This story is written for the private entertainment of fans. No infringement of any copyrights held by Due South c/o Alliance is intended. This story is not published for profit, and the author does not give permission for this story to be reproduced for profit. The author makes no claims on the characters or their portrayal by the creation of this story.

Rated PG

Cold
( by Catalina Dudka - Copyright 1996)

Cold, she was cold, even in the unrelenting heat of a Houston August. Even with the sun beating down, bleaching her surroundings with its light, she was cold. Hands like ice burrowed deeper into the pockets of her coat, she walked on uncaring of the curious glances from passers-by. Some knew her by sight, the strange, beautiful woman that dressed as if in the middle of winter always, but none knew her tale and that's the way it would stay.

The cold seeped through her skin, to the bone, to her heart and another icicle formed as she recalled the latest news from her Chicago connection. He'd found another. Victoria clenched chattering teeth and held her freezing breath as thoughts of Fraser flooded her mind. She remembered the only time she had ever been warm. She remembered the strength of him, the heat, the love, the hate of him. Her battered psyche was tortured by memories of the hardness of his body, the softness of his touch. She remembered endless nights of sleepless longing.

Blue-tinged lips parted in an angry sob as she pictured his arms around someone other, and eyes as black as the deepest tarn darkened further with growing fury that did nothing to lessen the ever present cold. Fraser was hers, forever and always. God deliver anyone, be it friend or lover, who got in her way.

The hot dog vendor shuddered at a sudden chill as she walked by then shuddered again as he recalled the smile on her face. A smile born of resolve, and fed by determination as a plan coalesced. Victoria invited the hate once again and drew strength from it. She welcomed the love, but buried it deep lest it weakened her. This time there would be no mercy, he would be hers, and nothing would take him away, ever.

Victoria walked on. The cold radiated from her heart, through bone and skin and passers-by trembled in the unseasonal chill that not even the beating sun of a Houston August seemed to lessen.

The end

Cat (cdudka@direct.ca)