I LOVE your summertime descriptions: the sweet, innocent freedom of the bike, the Fourth of July, the two playgrounds, and the candy store (both original flavor and the awkward redux). Especially that section before Dean's breakdown. So dreamy that I forgot Dean was even having issues. Then cold, harsh reality breaks in. :(
The shift from a happy hike in the park to middle-of-a-scary-hunt was also excellently done.

Now to random tidbits:

CAS ON A SWING!! ♥♥♥ I don't know if this was a nod to EA, nor do I really care. The image your words invoked left me wishing I could draw. (Again.) ♥
Castiel's insistence to tag along and help where he could - and getting a song stuck in his head - might've made me love him a little bit more. :D
Though his possible use of Jimmy's memories hit me a bit on the creepy side.

Sam pouting about the changed candy wrapper; subconsciously making the town his Safe Home template despite his lack of memory about the place (which makes a perfect kind of sense, btw); his unease at how everything's shrunk in the store; the HUGS (Sammy demanding his fair share in The Summer of Hugging Dean(TM) ♥!) And the "Not my secret, Daddy."? Hurts. On both ends.

Having John be There without him being The Problem. Fandom in general has a very biased view of the poor guy. Thank you for keeping him human, as well as an occasional screw-up.

And Dean, being so all-round Awesome despite all the Hells he's gone through. WE LUB YOU DEEEN!!! ♥♥♥

Hmm, have I missed anything? ::thinks:: Gonna have to reread for specific quotes. :DD

May!

I'm so sorry it's taken me so long to get back here and post a comment. Real life has rode me hard and put me away wet one time too many in recent months, and I've either been super busy or it's completely slipped my mind.


As for my thoughts on Lights of Home?

I'll tell you the same thing I told my friend (@hadleylizzy) when I was recommending it to her, "this is why I'm so excited that I won Maychorian in the Sweet Charity auction!"

This is a beautiful, complex story, that deals with an ugly reality of our times in a delicate, yet personal manner.

Thank you for sharing little bits of your soul with us.

-j
><>

*hysteric squeeing*

god, this fic just kills me! (in the best way possible)

Love the 'voices' of wee!dean, regular!dean, john, cas.... yeah, everyone. :P

It's good to see a fic with a balanced john, where he wants to be a good father, and can when he actually puts the effort in, but at the same time is very much a hunter.

and wee!sammy is just the cutest thing ever!

Cas being a little more human, and helping Dean to deal with trauma's like this is so lovely, and Dean... well, I'm very much a Dean girl, so I'm not going to say too much, saving you from over-enthusiastic fangirling, but wow! Awesome wee!dean, so real, so huggable, so Dean!


ok... i think im done now. :P

But then sleep caught up with me, and the lists I had been composing in my head disappeared into the ether. Mind you, it was all good stuff. I've never read an abuse fic--and very few abuse stories at all, if any--that were just so... yes. Yes, to the way he reacted to what happened. Yes, to the way John reacted (I loved the line about how the top of Dean's head was wet, and that it didn't make sense). Yes, to that tiny, two-second scene after the first sparring session, where Sam goes out and puts his arm around Dean and says something in his ear. I could see it in my mind, tiny Dean and tinier Sam, sitting side by side. Yes, so much yes to Cas quietly singing hymns by the window--I keep remembering how Misha had said that Castiel's favorite music is Rachmaninoff's Vespers. Especially since the proper translation of the piece's title is actually the All-Night Vigil, which is appropriate to Cas's role in this story, in a way. Yes to how Dean dealt with it, to how Sam dealt with it, to how John dealt with it. Yes to Cas forcing them to deal with it, even in the face of apocalypse--because Dean needs to be strong, and he can't be with this still haunting him. Of all the Supernatural abuse!fics I've read, and all the ones I've skimmed over and decided not to read, this is the only one that I've been able to look at and say, "Yes, that is Sam, and that is Dean, and this could have easily been canon." Moreso, it's the only one I've liked enough that I would accept it for canon.

But... More importantly, it's set off an important chain of thoughts in my own mind. It seems there are things in my own life that need dealing with, which I didn't think about until reading this. Realizations like that are the best reason why I read fiction in the first place, and stories that can do that are rare. You've managed to write something worth reading for more than just entertainment. I want you to know that I appreciate that, especially with how much of yourself you put into this story.

Sorry for the rambling and overenthusiastic fangirling (and especially from my private journal account--I promise I'm a real person!),
Piper

P.S. I am already committed to a particular denomination... but I really want to check out Jimmy's (your) church now!