EVERY MORNING

by Wolfwalker and Mitch Hudson

EVERY MORNING

By Wolfwalker and Mitch Hudson

Every morning there's a halo hangin
from the corner of my girlfriend's four post bed

I know it's not mine but I'll see if I can use it for
the weekend or a one-night stand

Kowalski rolled over and watched the mountie sleep. It still amazed him that there was no difference in the man's expression, awake or asleep. Fraser was Fraser. Mr. Perfect Mountie. Mr. Boy Scout. He sighed and stared up at the tall post nearest Fraser's head. There might as well be a halo hanging there 'cause this man was the closest thing to an angel Chicago was ever likely to have living in it. Idly he wondered how it would feel to take that halo out for a spin some time. What would it get him? Vecchio? He blanched at that thought and rolled away from the Mountie.

Couldn't understand
How to work it out

Once again as predicted left my broken heart open
and you ripped it out

Vecchio slid behind the wheel of his fourth Rivierra. One day he'd lose this one and he knew he wouldn't replace it again. It had too many bad memories now. Especially the one of Fraser's face when he saw Ray and Kowalski sitting too close together in it outside the Consulate that morning after the two detectives had done an all-night stake-out. Partnering with Kowalski when he returned from his "great adventure" had seemed easy enough at the time. But seeing Fraser's look of betrayal broke his heart. And Kowalski ripped it out with that brush-off. Sure, the guy was just trying to cover his tracks so his lover wouldn't know he'd been screwing around. And it sure wasn't up to Ray to say it went both ways. They were all three cheating on each other, weren't they? What a mess. He couldn't even begin to understand how this could be worked out.

Something's got me reeling
Stopped me from believing
Turn me around again
Said that we can do it
Y'know I wanna do it again

Kowalski shrugged on his rumpled coat and took one last look at Mr. Perfect then left for work. How could he have stopped believing in the man like that? Fraser wouldn't dump him just because he fucked Vecchio. Would he? Yeah, he might. Because there was something other than sex involved. It was love. but that love wasn't his first. Fraser had it first. But it felt so right to be with Vecchio. He knew he'd do it again. He knew Vecchio'd do it again. But sex wasn't all it was.

[Sugar Ray say]

Oh...........

[Every Morning]

Oh................

[Every Morning when I wake up]

[Shut the door Ray, don't say a word]

Oh.......

[She always rights wrongs, she always rights]

[Shut the door Ray, Shut the door Ray]

The perfect Mountie buttoned his high collar and donned his Stetson. If Ray didn't mention it, Fraser knew the subject could stay safely buried. He'd endured decades without broaching certain subjects with his father. Why should this be any different? Just don't say a word. it will go away. He'd stop wanting what he had. You can't go home again. He had, taking Kowalski with him. But Chicago was home too. And coming back here, finding Vecchio here had sent Fraser reeling. Kowalski was his lover. And counted on him to always right any wrongs. Fraser strode out to take his place on guard duty. He wouldn't have to say a word for the next four hours.

Every Morning there's a heartache hanging
from the corner of my girlfriend's four-post bed
I know it's not mine and I know she thinks she loves me
but I never can believe what she said

Another morning came. Kowalski rolled over and looked up at the bedpost. Yeah, add a broken heart on a string beside the halo up there. I broke his heart. Vecchio broke his heart and he won't say a word. He says he loves me and I know he does so why do I feel like I don't believe what he says?

Something so deceiving
When you stop believing
Turn me around again
Said we couldn't do it
Y'know I wanna do it again

It was wrong to stop believing Fraser loved him. Kowalski silently swore at himself. Yeah, the man wore a halo but still, he was human. Fraser deceived himself. Kowalski was doing the same thing. Was Vecchio? It was time to turn this around, to go back to the Italian and spill his guts over the whole fiasco. Vecchio wanted to do it, to deal with it. Yeah. Kowalski knew then he'd borrow the heartache, not the halo.

Oh...........

[Every Morning]

Oh..................

[Every Morning when I wake up]

[Shut the door Ray, don't say a word]

Oh...........

[Every Morning]

Oh..........

[Every Morning when I wake up]

[Shut the door Ray, shut the door Ray]

Fraser walked through every morning in a fog, not fully able to touch reality it seemed. It was how he felt during the days just before he left Chicago on the trail of his mother's killer. If only Ray will continue to let it alone, leave the problems locked in that room. Just shut the door to it all.

She always rights the wrongs
For me
Baby
She always rights the wrongs
For me

Shrugging his shoulders to release some of the tension he felt, Kowalski went into the precinct to face Vecchio. Yeah, Fraser was always there for both of the Chicago PD detectives. This time it was up to them to right the wrongs for the Mountie. And he was willing to risk the heartache becoming his own.

Every Morning there's a halo hanging
from the corner of my girlfriends four-post bed
I know it's not mine but I'll see if I can use it for
the weekend or a one-night stand

[Shut the door Ray, don't say a word]

So Kowalski did use the halo, and that one night stand was fraser's broken heart he took with him and presented it to Vecchio. The Italian did what Italians have been doing for decades. He got loud. Kowalski did what Poles have been doing for decades. He stood fast and waited until Vecchio finished getting it all out of his system. So they were agreed. Neither one would keep the door shut. And for once, Fraser would have to endure someone else solving his problem for him. Ray carried the broken heart, and Ray carried the halo and they went together.

Every Morning
Every Morning when I wake up

[Shut the door Ray, shut the door Ray]

Every Morning
Every Morning

[Turn me around again]

[Shut the door Ray, don't say a word]

Every Morning
Every Morning

"You let me start," Kowalski paused outside the apartment door and instructed Vecchio. He hated the way the other man seemed to loom over him. For a moment it looked as if he'd be obeyed but just as his fingers touched the doorknob Vecchio pulled him back.

"You gotta know, Stanley--"

"Don't *call* me that!" he whispered harshly.

Vecchio loosened his grip on the shorter man's shirt. "You gotta know," he repeated in a softer voice, "he never lies. He said he loved you and Canadians do not lie."

A look of belligerence replaced the frustration on Kowalski's face. "I know. I just . . . "

"You doubted him. Oh. You doubted yourself." Vecchio closed his eyes then in one smooth rush he gathered the blond into his strong embrace and held him, their cheeks together.

Kowalski took several moments to loosen up enough to mold himself into the embrace. "Can you blame me? I don't know if I'm coming or going half the time. I need to know where I stand in all this."

"I told you where you stand with me." He released the man after he tugged away the second time.

"I do. I just feel like I'm risking everything here. He's willing to go on like this, just the two of us. But I know there'll always be that missing piece in his heart. I don't want to see that every morning, that mask he wears. I want to see the real man inside."

"I wish i knew for sure if what we were doing was the right thing. I love Benny." He reached for Kowalski again as he spoke, "But I wouldn't hurt you for anything. You know how I feel about you."

With open expectation Kowalski gazed straight into the man's eyes. His lips parted just a little bit and his bottom lip shone with a reflection from the dim hallway light. "I know."

"But you want me to say it." Vecchio kissed the man's forehead. "I love you," he whispered against the warm skin beneath his lips.

"That's the other piece of this puzzle. You, I love. Never thought that'd happen. Made me crazy at first, always watching you and wondering things I shouldn't think about. But you love me. I love you." He took a deep breath. "Lets do it."

Ray opened the door.

Fraser looked up from a scattering of paperwork at the kitchen table. "Ray!"

Neither man knew who he meant but at that point it didn't matter. They walked in together.

It took fast talking, hard truths, revealing things that neither detective wanted to openly acknowledge to the Mountie but they did it. And he took their words, their truth, their confessions and faced it. He'd known. But it was no longer something he could shut the door on. And when Kowalski confessed that the attraction between him and his partner was love and when Vecchio confirmed it Fraser turned away from them.

And it only took one touch from Vecchio, a hand on the Mountie's back, then that touch sliding down and circling around his waist and Fraser's broken heart was so evident. Vecchio wondered just why he hadn't seen it for himself; why it had taken Kowalski to point it out to him. Their love was pretty intense for those two years before Vecchio'd left on that undercover assignment. Something like that doesn't fade just because two lovers are apart.

Vecchio turned around to the guy with the spiky, crazy hair and the ratty clothes. Looked like he'd rolled a bum for the outfit. And on Stanley--Vecchio grinned--on Kowalski those clothes looked like pure sex appeal. He took in the pained smile, the thin-lipped lopsided one, and felt a rush of heat surge to his groin. instead of reaching out for the thrill of the moment he groped behind him and pulled Fraser around between them.

"Go on, Stanley," he whispered. "Show him. don't let him shut any doors between us. Tell him. Don't let him carry the halo alone and I won't let him keep the broken heart."

"You too, Vecchio. You don't keep a broken heart."

"I already tossed mine in the river just like you did yours when we came in here together. I love you and I'm not backing out of here. Just let Fraser know we aren't letting him shut either of us out."

So Kowalski moved to the Mountie. A better description would be he plastered his wiry body to the Mountie's. His hands first, then his pelvis, his chest and legs. Then his mouth, cheek, his forehead. And Vecchio and he covered the Mountie, not caring where one of them ended and the other began because the two detectives were consummate lovers. Fraser would just have to learn that he didn't always have to be the one to right the wrongs.

By the next morning he'd learned that lesson.

"Every morning," he whispered to himself as he lay on his back and savored the sensation of his lovers around him. "This is how I want my life to be. No halo I have to wear all alone. No heartache I have to carry."

Vecchio's narrow hips were at his waist on the left, one lean Italian leg thrown over his knees. Kowalski's firm ass cheeks were pressed up against Fraser's right side. The Mountie smiled and ran a finger down that pale cleft, inching in between the mounds just a little, feeling the heat, feeling where he'd been last night. With his left hand he slid down Vecchio's stomach and stretched his fingertips through curly black hair. A fat, lazy cock lolled against his touch like it had lolled against his tongue last night. He probed deeper in Kowalski's ass and got a moan in response. Fraser almost giggled. This was so unlike him! Ray would say it was un Canadian. With that thought Fraser did laugh and as his lovers woke he knew he had to tell them but they showed him they already knew. Every morning would be like this one for the rest of their lives.

-30-

Dickslammer: I don't own 'em. Alliance does. But I hear from Jane's hubby that the boys can be rented. The preceeding is a work of fan fiction, not for profit. No copywrite or good taste infringement was intended. Not for distribution where void or taxed and prohibited to employees of Sex Workers Union of Free Poland. If you like a net story you're supposed to email the author and say so. If you didn't like it hit your delete key and go read something else.