old to you?' / "'Physically, no. Mentally, it's a toss up some days.'" was such a hilarious quip - but certainly not untrue. LOL

Great job!

It was so nice to see you again. I am happy that you decided to do a follow up piece. We've not been seeing too many brother moments this season, and this piece was welcome.

Enjoyed that! Loved the closeness of the brothers!
I hope that when the sad day comes that this brilliant show finishes that it finishes with something along this line!
I don't want them dead or anything! I just want them to be together doing what they do best!!

Good job!!

* Jumps up and down like a dork* you wrote a new story! You wrote a new story and it was brilliant!

Oh. My. Gosh. Where do I begin? Firstly, it's so awesome to read another of your stories, and see you around here again. ^^ I know you said you weren't really returning to writing fanfiction, but I just have to say, your writing is better than ever. As soon as I saw that it was a follow-up to "Priceless", I started grinning. "Priceless" is and always has been one of my favourite stories by you, and to have a sequel is just too good.
It totally brought tears to my eyes. It was just so beautiful that Sam brought his brother back here. I very nearly started bawling. :) I'm not kidding, though. It was absolutely gorgeous, this whole story. And it's so nice to see some brotherly bonding again, seeing as how Dean and Sam's relationship at the moment is on rocky ground.
Anyway, I could go on forever, but this review is already too long LOL. What else can I say? Amazing, as always. I really do miss reading your stories, and this one was well worth the wait. Great to read another of your stories, and I hope to read more soon! ;) (That's in no way a hint. LOL I'm kidding. Take your time.) BTW, how are you liking Season 4 so far?

Wow, you completely made my day with this!! I was SO excited to see that you had a new story up, and especially the sequal to "Priceless", which I've been waiting and hoping (and nagging ;) ) for.

Aw, this gave me a warm feeling, which is exactly why I love your stories--they are always so uplifting and hopeful. We definitely can use some of that this season.

"Sam missed the days when it felt like it was them against the world." Me too. *sigh*

This made me laugh: "I thought we were gonna stop at a Motel for the night, and unless someone’s really let the place go this is not a motel parking lot, Sam.” *snort*

Loved the banter. I really miss not getting more of it on the show: “Do I look like I’m four years old to you?” “Physically, no. Mentally, it’s a toss up some days.”

This made me sad: "And tried not to think about the fact that this time a year ago it wouldn’t have taken him half as long as to decide."

This made me giggle. Loved that poor Dean had to wear lederhosen: "Certainly Sam had seemed in a much better mood, although that could have been down to the fact he had a lifetime’s ammunition from witnessing Dean in honest-to-god lederhosen."

And this was sad, again: "Instead he was struggling to reconnect with the one person he’d known better than anyone for twenty-plus years and trying not to cross lines that were getting more blurred every day. It was enough to make him wish for the days when they’d known exactly who was good and who was evil. Now there were so many shades of grey he was beginning to lose count."

This was a great detail, nice way to show Sam's grief. And the image of Sam it created was just heartbreaking: "What he’d left out was the fact that he’d had to cover the bag with an old blanket they kept for emergencies, since the first time he’d come across it after Dean was gone he’d been hit with the memories of their previous visit here and the grief had been so strong it had literally brought him to his knees."

But this really broke my heart. I mourn for Sammy, who seems to have been lost along the way: "Sometimes he wondered if he even was still ‘Sammy’, on any level, but right now he felt like he’d never stopped being just that." I miss Dean calling him that, too.

But then this made me laugh out loud: “Outdoor crap? Seriously, you gotta start writing this down, Dean. You could have a second career making those inspirational cards.” LOL SO sounds like something Sam would say.

I'm so glad that Dean addressed this: “I meant that it doesn’t matter that you weren’t the one to save me. I know you think you let me down but you didn’t. I know you tried and honestly? I’m glad you weren’t able to do anything stupid that would have brought me back. It doesn’t make any difference how I got here or even why – what matters is that I am.”

Loved Dean calling Sam's new power "demon up-chuck" and Sam's reaction to that. *giggles*

And, as always, the ending was the best part: "...the important thing was they were both here, now. A little battered around the edges, but alive. Together. And whatever else might come, to Sam that was still something priceless." Also loved the reference there to the other story.

I'm happy that Sam kept the promise he'd made to himself, but even more, I'm so, SO happy that YOU kept YOUR promise, and gave us a sequal to "Priceless". :) I hope this will get you back into writing SPN fanfic, we really need your talents to help cut through the angst of this season.

Now, if we could just get a post-Hell visit with Jean and Toby... ;)

Thanks for the story, I wish the boys would talk more on the show too.