Author's webpage: http://members.tripod.com/daisy_poo/duesouth.html

Author's notes: Look for parts 2, 3 later.

The Angel

It was dark as Ray silently stared out into the falling snow. It was really the first time he had REALLY looked at it. So peaceful, clean and fresh. No wonder Ben had loved it so.

He sat there at the window for at least an hour. The room was dark, and the only light was on Ray's face, coming from a street light. His face was sad. He felt like he was all alone, even thought he had his entire family not 30 seconds away.

What had possessed Ben to do that? He had been lucky before, when he stared people down they usually passed him the gun peacefully. Had he forgotten that crackheads are less likely to care about some crazy guy in a red suit telling you to hand over a gun, when he is unarmed? Did Ben think they would let him arrest them?

It had happened in the back alley, behind the Consulate, of all places. Drug dealer tried to sell it there last night. Ben caught him, and of course, the kid didn't let him get away. Poor Ben, I will miss him so much. Most annoying man in the world... what I wouldn't give to hear him tell an Inuit story. The longest one he could cook up.

Ray didn't remember ever falling asleep, but obviously he had. He woke up with a huge crick in his neck, and a view of the front yard. He looked out absent mindedly at all the new fallen snow. There must have been three inches. All the trees were covered, and a small pile of snow was on the yard where somebody had shovelled it. Someone nice, and considerate... like Ben. Just something he would do.

Ray smiled a faint smile, then took another last glance at the yard. "Wait a second..." Ray noticed someone was in his yard, making a snow angel. The person couldn't be a kid, they were too big. Someone with a navy coat and a red serge.... "Holy crap!" Ray ran downstairs, tearing through Frannie in curlers, and his brother in law.

"Ray, are you crazy?" But he wasn't crazy. He ignored his stocking feet and the fact he was wearing nothing but a pair of sweatpants and a tee-shirt. Ben was in his front yard making a snow angel! He burst through the front door, almost knocking it off it's hinges.

"BEN!" "BEN, WHERE ARE YOU!!!"

He shouted to an empty yard. No snow angel, no Ben.

"Ray, come in from the cold! Ben isn't out there Ray."

Frannie pulled him inside, and sat him down at the kitchen table. She started a pot of coffee, and dug out a day-old doughnut from a box on top of the refrigerator. She had been saving it, but it wasn't important right now.

"Frannie, I saw him! I did! He was in the front yard making a snow angel!" Ray swore. " I saw him Frannie, I know I did."

"Ray, I know this has been hard on you, but Fraser is gone. He is not coming back, and he didn't make a snow angel in the front yard. You saw that for yourself. You must have imagined it."

"Well, I guess you're right. There is no way I could have seen him.

Three weeks later, Ray was back at work. Staying at home, just looking at the wall all day was killing him. He had to get back. Welsh and everyone all were upset too, but they knew what Ray was feeling. They knew how close Fraser and Ray had been.

He sat squeezing a nerf ball, bending and stretching it. There were teeth marks in it, where Dief had bitten into it. Ray remembered thinking that Ben must have forgotten to feed him. Poor Dief, he was gone too. Tried to follow the killer...

Ray shook his head, trying to forget that. He knew he couldn't, however. After about an hour of sitting at his desk, Elaine came over with a file.

"Welsh wants you to work on this. String of car thefts from a parking lot. A local used car dealer is suspected." Elaine said, businesslike. " And Ray. I am sorry."

That is all they seem to say, Ray said to himself. Sorry. He began leafing through the file. Dirty used car salesman, suspected of refinishing stolen cars and selling them at the lot. Also suspected of hiring some punks to strip cars and use the parts in the cars. Great, he thought. Just great.
As he headed out, he couldn't help but hear a bark coming from the squadroom. Dief? He peeked his head back in. Nothing. Must have just imagined it he said to himself, hesitantly. He got into the riv, and pulled out. He didn't feel like music today, or the news. So he just sat in silence, and drove through the light traffic.

"So, where are we going"

"Well, I figure...... FRASER!?!"

"Yes Ray?"

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY CAR!?!"

"Well, Ray, you see..."

"Fraser, you're dead!"

"Yes Ray."

"And you are in my car."

"Yes Ray."

"Well?"

"Well, what?"

"Fraser, what is a dead guy doing in my car?"

"I am an angel Ray."

"Really? An angel? As in my guardian angel?"

"Yes, you could say that."

"Wow....." BEEEEEEP! Ray, in his distractedness, almost sideswiped a car and two trucks. He figured he had better pull over, so he parked in a convinience store parking lot.

"Fraser, what does this mean" He looked over at Ben. Ben looked the same as ever. He was wearing his navy coat, and his Stetson was on the dash. Same as ever.

"Well Ray," He said slowly, " It means that I am going to be around for a while." Ben stopped and looked at Ray. "Do stuff like warning you about guns and such."

"Wow. So I didn't lose you after all!" He looked almost close to tears, with a huge grin on his face. "Benny, you don't know what it means to see you again!"

"Well, actually I do. You see, after I came back to Chicago, during the incident with the wheelman and his son I believe, my father returned and began coming around for a while. Only he was just a ghost, not an angel."

"Why not?"

"He had nobody to protect. You see, I was meant to die that night and become your guardian angel. It was written in stone, so you see, he had no reason to protect me."

"Wow, this is a lot to take." Ray forgot about the car thieves, and drove straight to the nearest coffee shop.

"...So, do you have any powers?" Ray continued to question Ben in the coffee shop. Fraser had ordered some tea, to Ray's amazement. "Well Ray, I can make myself visible only to you. I can also tell if there is danger around."

"So you are telling me these people can see you right now?" Ray looked puzzled.

"Yes Ray, but you see, I am to try not to allow myself to be seen by people I used to know. Besides you, of course. But right now I should be fine." Fraser sipped the tea, and looked around.

"I see. So these people don't think I am a nut talking to an empty seat?"

"No Ray."

"Well, thats good."

"Ray, I hate to ask, but don't you have some sort of assignment?" Fraser slowly reminded him. He hated to interrupt the reunion, but duty called.

"Oh, yeah." Ray called the waitress over. She proceeded to look strangely at Ray.

"Didn't you have some guy in a red suit with you?" She looked him over suspiciously.

"No, I didn't ma'am, you must be thinking of someone else. I am alone." He looked over at Fraser, who obviously was invisible to her.

"Well, I must have." She charged him for the coffee, and watched after him as he left talking to himself.

Later that day, suspect cuffed and charged, Ray and the angel walked into the precinct after a long conversation on Fraser's new life. Everyone in the squad room noticed Ray seemed much happier, almost like a different man than that morning.

"Vecchio, in my office!" Welsh beckoned Ray to his desk. Ray glanced at Ben, but couldn't find him.

"Yes sir?" Ray went inside, and Welsh shut the door behind him.

"Sit Vecchio." they both sat down.

"Listen, this morning you were a train wreck, then you come in happy as a clam. Is there something I should know about?"

"Well sir, I don't feel like I have lost Fraser anymore sir."

"And how is that?" Welsh had a hard time showing that he cared about his detectives sometimes. But he was trying, and Ray could see it.

"I have begun feeling his presence in my life again sir. He is still here, in a way." Ray looked over at Welsh, who was looking a little bit more relived.

"Ok Ray, glad you feel better." Welsh dismissed him, and sat back in his chair. He wished it had been this easy for him when his partner Stevens died. He was glad that Ray was going to be ok.

Ray went to his desk, to find Diefenbaker sitting beside Fraser, whom was sitting in the chair beside his desk. So I did hear Dief, he said to himself.

"So you found him." He looked at Ben as he slumped into his chair, and began to toss his nerf ball.

"Yes, apparently he was taking advantage of the fact people can't see him by stealing donuts." Fraser gave an exasperated sigh, and shook his head at the wolf. "Even dead, he never learns."

"Well, that is a sad story, just keep him away from mine."

"Well Ray, he can't do as I can, you can always see him when he is here. He is just with me. I think he is miffed, personally. But nobody else can play with him here anymore, so he is being less ornery."

"At least he will be able to jump bad guys, like always." Ray teased Dief with the ball as Fraser explained about how Dief wasn't so deaf anymore.

"...It seems that him being a spirit has made void his mortal disabilities." Ben looked over at Ray. He had been so upset in the weeks following his death. I wish I had been able to come sooner, he thought.

Elaine soon strolled over again, noticing Ray seeming to be talking to Dief, whom was obviously not there.

"Ray, there is a problem over at the Chicago Hilton, owner asked for you." She handed him a file, and walked back to her computer.

"Well Benny, lets get moving. I never thought I would say that again."

Ray walked into the lobby of the hotel, where he noticed a police tape stretched over a hall door. Fraser followed close behind, then went into the room, right through the wall.

"Detective Vecchio, I presume?" A well dressed man came over, extending a hand.

" Where is that Mountie you usually have with you?"

"Constable Fraser was murdered three weeks ago." Ray gave a curt answer, his face set in an hard expression. He remembered suddenly about how that punk shot and killed his best friend.

"Oh, I am very sorry Detective, I didn't know, I don't read the papers much." He gave Ray a sympathetic look, one he had received so much lately.

"That is ok sir, what seems to be the problem?" Ray tried to concentrate on the task at hand, and wondered what his dead friend had found.

"This way." He motioned for Ray to follow him into the taped room.

"Our maid found the guest, missing, and a body instead. The body was removed, but everything else is untouched. Some foresics men are coming back later." He opened the door, and flipped the light switch.

The room was illuminated now. Fraser was examining the window, where he saw some puddles of water. Ray noticed the lack of any luggage or personal items in the room. The bed was made, not even the remote was moved. There was only one thing that had been touched, the pad of complimentary stationary. It read only "Thanks for the room."

"Sir, I need to ask you some questions. First, what time did the guest check in?"

Back in the riv, Ray banged the wheel impatiently.

"Checked in yesterday, with one bag. The dead guy never was seen entering, no prints, guest never seen leaving. Don't these places have security cameras in the halls?"

"Yes Ray, they do. Jack did not come through the door. He entered through the window. And Robert left through the window." Fraser explained.

"Woah, wait a minute! How do you know that?" Ray looked at Ben with a bewildered expression.

"It is simple, really. The water puddles were from the snow, I could tell by the pattern, which matches a running shoe." Fraser said matter-of-factly.

"But how do you know about their names?" Ray said impatiently.

"I talked to Jack. Dead people can talk to each other, you know. He explained the whole thing. Robert checked in with a bag of stolen jewellery, which Jack was attempting to purchase. But once he got the money, he took the jewellery too."

"You can talk to dead guys now? That should come in handy. So, where is Robert?" Ray seemed a bit surprised, but not shocked by Fraser's speech.

"Robert usually can be found at the abandoned Old Guard Shoe factory. That is his base of operations, so to speak." Ray took a tight turn, and began to speed toward the old industrial area.

"Ray, there is a speeding driver coming through the next intersection." Ray stopped, and sure enough, a crazy driver sped through. Ray radioed it in, then continued to the factory. Once at the factory, Fraser stepped out first, and searched for the man.

"Ray, over here!" he shouted, and Ray drew his gun, then hurried inside. Fraser directed him to a small door, which Ray slowly opened, gun ready.

"Police! He shouted, and found Robert sitting there, going through the jewellery. He was unarmed and with no escape route, so he did the only thing he could: flung his chair at Ray. Fraser suddenly appeared, caught the chair, and disappeared.

"Where did the Mountie come from? What just happened?" Ray handcuffed the amazed and dazed man, whom was taken in right away.

Fraser, Ray and Welsh were in the listening room, while the duck boys questioned Robert Beeson. He gave a full confession, and surrendered completely.

"Ray, that is a good job. It is good to have you back." Welsh left the room. As he did, he heard something.

"Ray, you did a good job."

"You did all the work, contacting the dead guy and all."

"I couldn't have done it without you."

"Yeah, it is not often they accept arrests by dead cops." Welsh peeked his head back in.

"Did I just hear....."

"No sir, just me." But as he noticed a white tail disappearing around the corner, he wasn't so sure.

Fin