And Its Business Is Joy

Zine
Title:	And Its Business Is Joy
Publisher:	Requiem Publications & LionHeart Distribution
Editor:
Author(s):	Elise Madrid
Cover Artist(s):
Illustrator(s):
Date(s):	2006 (story), 2010 (zine)
Medium:	print
Size:
Genre:
Fandom:	Star Trek: TOS/Professionals
Language:	English
External Links:	online at AO3
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front and back covers

front cover with binding

And Its Business Is Joy is a slash 100-page Bodie/Doyle, Kirk/Spock (no foursome) crossover story by Elise Madrid.

It was to have been published in Orbital Resonance I, but when that zine did not materialize, it went into T'hy'la #26 in 2006. It was later expanded to be Pros-centric as a standalone in 2010.

Summary

From the publisher:

Bodie and Doyle are committed to each other, but struggling with the need to keep their intimate relationship a secret. On their way to a fishing trip, they stop to break up what looks like a burglary, only to find they've stumbled into something far bigger, something involving men from the future, who are struggling with an intimate relationship of their own. Each couple sees something of themselves in the other, and gain insights that help them make the most important decision of their lives: to stay or to go.

Reactions and Reviews

How can I put this? I've had my head in the clouds for so log I never figured to get it down. Blimey! This story did it. I did a pretty good job by perusing this crossover scenario, though I know nothing about Bodie and Doyle fandom. K/S is my be-all and end-all. However, for those who like it and are more knowledgeable than I, this is an intricate and entertaining imagining. Exciting bits on every page. And the author's note in the beginning helped me a lot. My main concern was Spock's characterization: he is still having painful doubts about who he is and questioning his relationship with Jim. I couldn't believe it. It seemed to me that, with their bond, these concerns should've been resolved long ago. Besides, all this mind- gnashing was hurting Jim badly too. I'm not ever sanguine about that Kirk reacts bitterly, as is natural for him. He argues, doesn't want to give up, cannot understand Spock's feelings. But after venting his pain, he lets Spock go. He knows they must put aside their personal problems and work as a team, albeit a slightly severed team.

Then, wouldn't you know it? Just as Kirk, Spock and crew are on the verge of entering Earth's orbit to end their five year mission and stand down...well! they're hit with a massive green, foggy storm, some sort of temporal anomaly that throws them back to Earth's time, 1980s. Of course the storm is a giant threat to their world and our boys can't just leave it at that. They must get back to their own time but have no information on the anomaly or how to neutralize it. Leave it to Spock to find out the name of the scientist whose research will give them the clues they need to destroy the threat.

Our heroes beam down to recover that information, determined to keep their presence and identities secret. No such luck. They run into a couple of British detectives, Bodie and Doyle, in a warehouse. The detectives are there to investigate a crime. The four men interact warily, one of the cops is shot. Kirk and Spock are forced to beam up, with the cops, to have the wounded one treated and to try to erase all evidence of their--our guys'--presence in that time dimension.

Fun and healing games on the ship. Kirk is still snappish and testy and I don't blame him. I wanted to slap the clueless Spock. Trusty McCoy uncovers trouble in the fold and the doctor uncovers, too, Bodie and Doyle's love relationship. Their devotion has a positive effect on Spock. He is curious and learns about the conditions on Earth of that time period, how hostile it is to same-sex pairings. This opens Spock's sexy dark eyes to the bravery of Bodie and Doyle, who cling to their love against all odds. Spock is impressed enough to go to Jim, and all ends well. Oi! The British team is returned to their time and planet. Our friends save their own world and destroy the storm.

Reading this story it came to me how much I rely on the images of Kirk and Spock from the series and the lovely artwork fandom has created. Jim and Spock I could 'see'; the other men I had trouble with. But don't get me wrong. This is an exciting and well-written adventure. No love scene for our guys, though. Waaaa! I wanted one!

When I've reviewed this author's stories in the past, I've made mention of the fact she has the uncanny ability to hold my complete and total interest from beginning to end, despite the fact oftentimes she bases those stories on subject matter that usually doesn't appeal to me. The only explanation I have for this is her extraordinary skills as a writer, skills she once again brings to bear with this latest work. The plot device in this story is what is known among fan fiction as a "crossover", where the author takes characters from two or more TV shows and brings them together via somewhat unusual means (especially when said characters are from two different centuries). Once again, I have to say this is not one of my favorite plot devices, and yet once again, I found I couldn't put this story down. Not bad, considering I never even heard of the two characters (or the TV show, for that matter) that she had meeting up with our boys.

Here Kirk and Spock, already in an established relationship, find themselves facing the end of their first five year mission. While Kirk is confident they'll soon be on another, he senses some unease in Spock, but is unable to pin down exactly what is wrong. He has little time to ponder the problem, however, as a mysterious force suddenly throws them back in time once again, a pattern that is becoming so repetitive even Spock has to admit "The odds of one ship being thrown back in time seven times in a five-year mission does seem to go against the laws of probability." This time it is in orbit around Earth and if that wasn't enough, they soon find it necessary to beam down to the planet in order to retrieve information needed to get back to their own time. It is there they meet, under rather unpleasant circumstances, two detectives named Bodie and Doyle. Those circumstances quickly go from unpleasant to tragic, leaving Kirk no other option other than to beam the two Earthmen aboard. If that wasn't enough, he soon discovers the reason for Spock's unease - the Vulcan is concerned their relationship is too "human" and if it continues as such, he feels he may lose who and what he is as a Vulcan. While Kirk can understand this, what he can't understand is why Spock didn't say anything earlier and worse, he discovers the Vulcan's solution to this particular problem is to simply run away. Angry and upset, he decides to end their relationship then and there. Yet just when all seems lost, it seems Kirk's decision to bring Bodie and Doyle aboard was a blessing in disguise, as remarkably it takes the wisdom of one of the Earthmen to open Spock's eyes to what he is about to lose, and that he shouldn't "be too anxious to look for answers to everything, you might not like what you find...or the price you might have to pay."

Another interesting, unusual, and yet absorbing tale from one very talented author.

I’ve never seen “The Professionals” but this crossover story was a good introduction to the lead characters, Bodie and Doyle. They were well written and I had no trouble seeing them as fully developed characters – that’s difficult to do in a short story. The predicament that brings them together with Kirk and Spock is interesting and serves its purpose well. It was absorbing to see the differences in the way the two couples managed in their peculiar societies and timelines. While Kirk and Spock did not flaunt the fact they were lovers, Bodie and Doyle would have to sacrifice their careers if they were to make it known how much they care for each other.

You can see that both pairs are heroes and have the same fine traits as well as having found someone to love who is their equal. I suspect B&D stay very close to how they were on screen, because Kirk and Spock certainly do. I love that McCoy is able to perform what the 20th century men see as nothing short of a miracle.

Something like this has to be well conceived and well told to capture my interest and both were accomplished with ease.

Set at the end of the mission, this story is actually a crossover with The Professionals. Not our usual sort of tale and none of us are really B/D fans, but this one really haunted me and in view of the author‘s excellent reputation, I had no trouble persuading my fellow K/Sers that it needed a review!

We agreed that the story is very well written and shows excellent characterisation of two mature men who are together, control the finest starship in the Fleet, but have a crisis of communication. Set towards the end of the mission, the story has a sense of things coming to an end throughout and opens from Kirk‘s point of view: 'Over the Vulcan‘s silhouette he could just see the soft glow of the chronometer.‘ This is the way in which we learn that they are a couple. Established. Familiar with waking together. I like this way of showing us. We learn almost at once, however, that all is not well between them. Spock‘s behaviour is very Vulcan, his conversation somewhat oblique. ..‘Kirk knew that he didn‘t like it...at all‘. There‘s tension between them, even on the bridge. Almost at once, though, something happens and the Enterprise is hurled back in time. I love how Elise can do this. Situations can change very quickly in her stories, no words are wasted. And Spock notes that the odds of their ship travelling in time 'seven times in a five year mission‘ defy probability! But they have, and Uhura tunes into a 1980s news report... We then rather cleverly move to Bodie and Doyle‘s awakening, to the exact same bulletin on their morning radio. There‘s a moving contrast to Jim and Spock‘s that we saw on page one, and the skill of the writing is such that this is evident even to those not familiar with this couple. We see two men, established lovers, who are totally at ease together, and happy. We learn, too, of their lives and of the difficulties they face. At the risk of retelling the story, back on board the crew have established what happened to them and Spock (and therefore Kirk) need to beam down to a specific London location for information to help them to return. We see them working together well, despite their current difficulties, and in the scenes from Jim‘s point of view are heartbreaking. And suddenly we are half way through the story, and our crew have had to beam up Doyle and a seriously injured Bodie! As I‘ve said, I‘m not really a Professionals fan, but their scenes are amusing and totally convince me... the plot gives the author scope for some 2-twentieth-century-guys-aboard-the-Enterprise moments, and she doesn‘t waste them, but still strives to keep them in character and move the plot along. No mean feat, I thought. The saddest scene, for me, comes when Spock reluctantly tells Kirk that he does not feel that their two year relationship is right for his Vulcan half, and that he ̳s planning a return to his home planet as the mission ends. Jim is devastated, barely holds himself together, and yet remains dignified: ̳Two years; two very short, very happy years. He had thought they‘d have forever.‘ Later, he tells Spock that, eventually, he will try to be happy again. But we see his emptiness. This is another sad scene, heartbreaking, and yet in character.

Jim cannot bear to be around Bodie and Doyle and has to explain this to Spock. We see Jim talking to Bones and hear that the Doctor had an inkling of how Spock was feeling. His 'superVulcan‘ act, we learn, had been only for Jim. 'Around me, he was the same as he‘s always been‘. I‘d like to have seen some of these interactions.... The one we do see, finally, is pivotal: McCoy hears about Spock‘s 'flagrant and completely illogical reversal‘ and tells him in no uncertain terms that he needs to talk to Jim. How this 'reversal‘ came about is interesting and, we felt, not totally clear: Spock talks to Doyle and then to Bodie and establishes much about their feelings for each other. He is impressed, definitely. But the scene where Spock ruminates and accepts his own feelings is.. well, missing. I‘ve read this story several times, and really like it, but could not identify just why I felt some sense of incompleteness each time: Another of our small group put her finger on it: This missing moment. Finally, the scene we‘ve wanted, as Spock goes to Jim, reveals his insecurities in heartbreaking detail. It‘s wonderful, and ends beautifully with the two of them together and melding. Sigh. No sex scene here, and that‘s fine, but actually, the only sex in the story‘s between Bodie and Doyle, which did give us some slight cause for concern. I‘m not a voyeur but quite enjoyed it!