Disclaimer: I think we all know that these guys aren't mine.

Rating: Still only R. I'm sorry, no wild sex scenes in here... Language and implications of slashiness.

Notes: This is the sequel to "Close" which was the sequel to "Shadow Dancer". RayK and Fraser, in a romantic relationship. That's all I have to say about that. Feedback to bluecast@yahoo.com, where it will be worshipped on bended knee.

Thank you to Maria, Karra, and the rest of Serge for the encouragement throughout this little trilogy.

In the End
by Tara Blue

The cool glass of the window against his hands centered Ray, allowing him to regain control. His chest ached from the deep, wracking sobs that he had not been able to suppress. His eyes stung. He could feel a salty residue left behind on his cheeks by the slowly drying tears, making them feel tight and stiff. His nose was running.

Not bothering with a tissue, Ray sniffed until he could breath again.

After letting go, he felt better. Fraser would probably tell him something about crying releasing endorphins or whatever, but that didn't really matter. What mattered was that Ray felt better.

With one last shuddering, slightly damp sigh, Ray opened his eyes, only to catch a brief flash of movement across the street on the fire escape. Squinting, he tried to make out what was going on, but everything beyond a foot past his nose had taken on the soft blur of a water colour painting. Groping for his glasses with one hand, he was already patting at his bare side for the gun that had been tossed over the couch earlier. Robbery, it had to be a robbery, he thought as he hooked the frames around his ears and settled them on his nose. A B&E in progress.

Squinting again, more out of habit than out of a need to focus his eyes, Ray looked again.

Big man, tall, broad shouldered, wearing dark clothes. Dark hair. Pale skin, except the parts of it that were slightly wind chapped and glowing red. Blue, blue eyes.

*Fraser? What?* Ray could feel his mouth gaping as he met the gaze of his partner through the window pane smudged with finger prints and tear streaks. Fraser? Fraser was breaking into a building? That wasn't right, couldn't be what was going on. Fraser would never do anything illegal.

Red, wind chapped cheeks. He'd been there a while. Sitting on a fire escape. Doing what?

Then, as Fraser turned and began running away, taking the metal stairs in quick, barely controlled leaps, it clicked.

Fraser had been watching him. Watching him dance, watching him cry.

*What the fuck? Oh, never mind, that can wait. Running, Fraser's running. Crap. Need to catch him.*

Ignoring the fact that he was sock footed, the fact that he was wearing nothing warmer than a thin t-shirt, the fact that his gun and holster were still carelessly tossed over the back of the couch rather than in their customary places under his arm and across his shoulders, Ray turned and ran out of the apartment. The door banged hard into the wall behind him, then gently began gliding closed, stopping a couple inches from actually latching.

Flying down the stairs, taking two, three in a single leap, slippery socks barely providing the traction needed to prevent him from falling flat on his ass and sliding the rest of the way on his tailbone. Doors. Shit, doors. Skid to a stop, wrench them open, then off again, speeding.

The biting night air returned some of the thought processes to Ray as he paused to look right, then left in search for his running partner. There.

Fraser was running full tilt down the middle of the sidewalk, arms pumping, long legs eating up the pavement.

*Shit, never going to catch him. Better get a move on.*

And he was running. The rough cement was abrading the skin on the bottom of his feet as he ran, but that didn't matter. He had to catch Fraser. Suddenly, he was gaining on the Mountie. Adrenaline was pumping through his system, pushing him faster than he'd ever run before, and miracle of all miracles, he was gaining on the Mountie.

And then he was there.

"Fraser!" Ray grabbed at whatever he could reach, arm, jacket, waistband of the jeans even, dragging backwards until the other man had to stop. And stop he did, but then he just stood there. Silent, still, he refused to even meet Ray's eyes.

"Fras - hhhhuuuhhhh - Fraser. What the hell is - huhhhhhhh." The effects of the adrenaline were wearing off, leaving Ray out of breath, heavy limbed, and sore footed. And cold. "My apartment, now."

Still uncharacteristically quiet, Fraser followed Ray as the detective walked, well, kind of limped really, back down the street, pulling the keys he'd thankfully still had stuck in his pocket from earlier. Back through the doors, up the stairs, through the open door of his apartment, and not a word from Fraser. This time Ray was careful to close and bolt the door behind him when he went through.

Ray looked at his partner as the Canadian stood in the center of the living room. Fraser still refused to meet his eyes, instead staring determinedly at a point on the wall to the left of his head. The silence stretched tight between them until it became unbearable and Ray knew he had to break it.

"Frase-" Ray began, only to be cut off by the suddenly vocal Mountie.

"Ray, I would like to apologise for my actions, which were unconscionable. To have ... to have spied on you like that is unforgivable. I am absolutely aghast at my conduct in this matter. My only defence is that I was worried for you, Ray. Your demeanour when last we parted was rather more subdued than I have come to expect from you in our partnership thus far, and you seemed as though you were becoming very depressed, and I don't know what I thought you would do but I was worried. I just wanted to be sure that you were okay. However, to resort to such tactics, to act the peeping tom of all things, is inexcusable. I am sorry for this violation of your privacy and I beg you to forgive me." Fists clenched at his sides, Fraser again lapsed into silence, his eyes having never left that intriguing spot left of Ray's ear during the entire length of his speech.

" ... ya, uh, want some tea?" Ray finished the sentence he'd originally started out to say before being interrupted.

A faint, sheepish look crossed Fraser's face as he realised that he'd jumped in to pre-empt an argument that hadn't been eminent. "Uh, yes. I'd love some. Thank you, Ray."

"Right. I'll just go ... make tea." Ray needed time to collect himself, splash a bit of water on his face, wipe away the evidence of the tears he'd been shedding only a few minutes earlier. Not that there was really any point in trying to hide the fact he'd been crying, Fraser had watched him cry.

Taking two mugs down from the lilting stack of dishes in the cupboard above the sink and setting them on the counter, Ray turned to rifle through the drawer he knew he'd tossed a box of tea bags into after the last time he'd gone shopping. "Tea, tea, where the hell is it? I know I bought some ... "

Ah, there. The box had become wedged against the back of the drawer and crushed, allowing the small white tea bags to spill out. Grabbing a handful, he dumped them on the counter next to the mugs and turned to set the kettle up.

It was going to take time for the water to boil. Time which he'd be able to compose himself and think. He leaned over the sink and splashed some water on his face. The shock of seeing his partner on the fire escape, and the adrenaline rush that had resulted from running sock footed down the street after the fleeing man, were beginning to wear off. Ray was suddenly faced with the fact that Fraser had been spying on him. Fraser's own words.

Ray wasn't sure if he should be mad about that or not. To be honest, he was, a little. His privacy had been violated, a personal moment witnessed by another. Ironically, while Fraser had been hiding outside and peeking in the window, Ray had been inside, wishing he was there. That, combined with the Fraser's stumbling explanation, served to tamp down most of the ire he felt.

How was he to react, if he wasn't really that angry? Did he just pretend it hadn't happened? It was a little too late for that. If he'd wanted to ignore the whole situation, he shouldn't have chased after Fraser and dragged him back. Did he say 'oh, that's okay, Frase, you can come and spy on me through my window anytime'? Well, that was just dumb.

Actually, he knew how he wanted to react. What Ray really wanted to do was go back into the living room, walk right up to Fraser, and kiss him for all he was worth. It was a dangerous thought, considering the mood Ray was in. He was just sad and lonely and depressed enough to actually follow through. He was feeling too vulnerable right now to deal with an apologetic Mountie.

So, anger it was. If he got angry, there'd be less of chance that he'd do something he'd regret later. Like kiss Fraser. Like lick Fraser. Like beg Fraser to hold him, if only for a little while.

Like beg Fraser to let Ray love him.

The very thought made him grimace. It sounded so pathetic. What would he say, 'please, my best friend upon whom I have developed a major crush complete with repetitive wet dreams and random hard ons at inconvenient times, please let me love you.' Yeah, right. And then Fraser would leap to his feet and start running again.

So, anger.

The kettle whistled, interrupting Ray's musings and he turned to make the tea. Ugh, tea. Disgusting stuff, but Fraser liked it. Ray dumped a heaping spoonful of sugar into his cup in the hopes it would make it more palatable.

Carrying the two mugs back into the living room, he found Fraser standing perfectly still exactly where he'd been when Ray'd left minutes before. Those amazing blue eyes were locked on the tan coloured toes of his hiking boots, his hands clasped tightly behind him.

"Here." Ray handed over the sugarless tea. "Sit down."

Fraser took the tea and moved over to the couch, equally obedient and silent. Ray sat across from him and stared at him for a moment, trying to figure out where to start.

"What the hell were ya thinkin', Frase?" The edge in his voice made Fraser wince.

"I..." Fraser's voice trailed off into silence and he made a small, helpless gesture with the hand not holding the mug. That small gesture hit Ray right in the heart. "I was worried. You... You were... I was worried."

With that single phrase, Ray knew he couldn't use anger. Fraser was worried. About him. Ray couldn't yell at him for that.

"It's- Fraser. Ya can't do that. Ya can't spy on people. I don't know if that's what ya do up there in Muckluckville or where ever the hell ya were raised, but that's not the way things are done down here in the states." Ray's voice was gentler, and Fraser found the courage to look up.

"I just don't want anything to happen to you. You're my friend." The way Fraser said it, as if Ray were his only friend just about broke Ray's heart.

"And you're mine. Just, don't do it again, okay?"

"Absolutely not. Never, ever again. I don't know what I was thinking-" Fraser began to apologise again.

"Hey, cut that out. It's over. 'Kay?"

"I just wish there were some way to make it up to you, because I just feel terrible-" Fraser continued on, ignoring the faint warning in Ray's voice.

"Frase, enough. It's done." Ray was beginning to get annoyed.

"And if there's anything I can do-"

"You can shut it!" Ray yelled, exasperated. The silent Mountie had disappeared back into whatever mists had spawned him and the normal never-shuts-up Fraser was back.

"I just-"

Ticked and only thinking of quieting Fraser's continued apologies, Ray slammed his cup down on the table next to his chair, and lunged for the babbling Mountie. Clasping Fraser's head between his palms, Ray brought his lips down forcefully over the other man's, finally silencing him.

For long moments they stayed just like that, unmoving, Ray's lips mashed up against Fraser's. Not much of a kiss, more like a gag. But enough of a kiss to make Ray suddenly panic.

*Fuck, fuck, fuck. What am I doing, what have I done, why aren't I stopping, why isn't he stopping me?* Pulling away, Ray collapsed into the chair opposite and buried his head in his hands. "Oh, God, Frase... I'm- I'm sorry. I don't know what-"

Ray was interrupted by the sudden appearance of Fraser crouched between his legs. He felt those big, beautiful hands reach out to gently grasp his head over his ears and pull him forward into another kiss - this one sweet and gentle and soft, all the things the first one wasn't. It seemed to go on forever, that gentle meeting of lips, before finally Ray had to pull back to breath. Just far enough to breath. He was still close enough to feel the heated explosions of Fraser's breath against his own mouth.

"I... Hey, Fr-Benton. Hey, Ben-Benny-Benton." Leaning his forehead against Fraser's, Ray looked into those amazing blue eyes from close range and felt a small smile flirting at the edges of his mouth.

"Yes, Ray." There was a softness around Fraser's eyes that Ray had never seen before, and his voice was all quiet and tender.

"Yer tea's getting cold." And Ray grinned, because he knew it was all going to be okay.

"I don't care Ray." And Ben smiled, because he knew it was all going to be okay.

It was good.

End.