Arrow, this was fabulous! And not just because you damaged Fraser's leg! (Although you let him keep it. Tricky, you are. Very tricky). I do love h/c, and this hit all my buttons: you've given us this wonderful portrait at Fraser and Ray at the half-century mark, and they're still beautiful men weathered by time and disappointment. And yet they're still hopeful, even in the midst of illness and uncertainty. I love the way you play with the great irony of age and the wisdom of perspective: this story never lapses into melodrama, and it is full of razor-sharp awareness of where life can jump the rails, rattle on for a bit, and then hop back on course.

Your writing here is so strong and confident and lyrically beautiful: you have such a gift for Fraser-POV narration, and you use that to full effect in wise yet somehow lighthearted meditations on growing older and succumbing to the frailties of age.

I love the odd, awkward, painful sequences of healing here, and the way that theme (healing an old wound and a new injury, healing a breach that should never have existed in the first place) is so fully realized. You've done such a terrific job of articulating the point that, yes Virginia, things do get better. It's a simple but effective plot: Fraser almost gives up but with Ray's help and affection he pulls through, and together they win their love. There's a message there, one of hope and comfort and optimism. And it resonants powerfully. Beautifully done.