Timothy M.

Well I'm guessing they don't want to call too much attention to the case, but are hoping someone may have seen the assassin come out of the woods and get into his car somewhere. Poor Dean, one failed attempt with a silly girl, and he's turned off sex, but I can understand why. Being too well endowed isn't always a blessing. Though being able to blow himself sure compensates.

Damn K.C. you took the words out of my mouth. I liked the police interview part, so nice to see it written with sensible and propely behaved officers. They can obviously tell Dean is honest and trying to be helpful and worthy of trust. Nice with the gay neighbor tolerant part too. But the last part made a small tinkle of worry appear.

Well I guess I'll go with the obvious and say this story starts with a bang but it certainly doesn't fizzle out at the end. I like crime stories and this one seems to be quite complex right from the start with lots of secrets about to unfold.

Meanwhile back to the plot... I liked this chapter for showing how well Abel adapted and went back to work with only a few glitches. The four month jump in time was fine, as I can imagine the routine which probably helped him stay focused. Nothing like routine to cope with big upheavals in your life. Getting to appreciate his job more also helped. Plus practisng his skills on the crew members kept him from being bored. And getting off regularly in the group shower solved another problem. But of course the news of going back to Earth and the possible addition of two horny cousins was quite welcome.

It's up and I'm doing a small victory dance right now. Thanks Mark

I love being vindicated. Wade's coming to his senses happened even faster than I thought it would. Oh and I sincerely hope Wade is right about the test.

I loved this chapter about telepathy and telekinesis. It made me think of Anne McCaffrey's Rowan series which is built on similar concept (and trust me the comparison is meant as a compliment). The part about his dad was intriguing (especially as I've read the more detailed explanation), and it was interesting in contrast to Abel''s self-control. The sex was sweet and I liked the cuddling, since I guess poor Abel is starved of physical contact. I also made guesses as to his likely forays into intimacy with the rest of the crew, now we know they were just waiting for him to initiate it (probably hoping too ). Bringing the action with the surroundings to an almost complete halt in the story made sense, as we experienced Abel's need to absorb all of the complex information along with him. The direct link to the A.I. was a brilliant twist - and I chuckled at the HAL name.

Funnily I stayed away from the story due to the strong warning. I now feel stupid, because the 'sex between family members' is actually a very minor issue in this story (and I've read all the 14 chapters posted so far). And it's not even as if I'm normally revolted by such content. I actually think you're almost doing the story a disservice with having so heavy emphasis in the notes, because we expect much worse and my reaction was sort of 'oh is that all'. You should advertise for all the awesome content instead. Anyway, I'm so glad I finally managed to read it, as the whole concept captivated me right from the start. I love SciFi and also telepathy is another favorite, so this one is going to be a must follow from now on. As several people have remarked, the whole background stuff along with the explanation of all male ships is brilliantly done. I'm not going to comment on the Ice Prince issue since I've already read ch 2, but it was actually cute to read about his frustrations when you know the explanation.

It's interesting to see how high expectations are concerning Wade and how harshly he's condemned for mistakes and uncharacteristic behavior. Even when he's shown to realize and regret it fairly quickly. I cannot think of any other character in CAP, who is so aware of his own failings, so honest about them and so quick to acknowledge and apologize and correct his behavior or take action to repair the damage. Yes, Wade behaved selfishly for a few weeks due to his infatuation with Alex. How about Matt behaving selfishly and badly for MONTHS after 9/11 ? Or JJ being a selfish brat for years ? Or shall we talk about Claire and Marie being snobs and disregarding Will's feelings and being unable to admit they were at fault ? And I'm sure lots of people can point to instances where Will was wrong and unable to admit it. I'm not even gonna start on Brad and Robbie... For my part I find it refreshing to see Wade being shown as a human being who loses control and does spontaneous and maybe stupid things. I still consider Alex to be more likely to end up as a long term friend, and I hope Matt will realize this and give Wade time to work things out. In fact it's probably good they each have something they'll need to forgive each other for (Matt has Brad and Alex, and Wade the whole period after 9/11 - in fact most of college). I'm actually impressed at how well Matt has handled the situation so far, he's almost redeemed himslf in my eyes. Plus if Will can forgive him and come to like him, I'm sort of bound to do so as well. Thank you again Mark, for giving us a Wade POV chapter.

Thank you for giving us a glimpse of the Wade, I like and have missed. And for showing Will in a positive light through the eyes of Wade and Matt. Though I guess the word positive suddenly has bad connotations now, eh ?

Damn, I starting to feel like a football here, being kicked all over the place by unexpected blows. But the last one was the worst. Jim will be devastated at this awful consequence of him coming out. I hope the club has some good lawyers who can help Ty, but at least he's 18 years old, so his dad can't force him home, can he ? Oh and Neil still gives me the creeps. Almost as much as the media idiots camping on Jim's doorstep.

Ha, ha, ha that was hilarious. A nice chapter to ligthen up after all the heavy stuff. When Guy and Tas started fighting, I was just waiting for the water hose and I was all YES ! when they got it. I hope this means more chapters soon. Oh and that he is sensible enough to get them to help with Lester.

Thank you so much for this thread. It made me very happy, since I haven't seen a single one of the movies you mention, and I'd never even heard of half the titles. Good to know I've managed to avoid wasting my time on these disasters. I wish I had something to contribute. Only thing coming to mind is the destruction of my childhood trust in the ability of film makers to sustain the willing suspension of disbelief and to uphold the inner logic of a fictional world. I didn't think of it like that when it happened, but I can clearly recall my utter disgust at being ripped out of my enjoyment and feeling insulted at having anyone assume I'd buy this crap. But it wasn't a whole film, just a single scene.

But she did have freedom and the trust of her husband to an extent which very few women of that time period would experience. It's one of the reasons I like the Bridgemont series so much. Caroline and Granger were both rational and emotional in a wonderful manner. She accepted his liasons with men and appreciated his promise to avoid other women. He admired her for her cleverness in monetary and political matters and trusted her to manage their estate and maintain their status in life. He condoned her taking lovers as long as it only happened when he was away, and accepted a 'bastard' child as his own. This is why Caroline's behavior is so inexplicable. She's clever and she knows what society is like and what is expected. The rules she has to obey are not imposed by Granger (who himself has to worry even more about being exposed). When he scolds her for mistakes, it's always about lack of judgement and outward propriety. She can be as scheming and naughty and rebellious as she likes, as long as it's done with discretion and for the greater good of their family and not for her personal gratification. When I think how horrified and disgusted Caroline was about Davina's behavior, it's ironic she's so unaware of the similarity to her own selfish and risky conduct. However, I do blame Granger for one thing: we never see him talk about these matters with his wife. It might be because Mark finds it boring to write about (so it happens behind the scenes). Or Granger just assumes Caroline shares his understanding of these aspects (and has learnt from earlier mistakes) and so he need not explain. But in this respect Caroline is all woman: she needs to talk about things and she wants to discuss matters and know what her husband is thinking. Or maybe I'm rambling on as usual without knowing what's really going on. Which I seem to recall promising not to do anymore....

I live in Copenhagen. Need I say more ? But I'm too old and boring to go to clubs and places. So I just live vicariously via the report from young gay nephews etc. And via the internet of course

Mostly a happy chapter with a tiny sad note in the flash back. Although the Anastasia part made me wonder naughtily about half siblings conceived under a full moon.

Once again I got it all wrong and my faith in Caroline was misplaced. Except maybe for the last sentence. Perhaps I should just stop predicting or guessing in case Mark delights in doing the exact opposite. He does have a history of teasing Tim.

Well you gave us the horse (several of them) and the cowboy, but you left out the roll in the hay. But I guess you have confidence in the imaginations of your readers.

Don't know why I never managed to leave a review on this story. Oh well, better late than never. Reading it again reminded me of the questions I had after I finished this quirky and cute tale. Like did they come out as a couple and what happened then? And how did Blake manage to exact a subtle but cruel revenge on Brad for hitting Alex? (busting him for DUI would be a start and making him look ridiculous in front of hot chicks next) One of the best things was the compassion Blake had for Alex, not pity, just understanding and a wish to help. And for all that Alex was harboring a hopeless love for his so-called best friend, he was clever enough to recognize Mr Right. In fact I'm sure he came out to Brad in order to close that chapter and be ready for true love. Shows courage.

I'm with Kieran here, I have two (female) cousins who had a Big White Wedding, it was a nightmare for the whole family. One of them was so awful it took years before we were able to talk about it, but by now it's a family joke to recall all the disasters. Back to Kieran who is now shown to be nice to children and responsible when he cares. When do we get to see his bad side?

No, but having lost one parent (edit or actually two, ie his mom and Robbie, plus Hank), it's certainly understandable how Will would worry about losing Brad too. He may have been justifying his bitchy behaviour when he explains it to Matt, but normally Will is quite honest about how he feels (often painfully so ). So I'm taking it at face value when he says:

I'm thinking Matt's previous problems with his kidneys may have messed up the results, the way it happened with JP. On the other hand its not like Mark to use the same plot ploy twice If Matt really is positive and Wade is too, will this increase the likelihood of them being a couple again ? - or will they do the blame game we've seen with Kevin and Cody ? If Matt is positive and Wade isn't, what are the odds then ? If Wade even hints at Matt-being-a-slut-who-has-only-himself-to-blame attitude, I'll lose my respect for him. But the question remains of course: who did Matt get it from originally ? If he has it... But maybe it doesn't matter if it's to be seen as another fall-out from the mess the CAP family members were in after 9/11. I cannot help but recall Brad's anger at Robbie for going back up without considering the consequences, I felt the same when I read that fateful chapter (silently screaming Fuck no, don't turn back, you idiot). In the end Matt may pay a higher price for his father's illogical and emotional ways/actions than Brad has.

Oh well at least I got a Will POV chapter. Always cheers me up no matter the content. And the irony of Will lecturing Wade about bad behavior and lack of manners was delightful.

I'm happy to use other words like acquisition if you like, but you'll note I very carefully didn't say who stole the marbles as opposed to who bought them afterwards. However, the old (and maybe once valid) argument of the marbles being safer at British Museum definitely sounds hollow when you stand in the new impressive museum built a short distance from Akropolis. In any case, you're quite right about the matter being a question of morals - against the greater might of money and influence.

I just got home from a visit to Athens. Made me think of the 'Elgin marbles' and wonder if you are embroiling Granger in this much disputed theft of Greek national treasure from Parthenon.