Rating: G
Genre: Gen
Category: Friendship
Pairings: None.
Spoilers: Post COTW.
Teaser: Ray decides it's time he and Fraser moved on.

Originally posted on RedSuitsYou@egroups.com, December 2000.

Standard Disclaimer: due South and it's characters belong to Alliance. I just use them for fun. Hopefully they will return to their world unharmed and ready for other people to play with them.

    Lying next to the fire, Ray stared up at the stars, amazed to find that he remembered all the constellations. He grew excited when he realized that he was finally beginning to be in tune with his surroundings. When he and Fraser had first set off on their adventure, he didn't know squat about snow, ice or sled dogs. Now each day, he and Fraser equally shared the duties that kept them alive in this barren wilderness.
    He grinned again as he thought of how he had changed. From skinning a caribou to starting a fire, Fraser had taught him everything he knew. Fraser's persistence and perseverance in showing him how to do things had paid off. He wasn't an expert, but he could survive here if he had too. The strange thing is...he found that he wanted to. He didn't want to go back to Chicago.
    Chicago meant old memories. Chicago meant knowing that Stella was married and living with Ray Vecchio in Florida. Going back to Chicago would be like going home to an empty house. He also knew that when this was all over, Fraser wouldn't be returning to Chicago. He hadn't said it in so many words, but things he had hinted at said that the Mountie was going to some how stay here in Canada.
    Rolling onto his side, Ray looked over the flames at Fraser who was lying in his sleeping pack. Fraser was staring at the sky, just like he had been, but his expression was sad. Almost melancholy. He knew that Fraser was thinking about what they were going to do once they headed back to civilization. Knowing that Fraser was thinking along the same lines as he was, Ray decided it was the best time to broach the subject.
    "Yo Fraze." Fraser turned his head and looked at him expectantly. "Can we talk about somethin?" Fraser rolled over and leaned on his elbow. "What would you like to talk about Ray?" "I was thinkin. We're gonna be goin home soon..." Ray could see Fraser's eyes cloud over slightly. He could see that the idea of going 'home' didn't appeal to him either. "...well...I don't wanna go back there. To Chicago." He almost started laughing at the change in Fraser's expression. It went from guarded to positively excited.
    "What do you have in mind?" "Well...I was kinda thinkin...if you wouldn't mind too much...I, uh...I was gonna go and see Maggie. The last time I got a letter from her, she was talkin about me and her maybe hookin up." Fraser quickly sat up, staring at Ray in wonder. "She wrote you and expressed an interest in you and her cohabiting?" "Well...yeah." Ray smiled and sat up as well. "She's gonna be posted near Whitehorse and she wants to know if I'd be interested in goin there with her when you and me were done travelin around."
    Taking a deep breath, he rubbed at the back of his neck. "She was also wonderin if maybe you wanted to come there with us." Fraser's eyebrows rose a fraction. "Not to live with us. You'd have to get your own place, but...well she said there's an opening for another constable. She asked them if they would be interested in maybe hiring you for the post and they said yeah." Leaning forward, Ray waited for Fraser's response.
    Running a thumb along his brow, Fraser rested his chin on his knees. He wanted to stay in Canada, but he had thought more along the lines of getting a posting closer to Tuktoyutuk. He had been stationed in Whitehorse and it hadn't worked out, but that was before he had survived almost four years in Chicago. Whitehorse would be considered a wilderness posting compared to the city of Chicago.
    Glancing over at Ray, he could see the tenseness in his features. He knew that Ray wanted him to say yes. He also knew that being stationed with Maggie would give him the chance to get to know his sister. He also knew that being posted in a 'real' town would give him the chance to settle down. To marry. The problem was...would the woman he was thinking about be interested in moving to Whitehorse and starting a life with him?
    Ray grew excited as he saw the way that Fraser looked at him. He knew that he was going to say yes. To seal the deal, he only had to put the final nail in. "Ya know Fraze, if you moved to Whitehorse with Maggie and me...you could ask Frannie to come and live with ya." He got the reaction he was hoping for. Fraser's head jerked up and his cheeks colored a light pink. "How did you...I've never said that I was thinking about her."
    Ray began laughing as he picked a stick up and poked at the fire. "Frazer, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to know what you're thinkin. You ain't been sendin letters and stuff to Toronto, you've been sendin them to Chicago...with Frannie's name on 'em." "I just wanted her to know that we're doing well." "Yeah? If that's all you wanted to do, you'd have sent the things to Vecchio. I know you, Benton buddy. You said you liked her. I mean you and the Ice Queen...I kinda thought maybe you two would hook up, but she had big plans for herself  and they didn't include you. Frannie...she'd wait forever and go anywhere with you and you know it."
    Shaking his head no, Fraser frowned. "It's not like that Ray and you know it." Growing serious, Ray dropped the stick into the fire and stared back at Fraser. "Yeah it is 'that' easy and you know it is. Frannie loves you, she has for a long time. She'd wait. Hell, she's waited this long, what's a few more months? All ya have to do is pick up your pencil, write her and ask her to come and live with you. She'd do it. I know she would. Heck, look at me! If someone would have said a few years ago I'd be livin the life of some other guy and then hikin through this stuff, I'd have laughed in their face. Like you told me, ya never know until you try."
    Ray knew he had Fraser convinced. "Come on, just try it. Write Frannie a nice letter askin her to come up here and live with you in Whitehorse. She'll say yes." "She won't come unless...we get married." Laughing, Ray picked up a handful of snow and tossed it at Fraser, who quickly ducked. "So marry her! You ain't gettin any younger Fraze and neither is she." Smiling, he stared at Fraser, watching a shy smile come to his lips. "Maybe I will."
    Shaking his head, Ray lay back down. "You'll ask her. I know I'm gonna ask Maggie as soon as we get back." "Ray!" Snuggling down in his pack, Ray chuckled. Fraser and he would be moving to Whitehorse. They'd live next to each other, maybe even work on some cases together just like they did in Chicago. Only this time, they really would be brothers and this time Frannie would really be his sister. Life sure was strange some times, but hell...he'd take what he could get. Life was too short, he'd found that out while living in the arctic cold. Home was where you made it, not where you were from.