Disclaimer: I don't own 'em, I just play with 'em and hand 'em back, none the worse for wear.

Story Notes: Highlander/due South crossover, with a cameo here and there from Hellboy.

SequelTo: Geometry: Chapter 1, Dief's Got A Girl

Running down the leads Marina had given them ate up what remained of the afternoon, and by the time they'd stopped at the Consulate to let Fraser change into civvies and taken Dief for a run in the park, it was nearly eight.

"Wanna head over and walk around the wharf for a while?" Ray proposed, sitting on a swing and kicking his heels while Dief exchanged pleasantries with a friendly golden retriever.

"Very well, Ray. I would be interested to see the rest of the renovations up close."

"Me too. Place used to be pretty dingy, but it sure ain't now. Smart of the Doc to move in before the rents take a jump. Neighborhood keeps improving like that and homesteading yuppies'll start to move in as the property values go up." Ray stood up and loafed over to Fraser, who waved to Dief to signal the wolf they were leaving. "Do ya suppose they've got any vacancies in her building?"

Fraser shot his partner a startled glance. "Why do you ask, Ray?"

Ray wrinkled up his nose. "My lease runs out next month and the landlady's already let me know it's not up for renewal. So I gotta find a new place. It'd be cool ta live down there."

"You could ask the Doctor," Fraser suggested, trying to restrain the raw envy he felt at Ray's casual acceptance of his impending displacement. After his last apartment burned down at the hands of an arsonist with a grudge against him and Ray, Fraser had been so wary of putting anyone else at risk he'd never moved out of his office at the Consulate.

"Why don't we both ask?" Ray pointed out reasonably.

"What? Why?"

Ray rolled his eyes, disgusted at his partner's obtuseness. "Jeez, Frase, you need a place worse than I do. I don't know how the hell you get a decent night's sleep on that damned cot."

Fraser refrained from pointing out he usually didn't get a good night's sleep, or Ray would be ragging on him to crash on his couch again. "It would be nice to be neighbors," he admitted, surprised by the surge of attraction that thought held.

"I got a better idea." Ray thumped him on the shoulder, delighted by an impulsive thought. "Why don't we get an apartment together? A two-bedroom would be cheaper and we could get a bigger place."

"You want to live with me?" Fraser blurted out, so startled he was left speechless for a moment.

"Sure, why not? We spend practically all our time together anyway." Feeling rebuffed by Fraser's reaction, Ray hid his hurt and shrugged casually. "It was just an idea, Frase. If you don't like it, no biggie."

Fraser immediately felt ashamed. His fears and insecurities had no place hurting his partner's -and his best friend's- feelings. "I'd like that very much, Ray," he said quietly, laying a hand on Ray's shoulder and giving it a little squeeze.

Ray's quick, dazzling smile flashed. "Awright, then. I'll ask the doc when we get there. She seems pretty savvy."

Diefenbaker came running up and Ray dropped to one knee and scratched his ruff fondly. "What do you say to you, me and Fraser moving into the Doc's building, Dief? Think you could stand living with me?" The wolf's tail wagged energetically and he barked once, then plastered Ray with slobber licking his face.

"Pretty sure it's unanimous, Frase," Ray chuckled, wiping slobber off his cheek as he stood up, giving the shaggy head a last affectionate caress.

"Yes." Fraser agreed: surprised afresh by the warm feeling that bloomed in his heart at the thought of living with his mercurial best friend. "It certainly is."

An hour later, they were standing at the counter of the Chinese takeout restaurant that occupied one of the restored storefronts facing the inner courtyard of Sheridan's Wharf. While Fraser chatted amiably with the owner in Mandarin, Dief glued his nose to a fish tank filled with lazily swimming gold, black, and red and white koi, and Ray struggled not to just order the entire menu to go. The food looked that good.

While he considered, a willowy slim young woman with a waterfall of straight, shining black hair that fell to her knees came out of the back and caught sight of Dief at the fish tank. A trill of liquid syllables Ray didn't recognize spilled from her mouth, but he did catch Dief's name in the stream. After exchanging pleasantries with the wolf, she came over to the counter where Ray stood and smiled inquisitively.

"Can I help you?"

Ray grinned down at her. "Dunno. Do ya think ordering everything on the menu makes me a hopeless pig?"

She had to smother a laugh, but struggled to remain polite. "No," she said carefully, then gave in. "Eating everything you ordered might."

Dief cocked his head at the girl and whined plaintively.

"I know what you want," she giggled, picking up an order pad. "It's your friend that's got the problem."

"What's the wolf usually get?" Ray asked, diverted from his perusal of the menu.

"Dief? He gets Kung Pao chicken, and he and Doctor Mac usually split a couple side orders of pan-fried dumplings and crab rangoons," she commented.

"Great. We'll take that for starters and what's the Doc usually order? We're going by her place next and forgot to ask what she wanted."

Her demeanor, friendly already, warmed instantly at his question. "You're a friend of Doctor Mac's? I should have realized when I saw you with Diefenbaker." She started scribbling on the order pad and continued, "She always gets the hot and sour soup and the sesame beef."

"Always?" Ray said dubiously. He sure couldn't resist ordering something different every time, not with a menu like this.

"Always," she said, smiling in understanding.

"Add that on..." Ray scanned the menu again. "And I'll take the General Tso's pork and an order of house lo mein, and a side of egg rolls with duck sauce. Fraser!"

Fraser and the elderly Chinese gentleman he'd been chatting with looked up and came over to the counter. The oldster smiled proudly at the willowy girl and fired another spate of Mandarin at Fraser, who inclined his head politely.

"Pleased to meet you, Lotus," Fraser said courteously. "Your grandfather says you're quite the artist." He nodded at the delicate murals ornamenting the restaurant's walls. "They're remarkable. You have a real talent." Intrigued, Ray took a closer look at the artwork on the walls. It was remarkably pretty, now that he paid attention to it.

She smiled a little, but ducked her head shyly. "No," she denied softly but emphatically. "But I have a real friend. I've gotten so much better in just the last year."

"What do you mean?" Ray and Fraser exchanged puzzled glances.

"Lotus is one of Doctor MacLeod's scholarship students," an elderly woman said in heavily accented but grammatically perfect English as she came out of the kitchen. "Without the scholarship, we could not have afforded art school for Lotus. You should be studying, child," she reproved Lotus gently.

"We're closing in ten minutes, Grandmother. I'll go study as soon as Doctor Mac's friends are on their way."

"You are friends of the doctor?" The old woman beamed at Ray and Fraser.

Ray wondered if every time that came out down here on the wharf, he and Frase were going to get hit with that warm glow of immediate acceptance and friendliness. If so, he sure wouldn't mind living here.

"New friends, but yeah. Fraser and Dief are best buddies," Ray explained. "And Dief talked the Doc into helping us with a case. That's how we met her."

"That is like her," the old lady said approvingly. "She will always help, the MacLeod. It is in her blood and her name." She studied the two men with disquieting thoroughness, as if trying to determine how much she should say. "You are a police officer?"

"Detective Ray Vecchio, 27th precinct, at your service, ma'am." Ray held open his jacket enough to show the badge he wore on his belt and nodded at Fraser. "This is my partner Constable Benton Fraser, of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. He's assigned to the Canadian Consulate here."

Those old black eyes studied Ray and Fraser carefully, assessing and calculating, and her precise grammar slipped a bit as she spoke more freely. "It is good the wolf will have help taking care of Doctor Marina. With so many to look after, she does not care for herself properly. She has done better since Diefenbaker comes to visit. He takes much care of her."

Fraser's beaming glance at Dief was so proud Ray had to look away to hide a smile. Like Mountie, like wolf, it seemed. But where Dief had adopted Marina, Fraser had adopted... him, Ray realized. It was peculiar how much that mattered to him, especially after the divorce. And it mattered more and more, all the time. Sometimes Ray wondered if he wanted his old life back, if it meant giving up the two best things in this new one. Still, he comforted himself, Fraser and Dief had never lived with the original Ray Vecchio and his friends' affection for him was genuine, he knew that. After everything they'd been through together, that was the one thing in his life he was bloody well sure of. The only thing, but what the hell, it was a start.

"C'mon, Frase," he urged gently. "Figure out what you want for dinner and let's let Lotus get to her studying."

As expected, the thought he was holding up these kind people jerked Fraser up short. "Of course, Ray." He studied the menu and ordered beef and broccoli with vegetable fried rice in seconds. When he showed no hint of picking out an appetizer, Ray just ordered teriyaki skewers for him. To Ray's secret relief, the owners were perfectly happy to let him pay for the food and he tossed a five in the alabaster tip jar on the counter guarded by a gleefully grinning yellow and red lucky cat. Ten minutes later they were walking out with two large brown bags that smelled so good Ray had to keep swallowing or he'd have drooled like Dief.

"This is your turf, Dief," Ray said to the wolf as they walked along the quayside, listening to the waves splash against the piers and pilings. "Where's the Doc's place?"

Dief looked over his shoulder at Ray, and turned left and headed around the inside of the C to the building on the opposite pier. The warehouse on that side was four stories high, with shops, restaurants and a dojo offering a variety of martial arts classes on the first level; offices, a vet clinic and a dance studio with a grand opening poster in the window dated a month from now on the second floor; and apartments on the third and fourth levels. The windows in those apartments were enormous old-fashioned things, nine feet tall and four feet wide, and while light streamed out from most of the third floor windows, most of the fourth floor windows were dark. Only those on the back wall that faced out over the water were lit. Pleased, Ray nudged Fraser's shoulder as they followed Dief across the wooden pier.

"See the dark windows on the fourth floor? You know what those are?"

"Vacant apartments?" Fraser hazarded.

"Yup. Which means there's a pretty good chance we can snag one. Rockin'! I'm gonna like it here, I can tell, buddy. Feels like home already."

That was such an alien concept to Fraser he stopped dead in his tracks, staring after Ray who turned back as soon as he realized Fraser wasn't still beside him. Something about the way Ray stopped instantly and looked around for him sent another of those expanding surges of warmth into Fraser's heart.

"What?" Ray said, staring at him in bafflement. "What's with you, Fraser? You're weirder than usual tonight! Are you nervous about going to see the Doc? If she didn't want us to come by, she wouldn't have invited us, ya know. Don't you trust Dief?"

Fraser shook his head to clear it and started walking again. Ray fell in step beside him while further up the pier, Dief waited impatiently by a squat stone planter overflowing with purple, lavender and white petunias in full bloom. The fragrance hung heavy and thick in the heat waves shimmering off the sidewalks.

"Of course I do, Ray," Fraser said in his usual calm tone. "It's nothing."

"You're not fooling me, Ben," Ray said bluntly. "Try again."

Ray knew him too well, Fraser reflected. There was no fooling him anymore. "The idea of someplace feeling like home was..." he stopped, at a loss for words.

Ray got it immediately, and his annoyed expression softened as he kicked himself internally for being a heel.

"Sorry, Ben," he apologized. "I didn't think."

"Please don't apologize, Ray." Fraser cracked his neck nervously as he and Ray followed Dief towards one of three sets of handsome double glass doors that ornamented the building's inner face. They were headed for the seat nearest the end of the warehouse that faced over the water. Each set of doors led into an identical lobby with white and black marble tile floors and wide marble balustrade staircases leading up. An old-fashioned bronze scrollwork elevator faced a row of bronze art-deco mailboxes. A few huge plants overflowed large hammered brass pots. As they reached the double doors Ray recognized first-quality shatterproof security Plexiglas in the massive old bronze and steel frames.

"Take a look at that, Fraser. Whoever bought this place is really doing the restoration right."

"It certainly looks like it, Ray."

For a moment it looked like they hit a snag when the row of call buttons inside the first set of glass doors had no names, just numbers, so there was no way to tell which call button to hit to find Marina. But Diefenbaker ignored the call buttons entirely and rearing up on his hind legs, planted his paws on the lintel edge and brought his face level with the modern audio/video security panel installed above the vintage Art Deco call buttons. He barked twice, sharply, into the speaker grill and dropped back to all fours and waited expectantly by the door. As Fraser and Ray watched, the screen came to life and the words 'voiceprint verified' flashed briefly on the screen as the inner door lock clicked open. Diefenbaker shouldered it open and halfway through looked back over his shoulder impatiently.

Ray and Fraser both grinned in delighted amazement and followed Diefenbaker into the immaculately clean lobby. Dief ignored the stairs and headed straight for the elevator. Once there, he sat down and stared pointedly at the button. Ray reached out and hit it, and the doors slid open immediately. Dief trotted into the elevator and sat down as Ray and Fraser followed.

Ray noticed that just above the vintage elevator panel was an audio/video security panel identical to the one by the front door, and just as expected, Dief barked twice and the doors closed obediently. The floors blinked past, second, third, and continued up to the fourth floor. When the doors slid open, Ray and Fraser blinked in surprise. The elevator opened into a long hallway that was dimly lit with hanging Japanese paper lanterns, illuminating a half-finished sweeping mural of a style both Fraser and Ray recognized immediately.

"That's Lotus's work," Fraser said, stepping out of the elevator onto marble tiles of cloudy blue-gray.

"Yeah," Ray agreed, trying to stare in all directions at once, captivated by the two sinuously twisting dragons racing and soaring down the wall, arcing up over the ceiling. Gorgeous lion-esque heads and marvelously detailed fins vied with fantastic sparkling scales and shining claws. "You're right, Fraser, this kid's got talent. These are unbelievable."

Two huge Japanese vases flanked the only window, it looked out over the inner wharf and the doorway they'd entered four stories down. There were only two apartment doors visible down the hallway and something niggled at Ray's cop awareness of space.

"That marble stairwell doesn't go to the fourth floor, Ray," Fraser observed, and Ray realized that was what was bothering him.

"There must be a second stairwell somewhere, Frase. Otherwise it'd violate the fire code. Wonder where it is?"

While Ray and Fraser had been discussing out the floor layout, Dief had trotted the length of the hallway to the far door, which stood slightly ajar with light streaming through the gap. Ad he turned around and waited one more time for his slow human friends to catch up, it occurred to both men how commonplace this routine was for the big wolf.

"He's been coming to see her a lot, Ben," Ray said. "Maybe longer than we thought, too."

"I was just thinking the same thing, Ray."

When they finally reached the door, Dief pushed it open wider and unable to resist any longer, his tail wagged and he bounded through the doorway, barking a welcome.

"Dief?" Marina's voice floated across the darkened room. "I'm in the living room, baby."

Stepping through the open doorway, both men turned instinctively toward the sound and gasped in unison. The entire back wall of the living room was one great bank of windows that looked out over the lake, and the mass of glittering city lights along the lakeshore twinkling in the darkness and reflecting off the lake's surface was darkly, strikingly beautiful.

"Doctor MacLeod?" Fraser said uncertainly, unwilling to venture further into her domain without invitation. "Marina?"

"Ben? Is that you?" Marina's voice sounded startled but charmed, Ray and Fraser were relieved to hear. "Lights full."

The light level jumped so sharply that Ray had to blink several times before he could see again. When his eyes cleared, Marina was standing about six feet in front of him and Fraser, smiling in baffled delight. She was plainly not expecting company, barefoot, wearing a faded lace-trimmed magenta tank top and white crop leggings with absurd little magenta kittens on them, sun-bleached hair loose and streaming down her back in a tousled, white-gold wave.

And she was so artlessly appealing, so oddly captivating Ray felt it like a fist to the gut. A feeling he hadn't experienced since the first time he saw Stella... and the first time he'd seen Fraser, weird as that revelation was. Oh, fuck, damn, and shit. If he wasn't careful, he really was going to fall for Dief's girl. Judging from the expression on Fraser's face, he was as utterly unprepared for this bewitching minx as Ray was.

"You came," she said, touched beyond words Dief's friends had come along with her adored wolf.

"We're not intruding?" Fraser's question was plainly worried.

Her smile was shy sunshine and Ray felt his insides go to mush when it hit him. He'd have sworn his skin warmed.

"No, you're not intruding. I'm glad you came."

"We brought dinner," Ray said with a lopsided grin that broke the little paralysis holding them all. "I have it on good authority you are a sesame beef and hot and sour soup addict, both of which happen to be in these bags."

Marina laughed and padded behind them to shut the forgotten apartment door. "You didn't have to do that."

"Yup, we did." Ray grinned over his shoulder. "You can feed us once a day. Not twice. Not fair."

"I'll remember that." Marina's eyes sparkled wickedly and Ray suddenly wondered just what he had agreed to. "Go in and sit down," she chuckled. "What would you like to drink?"

"What have you got?" Reassured by her evident pleasure in their arrival, Ray and Fraser followed Dief down two steps to a living room with a sunken conversation pit about the size of Ray's entire apartment.

In the kitchen, Marina opened her fridge and immediately resolved not to let Ray or Ben in there. There were liquids; milk, orange juice, organic lemonade, iced tea, half and half for her morning coffee, bottled vanilla soda, the flavored carbonated water in quart bottles she liked, and even beer, because she hadn't yet broken the habit of buying it for Duncan, and condiments in the door, but not one piece of solid food. Her cupboards were almost as bad.

Every so often she shuddered to think what her men would say if Duncan, Connor and Methos ever found out she'd basically been living on liquids for the year before Dief started coming around. Wolves needed to eat -constantly, it seemed- so it had just been natural to eat whatever she made for him. It helped that the wolf was a positively picky eater. But food eaten alone still made her sick, even after over a year of living solitary, and after all, it wasn't like she could starve to death or anything. Even so, she'd had to get rid of half her wardrobe as her old clothing hung on her to the point it genuinely looked creepy. The remainder consisted mostly of cotton tank tops and Levi's; all of which shrank nicely when washed in too-hot water.

On the plus side, she was wearing a size four for the first time in her life and at five foot seven that was fun. She'd even look svelte standing next to the redoubtable Amanda, and that was next to impossible. It made clothes shopping was considerably more rewarding, even if there wasn't any reason to buy pretty outfits without someone around to wear them for. Duncan -eternal clothes horse that he was- would be positively horrified at the state of her closet. Even Methos, the poster child for worn sneakers, frayed sweaters and ratty jeans, might be a little nonplussed.

Recalling herself to the present, Marina called out, "We got beer, o.j., lemonade, iced tea, water..."

"I'll take a beer," Ray called out and Ben asked for tea.

"Ice?"

"Please."

The room itself was impressive, nearly fifty feet across with that bank of windows facing out over the lake. The night view was gorgeous, bisected by a circular freestanding white marble fireplace with triple tall white stacks disappearing through the ceiling. The antique andirons on the fireplace were flying dragons, echoing the ones in the hallway outside. The wall facing the windows was bookshelves, floor to ceiling, and every shelf was jammed with books, small statuary, odd bits of sculpture, and small woven grass baskets holding seashells, tumbled stones and geodes. But there was also a full-size saber tooth tiger skull complete with shining, nine-inch fangs situated prominently on a central shelf; and Fraser was fairly sure he could see several fossil Carcharodon teeth being used for bookends.

The furnishings were an eclectic mix of antiques from wildly varying periods and twin comfortable, overstuffed modern sectional couches in pale gray and navy blue. Fat cushions in ruby, emerald, sapphire and purple and a few throws in matching colors ornamented the two couches, and tall peacock-tail stained glass lamps sat at the four compass points of the pit. The gray couch faced the fireplace, the navy one faced an entertainment center with TV, VCR, DVD and stereo equipment with mini-speakers, and there was still a wide aisle between the backs. There was an open laptop, a vanilla soda and a stack of printouts in front of the gray couch, so Ray headed there and set down the bag on the coffee table; a glass top balanced on black iron scrollwork dragons, and glanced around admiringly.

"Nice digs, doc."

Fraser set the second bag down and took a good look at his surroundings, curious to see what they would reveal about Dief's lady friend. She had good taste, certainly, and those bookshelves begged for closer examination, but he knew Ray would chew him out later if he examined them this early in the visit. So he helped Ray unpack the neat white and red boxes, paper napkins and packets of chopsticks, and contented himself with surreptitiously checking out the printouts by her laptop, although he politely refrained from peeking at her laptop screen. As he suspected, it was pages of tax rules and categories, together with several University administration forms. Theresa's stipend, as expected.

"Thank you. I indulged myself disgracefully when I renovated this place, and I feel smug about it every day." Marina handed Ray his beer and Ben a tall glass clinking with ice and tea that smelled sharply of cinnamon, and pushed the paperwork to the other side of the table and closed the laptop after saving her work.

"I think we'll need silverware," Fraser said, poking through the bag he'd finished unpacking. "Unless it's in the other bag."

Marina shot him a puzzled glance and then turned an inquisitive face to Ray.

"He doesn't get out much," Ray explained pityingly, snapping his chopsticks apart and waving them at his partner. "I used to think it was a Canadian thing but it's just a Fraser thing."

"I see." She grinned understandingly over at Fraser. "Half the fun of Chinese food is eating with chopsticks and sharing out of the boxes, Ben."

His eyebrows went up. "Indeed? I was unaware of this."

"Do you know how to eat with chopsticks?"

"I am familiar with the principles."

"Plenty of theory, no practice," Ray explained, sampling his lo mein. It tasted even better than it smelled- which was a pretty good trick considering it smelled heavenly. "But good instincts."

Fraser got the feeling Ray was talking about more than his take-out eating habits, but let it go for now. Handing him a set of chopsticks in their little paper wrapper, Marina slid down onto the couch beside Fraser, which surprised him a little, as most people found him off-putting at first and tended to keep a wary few feet away.

"Go ahead and give it a try." She opened the box of Kung Pao chicken and Dief, sprawled at her feet waiting patiently, sat up and delicately picked the first bite off her chopsticks when Marina held it out. She picked up a crab rangoon and munched it while Dief chewed prissily, then offered the wolf another bite of chicken from her chopsticks when he was finished.

"The wolf gets fed?" Ray inquired incredulously.

Marina mock-frowned at him. "I don't starve my friends, Ray."

"That's not what I meant and you know it. Jeez, what do I have to do to get the royal treatment?"

Marina laughed a little and muttered something unintelligible under her breath.

"Couldn't hear you."

"Nothing. Who got the teriyaki skewers and can I have one?"

"They're Fraser's," Ray said around a mouthful of egg roll. "Go for it."

"I didn't order teriyaki, Ray," Fraser said dubiously.

"I ordered them for you. Eat."

Wanting a moment to think Fraser didn't argue; he handed Marina a teriyaki skewer and she nibbled on a corner while feeding Dief another bite of chicken. Marina obviously had temporarily forgotten about his enhanced hearing, and her muttered comment both surprised and alarmed him. She had mumbled, 'keep me from dying of loneliness' and the underlying hurt in her softly ironic laughter told Fraser she was quite serious.

He was beginning to understand why Dief found his lady friend quite so alluring, for all her calm competence, sharp intelligence, and obvious involvement in her community, Doctor MacLeod seemed extremely solitary and almost achingly lonely. Almost as lonely, Fraser reflected, as he had been himself, before the two Rays entered his life. Dief had been a lifesaver for him during those days, and Fraser supposed it shouldn't shock him that the wolf would take to someone else in the same situation. And Fraser was beginning to suspect in her own way Marina was as much of a misfit here in Chicago as he and Diefenbaker were. It made sense that like would call to like, especially when there were so few of their kind in this city.

"Any leads pan out on your case?" Marina asked, eating a bite of Dief's Kung Pao chicken before feeding the wolf another bite. "Or should I not be asking that?"

Fraser noted with surprise she was eating off the same chopsticks as the wolf and thinking nothing of it. Not squeamish, at least not that way, or perhaps aware that a wolf or dog's mouth was considerably more sanitary than a human one.

"Some, but nothing concrete yet. Since you're being nice enough to help us with the case, I figure we can share a little info when we get something useful. Besides, you might know something that could help us and not know you know it, you know?" Ray had noticed Marina's lack of squeamishness too and curious to see how far it extended, offered her a piece of his pork. She ate it off his chopsticks without hesitation and nodded thanks.

"Yeah, I get it. Dumpling?" She fed one to Dief and taking one for herself, held the box out to Ray.

"Sure." Ray snagged one and handed the box to Fraser. "I'm checking around to see about getting the sword cleaned up and put somewhere safe. Trouble is the Department doesn't have the facilities to store something that unusual."

"Not surprising. Outside of a museum or a university -or a collector like me- no one would have the kind of specialized climate-control it needs."

Ray leaned back into the couch, which was sinfully comfortable and he'd have to be careful or he'd doze off after eating, as Chinese food always made him sleepy. "You have that kinda climate-control? Here in your apartment?"

She nodded and fed Dief a crab rangoon. "I had one room converted for secure art storage when I renovated the place. I have a small collection myself, and I'm keeping a few pieces that belong to relatives here too."

As she and Ray chatted amiably, Fraser tried not to flinch at the amount of calories the wolf was devouring. Marina was only eating about one bite in three and Dief was getting the rest. If you weren't paying attention, it would be easy to miss how little she was eating. A random memory surfaced in Fraser's mind of the time he'd put his arms around Doctor MacLeod in the evidence locker. He'd been sufficiently distracted at the time he hadn't consciously marked it, but she was even thinner than Ray, who was so lean he had a hard time generating enough body heat to stay warm during Chicago's brutal winters.

Coupled with her meant-to-be-unheard comment, the implications were disturbing enough Fraser stuck his chopsticks into the beef and broccoli and took a good hard look at Marina. He found the current American fashion for unhealthily skinny women bizarre in the extreme, but he'd obviously unconsciously gotten used to it during his time in Chicago as he hadn't marked how painfully thin Doctor MacLeod really was. She was so lean her wrists were like bird bones, and if it weren't for her splendid muscle tone and heavy tan she'd look positively emaciated. He calculated her height, weight, probable bone mass and came to the unsettling conclusion she was at least thirty pounds underweight and probably more. And lack of appetite was a very common side effect of loneliness for some people.

Curious now, he quietly drained his iced tea glass and waiting for a break in the conversation politely asked where the facilities were. Marina pointed towards the kitchen and dining room and as Ray distracted her with a joke, Fraser unobtrusively took the empty glass with him. The small half bath off her kitchen was cheerful, painted in a clear light lemon yellow that coordinated with the kitchen walls and tile. After using the bathroom and washing up so his question wouldn't be a lie, Fraser opened the fridge to refill his tea and immediately realized his surmise was correct. There was not a single piece of food in the entire refrigerator. It was worse than Ray's. His at least generally had a pizza box with a partially fossilized slice or two in it.

Thoughtful, he refilled the glass and returned to the living room, sat back down beside Marina and picked up his beef and broccoli. Perhaps the current situation offered a way around Doctor MacLeod's aversion to food. He grasped a slice of beef in his chopsticks and held it up experimentally.

"Would you like to try it, Marina?" he asked innocently.

His innocent tone didn't get past Ray, who immediately nailed him with a hard stare when Marina wasn't watching.

"Sure." She nipped it off his chopsticks as neatly as Dief and chewed experimentally. "Uum, yummy! Dief and I have got to stop ordering the same thing every time."

"Actually," and Fraser gave Diefenbaker a hard look, "I was hoping I could persuade you to cut down his intake of human food while he visits. He's gotten quite out of shape during our time here. I've been wondering where he was getting all the extra calories."

Marina immediately looked guilty and set the dumpling box in her hand back down on the coffee table. "I'm sorry, I didn't realize. I'll stop."

Fraser sighed internally. Well, that idea had backfired neatly. He reached out and patiently put the dumpling box back in her hand. "Dief is fine, he's been hogging the best pieces. You, however, need to eat."

That was all it took for Ray to catch on; really, his partner had gotten quite adept at reading his mind. He raked Marina with one assessing look, fired a glance at the boxes of Chinese, and promptly jumped in to help.

"Yeah, I couldn't believe it when Lotus said you and Dief always order the same thing! I'd have worked my way through the whole menu. Try the fried rice, it's great."

Fraser handed over the fried rice box and over the course of the next half-hour, he and Ray actually managed to get a surprising amount of food into Marina without her catching on. The circumstances helped, as when she commented on their propensity for feeding her bites of their dinner, Fraser pointed out she was the one who had told him sharing was half the fun. She laughed and let the matter drop.

By the time they'd finished eating, and Ray and Ben insisted on helping clean up, it was almost ten.

"We keeping you up, Doc?" Ray asked; following Marina and Fraser back into the living room with a second beer after the remains of dinner had been cleared away.

"Who, me? Nah, I'm a night owl. I won't go to bed for a couple more hours at least. Hang around a little longer, would you?" Her voice was surprisingly wistful.

"Lonesome, Doc?" Ray kidded. "There some reason why th' guys aren't beating a path to your door?"

She laughed ruefully. "The PhD's or the sword belt, take your pick. Guys tend to find me either intimidating or just plain creepy."

Privately Ray thought anyone who didn't want to jump her bones on sight was fucking mental, but hey, not everyone found smart, powerful women with quirky senses of humor sexy. He sure did, though. And groaned internally. No doubt about it, he was far too interested in Dief's girl already. At least he didn't seem to have any competition from other humans, although her attachment to Dief was incredible, even considering the wolf's usual attraction for females. Even Fraser seemed unusually taken with her, although that might just be in response to Diefenbaker's infatuation.

"Morons." Sensing she was a little uncomfortable with this line of conversation, Ray switched topics. "Anyway, I had something I wanted to ask you."

"Fire away." Marina made herself comfortable on a corner of the sectional and patted the space beside her. Before Ray or Fraser could move, Dief jumped up into what was obviously his usual position and settled his head into Marina's lap with a contented whuff. Marina settled her fingers into the soft downy fur behind his ears and began scratching idly, and together girl and wolf made a picture of perfect domestic happiness.

Ray decided to sneak up on the idea. "We noticed walking up most of the fourth floor was dark."

Marina nodded. "The owner's been renovating the building one floor at a time. The last apartment on the third floor was finished just last month."

"There any more vacant?"

Marina shifted slightly, her attention piqued, which made Dief grumble a complaint as his pillow moved. "You looking?"

Ray nodded. "My lease is up, and hell, Fraser's living in his office right now. We need a place. Bad."

"Two bedrooms?"

Ray nodded.

Marina pursed her lips and looked thoughtful. "Give me a minute to think about it." And think she did. Very fast. Ray and Ben obviously didn't know she owned the wharf, and Mina was quite sure she wasn't ready to share that bit of information yet. But the opportunity to have Dief living in her building? That was not to be missed. Not to mention Ben and Ray were obviously both great, the kind of friends rare as hell in any lifetime. And a pair of cops, too. That was a double-edged sword, unfortunately. While a pair of sharp tough cops and a street-smart wolf would give even a rogue Watcher or an evil Immortal trouble, was she justified putting them in harm's way?

Marina snorted at herself for that self-important Immortal fatuousness. Cops stood in harm's way, it was their job. Neither would thank her for using that as an excuse, and it belittled their dedication for her to think it. And as for noticing something odd about her, well, the whole damn point of this ten-year exile was to keep a low profile, right? Having these two around would certainly keep her sharp about revealing any untoward powers.

She'd have to put them on this floor with her, but that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. While intending to convert the entire top floor for her own use eventually, she could carve out a nice niche for Ben and Ray and still have plenty of space to work with.

Even better! If she converted the suite of offices adjacent to the elevator into a two-bedroom apartment, Ben and Ray could use this elevator. None of the front stairwells went to the fourth floor; the elevators wouldn't even go to the fourth floor without a voice authorization, and the fourth floor fire doors on the back stairwells all locked from the inside. She could give Dief a nice home right next door and still keep the rest of the floor to herself. Perfect. Decision made.

"The rest of the fourth floor isn't going to be converted for a while, the owner's keeping it." She held up a finger. "But, you are in luck. The suite of offices next to my apartment is going to be converted to a two bedroom apartment, and I'm sure the landlord would be delighted to let you have it."

"Really?" Ray sat up from his comfortable sprawl. "Just like that?"

Fraser frowned. "How can you be so sure what the landlord will say?"

"Because you're talking to her." Marina grinned at their surprise. "And I think having my best friend," she reached down and hugged Dief, "living next door is a wonderful idea." Dief yipped and licked her cheek at the unexpected hug.

Ray sat back in the couch. "Greatness!" He fired a cocky grin at Dief, sprawled in Marina's lap. "About time you started pulling your weight around here, mutt."

Ben and Ray left soon after, pleading work on the morning and for a minute Dief stood in the doorway, uncertain whether to leave or stay, until Marina knelt down and put her arms around his neck, whispering against his cheek. Diefenbaker had gripped her chin briefly in powerful jaws, then licked her face -Ray was beginning to be jealous of the number of kisses Dief snagged in a day- and left with them calmly.

Ray looked down at the wolf as the elevator descended to street level. "All right," he admitted grouchily. "Your girlfriend rocks. Quit looking so damn smug about it."

For Marina, the apartment felt awfully empty after they'd left. Fraser, Ray and Dief were a crowd all by themselves, and it had been like water in the desert to hear warm, friendly male voices rumbling and laughing around her again. It made the omnipresent ache of being separated from Duncan, Connor and Methos hurt less.

Since Ritchie's death, Joe's promotion and the subsequent shakeup in the Watchers and the Immortal community, all four of them had deemed it too dangerous to congregate the way they had been doing -much less live together- and reluctantly agreed to a decade's worth of separation. They'd drawn lots for geographic locales, letting the luck of the draw decide their destinations; and Connor had drawn Great Britain, Duncan mainland Europe, Methos Canada, and she'd lucked out and gotten the US. Even so she'd stretched a point and picked Chicago despite a passionate hatred for the cold, just so she could feel nearer to Methos in Canada.

She'd known the first year would be the hardest, but the loneliness had been so much more hideous than she'd had any conception of that she'd bought the wharf and thrown herself into saving an entire neighborhood from a slow slide into urban decay just to keep her mind off the pain. And Connor and Duncan would be proud of her for what she'd done, Mina knew. Methos would just shake his head and love her more for it. So she had persevered, feeling closer to her lost loves as she learned to love the people around her, taking an interest in all their lives, planning and conniving to help their dreams flower. It had helped.

Even so there were still nights when all Marina could do was huddle in a ball in the middle of her huge bed -large enough for three- and cry herself into an exhausted sleep. Those nights had grown rare since she tripped over Dief coming out of a store and fallen literally head over heels in love with the huge white wolf-dog that whimpered a perfectly understandable apology and licked her cheek.

But tonight Ben, Ray and Dief's warm presence had chased away even the dull omnipresent ache, reduced it to a wistful longing she almost thought she could be happy with. And they wanted to move into her building... it was almost enough to make her believe in miracles again.

Flopping down on the couch cushions on her tummy, Marina reached out and pulled her laptop over and opened her list of things to do. There were already a dozen things listed for the remainder of the month, and with a smile hovering around her mouth, Mina typed in 'Renovate apartment for Dief, Ben & Ray'. There. That was thirteen things.

After a moment, she cut and pasted it to the top of the list and starred it. There were such things as priorities, after all.