Time Will Say Nothing

Bodie/Doyle Fanfiction
Title:	Time Will Say Nothing
Author(s):	Felicity M. Parkinson
Date(s):	1992
Length:
Genre:	slash, Bodie/Doyle
Fandom:	The Professionals
External Links:	on AO3
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"Time Will Say Nothing" is a The Professionals story by Felicity M. Parkinson. It is a slash story with the pairing of Bodie/Doyle.

It was originally published in the zine Unprofessional Conduct 1 from Gryphon Press in 1992.

Reactions and Reviews

41 pp. A "Bodie & Doyle in their early 40's" story--and a damn good one. They've been lovers for over a dozen years, are still working for CI5, and Doyle is suddenly screwing up on the job. But is he cracking up as well? Visions from another era, including two ghosts remarkably similar to him and his partner keep interfering with Doyle's hold on reality--and threaten his relationship with Bodie. Only complaint: the sex scenes are too damn short and non-explicit. Grade: A-

Time Will Say Nothing by Felicity M Parkinson is the longest story of the zine. Bodie and Doyle are lovers, in their 40's still working for CI5, but with a new commander that Doyle does not like. Things come to a head when Doyle is ordered on a training course alone; Bodie is to join him a week later. The story that follows is part ghost story, part Doyle coming to terms with his ambivalent fleeing about working for CI5, and part exploration of his and Bodie's relationship. It is an interesting, complex story that required some concentration and a little rereading. I was somewhat puzzled and confused by the use of a different font for some sections as I couldn't work out the reason behind them, but maybe that was just me!

The longest story in the zine at 41 pages is also the least successful. The story is an awkward mix of two tales, loosely joined thematically but ultimately disjunctive. The story starts with forty-year-old Bodie reflecting on recent problems between himself and his lover Doyle both on and off the job. Separate sections, marked by a different typeface, take us through a cocked-up training course a month previously. These sections alternate throughout the first part of the story, further sub-divided as the pov switches between Bodie and Doyle, and interlaced with occasional other sections that give the wholly unnecessary viewpoints of such characters as the trainers. I haven't reread this story since first getting the zine and, when I looked at it to write this review, I discovered why. A major tease early in the story made me impatient with its blatant manipulation of the reader's emotions. With my initial goodwill in reading eroded, the story lost my interest entirely when it turned into a ghost story. Even worse is the way the manifestations are ultimately simply accepted and dismissed; both the alternating sections and the ghosts disappear nine pages before the end without ever having had a discernible point. From there on, the second story--getting Bodie and Doyle out of CI5 and into retirement--takes over.