Pure Bodies and Clean Hearts by Speranza (Virgin Challenge)

[cesperanza.livejournal.com]

Title: Pure Bodies and Clean Hearts (26k)
Author: Speranza
Pairing: McShep
Summary: John gets a do-over.

Thanks to shalott, giddy, and res for beta beyond the call of duty.

Comments

[mutecornett.livejournal.com]

Years of memories seemed to be slipping away--some vague flash of losing his virginity on a basement sofa, fading snapshots of three-day-pass love affairs, the back seats of cars, grimy men's room doors. Now, there was only the cramped, dark tent, Rodney's hands tenderly sliding over his bruised and scraped skin, Rodney's mouth, wet and soft against his.

I really, really love that part, and I love *how* you made John a virgin again, not by physically erasing his virginity but *emotionally*, by making him so aware of life for the sheer pleasure of it through his nearly dying, like a teenager, and by having this new love thing with Rodney sort of blot out the past. I'm not making any sense, but I just really, really liked that.

[cesperanza.livejournal.com]

I'm not even sure I know what it would mean to physically erase someone's virginity--the emotional way is the way that matters, and really, any sexual matters aside, John's the most jaded of the four, I think, and in that way was the guy ripe for a dunking and a new appreciation of the miracle that is his life. I mean, God knows he might never have stopped to take account of the fact that he--loner extraordinare--was now in another galaxy with a huge position of respect and responsibility, enmeshed in a family and really free of any regulations he might have spent his life butting against. And so, you know, John really needs to kick back and look at the stars a little. He's freer than he thinks; in a lot of ways, he's got it all--and by the end, he's got love, too. *G*

[mutecornett.livejournal.com]

D'oh, I meant physically erase his prior sexual experiences to make him a virgin. See, not making sense. :) I mostly like that you made it about John being emotionally a virgin, I guess, rather than *physically* one--I mean, it sounds weirdly simple when I put it that way but it's more complex in a way I can't really figure out. Um. I just really liked it.