Well hot damn. Nearly 10 years on this website.

Hard to believe that I've now graduated college and am looking forward to the future as an occupational therapist. -laughs- When did I grow up??

Long story short- I'm still alive. Still reading lovely fan fiction and mulling over plot bunnies but I've come to a rather sad decision about Stranded.

I'm ending it.

It's been languishing for far too long and while I love BJ and Sheila as well as the assorted crew of dogs, I've unfortunately lost interest in the AVP realm and while I do have the notes and plot completed, I'm not proceeding any further than this. I'm truly sorry to my readers who have stuck with me this far, placed me on alerts and reviewed. I know it's a huge disappointment and letdown but I feel this is the best way rather than attempting to force myself to write prose that lacks interest and passion because I didn't want to do it.

That said- I'll let you in on some spoilers regarding Stranded just at least so y'all know what was going to happen. If you don't want to see it- just skip down to the bottom.

START SPOILERS FOR STRANDED

BJ survives and ultimately strikes up a friendship with Sheila, prickly and strange as it is. It's a long process though, one fraught with nearly deadly misunderstandings and lots of snark and shouting as well as umm.. broken furniture. Lots and lots of broken furniture. Including the couch BJ threw through a wall while he was chasing Benny around in a fruitless effort to flay his furry lil butt alive. I'll let you imagine the reason why BJ had himself so worked up he was literally foaming at the mouth with rage but let it be sufficient enough to say that it took heavy duty mace (geared specifically for bears) and a heavy cast iron frying pan that still carries a yautja skull shaped dent in it before Sheila could rescue Benny.

However, BJ's roaming eventually land the two in hot water when one of the townspeople stumble across him and a kill intended to feed both Sheila and him. A very bloody very fresh kill.

Long story short- crap goes down and a mob converge on Sheila's house to hunt down the demon. They find the tables turned as BJ, back in his "home territory" goes on a killing spree, picking off men left and right. Several of the survivors retreat to Sheila's house, thinking they can barricade themselves in. Sheila is overpowered and they take her hostage after they realize the "demon" has been in the house and yet has not harmed the woman. They rapidly set up a trap with her as the bait and wait.

BJ comes back, soaked in blood and high on his bloodlust. He abruptly realizes something is wrong and goes on prowl. Comes across Sheila who is gagged and tied to chair. Men are hidden around various points waiting to ambush. Sheila is shaking head frantically, screaming at him through gag, muffled as it is. He takes step forward and everyone opens fire. BJ crashes to ground, riddled with bullet holes and Sheila is crying.

Men are celebrating, gloating and patting each other on back even as they release Sheila. She falls forward, crawls to BJ and blankets self over the still form, still sobbing. Suddenly realizes she can feel a heartbeat and feels new hope and determination surge through her but realizes she has to get the others away from BJ. Sees gun someone has thrown down and slowly edges for it.

Too late one of the men sees what she's doing and before he can react, she has grabbed it, rolled onto her feet and in an incredibly lucky shot, nails one of the men in his guts. He drops screaming and she's running the other way, outside and she hears the pound of footsteps as the others follow her.

BJ regains consciousness- is utterly pissed off. Hears faint footsteps and with little mind to the wounds he has obtained, sets off in pursuit. He arrives in time to see one of the men level his gun at the cornered Sheila who has dropped her gun in her panic and before the unlucky bastard can fire off a shot BJ punches his hand through the other's guts from behind. Before others can react, BJ's dealing with them far more savagely than before- taking pains to drag out their torture.

However the first man that BJ gutted is still barely alive- grabs his gun and weakly raises it- aiming at BJ's vulnerable back. Sheila sees it, and unthinkingly leaps in front of BJ right as the gun goes off.

BJ whirls around in time to catch wounded Sheila, cradling her tenderly in one arm even as he uses plasma cannon to blow the mortally wounded man to smithereens.

Sheila is gasping for breath, foamy blood already bubbling up at corner of mouth. It is a mortal wound- beyond capacity of even BJ's advanced medical technology. When BJ demands explanation for why she jumped in front- she manages halting smile, forces out with wet harsh sounds. "That's what friends do for each other."

She goes on to thank him for being one of the best friends she's ever had and orders him to return to the stars, no matter what it takes.

Last of her strength is used to brush knuckles over contours of BJ's lower mandible- a stifled grunt and Sheila's eyes cloud over, features going slack. Hand falls back down with finality and BJ is left staring at a body. For a moment he is silent, burly body curling over the shell that was once Sheila and dreadlocks spilling over his shoulders, curtaining the two of them from the world. Abruptly he rears back, unleashes a snarling roar that would chill the blood of even the most hardened person. Yautja rarely mourn the dead, indeed are incapable of shedding tears but something in the warrior's chest aches nonetheless and this is the only way he has of expressing his grief.

Slowly, with the last echoes of his bestial cry fading away, BJ stands up and with the tiny body still cradled in arms, he disappears into darkness.

Two days later- town is roused from slumber as there is an almighty rumbling, shaking the houses. However it lasts only for a few minutes and when terrified residents stumble out onto the streets, there is nothing. An old man, however, who lives on the outer edge of town provides a clue- he claims to have seen a ghost ship come sailing down from the skies, blinking in and out of invisibility. It pauses, hovering above the cliffs that overlook the town and he swears he sees a massive shadow leap, only to be engulfed by the ship which promptly sails away, vanishing back to the heavens.

Thus ends Stranded.

And before anyone starts lynching me hang on a minute! From the start go this is how it was planned out! That scene of BJ cradling the dying Sheila and their last exchange was what prompted the entire story- that and I was curious to see if it was truly possible to actually develop a friendship of sorts between a savage alien who's been born and bred for the hunt and an woman who essentially meets the Predator's criteria for cull-worthy weakness: no sense of hearing. Throw in that she's the total opposite of BJ in that she is a medic and he's a butcher, both with intimate knowledge of anatomy and where to stick a knife for best effect and I honestly thought neither one of them was going to survive past their initial meeting.

I plan on leaving the published chapters of Stranded up as it is.. it will forever be entombed in the archives of FFN . net but that's how it will remain. I do request that no one attempts to continue it on their own as BJ and Sheila have grown precious to me over the years and while they might not reach their ultimately tragic end in this story, I have some other stories in mind that may enable the two to make another appearance along with the multitude of other characters that run around in my headspace. However, if you do wish to borrow either one of them for one of your stories, please drop me a PM and I will gladly discuss it with you. Once again, I thank you faithful readers for all your kind words and thoughtful comments and hope that even though I will not finish Stranded, you will stick around for the other stories I'm contemplating uploading sometime in the future. If not, then I wish you well on your endeavors, both on FFN . net and in real life.