Fandom: Breaking the Chains by SAC
Pairing: Bodie/Chauvelin
Length: 63,442 words
Author on LJ: greengerbil
Author Website: SAC at The Automated Hatstand

Why this must be read:

Because The Professionals is an older fandom, we have about thirty plus years of fiction to play with. We also have the actors who portrayed Bodie (Lewis Collins) and Doyle (Martin Shaw) portraying other characters over the years in many movies and television shows. One of the fun things in Pros is to take a canon character and pair him up with one of the characters from another vehicle. This particular story takes Bodie (Lewis Collins) and pairs him with Chauvelin (Martin Shaw) from The Scarlet Pimpernel. Crossovers, yes, sort of. I call these fusion stories and I love them.

A good writer will give me a story that keeps my Pros' character very much canon characteristically (and recognisable) while keeping the Chauvelin character in his canon as well. A trick to be sure, but when done well, these stories are a joy to read. I love this story. I love her Chauvelin and her Bodie, and I love them together. It's one of my favourite stories that combines one Pros character with one "non-Pros" character portrayed by Pros actors. Makes perfect sense, eh?


Breaking the Chains

I apologize for jumping the gun, but I'm hopping on a plane in a couple of hours and will be gone for the next week and didn't want to fail in my sacred pimping duties. And technically it is already the 15th somewhere, right?

Title Doppelganger by Janis Cortese
Pairing: Horatio Hornblower/Tony Dewhurst, Horatio Hornblower/Archie Kennedy
Author on LJ: cortese
Author Website: Janis Cortese/Recondita Armonia/Carmen Bizet's Fanfiction Archive
Why this must be read:
As crossover fandoms go, Scarlet Pimpernel is a bit like Hornblower's steady date if the number of stories is any indication to go by. It's a felicitous marriage. Both universes occupy the same period of history (The French Revolution/the Napoleonic era) and provide ample opportunities for the characters of the two worlds to collide in credible ways. They also have one other interesting point of connection: the actor who plays Archie Kennedy also plays Lord Dewhurst in Pimpernel which just adds to the crossover possibilities.

Doppelganger plays deftly with that particular connection. The story is set in the aftermath of "The Duel" and finds a Horatio who is somewhat adrift and grieving the loss of his dearest friend only to encounter an uncanny look alike at a party. What follows is both expected and surprising and more than a little bittersweet. It's a lovely story, suffused with yearning for what is lost and what can never be. It's sad and sweet and heartbreaking all around.

Doppelganger