crack_van | Coals of Fire by Jane Davitt (NC-17)

Fandom: THE SENTINEL
Pairing: Jim/Blair (preslash)
Length: 24K
Author on LJ:

janedavitt
Author Website: http://www.janedavitt.com/
Warning: Contains spanking as punishment. If you are totally squicked by this, run away now!

Why this must be read: Although I can easily see Jim and Blair enthusiastically using spanking as foreplay, I’ve never been convinced by stories that have them in a domestic discipline type relationship. Neither’s canon character fits the “top” or “brat” archetype of the genre, unless you tweak them a *lot*. But Jane is quite clever so I tried “Coals” and found, because of where it takes place in the show’s timeline, that her scenario is believable.

An epilogue for “Cypher” (halfway through the first season), Jim is angry and frustrated that Blair blithely ignored his superior knowledge of police operations. He’s also emotionally distraught at how close Blair came to dying at the hands of serial killer David Lash. Up until he tangled with Lash, we see Blair as cocky – he has good ideas for the senses and is excited to be included in Jim’s work. But the case has shaken his confidence badly. He knows he messed up when he tipped off the killer at the church, and probably should have done things differently at other times during the case. Moreover, he’s still at the “hero worship” stage, which allows him to be swayed by Jim’s opinions. And he’s between a rock and a hard place when Jim delivers an ultimatum that would clearly derail their partnership, and might destroy their growing friendship as well.

I found this “perfect storm” of events and their conclusions reasonable. Intrigued? Curious? Give it a shot. Then shoot Jane some feedback!

Coals of Fire

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

This, and the other DD fic I did out of curiosity to see if I could write one that worked for me, are fics I never expected to see rec'd so many thanks for this.

It's a genre I find frustrating as a fan of spanking and BDSM fics; it gives me some of what I want, but at a cost I usually find too high. Anna S (

eliade) did two stunning ones that completely worked for me though and that piqued my interest in writing one. I don't pretend to write anywhere up to Anna's standard, but I'm always up for a challenge :-)

The choice to set it so early on was very deliberate; I'm not sure it would've worked later on when the dynamic between them had shifted. They come to know each other so well; here, they're still discovering things about each other.

I'll stop babbling now :-)

Oh goody! I was going to send you a note but it's even more fun that you found this yourself.

Yes, I expect the genre within this fandom isn't recced much because most of the time it really doesn't work. DD doesn't even always work when you have original characters whose personalities you can mold to suit your purposes. Much less so with established characters.

Dystocia by Anna always seems to be the one that grabs the raves, and I agree it's not just written well but nice and twisty. I thought yours deserved a rave or two, so here ya go! I suspected that your timeline placement was thoughtfully done. I absolutely agree this scenario couldn't have happened (at least in my opinion) much later. I won't say more -- don't wish to spoil!

Thanks, as always, for the great writing. I don't say it nearly enough.

I have this comm friended; often find new fics here!

I love Dystocia, but Strains May Float, her retelling of The Girl Next Door is brilliant. The DD elements are woven in so subtly, it took me three rereads to pick up on them all -- and I may have missed some even now. The reveal is slow and gradual, and it totally works for me that Blair would ask that of Jim and Jim give it to him.

And thank you; so happy you enjoyed this and the other fics; much appreciated.

LOL, it's amazing how differently we can see things. Strains didn't work for me at all. I viewed the DD as self-flaggelation (analagous to suicide by cop), and I associate that more with Catholicism than Judaism.

But I just couldn't get over Blair being arrested. No matter how Anna (or anyone else) explained it, canon was just stupid. If anything, I would have reprimanded Jim *and* Simon for not putting on record that Blair was a kidnap victim. Or, at the very least, spoken up after the fact that they were chasing an active kidnapping case and hadn't had time to file the paperwork. That way, he would have had some protection. And for the DA to be stupid enough to cut a deal with criminals in order to exonerate someone who has never had a record and was actively working with the cops as a consultant was rediculous. Didn't Beverly Sanchez hire better people?

The arresting thing was insane and if I'd been Blair, I'd have wanted to sue people. Cops take care of their own and they take care of victims -- and Blair was both.

And the scene with the security tape from the store when they thought that was Blair :;rolls eyes:; Sheesh.

I was brought up a Catholic (lapsed for over 30 years, though) so I guess that could explain a lot ;-)

I was brought up a Catholic (lapsed for over 30 years, though) so I guess that could explain a lot ;-)

Me too. But it's more like ::mumbles:: 40 years! LOL. I'm looking back over my comment and thinking "that's awfully judgemental. Perhaps setting your own punishment and having someone else carry it out *is* part of DD". I just don't know enough about the genre (or how it actually happens in real life for that matter). So, sorry to sound so blustery! Anyway, it's been fun delving into it a bit.

You didn't sound like that at all!

I think from the DD I've read, there's often an agreed upon contract in place from the start: these are the rules and if they're broken, this will happen. There's usually not much choice about agreeing to do it though which bothers me sometimes; the person's told that they're a danger to themselves/too immature and so this has to happen.

...the person's told that they're a danger to themselves/too immature and so this has to happen.

OMG, don't get me started with how formulaic most of those stories are. I guess since the spanking is the raison d'etre for most of them, you have to have any number of rules, even if it doesn't make sense to an outsider looking in. It's why it is doubly hard to plop already "cooked" characters into the scenario -- most of them aren't a danger to themselves, etc. So then you have to start playing with their ages or personalities, etc. Thus it become virtually impossible, IMO, to find a plausible fanfic story.

What I meant before was that usually in DD I've read the only decision the punishee makes is to break the rule. The punisher decides what, when, with what, how, for how long, etc. In "Strains", IIRC, Blair decided all that and Jim was merely carrying out Blair's wishes. On re-consideration, that sort of arrangement might well be a DD "normal" for some people. Since the whole episode on which it was based didn't work for me, it really colored my perceptions of the story as a whole. Should probably go back and read it again! ::laughing at myself::

They're very formulaic which again added to my desire to write one and see if I could get away from the formula. And I'm not a fan of making Blair 17 when Jim's still 37 or whatever so that they can assume father/son roles becasue it changes the dynamic too much (personal preference, of course).

Yes, in Strains, it's Blair's idea and Jim's reluctant more than eager, but he does it for Blair and gets the smallest kick not out of punishing him, but Blair trusting him with this responsibility. And it's separate from sex; there's this telling moment when Jim puts his shorts on before he puts Blair over his knee and when it's over, Blair goes to sleep in his own room.

Great story though for the way she wove so much into the episode and the sex is hot/ Whew.

Coals of Fire by Jane Davitt (NC-17)

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