yahtzee

5 characters or couples you wish could have gotten a happy/happier ending.

1) Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr, most X-Men canons -- given the fluidity of comic book canon/alternate timelines/etc., it seems just possible those crazy kids might work it out eventually, at least in some dimension or another, but by then they will have done their time tearing each other apart while simultaneously yearning to be on the same page. Also the same bed.

2) Jack Bristow and Irina Derevko, "Alias" -- who make Charles and Erik's story look SUPER HAPPY by comparison. So much angst, so much hotness, so many contract negotiations with Lena Olin getting in the way. Still the alpha couple for my personal bulletproof kink, "Hot Angry Old People."

3) Jean-Luc Picard and Beverly Crusher, "Star Trek: The Next Generation" -- You know, I never even saw the last movie. But so far as I can tell, they get married after 15 years of the most anemic courtship ever? And are destined maybe to get divorced? Beverly, I like you and all, but I would've jumped Jean-Luc Picard no later than "The Big Goodbye." Canon has yet to provide one compelling reason for all the damn delaying, and I'd believe their romance had a better shot if Beverly hadn't been so inexplicably reluctant for so long. Maybe this is a case where I'm wishing for a happier ending, or rather a happier beginning.

4) Jadzia Dax and Worf, "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" -- Now, this is more like it. Jadzia started flirting with Worf about 90 seconds after she laid eyes on him, and unlike virtually any other Trek couple, they pretty much just went for it. Seriously refreshing. And then Terry Farrell didn't re-up her contract, and -- alas. (For the record, I was fine with Ezri Dax not taking up with Worf in her turn -- they had zero chemistry -- but the same could be said of Ezri and Julian, which was just ... you know, it made oatmeal look enthralling.)

5) Josephine March and Theodore "Laurie" Lawrence, "Little Women" -- you know, in the 1995 film version, I can just buy Jo/Bhaer. Gabriel Byrne turns Bhaer from an almost farcical father figure into a guy worth the wanting; his advice feels more judicious and heartfelt, less censorious. But Laurie/Amy? COME ON FOR SERIOUS. One of the most painful parts of this is that Jo's initial refusal only makes sense if you read it as her rejecting marriage itself, and the limitations on her freedom she might realistically have dreaded in that era, despite Laurie's optimistic promises that they could choose how they wanted to live. But when she marries Bhaer instead, she accepts lectures and corrections ... instead of the guy who wanted her to travel and write and take just as big a bite of life as she'd ever dreamed. As I think of it I am making grumpy face.

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For such as may be interested, I have written a story for "Tangled" -- "A Princess And A Guy Like Me." As the title indicates, I may have imprinted strongly on princess/ruffian relationships circa 1977.

Also, here lies the latest XMFC story: "In Shadow and Silence."