Thant's awesome, Kelly.  You've captured the intensity of her emotions beautifully. :)

So glad you're posting this here; it gives me another excuse to read it again.I love this different, brittle Minerva. She's the flip side of the McGonagall we normally see in fic, and it works beautifully. I love that in this piece, she's not a foil for Severus in any way--she's his mirror image, with all the self-loathing and disbelief than anyone could possibly want her, really.I also love the sense of dislocation you give here--the way the few "scenes" are handled with the bare minimum of description and sort of hung within the flow of Minerva's thoughts. It's easy to see why she doesn't feel like herself any longer--so much has happened and is happening at the time the story takes place.

The sheer naked... need... in this is so palpable - and so damn frustrating !! And you know, from other sites, by the time you were finished with Snape's POV, I was ranting !! 

This is wonderful, the chapters are beautifully written and work so well together.  You make me feel for the both of them and make me understand how they think.  So sad!  But what would be absolutely wonderful - though very, very angsty, sad and depressing - would be one more chapter.  Set during Severus's year as Headmaster.  Please?  Please?  I think you would write is so well that I would have to ensure I had a boxful of tissues but it would be worth it.

Now for Severus' turn--and what a festival of fucked-up-ness it is, too! Such a wonderful, painful, read.Those are his terms, and they are not negotiable, because he has to protect himself. He can never let her know how much she has come to mean to him. Such bitter double meaning here.But with Minerva, there's nothing to prove. He is what he is, as is she; there's no pretense. Oh, the irony!He'd decided to deny himself food until he could get her out of his mind, but all that happened was that he got light-headed and faint and felt as if his brain had left his body: he floated to the ceiling of his dungeon quarters and looked down at himself lying on the bed. And he'd hated that scrawny, pasty, greasy thing that was Severus, pathetic and ridiculous and disgusting. You've perfectly described the state of arrested emotional development Snape must exist in; it's exactly what an angry sixteen-year-old might do over the pangs of unrequited love--and of course, the self-loathing that is so acute in some teens and seems to mellow into a kind of nasty brittleness that we also see in Severus. It's as if he's perched right between childhood and adulthood sometimes.But occasionally he wonders if there is anything he could do to change the situation. . . Perhaps he should try… Oh, Severus... if only....I love the cadence of the Reverend Haltwhistle's (great name, too) sermons. Haven't we all heard THAT preacher?... no one who is as given to shouting in daily life as Minerva could be passive in bed. Yes. Ahem.I adore this angsty piece, but to quote Judi Dench as Elizabeth I, "... something more cheerful next time, for Twelfth Night." My poor heart can't take it.

Circe forgive me - but I have this dreadful urge to become Albusinian - ie meddlesome - and exile the two of them to some distant shore away from all prying eyes and ears - away from the terrible burdens of war - so they can both heal - and oh, to the great joy of all, finally, finally SEE each other naked, in EVERY apsect that involves.  And that, my dear, is the mark of a truly gifted writer - able to make us care so passionately that we feel we have the ability to step into the tale and have some influence of our own upon it's outcome.  I would find this tale heartbreaking if not for that...

Kelly, my dear - I must ask you - and I only ask you because, I'm starting to get worried - about you... do you ever write about joy?You've got self loathing and despair down brilliantly - and you express pain in ways I could never manage - which, is also brilliant - but it pains me to see so much sorrow coming from your fingers... tell me ... is there fluff anywhere in Madam Chambliss' life?*winces, knowing she's going to get an earfull from this review*But - beside the mushy yammerings of this Snapper Head - tis bloody brilliant - as usual.A concerned

Well done.  This complements the first chapter perfectly. :)

I thought I would feel more sad after reading Severus' point of view, because once I knew that they both felt the same way, it would be awful that they never explored a deeper relationship.  But I was actually relieved to see that he felt the same way she did.  Somehow, if it were one-sided, I would have felt really awful for them.  And I'd like to think that they have time.  Each is holding on to what they have, waiting for the other to leave.  Which means that neither will leave.  Someday, when one has a really good or bad day, or when the liquor flows a little to heavily, they just might put themselves out there.  That may be wishful thinking, but that is what I am going with.Wonderful job!

Oh, Kelly, do you ever write anything subpar?  Not that you should, but it amazes me how you continue to knock them out of the park each and every time.The emotion here is so palpable, the longing for him, the knowing he won't ever be what she wants but is exactly what she needs.  I especially liked how she has become someone she doen't think her younger self would recognize.  That can be taken as a good or a bad thing, and I see it as a little of both.I wish she felt a little bolder, but who knows where that would get her.  Perhaps I will know after I see Severus' take on things.Fabulous, as always!

Fantastic. I love MM/SS when it's well done, and this definitely is.