This story came to me one night while I was attempting to sleep. To do this I "think" of different plots and scenarios to occupy my mind. This story came about in just that way. I always wanted to know just what happened in Fraser's apartment when Francesca "dropped" by at the end of "The Deal." I hope you enjoy my version of the story. Please e-mail the author with any critiques, compliments, etc. This is my first posting to the due South library, so be gentle. Rated PG for suggested content only.
by: Sherrill
Constable Benton Fraser gingerly lay back on the pillow propped against the headboard of his bed. His day had been long and painful and he had the fractured rib to prove it.
Suddenly the front door to his apartment flew open, banging against the wall with a resounding crash. A familiar silhouette stood poised seductively in the glaring light that flooded into the room from the hallway. Sitting up abruptly with a grimace of pain, Ben watched in shocked surprise as the figure in the doorway dropped the overcoat she had been wearing.
The coat pooled at her feet obediently, and Francesca Vecchio murmured huskily, "Don't be afraid."
Swallowing convulsively past a sudden stricture in his throat, Ben's eyes involuntarily scanned Francesca's attire, or rather the lack of it.
She stood strategically before the light in the hallway, therefore giving him a clear view of the black, skin-tight satin teddy that she wore. Black silk stockings completed the daring ensemble. She smiled at his dumbfounded expression. (Related later, to anyone who would listen, as the expression you see in a squirrel's eyes just before you hit him with your car.) Stepping into the apartment, she gave her coat a shove and it huddled against the wall as if afraid to move. She closed the door with the toe of her high-heeled shoe and the apartment was shrouded in darkness once more.
"Francesca?!" Ben's shaky voice broke. He quickly cleared his throat in an attempt to address his best friend's sister once more. However, the sight of her lithe body gliding toward him, made the words die on his lips.
"Oh dear," he muttered fearfully.
Taking one glance at the intruder advancing toward his master, Ben's fearless lupine companion Diefenbaker immediately vacated the apartment via the open window leading to the fire escape. Ben didn't even see him go.
The flickering light from the billiard hall across the street cast a golden glow over Francesca's bare arms and shoulders. Ben could only watch, mesmerized, as she continued her deliberately slow walk to his bedside.
As if just now aware of his position on the bed, Ben made a quick move to take himself elsewhere. At the last moment he remembered that he was clothed only in the bottom half of his Union suit. Grabbing the blanket, that had begun a quick slide off of his lap, he could only sit and await Francesca as she approached.
Francesca smiled happily to herself. She couldn't believe that she was actually here. For nearly a year she had pursued this man and it took his nearly being beaten to death by Frank Zuko's thugs to finally have him in a vulnerable position.
Sitting on the edge of the bed she faced the stunned man who had no idea of where to look. She smiled inwardly again when she noticed how his eyes kept returning to her artificially enhanced bosom. She'd have to remember to thank the saleslady for suggesting the extra padding there.
Though Ben seemed to have a problem of where to look, Francesca had no such concern. She allowed her eyes to roam across Ben's bruised and battered face. A twinge of remorse for coming so soon after he was injured swept over her. Francesca surprised herself, as well as Ben, when a single tear trembled on her eyelash, then tumbled slowly down her cheek. With trembling fingers she reached up to gently smooth the worried frown from his brow. Then, as if it were a natural thing for her to do, she let her fingers trail softly down the side of his face, careful of the cut on his right cheekbone, and down to the cut on his lip.
She appeared to be entranced by the abrasion on his lip. She leaned closer and Ben could detect the faintest hint of lavender, then her soft lips gently kissed the injury. She lifted her hand and gently caressed his uninjured cheek while her lips trailed across the other side to sweetly kiss the injury there.
Ben closed his eyes. He hadn't had such tender ministrations since he was a small boy and his mother had kissed his scrapes and bruises. Losing himself in the sensation of her loving care, he forgot who was administering the healing kisses.
A quick peak at Ben's closed eyes and relaxed features galvanized Francesca to take a bolder approach. She began to sprinkle light kisses across Ben's brow and cheeks. Leaving his lips as a last, delicious temptation she trailed kisses down his neck and slowly made her way to the smooth skin of his broad chest.
A large, painful-looking purple bruise covered the inner left side of his chest, about the size of a beefy fist. Suddenly, anger over the treatment Ben had endured overcame Francesca and the tears began in earnest. Kissing the bruised area gently, she began to sob quietly, her tears falling to Ben's chest and rousing him from his dreams of his long-dead mother.
Lifting an arm to wrap around Francesca's heaving side, he wondered fearfully what he'd done to make her cry.
"Francesca?" he whispered tenderly.
His tenderness proved to be her undoing. She had come here to take advantage of him, but now she collapsed against his chest in heart-breaking sobs. She couldn't see the grimace of pain that crossed Ben's face as her shoulder inadvertently bumped against his fractured rib.
Panting in short, measured breaths, Ben willed the knifing pain to subside. He finally managed to shift the distraught Francesca slightly in order to relieve the pain. Breathing a little easier, Ben was amazed that something so small could cause such searing agony. And the fractured rib hurt, too.
Lifting a shaking hand to the head that lay against his chest, Ben gently brushed his hands over the short, silky curls. After several long minutes Francesca's sobs subsided and she lay exhausted against his chest, her eyes half closed. Ben assumed that she had fallen asleep, but was surprised when she lifted her head to look into his eyes, her lashes spiky from her tears.
"They nearly ki...ki...killed you, she hiccuped shakily, her brown eyes swimming in tears again at the thought.
Moving his hands to gently capture her face between them, Ben leaned forward. Despite the pain the movement caused, he tenderly kissed the tears from her lashes. Now he understood the desperation of her sobs and he was suddenly overwhelmed by the caring of this woman. A warning bell began to ring in the back of his mind, reminding him that Francesca was his best friend's sister and Ray would never forgive him if he ever heard about this. But, Ben's compassion overrode the warning bell and he began trailing kisses down her cheek and brushing her lips in a sweet, brotherly kiss. He heard her sigh of contentment and smiled against her lips. Maybe this will turn out all right, he thought as he raised his head to look down at her.
Suddenly his head was clasped between Francesca's hands and she was kneeling at his side. Something savage crossed her face just before she leaned forward and kissed him deeply and thoroughly, leaving Ben quite breathless. Francesca raised her head slightly, looking down into his stunned eyes. A crooked smile trembled on her lips as she gently caressed his clean-shaven jaw line. Leaning forward again, her breasts brushing lightly against his chest, she rained light kisses across his face, ending again at his lips, leaving Ben weak with building desire. Closing his eyes tightly, Ben ran his hands up Francesca's arms and buried them in her hair. Crushing her to his chest, he returned her passionate kiss with one of his own.
"Victoria." Losing himself in the kiss, Ben never even knew he'd uttered the name.
Francesca stiffened in disbelief. She attempted to pull away, but Ben held her crushed tightly to his chest.
Pushing against him with her hands, Francesca was desperate to get out of his embrace. She'd been living in a fantasy world to think this man could ever fall for her. Embarrassed and humiliated, Francesca renewed her efforts to be free.
"No!" she cried when he attempted to kiss her once more. Her hand shoved against his chest and slipped down across his injured rib.
Uttering an unCanadian-like oath, Ben quickly released the struggling woman and curled up in a fetal position on the bed, his arms cradling his ribs.
Francesca jumped to her feet, shaking in fury at Ben having called her by another lover's name. She turned to berate him, but her ire turned to concern when she saw that he was in obvious pain.
"Benton, are you okay?" she asked, leaning over him in order to look into his eyes. She was shocked to see tears streaming from beneath his clenched eyelids. "Oh Benton, darling," she crooned gently as she knelt on the bed. "I'm so sorry." Touching his shoulder softly she was surprised when he rolled over and wrapped his arms around her hips and burrowed his head in her lap.
"Hold me, Mum," he cried in a little-boy voice.
Maternal instinct surged through Francesca and she settled back against the headboard, cradling Ben gently against her satin-clad stomach. Stroking his hair, she closed her eyes in pure bliss, forgetting for the moment about Ben's blunder.
~~~~~~~~~~
Ben awoke suddenly, uncertain of what had awakened him this early in the morning. The apartment was shrouded in darkness now that the light from the billiard hall had been turned out for the night. Fearful for a moment that Zuko's thugs had followed him back to his apartment, Ben attempted to sit up in preparation of their assumed attack. Something held him tethered to the bed by his right arm.
Lying back against the bed once more, Ben raised his left hand and reached toward the object on the bed beside him. He jerked his hand back as if burned when he encountered soft, bare skin. Suddenly he remembered the previous evening with crystal clarity.
Francesca stirred awake, stretching her arms above her head and arching her back. The movement was enough to free Ben's trapped arm. He wasted now time in extracting himself and surging quickly and painfully to his feet. Breathing heavily, he backed up against the far wall, his hands held out before him as if to ward off the half-clad woman watching him intently from his bed.
"Ray's going to kill me," Ben whispered quietly.
"Come back to bed, Ben. It isn't even morning yet," Francesca purred, snuggling into his vacant pillow. "I'm getting cold." She shivered slightly.
"There's a blanket," Ben offered from across the room, gesturing toward the blanket at the foot of the bed.
Sleepily tugging the warm wool blanket up over her bare shoulder, Francesca closed her eyes again, sighing in contentment she fell asleep once more.
Ben slid down the wall and sat on the cold, wooden floor. His injured rib protested the movement, but he hadn't the strength to seek a more comfortable seat. Staring with blank eyes across the room at his best friend's sister lying contentedly in his bed like a sated woman, Ben clenched his eyes tightly closed and shook his head.
"Ray's going to kill me."
THE END
Thank you Alliance, for allowing me to borrow your characters for this story and no infringement was intended in the writing thereof. Please do not copy, except for personal use only, without the express, written consent of the author. No characters were really injured in the writing of this story.
Scmbosco@aol.com