This is the little story I posted to fkfic-l on the thirteenth anniversary of "Last Knight," written just because I wanted to post something new that day.  (The story has nothing to do with LK.)

My thanks to much_madness for the prompt of Tracy and Schanke discussing Nick, and to leela_cat and amilyn for the eleventh-hour scrutiny and scrubbing that let me post on time.  (tv_elf? Happy Easter.)

	•	Title:	"When Donut Met Button"
	•	Length:	~1,600 words
	•	Date:	Posted to FKFic-L May 18, 2009
	•	Rating:	G
	•	Summary:	Tracy receives advice from Schanke on partnering with Nick.
	•	Setting:	Shortly after "Outside the Lines"
	•	Characters:	Tracy, Schanke
	•	Quotation:	"Trust me: he's not so generous with his pats on the back that you can afford to brush them off."

Next up in the retrospective is "Kindred Spirits," which falls into the "post tag scene" genre as a direct response to that twitching toe at the end of "Hearts of Darkness."  It received a nomination in the 2001 FK Fanfiction Awards, and I'm grateful to those who put it forward!  To this day, I believe it ranks among my best fanfiction stories.  I'm really rather proud of it; I hope that's not misplaced.

At the time, a few thoughtful readers explicitly praised the choice to not stray from canon into a Nick/Urs romance.  They were certainly correct, and a romance had not even occurred to me at the time!  But rereading the story today, I must admit that I wondered whether a sequel taking such a non-canonical turn might pre-empt "Ashes to Ashes" and "Last Knight" in a worthwhile way, for a happier, healthier ending all around.  Something to think about...

	•	Title:	"Kindred Spirits"
	•	Length:	~13,500 words
	•	Date:	Posted to FKFic-L in January 2001
	•	Rating:	PG-13
	•	Summary:	Jacqueline turns to Urs and Nick for help.
	•	Setting:	After "Hearts of Darkness"
	•	Characters:	Nick, Urs, Ellen/Monika/Jacqueline, Erica, Sofia, Natalie, Lacroix, Enforcers
	•	Quotation:	"Either one would help me, I guess.  Lucien for a price.  Javier, because he always does, eventually.  And there are others.  But unlike them, you'll help her, just because she needs help."

Here is another of my tiny handful of stories that have not yet appeared on FKFic-L because they belonged to zines.  This one appeared in the charity fanzine Tojours Lacroix, edited and published by Lisa P., conceived by Celeste and Laurie.  I wrote "Whence the Truce" in the summer of 1998, and it's my only fanfiction so far to spawn a sequel ("That Ain't Love").

Re-reading this, I realize that I've set more stories immediately following "Stranger Than Fiction" than at any other canonical moment (besides overriding "Last Knight," of course).  I also see what a Light Cousin I was back then.  And I'm delighted to rediscover my Ghost!Fleur character here; by coincidence, I have a new Ghost!Fleur story underway now.

	•	Title:	"Whence the Truce"
	•	Length:	~6,450 words
	•	Date:	Published in the charity fanzine Tojours Lacroix (1999)
	•	Rating:	G
	•	Summary:	Lacroix pieces together what happened after Nick staked him.
	•	Setting:	After "Stranger Than Fiction," with flashback to after "Dark Knight, the Second Chapter"
	•	Characters:	Lacroix, Janette, Fleur
	•	Quotation:	"Logic could not cut through the shrine he had made of his own wretched loneliness."