All characters, except Cathy, belong to Alliance

Where Ray finds not all men are considered equal.

Oh yeah?

by

Chris BJ

He saw her at the edge of the crowd, head back, hips thrust forward, glass of scotch in her hand. Her smile reached all the way up to green eyes, not afraid of the crow's feet to come. Her hair, shiny, dark, thick, fell in coils and bangs, generously, around her face and shoulders. Figure to die for. He noticed curiously that her feet were small, although she was a tall lady, and she was wearing strappy shoes with solid heels. *Dancing shoes*.

Fraser hadn't noticed her, continuing his giggling with his librarian lady friend. Semenology of otter breath, he swore was what he heard them say they were discussing. *freaks* As Ray watched the woman across the room, she seemed to notice the attention and turned, as if on ball bearings, and faced him squarely, catching him dead bang, staring. He gave an embarrassed smirk. *she's coming over, she's coming over, omigod!* She walked with a slight sway, muscular calves showing through the slit in her skirt. Ray was cornered.

"Hi."

"Hi."

Silence. Ray toyed with his glass.

"Come here often?" she prompted. Ray looked hunted for a second.

"Well, ya know, working here an' all, I gotta come in every so often. You?"

Suddenly she stuck out her hand. "Cathy Craycroft, Vehicle inspection. Downstairs, you know?" Ray nodded, and took the offered hand in his.

"Ray Vecchio". He knew he hadn't seen her before. *I'd know if I had*. With an enquiring look, he waved vaguely at the assembled cops and civilians.

"Oh, Gary's a friend of a friend. Said you guys threw great leaving parties. Thought I'd come up and see where the real action was".

Ray nodded, afraid to say something that would drive this dream away. She kept right on smiling at him.

Fraser turned, and noticed his companions. "Miss Craycroft, what a pleasure!"* Oh great* Ray groaned inside. *She knows Fraser. Bang goes my chance of impressing her*.

"Constable", Cathy nodded, with, Ray noted with surprise, a discernible lack of warmth in her tone. *Just an act*.

"May I introduce Edwina Purves? She's in Records". The two women nodded at each other. Again, to Ray's surprise, Cathy seemed less than interested in continuing a conversation with Fraser and his companion. Ray took his chance.

"Um, need a drink?"

She looked at her glass, which still held a healthy slug of Scotch. She raised it to her lips and tipped it back in a single gulp. She handed the glass to the astonished cop, and said "Yes, I do. I've finished this one". She placed her hand on his arm and made it clear that elsewhere was where she needed to be.

They came to the impromptu bar, and Ray got fresh drinks.

"Thanks."

"You're welcome." Silence again.

"You always this quiet?" she asked with a slight grin.

"Hell no, Frase, you know," indicating the red clad figure, "he says I never shut up".

"Huh, he should know", she said with some emphasis.

"Whaddya mean?", he asked, surprised

"What it means, Mr..."

"Detective", he corrected automatically.

"Detective Vecchio..."

"Ray."

"Ray. What it means is that I am not spending the rest of this conversation talking about one smarmy mountie, when I think it would be much more interesting to talk about you".

Ray boggled. She put her finger to his lips. " Now, Detective Vecchio, can I ask you - do you dance?"

Ray grinned like a fool.

He took her to a restaurant he knew, where the music was slow, the food warm and the lighting made them shimmer and shine as they glided back and forth. She was tall, and she was good. Back, around, forward. She moved like a pro, but let him lead like a man. They could have been partners forever. The music stopped, and she announced the need for fluid. He bought drinks for them both, and they sat, holding hands like kids. He learned her age - same as him, give or take a couple of months. She was from New York, she had a degree in Fine Arts, and had come to Chicago a year ago with a boyfriend who wasn't on the scene any more. He told her some about his job, about Stella, about not having a proper partner, only the mountie. Someting she said early came back to him

"Why did you call Fraser smarmy?" he asked.

She sighed. "Don't, Ray."

"Don't what? Talk about Fraser?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Well, you know, ex-wives, partners - kinda kills the conversation on a first date".

"Is that what we've doing? First date?" *of course you are, you idiot*

"Yes."

"Uh. Good?"

"Good." She nodded, stroking his hands gently, holding the long fingers between hers. The bar was starting to clear out, most of the evening's patrons beginning to wander home.

"Do you, uh, uh... Um, you know, would you like to have coffee some place?" Ray looked down in confusion. Out of practice, he thought wryly.

"You mean, would I like to come back to your place? Yes, I would love to come back to your place and get comfortable." She smiled straight right at him

Ray stared at her - did he just hear right? She looked at his expression and laughed.

"Look, Ray, you're a nice guy, you're a lovely guy actually, and ever since I saw you back at the precinct, I've been waiting for an opportunity to, to, well, jump your bones, not to put too fine a point on it. You're a cop - you're busy, right? If we wait until you have time for a second date, it may never come along. So, what will it be?" Ray looked at her, then called the waiter over. "Check, please".

As they drove back to his apartment, he suddenly remembered the state he had left it in, and started to stammer out an apology.

"Hey, I just thought, the maid's been off sick for a few weeks, and my place, you know..."

She put her hand on his thigh, and stroked it slowly with the tips of her fingers. "Ray, I really am not interested in the state of your apartment's hygiene. In fact, I think I have plans to make it a little dirtier." She looked at him, and it was all he could do not to floor the GTO. He felt he could have flown back home.

In fact, they did not head straight to bed. He felt he really wanted that coffee, and they snuggled on the sofa together. Her hands stroked him over and over, his hands twined in her sweetly smelling hair, kissing her neck. They made love right there, on the big leather seat, and after he grabbed a blanket, they fell asleep holding each other.

The morning, Saturday as it happened, came. Ray woke and found his back and shoulders were stiff. Her head was entrapping his arm, and he pulled it out as gently as he could. The movement still woke her.

"Mornin'," she mumbled, eyes still shut.

"Hi." He reached down to kiss her. Her arms went around his neck and the kiss went on and on, until he broke for air. "Mmmm," she murmured, "yummy".

They ate breakfast together, feet playing under the table. Ray felt ten years younger. Haven't done this in sooooo long, he thought. She finally got up, and stretched. Ray marvelled at this creature suddenly decorating his home.

"Better shower, I guess. Through there?", she indicated the bedroom. He corrected her, and followed to find her a towel. As he came back into the living room, there was a knock on the door. Ray was only wearing a dressing gown, but opened the door anyway, to find Fraser standing there. "Good morning, Ray" he breezed, and made to come in. Ray hesitated, and thought, what the hell, and stood aside. Fraser's eyes took in the breakfast things, the blanket on the sofa.

"I'm sorry - have you a guest?" and right on cue, Cathy sashayed into the room. Naked, except for the towel around her hair.

"Ray..." She stopped, and saw she was suddenly the centre of a great deal of embarrassed attention. Slowly, deliberately, she unwound the towel from her head and draped it around herself.

"Good morning, Constable. Early, isn't it?"

Fraser blushed bright red.

"Miss Craycroft. Yes, uh, good morning to you. Ray?", he appealed. Ray was embarrassed, too, but the memory of Fraser's face would cheer him to his dying day. Damn, Cathy looked good, even better wet than dry. She looked at him expectantly, and he realised that the three of them could not stay staring at each other, with only the recent image of a naked woman and a red-faced mountie to console them. He decided he'd better take control of proceedings, and grabbed the mountie's elbow.

"Frase..." Ray herded him towards the door.

"Ray, I'm sorry, I..." Fraser didn't know where to put his eyes.

"I'll see you later, Fraser." Ray pushed him firmly out the door, and closed it. He turned to Cathy, who was unhurriedly dressing, in the middle of the room. He picked up the towel she had dropped, and placed it over her hair, rubbing it dry as she sat on the sofa. She picked up a comb from her purse. He sat down beside her, took the comb from her fingers, and carefully, gently ran it through the damp locks. She leaned back into him as he did it, smiling at him, stroking his leg.

"Oops," she said quietly.

"What? You mean Fraser? That was great!" he said with frank admiration.

"Oh, you normally display your bare naked lady friends to him on a first date?" She laughed at him.

"No, of course not. It's just that , well..." She waited. Seeing she really wanted him to answer, he continued.

"You see, when you came over to me at the party, I'm thinking, see, I'm standing next to this big hunky mountie guy, whom chicks love- well, actually, whom chicks actually fly in from neighbouring cities to moon over - and then there's you, one foxy lady, and I'm thinking ..."

"You're thinking, that foxy lady is going to come over and drool over the big hunky mountie guy, right in front of you?"

"Yeah. Right."

"Wrong. This foxy lady digs blonds, and any way, what's so cute about him? Guy's a nerd."

She regarded Ray calmly, as he stopped combing her hair, and looked at her with shock.

"No way. This guy, the women, well, they fall out of the trees when he's around. He has a day off sick, and you can't move in the consulate for flowers. He has a birthday, we're knee deep in cakes, balloons, cards... They knit for him, they walk his wolf... "

"Wolf?"

"It's a long story, but anyway that's what it is. Women just get like, you know, crazy around him."

"Why?"

"Why? I dunno. He's polite, he's good looking. Hey, I'm not a woman, he's not my type if you know what I mean, but I do know this, every girl I know wants to drag him home to meet her mother."

"Every girl, but one, you mean."

"Yeah, well, you're sick or something. Everyone loves Fraser." *Why are we talking about him. You'd think I want her to fall for him or something*

She suddenly turned to him and kissed him on the lips, and they lay back together. "You're an idiot, you know that, Vecchio" she said softly. He started to protest, and as on the night before, she put a finger on his lips.

"You're an idiot because you don't know what a sexy little fox you are, and how many ladies you drive slightly crazy too."

He looked at her with the "oh yeah" rising to his lips, but she forestalled him. "Ray, I can name you ten women of my personal acquaintance in the precinct who would love to be right where I am now. To tell you the truth, that's why I was at the party, to check out this guy they've been talking about. And personally, I wouldn't have Fraser if he came on a stick, covered in mustard". Ray started to giggle at this outrageous image, but realised that there must be something wrong with Cathy's last statement. "You know, he's not that bad when you get to know him..."

"Well, I do know him - well, I've met him a couple of times, and the conversations in the staff room get a bit boring - Fraser this, did you hear Fraser said that, blah blah. He comes to Vehicles a lot, checking this, writing up that, thank you kindly Miss Craycroft, would you mind? Please, thank you. Half the girls there completely fall for all that, but I think he's a creep. Nobody's that polite. Besides, he's not my type. He looks like a jock, he talks like a appliance manual, he has some really irritating mannerisms..."

"Like?" Ray prompted, fascinated by the sudden assassination of his best friend's image.

"You know, that thing he does when you're talking to him?" she imitated Fraser's unconscious way of apparently trying to push something unpleasant out of his mouth with his tongue, when he was nervous or concentrating, "and he can't hold a five minute conversation with a woman without making her feel that he thinks that she would strip him in public and fondle his bits if he didn't bolt right out of the room. I mean to say, where did he grow up? We are 50% of the human race after all. And what's with the uniform all the time - doesn't he have any real clothes?"

Ray was stunned. He'd never looked at Fraser through the eyes of a woman who wasn't totally, utterly besotted with him before.

"I'm sorry, he's a friend of yours, and I didn't mean to be rude," she apologised, "but, compared to you? - sorry, no contest. Can we stop talking about him now? I get enough of this at work."

"OK". He was more than happy to drop it. He hugged her tighter and she snuggled in closer.

"Mmmm, yummy", she murmured against his face.

Ray sat peacefully, holding her. She'd given him a lot to think about.

Monday lunch. Cathy stayed until Sunday evening, and as they parted, they made plans for the following weekend. Ray was walking on air, and could not conceal his air of smug satisfaction when the mountie walked into the station.

"Hi Ray. Nice weekend?"

"Very."

"Ah. I see. Miss Craycroft...?"

"Cathy's great. You remember, you saw..."

"Uh, yes, I remember. Um. Lunch?" embarassment seeking refuge in routine. Ray smirked as he followed the bigger guy out.

Over chilli dogs in the park, Ray could sense Fraser's curiosity and so gave him a unexpurgated account of the delighful date, the dancing, dinner, a wonderful weekend spent in the warm glow of healthy lovemaking and leisurely conversation. *suck on that now, mountie*

"Hmmm. I see. It must have been a very pleasant experience. Yet I wonder..." Fraser stopped.

"What? What? Fraser, don't you do this to me now. What?"

"Well, Ray, I am very fond of you, as you know, and I have gotten to know you very well over the past year or so..."

"Yeah, so?" *Where's this going?*

"It's just... In all that time, or ever, has a beautiful women come over to you and seduced right out from underneath my nose before?"

"What's your nose got to do with it?"

"Nothing. I meant to say, well, frankly, you usually don't attract that much positive attention when I'm around you, and so I am quite surprised that a compete stranger should suddenly find you so astoundingly attractive." Fraser seemed oblivious to the deadly insult he had just delivered.

"Oh yeah?"

"What I mean is, Ray, perhaps this woman has an ulterior motive for this sudden, 'come on', I believe is the expression... ," Fraser failed to see the warning glint in his friend's blue eyes. Ray stopped him going further down that line.

"Yeah, well what I think is that you're jealous, and you can't see that not every woman you meet is gonna be your slave. I bet you don't even know dat there are dozens of women in the precinct who find me totally attractive..."

"Well, no, to be brutally honest, I find that hard to believe..."

"And I bet you didn't know that there are dozens of women right in the station who wouldn't have you on a stick if you was covered in mustard!"

Fraser sat back, stunned at the surprisingly vivid picture Ray's words brought to mind. He realised that such an unusual expression had probably been vouchsafed to Ray from another source, and visions of females in close conversation in the station house, giggling as he passed, swam in front of his eyes. The chilli dog in his hands looked suddenly unappealing

"Oh yeah?", was all he could manage, in feeble riposte.

"Yeah."

This was unfamiliar territory, and Fraser's spirit of exploration was, to say the least, somewhat dimmed at the moment. He stood up, brushed himself off stiffly, and threw the remains of his lunch into the trash can next to their seat. He had his best "consulate guarding" expression on, and he glanced only briefly at his partner, not trusting his own eyes not to betray his thoughts.

"Well, thank you, Ray. This conversation has been quite illuminating, but now my break is over, so if you don't mind, I'll, I'll..."

"Yeah, Frase, catch you later." Ray said goodbye with an evil grin. The Mountie's ego could handle it. Fraser would never bring this up with him again, Ray was quite certain of that. Ray realised too that he would be able to look at the worshipping hoardes of females in quite a different way in future. He certainly was going to spend many pleasant minutes trying to guess the identity of the ten mystery admirers. Getting one over his older, popular partner was a rare treat to relish.

Thanks Cathy, he thought. I owe you one.