An index and news update space for this fanfic journal. Just a place to stick the chapters and stories and hints at things to come so they're easy to find. Feel free to comment on the news updates. Seriously.

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Christmas Special (takes place AFTER the end of the story itself, which should be chapter 13 or so.)

 

10/19/08: A sneak peek at what to expect in the next few chapters of Spiders, after some research time. No, not an excerpt. But some major plot business to come.

10/22/08: So it's official, the story is skipping ahead a week. This cuts out scenes to be mentioned at the start of ch9 including visits from the team members, a scandalous flowergram from Rossi, Reid's one bad night of withdrawal, and some unresolvable sexual tension. What I want to do with these is, if possible, take some time between major updates and post little deleted scenes from the week here and there. It'd also give me a chance to drop little hints at plot complications to come, including things from the research bookmarks list. They'd all be easy to find right here on the page, and most of them would be drabble-length or a little longer. Anyone think they'd check back often enough for this to be a good plan, or would you rather see the whole week in one place instead of over time, or would anyone prefer a deleted-scenes chapter, of sorts? Let me know!

10/25/08: Expect ch9 tomorrow. This last scene of the chapter is killing me, for some reason it doesn't want to get written. Have no fear, I shall find a way.

11/8/08: *bangs head against desk repeatedly*

11/28/08 [2:48 am EST]: THAT'S IT I AM FINISHING THIS CHAPTER BY 8AM EST AND THAT IS THAT, NO EXCUSES, IT'S GONNA GET WRITTEN OR I'LL DIE TRYING.

11/30/08 [1:41 am EST] OH HEY GUESS WHAT

1/7/09: Woo, Christmas Special is done! And chapter 11, after throwing out many many MANY rough drafts, is finally getting into something now that I've shifted narrative styles and the boys don't need constant supervision.

I direct everyone's attention to this Canadian TV Promo for "100", and advise turning up the volume since the quality is low: but SO WORTH IT, and pay special attention around 21 seconds in, during a certain phone conversation:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0a127iEm270&feature=related

Okay, now turn your volume back down... you good? Okay.

I NOW DIRECT EVERYONE'S ATTENTION HERE AND HERE WHERE I TOTALLY CALLED IT.

/end I TOLD YOU SO moment

(also, sorry about the continued nonexistence of fic updates. I'm, uh, well. Developing a dislike for Reid, it seems. He's getting a smugness and Sue-tastic level of perfect competency about him and I miss him being the shy, awkward, super-geek Damsel in Distress/Woobie, and all of my shipping lately has diverted to putting Hotch with Morgan or Rossi or Emily. When Reid's ego gets knocked down a few notches we'll see.)

...BUT SERIOUSLY I WAS ON THE "IMPOTENCE+CHANGE THE WAY YOU PROFILE COMMENTS + SUBTEXT = FOYET RAPED HOTCH" THEORY FROM THE MOMENT IT HAPPENED AND NO ONE BELIEVED ME AND I WAS RIIIIIIIIGHT.

/okay, NOW end "I told you so!" moment. *flees*

Haven't been keeping up with this season since the halfway mark, heard about the finale just now, currently acquiring all missed episodes to catch up and then freak out a little and then brainstorm next chapter of fic. Haven't been writing fic due to a crazy couple of months and am doing better, don't worry about it, ilu all super huge ridiculous amounts, and expect a status report and some mixes of squee and terror and apparently there's a part in Omnivore that's going to make my year.

Oh, and also, did I mention, uh, what was it, oh right: OH MY GOD HOTCH NO.

This calls for my ER Hotch icon.

ps. Star Trek omg, must write Hotch and Reid on a movie date

pps. OH MY GOD YOU GUYS HOTCH ;___________;

ppps. if he doesn't survive to s5, I will become THIS.

Title: Spiders, Chapter 11
Author: Teja
Pairing: Hotch/Reid
Rating/Warnings: FRAO (Violence, imagined character death, more fluff than is healthy, and some consensual sex.)
Summary: Since Reid started opening up, Hotch's dreams had almost always been of basements.
Disclaimer: CBS owns all the Criminal Minds characters and my use of them is not for profit. Hooray for fair use!
A/N: *posts* ... *flees*
( Yes, Seriously. An Update. )

So I know I haven't updated in forever. The delay is a combination of factors.

• Drifting away from CM fandom and my interest in criminal psychology
• General slump due to college classes
• Character trouble: discovering that Hotch was originally intended to be a friendly blond Mormon (I AM STILL RECOVERING FROM THIS IDEA) until thankGOD Thomas Gibson came in and played it scary
• In a similar vein, actor trouble: reading some comments by MGG about how conservatives are "Real Americans" and how he didn't like places like New York and California, which as a liberal has made me fall quite a bit out of love with him and made it hard to get into Reid's head again.
• Haven't watched the show for a couple months, need to catch up now that I know Hotch gets an episode for himself in a while
• MOST OF ALL: Have lost confidence in my writing. D: Getting e-mails with you guys' comments on the fic has helped tremendously, but I can't seem to pull it together.

I haven't given up on the fic, I'm just... kinda stuck in a rut right now. I'm gonna dig up all the rough drafts with stuff that never made it into the earlier chapters and try to pull this back together, and I'm already working on getting the episodes I've missed so I can try to get back into our boys' heads.

I really just want to say though, to everyone who's been reading and commenting, you guys... you guys are seriously the light of my life. I know I'm letting you down with all these delays and I hate that I won't be putting out anything spectacular to make up for it, but you're all still checking back and looking in, and I can't even.... asdfjkl; I love you guys, okay? :D You're amazing and I love you. And I won't give up if you won't give up.

Okay so dear readers.

This chapter finally has some material and is being written in some real capacity now.

SO UH HEY INSTEAD OF CHICKENING OUT LIKE I DID IN BSR AND USING PRONOUNS AND HEROIC ADVERBS AND DIALOGUE SINCE I'M A SMUT WUSS WITH HOTCH AND REID, I MIGHT ACTUALLY MENTION ~*~PENISES~*~ THIS TIME WHEN I GET AROUND TO THE EMOTIONAL PORN. ALSO I WILL TRY NOT TO USE THE ONLY SLIGHTLY LESS WUSSY WORDS "MEMBER" OR "ERECTION". HONESTLY, WE'RE GROWNUPS HERE. A COCK IS A COCK AND I'M SICK OF TRYING TO BE DIGNIFIED ABOUT IT. :D

Also srsly. The Christmas Special, guysss. I actually made a small change which had a huge impact and now I like it a whole lot better. So GO READ IT. <3

Pssst. I swear I'm not dead!

...just really REALLY blocked. Like ARGH, I am so blocked. I'm gonna go reread all the chapters of Spiders and try to pull something up for 11.

With luck I might be kinda heading for one of those 10pm-3am writing sessions, I'm gonna try anyway. Wish me luck!


ps. None of the usual Spiders comment-crowd commented on the Christmas Special. :< There's no outright spoilers for the last few chapters, guys, I swear it's safe. I'm worried I've lost you with my delays! D:

Title: Spiders Christmas Special (1/1) (...kinda, see Rating section)
Author: Teja
Pairing: Hotch/Reid
Rating: FRT for softer implications of the slashy, violent main continuity of the story (which this is not OFFICIALLY included in yet, thus the separate numbering)
Summary: "How is any one person this prone to paper cuts?" Hotch asked, baffled, as he affixed another band-aid between Reid's thumb and index finger. "Do you naturally grab things by their edges?"
Disclaimer: CBS owns all the Criminal Minds stuff, I don't claim authorship of any works by Gilbert & Sullivan, nor do I own anything to do with LEGO, A Christmas Story, Primer, Die Hard, okay y'know what, let's just say I own nothing mentioned herein! :D
A/N: Normal Spiders continuity just passed "Open Season" and the fic is set to end during early season 3. So this is a mild flash-forward, sitting all the way over in December of s3. Chronologically this is technically an epilogue (eek!), but I'll probably write another one later when I decide this isn't nearly happy enough. Also, cringe-worthy "oops", Jack is definitely a toddler in s2, and I got him acting about six. Eek! Ironically, I've very quietly regressed him a little in this chapter.
A/N 2: Whoa my goodness. Heads up, I also let myself have a little imagery this chapter, which I've refrained from for a long time and ohgod am I rusty. If you're the type who notices this stuff and you have a second to comment, let me know if there's any sentence or adjective or image or something that sticks out in your mind (for better or worse!) Well, enjoy! Merry Belated Holiday Season!
A/N 3: I figured out what this was missing!

( It's like playing Hot Potato with damaged psyches... )

Belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Years, everybody! Since I try to keep this journal at least tangentially writing-related, I won't blab on about my personal resolutions. They're all weird anyway.

My fic-related resolutions (basically half-to-do-list and half-bunnies): 

1. Finish Spiders, for chrissakes.
2. Get the little Spiders Christmas!fic done--by the end of this weekend at the most!
3. Write some fluffy sick!fic because d'awww.
4. Write PWP involving Hotch and a tie as a blindfold before the plotbunny tries to creep into something else.
5. Write Criminal Minds/West Wing crossover where Gilbert & Sullivan shows are discussed. ("...They're ALL about duty.")
6. Write Hotch-goes-permanently-deaf fic so the idea will leave me alone. ;__;
7. Write Reid-showing-symptoms-of-schizophrenia fic, for the exact same reason.
8. Write Hotch-and-Reid-have-to-go-undercover-as-a-couple fic, because the idea of them posing as gay parents during a conference with a preschool teacher to lure the UNSUB out is just adorable.
9. Write barely-plotted H/R smut in a hotel room during a case, so I have a place to put the idea I can't shoehorn into Spiders.
10. Construct a complete backstory for Hotch for reference. (Also, for God's sakes ANYONE, do we have a point of reference for his age?)
11. Over a long period of time, write H/R tags for every episode, without connecting them all or building the relationship throughout. Just tags.
12. Write something where Gideon comes back to the area briefly, meeting with members of the team here and there, and their reactions to him, emphasis on Hotch's and downplaying Reid's.
13. Write something where Reid and Hotch have to take care of JJ's baby for a day and hilarity ensues.
14. Write AU professor+TA fic because it's overdone everywhere else but I see so little of it in this fandom. Hotch/Reid, of course. :D
15. Write Hotch-and-Reid-after-the-BAU fic with something happy in it, to counterbalance 6 & 7.

Now back to writing the Christmas!fic (and bits of chapter 11, which was supposed to send someone into a case but it looks like it'll just be the last day of time off and the first morning back at the BAU. Come chapter 12 I will definitely have some action again.)

So guess who started that Christmas!fic a week late! :D

You have the Stargate Atlantis fics by rageprufrock to thank for me breaking out of my slump this time. I re-read all her Sheppard/McKay fics yesterday when I had a few free hours. Of course, the "Bell Curve" series is my Bible for writing and has been since a year ago when I first read it, and I'm slightly in McShep headspace right now which is good, because Hotch and Reid need a little banter and Pru!fic always gets me in a fluffy humor mood. Her similes make my heart melt and her Rodney is always a jerk and in-character and still endearing and I LOVE her for that.

This little Spiders Christmas Special is off to a late start, yes, but hopefully it'll be worth the writer's block I had all month. (that novel I mentioned? Blocked. Blocked blocked blocked and I'm back to fic so disregard that hiatus idea, I just need to get some voices back and I'm good to go) The Christmas!fic will show some hints of the aftermath of the story, plus the return of my pet theory that neither of them can cook. Expect tiny scatterings of angst and keep an eye on Hotch, but also expect it to be eclipsed by fluffy happy Hotch/Reid because I want them to be happy and Rule of Drama can take a hike. :D

Back to WordPad!

Some of you may have noticed I haven't been putting many notes up about Spiders recently (and especially that there's been no recent update.)

I actually broke out of an original fiction writer's block recently and I'm taking some time away from Spiders to work on a novel that I've been throwing around inside my head and some .rtf files for the better part of the past six years. This should be good since my tendency towards monogamous writing has caused me to burnout in the middle of several projects, and I don't want Spiders caught up in that like every other fanfic and novel I've attempted. Diversifying is definitely the way to go, I'm finding lately.

So I'm taking a small break from the main Spiders timeline to get some more of this story out of my system. In the meantime I'll work on getting Hotch's and Reid's voices back, and if I can do that in the next few days, maybe post a little flash-forward for a post-Spiders Christmas for Hotch and Reid to make us all happy. I'll probably go back to shorter chapters after this break, too, since these long marathons are definitely causing more stress than they're worth.

I'm also going to be working on a long-planned Hotch fanvid and some icons and rewatching/heavy note-taking on earlier seasons, so it's going to be a very productive little break.

(psst. In addition, expect the fluff to get a little more attention on my return; I've just fallen into a relationship and it's helping my writing quite a bit. One's creativity for romance increases with experience, and let me just say, lately all I've been thinking of are ways to sweep a certain someone off their feet and make them smile! <3)

The whole episode's psychology was GLORIOUS. <3 I never expected that last twist until it actually happened, which was fantastic. And they balanced the action, the psychology, and the character development really well. This is the kind of thing that makes me love this show. <3

And. And. And. AND. THE LAST FEW MINUTES. I think it gave me kid!fic bunnies for the entire BAU team.

And JJ and Hotch smiling at each other made me a little sad, because JJ's pretty much been the only steady, kind woman in his life since the start of the show and he's obviously looking out for her by telling her to stay away from the BAU for a while, but he clearly misses her. That and I've got a tiny little pet theory that he secretly has some subtextual feelings for her, but hates himself for it because she's married with a kid now and he shouldn't feel that way. But then my other pet theory is that Will is gonna die and JJ and Garcia are gonna raise the baby together.

PS.

http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/9747/vlcsnap232353jr3.png

While waiting for my download of "Normal", I was watching "Brothers in Arms" again just to see if my hating it was because I was in a low mood that day. It was just as bland this time. But this time I noticed one tiny thing that made me stop, rewind, and rewatch a few seconds in a loop for several minutes.

Ladies and Gentlemen, about 34 and a half minutes into the episode you will see the following:

AARON HOTCHNER WIELDING A SHOTGUN.

This episode has been redeemed and I shall speak ill of it no more.

And now I'm off to go to sleep since my sleep schedule is now 4-11 am, which is bad but could be worse. Sadly this is pretty much required when you're outbidding people on Ebay for Digimon trading cards, P.G. Wodehouse novels, out-of-print J-RPGs, T-shirts with physics jokes, obscure J-rock CDs, and recorded performances of Gilbert & Sullivan shows. I wish I were talking about all that in reference to Christmas Shopping for other people, but no. That's all just my usual stuff. >>;; (Trading cards, literature, video games, science, Japan, and showtunes. Well, it's official: I'm a nerd on every level.)

Had to torrent the ep since I was studying for finals last week, but finally got around to watching it. Here's the bullets, and then there's #4.

1. Did anyone else notice MGG's voice was kinda scratchy? I kept waiting for him to sneeze and do one of his little Reid!apologies.
2. Yay for Morgan getting some character development!
3. Hotch using himself as bait totally terrified me. See below.

4. Does anyone else worry that the show is getting a little formulaic? I dunno. Watching the earlier seasons, everything was about the psychology and victimology, and the characters were more forward. This season it feels more like Generic Crime Show Episodes. It's been more about the UNSUBs and the action, with a recent string of exceptions.

And the characters... well, just look at this episode. Hotch was a walking grimace, Emily was The Strong Girl, Garcia was a more-perky-than-the-rest computer analyst, Rossi existed to comment on things, Reid offered statistics, and Todd was there to click some powerpoint slides for ten seconds. And when they gave Morgan something good, it was shoehorned into the dialogue to a cop he barely knew when we know Morgan doesn't like to talk about things. Even in the interrogation, he was just Good Cop to the one guy playing Bad Cop (hell, THAT guy was the most rounded-out character in the episode, next to Officer Moustache who I totally love). It's like a subpar case!fic—everyone was just their most prominent trait pasted onto the situation. 

I am mildly reassured to know it was Holly Harold's first time writing an episode, but DAMN, you guys. I thought the season was rescuing itself with "Memoriam" and "Masterpiece" and "52 Pickup", but now I'm worried it's slumping again. Not to mention since the third ep of the season, Hotch has basically just been SSA Hotchner, no more, no less. And TG is at the end of the credits now, and did I mention I was terrified that he was bait? I'm afraid they're making him expendable. It's bad enough we don't have Gideon or JJ (4x14, come soon!) or even Elle around, if we lose Hotch... I just don't know. SIGH. Maybe I'm just paranoid and this ep has me in a low mood.

PS. Had an idea earlier to write a flash forward for Spiders of Hotch and Reid at season3 Christmas, dropping tiny hints of what'll happen in between (and half an excuse for Christmas fluff in the Spiders!verse. <3) Would any of my readers object?

Title: Spiders (10/?)
Author: Teja
Pairings: Hotch/Reid, earlier OMC/Reid.
Rating/Warnings: FRM for mention of torture, violence, etc., mention of noncon slash, and some light (consensual!) slash.
Spoilers: Most of season 2. Takes place loosely after "Ashes and Dust", and with a small not-quite spoiler for "Open Season", during which this chapter takes place (because honestly, 20-some episodes stretched across a year, we can make a few allowances in the timeline. :D)
Summary: The Hotchner family situation gets finalized, Reid finally talks about something he's been blocking off, Hotch makes a few confessions of his own, and someone extends their medical leave.
Disclaimer: Don't own anything except the OMC, who finally gets some time this episode. Or the OFC, who gets none. Which sucks, because she's fun to write.
A/N: asdfjkl; It has been a month and three days, dear God, I am so sorry. I'm going to go write even more soul-crushingly boring papers for school, but tomorrow night when they're all done, I'll come back and comment on all the lovely feedback you all always leave for me. <3  And oh hey, that fluff I promised? It practically wrote itself in. I love when a plan comes together! :D There was supposed to be one last scene, but it wasn't working, so it's been pushed back. Expect some action and case-stuff next chapter, though by the end, you'll know who's going to be involved in all that and who isn't.

This chapter got split up because oh god this is just short of 11,000 words. But there's a link to the second half down there at the bottom, so you'll be fine. Enjoy! (...Finally.)

#

( Chapter 10 First Half )

(Second Half)

Chapter will go here when I'm done proofreading. I don't trust myself writing after 24 hours without sleep.

EDIT FIVE MINUTES LATER: 

Oh thank God I decided to check this. Wow my nonworking brain. brb ERRORS EVERYWHERE 

AND RANDOM ACTS OF CRUELTY TO A POOR INNOCENT COMMA.


(this chapter may see the light of day yet, but not until I've been through it five times)

EDIT AS OF 11/30 1:38 A.M.: 


OH HEY LOOK OVER HERE

Oh my God, has it seriously been a month since the last chapter update?

Oh, Christ. I am so sorry, you guys. I never meant this delay to go on for so long, I... nngh! D: This is awful. I feel awful. School's been so This writer's block is  No, I'm not even going to make excuses anymore. I suck.

Now I'm going to go kick this procrastination in the throat. Then I'm going to finish this chapter, even if I'm up until six in the morning and I hate a few blocky sentences. I am going to do this.

Expect an update by 8 a.m. EST today, and that's that. I promise. 

(Blinks awake again and crawls off to WordPad) 

I think this may be the first time I've posted a reaction and gotten the episode's name right in the title! Hahaha.

Quick summary of my reactions: 

1. OH REID. :D NEVER CHANGE.
2. Hotch is totally Mom-ing it up this episode. And Rossi called him out on his intense stare. Hee.
3. Every time Hotch and Garcia talk happily together, I feel like the sun is rising in my heart. Especially complimenting each other at the end of that phone call.
4. I like Todd. I miss JJ, though.
5. ASDFJKL; CREEPY UNSUB IS SO CREEPYYYY

While I watch, I make little notes in NotePad and look back at them for reference. Here's the 52 Pickup set, because this episode was just so chock full of things I noticed. And squeeing over Reid, a lot of that. And then my mind went to Firefly and SGA at the end for a minute.

( My episode notes, with times. )
My train of thought is a bigger geek than I am. And it's SO gay for Paget. <3;;;

I stumbled through another scene for Spiders today (chapter 10 is now up to about 5,000 words, yay for halfway marks!) between Psychology papers, after spending all weekend on English work and trying to write the end to another scene which completely died on me. I tried  to inject some conflict, but Hotch and Reid didn't want to argue, and I swear Reid just writes himself sometimes. Now I'm getting my Haley-voice back. Which brings me to the thing that brightened up my day.

Sometimes I think I'm writing Hotch too fluffy.... Then I watch "The Fisher King Part 1" and I start d'awww-ing over family!Hotch.

Which inspired another fluffy family-type scene that should give this chapter the springboard it needs to get done in the next few days. Which must be a drop in the pond, after what, like, a MONTH of keeping you guys waiting? I suck. D:  asdjfkl; BUT at least it's getting done.

ps I am never putting off work until the end of the semester ever. Again. *shudder*