OK, raise your hand whoever disliked the way CotW ended? Good, I'm not
alone! The idea of everyone drifting apart like that made me cry! So,
I
decided to change it a little. None of that stuff in the final
scene
(Huey and Dewey becoming comedians, Frannie and the immaculate
conceptions, Turnbull getting acquainted with a bus, etc) actually
happened, except the part about Stella and Vecchio getting married and
moving to FLA. Anyway, this story takes place a few months after the
events of CotW. This is a story about Francesca and her reaction to
losing a special someone to the call of the Northwest Passage. I'd
rate it a PG, for a minor amount of sexual innuendo at the end. Nothing
graphic, honest. Enjoy!
DISCLAIMER: These characters belong to Due South and Alliance, not me,
and
I realize that, no matter how much I want to make them mine.
The song "My
Heart Will Go On" belongs to Celine Dion and James Horner
and the man who
did the lyrics, as well as the movie TITANIC (and
anyone who needed me to
tell you that has not been listening to the
radio or watching the
television for the past year).
by: Compass
It had been six months since Frannie last saw him. He'd taken off for
Canada, leaving her to deal with her wounded brother alone. She could
have hit him for that.
If she hadn't been so sad that he didn't return.
As the time had passed following Buck Frobisher's announcement that Fraser
and Ray had gone off in search of the Northwest Passage, Francesca had
tried to forget, tried to hide her feelings. How could he just ride out
into the icy wilderness and leave her alone like this? He'd told her
so
many times that he would come to her when it was appropriate,
that
eventually, they would be together.
Then he had abandoned her, and broken her heart.
Ray's wedding had cheered her a little. He and Stella made a great
couple, and she knew they were living a happy life together down in
Florida. But to dwell on that subject too long made her cry; *she* should
have been the one in the white wedding dress, standing beside her own
Prince Charming. But he had left her alone, with only the memories of
his
beautiful eyes and warm smile to remember him by.
Tonight, she sat alone in her apartment. She had started renting it
shortly after Ray's marriage: her brother's departure made her own
loneliness only to obvious.
Tonight was a difficult night. It was the six month anniversary of the
day her love had jumped onto a plane and flown out of her life, and she
felt like she definitely needed some pampering.
Frannie'd made herself a sumptuous dinner of lasagna with red wine and
a
Caesar salad. Now she relaxed on the couch with an open box of
chocolates
and another glass of red wine, listening to the radio.
And crying.
She always let herself cry when she thought of him. Of him shivering
in
the frigid arctic cold. Of him being away from her for so long.
Of him
possibly forgetting she even existed; possibly becoming enchanted
with
some Inuit maiden and forgetting his Italian lover here in Chicago.
She
especially let herself cry when she thought of him while listening
to a
sad song.
"Every night in my dreams I see you,
I feel you;
That is how I know you go on..."
Tears streaked her cheeks.
"....Far across the distance and spaces
Between us
You have come to show you go on."
There was a knock at the door. Frannie looked up, quickly wiping the
tears from her cheeks. Who could that be?
"Near, far, wherever you are,
I believe that the heart does go on..."
She stood and walked to the door. "Who is it?"
"Once more you open the door,
And you're here in my heart and my heart will
Go on and on."
She peered through the peephole, and her breath caught.
A familiar voice from the other side of the door. "It's me."
"Love can touch us one time and last for
A lifetime
And never let go until we're gone...."
She flung open the door, disbelief registering on her face.
That same familiar voice, which she had dreamed of so long, speaking
softly to her, "I'm back."
"Love is when I loved you, one true time
I hold to.
In my life we'll always go on."
He reached out a hand to brush away the tears that remained on her cheeks,
and she felt herself melt at his touch. "I've missed you," he whispered.
"Near, far, wherever you are
I believe that the heart does go on...."
She felt herself start to fall, but then he was there, and his arms were
around her, and her cheek was pressed against his chest, and she was
whispering, "Don't ever leave again."
"Once more, you open the door..."
His reply. "I won't"
"You are here in my heart and my heart will
Go on and on."
His lips were on her, touching her, tasting her, making her feel alive
for
the first time in months.
"You're here, there's nothing I fear,
And I know that the heart does go on...."
She didn't know when he had picked her up and carried her to the couch,
but she felt the cushions rise up to meet her, and felt the sweet weight
of his body resting on hers as their lips fused.
"We'll stay forever this way...."
Murmured between his wandering kisses, "I love you, Frannie....."
"You are safe in my heart and my heart will go on and on."
Whispered back, throat tight with emotion, "I love you, too." She
pressed her lips to his, then came up for air. "Don't ever leave again,
Stanley. Please."
He smiled down at her, a smile of a love that had never dimmed during
his
months in the upper reaches of the Great White North. "I never
will,"
he promised. Then their mouths were one again, and the world
disappeared.
He never did.
THE END
HAH! Betcha I had a lot of you thinking she was yearning for a certain
hunk of a man who has a predication for wearing red serge, not a certain
blue-eyed, blonde-haired, body-of-a-Grecian-God Chicago detective.
I just couldn't resist. I LOVE this couple- they're my favorite, as
Kowalski would put it, "duet" on the show! I wish more were done about
them (hint, hint to all you fellow Duesers!!)! I'll post more. Promise!