Milady

by Titta (rated NC-17)

STORY NOTES

In which I ramble about the origins of this story, its place in the LFN timeline, its highly questionable contents, the people who've helped me and, finally, about the current status of the story. Feel free to jump directly to "Please Note" if you're easily bored.

I've always come up with stories based on characters and situations I've seen on TV. I remember my friends and I used to play all kinds of "let's pretend" things I'd dreamed up based on the tv series "The Quest" (starring Kurt Russell and Tim Mathews). For a long time, I thought I was the only one doing this. Then I found the LFN internet fandom and, shortly after, discovered fanfiction. I was ecstatic!

After devouring lots and lots of LFN fanfic - some of it really good, some of it horrid - I got the urge to try my hand at writing fiction for the first time in a long, long time. This was also the first time I tried to write anything fictional in English, which is not my first language. I quickly found out that my vocabulary was seriously limited when it came to adjectives and bought a wordfinder. I'm still in love with that book, although I'm probably not using it as often as I should. *g*

I came up with the story idea around the time I'd seen the first 10 episodes of season 3. This story is not tied to any episodes of the show, although it does make some references to them. In my mind, these happenings take place in a sort of limbo somewhere around season 3. The premise of this story is that Nikita does have feelings for Michael, although their relationship might not be a real intense one (a la Playing With Fire for example) at the beginning of the story.

As for the story itself, "Milady" is long and convoluted (this muse does not do short), and has a fair amount of angst with smatterings of weirdness thrown in. Expect bad language, violence, suggestion, a few nekkid Mikey moments and possibly a little bit of NC-17 dessert.
I wouldn't recommend this story for anyone under 18. The story also features a couple of original characters, who might or might not be irritating as hell. If that's not your cup of tea, consider yourself warned!

I've borrowed some lyrics from songs that have inspired me and put them in the beginning of certain chapters. I hope they will help set the mood for those chapters. A special thank you to Marco Hietala from Tarot (a Finnish band well worth checking out if you're into the heavy but melodic end of the music spectrum) for giving me a permission to use his lyrics. Other lyrics were used without permission; however, no copyright infringement was intended.

I want to thank my wonderful beta-reader, Cynaera, without whom this story would not be what it is today (be glad you were never exposed to my first draft of chapter 1). If it wasn't for her encouragement, I would have given up a long time ago. I also want to thank Traveler for his help with medical intel essential to the early parts of the story. A number of other friends have also helped me along with bits and pieces of useful information and positive feedback. I openly admit that I've pretty much made up all the psychiatric stuff in this story. Any and all blunders (medical as well as other kinds) in this story are mine.

PLEASE NOTE:
Despite the fact that I started writing "Milady" back in 1999, it is still currently unfinished. I do intend to finish it someday, but I'm not making any promises on when that day will come. I will put any new, finished chapters on this website, so check back occasionally if you like the story so far. Feel free to contact me to comment on the story (constructive criticism greatly appreciated, flames not) or to simply let me know that you'd like to read more "Milady" - it might do the old, sometimes very tired muse good. However, whining about the unfairness of putting an unfinished story online will not get you anywhere. Click on the Feedback link on any page if you want to e-mail me.

To see notes pertaining to particular chapters (including information about the song lyrics used) click here. You'll get to the same place through the [See notes here] link within the chapters.

Titta