Author: Bookworm
Rating: T


Ripe

~ Preface ~

Back in the fall of 2014 I was planning to take a break from writing to focus on other priorities. My plans seldom work out though and I found myself gripped by a story idea a fellow Alias fan approached me about.

I have a fascination with SV/Alias fanfics – they have been my weakness and my escape for quite some time now and I get a kick out of writing them, mostly to indulge my own Syd-Vaughn addiction. However, I haven't written any AU or AE fics to date. Personally I prefer missing scenes to alternative ending since I'm a bit anal about sticking with the canon, to keep with character development.

However, as a one-off for another fanfic lover, I agreed to consider writing an AE story with a particular plot. The idea intrigued me – what I set out to do was simply to come up with an outline. But the exercise grew on me and I ended up filling in more and more details – for I'm afraid I won't be able to come back to them if I don't write them down.

The request was for an alternative ending to the episode "S.O.S" (S5E10) but the story kind of took on its own life once I began. It is an AU fic but with a strong "missing scenes" flavor. The story has ballooned to span five episodes, and it allows me to fold the AU arc back into the canon at the end – which I really like and swayed me to commit to the plotline.

It is going to be a SV-centric tale and it fills a huge void from the canon. There aren't too many things I would like the show to be different but my central story idea is definitely one of them.

You may also want to know I'm very deliberate in keeping the details in this fic as realistic as possible – which is ironic given it is a fanfic after all. I've actually gone to the trouble of researching locations, terminology and facts. They may seem tedious but they help provide context and frame the characters' mindset.

It will be rated T at minimum since there will be some mature audience materials in later parts of the story.

I'm not sure if you'd like my dabbling into AU land – PLEASE let me know what you think. I will provide some more thoughts about my direction as the chapters unfold.

If all goes well, I hope to post Chapter 1 in celebration of our favorite couple on Valentine's Day…