Thank you, (no longer) anonymous writers of Yuletide awesome

I got two great stories in my holiday stocking this year. I don't know which was the main gift, and which was the treat, so, in no particular order:

Lush Notes of Sherry byrumidha  (How I Met Your Mother)

Funny and snarky look at Barney floundering around trying to win Robin's heart, and somewhat missing the point.

Robin took a deep breath. “Barney, just think of me as a friend that you have monogamous sex with. Because my friend Barney? That’s the guy I want back. That guy who flew to San Francisco to bring Lily home, that guy who stole every girl who hit on Marshall so that Lily and Marshall could survive, that guy who made Stella jealous when she ran into Ted. That guy who was a shoulder for me to cry on when I was feeling like everything just really sucked. I want that Barney. I don’t want the Barney who’s a womanizing son of a bitch that makes me wonder why we even bother. You’re better than that.”

The Devil You Know by phoebesmum  (Sports Night) 

A gorgeous fic with an exceptionally accurate portrayal of  Natalie, meddling because she loves her friends, and bruising Danny in the process.      

So now they're sitting around the bullpen, drinking very good wine from very cheap mugs, and Danny has a bruised, beaten look about him, his eyes wide and stunned, and he laughs like he's sobbing, and when he hugs her she can feel he's shaking, and all in all it's like –

It's like someone chewed up his heart and spat it out, and danced on the remains in her six-inch spiked heels.

Way to go, Natalie. You saved him from stumbling. Then you shoved him off a cliff.