Hi, I was visiting your profile today, and realized I had not read this story of yours before.
There was so little we know about Svetlana and Anatoly, and you've filled in that fated evening very nicely. Together with some foreshadowing, young Jenny, and unwavering Gibbs, a strong tableau!
Thanks and cheers!

Forgive me Chief, this was terrific and I missed it. Nice insight to all the characters and how they might have thought and reacted and good possibility as to what led up to Judgement Day. Well done indeed.

Lori/Tigyr

Thank you for telling me about this! I loved it even though it was really really sad. The summary is really clever with the play on 'one shot'. Its amazing how many repurcussions that one shot had and you really expressed that well in the story. I hope you write more Jibbs. You're really good at it!

Kudos for this.

The way you connected four life strands around the theme of fate and destiny is absolutely incredible.

Well done!

This is the second time in a month that I've stumbled across a male writer able both to write romance credibly and bring me to tears by the end of the piece. Makes me wonder what else is out there!

I commend you for writing about Svetlana and Anatoly too, because there is so little fanfic about them. They only ever seem to be written in a negative light, so this was a great discovery. A wonderful story involving them that I was following avidly disappeared with no explanation a few weeks ago, and I've been scouring the site trying to find something well-written about this couple ever since.

So glad I found this.

Thank you for writing and posting it.

I am looking forward to reading the rest of the stories in your collection, but I hope you don't mind my asking: are planning to write anything else about Svetlana and Anatoly and/or Jenny and Gibbs?

Very unique and well-written fic! I had to look up the title character to recall the backstory, but after reading this story, it wasn't entirely necessary. You described the characters well enough that the emotions and feelings within them dominated any backstory involved. It was wonderful!

Fave parts:

"As Zhukov leaned forward his face came into the light. Gibbs did not hesitate. He found his sight picture and pulled the trigger to send the nine millimeter bullet into the forehead of Anatoly Zhukov – and to seal his own destiny of sadness and regret." ...Those last few words especially were brilliantly written. Excellent work on this part.

"She stumbled away from the alley, her fate written in those few moments." ...I thought this was very eloquently written, simple and impactful.

A very interesting perspective, written in a one-of-a-kind, well-written, enjoyable read.

Loved it! Amazing piece, and loved how you worked in all parties in this.

Your story -while it brought up some interesting ideas- missed the proverbial mark when it came to "mirroring" the relationship of Jenny and Jethro. It seeems, if that was your intent, you would have discussed Jethro's feellings for Jen and hers for him. Maybe even thrown in some of Jethro's interaction with Svetlana at the end. I just found it sad that it is your idea that Svetlana's and Anatoly's shared "fate" was for him to fade from the picture- his own miscalculation (mistake) the reason for his death- and force Svetlana to "die a little more each day" for this loss. Again, if there was a "mirror", I don't think I totally missed it- I think you're missing a chapter. Just my respecfully submitted opinion, of course!

You did a great job of bringing in the background through the eyes of all four of the charactes.

Bravo Zulu Chief! Man, it does me good to see something from you. Now I get to return the favor of all YOUR reviews! Keep 'em rolling pard.

HEY!

Nice to see something from you again!

And it's darned good too.

Liked this little look into each one's thoughts just before and after, with the resonance of what happened in the California desert in my mind.

GOOD JOB, my honey!

Haven't seen anything from you in awhile but you came back with gusto! Nice job!