i'm so happy you are enjoying this series!  i wrote the first story and thought it was done, but the characters would not leave me alone, and in the end, i'm very glad they didn't.  :)

thanks so much for your kind words! you've put a smile on my face this morning. :D

thank you so much for this lovely review!  you put your finger on exactly why i find ss/rl so compelling (and even prefer it to ss/hg).  fyi, i plan to post a christmas companion piece to this story for the yule challenge.while this version of events is basically canon compliant and therefore inherently sad, i promise i will do my best to write something in the future that has a happier outcome for these two.you put a happy smile on my face this afternoon.

thanks so much for your kind words.  when i started writing it, i didn't realize it would be so sad, as i wasn't entirely sure where it was going, but it did end up in a very sad place, indeed.

i'm so glad you enjoyed it.  knowing you were interested in reading the sequel definitely spurred me on to finish writing it, so thanks for that, too!yeah, i'm thinking my next snupin will be totally au so they can have a happy ending instead of all this heartbreak.