Title: A First Time
Fandom: Burn Notice
Characters: Sam Axe
Genre: Gen
Rating: PG
Word Count: 150
Warnings/Spoilers: None
Disclaimer: Fanfic, for fun, not profit.

Sam had woken up after being kidnapped before. It was the first time, however, he’d woken up in the bed of a 4-star hotel room. He was naked (not the first time) but not tied up (which was new). There was a bottle of champagne next to the bed (first time for that) and an armed guard (not the first time).

He sat up, carefully covering what needed to be covered (first time having a down-filled duvet) and couldn’t get an answer from the taciturn guard (typical). He toyed with the idea of making a fight of it, nude or not, (wouldn’t be the first time) but decided to wait and see what happened (first time choosing that option).

It would either be very bad (like many times before) or very good (for once).

He was willing to take the chance. There was a first time for everything, after all.

Title: It's a Man's World
Fandom: Burn Notice
Characters: Fiona, Michael
Genre: Gen
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 1000
Warnings/Spoilers: None
Disclaimer: Fanfic, for fun, not profit.
Summary: Written for usanetwork_las on the prompt of boys will be boys. It won best story with two positive reviews. The land doesn't get a lot of reviews -- in this case only 4. Still, it's a win. Anyhow, I'll post the reviews when I get them.

( Aren’t you a pretty little thing? )

Title: By the Sword
Fandom:Burn Notice
Characters: Michael Westen
Genre: Gen
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 1000
Warnings/Spoilers: None
Disclaimer: Fanfic, for fun, not profit.
Author Notes: Written for usanetwork_las with the prompt "Get mad, then get over it." - Colin Powell (doesn't have to be literal). This fic got three positive votes and, much to my surprise, ended up winning. Yay, me.

By the Sword

( Everything a spy does, makes enemies. )

Title: Refuge
Fandom: Burn Notice
Characters: Michael, Fi
Rating: PG
Word Count: 243
Warnings/Spoilers: None
Disclaimer: Fanfic, for fun, not profit.
Summary: Written for a challenge in caperland of a prompt of a picture of an exploding car. My fic won the challenge and I got this cool banner (which features the promt pic):


Noise roared though his head. The bitter taste of ash coated his mouth. The world was a churning smoky nightmare. Something hot and burning bit at his arm. Things hard and sharp jabbed into his side. He was on the ground. Heat radiated through the smoke. He needed to move, to get away. He rolled to his knees and fought through a wave of nausea. Pain echoed at the edges of his consciousness. He struggled to his feet. A second explosion, hot and deafening, battered him from behind, tossing him to the ground again. He rolled with the blast and fought not to breathe in the overheated air. Debris clattered to the ground. Pain laced up his arm where a piece of flying metal sliced it open. He pushed himself back to his feet and staggered away from the raging fire.

"Michael." His name echoed though the dimness. Familiar hands, pale under black soot and ash, pulled at him. He stumbled forward, into equally familiar arms.

"I have you." It was Fi's voice, more welcome than the clean, cool air. He leaned into her arms, as they fled from the flames. His head still rang and the pain grew stronger, but he focused on the strength in the slender body that held him. In the steady voice that continued to sooth him. "Just a couple more steps, Michael, and you'll be safe. I have you."

In the end, Michael knew, she always would.

Title: God Only Knows
Fandom: Burn Notice
Characters: Madeline Westen
Genre: Gen
Rating: PG
Word Count: 100
Warnings/Spoilers: For end of season 3
Disclaimer: Fanfic, for fun, not profit.
Notes: Written for LJ Comm CaperLand before it died.

"And God only knows what hole he's in now"

Callahan's words echoed in Madeline's head. It didn't matter what she did or where she went, she heard the words over and over. "God only knows…"

She'd never given much credence to God. It was only right as she figured God didn't think that often about her, either. People God thought about had to have had better lives than she'd had, better lives than her children.

Right now, though, all Madeline could think about was God.

She needed someone, anyone, to know where Michael was. Even if it was only God.

Title: Crazy
Fandom: Leverage, Burn Notice
Character(s): Alec Hardison, Parker, Michael Westen/Fiona Glenanne
Genre: Gen
Rating: PG
Word Count: 100
Warnings/Spoilers: None
Disclaimer: Fanfic, for fun, not profit.
Notes: Written for the LJ Comm Cossoverland.


While Hardison waited for Parker, he watched a couple in the parking lot: he, tall and lean; her, petite and lithe; their kiss as hot as the Miami air. They broke apart, then, with a speed Eliot would've envied, she hit him with a solid right before pulling him into another kiss.

A shout over the com-unit jerked Hardison's attention up, just in time to see Parker plummeting down the side of the building. Her harness jerked her to a stop inches above the pavement, and she grinned madly at Hardison.

He wondered if crazy had a preferred body type.

I have failed miserably at gushing about Burn Notice this week, so a little preview of tonight's episode:

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And GIP (kinda). I'm actually going to redo this icon, but I needed one for the post so I thought I''d use it! While this icon doesn't suck, I feel the need to tweak it.

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Look! Slightly different version of the Burn Notice trailer! More Michael! More Fi! More Sam!

What more could you ask for? I cannot express in words how gleeful this show makes me.

Thursday is tomorrow! Go Thursday!

And if you go here they will loop different trailers/previews/whatnot. Not that I'd do anything like that. Oh... and it has games and you can watch an interview with Matt Nix and... way cool.

Yeah. It is that bad.

And I really, really, really need a Fiona icon. I will get one. It needs to say "Get your Fi on" or maybe "Be like Fi" or perhaps "Sempre Fi".

Oh, wait, it definitely has to be "Sempre Fi"

Now if I can just find right screencap.

Burn Notice.

This show owns me. Totally and completely owns me.

I love every single thing about this show. The look. The writing. The style. The characters. The voice-overs. The music. The actors. The cinematography. The acting. Every single thing about this show is good, except that parts that are completely awesome. And it has that magic gestalt that makes it come together in a rare brand of perfect for a television show.

For an indication of exactly how bad I have it for this show: I have a ship. That’s right. Me. The I don’t ship-champion.

Usually, I can take and leave ships… I take them as they are written in the show and I leave them there. If the show gets a ship together, good, if not – or if not forever – I can live with that, too. I may not always see it or I may wish that it ended up differently, but I’ve never been invested in a fictional relationship enough to care outside of the show.

Ah, but Michael and Fiona. Michael and Fiona. Michael and Fiona.

I’ve spent quite a while staring at this post trying to come up with reasons why this ship makes so much sense to me. In the end, it is more than the fact that the writing of the interaction is incredibly real and that the chemistry between the actors is off the charts. Although that helps. No. I like this ship because the characters are equal. They are equally smart and equally strong and they are equally passionate about each other. Don’t get me wrong, they are not the same, they are just equal.

That kind of makes them seem like perfect characters, but they’re not. They are wonderfully flawed and are given perfect, psychologically accurate histories to explain those flaws. While those character flaws cause problems, those same “flaws” are also strengths that allow those characters to save the day. There are no value judgments placed on these “flaws”, either by the characters or the writers. And that’s a trick most shows don’t manage.

What I like best about this relationship, though, is that neither character demands a change in the other. In fact, none of the characters in the show demand change from any other. There’s never that demand (spoken or unspoken) of “if you loved me you would… insert change to be exactly the fantasy I have”. Neither character makes an untenable sacrifice or character change in order to win the approval or love of the other.

And yet, these two characters are better people together than apart. In fact, that’s something I adore about the whole show – the four main characters are better people because of their friendships/relationships with each other. They bring out the best in one another.

And for a ship to work, that’s what's needed: The characters have to bring out the best in each other. When they are around one another the characters have to realize that they need to be better – to be the best them they can possibly be. Not because it's demanded of them, but because they understand that it's what they can be.

This ship does that. The characters challenge each other to be better and provide the strength and support needed to meet that challenge.

I don't ask much from a ship, do I?

ETA: GIP!