The Ultimate Gift by Debegal & Ryan Bartlett

[JamesSavik]

Brilliant story.

I hated the first 1/3rd of it.

Are you sure?

Really sure?

OK, don't blame me

Couldn't he have just moved to Florida?

[Lugnutz]

You bastard. Funny stuff, James. This is next on list. Now piss off and let me read.

1st edit: Have a hankie handy. You'll need it.

[Cynus]

i was given the honor of reading this before it was posted here... This is one of the most emotional pieces I have ever read, and I loved every minute of it, even the negative emotions that our writer friends made me feel...

phenomenally well done.

[Nigel Gordon]

I loved it, now popping out to get a new box of tissues!

[Rutabaga]

Ah, you two guys are such hopeless romantics.

And I mean that in a good way.

And I almost fell out of my chair laughing when Lucien belatedly started worrying if he was being too corny.

R

[colinian]

I normally don't like stories that go back and forth between different POVs. But our resident Beagle seems to have a way of writing them that makes them work. He and Ryan have written an excellent and emotional story about love. Bravo!

Colin

[Hoskins]

This was fun, although getting to the fun was a bit of a ride. I only cried a little bit, but no one is home so,there's that. My strange sense of masculinity is still intact.

A story well told and I really appreciate all the work you guys obviously put into this. Thank you.

[Guest RBartlett]

Thanks guys! This story took a lot of hard work and I'm pleased you're enjoying it. For those of you that cried, we share that experience with you. I can't count how many times I've read it now with all the editing and rewrites but I still bawl in places.

Thanks again!

[Guest Dabeagle]

This story was a unique challenge and there was a lot of back and forth once we'd decided to move forward with it.

*spoilers*

The idea for this didn't really come up until Cowboy Up was, essentially, finished. As I noted on my own message board, there were specific emotions I was aiming for with CU and, when Ryan pitched the initial idea to me, I was surprised. We both agreed that the story would have to be tastefully done to reach the end goal - and that was the last thing we easily agreed on! Ryan and I are very opposite people and that made for some long, back and forth discussions that were instrumental in the finished product. Our opposing perspectives - with the same goals in mind - made this a complex, but satisfying work. We frequently talked scenes to death, down to a very granular level.

This was also one of the stories I referred to in my post about sex in stories and I feel like I hit the points I wanted to and came away largely satisfied with it.

In the end I was very happy with the product of all that work - and grateful for Cole in correcting so many of my mistakes - and relived to have finally gotten there. Robin is one of my favorite characters, ever, and I'm forever grateful that I was able to write, in essence, a love story for him. For those of you that loved Lucien, you'll get more from him, don't worry.

All that contentiousness was obviously good for Ryan too, as we are approaching the finish line on another, completely different story.

[JamesSavik]

All of that effort made it a five star story with a bullet.

This as good as the genre gets.

The emotions it ignites are only possible because of the real art involved in the characterization.

[Cynus]

I had the opportunity to beta read this one... and I talked about it nonstop for three days...