Pros Big Bang - Past Imperfect by SAC

[greengerbil.livejournal.com]

Title: Past Imperfect
Author: greengerbil
Artist: ankaree
Archive to Pros Lib: Yes
Genre: Pre-slash
Characters/Pairing: Bodie/Doyle
Word count: 35,011 or thereabouts
Warnings: NC-17 I suppose. Also warnings for flashbacks to childhood sexual abuse and dub-con (not involving partner).

Disclaimer: They’re not mine unfortunately. I just like to borrow them to play with for a while, and I promise to give them back when I’ve finished.

Summary: Doyle goes undercover while haunted by evil memories out of his past. Meanwhile Bodie is having problems of his own. The partnership is under strain and Doyle is under pressure – will they break the case before Doyle snaps, will Bodie be able to provide Doyle with the support he needs?

Notes: Many, many thanks to ankaree, who has provided the beautiful cover art and the gorgeous, apposite illustrations in the text – bonus, eh?

The first few thousand words of this fic have been sitting on my hard drive for the last... ooh, two years at least, so I am extremely grateful to przed and callistosh65 for organising and running the Big Bang, which has finally given me the impetus to finish it!

And thanks too to my wonderful betas jaycat92 and lukadreaming who spotted my spolling mistokes, sorted out my grammar, and provided much fixing cement to fill in the huge plot holes that threatened to derail the whole thing. Guys, I owe you!

Link to Fic: Fic Master Post
Link to Art:Art Master Post
Link to E-reader files: E-reader Files (Right click to download files)

Comments

[raven-rs.livejournal.com]

I've downloaded this because I can't seem to get the link to work. Just in case it's just me having a problem.

[greengerbil.livejournal.com]

No, don't panic - I had my journal locked while I was trying to get the formatting sorted. Of course it might have been better to do that before posting to the comm *smacks head* but that's rodents for you - we're not terribly well-organised. I hope the link works for you now, I've just made the entry public.

Could you tell me if it still doesn't work?

[raven-rs.livejournal.com]

That works!

My fault for being over-eager!

[sc-fossil.livejournal.com]

Hey, gerbil, you might want to unlock your post.

I can't wait to delve into your story! You have such pretty art from ankaree.

[greengerbil.livejournal.com]

I had it locked while I was sorting the formatting out - I had a bit of an html disaster.

Hopefully it's all working now!

[inlovewithboth.livejournal.com]

Yay! I've been looking forward to this one since our chat in the theatre at Windsor! It's a great read. I loved the clever way you tied in with real episodes and was totally with Bodie when he was standing in that art gallery listening to stories of his partner's past. And I loved the way you used other members of the CI5 team. Well done, mate, it was worth the wait!!
P.S. Fantastic artwork, Ankaree, perfect illustrations of the story.

[greengerbil.livejournal.com]

Thank you - I'm glad you liked it!

ankaree's illos are great, aren't they?

[jaicen5.livejournal.com]

Love long stories, and I love a tough Doyle in them. Thank you for all your hard work. It was well done.

[greengerbil.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you liked it!

I think writers too often forget that Doyle might be less well-built than Bodie, but he is still a trained CI5 agent and therefore just as tough and well-trained as his partner.

I like your Doyle, too!

[raven-rs.livejournal.com]

OOooo! Loved this one. Another favourite to add to the list. Great stuff, and I so want to know what happens afterwards! Well done.

[greengerbil.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I'm happy you liked it!

[sc-fossil.livejournal.com]

I think you did such a good job with this story. You've taken canon details and built an entire story around them, plus you've worked in Doyle's former life so well. Really an enjoyable read. I appreciate that you had Bodie, while not pleased with what he discovers, not act like a teenage girl (beg). He works through his new knowledge and comes out caring about Doyle even more than before all of this happened, and admiring how Doyle survived his early life. Nicely done!

[greengerbil.livejournal.com]

It was Bodie's attitude to prostitutes that I wanted to look at, because I saw a change in it between Female Factor and Takeaway and thought that figuring out why his ideas changed might make a story.

And of course it wasn't going to hurt his partnership with Ray - Bodie would never let that happen!

I really appreciate you persevering with the story when I know you're uncomfortable with my version of Ray's past. And thank you so much for the lovely review, too!

[sc-fossil.livejournal.com]

It's a good story and your subject matter doesn't detract from that at all. I enjoy your writing very much.

Really, though, I'm not uncomfortable. I just don't buy it as a general concept in any of my fandoms. However, I will read a story where one of my guys is a hooker. I take it with a grain of salt and realise it's not something I believe could or would happen. I don't "see" it or I tell myself it wouldn't happen to my Doyle (or Starsky or whoever!). Heck, even HG's Rainbow Chasers, as good as it is, didn't convince me. *g*

[firlefanzine.livejournal.com]

"Once it had been Ray, then the world. Now it was Ray-and-Bodie, then the world."
A strong, if insecure Doyle, who fights his demons.
And the reaction of Bodie is comprehensible after seeing such a picture of his partner. But he learns to deal with it.
I enjoyed the story very much!

And I'm always very fond of a foggy London night scene. :-)
"It was a foggy night and after a few minutes they fell silent, listening for any following footsteps and hearing none. Neither of them spoke. Sound travelled oddly in fog. It wasn’t until they were safely within the environs of the station’s brightly-lit, dingy ticket office that Bodie felt safe enough to say softly..."

Thank you!

[greengerbil.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad you enjoyed it. Thank you for commenting!

[andreathelion.livejournal.com]

Finished reading and I enjoyed the story very much :)

Well done and thanks a lot for this!

[greengerbil.livejournal.com]

Thank you! And I love your icon!

[ancastar.livejournal.com]

I'm a little late to the party, but yay!!!

\o/

Congratulations on posting.

[jgraeme2007.livejournal.com]

Not sure if we're supposed to leave the comments at the individual LJ or here, but I just wanted to say that I really enjoyed this. It had the vibe of one of those classic meaty pros fics from the glory days. *g* A nice balance of angst and action. I like how you've worked the episodes in with your own events.

[cloudless-9193.livejournal.com]

A very well plotted story with a perfect beginning and a perfect ending. And all in between I enjoyed as much.
The closing scene must be the sweetest I've ever read!

[moth2fic.livejournal.com]

What a gorgeous way to spend a Sunday afternoon! I ignored everybody and everything, even my grandson and my cold/cough and just wallowed in your story.

The basic premise, with the rent-boy background, was fascinating, as were the thoughts of both lads on the subject. I feel there's a novel lurking in there somewhere... I loved the way you gave us lots of case and agent info with names and details, and really fleshed out the teamwork of ci5. And all so beautifully written, as usual.

Thank you so much for the story, and thank you for leaving us with plenty to dream about and not wrapping it up too tightly.

One to keep and re-read.

[margaret-r.livejournal.com]

Thank you for such a lovely story. I enjoyed it very much and the ending was perfect ... so much promise and the lads wrapped together - gorgeous:)

[shooting2kill.livejournal.com]

I love long stories and the opportunities they afford writers to explore and develop various things which they wouldn’t normally do and so I like the way you’ve picked up on Bodie’s attitude towards prostitutes and taken it a bit further. I hadn’t thought of that particular angle before and you’re right, his responses in Female Factor and Takeaway were quite different and it actually made me think (never a bad thing!) and question this inconsistency which, after all these years reading and watching pros, is no mean achievement(!). (My own little theory is that there might just have been a bit of leg pulling on Bodie's part vis a vis Doyle's idealistic attitude towards the 'noble' [or 'honorary'?] - code of prostitutes) And this leads me on to another observation which is how impressed I’ve been at the number of original ideas and plots which have appeared in the Big Bang challenge and I think your story should be added to that list!

Really enjoyed this, thanks very much for all your hard work.