Disclaimer: I don't own any of em and I'm not making any money from them, sigh, so please don't sue! I don't mean to infringe on any copyrights.

Author's Notes:

Story Notes: Slight ATQH. A little summer madness.

The hot sun shone down on the island, warming the bones of the police officers below; cooking their skin to various shades of red and brown. A pleasant breeze cooled down the police relaxing on sun lounges and chairs around the pool in the courtyard. A small grey lizard scampered through the nearby grass, ascended the low stone wall and blended in out of sight. Further along the wall which encompassed the apartment complex, a ginger cat was sprawled contentedly, lazing in the shade from an over head palm tree. The only sounds to be heard were the singing of the birds and the soft relaxing rippling noise of the water in the swimming pool as it gently lapped against the sides.

There were only eight apartments in the tiny complex. Four on either side of the length of the pool, two downstairs and two upstairs. Each apartment was painted peach, with white pillars supporting the upstairs sun-terrace, and green shutters on the doors and windows. From her position on the sun terrace in front of her apartment, Inspector 'Meg' Thatcher had a clear view of the upstairs apartments facing her. To Meg's amusement she watched Turnbull rope Lt. Welsh into playing his favourite game with him, "Twister." Thankfully Meg had managed to hide Monopoly and Cluedo, she had decided to let him keep Twister for her own perverse amusement of watching the others scramble around in awkward positions in this heat.

This police-bonding week had so far been a flop. It was bad enough working with some of these imbeciles; she didn't want to 'bond' with them as well! The eight of them---Thatcher, Fraser, Turnbull, Ray Kowalski, Welsh, Huey, Duey and somehow Francesca had managed to persuade Welsh to let her come too. The week was beginning to more resemble an episode of "Survivor" by the each day. Only the two tribes were "The Royal Canadian Mounted Police" and "The Chicago PD," with Fraser and Welsh, neutrals, sitting on the fence.

The heat was straining relations even more than they had been in Chicago. People were snapping more frequently and the fistfights between Kowalski and Turnbull, about hockey and curling, were becoming a daily norm.

Even the nights were too hot. They could hardly get any sleep. Lack of sleep proved to fuel arguments further.

Fed up with tossing and turning, Meg went outside. The night was cooler outside than in. She contemplated sleeping outdoors, but then dismissed the idea on the grounds that she didn't trust what the Chicago PD would do to her in her sleep if they found her, Meg liked her eyebrows and didn't fancy them being shaved! The cool water of the swimming pool beckoned to her hot sweaty body. Before she knew what she was actually doing, Meg had stripped her shorts, T-shirt and underwear off, and dove into the cool refreshing water. It was Heaven on her skin.

After completing a lap of the pool, she floated on her back, looking up at the stars. Without the pollution of the city, the stars were clear and bright, and there seemed to be so many of them here.

Hearing a gasp, Meg looked to her right. OMG! Someone had caught her. She looked into the shocked blue eyes of Fraser. Blushing a deeper red than Fraser's sunburn, Meg desperately tried to cover her 'bits' with her hands and arms. "I...erm...I was hot!" Meg said defensively.

"Ye--yes it is rather a hot night. Is it just me, or is it getting considerably hotter!" Fraser tugged at his T-shirt, which was sticking to his body. Meg could see the contours of his chest.

Meg nodded. "Yes, I do believe it is getting hotter." She was just about to ask him to pass her clothes to her, when he stunned her.

"Do you mind if I join you in the water then?"

Meg stared at him. Automatically her head nodded before her mouth had time to protest. Meg's jaw hung open in lust as Fraser stripped off his clothes and dove into the pool to join her in a skinny dip.

He swam up to her. "This was a good idea of yours ma'am. Most refreshing."

Meg thought, the idea's getting better and better by the second, as she noticed Fraser wasn't even attempting to cover his 'manhood' from her view. Brazenly, Meg removed her hands and arms from the obstruction of his view and holding her shoulders back, she stuck out her chest confidently. They openly stared at each other. For the first time since the train, they moved towards one another's lips.

Just as they were about to kiss, they heard snorting laughter and a wolf whistle. Quickly pulling away from each other they guiltily swam to opposite ends of the pool and covered their bodies as best they could from the prying eyes of Kowalski, Huey and Duey.

"Er...we were just...!" Fraser and Thatcher trailed off.

"You were just?" Kowalski smirked.

"Ray, could you kindly pass Inspector Thatcher and I our clothes please?" Fraser asked. It was hard to tell which parts of him where his sunburn and which parts was blushing!

Kowalski, Huey and Duey exchanged wicked glances. To Fraser and Thatcher's dismay the three Chicago detectives ran off with their clothes and threw them in the nearby bin. "If you want em, come and get em!" Kowalski shouted and laughed.

"Ray, please, this isn't funny!" Fraser scolded.

"It's pretty funny from where were standing, right lads?" Kowalski said. Huey and Duey replied with laughing "Oh yeah!" and "Best laugh we've had since we got here."

All of the commotion caused Frannie, Turnbull and Welsh to come out of their apartments to see what was going on. They walked to where Kowalski, Huey and Duey were standing at the edge of the pool, laughing. Frannie started to laugh too and whooped. Turnbull shrieked and covered his eyes with his hands. Welsh coughed and tried to hide a smirk.

"Turnbull, get our clothes from out of the bin. That's an order," Thatcher yelled from her hunched position in the pool.

Before Turnbull could get the clothes, Kowalski, Huey and Duey pushed him into the pool. "Oops! You should be careful around swimming pools, it's slippy," Huey said.

Seeing her chance to get some clothes, Meg swam up to Turnbull and tugged his T-shirt off. It was just long enough to cover her modestly. "Ppplease sir, don't take my shorts!"

"Don't worry I won't Turnbull, but Fraser might!" Meg teased.

Yelling, "Pool party" Frannie jumped into the pool. The others followed. Fraser and Meg exchanged glances and both swam up to Kowalski. While Fraser held his arms, Meg pulled Kowalski's shorts off and gave them to Fraser, who put them on.

"Oy! No way! Gimme my shorts back!" Kowalski demanded, trying to cover himself.

"Now, now Ray, if you can't handle the time, don't do the crime!" Fraser wagged his finger and him, while Meg laughed and whooped with Frannie and the others.

Sat beside the pool watching the humans, Dief thought, really, the heat does strange things to people!

The End

End Heat by RedDragon: RedDragon@manutd.com

Author and story notes above.