Author's webpage: http://victoria.tc.ca/~wy236/fic.html

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Benton Fraser and Ray Vecchio were bent over Vecchio's desk at the 27th Precinct studying the movements of a gang of drug dealers that Ray had been pursuing for a couple of weeks. Suddenly the phone rang. Ray answered it, and a grin split his face as he took down the information.

"Bingo!" he exclaimed happily as he put the phone down.

"Bingo?" asked Fraser, puzzled.

"I got a lead. I know where the gang leaders are. Got an address right here." He slapped the piece of paper in front of him. "Let's go get them, Benny."

"Shouldn't we wait for backup?" Ben asked.

"No time!" The detective was already on the way out the door.

Fraser ran after his friend as the detective grabbed a car from the motor pool. His beloved Buick Riviera - the third he'd owned since he'd known Fraser - had perished in flames while he had been undercover with the mob and he had not yet been able to find a replacement.

The two men arrived at a dilapadated house in a run-down neighbourhood. Ray drew his gun and they cautiously approached the house.

Not cautiously enough, unfortunately. They had been expected. "That's far enough," said a voice from the front porch. Two men armed with automatic weapons appeared. "Throw down your gun." Ray did as he was told. One of the men searched him while the other patted down Fraser. The one searching Ray removed his other gun and his cell phone.

"Chicago P.D.," said the first man in disgust. "Don't know who the red guy is."

"Benton Fraser, Royal Canadian Mounted Police," answered Fraser.

"Well, well, pleased to meet you, Mounted Police. My name is Jim Crosby, and this is my brother John. We are the guys who are going to kill you."

The Crosby brothers marched Ray and Fraser to a closet in the rear of the house, where they were locked in.

"If they're going to kill us, why did they bother locking us in the closet?" asked Ray.

"Probably because they are going to set the house on fire," answered Ben calmly.

"They're going to WHAT!!!" exclaimed Ray, jumping up and pounding on the closet door.

"I doubt that's going to work, Ray."

Ray sank to the floor of the closet. "They took my gun, they took my phone. How are we going to get out of here?"

"The police will come and look for us eventually, won't they?"

"Eventually, sure. We could be crispy critters by then."

"Did you at least tell Leftenant Welsh where you were going?"

"I left him a note for whenever he gets back from the meeting he was at."

"Well, then, we have to maximize our chances for staying alive until then," stated the Mountie.

"Okay, how do we do that?" his partner asked.

Fraser was pleased that Ray was taking this situation calmly. He assumed that Ray's time with the mob, as well as his near-death from a bullet wound, had taught him to face the possibility of dying.

Smoke was beginning to curl under the closet door. Fraser removed his red serge tunic and used it to block the crack under the door. "First we stop the smoke from coming in," he said.

"Okay, we stop the smoke from coming in. Then what?" Vecchio queried.

"Well, I think that's about it, actually," answered Benny. He stood up and ran his hands over the walls of their prison. "There don't seem to be any air ducts or crawl spaces around this closet. So now we wait and try not to panic."

While smoke was no longer coming under the door, some was still coming in through the small crack between the closet door and the wall.

"Don't breathe too deeply, Ray," Fraser instructed. "Keep your breaths shallow."

Ray nodded and coughed. Fraser patted him on the back. "Are you all right?" he asked in concern.

"Yeah, I'm okay. Listen, Benny, do you think we're going to die?"

"I don't know."

"I thought about dying a lot, you know, when I was in the mob. You make one wrong move when you're in the Iguana family, you're toast. I wondered sometimes what if something happened, what if I died without seeing my family again ... without seeing you again. I never got a chance to say goodbye to you." He sighed. "I guess I won't have a chance to say goodbye to my family ... at least you're here. I'm glad I'm not going to die alone."

"You don't know that we're going to die, Ray."

Ray laughed. He leaned forward and ran a hand over the door. "Door's getting pretty warm there. Fire must be getting closer." He broke into a spasm of coughing.

Fraser was quiet for some time. Finally, he spoke. "Ray, if we are going to die ... there's something I need to tell you."

"True confession time, Benny?" He coughed again. Muldoon's bullet - the one that had been meant for Fraser - had damaged one of his lungs. The smoke was making it worse.

"You could call it that."

"You can tell me anything, Benny. You're my best friend."

"Ray - I love you."

Ray smiled. "I know that, Benny. I love you, too. Like I said, you're my best friend. You're like a brother to me."

"I don't love you that way, Ray. I love you, but not like a brother."

"Ohhhhh. You mean you love me *that* way. Huh." He went silent.

"Say something Ray, please," begged Fraser.

"It's okay, Benny. I just need to think for a bit."

After Ray had been silent for some time, Benny started to get anxious. "Ray?" he asked cautiously. No response. "Ray?"

Ray had passed out.

The smoke was getting thicker and the closet was getting hotter. Fraser could feel himself getting light-headed from lack of oxygen. //I will protect Ray// he said to himself. //If the flames come, I will shield him.// He curled his body over his friend's and waited for the fire to take them.

Outside, several police cars were pulling up. Detective Stanley Raymond "Ray" Kowalski jumped out of one. "The house is on fire!" he yelled to his lieutenant. "Call 911!" He ran toward the house.

"Detective! You can't go in there!" shouted Welsh.

"I sure as hell can! Fraser's in there somewhere!" and he ran inside.

Welsh turned to Detectives Huey and Dewey. "Jack, Tom, go after him," he commanded. Pulling their coats around their faces, the detectives did as they were ordered.

Coughing and choking from the smoke, Ray ran through the small house, kicking doors in as he went. He was about to give up when he found one more small door at the very back of the house. Flames were licking at the door, which was padlocked. It was partially burned away. Kowalski drew his gun and shot the lock off, then kicked it in. Inside he found his two friends, both unconscious.

"I found them!" he yelled to Huey and Dewey. The other two detectives helped him carry the two unconscious men out of the house and to the waiting ambulances.

Ray Vecchio woke up to find himself in an ambulance with an oxygen mask on his face. He pulled it off. "Benny!" he cried.

A paramedic tried to force the mask back on. "Sir, you have to keep the mask on."

"Where's Benny?" Ray demanded, trying not to cough.

The paramedic tried once again to put the mask on Ray. "Is he the man who was in the house with you?" he asked the detective.

Ray nodded, unable to speak because the mask was being held on his face.

"He's in another ambulance."

Ray successfully fought the mask off again. "Is he okay?"

"I'm afraid I don't know, sir."

Ray swore under his breath but allowed the paramedic to replace the oxygen mask.

In the other ambulance, something similar was taking place. Fraser woke up and called for Ray.

"I'm right here, Fraser," said Ray Kowalski.

"No, not you, the other Ray," said the Mountie, trying to push away his oxygen mask.

"He's in the other ambulance, Fraser," said Kowalski, trying to be reassuring.

"How is he?" asked Ben anxiously.

"Well, they were giving him oxygen, same as you, but I think he's going to be okay." //At least I hope so// thought Kowalski to himself. //For Fraser's sake.//

Fraser winced in pain. "My back hurts," he said.

"You were burned, Frase," Ray told him. "When I found you, you were huddled over Ray, trying to keep the fire off him."

"And did I? Keep the fire off him?" Fraser asked in a hoarse voice.

Ray squeezed his hand. "Yeah, you did. You're a hero, Benton-buddy."

Fraser allowed the oxygen mask to be replaced for a few minutes, but then removed it again.

"How did you find us?" he asked.

"I got word from one of my snitches that you an' Vecchio were being set up. I tried to get back to the precinct to warn you but you'd already left, and Ray wasn't answering his phone."

"They took it away from him," whispered Fraser before passing out again.

At the hospital the detective and the Mountie were worked on separately. Fraser was taken to the burn unit while Ray was placed in intensive care due to his damaged lungs. He was only allowed to see family, as was Fraser. While Ray Vecchio had been Fraser's official next of kin for four years, he had made arrangements to have Ray Kowalski designated his next of kin when the two men were up north searching for the hand of Franklin. It was just as well, since Ray Vecchio was incapacitated. Unfortunately, Ray Kowalski couldn't get in to see Ray Vecchio to update him on Fraser's condition. Finally, he approached Francesca.

"Frannie, I need to get in to see your brother," he told her.

"Why?" she asked. "You need information about the creeps who did this to him, so you can break them?"

"I think you mean 'bust', Frannie."

"Break, bust, whatever. Is that what you want to see him for?"

"I want to tell him how Fraser is," answered Kowalksi.

"So tell me, and I'll tell him."

"I'd rather tell him myself."

"Why? It's not like I can't handle gory stuff. After all, I'm going to be a cop one day."

"It's, well, you know, it's *guy* stuff," said Ray.

"Oh," said Francesca. Then she said, "Ohhhhh," again. "Okay, I get it. Guy stuff. Right." She marched over to the nurse's station. "This is my long-lost brother Stanley. From, uh, from Canada. He wants to see my - our - brother Ray. Is that all right?"

The nurse shrugged. "Sure. But not too long, remember."

Kowalski walked in to Ray Vecchio's room. As soon as the Italian saw him he sat up. "Kowalski! Have you seen Benny? No one will tell me anything about him!" He started to cough again.

"Whoah, calm down there, Vecchio, before you cough up a lung," said Kowalski.

"Tell me about Benny," Ray Vecchio demanded.

"Fraser's in the burn unit. He has some bad burns on his back. He's also sufferin' smoke inhalation, same as you."

"How did he get burned?" asked Vecchio. "I mean, I was in the closet too, and I wasn't burned."

"He was protecting you."

"What do you mean?"

"He had his body wrapped around you so that the fire would have to go through him to get to you. They said that if he'd been wearing the red tunic he probably wouldn't have been so badly burned."

"He was trying to protect me..." whispered Vecchio. "I have to see him."

" 'Fraid that won't be possible for a while. They won't let him out of the burn unit, and I don't think they're letting you go anywhere either."

"Damn," swore the Italian. "He told me something when we were trapped in the closet," he explained. "I didn't have a chance to answer him."

"Told you something? Told you what?" asked Kowalski.

"It's personal."

"Well, I could take him a note or something," Ray Kowalski offered.

"Could you? I'd ... I'd really appreciate it."

Ray pulled his notebook from his jacket and tore a page out. He handed the paper and a pen to Vecchio and watched while the other detective wrote something, then folded the paper in half. "Don't you dare read it," Vecchio said.

"Don't worry about it. I think I already know what's on it, though."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," stated Vecchio.

"Oh come on. I may have bad eyes, but I'm not that blind. You and Fraser are crazy about each other, and I'm surprised it's taken you this long to do anything about it."

"That obvious, huh?" said Vecchio sheepishly.

"Plain as the nose on your face," joked Kowalski as he left the room.

He took the note to Fraser. "I have a message for you from Vecchio," he announced.

"From Ray? Really?" said Fraser hopefully.

"They won't let him out of intensive care, so he can't come see you. He wants to, but he can't yet. So I offered to bring you this note. I'll uh, I'll go out in the hall while you read it."

"Thank you," said Fraser. He unfolded the note and read it. It was short but meaningful.

                "Benny,
                        I love you too.
                                        Ray. "

When Kowalski came back in to the room, Fraser had fallen asleep, but the smile on his face told Ray everything he needed to know.

"It's about time," the blonde man said with satisfaction.

It was several more days before Fraser was allowed visitors, due to the risk of infection. Finally, though, the day came when the visitor ban was lifted. He received several visitors from the precinct and the Consulate, but there was only one person he really wanted to see.

Francesca arrived, pushing her brother in a wheelchair, though he of course protested that he was perfectly capable of walking. After the three of them had made small talk for a while, Ray said to his sister, "Frannie, I need to talk to Benny alone."

"What, more 'guy stuff'?" asked Francesca.

"Yeah, guy stuff. Now vamoose." Frannie vamoosed, muttering under her breath about men.

When they were alone, the two men just sat and looked at each other for a long time, not knowing what to say.

"Ray-"

"Benny-"

"You first," they both said at the same time.

"I got your note," said Fraser. "Did you really mean it?"

"Of course I meant it. I wish I'd told you a long time ago." He moved his wheelchair as close to Benny as he could get it. "I wish I could hold you, but they said you have burns..."

Fraser patted the bed beside him. "Come here," he said.

Ray climbed up on the bed. "Were you really trying to protect me from the fire?" he asked.

"Yes," said Fraser simply.

"But you were hurt ...you were burned ... I hate that you got hurt because of me."

Fraser wrapped his arms around the man that he loved. "Ray, you've been hurt numerous times trying to protect me. Since the day we met you've been risking your life for me. "

Ray leaned back in to the embrace. "That's because I love you."

"And I love you, Ray. I will do anything to protect you."

"But if anything ever happened to you - "

"Nothing will happen to me, Ray, as long as you're here to protect me."

Ray turned in Fraser's arms until the two were facing each other. "I love you, Benny. I love you so much."

Benny kissed him. "And I love you, Ray. Always."

END

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