Author's webpage: http://victoria.tc.ca/~wy236/fic.html

<PRE>

Ray Vecchio gave up on the work he was trying to do and sighed. He looked around him at the squad room. Everyone was doing what they usually did. Nothing unusual was happening. How Ray longed for something to happen, something to take his away this ungodly *boredom* he was feeling.

Actually, it wasn't some *thing* he was wishing for, it was some *body.* A particular somebody. A Mountie somebody. He missed Benny terribly. No matter how many times Ray had complained about the crazy things Benny got him involved in, he missed having the Canadian around. He still didn't understand why his friend had left so suddenly. One day he'd just announced he was going back to Canada, and that was that. He was gone.

//Why, Benny? Why did you leave?//

Ray got letters from Fraser sometimes, short, chatty missives with nothing beyond observations about the weather or the latest happenings among the citizens of the small town in the Northwest Territories where Benny had been posted. No personal information was included. Nothing to indicate that he might miss Ray, for example.

Ray couldn't remember when exactly his feelings for his friend had gone beyond simple friendship into something more. When he'd realized he'd fallen in love with his partner. It hadn't been until after Benny had already left. Not that he would have told Benny, had he been here. He was quite certain Fraser wouldn't feel the same way. But that would have been okay. He would rather have Benny as his friend than not have Benny at all. But now he *didn't* have Benny. Not as a friend, not as a partner. And he had no idea why.

Hell with it. He had to find out why Fraser had left. If that meant going up to the armpit of the North, he'd do it. He needed closure. He got up and went to Welsh's office. "Sir, I need a leave of absence."

The Lieutenant looked up at him. "Why do you need a leave of absence, Detective?"

//Because I'm going to Canada to bring Fraser back// "It's personal, sir."

"And what if I can't give you leave right now, Vecchio?" Welsh asked.

"With all due respect, Sir, I'll take it anyway. Unpaid, if necessary."

The Lieutenant could see that this - whatever it was - had to be important, if Vecchio was willing to take unpaid leave. The detective had been a bear to be around ever since the Mountie had left. Maybe some time off would improve his disposition. He handed Ray a form. "You know the drill. Fill out the form, have it on my desk before you leave."

"Thank you, sir," said Ray with relief. He would have gone anyway, leave or not, but it was better this way.

Almost before Ray knew it he was stepping out of an airplane on to a tiny airstrip surrounded by what looked like miles and miles of snow. He went in to the small building sitting just off the runway. "How do I get in to town?" he asked.

The clerk looked him up and down. "Hell if I know," he answered.

"Oh come on, there must be some way. I mean, people must come in here on planes and then go into town."

The man looked bored. "I'm sure they do. None of my business."

Ray had an inspiration. He took out his wallet and showed the man the American money it held. "You know, anyone who helped me get into town might just find some of these nice green bills in his possession."

"Why *is* all of your money green, anyway?" the clerk asked. "Well, I suppose I could call my nephew ... he could bring a car out for you."

Ray smiled. "Thank you kindly," he said.

The nephew was called, money changed hands, and Ray was on his way to town to find Benny. What he would say when he found him, he didn't know. He hadn't thought that far ahead.

Ray's first stop once he made it into town was the post office. The letters he'd received from Benny hadn't had a street address on them. But the woman behind the desk was very helpful and soon Ray had Benny's address. He drove to the small house and waited for Fraser to show up.

Eventually an RCMP cruiser pulled up in front of the house and Benny got out. Ray's heart leaped. It had been a long time since he'd last seen his friend. "Benny!" he called, getting out of his car.

"Ray!" exclaimed the Mountie in astonishment. What was Ray doing here? Ray hated the north. Well, he hated cold weather, at least. "What are you doing here?"

"I had some leave time coming and I decided to come and visit you."

Fraser didn't believe it, but he decided not to question Ray. He was certain the detective would reveal his reasons for coming here soon enough. "This is quite a surprise," he said.

"Yeah, well, it was kind of a spur of the moment decision. Listen, can we go inside? It's freezing out here."

"Oh! Of course. " Fraser took Ray into the house. It was small, and sparsely furnished, but cozy. Ray put his bag down. "It's good to see you, Benny," he said. "I missed you."

"It's ... it's good to see you, too, Ray," answered Fraser. He still had no idea why Ray was here.

The Italian opened his arms. "Well? Doesn't your old friend get a hug?"

A hug? Ben was surprised. Yes, he and Ray had hugged occasionally when he'd been in Chicago, but he couldn't recall Ray actually *asking* for a hug before. But he stepped forward and took the other man into his arms. He loved holding Ray. At times he actually longed for it. But he couldn't let Ray know that.

Ray held on to Fraser tightly. He cherished the feeling of his friend in his arms like this. He wished he could hold Benny forever. But finally, he let go. He carefully put on a neutral expression.

"Have you eaten, Ray?" Benny asked.

"No, the plane wasn't the type that they serve food on," he said.

"Well, there isn't a large selection of eating establishments in town, but there is nice little restaurant where I go sometimes. May I take you to dinner?"

Ray smiled. "I'd like that, Benny. Let's go."

Benny smiled. "Let me get changed first. I'm still in uniform."

"Oh! Right. Of course. Get changed. I'll wait."

Benny was terribly confused. First, Ray had shown up out of the blue, with no warning. He hadn't said he was planning to visit. Then he had asked for a hug. Now he was practically *babbling.* Something strange was going on.

Ben and Ray sat across from each other in the small cafe. Ray noticed a few people looked at him with interest. "Guess you don't get many strangers here, huh?"

"Not normally, no," answered the Mountie. "Especially not white strangers."

"Oh." Ray wasn't used to being in the minority. "So, what do people do around here?"

"Some hunt, some run trap lines. Some work for the government. There's a few small shops and a bar, besides this restaurant."

"You must be kind of isolated up here," commented Ray.

Fraser shrugged. "I suppose so. I never really thought about it."

"Why did you leave me, Benny?" Ray asked suddenly. //Oops. I meant to ask him why he left - not why he left *me.*//

"Leave you?" The Mountie sounded bewildered.

"Leave me, leave the Dragon Lady, leave Chicago - why'd you leave, period?"

"Oh." Fraser sat back and contemplated his friend's question. He chose his words carefully. "I was homesick. I missed the North. I missed being a Mountie."

"You were a Mountie in Chicago."

"No, I wasn't. Sure, I helped with some of your cases, but I wasn't actually being a Mountie. Mounties don't provide law enforcement in Chicago."

"I thought you liked, er, 'helping' with my cases." Ray couldn't help sounding a little bit hurt.

"I did, Ray. Really. It meant a lot to me that you let me participate in your work. But it was *your* work. Not mine."

Ray was disconcerted. He'd come up here in the hopes of convincing Benny to come back to Chicago. But if he really had been unhappy in Chicago, it wasn't very likely he'd go back there.

"So how long are you planning to stay?" Fraser was asking him.

The Italian shrugged. "I hadn't really thought about it. A couple of days, I guess."

"What do you want to do while you're here?"

Ray smiled. "I want to see what a Mountie does when he's really being a Mountie." He could hardly believe the pleased look that he got from Benny in response. Obviously Benny was proud of what he did, and maybe he wanted to show off a little.

"It's not all that interesting, Ray. This is a small town, after all."

"I don't care," replied Vecchio. "I want to see what you do."

The smile he got from Benny was amazing. Such smiles from Fraser were rare. "Very well," said the Mountie. "I'll clear it with the sergeant tomorrow."

That night Ray slept in Fraser's bed while Fraser slept on the floor in his bedroll. Benny probably didn't realize that Ray didn't actually do a lot of sleeping. He just lay there and watched Benny sleep. He'd done that once or twice before when they were on stakeouts together. He wasn't entirely sure why he liked to watch his friend sleep. Maybe it was because he looked so peaceful when he was asleep, like he didn't carry the weight of the world on him the way he seemed to when he was awake.

Eventually, Ray slept.

The next day. after Fraser spoke to his sergeant, and after they had returned the car Ray had borrowed, the two men went on patrol. As Fraser had said, not a lot happened. A bar fight, a domestic dispute, a case of shoplifting. Routine police work. Just as Fraser was about to finish for the day, he got a call on the radio. A child was missing, and her parents were frantic.

Ray and Benny went to a small house on the outskirts of town. An aboriginal couple met them there. They didn't seem to take any notice of Ray. The mother explained that their daughter had been playing with her cousins in a field behind the house, and had just vanished.

"Do you have any reason to think she might have run away?" Fraser asked.

"I don't think so," mused the mother. "None of her things are missing. "

"Could she have left with anyone?" Ray knew what Benny wasn't saying: Could she have been abducted?

Again, a denial. "She wasn't alone long enough. None of her cousins or friends saw anyone they didn't know."

Fraser turned to the group of children gathered nearby. "Can you show me where you last saw Debby?" he asked. Debby was the missing girl's name.

Fraser, Ray and Diefenbaker followed the children to a large, open field. "She was right about here," said one of the children, pointing to what seemed like a random spot in the snow, "and then she wasn't."

Fraser took out a scarf that Debby's mother had given him and showed it to Diefenbaker. "Find her, Dief," he ordered the wolf. Dief took off across the field, sniffing and pawing at the snow. Finally, he stopped, stood still and barked. Fraser and Ray hurried to him.

There they found a hole in the ground. Not too big, but big enough for a child to fall in to. Probably an abandoned well. "Debby!" Benny called down. "Are you in there?"

"Help me!" came a frightened voice from below. Fraser started to remove his heavy coat. He handed Ray the car keys. "Go to my cruiser and get a rope from the trunk," he told Ray. "I'm going down there." Ray did as he was asked. When he returned, Fraser tied the rope around his waist and handed the other end to the Italian.

"How are you going to fit in there?" Ray wanted to know.

"I'll dislocate my shoulders to make my upper body more narrow," was Fraser's reply.

"But how will you carry her out, then?"

"She can hang on to me, and you and the others can pull us both out."

"You sure you want to do this, Benny? Isn't there someone you can call?" Ray asked worriedly.

"I'm a Mountie, Ray. It's my job to help people."

As Benny prepared to climb down in to the hole, Ray stopped him for a moment, a hand on his arm. "Promise me you'll come out of there in one piece, Benny?"

The Mountie smiled reassuringly. "I'll do my best," he promised. And then Ray lowered him into the hole.

Despite Ray's worries, eventually Fraser and Debby were pulled from the hole. Ray helped Fraser put his shoulders back in to place. It seemed as if everyone from the village had heard about the rescue, and everyone wanted to congratulate Fraser on a job well done. Ray stood back and watched. //I can't ask him to come back with me// he thought to himself. //He belongs here.//

That night, Ray took Benny to dinner. It was supposed to be a celebration, but Ray didn't feel much like celebrating. He informed his friend that he was leaving the next day. He went to bed early, but stayed awake, again watching Benny sleep. //Probably for the last time// he thought.

Fraser was even more confused by Ray's behavior than he had been when Ray had first arrived. At least then the detective had seemed happy to see him. Now he was withdrawn and somber. He barely said two words on the way to the airstrip. Now he was about to get on the plane. "I'll, uh, I'll see ya, Benny," he said awkwardly.

"Ray." Fraser didn't know what to say. "Doesn't your old friend get a hug?"

So Ray hugged him, then turned to walk away. "Ray!" Benny tried desperately to think of a way to stop him from leaving. This might be his last chance to tell Ray how he felt. And he couldn't let Ray leave without telling him. He started to run after him. "Ray! You can't leave yet! You have something of mine!"

Ray stopped and stared at him. "Something of yours? What do I have that's yours?"

"My heart."

Someone on the plane called out to Ray, asking if he was coming. He waved them away. "Forget it," he said, "I'm not leaving yet." He turned back to Fraser. "Your ... heart? What are you talking about, Benny?"

"I'm talking about love, Ray. The love I have for you. The love I hope you might have for me."

Ray stood there, stunned. He could hardly believe what Benny was saying. He felt paralyzed. He honestly did not know what to say in response. Fraser misinterpreted his silence, however. "You'd better go, Ray. Your plane's going to leave." He started to walk away.

Ray shook himself out of his reverie. He grabbed Benny. "Don't go, Benny. I can't leave - you have something of mine, too."

A tentative smile appeared on the Mountie's face. "I do? And what would that be?"

The detective grinned. "My heart, Benny. You have my heart."

Fraser's smile grew. "Really? Do you want it back?"

"Nah."

"Good, because I intend to keep it."

"Only if I get to keep yours, too," said Ray.

"Of course," replied the Mountie. "Oh dear, you seem to have missed your flight," he observed as the plane took off without Ray.

"Forget the flight," Ray answered as he took the man he loved into his arms and kissed him with all the passion he'd been suppressing for the past several months. When he was able to speak, he said, "I love you, Benny."

"I love you, too, Ray. Were you going to leave without telling me?"

Ray sighed. "I originally came up here to ask you to come back to Chicago with me. But when I got here I saw that you belong up here. This is your home, where you belong. "

"Ray, my home is with you. Wherever you are is where I belong."

"You really mean that? Even if it means living in the city?"

"As long as I'm with you, Ray, it doesn't matter. Come on, let's go back to my house. It's cold out here."

The ride back to Fraser's house seemed a lot shorter than the drive to the airport had been. Both men felt as if a weight had been lifted from their shoulders. The smile on Ray's face was matched only by the one on Fraser's.

When they were inside Ray took Benny into his arms again. He kissed the Mountie like he'd never kissed anyone before. Finally Fraser pulled away. He took a moment to catch his breath, then asked, "Ray, what happens now?"

"What do you mean, Benny?" asked Ray, puzzled.

"What happens when you go back to Chicago?" Fraser wanted to know.

"You come with me, of course."

"I have a job here, Ray. I know I said that I consider my home to be with you, and I meant that, but I can't just leave my post."

Ray sank into a chair. He looked miserable. "I have a job too, Benny. And my job is back in Chicago. But I don't want to be separated from you again."

Benny knelt by Ray's side. "I don't want to be separated from you either. But it won't be permanent. Inspector Thatcher has been trying to convince me to return to Chicago for some time. I didn't think I had a reason to return - until now. It will take some time to make arrangements for my replacement here, but I will be able to join you in Chicago soon. Will you wait for me?"

"No," Ray stated.

Surprised and hurt, Fraser started to get up.

"I won't wait for you because I'm not going back there without you. I'm staying right here until I can take you back with me."

Ben smiled in relief. "How will Lieutenant Welsh feel about that?" he inquired.

"Screw Welsh. I'm staying put," replied the American.

" 'Screw' Lieutenant Welsh? Really, Ray, I'd rather do that with you."

Ray was shocked by his partner's boldness. "Fraser!" he exclaimed. The Mountie turned as red as his dress uniform. "Do you really want to do that with me, Benny?" Ray asked shyly.

"I do," was his friend's answer. "But I've never done it before, not with a man."

"I haven't either," said Ray. "And I do want to. We can take it slow. We have lots of time. We don't have to rush in to anything."

Just then Ray's stomach rumbled. The two men realized it was now late afternoon and neither had eaten anything all day. Fraser gestured to the telephone. "Why don't you call your family and Lieutenant Welsh and tell them that you'll be staying with me for a bit longer. While you do that I'll make us something to eat."

After they had eaten Ray and Benny spent the rest of the evening just sitting and relaxing, talking, kissing, and enjoying being together. When it was time for bed Fraser started to get out his bedroll, but Ray stopped him. "Benny - would you sleep with me? Just sleep, that's all."

"I would like that very much, Ray." And Fraser climbed into bed next to him.

"Promise me you won't ever leave me again, Benny?"

"I only left before because I thought we could never be together like this. Now that we are, I could never leave. I will never leave."

Ray pulled the man he loved into his arms and pressed a kiss to his cheek. "I love you, Benny."

"And I love you, Ray."

END

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