Title: Dirty Little Secrets

Author: Snowee/Laura Lee

Fandom: Due South

Rating: PG

Pairing: Benton Fraser/Francesca Vecchio

Archive: Yes please

Genre: Het/Gen

Category: Ficlet/Humour

Spoilers: none

Teaser: A power outage and a game of Truth or Dare leads to humiliation --among other things.

Notes: "Describe a dirty little secret that a DS character may have--you may list more than one." (Thanks for the bunny, Ellen! Like I don't have other things to do. LOL) I know Truth or Dare has been ficced before, but I couldn't think of another way so hope you enjoy. btw, forgive me, but I didn't bother with a beta this time.

Dirty Little Secrets
By Snowee/Laura Lee

'How dare he?' Francesca thought to herself as she kicked her shoes under the bed. 'That was totally humiliating!' She wiped at her angry reddened cheeks and stood before her vanity, preparing to remove the makeup and grime from the day.

"This day sucked," she said spoke quietly to herself. "First the power goes out because of that huge rainstorm and we're all stuck at the station. I could have dealt with that, but Ray's stupid suggestion," she smiled and stopped. "Well, it wasn't so bad. Sitting in the interview room playing Truth or Dare was an opportunity!" She moved to the bed and began to daydream about how she'd hoped it would go. "Fraser, Ray, Dewey, and myself in a dark quiet room waiting for the power to come on playing that game could have been the best thing that happened to me, but no, the pez head who's pretending to be my brother had to humiliate me!" She flung her arm in frustration. "He'll pay for that."

At that, she buried her head in her hands and went over the evening. 'Of course, things were a little thrown off when the Inspector showed up looking for Fraser, but I could work with that. Be a little subtle and it would all be a part of the game.' Then her turn had come and Ray had asked her "truth or dare?". She'd considered dare for a moment, but with Kowalski and Dewey sitting next to each other, she was afraid of what they'd suggest. Besides, dare was only going to work if she was asking Fraser. Safely she'd opted for truth and watched as Ray considered the question. "Tell me your dirty little secret."

She'd tried not to blush as something popped into her mind. She'd glanced at Fraser and knew she couldn't tell that one so she'd smiled. "Just a minute. I'm thinking."

She couldn't blame Ray for the comment that came next, but she could sure blame him for what he'd said. It hadn't helped. Dewey had smiled back and chuckled. "I have a feeling it has something to do with Fraser."

Sitting on her bed, she could still hear Ray's ruthless laughter. "That's no secret," he'd blurted out. "You gotta do better than those dreams you have about him."

Francesca's jaw had dropped and she'd jumped to her feet. "Ray!" she'd scolded, but it did no good. She could make her brother feel guilty, but this maniac had no conscience.

***

Fraser stood in his office after having been dismissed by Inspector Thatcher and knew he should prepare for bed. It was very late, but something more pressing was on his mind. Only a couple hours ago he'd been sitting with Ray, Francesca, Meg, and Dewey and somehow they'd managed to convince him to play this game with them. It was a horrible game meant to embarrass all participants. 'Perhaps that's the appeal,' he thought. 'Everyone becomes vulnerable and it strengthens a bond.' Still, after blushing when Ray and Dewey had so completely embarrassed Francesca, he'd not seen the bond. 'Did they have to bring that up?' he thought as he placed his hat carefully on his desk and began to remove his uniform. He'd felt bad for her, but that was rather forgotten when it came to his turn. He'd also chosen truth and at a loss for a better question, Ray had asked him the same question he'd given Francesca.

"I don't have one," Fraser replied quickly.

"Come on, Fraze. That's not how you play. You have to think of something."

"Mounties don't have dirty secrets," Dewey had piped up, sending himself and Ray into fits of laughter all over again.

Fraser tugged at his collar. "I'm afraid it's the truth. I don't have one." He glanced, then, at Francesca who was trying to be a good sport. She sat solemnly on her chair and he could see that she was struggling to not cry or get angry.

Ray had finally chosen to let him off the hook and asked him another question. "What do you hate most about your job?"

Fraser smiled. How could he answer that with the Inspector sitting right there? She'd come to retrieve him, but somehow, Ray and Dewey had convinced her to stay. Now he felt increasingly uncomfortable.

***

Pulling up in front of her building, Inspector Thatcher got out of the sedan and slammed the door. *How dare he accuse me of lacking interpersonal skills? I'm a damned fine superior!* Meg stormed into her apartment and slammed the door, kicking her pumps across the room as she flopped to the couch. *I suppose I could have gotten over that if it hadn't immediately been followed by that fool Dewey asking me ‘truth or dare?'. No, no, that wasn't the problem. It was my fault for attempting to show that I wasn't afraid of anything by asking for the dare. When he asked me to kiss someone in the room, I'd rather hoped I'd get the opportunity to show Fraser what my interpersonal skills were all about, but to suddenly choose that ridiculous partner as my dare!*

It hadn't been the fact that she had to kiss Ray so much as the fact that Ray had violated the moment by grabbing her and kissing her back, then smiling broadly when she'd moved away. *I'd rather have kissed a toad,* she thought.

***

"Come on, Fraze. That's not how you play. You have to think of something." Ray was dying to get some juicy tidbit he could use against Fraser at some later time, but the Mountie had stayed like a statue and refused to answer. Now Ray had seen the opportunity to put Fraser on the spot in front of his boss and asked a new question. "What do you hate most about your job?"

Ray chuckled to himself. He and Dewey had a great time playing that game in the dark. 'Although,' he realized now, 'that might be because the lights came on before it was our turn.' He chuckled again and got ready for bed.

***

Francesca frowned when she heard the knock at the door. She felt nervous about going to check since she was home alone while her family went out of town. 'If it wasn't for this job,' she told herself, but didn't really miss visiting extended family.

Sneaking quietly to the door, she peeked through the window and when she saw Fraser there, she froze. She was wearing a short nightgown and robe. Her makeup had been removed. She was hardly ready to greet Fraser.

'Why? Why does he have to show up now? I'm too humiliated to…'

"Francesca?" Fraser said from the other side of the door as he noticed the curtains in the window rustle.

Swallowing her pride, Francesca pulled the robe tightly around her and opened the door. "Fraser? What are you doing here?"

Fraser licked his lower lip. "I'm not sure," he said, dripping water from his jeans and blue plaid shirt.

"Come in," Francesca offered quickly and stepped aside. 'Damn. He looks twice as good in that as his uniform! I didn't think it was possible!'

"I shouldn't," Fraser replied, looking down at himself.

"It's all right," she told him. "I'll get some towels." At that, she disappeared up the stairs.

Fraser took one slow step through the front door and tugged at his ear. Soon Francesca returned and as she removed his Stetson, she noticed the dry spot on his shoulders and smiled.

"Is something amusing?" Fraser asked.

"You walked all this way, didn't you?" Fraser nodded and she chuckled. "You walked all this way without an umbrella, but you remembered the hat."

Fraser smiled slightly, then, as she put the hat on a hook and threw a large towel over his shoulders.

"Come, sit on the couch," she offered.

Fraser shook his head. "I really shouldn't. Ms. Vecchio would…"

"Ma isn't here to care."

Fraser raised his eyebrows. "Oh?"

"Naw, the whole family went to visit Ma's family."

"You didn't go?"

Francesca shook her head. "I had to work." She stepped to the living room and flipped on the light, but nothing happened.

"It appears you have another power disruption," Fraser offered.

Francesca nodded and handed him the pile of towels. "Just put these on the couch and I'll get a candle. You'd better dry off or you'll catch pneumonia." Before Fraser could point out that it wasn't the wetness that caused pneumonia, only a side effect of a cold which he may be susceptible to because of the rain, she was gone.

When she returned, she held a candle in her hand as if it was a cloud and placed it on the coffee table before sitting next to Fraser. "I'm sorry about what happened today," she told him.

Fraser smiled slightly and spoke timidly. "It's all right," he said. "I'm not sure I understand how a game designed to humiliate your friends constitutes a good time."

"Neither am I," Francesca said and took another towel from the stack and put it over Fraser's dripping arm. She was patting it to soak up more water when Fraser reached over and put his finger under her chin. Francesca froze as she wondered if this was that fateful moment she'd been waiting an eternity for. She went limp as his lips pressed against hers and she welcomed the kiss. Before long, the pair were intertwined on the couch and Francesca moaned softly as Fraser ran his hand inside her robe.

***

The early morning sun pierced through the bay window in Francesca's room and she rolled over. As soon as she realized last night hadn't been a dream, she placed her hand on Fraser's bare and sleeping chest. She watched it move up and down several times before she realized he'd turned his head. She looked at him and saw that he'd been watching her. Smiling, she touched his cheek. "Now we both have a dirty little secret," she said softly.

Fraser chuckled slightly and put his arm around her before closing his eyes again. Francesca put her head on his chest and fell asleep again also.

The End