Title: It's the Little Things

By: Lys at LysTYKDS@aol.com

Rated G

No Pairings

Spoiler: Flashback

IT'S THE LITTLE THINGS

"Am I a trivial person?" Benton Fraser, Constable in the RCMP thought as he stood guard in front of the Canadian Consulate located in Chicago, in the state they call Illinois in the country they call the United States of America. He kept his eyes forward, shoulders straight and continued his statue pose. "Let's see, what did I find out about myself this week? I have my pencils laid neatly in my desk drawer with my erasers all lined up like good little erasers as Ray said. My paperclips are not tangled up. My desk is neat, clean and well arranged. My uniform itches, my head hurts yet and here I stand with Dief settled comfortably on the cement steps behind me."

He kept his breathing even and his eyes open as a small bird decided to pull at his bootlaces. He didn't even flinch when the little bird succeeded in pulling the lace out of its leather confinement and tried to sever it from his boot. "Dief," he tried to say in his best-gritted teeth fashion.

But he soon realized his wolf was enjoying a sleep on the cool cement. He heard the curtain pull back on the curtain rod rings in Meg Thatcher's office. He maintained his rigidity of station and held fast against the tiny bird trying to eat his shoelace. He heard the curtain slid angrily back into position and tried to maintain his position though he dearly wanted a break.

The tiny bird finally gave up and flew on its way cheeping at him most angrily. Benton relaxed just enough feel his muscles begin to relax. "Let's see, I also found out that I can be rude, quite rude. I didn't like finding that out about myself. During that whole incident I acted quite unlike myself. Heavens, I was even afraid of Dief. Well, only for a moment, but I was scared out of my wits. Ray was quite surprised by my actions. I was

quite out of uniform, without the least bit of attention to my appearance. Indeed, when I saw the state of my Sam Browne and Lanyard I was so embarrassed and tried to hide it by trying to tell Ray that very off color story. But I am NOT like that, am I?"

A small child walked by eating an ice cream cone and stopped to stare at the shoelace lying on the cement but still attached to the boot it belonged to. The tike leaned down and grabbed onto the lace as his mother tried to continue on her way. She was pulled up short when the child balked and began to cry when his little hand was about to lose his new found piece of string. The woman leant down and pulled the string out of the child's hand. She picked her child up and marched up to Benton. "You are out of uniform." She said waspishly and seemed to be waiting for an answer. He stared straight ahead as if made of the finest Italian Cararra marble. She finally snorted and marched off with her child in her arms. Ben's head began to pound in earnest as he heard her march on her way one heeled shoe slapping the pavement and then the next making the same loud sound.

Turnbull snuck to he lobby doorway and glanced out at his idol, Constable Fraser. He grinned when the woman was unable to make the Constable respond to her. He went about his work. Yes, Constable Fraser was back in good form.

Outside, the banging in Ben's head continued as silence fell on his sentry position once again. "But did I really not like my own apartment. I do remember finding it not quite my style." His mind then wandered over the things he liked best about his apartment. It's solitude at the end of the hall. The sun coming in the windows in the morning. The number of neighbors that lived there and the way no one really bothered him there. He was well aware Ray found his building a haven for a bevy of dangerous denizens and unwelcome sights and sounds. He was well aware that Ray was just waiting for the day when something would happen so that he could say, "Fraser, I warned you." But the rent was right and Dief was welcome. What more could he ask?"

One of Dief's cronies bounded up the sidewalk and stopped to stare at Fraser with his tongue lolling out his mouth. Dief rose and stretched and greeted his friend joyfully. The two bounded out of sight in seconds leaving a very irritated Mountie unable to give chase.

"Let's see, my uniforms are back from the cleaners, I've blocked my spare Stetson and I've cleaned out my closet in my office." His eyebrows lifted imperceptibly as he listened to the sound of the Consulate clock in the front foyer as it rang out the current time. One more hour of sentry duty and then Ray would pick him up. Just one more. The pain in his head began to turn to pounding.

Inspector Thatcher marched down the Consulate steps with a list of new orders in her hand. She surveyed his appearance critically, staring balefully at the shoelace. "Put a little cayenne pepper on the lace tonight Constable. That should solve that problem. Here are you orders for tomorrow morning. (She thrust the typed list under his hat.) I am leaving early and won't be in the office first thing tomorrow. See that Turnbull does his share of the items on the list." She turned to march back up the stairs but stopped and said in an almost inaudible whisper. "If you've remembered the egg incident, please add it to the ...ahem other incident. If you haven't remembered, please don't try to and that's an order Constable." She shifted her shoulders back tauter and entered the front of the Consulate.

Ben could feel the banging and pounding his headache take on the rickety tackety sound of a railroad train out of control. "Oh Dear," he thought for now all he could think of was the bobby pin and Inspector Thatcher's face. Quick, he thought find something else to think about.

Two cars honked loudly at each other in the street as two drivers vied for a parking place someway down the street. One driver opened his window and yelled obscenities at the other driver who flicked him off and drove speedily away. Ben listened as the winning driver parked his vehicle in a spot almost too small.

The clock in the Consulate rung out the time again as Dief and his partner in crime trotted happily back to Dief's position on the steps. Ben tried in vain to smell food on the animals and finally gave up when Dief's friend trotted away. Ben started counting how many times the ricketty racketty sound reverberated in his head each moment. Then he multiplied that number times the minutes he had yet to wait for Ray to arrive to drive him home. Once the exact figure was calculated, Ben took relaxation in beginning the count down.

A man in a very expensive suit walked by Benton and looked at the ground as he walked. He stopped directly in front of the Constable, leaned down and pried a quarter out from under the edge of the boot with the untied lace. The man looked him directly in the face and said, "Your loss, my gain." and popped the quarter in his pocket and continued on his way whistling.

Ben's calculations indicated that he only had about five minutes to wait for Ray. His muscles began to tighten up again and the ricketty racketty sound became blaring in his ears.

It was then three young high school girls walked past him. They stopped and giggled. "Oh No." He felt sure his facial muscles were twitching. The tallest girl walked around him. The shortest girl leaned towards him. The middle-sized girl put out her finger and said, "I wonder if he's real?"

The girls then began a heated discussion of his status as human or statue. He kept eyes front and tried to remain still. Finally, the taller girl dared the younger girl to put her finger on his face. The girl put out her finger and was just about to actually push her digit into Fraser's check near his lips when the Consulate clock struck his duty hours over and Ray pulled up right on time.

Drawing in a very relieved sigh that startled his examiners, he doffed his Stetson to the girls, catching Thatcher's orders as he did so and called to Dief. Together they left the startled girls staring as they climbed gratefully into the RIV.

Benton set his Stetson on the dash and leaned gratefully into the passenger seat.

"Ben a hard day, Benny?" Ray said as he pulled out into traffic. "You look beat."

Ben turned tired blue eyes towards Ray, "It's just been little things today Ray. Just little things." And then he dropped his head with the ricketty racketty sounds sounding in it to the headrest on his seat. "Only the little things."