Animal Husbandry by casspeach

[casspeach.livejournal.com]

Title: Animal Husbandry
Rating: R (to be on the safe side)
Pairing: McKay/Sheppard
Summary: Dr Rodney McKay is the new veterinarian in town, and his bedside manner leaves a little to be desired. Can his no nonsense love win the heart of lone cowboy John Sheppard, a man determined not to repeat the mistakes of the past?

Notes: Beta'd by z_rayne This whole thing is basically her fault because she would keep encouraging me, and without her cheerleading bullying and betaing this story wouldn't exist. I leave it to anyone with the stamina to get all the way through it to decide if that's a good thing or not, but I am hugely grateful for all her help and support.


Notes: Well this is about as far from 'flash'fic as a thing can get. 27,500 words give or take. The longest fic I have ever written, certainly the longest I have ever finished. I even had a plot outline, written out and everything. I'd be ashamed of how much time this took, but I'm shameless as it turns out. Fabulous challenge, and huge thanks to the mods for extending it. Link is to my website because of the ridiculous size of this monster.


Animal Husbandry

Comments

[zoerayne]

So much yay! *points to icon*

[casspeach.livejournal.com]

Yay! Thank you, because you know I didn't really believe I'd ever finish it, hehe.

[hinokumo.livejournal.com]

*stupid fangirl grin* I was hoping someone would write another cowboy John/Rodney, I clicky-clicked and here it was! Lovely fic, though John's stubbornness gave me many urges to brain him with a horseshoe :) I adored Rodney in this fic! His 'love talk' with Peej had me in giggles. And did I mention yummy sex? Mmmmm.

[casspeach.livejournal.com]

Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed it, and yeah cowboy's and John/Rodney seemed a perfect match to me (and a few others which is very cool).

[nova-bright.livejournal.com]

This is my new favouritest McShep angsty-fluff. I loves it with a big L.

Every little detail was so very pretty!

Brilliant.

[casspeach.livejournal.com]

Hee, thank you. I'm glad you enjoyed it

[porntestpilot.livejournal.com]

Damn, that was fantastic.

[casspeach.livejournal.com]

Thank you. This whole challenge has been a lot of fun (or it is now I have posted and can start reading and enjoying)

[morena-donn.livejournal.com]

Wow! That was amazing. Absolutely loved it. Rodney and John were so very them, and the friendship with Nick and Laura was great (loved the condoms and lube left in the nightstand) and well, just everything. And I'm babbling here. I think you broke my brain!

[casspeach.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I'm so glad you thought they still sounded like them, because this was my first AU, and I was nervous about that.

Sorry about the brain. I think this challenge broke mine so, um, dimished responsibility?

[jamiemay.livejournal.com]

I just *love* this story. Seriously, I actually cried and laughed out loud. And, the ending! So perfect!

Your writing style is so clean and direct, the story skipped (seemingly) effortlessly around all the pitfalls of the genre. It feels like you really *committed* yourself to the plot, and because of that it came out shiny and fresh and new. The tone of this piece just sweeps the reader along.

Thank you so much for this fic.

[casspeach.livejournal.com]

Wow, thank you.

I figured a lot of the fun of Harlequin is that, however preposterous or cliched the plots are the books are written in a very committed way. I don't think I could have pulled off the detached distant meta-y irony thing, so I figured I'd just throw myself in and roll around in the crazy instead.

hey, it's true romance!

[kormantic.livejournal.com]

The fiercely independent hero meets his match! And marries well! And everyone lives happily ever after!

This was some really good stuff; Rodney/John, Nick and John's solid friendship, and John's past that gives him every reason to be twitchy about debt... Really nice. Thanks for posting it. (g)

Re: hey, it's true romance!

[casspeach.livejournal.com]

Hee, I can't tell you how much I like this The fiercely independent hero meets his match! And marries well! And everyone lives happily ever after! because even though that is a really accurate description I hadn't actually thought of the story in those terms.

I'm glad you enjoyed it

Thank you

[miriam-heddy.livejournal.com]

I want to say something intelligent, but all I can manage is a big, “Awww!” This just made me all sappy and stuff, like one of those guilt-inducing “Lifetime” movies. Anyway, again, “Awww!” I would've read and enjoyed this even if it wasn't SGA.

[casspeach.livejournal.com]

Hee, I know just what you mean about the guilty pleasures of pure emo entertainment. Aww is a lovely comment

I'm glad you enjoyed it

[mmmchelle.livejournal.com]

I have to confess that this story kept me up far past my bedtime. I should have stopped reading and finished it in the morning, but I was enjoying myself far too much.

Thank you.

[casspeach.livejournal.com]

Heh, it kept me up way past my bedtime too, to be sure I got it posted, and I can't think of a much nicer compliment than that you were enjoying it too much to stop reading it

Thank you

[fairestcat]

Oh man, you had me at the horse named Puddlejumper.

*loves so so so very much*

[casspeach.livejournal.com]

Hee. I just couldn't resist calling the horse Puddlejumper.

I am so glad you enjoyed it

Thank you

[thecomfychair.livejournal.com]

Yay! This was sweetly romantic, and I loved Rodney as the vet. and Zelenka and Elizabeth! and, um, Lorne! All of the characters had great voice. Huge grin on my face after reading it. I love that McKay's kid curse follows him to any genre...

[casspeach.livejournal.com]

and, um, Lorne! Now see I was quite happy calling him Lorne all through the fic, but I was told he had to have a first name, and to be honest I can kind of see that out of the military setting of Atlantis it would maybe be a bit odd for John to call him by his last name. (I wanted to call him Lorne Lorne, but that got vetoed by my beta too, lol)

I'm glad you enjoyed it

[claire.livejournal.com]

Oh, I loved this. It's really very Harlequin-y and yet so good, too.

[casspeach.livejournal.com]

Hee, thank you. I think 'Harlequin-y but good too' applies to loads of the stuff posted in this challenge.

I'm glad you enjoyed it

[raisintorte.livejournal.com]

Absolutely fantastic!!!!!!!!! The writing style and the story just sucked me in. I loved the ending but I was sad to see the story end. Veterinarian!Rodney was wonderful!

[casspeach.livejournal.com]

Thank you. There's nothing better than a story that you don't want to be over, is there? What a lovely thing to say

I'm glad you enjoyed it

[http://users.livejournal.com/_ceci15_/]

This was simply wonderful.

[casspeach.livejournal.com]

Thank you

[krabbypatty.livejournal.com]

Oh that was wonderful, you did an excellent job.

[casspeach.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I'm glad you enjoyed it

[bibliokat.livejournal.com]

What a lovely fic! I've decided I have a serious thing for cowboy!John. John belongs with horses, and Rodney belongs with John. And I've got to say, my favorite part was ornery Puddlejumper giving Rodney "dopey and adoring" looks.

Wonderful writing;)

[casspeach.livejournal.com]

Yeah, cowboy!John is so very hot, isn't he?

Puddlejumper's not stupid

Thank you very much

[chaps1870.livejournal.com]

What a great story. I was caught up in from the very beginning, all the way to the end. I liked this 'softer' side of Rodney too. Well done.

[casspeach.livejournal.com]

Thank you.

I'm probably guilty of softening Rodney a bit too much, because I adore him so much, but I'm going to blame it on the Harlequin-ness of the challenge this time, lol, because I am shameless

I'm glad you enjoyed it

[bluebrocade.livejournal.com]

oh my! I loved that so much. The part where John was all worried about the shabbiness of his house and Rodney all terrified that John was going to get hurt at the Rodeo and all the lovely angst...::sigh::

[mikou.livejournal.com]

That was very sweet and romantic and I liked the characterization of John, Rodney, Nick, and Laura. Thanks.

[burningchaos.livejournal.com]

So here is the deal, as I was reading this I almost forgot they were the people I know and love from SGA...LOL..they were the same but not in such a wonderful way. I really have no words to express just how much I love this.

[casspeach.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you enjoyed it.

I confess to having a new respect for good AU writers now. Keeping them in character while they were out of their natural element was quite the challenge

Thanks

[concernedlily.livejournal.com]

This was just lovely, sweet and hot and original. I loved John's backstory - I had a real sense of history and the life of the town, and the things to come after the close.

[casspeach.livejournal.com]

Thank you

It was really quite fun to write something a bit longer than usual and to completely invent a whole world. Not that I plan on doing it again any time soon.

I'm glad you enjoyed it

[special-trille.livejournal.com]

Awwww! That was lovely.

[casspeach.livejournal.com]

Thank you :-)

[eliabrith.livejournal.com]

Awww. now that was a wonderful story to wake up to :)

[casspeach.livejournal.com]

Thank you.

I'm glad you enjoyed it.

I'm loving this whole challenge so much

[jade-dragoness.livejournal.com]

"It's a bottle of lube, John, not the Ark of the Covenant."

This line slayed me. I laughed and laughed, then had the weird mental image of the light and ghost things coming out of the lube. And then laughed some more.

Also, this fic made me cry. Tears, whimpering, and chanting of 'nononon' at some times. And 'yesyesyes' at others. Wow.

Good job. Good fic.

[casspeach.livejournal.com]

Hee, yeah, I confess to similar imagery in my head when I wrote it.

I'm glad you enjoyed it (and even more happy that I made you chant at it - that is very cool indeed)

Thank you

[kiranovember.livejournal.com]

I don't know; this might be the best one yet and so many have been so good. I love the length - shorts are all well and fine but I really love something I can sink my teeth into, something that takes the time to show everything, explain everything, and get to its conclusion in its own good time. Sex is fun, but what really makes a story satisfying is watching someone make an emotional journey, like John here.

[casspeach.livejournal.com]

I did wonder if the length would put people off, but I know what you mean about long fic, becasue I like to have the chance to immerse myself in a world for a good long time.

It was a lot of fun to write (also a lot of not-fun at times) for the same reason, I think, having the chance to build slowly

I am glad you enjoyed it

Thank you for commenting

[chalcopyrite.livejournal.com]

First seven words and I hit the desk laughing. Oh lordy. This was all kinds of good, all mixed up together with a cherry on top, and I really liked that it felt long and meaty enough to really sink my slashy little teeth into. And -- ooh, there went my Sunday afternoon. Great way to spend it. *g*

[casspeach.livejournal.com]

Hee, sorry about your Sunday afternoon, but it seems only fair given that this fic ate my life for the three weeks of the challenge, lol.

I'm glad you enjoyed it. It was fun to write something longer for a change

Thank you for commenting