Spring-Heeled Jack

Fanfiction
Title:	Spring-Heeled Jack
Author(s):	Georgina Kirrin
Date(s):	1997
Length:
Genre(s):	slash
Fandom(s):	The Professionals
Relationship(s):	Bodie/Doyle
External Links:	online here; part one reference link; part two reference link; part three reference link
Click here for related articles on Fanlore.

Spring-Heeled Jack is a Bodie/Doyle story by Georgina Kirrin.

It was published in Motet #1 and is online.

Reactions and Reviews

1997

Spring-heeled Jack" (or possibly "Spring-Heeled Jack" -- the header and the title didn't match) by Georgina Kirrin -- Bodie discovers Doyle, who is ostensibly on leave, is actually on a one-man Operation Susie. The stress Doyle is under leads him to make a request he might not have otherwise done -- that Bodie spend the night with him, just this once. This is a brilliant story. It has humor, angst, plot, and fine characterization. If one were going to buy MOTET on the strength of one story, this is the story.

"Spring-Heeled Jack" by Georgina Kirrin, is the best story of its length I've read this year. Quite simply, it has everything: good premise, excellent dialogue, real, page-turning tension and best of all, a beautifully anguished Doyle who, while making me gulp, was never the least bit girly. Here, triumphantly, G. Kirrin proves that you can make Doyle cry without diminishing his masculinity one jot; enhancing it, even. And the surprising thing, given what I've just said, is that the story is about Bodie even more than it's about Doyle.

A really good 'case' story is quite rare in Pros fiction. The marvellous thing about this one is that alongside that, you get all the angst, affection and sexy banter you could want. (Did I say it made me laugh, too?) I can't tell you much about the plot because it's so

tightly woven I might give too much away. But I'd be very surprised indeed if anyone could read this and not come away wanting to cheer.

2009

I loved it. In fact, I have it in a binder paired with Sebastian’s Perfect Day as two of my all-time favourite fics.

What constitutes a favourite fic for any of us is going to be largely subjective because fics, unlike general fiction, have to appeal to a particular (sometimes even unacknowledged) set of kinks. Mine are generally CI5-based with both lads appearing tough, cool professionals who pretty much like what they do (certainly believe that someone has to do it) -- and do it well. I don’t need a hugely complicated plot as I’m reading these as romance stories. I want realistic characterisations and believable scenarios. And, ideally, I’d like the writing to be of a certain quality, but…I’m a junky and I’m not going to be too fussy about clean needles.

With Spring-heeled Jack, I get all of the above -- and some very solid writing. There are a couple of inconsistencies -- a couple of bits of characterization don’t jibe with my own thoughts -- and I’m not sure I understand the dream Bodie has about Doyle, but all in all, this hits the spot and I've read it a number of times -- always with pleasure.

The story starts out simply enough. Bodie is getting off a dull obbo and looking forward to spending time with his best mate and usual partner, Doyle.

[excerpt from story snipped]

Cowley informs Bodie that Doyle has unexpectedly taken two weeks leave and for the foreseeable future Bodie will be working with the sniffly, wet-behind-the ears Jackson. Bodie is disconcerted, but not unduly worried -- although he thinks it odd Doyle didn’t tell him himself.

Things get weirder when Doyle doesn’t turn up for a climbing trip with Murphy -- and then just as Bodie starts to get really worried (and even notices how much he's missing Doyle), he gets a mysterious postcard indicating a meet at a posh hotel.

There’s really good stuff all the way through -- we have a vivid sense of Doyle, Bodie’s “own personal Spring-heeled Jack” even though he’s not been in the fic so far, and we have a strong sense of the lads’ working partnership and friendship.

Bodie goes to the hotel and meets Doyle, and from the instant he sees him, it’s obvious something serious is going on.

[snipped]

Doyle explains that he’s deep, deep undercover -- a suicide mission, essentially. The balloon is going up the next day and Doyle wants to see Bodie one last time and ask a favour.

[snipped]

Bodie is shocked and repelled. He’s never thought of his partner like that. Actually, I should note here that this bit is a little confusing and inconsistent with all that follows. The contradiction here is never quite resolved.

[snipped]

Doyle has promised that if he survives the op, he’ll never mention this again -- he understands that Bodie doesn’t feel the same way he does. Well, Doyle does survive the op -- and that’s when things get really interesting.

Ah, this is a big favourite of mine too! I only read it for the first time relatively recently (a few months ago) and I remember the delight at finding a story that was so satisfying on so many levels - and long-ish, too, just to prolong the pleasure! I think one of the things I love most about this fic is the way it ... turns the tables on us, perhaps you could call it, very successfully, three times. We have Doyle at his most vulnerable - knowing he is very likely to die, finally coming right out and asking Bodie for what he wants and needs - and Bode rejects him - cue stomach-clenching awfulness for a moment. Then after the op we have Doyle perfectly and totally in control of everything, or so it seems - telling Bodie how he (Bodie!) feels, keeping Bodie on the back foot the whole time and quite openly and honestly waltzing off with someone else while Bodie's not ready or not prepared to recognise his own feelings. We have Bodie wrestling with himself, Bodie being vulnerable (like the scene with the sandwiches!) - and finally, in a lovely last touch, we get to see that Doyle was not quite as cocksure as all that, after all - in that wonderful moment when Bodie shoves his head under the rainwater, so loving in the way he takes care of Doyle's pride in the instant when that's what he needs, while knowing that they won't be keeping things from each other for any length of time. What all this does, I think, is show us a complex and satisfying balance of power between them; they really are both strong and both vulnerable; it gives their relationship depth and balance, equality without being clones of each other. Oh, and there's lots more to love about this fic too, which I shall probably think of later! And the action and CI5 plot work perfectly too. Altogether an excellent story!

I think when Bodie realises he expects Jackson to be just like Doyle is a bit of an eye opener for him. It was really good that he admitted to himself that this new guy wasn't Doyle and he was being unfair to expect that of him without even giving the man his orders. He realises that he and Doyle have that ESP between them and it's special. Then he's patient with Jackson when he knows he's being unfair. Bodie is a man of integrity in the long run, and he admits to himself that he's been wrong. I have a feeling his merc days weren't all as "romantic" (or even as horrible) as a lot of folks would imagine.

This is one of those fics that you look ahead at the number of pages and feel pleasure that there's more to come.

I really enjoyed this one!

Poor, poor sniffing Jackson..it is SO difficult not being Doyle. I thought the writer managed to move the emotional pace along seamlessly, from the initial pleasant "all is well and Doyle's just away" to the growing apprehension and then the horror of what Doyle is actually expected to do (his fear and despair just leap off the page and hit you) and then to the happy, almost maniac in- charge Doyle once the obbo is over … Also, maybe it's a bit pop-psychology, but Doyle's outlook of "lovable" and "un loveable" people just made a weird sort of sense to me.. Since I enjoyed this story so much, I looked into the other Pros fic on the web-site, and found another fic , "cards on the table" which I thought was just brilliant.

So there were many hours of enjoyable reading in this for me.. :-)

Nice! Plenty of CI5 action (I loved the trains) and a beautifully confused Bodie. Plus, (and it’s a very big plus for me) not too much explicit sex so I could dream, instead of having to follow the action ‘blow by blow’ and at the end only the promise of ‘thrashing and moaning’ to finish with really pleased me! I wasn’t certain about the likelihood of the op, with Ray so badly caught between various bad scenarios - I suppose those sort of things do happen but the time scale seems a bit off - however, I’ll accept it. Bodie being ‘queer’ purely for Ray also jarred, given that he was also content to recall previous m/m experiences. But Ray sorted him out so that was OK too. I liked Ray’s happiness and his explanation of how he’d recognised love, and I liked the Seven Dwarves allusions. Altogether satisfying and well-written. And longish - I get desperate for long fics because I read really quickly! Thanks for the rec - this is a story that will go in my ‘to keep and re-read’ folder!

I thought that the point of Bodie's previous experience (such as it was) was that might have been as little as a handjob, but even if it was fucking, it was something Bodie had told himself was a case of "making do when you're desperate", he wasn't queer he was just somewhere he wanted sex but there were no women. Now he can tell that Doyle wants and needs to make love, not just get off. He (Bodie) isn't in a life or death situation and, if he agrees to this, it will mean he has to change how he has seen himself.

They aren't just getting their rocks off as quickly and efficiently as they can - quick and dirty - Doyle wants him as a person, not just as a means to an end.

I liked that bit of the story, I thought the lead-in was a little long and I wasn't quite convinced about the McGuffin, but I did enjoy the story and I did think they presented as adults, something I find sadly lacking in much fanfic.

I have to concur with everyone else, this is really good writing and well worth reading. The description is vivid and original. For instance, descriptions of what Bodie or Doyle are wearing go beyond simple appearance to conveying so much about the wearer, like Bodie’s double-breasted ‘ex-Army chic’ (LOL) and Doyle in a suit:

“While certainly not effeminate, there was something distinctly dandified about Doyle when he dressed up, a sense that, while he knew what a man in a suit was supposed to look like, he preferred not to pander to the conventionalities.” Hence, the scene is set that when Bodie finds Doyle in the hotel room looking quite comfortable in an expensive, conservative suit and neat haircut, he is quite disturbed.

I liked very much the canon background stuff – the cases, the banter between the agents – but I thought the hotel room scene was the best part of the fic. Bodie sees Doyle in a new light and feels a pang that his friend has inexplicably changed and perhaps moved on, or how he will do one day. He is then completely disoriented to learn that Doyle is bi, and that he is in love with Bodie, and that he is asking Bodie to make love with him.

(Last week, I appreciated Bodie’s cleverness in finding a way to seduce Doyle as necessary to save their skins. This time Doyle has the cunning plan of deploying the ‘last dying wish’ prerogative, which Bodie just can’t refuse.)

Things that I found less satisfying were Cowley not telling Bodie about Doyle’s one-man ‘Susie’, and Bodie’s passivity when he finds out from Doyle. In canon, I am one of those who thinks Cowley has a closer relationship with Bodie than with Doyle. That relationship is even shown here, brilliantly, with Bodie in Cowley’s office: “Bodie tried again for anger, but it was already out of reach. He dropped into a chair, knowing himself defeated. ‘You Machiavellian old bastard,’ he said, accepting the glass that was thrust at him. ‘Ach, get that down and come along with you, we'll be late. You might as well see it through.’ He took his gun from a desk drawer and limped towards the door. ‘And that's Machiavellian old bastard, sir, to you.’”

Hence it didn’t seem likely that Cowley would keep Bodie completely in the dark. There is also Bodie’s passivity – after his outrage about Doyle’s op, he just happily goes to bed with him, accepts that Doyle has disappeared in the morning, and toddles off to work trying to pretend nothing has happened. It is only at the end of the day, and when he sees the compromising photo, that Bodie is spurred into action. I would have expected Bodie to start trying to save Doyle immediately. Still, that’s the plot.

I also wasn’t convinced by the dialogue scenes of Doyle (doing most of the talking) in the car with Bodie back at Minster View. Thought these were a bit laboured and not quite Doyle’s voice. I could definitely see Doyle taking this attitude of ‘you love me and I’ll just wait until you come around’, and worrying at a problem, just not so much the way it was expressed here.

Why this must be read:

That’s a real gem of a story, which – surprisingly - has never been recced in crack_van though unanimously considered as a classic of the “Pros” fanfiction heritage, as hagsrus observed when she pointed it out to me in a private message . Of course, it has been recced elsewhere and not so long ago at The Reading Room by constant_muse

I found this presentation, and the subsequent discussion in the thread of comments so thorough, so thoughtful, so enlightening and enticing for the reader that, frankly, I don’t see what I could add, and why I should strive to say clumsily what has already been said perfectly.

What struck me the most while I was reading, besides the concise, elegantly sober style, was the consummate author’s writing skill, her ability to lead her reader smoothly from a point of view to another, through turns, loops and meanders, following with devilish subtlety the lightest variations of moods and feelings of her characters, especially Bodie's, making credible situations that aren't so given the premises, like the seduction scene or Bodie's complete change of mind at the end (I was expecting an open ending, with some remaining misunderstandings).

I'd like to give examples but they are too many, each one better than the other and I couldn't choose among them. Just go to Spring-Heeled Jack and enjoy!