Disclaimer: I don't own the characters but I know where they live :)

Author's Notes: Thanks to themoo for her beta work on this.

Story Notes: I thought it was time I got the boys all domestic!

On a quiet Chicago street was a house that was slowly becoming a home. It had been bought a few weeks earlier by one Benton Fraser RCMP and one Ray Vecchio, Chicago PD. After a year of a very happy and fulfilling relationship Ray had finally persuaded Fraser that they should move into together, not that Fraser took much persuading in the end.

So the hunt had begun for a house that they would like. The idea of an apartment was vetoed by Fraser who had thought a house would be better for them. It would mean more space, a garden for Dief and room for visiting relatives. By visiting relatives that did, of course, mean the Vecchio family who were still talking to Ray despite his revelation that he loved another man. Some had been quite supportive and they more than made up for the ones that thought Ray was heading straight to hell.

The house that they had settled on had been spotted by Ray while he was following up a lead on a car jacking. The house was old and falling down, but it was cheap. It required a lot of work but Ray was confident they could do it themselves. At least they didn't have to go to the forest to chop timber, he'd joked. Once Fraser had seen it he soon agreed. The two of them, even with their earnings pooled together, couldn't afford an expensive house so it seemed the perfect buy. That was, of course, before they started work on it.

"Benny, our house is trying to kill me!" Ray complained as he fell over after tripping over another loose floorboard, of which more seemed to appear than they nailed back down.

"That's just silly, Ray," said Fraser in that particular tone he used with those words. "A house is inanimate. I highly doubt it could bear a grudge of any sort."

"I know, I know. It's my fault for suggesting we buy this death trap," Ray sighed. It had seemed such a good idea. He picked up the hammer and tried to find the nails he had dropped as he fell.

Fraser picked up on the sigh "Do you regret it, Ray?" he asked.

"No, Benny, I don't," Ray answered, and it was true, no matter how much he groaned about it. "I mean I'm really glad we've moved in together. An' this house ain't so bad. I just thought it'd be nice to have a house, ya know? This looked like it was perfect."

"I agree, Ray. While an apartment would have been adequate there is almost a thrill in buying a house and repairing it ourselves." Fraser had that happy look on his face again, the one that showed he was content. It was an expression Ray loved to be the cause of, directly or indirectly.

"Yeah it's good practice for the cabin too. Between the house and the cabin we'll be professionals in no time," joked Ray.

"So you are enjoying this project?" Fraser hinted that he knew exactly how Ray felt.

"Yeah, OK, I enjoy it!" Ray admitted. "I'm gonna enjoy it a lot more when it's finished and you and me can spend what little of our lives will be left, `cos we're gonna be at least ninety before this is finished, together in this house."

"I doubt we will be ninety, Ray," Fraser stated allowing the joke to go right over his head. "In fact the prospect of spending our old age together in this house is appealing." Fraser continued to mark out the wood they were using for repairs.

"I'll be totally bald by then, Benny. Will you love a guy with no hair?" teased Ray who ran his hands over his head as if to prove his point.

"Ray, I will always love you, bald or not." Fraser smiled a little. "While you may become bald on your head it shouldn't detract too much from your `je nais sais quoi'. You may be very hairy on other parts of your body." And the smile turned into a grin.

"Well you're gonna the one who knows Benny." Ray too was wearing a grin. He was pleased Fraser had lost some of his inhibitions. He was far more playful these days.

"I hope so, Ray," Fraser replied, knowing exactly what his lover was trying to imply.

For a few moments there was a happy silence as Fraser measured up the wood and Ray, having found the nails, tried to nail down yet another loose floorboard.

To start some conversation Ray casually asked, "So what colour are we painting the hall?"

Fraser stood up from his work and looked at the wall to think about it. "I was thinking cream, Ray."

"Cream?" Ray was unconvinced.

"Yes, Ray." Fraser had clearly spent a lot of time thinking about this subject. "White would be too plain but cream would give a little dash of colour without being too overwhelming."

Ray was suspicious, "Have you been watchin' those DIY programs again?"

Fraser looked slightly embarrassed, "I'll admit that while we are staying at your mother's house until our house is liveable, I have been taking the opportunity to watch numerous programs on the subject of DIY."

"What no reading?" Ray knew books had to come into it somewhere.

"Of course I have been reading as well, Ray." Fraser's voice took on that `that's just silly Ray' tone again.

"I thought so," Ray smiled. "Good job too, I've got no idea what colours to use."

"What about when you were married?" Fraser was always fascinated to hear what had gone in Ray's `previous' marriage. Admittedly he and Ray couldn't get legally married but it felt like they were. Ray was more open about the subject these days so the question was not unexpected.

"I let Angie choose," Ray paused. "And it was always her place anyway. She picked it, decorated it; I just helped pay the bills. It was an apartment, too, so no real opportunity for decorating on a large scale." Ray opened his arms to show the difference in scale. "This is a project and a half."

"So you have no idea about what colour scheme you'd like?" Fraser didn't want to seem as though he were pushing his ideas.

Ray sighed again, "Benny, I realise I'm now officially gay but that does not mean I automatically know everything there is to know about interior design."

"Sorry, Ray. Do you really feel interior design is inherently gay?" Fraser never actually knew the reason for that particular stereotype.

"I guess." Ray put down his tools for a moment and tried to explain "I know it's a gender thing but I mean we aren't exactly your typical gay guys."

"That's very true, Ray. Neither of us actually admitted having feelings for another man or other men in general until we fell in love with each other."

"Yeah well, you're such an easy person to love, Benny."

"Am I?" Fraser looked puzzled. He knew Ray was easy to love; he was so loyal and honest and open. What Ray saw in him was another matter.

"Sure," Ray said with conviction.

Still Fraser had his doubts. "Even when I'm annoying?"

"Yes, Benny," Ray said, patiently.

"Even when I ruin your suits?"

"I ruin them for you, Benny."

"Even when I..."

Ray interrupted, "No one's perfect, Benny. Not even you. I love you despite that."

Fraser felt better for this comment. Ray had told him all that before, but this time he felt his doubts go away. "You're very easy to love, too, Ray," Fraser told him.

"Ah, come on." Ray sometimes had doubts too but as time went on they got less and less.

"No, I'm serious. I fell in love with you in a matter of weeks."

"And then we went through two years of hell before we admitted how we felt."

"I'm afraid so," Fraser sighed.

"Who'd a thought three years ago I'd be fixin' up a house with you?" Ray almost laughed. It was true if someone had told him four years ago he would fall in love with a Mountie and they would buy a house together Ray would have laughed at them.

Fraser looked serious, "I don't know, Ray."

"Rhetorical question, Benny," explained Ray. He loved that innocent act (and sometimes it was an act, sometimes not) of Fraser's.

"Sorry."

"Don't apologise."

Ray then got up, walked right over to Fraser and kissed him. Fraser loved kissing Ray and he loved how spontaneous Ray could be. It was as if Ray seemed to know what Fraser wanted or needed, even before Fraser himself knew, and gave it to him. Ray and he stood there kissing for several minutes, delighting in the simple, sweet, contact and exchange of love. After awhile they parted.

Ray looked into Fraser's eyes and smiled. "I love you, I love this house, and I'll love when it's finished," he said, never taking his eyes away from Fraser's.

"I love you too, Ray," Fraser said in reply, meaning every word as he always did.

"Ah well, mushy moment over, back to work." And Ray reluctantly turned back to his task of nailing down the floorboards.

"Will we be having another `mushy moment' soon?" asked Fraser hopefully.

"You betcha, Benny. Why do you think it's takin' us so long to finish this house?"

Both men laughed at this. They didn't care how long it took them they would turn their house into a home through time, effort, hard work and love for each other.