Hello all! This is my first attempt for this list.

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, if I did we would be watching TV instead of reading my story. I didn't write the song and have only the utmost respect for Lennon and McCartney as songwriters par excellance. I just wish I had a smidgin of the talent of all these people whose ideas I'm borrowing.

Please don't sue me, I already can't make the car payment!

It is rated G but it is m/m content. It is also very, I repeat, VERY sappy. Consider yourselves warned!

If I Fell

by Suzanne

Fraser sighed as he absent-mindedly walked from room to room in the Vecchio house. The quiet gave the usually warm house an almost eerie feel. The family were all away, visiting relatives in St. Louis. Ray had invited him and Dief to stay while the family was gone. Fraser was amused by the invitation, since Ray was always complaining about the family and the noise they made, but he refrained from comment when he noticed the fear that briefly crossed his friend's face. Fraser realized that perhaps Ray was almost unnerved by the absolute stillness. Not that he and Dief would provide the same level of pandemonium that was normal for the Vechhio household, but they would provide some relief from the loneliness.

He continued his trek through the house, followed faithfully by the wolf, sighing once again as he looked at the clock. "It's only five o'clock. Ray won't be home for nearly an hour." He looked at his feet, "Oh dear, if I keep up this pacing, I'll wear holes in the carpet. However would I explain that to Mrs. Vecchio?" Dief made no comment.

By this time they were in the upstairs hall; he went into Ray's room and took a look around. "Perhaps some music will be calming." he glanced at the wolf who had just entered the room, "What shall we listen to?" He walked over to the stereo and looked through the stack of CDs scattered haphazardly on the shelf.

Dief whined a bit. "I know *you're* not interested in music." Fraser was shaking his head as he read through the titles. "I can't seem to find...oh, here's something I recognize." He popped the CD in the player and stretched out on the bed, Dief jumped up beside his friend and made himself comfortable.

The music started and Dief whined questioningl. "I know it's not Beethoven but it is the Beatles. They are a modern form of classical music." Fraser answered, but Dief just turned his head, unimpressed. "You're deaf! What difference could it possibly make to you what I choose to listen to.?"

He stroked Dief's head as he went on, more to himself than to the wolf, "The only thing I don't understand is how they could write so many happy love songs," reflecting on his own limited and unhappy ventures into the realm of romance. At this point a particularily poignant song began. He knew he had heard the song before, many times, yet this time it sounded different, more real. He took the remote and put "If I Fell" on infinite repeat.

Besides being quite melodic and relaxing, the lyrics were having a strange effect on him. He began to drift off to sleep hearing bits and snatches of the song in his dreams. They were wonderful dreams, strange dreams. It was an eerie otherworldly place where nothing seemed real yet everything seemed possible. It was in these impossible possibilities that his secret heart's desire was making itself known.

**********

Ray bounced in the door and was struck by the stillness of the house. He hated it when the family was away. The quiet was nice for a while but after the ususal uproar it was scary and depressing, that's why he had asked Fraser and Dief to stay while they were all gone.

"I wonder where Benny and that wolf have gone? They knew I was bringing pizza." Moments later he was affectionately greeted by Diefenbaker. The wolf was as happy to see Ray as he was to see the pizza. Ray leaned down to nuzzle the wolf. "hi Dief. Where's Benny?"

Dief whined and started up the stairs. Ray followed suddenly hit with a feeling of dread in the pit of his stomach. "Dief? Is something wrong?" but the wolf was already at the top of the stairs and didn't seem to be in any hurry. At the top of thelanding Ray started toward the guest room, but heard the music drifting softly down the hall from his own room. He proceeded quietly, not quite sure why.

He stopped at the doorway; Fraser was asleep on his bed, looking quite contented. Ray smiled to himself, stopping to watch his friend for a few moments. It suddenly dawned on him that the song was on infinite repeat. Puzzled, he sat down gently on the bed next to his friend. Still watching, he listened carefully to the song. It was one of his favorites, "It's always been so real for me," he thought. Almst unaware of himself, under the spell of the music, he reached up and stroked Benny's head, running his fingers through the dark, thick hair.

************

The lyrics of the song seemed to be revealing his deepest, most hidden feelings. He felt a presence nearby but he didn't want to wake up. He was hovering on the edge of dream and reality not wanting to lose the wonderful feeling of discovey and possibility that this dream world afforded him. Possibilities that he feared would not be allowed in reality.

The presence was closer now; he felt someone next to him. He still fought the urge to wake, he didn't want to lose this exquisite feeling. Yet the real world began to impose itself, or "is this the real world?" He thought he felt someone running their fingers through his hair and the lyrics of the song became crystal clear, someone was singing along very softly, almost inaudibly.

"So I hope you'll see that I would love to love you...."

He finally let curiosity get the better of him. He knew that he still had to be dreaming but he opened his eyes just to see. Squinting just a bit, he saw Ray sitting next to him singing...

"If I fell in love with you."

Benny just lay there very quietly, unsure how to react, or even if he should.

Ray leaned down and kissed him gently on the lips. "It's always been one of my favorites, too."

If I Fell

music & lyrics by John Lennon and Paul McCartney

If I fell in love with you
would you promise to be true
and help me understand
cause I've been in love before
and I found that love was more
than just holding hands

If I give my heart to you
I must be sure from the very start
That you would love me more than her
If I trust in you, oh please
Don't run and hide
If I love you too, oh please
Don't hurt my pride like her
'Cause I couldn't stand the pain
And I would be sad if our new love was in vain.

So I hope you'll see
That I would love to love you
And that she will cry when she learns we are two
'Cause I couldn't stand the pain
And I would be sad if our new love was in vain

So I hope you'll see
That I would love to love you
And that she will cry when she learns we are two

If I fell in love with you

Please be gentle. I sent this to a friend in England and she thought that while it was well written it didn't have anything to say. Does it have to?

Suzanne

ccs@accessus.net Put my name in the body so it filters to me.