DDP: Guilty Pleasure

[jeebs83.livejournal.com]

I'm not having the best of weeks so I thought we'd talk about something that normally cheers me up. Love it or hate it, everyone seems to have an option about...


BABYFIC!

When it's done right (sometimes even if it's done wrong), there's no denying there's some great fic out there to read. What is your opinion on it? Is it a love/love, or love/hate? So let me have your best recommendations.

Here's my list:

Unexpected Consequences by CrysWimmer on ff.net.
Now, this probably isn't the best written fic out there, but it was one of the first fics I read where Kara and Lee had a child. I still like to go back for a re-read every now and then.

Fic by njborba
'All Is Not Loss'
'The Long Way Home'
'Wing and a Prayer'
Fic Master List Here

Insanity Underrated by amidala_thrace
In case you're living under a rock, this fic is still a WIP but there's usually a chapter or two a week. One of the best representations I've seen of Kara and Lee having a child together.

Without by ez_as_pi
This is one of my all-time favorite fics. Stop what you're doing and go read. I can't wait for her to post the sequel.

Lies I Not Need To Tell by ez_as_pi
Sort-of AU - What if the move to New Caprica took and everyone settled down. Now what happens when Kara wants a child and Sam can't have any because of his time spent on Caprica. Who does she turn to?

Also, does anyone have any good recommendations where either Kacey ends up staying with Kara or is really her daughter? I really don't see enough of those fics anywhere!


Kacey and Kara thank you for your time.

Comments

[shah-of-blah.livejournal.com]

I love babyfic! I'm gonna have to come back with some recs when I've got the chance. I know some Kacey fics too.

[stripes13.livejournal.com]

Babyfic!!!! I've been obsessed with IU for a while now

Kacey is ADORABLE!! As for the Kacey question...I remember reading one where Julia dies during the Exodus and when Kara finds out that Kacey isn't hers she panics, but eventually agrees to keep her (I make it sound like Kacey is a toy)...Can't remember the title/author, but I'll look through my bookmarks for it...

[rdave1.livejournal.com]

Is that buckbeakbabie's Golden Slumber?

[rayruz.livejournal.com]

Not quite babyfic (for Kara and Lee at least) but I really, really like wisteria_'s Imperative (http://users.livejournal.com/wisteria_/560606.html) (there are many parts, that's just part one) but it's wonderful and so heart breaky. But great K/L fic.

[jeebs83.livejournal.com]

Oh that one is really good! I always liked to imagine there was a sequel to it.
:)

[thrace-adama.livejournal.com]

rayruz's "Not the Colonial Dream" parts I and II are favorites of mine, and I do love the pregnant Kara stuff in the epilogues of Tara and Bee's Smutstrav...

[workerbee73.livejournal.com]

Hee. Maybe one day we'll finally get that baby born..... ; P

[rdave1.livejournal.com]

I love baby!fics! One of my favorites is As the Earth she Revolves by Cranberry Jei. I don't know if that's a baby fic or not since the kid is a toddler.

Also, stardust_20's magnus opus Bright Shiny Future in which Kara and Lee have a son together.

Btw, njborba did a short sequel to Wings and a Prayer about the new family and first snow fall.

[jeebs83.livejournal.com]

Oh, I haven't read that first one in a while! And njborba's sequel to WAAP was a gift/request for me! :D

[workerbee73.livejournal.com]

What was the fic where Kara gets pregnant but then disappears into the fleet and Lee searches for her-- and OMG it's so fluffy but I just love it. It's the one where he asks her out on a date afer he finds her but hasn't figured out that she has a baby...

Anyone?

[shah-of-blah.livejournal.com]

I think you're talking about latte's "Inescapable Darkness," sadly removed.

[cosetteferaud.livejournal.com]

LOL. I must admit that I have never been especially fond of baby!fic, it's just not my thing when it comes to Kara/Lee... I think it changes their dynamic too much. BUT. I enjoy it if it's well-weitten and believable, so fic recs are very appreciated :)

(A great one is ”Not the Colonial Dream” (http://community.livejournal.com/tulipfic/59877.html#cutid1) by rayruz).

[callmeonetrack.livejournal.com]

Agreed and agreed on the rec. :)

I tend to like fics dealing with pregnancy much more than fics where they coo over a baby a lot. Places to Stand (http://stars-like-dust.livejournal.com/190156.html#cutid1) by Claira is probably my favorite.

[(Anonymous)]

Great recommodations, I'll have to check them out!
I remember a fic I read a while ago, in which Kacey is living with Kara (I don't remember if Kara was her mother but I think she wasn't) and it tunrs out Kacey is Lee's, but they don't tell him for a long while and when he finds out he goes completely mental for while.

I was looking for it recently but couldn't find it, anyone else read it and remember the title?

[stripes13.livejournal.com]

I think that's Legacy (http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4606713/1/Legacy)?

It's an AU, Kara and Lee have a one night stand after he mother dies. She meets and gets involved with Zak while pregnant, and Adama takes her and Kacey on the Galactica following his death. Not one of my favs, but it was OK

[workerbee73.livejournal.com]

What was the one where Lee goes off on a Pegasus mission and comes back like years later and Kara had been pregant when he left but didn't tell him and by the time he gets back everyone thinks she's dead but she's really just been captured by cylons.....


Is it, As the Earth, She Revolves?

[rdave1.livejournal.com]

Ya! Kara sent Lee a letter and Dee never gave it to him so the everyone thought he was dead beat dad.

[rayruz.livejournal.com]

OH! Also "Schisms" by lotus79.... it's a WIP but I love it and I want it to finish! Kara and Lee are briefly sexually involved after Zak's death (six years before the start of the series), and she vanishes. Lee finds her in the fleet after the fall of the Colonies... and she has a five-year-old son.

[workerbee73.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah! Excellent choice.

Regarding Baby!fic....

[workerbee73.livejournal.com]

I go back and forth. Sometimes I crave it like dark chocolate mousse-- other times, I feel kinda meh about it.

What about other peeps?

Re: Regarding Baby!fic....

[jeebs83.livejournal.com]

I especially crave it when I'm under the weather or had a bad day.
(hence the topic for today's DDP). ;)

[shah-of-blah.livejournal.com]

Ill-Conceived (http://becisvolatile.livejournal.com/106257.html) by becisvolatile and angylinni is one of my all-time favorite babyfics.
Naming Conventions (http://literarylemming.livejournal.com/185392.html) by literarylemming
Soft Spot (http://community.livejournal.com/beyond_insane/570364.html) by em_meredith
Eris (http://koren-m.livejournal.com/5416.html) by koren_m (this is Kacey fic, although it was written before season 3, so her name's not Kacey)

I really like daybreak777's Rachel!Verse (http://daybreak777.livejournal.com/tag/rachel), which is not so much babyfic as childfic.

Pregnancy fic:
Places to Stand (http://stars-like-dust.livejournal.com/190156.html) by stars_like_dust
Life Is Tough Enough (http://thefannishwaldo.livejournal.com/233081.html) by thefannishwaldo (hee, sort of)

All of daybreak777's babyfic recs (http://daybreak777.livejournal.com/tag/babyfic).

On FFN, I'd check out the works of roofietoof (http://www.fanfiction.net/u/873123/) and Cranberry Jei (http://www.fanfiction.net/u/397343/).
There's also Ian K's I See You (http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3190270/1/I_See_You). It's Kacey fic, and I enjoy it although...I don't think it's very well written.

And then one of my favorite Kacey fics is Bloodlines (http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3862511/1/Bloodlines) by Jason Thompson.

There's lots more out there, but that's what I've got off the top of my head. Some of TamSibling's stories, for example (I don't have time to track down the links right now).

[jeebs83.livejournal.com]

Woo! I can't wait to come home and re-read all of these!!! :D

[rdave1.livejournal.com]

Some great recs! I was just going to mention Child of Destiny by roofietoof.

[rdave1.livejournal.com]

I think this one is by Latte and is more of a pregnancy fic then a baby fic. Kara is pregant, tells Lee it's Sam but in the end it turns out to be his to no ones surprise. The title escapes me at the moment.

[shah-of-blah.livejournal.com]

It's By Your Side. Not latte's, another author on FFN. I don't really like it very much, but I remember it.

[aurora-0811.livejournal.com]

I love me some babyfic. I just want to dream of the pilots getting their happily ever after and kids dammit! They would have made adorable parents. I mean look at how awesome they were as Mommy Lead Pilot and Daddy CAG! It's fun detour from fic that focuses on the heavy angst of the relationship only.

I fail at linkage while at work but Perspectives, The Back 2 Good stories, and the Holiday fic over on Pi's fic LJ are just some of my favorites there. I also really love Ray's "Not the Colonial Dream" and NJBorba's "Wing and a Prayer" too.

ETA: Oh!! Naming Conventions is listed above....that's a good one too. You guys are quick!

[rdave1.livejournal.com]

I mean look at how awesome they were as Mommy Lead Pilot and Daddy CAG!

LOL!!!

OMG!!! YES!!!

[jeebs83.livejournal.com]

Great conversation/recommendations so far guys! I have to run to work for a few hours (boo). So I'm sure I'll need this thread (and a few glasses of wine) when I get back!

ps. taragel I'll work on your icons tonight.
:)

[callmeonetrack.livejournal.com]

Oh no worries, girl. You take your time, it was just nice of you to offer!

[ninjamonkey73.livejournal.com]

It's funny, but my first reaction when I see "baby!fic" is to think, meh. But then I see the recommendations and think, oh yeah, I loved that one...

Done right, I'm in (Insanity Underrated, especially, because it isn't a story about them having a baby so much as a story in which they have one). I'm still on the fence about stories that are just the arc of they frak, she gets pregnant, they figure stuff out and become a family. When I first joined the fandom, the number of stories I read that turned out to be baby!fic was a bit surprising because my vision of Kara was as a soldier/pilot and motherhood (or at the very least pregnancy strips that all away.

I'll admit, there are good stories to be told in that space. When she gets grounded and has to cope with nothing to do, then sleep deprivation with a newborn, and working to get back on CAP. I get it. And I'll read just about anything (especially if the rating is Mature ;) ) about my pilots.

[cattm.livejournal.com]

It's funny, but my first reaction when I see "baby!fic" is to think, meh. But then I see the recommendations and think, oh yeah, I loved that one...

I'm so with you on this one. I guess I'm a convert now. : )

[coffeesuperhero.livejournal.com]

I didn't think I'd like it, but I'm, ah, maybe writing some RIGHT NOW (I'm looking at YOU, G-Docs!), and I love it. Why didn't I write this before? THERE IS NO BAD HERE.

[rayruz.livejournal.com]

I WANNA READ YOUR BABYFIC. ZOMG.

I don't know why but it felt like I almost asked to have your babies... that was the tone of voice. OH GODS.

[cynicalshadows.livejournal.com]

Not gonna lie, nothing has me exiting out of a fic faster than Kara and Lee and a baby makes three. The one exception is if I didn't know the story was going to become baby!fic and by the time I did realize it, I was too engrossed in it to stop reading (yeah amidala_thrace I'm looking at you).

[shah-of-blah.livejournal.com]

I'm curious, when you talk about "Kara and lee and a baby makes three," do you just mean the sort of happy ending, porch swing style of fic? Or anything involving pregnancy/babies? For instance, what about a fic like "Places to Stand" in which Lee and Kara have to deal with an unwelcome change in their lives?

[lapsedprof.livejournal.com]

In general, I agree with cynicalshadows - I tend to flee at the first sign of a baby. But I'm willing to have my prejudices challenged. So I just read "Places to Stand" based on tara and cossette's little discussion of it above - and I really enjoyed it, in part because it dealt explicitly with how profoundly traumatic a pregnancy would be for Kara. I suspect my resistance is to a conventional domestic scenario for the two of them, because it seems so out of character for them. But a story that deals with the challenge they'd face and doesn't suggest that a baby would magically solve the tensions in their relationship...ok, I'm game.

And now I'll have to check out more of these recs.

[callmeonetrack.livejournal.com]

In that case, I second Imperative by Wisteria which Rayruz recced up thread.

I also think she has The Greater Good that you might like (if I'm recalling correctly.)

(Not that it matters what her fic are about, they're all excellent so you should read her whole canon anyway.)

[amidala-thrace.livejournal.com]

Why yes, I am blushing redder than a fire engine right now, thanks for asking! ;D Seriously ... warm fuzzies all around, guys! I'm just pleased that my humble little fic is being enjoyed by so many people. :)

As for babyfic itself, I'm mixed - which may come as a surprise, but hear me out. It's possible to do babyfic very well in this fandom (hence why I don't believe the entire genre should be dismissed or tarred with the same brush) and it's also possible to do it very poorly. As someone else said above, the best kind is usually the kind that doesn't focus only on pregnancy, or the baby, or the "cute" aspects. Fluff is okay. I have nothing against fluff, believe me! But if, for example, I had set out to write something like Insanity Underrated as purely a piece of fluff, I can tell you right now I would have failed. Kara and Lee have a baby, yes, but the core of the story is still about them as people. I'm also far more interested in exploring the effects of the relationship on the characters themselves, and how each would react to an unexpected child, than I am in writing scenes that feature Kara and Lee fawning over her stomach and exclaiming each time the baby kicks (which I don't think are terribly in-character anyway).

Then again, all of that might also be my own personal biases talking - I have a boatload of real life-related Hangups and Issues when it comes to baby- and kidfic - but it is what it is, and overall I enjoy writing Kara/Lee interaction far more than I do Kara & Baby or Lee & Baby. ;)

[shah-of-blah.livejournal.com]

I just wanted to say that I think my favorite thing about the baby stuff in IU is the way you flipped a common fandom trope on its head. How many baby stories involve Kara freaking out and Lee reassuring her? (Answer: a lot, and I would know because I've read all of them). So I think it was really clever the way you turned that around. And it made me all 'wow, how did I never notice that before? Of course Lee would have issues!'

[xmaidelx.livejournal.com]

Child, I will read most anything if it's recced, and seeing as I have barely read any Kara/Lee, I think I am very thankful for this post.

*SQUISHES*

[rayruz.livejournal.com]

*tackle*

Fancy seeing you here!

[rdave1.livejournal.com]

WOW!! Lots of reccs! I won't be doing anything productive at work tomorrow.:)

[eugis.livejournal.com]

I like babyfic. There, I said it. :)

[jeebs83.livejournal.com]

At work on my break, but I'm almost off. I cried again. It was stressful and whatnot, so I very much look forward to coming back here with a bottle of wine and reading everyone's recs!

[nazkey.livejournal.com]

AAACCCCKKK!!! Late to the party as usual and this happens to be one of my favorite fic genre's. I love baby fic when it's in character. I was reading through the comments and love most of what everyone else recommended and as usual, found some great new ones (you guys are amazing!).

One of my fav's is http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5045990/1/It_All_Came_Tumbling_Down.

It's not strictly just baby fic, but the babies do play a major role in it. It's a WIP and it's one of the ones I check religiously for updates.

PS Sorry you're having a bad day jeebs83 *hugs you*

[shah-of-blah.livejournal.com]

Oh, I love It All Came Tumbling Down! I was a bit wary at first, but then it got really good. It's on lj too (ruthkit) but I find long fics easier to read on FFN.