Reunited (Professionals story)

The Professionals Fanfiction
Title:	Reunited
Author(s):	Ashlea (listed under "PJ" at the Reading Room)
Date(s):
Length:
Genre:	slash
Fandom:	The Professionals
External Links:	online here
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Reunited is a Professionals circuit story by Ashlea.

Summaries

"Doyle escapes from the psychiatric hospital where he's been held, trying to make it back home. Forces are called out in full to stop him. Bodie takes matters into his own hands and manages to convince Doyle that he's really Bodie, and that Doyle hasn't just escaped from the Germans, but has been at Repton ever since a mission got seriously fouled up. Bodie refuses to hand Doyle back over, intending to take him home and take care of him himself."

Reactions and Reviews

I like stories in which we don’t find out everything all at once. That is the case here. As we begin we are introduced to a Doyle who is being held prisoner in some sort of facility, which we are seeing from his perspective. But what has transpired to get him there? Where actually is he? Where is his partner? Answers to these questions are slowly revealed as we read on, and things are not as they first seem.

This worked well as a disturbing piece (but with a good ending), probably more so because DiaG was on in the background while I was reading. And I like the nod to "A Man Called Quinn".

Having said that, I was thrown out of the story by being unable to accept that this situation could have happened. In canon, Bodie and Doyle never leave the UK, let alone go behind the Iron Curtain, although possibly they might at some stage.

Then, seemingly no one told Doyle that Bodie had survived, and Bodie, who knew what had happened to Doyle, had not gone to see him in Repton. Maybe Bodie had been lied to about Doyle's condition, or ordered to stay away? If so, it doesn't come across.

I just get fed up with 'Damaged Doyle', when authors cause him unnecessary suffering. *g*

I agree, the 'slow reveal' is what makes this interesting, and maybe even more information that just doesn't get revealed at all because it isn't really necessary. As you say, a good example of showing without telling.

In the novelizations there are references to them both having been out of the country at various times and on various missions. And there are certainly plenty of fics stories where they leave the country, so that's not a problem for me. The story does bother me, though. I often have difficulty with stories where one or the other of them cracks -- I mean, really breaks down. Not that it couldn't happen, just that it's not how I see them. Especially for such an extended period of time. I guess I could see one of them snapping, but then pulling himself back together (maybe not very realistic of me).

I agree! With the liking of the story, with the 'nothing is as it seems'.

But I would even go further that the author isn't just holding back things - she deliberately confuses her readers. It's a story of wrong traces. Right at the beginning - why shouldn't we believe that Doyle is 'punished severely'? But why let they draw him? What is it with the Wall? We maybe suspect that there is something wrong with Doyle, but then he steals a BMW of all things. Then Bodie... Even he seems to be 'wrong'. Why would he have to "made his decision" to try getting Doyle out of the house without weapons? Of course he would do everything to save Doyle - or not? And why does he say "Doyle, this is CI5. Surrender your weapons..."?

And we very quickly learn what has happened...

I think this is a story to 'think', to pay attention, to fasten onto. I like that! :-)

But I interpret Bodies behaviour in a way that Doyle must have been a very long time in Repton, that Bodie has given up hope, that he really wasn't sure if Doyle could ever come back. And there are many hints that years have gone by, not only months.

And I'm sure that Bodie has visited Ray very often in Repton! That Doyle doesn't remember anything - well I'm not so optimistic about his prognosis for the future... - but I want to believe!!!

I thought it was all right... I read to the end, anyway (and I don't always though I usually do for the Reading Room). I quite liked the concept and the red herrings (like the BMW)but I found it too short, too unbelievable for reasons others have already mentioned, and not terribly well written, with lots of clumsy constructions (such as the way she shows thoughts simply by changing tense) which threw me out of the story. Not awful but ultimately forgettable...

It was definitely readable due to it's shortness. I like the faith Bodie has when he goes into the house alone and how he tells his boss that Doyle is his now to care for. I also liked the idea that we really don't know what's going on, that it's revealed bit by bit. I have a feeling some of the formatting came from being scanned from typewritten pages when words were commonly hyphenated.

I liked it for what it was, but it was kind of unsatisfying too. I want to know what happened before and after the events in this story!

I'm generally a big fan of h/c with Doyle as hurtee and Bodie as comforter, and this story works all right on a number of levels. The writing is a little clunky and the reality factor is pretty much out the window (along with Doyle). It reminds me a great deal of the pool house scene in WTF, and that might be why it didn't do a lot for me. I do think she does a good job of showing rather than telling, and I like the fact that she doesn't spell out the obvious for us.

There's a suspension of disbelief required for most stories -- no argument here -- but most of the details in Reunited ring false for me. Nothing that hasn't been pointed out: the ease with which Doyle escapes -- from the bar-less windows to the perfect drawing of the room (say what?!). And then the bigger issues of his breakdown and miraculous recovery. To believe in those things, I need a little more from the author. I don't think Ashlea set out to write a believable story, though. I don't think that was her aim. The details of the story are just window trappings for the big emotional payoff of Bodie coming to Doyle's rescue and their being reunited. Everything else is window trappings.

No seriously. The whole scenario works for me, so I'm content with little exaggerations. And considering the fact that Repton is no KGB high security prison, we can assume that the nurses/doctors/whoever just take a superficial look at the observation screen.

That 'Bodie coming to Doyle's rescue' is IMO the special part of the story - let's say the most disturbing act of the tragedy. If you read the little bits of the background story it really is a tragedy! Doyle seing Bodie shot, captured, broken, back to England. Bodie trying everything to get Doyle out, then the sight of his broken lover, the shut away in Repton... That's something I wouldn't want to read in detail - but these short snippets are enough for me to suffer for both of them... And Bodie is obviously too disillusioned to 'ride alone and rescue' Doyle - he is acting by the rules - but then he makes his decision for a last try.

And he isn't disappointed in the end! :-) Well, the 'miraculous recovery' is a problem for me too - but that's what we all want to read...

But - yes the story works for me! :-)

Writing does not have to be top notch, nor does the reality have to be believable. . . .just the characterization. So I can accept those oddities. . .In this story, short though it is I'm worried for Doyle too long. . . .

I rather enjoyed this, although as you mention in your review above and others in the comments, reality's taken rather a back seat. The drawing? High enough security for a camera, but no locks/bars etc? And I'm with those above in wondering why Bodie doesn't seem to have tried to make contact with Doyle while he was in Repton - he's obviously been there for quite some time, "the senior instructor" doesn't seem at all thrown that it is Doyle, but nor does he say anything to suggest that Doyle might have seen him every week since then and forgotten him - and if he planned the escape long enough to make such a perfect drawing, hide it and remember where he put it and then what he was going to do with it, his memory can't be that bad... Blotted Bodie out, perhaps? Okay, but then if seeing Bodie had such a big impact this time, why not on other occasions if he's been visiting... I love the misdirection, the BMW, the show-not-tell (the Prosfic I like best is always show-not-tell) but I think just a couple of words more that would have shown us a slightly more realistic situation might have made this a perfect little fic... And I can live with an awful lot of damaged-but-still-tough-and-competent-Doyle-and-comforting-Bodie, so yeay, and thank you! *g*

Despite its flaws, I enjoy this fic.