"There is too much tinsel on the other side, Benny. Bring some more over here."

"Is that enough, Ray?"

"Perfect. Now the candy canes. The bag is by the couch, Benny. Could you bring it to me?"

"Of course." Benny walked carefully to avoid stepping on all other decoration lying on the floor.

Ma Vecchio came in from the kitchen, wiping her hands at the apron. "Would you boys like some hot chocolate?"

Still perched up the ladder, Ray complained, "Ma, the kids will be back at any minute, and the tree must be ready. We don't have time for chocolate."

"Please, don't trouble yourself, Mrs. Vecchio", chimed Benny, bringing Ray a brown bag. "Here, Ray, the candy canes. There are other ornaments in the bag. Would you like to take a look?"

"Looks fine to me, Benny".

The cop took the bag and began working on the tree. Ray's mother smiled. "Well, you two certainly deserve the chocolate for working so hard." She looked down at the wolf by her side. "It seems we are not wanted here, boy". Dief cocked an ear at her and the amber eyes glowed. "Let's see what can we do in the kitchen, shall we?" Without further ado, woman and wolf went back inside the kitchen.

Benny and Ray focused on decorating the Christmas tree before the youngest ones of the family came back from the mall. Maria had taken all of them so that the tree could be decorated. Also, in the morning, Benny and Ray had decorated the front and roof of the house, including small stuffed santa dolls climbing up the chimney. When the kids arrived, there would certainly be shouting and squealing, and intensive inspection on all garments, edible or otherwise. Ray had made sure some of the hangings included decoration made by the children themselves at school.

While helping Ray, Benny could feel a warm building inside his chest. It was not the first Vecchio Christmas he attended, and he hoped it would not be the last. Nothing about the Vecchio Christmases was similar to the ones in the Yukon. The feelings churning on Benny's soul were priceless, and he pondered about the luck of having a second family, the cultural heritage of his original family, the frustration of a young Benton Fraser and the late joys of a mature Benton Fraser.

***

"Are you sure (moan) your family will not (moan) mind, Ray?"

"I am (kiss) quite sure, Benny (kiss). You heard Ma (kiss): she expects us back (kiss) for dinner at morning (kiss). We can help the kids (kiss) with their toys (kiss)."

"Yes, Ray... Oh, Ray..." Moan, moan, and grunt. Shirt flying.

"Hmmm.... Benny.... Have I wished you (lick) a proper Merry Christmas (lick)?"

"I... (pant) I... don't think so..."

"Maybe I should (suck)... Oh, how I wish you a merry Christmas, Benny..."

"Yessss... Yes, Ray...."

As the wolf took a strategic exit to the kitchen area, they tumbled in bed; Italian lips attached to pale Canadian nipples as fluid slippery hands moved to take off the pants from Canadian trembling body. Lying on his back, Benny quivered under Ray's expert touch, his brain foggy with desire. Ray kept on making his lips travel all over Benny's chest and stomach, moving down and down.

Ray's brain was focused on a single goal, guided by the sounds he was extracting from Benny. The poor Mountie was doing his best to make his body co-operate and take at least some of Ray's clothes off. But Ray seemed to have turned into an octopus, so slippery and full of limbs that it made Benny even more dizzy.

When Benny was completely naked and whimpering, Ray realised his own body was claiming to feel his warm skin. So he just started peeling garments at warp speed, panting at the sight of a quivering and lusty Canadian who moaned his name like some siren song. How could Ray resist that luring sound?

As if in a trance, he hovered over the Mountie for a few seconds, unable to decide where to begin his attack. The firm shaft pointing directly at him was invitation enough and Ray made their cocks touch for the first time. It was as if an electric current had been turned on and both gasped and shuddered, giving in to the sweet sensations brought by the grinding of their organs, as their lips met, then opened, and there was a serious tongue-chasing dispute.

As the panting grew worse, Ray suddenly move up from Benny, who whimpered at the loss of skin contact. He positioned himself between his lover's legs and went back to sucking nipples and chest. Quivering, Benny let out a gut deep moan as Ray reached the forest of black curls on his lower abdomen. "Oh... Ray...!."

There was a yelp when Ray lowered his head to close his lips on Benny's twin spheres, his tongue rolling each ball inside the sac. Benny raised his legs instinctively, draping them along the Italian's narrow backside, exposing himself completely to this eager lover. Ray's eyes grew wide at the silent invitation. They had not done this many times since they became lovers, and Ray had thought Benny preferred other forms of lovemaking. He respected that, and he would never do anything to harm or hurt his beautiful Benny in any way.

As Ray continued to stare at him, Benny thought it was a silent permission request. In expectation, he nodded eagerly. "Please, Ray...! I need you..."

Ray jumped up to make their lips meet in a deep kiss. "Oh, Benny, I love you so much."

"Then be one with me, Ray. I need this."

"I need it, too, Benny."

He kissed him again and looked around, looking for anything to use as lubricant. Benny held him, preventing him from leaving the bed. His blue eyes were sparkling in a hue dark and deep with commitment. "No, Ray. Please. Use your tongue."

"Benny..." Ray was so filled with love at the trust implicit in the request. "Oh, Benny..."

The Canadian raised his legs a little bit higher. "I am all yours, Rays."

That was all Ray needed to hear to plunge between the perfect pale ass cheeks and lick it all over. Benny gasped at the impetuous gesture, then yelped, then moaned. Ray's tongue lapped intensely the puckered hole as the Mountie heaved in anticipation. Once more, as Ray insert a finger in the tight opening, he let out a gasp. "It feels so good... Ray... Oh, Ray!"

The muffled shout and hiss was the soundtrack that accompanied Ray's lips in his hard throbbing cock. His balls were so tight they were starting to ache. Then Benny felt the finger working on him, and thrust back. A second finger was quickly introduced, and a tongue swirled in his cock head. Benny realised he needed Ray even more than he thought at first. "Ray...! Oh, Ray...!"

Ray responded in two ways: he inserted the third finger up his ass and began to suck Benny till the Canadian thought he would pass out from sheer pleasure. Suddenly, Ray ceased all activity, and Benny felt as if the world had finally stopped spinning. A mere illusion, of course.

Ray's weeping cock was positioned at the entrance in Benny's body, and his whole body shuddered at the expected contact. It was the first sensation. And so it began. Slowly, lovingly, the Italian's hard shaft went inside Benny, their bodies joining as their eyes met in total commitment and contentment.

There was so much magic around Benny had to remind himself it was also Christmas night, and this gift, the gift of Ray's love, was all he had ever asked in a whole year basis. He loved his Ray all year long, and Christmas spirit only enhanced the feeling. Benny knew he would love Ray for the rest of his days, come hell or high water.

As Ray began to thrust, Benny felt his eyes welling up with tears of joy His whole body was electrified with the bounty of their relationship. Ray's hands moved to grab Benny cock, and pump it in synch with his motion. There was a pressure of release building up, and for a few seconds Benny thought he could withhold it. This, of course, was just a fraction of a second before his body was turned inside out and he filled Ray's hand with his semen. The muscle contraction hurled Ray into his own wild orgasm and they both soared away in a night filled with joy... laughter... music... magic...

***

"Frase? Hey, Frase, wake up."

Benton Fraser grudgingly rose his head from his desk at the consulate. His muscles complained. A sheet of paper had adhered to his sweaty face and he was still shaking from the force of his dream. The dream of a happy time. A dream that was more a memory.

It took him a few seconds for the hard reality to set in. When he registered where he was, he tried to focus at the face staring at his.

"Francesca?"

"Benton", she called softly, pain in her eyes. "Do you know what time is it? Christmas Day is almost over. We were waiting for you to stop at the house."

"I am sorry", he tried to compose himself, maybe arrange the papers in the desk. He failed miserably, mainly because of the hurt in his eyes and, also, in his back. "I... I, uh... seem to have... lost track of time."

"Oh, Benton. Why did you stay here all by yourself?"

Fraser bit back a sour reply, for shouting at Francesca would not solve anything and it would make him ever more bitter. Instead, he felt the pain smearing around his chest, and whispered, "You know I live here now."

"I know. I know your house burnt down and you were so devastated when Ray went undercover that you decided to live here in the Consulate. Ma was not happy about it (she still isn't, by the way), but we respected your decision. Still, we don't want you going apart, Frase."

He sighed, trying to control the tears. Frannie continued. "I happen to know Turnbull and Inspector Thatcher had gone to Canada for the holidays. You are here all alone, seriously depressed, and it is not good for you. The... detective posing as my brother is with his own folks by this time. You won't have to see him if you don't want to."

*That* idea suited Fraser. But he would never say it aloud and risk Ray's life. He avoided Francesca's eyes and berated himself.

He should have carried on, hard as that might be, unwillingly as he might feel. He should have gone to the Vecchio's, faced the man he was forced to call Ray and carry on during Christmas festivities. It was the best thing to do. It was the only thing to do.

Regret ate his guts. But it was too late now. All he could do was offer his apologies. And that would have to do. "I am sorry. Please tell your mother I am so very sorry."

Frannie took a chair and sat by his side. "I miss him, too, you know."

Fraser snapped his head up and saw Frannie eyes filled with tenderness. She rested her hand in his arm. "Talk to me, Fraser. You need a friend."

He looked at her, blue eyes totally bright with tears. "I could not go, Francesca. I mean... to Christmas Eve dinner. I meant to... but... I... could not."

"I understand," said Francesca, her own nose turning red. "It was hard for me, too. It was hard on Ma to see that... man in the house and to call him Ray, and to wish him Merry Christmas. She didn't say anything, but I know it was."

Benny's voice became quieter. "I just wish... there was something I could do..."

"I wished you were at the house last night, Fraser". Francesca sniffled. "It seemed so unfair that he was there and you were not..."

"He is a good man, Francesca. He is trying to keep our Ray safe so he can come back to us." *Maybe if I say it loud enough or strong enough, I can believe it myself. *

"I have to call him Ray all the time, Fraser." She seemed slightly annoyed. "I am afraid that there may come a time when I say 'Ray' and I will think of him and not the real one. The only one."

Fraser tried to smile. "Well, he is Ray, too." *Yeah, right. *

"You know what I mean.""

"Yes, I do." Finally, he remembered his manners. "Oh, Francesca I am sorry. Would you like anything to drink? Some tea or..."

"No, Fraser, thank you." She smiled and reached for the bag she had brought. A container was placed in his table, and marvellous smells were emanating from it. "Actually, I have something for you. Ma sent some of the dinner, and said she wanted to make sure you were well-fed."

Fraser felt his heart swelling at the joy of having a borrowed family. "Tell her I appreciate it. I really wished I could have come, Francesca, but I... I just..." He couldn't go on, and Frannie took him in his arms.

Since she learned about the true nature of the relationship between her brother and the Mountie, Francesca had stopped to throw herself at the Canadian. Contrary to their first fears, Ray's youngest sister not only accepted them as a couple but also fully embraced the role of Fraser's sister. Since Ray went undercover, she had proven herself a source of strength to the stricken Mountie.

At that moment, Frannie held Fraser gently in his arms, shushing him with tenderness as his whimpers turned into authentic sobs, coming from deep in his soul. All the pain and loneliness Fraser had repressed for so many months seemed to have chosen a special moment to come around - a moment when it was safe to let his feelings pour out. The dam broke, and he could not hold back, even if he tried.

Frannie held Fraser with the same delicate touch she would have to take his dilapidated heart in her hands, and felt tears of her own streaming down her cheeks. More than crying over her missing brother, she was crying over lovers apart from each other and over a man that seemed to have his happiness taken from him every time he found it, since his most tender years. They were holding for mutual comfort and the strongest bond of all: their love for Ray.

Each shared a silent pray in the day the world was celebrating Christmas: a request that Ray be safe and soon with them.

It was, after all, a magical day.

Many, many minutes after the sobbing died away, Fraser let himself go in Frannie's embrace. In letting go, he felt himself changing. His wits seemed to be slowly returning, in synch with his breathing, gradually getting back to a normal rate. It was a subtle transformation, a gentle yet inexorable mutation. The conversion seemed affable, but Fraser felt its effects taking an aura of obstinacy and permanence.

He opened his eyes, vision still blurry from the tears, head still resting in Frannie's shoulder. His strained muscles experienced a sort of charge flowing in them, electrical, powerful, energetic. So did his brain.

Fraser wiped the remainder of his tears and sat up straight. Frannie looked at him; her own eyes red and swollen. "Frase? You OK?"

"Yes, Francesca, I am fine, thank you."

She looked closer to him. He *did* seem better. "Good." She smiled. "I am glad."

"Are you headed home?"

"Matter of fact I am. Do you want a ride somewhere?"

He inspired deeply and said, trying to make his voice sound normal. "Actually, I was wondering if you could take me with you."

Frannie was taken by surprise. "You want to go home?"

"Yes, I do. I had Christmas gifts made for the children, and also to you and your mother, and I never had a chance to put it under the tree. They hafta open it at Christmas, so, we better get going before Christmas is over." He smiled. "Ray would have hated me if I missed Christmas."

"Fraser?"

The Mountie stood up and began to tidy his desk. "I want to give the children their gifts , and I also want to give your mother a Christmas kiss. I would also appreciate to look for an apartment to live in, as soon as the holidays are over. I am afraid I am abusing Inspector Thatcher benevolence." He was talking and walking, straightening things. "I want to wait until Ray comes back, and I want to do it the right way".

Finally, Fraser stared at Frannie. "I want to do all I can to ensure everybody there is nothing wrong with Ray Vecchio, so no one suspects the real Ray Vecchio is missing. That is what Ray expects me to do. I won't let him down, ever, Francesca. I have been doing that, but now it is over. We are as undercover as Ray is, and it just came to my mind that making myself miserable is not going to do a lot of good. Besides, Ray will be upset if he finds it out." The Mountie smiled in a sheepish way. "So... I think you can count on my presence at the New Year's Party, then."

Frannie stared at Fraser, not entirely sure she was still awake. It was possible she had fallen asleep on his arms and now she was having a dream. There was also the mythical chance that she had inadvertently stepped into an episode of the Twilight Zone.

Or maybe it was just a little Christmas magic.

The End

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