Guardian Blues
By Dan Green
Author’s Note: This fic would not have been possible without the constant support of LadyBard, Kurea, and Suzie Walton. Their input and feedback helped me over many a rough patch, and I’m truly grateful.
This story exists in my timeline; that is, the fic universe beginning with “Abort Retry Fail” and extending through “Roots and Branches”, which this fic immediately follows. I’ve tried to be as loyal to the continuity of the series as I could, but there are differences – since this story began before Season IV aired, for the sake of internal logic it’s easiest to assume S4 never happened in my universe.