Reading Room Theme IV - Older Lads Fic - Fire Held High and Away by Miriam Heddy

[starlite876.livejournal.com]

Title: Fire Held High and Away
Author: Miriam Heddy
Link to story or zine/ProsLib info: at the Circuit Archive or at the Hatstand Archive or on the ProsLib CD or in The Bisto Kids zine
Pairing: Bodie/Doyle

The title of the story is explained in the first couple of paragraphs which describes how the person who holds the Olympic Torch must to strike a balance when running and holding the Olympic Torch - that the torch must be held high and away or else the torch bearer would be burnt by the fire.



The story is written entirely from Bodie's POV and begins right after Involvement when Ann has left Doyle. The story then skips forward a couple of years and now the lads are no longer part of the 'A' squad but still with CI5. Doyle is being groomed to be Cowley's successor, while Bodie is working in the training centre, having taking over Macklin's job.

Although the lads are no longer partners on the streets, there are still best friends and rely on each other both at work and off work. When Doyle is stressed and frustrated with dealing with the bureaucracy it is Bodie who tries and cheers him up. Most of the time off work they spend together in each other's company. Although Bodie is bisexual in this story, they are not lovers (at least not at the start of the story).

We see the day-to-day lives of the lads both at work and off work, and the sneakiness of Doyle to orchestrate them into sharing a flat together. The move from friendship into something more is well written and I love the fact that Bodie had absolutely no idea of what Doyle was up to.

But what works for me best in this story is the banter between the lads - sharp and witty, and seem so true to what we see of the lads on screen.

Did this story work for you?

Do you think it is possible that either one or both of the lads would/could be groomed to takeover from Cowley? This seems to be a common premise in many Older Lads stories - for example, the story in last week's review had Doyle second-in-charge of CI5. In other Older Lads stories both Bodie and Doyle are "co-controllers" of CI5. Do you think it would take both lads to do Cowley's job? Or would one lad be more successful than the other, and if so who would be more successful as controller of CI5?

I will most likely not be able to access my computer for the next 24 hours due to the time zone differences and work commitments (I'm on a training course to learn about the thrilling subject of Project Management Life Cycle *snooze* ) so please discuss amongst yourselves and I hope to be able to come back to the LJ and read everyone's comments soon.

Comments

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

I see it different! I think there are hints that both are equally supposed to take over - or not.
Yes, I agree I think. Or at least Cowley is seeing them as a partnership even though he has decided that Doyle will do one thing best, and Bodie another... I don't feel that we got to the bottom of that part of the story, though.

sometimes it is insulting how he forgets about Bodie...("You? Well, mate, don't hold your breath.") – and Bodie is too much under Doyle's spell, to talk about it openly. In fact he doesn't even 'think' much about it.
What I see in this is that Doyle hasn't forgotten about Bodie at all - instead he's been separated from him, and is trying to do his half of the job alone - and he's nervous about it. We know he's short-tempered from the eps, and it seems very canon to me that he'd snap something sarcastic back at Bodie if he felt deep down that Bodie had abandoned him somehow. And Bodie doesn't really seem to want to do the job that Doyle does, he's too laid back for it, again just as we see in the eps. It occurs to him as well that he and Doyle should be considered together, that if they're thinking of Cowley's job as the "top job" then there's no reason why Doyle should be thought of as more "top" than Bodie himself (especially if he thought Cowley did prefer him really). But we don't hear him sounding cross or bitter about it really because he isn't...

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

The advantage of first time stories should be that we learn more about the thoughts and feelings of the narrator. But strangely enough that isn't he case in this story.
Oh but we do! We learn that Bodie is still as relaxed as ever about doing his job, though he enjoys it and does it well. We learn that he knows just how to twist Doyle himself - and that when Doyle thinks he's working Bodie around to thinking one way, Bodie is already often there ahead of him, just seeing things slightly differently, and from a more relaxed viewpoint. We see from the very first paragraph that this is Bodie recounting how he came to realise something..

In fact, I think the introductory paragraph tells us more than I first realised about this story, and about the way Bodie's mind is working. He says he doesn't believe he has the skill to run a long distance whilst carrying the torch, and that he doesn't really like running unless he has to - that can be applied to two things, not just one. The first, of course, is his relationship with Doyle, but it could also be about his place in CI5. He recognises that he doesn't really like running - that is, the idea of running CI5 himself - that he doesn't have the skills needed to do it forever, though he's perfectly capable of doing it if he has to, again like running. So if CI5 is also "the torch", then Bodie is learning through this fic that he can run with it (stay in the job) but hold it high and away from himself (not be the one who's in control of it) and yet still do what he needs to do and get the job done (continue working in CI5 in his role as trainer, and support Doyle as his partner - and I think that's the role Cowley sees him in too, and Cowley's handling of his "holiday" is as much a test of Bodie as it is of Doyle. They just both need to realise that.)

and Bodie is too much under Doyle's spell, to talk about it openly.
I'm not sure it's a case of Bodie being under Doyle's spell, more that his mind works a different way - he accepted very early on that he couldn't have Doyle, and so it's not occurred to him to try and do so, for instance. So when Doyle realises that it's Bodie for him, Bodie's actually resistant to the idea, through force of habit as much as anything else.

Nearly ALL of Bodie's thoughts circle around Ray, everything is RAY centric...
And that's why Bodie's strength is in the training job he's been given - accurate short-term assessment and training, he just doesn't have the focus that's needed to do Cowley's job. He does know exactly how to bring Doyle down from focussing too much on the job though, and that's where they complement each other again.

Not a selfish Doyle and a Bodie who soft pedals in everything...
Bodie doesn't "soft-pedal" as such, he just has a different focus to Doyle's, and a different approach to the world. As Cowley once said, they're chalk and cheese - completely different, and yet they're also the Bisto Kids, perfect together...

[moonlightmead.livejournal.com]

I think the introductory paragraph tells us more than I first realised about this story, and about the way Bodie's mind is working

I am so impressed that you gleaned all of this from that paragraph. Because I felt all the way through that despite having access to Bodie's thoughts, I really couldn't understand him. I just wasn't sure what to make of what he told us about his actions at all. For example, pairing Leeds and Radclyffe on the basis of aesthetics? They looked pretty together? ("Pairings had been founded on less.") This is such a patently ridiculous thing to do when teaming people for the field that I felt there had to be a different reason, and yet even with access to what he was telling us, I couldn't be sure.

The torch analogy didn't work for me either. I thought "Ooh, that's a clever idea" at first, and then - well, yeah. An idea, a clever thing to draw a link to, but something that just didn't work for me. And how did the comparison at the end about "The small fire lit the bigger one" fit into it? Was Doyle, the torch, the small fire? The big one the Olympic flame? The flames of their love?

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

I am so impressed that you gleaned all of this from that paragraph.
Ha - well, I'm just as likely to be making it all up, and MH wasn't thinking of that at all, but then isn't that half the fun of thinking about stories, and "analysing" them? *g*

his is such a patently ridiculous thing to do when teaming people for the field that I felt there had to be a different reason, and yet even with access to what he was telling us, I couldn't be sure.
My reading of that is that of course Bodie had better reasons for pairing them - earlier in that paragraph he talks about how they behaved in training, both distinguishing themselves and showing this and that. To me that was why he paired them, whether he consciously thought so or not - and probably he didn't, probably he acted on instinct and then had to come up with a reason for himself later. No doubt if he was asked why them, he'd simply tap his nose and look all-knowing and mysterious - which would be closer to the truth than any reason he could actually come up with! I think Bodie does work on gut-reaction alot of the time, and is happy replying on that - that's ultimately why he knows he couldn't do, and wouldn't want to do Cowley's job. Doyle, on the other hand, drives Bodie mad by trying to think things through, to analyse, philosophise, double- and triple- think, and that's why Cowley might choose him for the job over Bodie - different skills, rather than unequal ones...

I thought the same as you about the torch analogy every time I read this - until now, when I was wondering what interesting parts of the story might be talked about today! Then I took the time to actually try and work out what it might mean, and came up with all sorts... For instance, the smaller fire could be their usual relationship on the job having lit the bigger fire, their love. Or their work for CI5 as agents having lit their future, the bigger picture of it all...

And in general, Doyle's the flame and Bodie's been holding him too close, so close, as he ran through life, that he couldn't see past what he thought he knew himself and that was what burned him. So he'd let himself be numbed to anything different - in other words it took him longer to realise that Doyle really had fallen in love with him too, and to believe it. So when Doyle ended up thrusting the torch (of his lurrrrve, by moving them in together) into Bodie's hands, Bodie fumbled it and nearly dropped it... If he hadn't been focussing so closely on how he couldn't have Doyle, if he'd watched Doyle from a different angle, perhaps with that analytical part of himself that he usually doesn't bother with, if he'd held his flame a bit higher and further away, then he might have seen the bigger picture of the relay, rather than just staring into the beauty of the fire... Or, you know, summat like that. *g*

[firlefanzine.livejournal.com]

I really should be working... ;-)
***

"What I see in this is that Doyle hasn't forgotten about Bodie at all - instead he's been separated from him, and is trying to do his half of the job alone - and he's nervous about it. We know he's short-tempered from the eps, and it seems very canon to me that he'd snap something sarcastic back at Bodie if he felt deep down that Bodie had abandoned him somehow. And Bodie doesn't really seem to want to do the job that Doyle does, he's too laid back for it, again just as we see in the eps."
I was talking about the moment when Doyle complains about HIM being tested by Cowley during his holidays. It wasn't yet clear if Cowley would plan something similar with Bodie. Doyle doesn't spend one moment thinking of Bodie – and I don't see Doyle this way in canon! He may be short-fused but he is not that insensitive.

"It occurs to him as well that he and Doyle should be considered together, that if they're thinking of Cowley's job as the "top job" then there's no reason why Doyle should be thought of as more "top" than Bodie himself (especially if he thought Cowley did prefer him really). But we don't hear him sounding cross or bitter about it really because he isn't...
Yes! "It occurs to him…" That's a very good description for what Bodie is doing in this fic. He doesn't contemplates anything, he just 'reacts'

"In fact, I think the introductory paragraph tells us more than I first realised about this story, and about the way Bodie's mind is working."
I don't like such metaphors unless they are very obvious… ;-)
You declaration may be right – but someone else could interpret it completely different – so I don't even start thinking about it… Sorry!

"Nearly ALL of Bodie's thoughts circle around Ray, everything is RAY centric..."
"And that's why Bodie's strength is in the training job he's been given - accurate short-term assessment and training, he just doesn't have the focus that's needed to do Cowley's job."
I don't see it this way. He just takes things for granted and he doesn't need confirmation all the time. He's somehow happy with his job for the moment, knowing there is more to come.
But as I said, those are all my own assumptions – because we don't get enough answers from Bodie himself in this fic.

"He does know exactly how to bring Doyle down from focussing too much on the job though, and that's where they complement each other again.
Yeah – but where is "Bodie" in this scheme of life?

Back to work... Sigh...

[starlite876.livejournal.com]

I think I phased it badly when I said "Bodie is working in the training centre, having taking over Macklin's job." because I do believe that Cowley is also grooming Bodie to do more. But this leads me back to the question that it appears that neither Bodie nor Doyle can takeover Cowley's role and that the job requires both of them to work together.

I'm about to run out the door for work, but just wanted to thank you for your thoughtful comments.