If Memory Serves
| Fanfiction | |
|---|---|
| Title: | If Memory Serves |
| Author(s): | Alex T. MacKenzie |
| Date(s): | 1997 |
| Length: | |
| Genre(s): | slash |
| Fandom(s): | The Professionals |
| Relationship(s): | |
| External Links: | |
Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
If Memory Serves is a slash Professionals story by Alex T. MacKenzie.
It was published in Guilty Pleasures.
Comments from the author:
... the focus [of good writing] is on telling a good story about intriguing characters in a difficult situation, and that doesn't change. I'm usually very aware of what I'm doing when I do write something "over the top" - I knew, for instance, that "The Art of Love" was pure melodrama, and I wanted to write it that way, just for the fun of it. Same with the story I did for the Media Cannibals' "Guilty Pleasures" zine.[1]
Summary
"Bodie pursues a vengeful criminal in a race against time after Doyle is snatched, for Bodie knows the man has only torture and death in mind for his partner. But Doyle's rescue may not be the end of Bodie's troubles--a certain moment in their recent past may have strained their relationship to the breaking point, a moment he would rather Doyle forgot. What will happen when they are together again--resolution, or disaster."
Reactions and Reviews
1997
STORY: Drunk on a relaxed evening, watching TV, Bodie makes a pass at Doyle and gets punched for it, and Doyle walks out -- only to promptly be kidnapped. Rescued a week later, he has no memory of the evening and Bodie must help him reconstruct what happened - up to and including the offending kiss.
This was a good plot: it kept the suspense up, for me: what would Bodie do when the moment of truth came around again? Or, more pertinent, what would Doyle do? It's a nice examination of a second chance.
On the other hand, there's a tiny plot detail here that's a bit of a pet peeve with me. When the moment of truth comes around for the second time, and Doyle doesn't hit Bodie and walk out, Bodie himself has a fit of cold feet: "He hesitated, torn between desire and fear, made worse by not knowing precisely what it was that scared him so. "Doyle smiled. "What? You worried about what it means?" ""I guess so," Bodie admitted."
My only objection here is extremely subjective; I like a Bodie who knows his mind, and isn't afraid of the consequences. I like a Bodie who, when he knows what he wants, goes for it. This Bodie knew what he wanted, and was afraid of it anyway. Smacks to me of moral cowardice.... oh, there's nothing wrong with it, I've done this sort of thing in stories too, but it was a note I didn't like in a story that was otherwise quite delightful.
Nor was I quite sure why Doyle changed his mind, but I was glad he did.[2]