Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, I'm not making any money off this, this writing is for fun and entertainment only.

Author's Notes: Thank you to shrewreader for doing the beta work on this fic.

Story Notes: Post CotW.

Ray Kowalski had never met Louis Gardino, but there were only so many stories you could hear about a guy before you started to feel like you knew him at least a little. He and Fraser had spent a few hours together that first week, after Ray had told him who he really was, and they had gone over the past cases. Things Ray Vecchio would know about Huey and Gardino, like the fact that they were friends. That they'd gone out to celebrate Vecchio's raise, that Zuko and Vecchio had a history that had stirred up emotions. Fraser had told him about the set up to frame Zuko for Vecchio's murder and how Gardino had set off the bomb instead. He'd explained to him, to the best of his ability, the emotions that had been behind every one of Vecchio's actions that night.

"He and Louis had their differences, but they were friends. It was very hard for him to accept that Louis Gardino had died in an explosion that was meant for him. He was ... not himself for some time."

Ray nods. "So I've gotta act like this Gardino's death really hit me hard, right? Like on the anniversary and stuff we've gotta go visit his grave?"

Fraser smiles slightly. "That's a lovely idea, Ray. I think Ray -- Vecchio, that is -- I think Ray would have done something quite like that."

"Yeah?" He's feeling just a little bit proud of himself.

"I'm sure Detective Huey would think it was a fine idea. We could even bring flowers. Something to show our regard."

Ray Kowalski had never met him, but he wasn't going to let him down. A dead cop was still a dead cop, whether you were pretending to be someone else or not. Huey had liked the idea and they'd gone together that first year. Ray, Fraser and Huey, standing by the grave, each holding flowers. Fraser had managed to pick the most expensive bouquet in the entire shop and had justified it by explaining to Ray that lilies had been Gardino's favourite flower while Huey smirked in the background. Grumbling, Ray had purchased them, along with wild flowers for himself and a bouquet of tulips that Huey had picked out. He had felt kind of odd, buying flowers for another man, but he reasoned with himself that buying flowers for another man was okay if the other man was in the ground. Then he had winced, glad no one could get inside his head like Stella could and was thankful that Stella wasn't there to read in his eyes what kind of terrible thing he'd just thought.

The graveyard was cold. Quiet and cold, but they stood by, watching the headstone, as if they expected it to move. Ray hung back as Fraser and Huey talked, placing the bouquets against the stone. He hung back as they exchanged seemingly private words, first with each other, then with the headstone. He fidgeted, twisted the stems of the wild flowers together, staring at the ground until Fraser nudged him.

"Yeah," he said. "Yeah. I know."

He left the other two, knelt at the grave and put the flowers down.

"I think they expect me to say somethin'," he said, then laughed nervously. He raked a hand through his hair, then sighed. "This feels dumb. Like I'm a big fraud or somethin'. I shouldn't be here. I didn't know you, man. This isn't right. So, uh, sorry, I guess. That the real Ray Vecchio couldn't be here to pay his respect."

Over the course of the following year, he'd learned more. Huey was able to talk about Gardino again, share the good times without getting too bothered by it. Fraser filled in the details that Huey left out, stories Gardino had told them. Things he'd said and done, people he'd met, women he'd loved and hated. Soon enough Ray didn't feel like he was listening to stories that had happened without him. Soon enough he'd heard the stories so many times that he was the one filling in the details.

By the second anniversary, Ray realized that he probably would have really liked Gardino.

"You ordering the flowers, Vecchio?" Huey asks, tossing a sandwich onto Ray's desk as he passes.

"What?" He opens the foil on the sandwich before he realizes what Huey's referring to. "Yeah, yeah. I'll call the florist today. Order a whole bunch. Make his restin' place real pretty."

Huey grins. "He'll love it."

"Tell Frase I'm not ordering the damn lilies this time. They cost way too much."

"You tell him. I'm not disappointing the Mountie."

Ray just rolls his eyes, but picks up the phone to order the flowers.

The second time wasn't as difficult as the first. They'd smiled and laughed, joked a little even. Ray didn't think Gardino would mind, even though he knew he'd never be sure. He'd never met Gardino, after all. Huey said that they should have brought lunch and sat around the grave, eating sandwiches. Fraser seemed to think this was a good idea, even if Ray did cringe at it and think it was a little morbid.

The graveyard was still cold and he shivered under his jacket, dropping his flowers unceremoniously onto the grave. Fraser and Huey both repeated their actions from the previous year. Fraser stood with Ray while Huey knelt by the grave and the Mountie looked over at him after a few minutes.

"You didn't have to do this again, you know," he said.

Ray shrugged. "Yeah, I know. I felt I owed the guy, though."

Fraser's brow creased. "You never met Louis, Ray. What could you possibly owe him?"

He shrugged again. "I dunno, Frase. I just feel like I do. Like I know him a little bit."

Fraser nodded and the conversation had ended there. Sometimes the Mountie was good at knowing when to be quiet and Ray was grateful for that. He shifted, then went to the grave when Huey was done.

"It's kinda different this year, huh?" he asked the stone. "I mean, they don't expect me to keep up with this whole thing anymore. I mean, I'm still s'pposed to be Ray Vecchio, but they don't think I've gotta keep comin' here. I just ... felt like I owed it to ya, pal. I started this and if the real Vecchio isn't here to do this, I'm gonna do it. For as long as he's gone. 'Cause everyone needs to be remembered."

He stood and awkwardly patted the stone, ignoring Fraser's raised eyebrows.

"Lunch?" he asked.

Heuy nodded. "Lunch."

Leading up to the third anniversary, they started to talk about him less. Ray knew pretty much all there was to know about him, who his family was, that he had a younger sister and four cousins. Ray knew Gardino's mother's name and where she liked to shop for her groceries. He knew she made a killer meat sauce and an even better meat pie.

Besides, they were past the first two years, the hardest years. They'd gotten past the first visit to his graveside, they'd bought the flowers and said what they needed to. They'd kept it up the next year, not knowing if they were doing the right thing, but doing it anyway. Ray knew that the third year was the one that would either make or break the tradition. He knew that if they went this year, they'd keep going every year. Even if the real Vecchio came back and he could go back to being Ray Kowalski, he'd still go with them.

But he also knew they might not go. A case might come up. Welsh might demand that he needed them that day. Something could easily prevent them from going and if they didn't go, Ray knew they wouldn't go again. They'd go on their own, sure, but never together. Never again on the anniversary of his death. That'd be over. It made him a little bit nervous. This was something he'd started. Granted, he'd started it as someone else, but it had been his idea. It was something the three of them did every year. He wanted to continue it, he really wanted to keep going.

Ray had never met Gardino, but the idea that three cops might not show up for Gardino on the anniversary of his death bothered Ray and made him just a little sad. He hoped people would do something like that for him when he died.

He started to count down the days, waiting on edge for something else to happen. As they neared the date he grew more and more tense, checking in with Huey a few times each week, making sure the plans were still set. Making sure he was still supposed to order the flowers that year, making sure nothing had come up.

Something came up, of course, and the flowers were never ordered. Ray Vecchio returned. Ray Kowalski and Fraser ended up on a plane, then ended up in a crevasse, then ended up on a lake with a Russian submarine under the ice. No one had even mentioned it until days before Ray and Fraser set out on their adventure.

"Ray Vecchio is on the phone," Fraser whispers.

Ray nods. He's packing, trying to remember that he's Ray Kowalski again. He doesn't have to lie to anyone anymore and he likes that, even if this whole adventure thing scares him just a little.

"He's saying Detective Huey told him about your idea."

Ray looks over at him. "What idea?"

"To visit Louis Gardino's grave."

Ray smiles, but he feels like shit. They've missed the date, they've screwed up the tradition. He feels like real shit.

"He wants us to come back to Chicago to do it this year."

"It was three days ago, Frase."

The Mountie nods. "They want to do it anyway."

They're here now. They're late, but they're here and the graveyard is still as quiet and cold as ever, even filled with people.

Ray didn't have to call for flowers this year because Vecchio took charge and he's strangely okay with that. Yeah, he started it, but he started it as Vecchio. He started it as something Vecchoi would have done. He likes to think that maybe he did something right as Vecchio, something that the other man is proud to return to.

There are far more people here this year than there have been in the past. Before it's always been him, Huey and Fraser, but now there are friends and family. He can see Gardino's sister standing on the other side of the grave and she smiles at him and in that moment, Ray knows he's done a good thing here. He can pick Gardino's parents out of the crowd as well, cops in uniform he's never seen before or never paid attention to. There are people here he doesn't know, but it doesn't matter. They're not here for him.

He can see Stella and Vecchio and he knows that they're holding hands. He can see her leaning into him, whispering something against his ear. Ray starts to get angry, starts to feel the urge to go over there, but he remembers why they're here. Who they're here for.

Slowly people leave. It takes more than hour before they're alone in the graveyard, the three of them on one side of the grave, Vecchio and Stella on the other. Ray's holding his wild flowers, Huey his tulips and Fraser his lilies. Ray, as usual, shelled out the cash for all three bouquets. He waits for a long moment. He's not going to talk to Gardino with Vecchio and Stella looking on. He can't do that. He's glad they're here, but it's still a private moment between him and a stone.

"This was a good idea," Vecchio says, breaking the silence. "I appreciate it." He looks up and catches Ray's eye and they both nod.

Ray nods because it was a good idea and he knows it. And he's proud of it.

As Vecchio and Stella leave, he kneels to put the wild flowers against the stone. "Vecchio's back," he says. "But I'll see ya next year."

Ray Kowalski has never met Louis Gardino, but there's something about the dead man he just has to love.