Hello all,

Some time ago on the dsfict list, I remember we were bemoaning the lack of stories about Elaine. Well I am stuck here staring at my computer screen, bored out of my mind, and thought what the heck? I feel terrible, I think I have the flu or something so if you don't like the story, blame it on my fever dreams. I am just writing as a I go so I hope it all works out at the end. Enjoy!

I hope I don't offend anyone, but Thatcher does not exist in this universe. Is that really a problem?

Standard non-legally binding disclaimer

Elaine, Ben, and Ray aren't my characters, etc etc etc.

Besides my dad is a lawyer, not that that would help matters any, since he would sue me if he could. Really. Don't ask.

Special warning: I kind of slander the mayor of Chicago in this story. If anyone has any problems with me ruining the good name of politicians, just let me know. Oh, and it's a bit part really. Nothing based in fact, honestly!!!! In fact, I am not going to vouch for the accuracy of the facts in this story. Just so you know.

Minimal violence, almost no sex (too bad), and some language you would hear on TV any day. Consider yourself warned.

Any problems, just let me know!!

Adventures With Elaine

Elaine closed the door of her black Mazda and walked briskly across the parking lot. She kept her head high and eyes forward. Even before she began working at the police office, she knew the dangers of a parking lot at night. Still, it didn't help her very much when she saw a man approach her.

"Excuse me, miss." The man walked up out of the shadows. He seemed to be well-dressed, if casually, in khakis and a brown leather jacket. Elaine didn't trust him at all and wished, uncharacteristically, for her gun. She hoped her uniform, with "Chicago Police" prominantly displayed on it, would be enough to protect her. She didn't count on it. He seemed to self-assured, and besides, she could hear footsteps behind her.

Elaine tilted her chin up. "What the hell do you want, accosting me in a deserted parking lot?" She tilted her stance to a ready position. Never hurts to be prepared, she thought. If the man noticed her change in attitude, he didn't let it show. "I'm sorry, but there seems to be a problem." "What kind of problem?" she demanded. Sadly, that was all she could get out before the blow came and all she knew was darkness.

"He didn't even ask for money or anything, he just clobbered me." Elaine glared at Ray, sitting across from her. "So you can't even tell me what he looked like?" Ray gave her a sour expression. Elaine fumed behind her cup of coffee, cradled in her hands. She hoped it covered the tremors that still shook her. "Oh yeah, Detective, he even showed me the tattoo on his ass after he handed over his ID." Fraser looked condescendingly over at his partner. Elaine hated that expression, it seemed so demeaning to her, but Ray deserved it. "Ray, I believe Elaine is helping us to the best of her ability. She knows how the process works and I have confidence in her opinions." Ray glared at the Canadian as Elaine sent him a meaningful smile.

"So all he took was your wallet." Ray continued to question her. "How many times do I have to tell you? Yes, dammit. Don't you have any other suspects to bother or something?" Elaine sighed deeply. Fraser tried a different tack. "Could you tell me everything that was in your bag when you got out of the car?" Elaine smiled to herself. These guys played that old cliched good cop/bad cop so well, and probably didn't even realize it. She listed off everything for Fraser, right down to her socks. Her bag held everything she needed for work, even her workout clothes.

"Oh, wait! I forgot something." Elaine pondered while Fraser looked hopeful. "I had a couple disks in there too. I don't usually carry them around with me, but I wanted to mess around with some stuff at home." Ray grinned snidely. "Surfing the 'net, are we?" Elaine met him with a cold gaze. "Pretty big talk from someone whose idea of the Internet is 10 million ways to meet women. Or at least post virtual pictures of them." Fraser rummaged through the contents of the bag. "What do they look like? I don't see any here." Elaine considered. "Just your plain old 3 1/4 inch floppy. Why, are they missing?" Fraser nodded.

Elaine glanced over at the tall Mountie next to her. He scanned the darkness covertly and gave her a kind smile. "It's really nice of you to do this, Fraser. I guess I've kind of got a case of the jitters." "I understand," he replied. "But I think you will be perfectly safe now. Despite the adage, a thief will seldom return to the scene of the crime." They walked across the parking lot and up the stairs to her apartment. As she fumbled for her keys, she asked him hopefully, "Would you like to come in? I guess I'd feel better if you scoped out the place first. Call me crazy." "Certainly, Elaine," he answered. "I would feel the same way."

As the clock creeped toward 2 am, Elaine yawned and looked at the alert Mountie. She wondered if he even knew what a bad hair day was. She hadn't asked, but he seemed to sense that she didn't want him to leave. Elaine felt a lot more shaken up than she had expected. With all the violent cases across her desk, and all the perps that walked past it in a day, she never realized how it felt. Or had she just tried so hard to forget?

Fraser walked over to Elaine and took a seat on the couch. He didn't want to upset her, but he could tell she needed someone to lean on. She didn't seem to mind, in fact, she relaxed considerably. He reached over and laid her head in his lap. Staring at the wall, she asked her companion, "Do you ever get used to this?" After a moment, he asked, "What do you mean, being victimized or watching others I care about get hurt?" Once, it seemed a lifetime ago, her heart would have jumped to hear him say that. Instead, she continued. "Either one." All Fraser said was, "No."

Fraser looked down at his friend. Even though she had relaxed, the tension showed on her face. He meant what he said about having to watch her get hurt. For some reason, he felt it more strongly than he would have expected. He would never tell her this, but she had frightened him when he first knew her. Fraser hadn't spent a lot of time with women, come to think of it, he hadn't spent a lot of time around people at all. He always felt more comfortable out on some ice floe with his wolf, or that's the way Ray would tell it. Now that he got to know her, he realized he had more than respect for her. But just what did that mean?

"Hey, sleepyhead! Wake up." Elaine blinked her eyes. "Awww, Ben, do I have to?" She rubbed a hand across her face. "Yes, the doctor said to wake you every hour to make sure you don't slip away in your sleep." "Are you serious?" She looked at him questioningly. "Yes." "No, I mean are you really going to stay all night?" Fraser looked hurt. "Of course. You need someone to look after you. Actually, now that you mention it, my legs are kind of falling asleep." Elaine sat up. This was turning out to be an interesting night.

At six the next morning, Elaine's alarm went off. She looked down at the sleeping Mountie on the floor. Amazingly enough, he managed to look the tiniest bit disheveled. Elaine rolled over. She had insisted that he got some sleep, and even convinced him to come into her bedroom. The alarm had woken them up every hour, but at least she got some rest. Fraser's eyes opened and he yawned. "Good morning. How did you sleep?" He gave her a malicious grin. Wow, she thought. He really is loosening up.

She dropped him off at his apartment in time to get dressed for work, and then went straight to the precinct. Elaine had a hunch, and she didn't want to let her friends in on it yet. Her computer looked okay, but someone had been into her files and erased the ones she was looking for. She ran a recovery program, but whoever did it knew what they were doing. "No need to look for fingerprints," she murmured to herself and leaned back. "You're looking awfully good this morning." Elaine turned around to find Ray taking a seat by her desk. "You feeling any better?" She shrugged. "Well, Ben took care of me last night. He's in better shape than I am." "Yeah, like I say, he got Scotch-Guarded at birth," Ray replied. "Whatcha doin'? You got a lead?"She filled him in on what she had found. Ray looked pensive. "So what were those files anyway?" Elaine pointed him to her screen. "I almost didn't remember. I ran across them when I was running a little less-than-legal investigation on that guy you picked up on a hit-and-run." "Murphy?" asked the detective. "Yeah, I checked him out to find out whose payroll he was on. You'll never guess." Ray looked blank. "I dunno. The Canadian Consulate? The FBI?" His eyes gleamed. "Chicago's Finest? I give up." "Nope." She crossed her hands across her lap. "The mayor."

Ray stared at her. "You are kidding me. And now you want my help. Why don't you just take my badge now. Here," he flipped her his wallet. "Just take it. It'll be easier. I'm off to my missing pet case." Ray turned and began to stride away but bumped into, or rather, tripped over Diefenbaker. He looked up to see the Mountie offering his hand up. "I'm sorry Ray. Diefenbaker seems rather excited to see you today. Or maybe," he amended, "someone else." Ray looked around to see Dief trying to jump into Elaine's lap. "Hey, watch the keyboard! Oh, hi Ben." Was that a silly grin on her face or was Ray in need of a cup of coffee?

"You'll never believe what she wants us to do," Ray informed Fraser. Without missing a step, Ben asked her, "How can we help you, Elaine? Do you know who assaulted you?" Ray rolled his eyes behind Fraser's Stetson. "Here we go again. Maybe it's a citizen thing. Do you have any idea what prison in America is like? Oh, wait," Ray stopped. "I guess you do." But it seemed he was talking to himself. Elaine was already filling the Mountie in on what she had found, and it looked like Ray needed to catch up.

"Let me see if I can find my way back into those files." Elaine ticked away, and Fraser stared intently at the information flowing past. "Damn. I guess I knew it would happen. The files are gone." Ray heaved a sigh. "Oh well. We tried. Wanna go bust some easier prey, like drug dealers?" "We have a winner," Elaine tried. "It is drug dealers."

Elaine filled Fraser and Ray in on what else she had figured out. "So this guy, Murphy, is just a hired grunt for Thomason. He's the head of the drug trade, I figured that out from the other stuff I found. He's just working for the mayor, I'm afraid." "So you didn't think to tell us about this highly incriminating information you found hacking?" Ray was adamant. Elaine tried again. "Look, a lot of this is just suspicion. I found some names on some records that look suspicious. I hadn't even meant to do anything else but check it out some more until those guys grabbed me." She wrapped her arms around her tighter. Fraser put a hand on her arm. "Elaine, this is all very useful information. No one wants to see your attackers brought to justice more than I do." Ray softened. "Yeah, I'm in too. Besides, a good drug bust couldn't make my rep any worse around here." "Thanks guys, I really mean it. So what's the plan?" Elaine looked determined, or as much as she could with a white wolf licking her face.

That evening, the Riv laid in wait outside one of dozens of identical warehouses on the south side. Elaine sat in the front next to Ray, to the protestations of Dief, who had appointed himself her keeper. "Okay, tell me if you see anything promising." Ray had chosen this spot out of one of his many hunches and tips the others would just as soon not know about. "So what do we do now? Wait?" "Yep. That's pretty much it. Unless you ask the guy in the hat, he'll probably suggest charging in with bolas." He grinned at Fraser.

Hours later, our heroes were about to call it quits when Dief started growling. "Awww, sorry big guy, all I have is Milk Bones, no donuts." Ray rolled over, or as much as he could behind the wheel of the Riv. "Wait!" Elaine started, "there's somebody over there. Wanna check it out?" "Might as well, I could use a stretch," responded Ray, and opened the door as soon as no one was in sight. They spread out, Ray with his gun, Elaine with Dief, and Fraser with his hat, presumably. Fraser found a door and the others followed him in. Dief led, sniffing avidly, and leading them on into the gloom. "Nobody here," Ray whispered. Fraser's eyes were closed. "No, I think you are right." He opened his eyes and continued in after Dief.

"That's funny, I was sure I saw someone," whispered Elaine. "Maybe we better split up," suggested Ray. Elaine followed Dief through the maze of boxes, pallets, and concrete for several minutes. Then the wolf stopped in front of a small crate, whining and pawing. "What is it, boy?" she asked him. The lid came off easily and Elaine found herself face-to-face with a large package of something white and powdery. "Uh-oh, not again." She could feel a gun pressed into her back. She sent a silent plea that Dief hadn't been spotted as she backed up slowly and turned around. "Rachel?!" She stared at the woman with the gun. "Elaine? What the hell do you think you are doing here?"

Elaine couldn't believe it. The woman facing her looked a lot like she did, if you didn't notice the clothing. Long black hair, dark skin, except her slim fingers were wrapped around the grip of a .38 special. Elaine started forward, but Rachel said, "Don't move," her voice quavering. "What are you doing in Chicago? I heard you left Detroit but I never knew what happened to you." Elaine's mind was racing. Should she play along? "Uh, yeah, I came here and finished school. I guess we were never cut out to be dancers." She laughed half-heartedly. "Look, you don't want to shoot me, do you? Please put down the gun." Rachel's eyes hardened. "Just as soon as you tell me what you are doing snooping around here." Think!! she told herself. Where the hell is that damn wolf? Or the cops, for that matter?

"Freeze! Police!" Ray spun out of the darkness with his gun pointed at Elaine's captor. Oh great, there goes the playing along gambit...and she's still got a gun on me! Elaine glanced over at Ray.

Whatever he was trying, it wasn't working. Rachel didn't seem to notice, or care that her life was in danger. That's when Elaine noticed the look in her eyes. They were sunk deep in the sockets. She didn't look stoned, but she looked lifeless. Almost like she was already dead. Elaine shuddered. Rachel asked her, "So that's what you left for? To be a damn cop? You always were worthless." Elaine prayed she knew what she was doing. "Rachel, you and me, we had a chance. It's Jeff, isn't it." She was taking a shot in the dark, she knew, but was rewarded to see Rachel's eyelid twitch. "He got his claws into you, too. And he said this was your chance, he was going to make you rich. And you bought it." Rachel's hand squeezed the gun even harder. "I'd shut the hell up if I were you." "You don't want to do this, Rache. Please. It's a mistake. If any part of you remembers, put it down. I can help you." Maybe it was the pleading in her face, but Elaine managed to convince Rachel to put the gun down. Ray caught her as Elaine's friend swooned.

"Where's Ben?" Elaine demanded. "He's calling for backup. I hope they listen to him, I mean, it's not you at the scanner." He gave her a quick grin. "But if he's got half the talent you do, he'll get them here." Dief padded up beside Elaine, who was trying to talk to Rachel. "Where have you been? Huh?" He went over and licked the unconcious woman's face. "He knew you were okay." Ben came striding up and glanced at the prone figure. "The cops will be here any minute."

Elaine stuck her legs out of the front seat of the Riv. If she could only will them to stop shaking. She looked up as Fraser approached her, Diefenbaker in tow. "Are you going to be alright? It's been a long day for both of us." Elaine frowned at the ground. "Yeah, I guess so. I just hope she's going to be okay." Ben told her, "The paramedics think so. They say she was suffering from exhaustion and dehydration, probably related to heroin use." "God, Ben, what have I done?" She threw her arms around his broad shoulders and buried her head in his neck. "They won't throw her in jail will they? I want her to have a chance. I got out of there, I was lucky." Fraser thought how he would feel in her situation. Victoria was different, but not by that much.

"Listen." Ben cupped her jaw in his hands and faced her. "You did the right thing. How long do you think she would have lasted on that stuff?" Elaine nodded. Somehow, it didn't make it any easier.

Elaine stared unseeing into her coffeemug. She didn't notice Ray walk up and sit down until he started talking. "She's gonna be okay. They've got her in detox now. They say we caught her in time." Elaine didn't look up. "Look, she's going to get an easy sentence. She told us where to find Jeff. He admitted to everything, and said Rachel didn't deal the stuff. He even pointed us to Thomason." Elaine was still for a long time, and then asked her friend, "Do you ever wonder how things would have turned out different if you had just been there when it mattered?" She turned and saw Ray put his head in his hands. "Oh, God, Ray, I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking." Ray looked up, tears in his eyes. "Every day of my life," he whispered.

"Elaine, I don't know how to say this," Rachel tried. Her friend held her hands tightly. "I'm sorry. I know it was the smack, but I can't believe I might have...killed you." "I know," Elaine whispered. "It's alright. I'm sorry I didn't say goodbye. I just had to get out of there. It could just as easily have been me." Rachel shook her head. "No, you were always the smart one. I just knew how to get into trouble." "Girl, what are you talking about? You made it through. I didn't make you get off the drugs. We got through it together back in Detroit, and that's how it's going to be now." Elaine hugged her friend, and then told her, "Always, I promise."

Then Rachel found herself covered in wolf. Dief had bounded into the room, with Fraser following. "Ah, how are you today, Miss Valmont?" Rachel glared at him without letting go of her grip on Elaine's hand. "Jeez, call me Rache. Has he always been this stiff?" she asked her friend. Elaine rolled her eyes. "You have no idea." Fraser cleared his throat, and continued. "I am happy to inform you, Rachel, that Ray has finished some..." he paused and cleared his throat again, "negotiations with State's Attorney St. Laurent. She thinks she can get you out with a few months." "And don't think I won't be waiting when you get out," finished Elaine.

"And, if you will allow me, I believe Elaine and I have to be going." Rachel winked at the pair as Fraser offered her friend his arm and escorted her out. "What's up?" she asked Ben. "Oh, nothing...just, something has come up." "Oh no, not more guys with clubs," Elaine moaned. "Or computer scandals." "No," continued Fraser. "Something much better." Without another word, he pulled Elaine close and kissed her deeply.

THE END