moonlettuce

wesleysgirl suggested a meme where people posted the favourite bits of their own writing, so here's mine.

You know the day is going to come when he stops turning up at your door. So until that day comes you'll give him what he wants. Give him the bruises and blood and pain. Because this is your punishment as well. Feeling without ever knowing, having without ever holding. And you accept it. You accept it because you know it's the only way you'll ever have him. Because he's never going to be yours, no matter how much you wish it were different. So you'll take him and cut him and hit him and hurt him. Because at least you're touching him. And in the end, that's all that really matters.

From Stray Cat Is Crying. I must admit I like this entire story because I think it turned out much better than I originally thought it would. But these closing lines are my favourite, because they capture the almost hopelessness of the situation.

Turning to face the direction the new voice is coming from, Wesley finds himself staring at Lindsey McDonald. Lindsey, standing there in a three-thousand dollar suit, with his tie half hanging off and his collar unbuttoned. Lindsey, with the hair that Wesley's suddenly itching to run his fingers through. Lindsey, with the face he wants to beat and bruise and then kiss away the marks he leaves.

From Twenty Eight Storeys High. These lines I like because they represent what I feel each time I lay eyes on Lindsey MacDonald *evil grin*

Because Lex can take it, can take Clark's aggression, Clark's hardness. Can take it as it paints a pattern of purple and red onto his skin. And it won't break Lex, because Lex learned not to break at an early age. Learned it in his father's office, at the end of Lionel's hands

From Echoes. I like this bit because I like the thought of the darkness that Clark hides away.

And suddenly I know. I know that I've lost him. I've lost him without having ever truly had him.

From Winter. The Stargate guys tend to bring out the angstpuppy in me, and this line just captures the entire essence of the fic in a few words.

Hebe nodded and watched as her sister vanished, leaving her alone. She sank to the floor, cursing her brothers' determination not to look for another way around the challenge. "Men!" she muttered. "Why are they quite prepared to think with their bollocks, but never their brains?"

From Greece. Because, well, it's true, isn't it. *grin*

Every civilian head in the room dropped and the military men saluted, stony-faced, their minds flashing back to long ago, tragic, dark days long past, and their lost, their fallen comrades. Suddenly a voice cried out in apparent agony, petitioning the uncaring universe with his desperate, unanswered, unanswerable question: "Why!" from the darkness of the bar. "Why am I saluting a frickin' fish!?!?"

From Zen and the Art of Defensive Origami. I'm actually cheating with this, since Tem wrote this part of the story, but it's my favourite line out of the Zen series. Because it was 3am, we'd had very little sleep and it still makes me giggle.

Silence reigns over the table for a brief moment as Lindsey lifts his eyes, gaze flicking across Wesley. And for Wesley it's like looking into himself. Lindsey, all want and need and pain and bravado. Lindsey, who's making the same choice as Wesley between his life and his heart. Lindsey, who can hear the thunder calling.

"And the righteous shall walk a thorny path."

Wesley can only pray he doesn't fall off.

and

No, not firing, then, just sending away. Send away Wesley so he can go and comfort Bethany, so he can coax Bethany to come back to the real world. Throw Wesley to the darkness so he can wrap Bethany up and protect her. Sacrifice a... a friend to save a stranger. Is that the way it works now, Angel, is it? And then the anger that has so suddenly risen in him drains away. He knows he's not being fair, not to Bethany and definitely not to Angel. "I understand. My being here wouldn't exactly help her to feel trusting." Never mind that he's probably the only one there that she *can* trust. Cordelia can be sympathetic, but back in Sunnydale abuse to her was Daddy withholding her credit cards. And Angel? Well, Wesley read all about Angelus' turning of Spike, but knows there is far more to the story than the Watchers will ever have in their chronicles. And suddenly, Wesley has the overwhelming urge to ring Spike and commiserate with him over having bastards for parents. "I'll be at my flat. Call me if..." The sentence trails off as he realises he doesn't want Angel to call him. He just wants to go home and crawl into a bottle and not come out until all of this is over and Bethany is nothing but a distant memory. Bethany, with her pain filled eyes and the way she flinches whenever anyone touches her. Bethany, who reminds him too much of himself, and that's something he's not quite ready to examine yet. Standing up, he walks passed Angel, stopping as a hand comes out to rest on his arm. He looks down at the fingers, feels the coolness seeping through his shirt.

"It helps that we know."

Do you know, Angel? Do you even have a clue? "I hope so."

Both of these are from a fic called 'Moments In Time', which hasn't been posted anywhere because it's being held for a zine. But I included them here because I really like the way the tone in each section turned out - especially the second part.

So, yeah, they're some of my favourite bits out of the things I wrote.