Fic: The Art of Being Lost and Found (17/?), blue cortina, dakfinv

[dakfinv]

Title: The Art of Being Lost and Found (17/?)
Author: dak
Word Count: 1496 (this part); (23,628 in total, so far)
Rating: blue cortina
Warnings: none here
Summary: Post 2.08. When the Guv goes missing, CID is saddled with an inept "interim" DCI. To find Gene, and the truth, Ray must team up with a hated enemy.

Part 1   Part 2   Part 3   Part 4   Part 5

Comments

[jpgr]

You crafty little devil. Just what is going on with the missus? I have some ideas but sying nowt. Great job as always.

[dakfinv]

Thank you! I just hope all this plotting works out...

[nepthys_uk]

Oooooo - the mystery deepens!

I'm really enjoying this, although the descriptions of Sam's state are quite heartbreaking *sniffs*. You've really captured the characters brilliantly, especially Ray and Chris.

I'm away for the next few days but am looking forward to a bumper catch-up when I get back :)

Hope this isn't too cheeky, but I have one teeny Britpick - we don't have 'stoops'. From what I recall of the canon glimpse we get of Gene's house it's just a couple of steps up to the front door, so it's not even a porch, really. I think 'door' in this case would probably be the most suitable word.

[amproof]

it's just a couple of steps up to the front door,

I thought that was a stoop? That's what I always think of when I think stoop...

*confused*

LOL

[dorsetgirl]

Oh, is that what a stoop is? I always wondered. We just don't have the word.

[nepthys_uk]

Sorry, I know that's the American term for it; what I meant by 'we don't have stoops' was we just don't use that word in the UK.

[mikes_grrl]

Oh, how the plot thickens!

I truly love this paragraph for what it says about Ray, how honestly it shows his sincerity and tenacity and limitations:
The div had no reason to be mad at him. He’d done the right thing. He was doing the right thing - finding the Guv when no one else gave a damn. Well, that wasn’t entirely true. Chris did care. Cartwright cared. Tyler might care if he had more than two brain cells left in that cracked skull of his. But, if everyone cared as much as he did, why weren’t they showing it?

Because, in fact, Chris does NOT have a right to be mad at him. Chris is more mad at himself, methinks; but for all that Ray's breaking the rules by keeping up the investigation on his own, he IS playing by the rules he knows. He has no investment in Sam outside of the search for Gene, so getting him back to the asylum without delay makes sense. And to Ray, loyalty would be defined by NOT giving up on Gene, which everyone else seems to have done (outside Sam, whose brain is fried). So Ray is being perfectly RAY, and

[seileach67]

I'm glad Ray does correct himself to admit that Chris and Annie (and Sam in his right mind) do care--it shows growth as a person. And I agree that Ray's acting totally in character through all this.

[dakfinv]

I'm really glad Ray is being Ray here. He's easy to write at first, then gets tricky when you start to really dig inside his head. Because he does have values like respect and loyalty, which are noble qualities, but he's still the ultra-70s man, and it's hard to find that balance sometimes.

Thank you!

[seileach67]

Ooooh more twists! :D Ray's really doing some good digging here. I can only wonder what's going on with Vera. It sounds like she knows or suspects something has happened to Sam**, and was hinting to see what, if anything Ray knew about it. (**not the sectioning itself, I mean something like Sam's mistreatment and/or who's behind it)
I can't wait to see what happens next! :D

[dakfinv]

Thank you! I don't want to say anything else, for fear of giving away some of the plot. ;)

[gritsinmisery]

The plot, she keeps getting thicker.

[dakfinv]

Thank you!