Author's website: http://www.mrks.org/~viridian/

Disclaimer: All things _due South_ belong to Alliance no matter how much I want Ray K to belong to me. No infringement intended. Suing me would be a waste of time. Besides, I'd just kick you in the head.

Author's Notes: Thanks to Olivia.

Story Notes: This is short, about drabble length, but it feels *done*. It's essentially the same as the version I posted to my LiveJournal.

"Voice"
By Viridian5

Ray put the phone down hard on the receiver. "Dammit. I'm having one of those days."

"One of those days?"

"One of those days when I can't talk. Hate those days."

"You seem to be talking well enough, and I can say that I am some judge of language." Fraser looked down when Dief made a small sound. "That's rude. Ray's slang can be seen as a form of English and adds a certain barbarian vigor to his speech."

Wiseass guy, wiseass dog. Fraser with his id sitting at his feet, begging for donuts. But Ray liked it. If Fraser had to kind of throw his voice through his dog like he was a puppeteer, it was still better than him not letting this stuff out.

See? And he was thinking up words just fine when he wasn't on the phone interviewing people.

"I'm barely speaking English on the phone today to everybody."

"I couldn't tell."

"I just substitute long pauses for `uhm' because I always feel like a dink when I let on with an `uhm' that I'm tripping over my words or that they just dropped out of my head."

"It truly seems fine to me. You're hardly speaking in tongues."

Ray smiled, slow and lazy, and leaned back in his chair. "I'm told I'm real good at speaking in tongues."

Fraser's eyes turned hot for a moment, then shuttered. "It's a shame you can't use that gift over the phone. Come along, Dief."

As Fraser walked away to get more distance or something, Ray wished that Dief would say whether Fraser wanted to want him or just did want him and didn't like it.

***THE END***

More Viridian5 stories can be found in The Green Room version 2.0 at http://www.mrks.org/~viridian/

No-frames but no-frills access available at http://www.mrks.org/~viridian/Viridian_side.htm

Fandoms represented: due South, Hard Core Logo, Twitch City, Andromeda, the Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie, Angel, X-Files, Once a Thief, Two Guys and a Girl (was Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place), X-Men, Smallville, Doctor Who, Fight Club, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

End Voice by Viridian5: Viridian5@aol.com

Author and story notes above.