I was reading the Partners series (great stories BTW) and I got to thinking what if Ben and Meg got married but they didn't tell Ray until they were *forced* to.
And this is what I came up with. (Very scarey idea ;))
I refuse to issue a Thatcher warning on principle.......... but she's not in it anyway.
Disclaimer: Mountie, Ray etc don't belong to me ( I wish...., I have great plans involving duct tape ;)) they belong to those wonderful people at Alliance (suck, suck), so please don't sue me I'm just a poor poverty stricken student.
OK.... Let the show begin... ;)
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By Ella Stewart (a.k.a mazi or TDL)
Ray looked up as he saw his friend, with wolf in tow approach from across the Bullpen,it was strange, he didn't seem to be dropping by as much lately or bumming rides and when he did he seemed to be distracted. If Ray didn't know better he might think that Benny had gotten himself a life, nahhhh. Walking towards him now the Mountie had an indiscernible expression on his face. Oh well, he thought, he'd find out soon enough anyway and hopefully without wading through a truckload of Inuit stories.
Stopping abruptly in front of his desk Fraser waited patiently to be acknowledged.
"There a problem Benny?" asked Ray breaking the silence.
"Well, no not a problem as such, but I do have something to ask you and the matter is a little delicate and I may need to clarify a few points for you....." Ben started.
"Spit it out Benny I haven't got all day." Ray interrupted knowing how long it would take for Benny to get to the point by himself..
"Yes Ray, simply put I would like you to ask you if you would be godfather to my child?"
"Child......"Ray sputtered, choking on the pencil he had been chewing, "Is there something you haven't told me?" demanded Ray.
"Well yes Ray, I did say there were a few matters to be clarified......" Fraser replied, not altogether doing so.
Ray knew where this was heading and shot him a warning glare, growling "Benny..."
"Ahhhh, as I was saying.......Do you recall approximately a month and a half ago when the Inspector and I were required to attend a conference in Ottawa. Well we decided it would be best if we didn't tell anyone that we were married. You know Ray the RCMP...." Fraser said, beginning to babble.
"Benny you *WHAT*?" Ray yelled managing to almost deafen the entire police station, who were all now staring at them.
Ben was feeling a tad unnerved, while he obviously been expecting this reaction from Ray he really didn't expect it to be so loud.
"Ray, I told you the Inspector and I were married just over a month ago in Ottawa and...."
"YOU MARRIED THE DRAGON LADY..." Ray repeated only slightly more quietly than his last comment which really didn't matter as the two had the rapt attention of the entire police station, criminals included, much tothe chagrin of their arresting officers, however Elaine and several of the other women were looking less than impressed.
"Ray, I would appreciate it if you didn't call her that and could we please continue this conversation at a more reasonable volume elsewhere, the broom closet perhaps." Fraser said trying to remove both of them from the focus of everyone's attention as quickly as possible.
"OK, fine." muttered Ray stomping off towards the broom closet leaving Benny and Dief to follow.
Firmly ensconced in the broom closet Ray continued "So Benny, want to explain his to me ....and what is your wolf doing? That was the wolf wasn't it......What am I saying of course it was the wolf, you're married and the Dragon Lady is pregnant."
"Ray..." said Benny reproachfully.
"OK the Inspector is pregnant....Hey Benny, do you call her that in bed?" Ray inquired innocently.
"Ray... I... I don't see what that has to do with anything." Fraser managed to reply but even in the dim light of the closet Ray could see him blushing the same colour as his uniform.
"Don't worry Benny I don't *really* want to know" said Ray letting his friend off the hook, "So to recap, you married the Drag.. sorry the Inspector and now she's up the duff." mused Ray.
"A crude way of putting it, Ray, but essentially correct, yes."
"And you didn't think to tell me any of this earlier...and I thought she hated you." Ray said sounding a little hurt, and in truth he was. Benny was his best friend and hadn't bothered to tell him that he had gotten married...to the Dragon Lady, sorry Inspector of all people.
"Well yes Ray" Fraser started sounding a little uncomfortable, at least this was going better than it could have, "obviously she doesn't hate me , although I admit initially she may have disliked me a bit."
"She fired you." stated Ray needlessly.
"Ray, you have to see it from her point of view, she had just transferred here when I was still recovering from that...uh... incident with Victoria," rationalised Fraser.
This last comment elicited a snort from Ray in the darkness, who did not hold fond memories of that 'incident' and a whine from Diefenbaker who still remembered how she had shot him, at least Fraser's new mate hadn't done that.
"And about not telling you" continued Fraser, ignoring the interjections of both Ray and Dief, "as I said the RCMP doesn't really approve of things like this and there really wasn't the opportunity, every time you were available Meg was busy or away so the subject didn't come up."
"Never came up, you neglect to tell you got married because the subject never came up...What am I supposed to do, greet you every morning with "Morning Benny, did you get married today?'" Ray replied angrily and he thought, not unreasonably.
"Ray I....." Fraser attempted.
"Shut up Benny get out of here and give me a few minutes to think."
This seemed like a reasonable request to Fraser and he decided to aquiescese without comment as he valued his personal health. He quietly slipped out of the closet to sit at Rays desk leaving Ray in the closet to ponder all that had been revealed.
Having retired to Ray's desk, Ben went over what had happened in his mind. It hadn't gone as badly as it could have, but if he'd been thinking more clearly and had not been stunned by Meg's news he would have approached Ray at lunch or in the broom closet, almost anywhere but the middle of the squad room.
Hearing footsteps approaching Fraser drew himself away from his thoughts and looked up to see Leftenant Welsh standing next to Ray's desk.
"I believe congratulations are in order Constable." Welsh began awkwardly, he had never thought that the Mountie had a life judging by the way he reacted when women came onto him and the fact he never seemed to have a date, just goes to show. "So who is the lucky Canadian, I assume she is Canadian."
"Yes sir, she is Canadian, it is Inspector Thatcher." replied Fraser in a tired voice.
This wasn't all that much of a surprise to Welsh, an interesting development, yes, but not a surprise. He had seen how possessive Thatcher was when the Mexican security agent had attempted to clean him. Laughingly he reflected that she'd garnered a few strange looks for that, even from the Mountie himself.
"Well I wish you all the best." said Welsh, turning to return to his office, as he did he heard the Fraser reply completely characteristically, "Thank you kindly, Leftenant."
Meanwhile Ray was thinking things over in the broom closet. Well I'm glad I'm not the one that will have to tell Frannie he reflected grinning.
"What do you think, Dief?" Ray asked, thinking at the same time that he had been hanging around Benny too much, talking to the wolf. Diefenbaker woofed in reply and Ray said "Yeah, I guess you're right they are a good match...... It must be a Mountie thing."
Having decided to accept the situation Ray turned his mind to other more important issues like how to get revenge on his friend for dropping this bombshell. Plan of action in hand, he headed back to the squad room intending to embarrass his friend as much as humanly possible...really not a hard task.
As Ray came striding back into the Bullpen, Fraser stood up and examined his friend anxiously. He didn't look like he was still angry, which was a good sign. Ray sat down in his seat leaving Benny to seat himself in the visitors chair.
Ray said leaning towards him "So, care to tell me how this started?"
"Certainly Ray," Fraser replied, glad that his friend wasn't angry but accepting of the situation.
"The had been some changes in Meg's attitude for a while, but it really started during the Bolt case when we kissed on top of the train." Fraser admitted.
"You're telling me you kissed on the top of a train, would this be a moving train packed with explosives, heading towards nuclear disaster full of unconcious Mounties?" Ray asked incredulously.
"Yes Ray." replied Fraser simply.
Ray thought about this for a while, when Benny had rescued the Inspector after she was captured by Bolt there did seem to be *something* going on but he really hadn't been able to see much from his vantage point on top of the train. Recalling more about the case he grinned wickedly at the Mountie who was starting to worry.
"Benny, when you were on the top of this train you didn't happen to go under anything like a tunnel or a bridge did you?" inquired Ray a bit too innocently.
"Well Ray I wasn't really paying that much attention to my surroundings...." said Benny hoping to forestall what he knew was coming.
"So that would explain the damage to your hat." said Ray grinning even more broadly.
"Yes Ray," replied Benny reflectively, "I suppose it would." Fraser had decided to not try and deny it after the grilling his father had given him at home later, after he had initially claimed nothing had happened to his stetson. Fraser shuddered at the memory.
Having obtained a satisfactory answer to his question Ray continued, "so then what happened?"
"Well we didn't do much about it until one night we were both working late and well you know...." explained Ben looking rather embarrassed towards the end.
Ray, deciding to let him down easy, consoled "Yeah I know what you mean." But not one to let him get away with too much promptly inquired, "So Benny, what did you semaphore from the roof?"
"I'd rather not say Ray, it's personal" said Ben uncomfortably.
Ray leaned back in chair and watched the Mountie squirm, this is just *so* much fun he thought to himself. Having decided he'd had enough for now Ray ended it by saying, "Let's go to lunch now Benny."
Relieved that he hadn't been pressed on the issue, Fraser merely said, "Yes." and picked up his stetson to leave. Ray grabbed his trench coat and followed.
As they were heading out the door Ray commented to Benny, as if in passing, "You realise you'll have to be the one to tell Frannie, it's only polite." and he laughed as the Mountie paled.
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OK that's it.....any comments and mounties (chocolate, gummi or otherwise) will be gratefully accepted, please be nice this is my first try :)
Ella Stewart. ;)