Promises: Something completely different from all the other Buck episodes. Quiz by Laurie Taylor
Fraser adjusted the collar one more time. He patted the slight bulge where the lock from his collar rested at the base of his throat and smiled. He'd be able to feel that little weight all day, even during guard duty. Donning his Stetson, the same one that had been driven over by that bus last week but was again in pristine condition, he set out for the consulate. It was only a seven minute walk. Today his only back-up would be Diefenbaker.
At the apartment door he paused, called verbally to a deaf animal who responded then closed the door after them, rattling the handle to be sure it had latched properly. It had he noted with another small lift of his lips. This was turning into an excellent day. His steps were lively and his thoughts bright. Little did he have to smile about today. Nonetheless, smile he did.
His lover, is *master*, his Ray had collared him last night in a dance club that catered to a most select clientele and Fraser was absolutely thrilled that he was one of them now. He belonged. He fit in with a social group. He had peers now, fellows with whom he shared something on a deep, personal level. Oh yes. He *belonged* to Ray. His steps were indeed lively.
But the cloud that silver lining encircled loomed thick overhead in his mind. Ray had left him last night, left angry. With a little indrawn breath Fraser cleared that dark cloud from his mind and resolved to face the day as his grandmother had taught him. Seven fewer muscles to smile than to frown. And all that angst wasted energy. While he didn't need to save energy for childbearing there was no sense in *waste*.
Ray scowled. He adjusted the Riv rearview mirror, momentarily puzzled that it was in place on the windshield instead of in the back seat or the filing cabinet at work. (This was the Riv used for interior camera shots.) Dismissing the mirror from his mind he studied his scowl. "What right do you got to be pulling such a face?" he berated himself. "Just because you got some nut from the north chasing after your mother doesn't give you the right Shit! I sound like my old man." He shook his head.
The traffic light changed from red to green and the car behind him honked as the driver expressed his impatience. In true Chicago style Ray flipped him the bird then roared off down the street exceeding the speed limit by at least twenty miles per hour. He'd be late to work and Welsh would chew his butt good.
"Oh! What a *gross* thought! Why do people come up with such stupid expressions?" He slid the Riv into his customary parking space and climbed out.
Entering the bullpen he scowled at Elaine who started beaming a smile at him then stopped.
"Hey, Vecchio. What're you doing with that frown on today? I thought you'd be all smiles and humming Carpenter's songs. I talked to your sister, Frannie this morning and she said"
"What?" Ray demanded, interrupting her and drawing more than his usual amount of stares from an outburst. "And don't you people have anything better to do with your time than stare at fine Italian tailoring?"
without a word Elaine grabbed him and hauled him squawking and protesting down the hall. Her hand to hand combat skills were finally getting put to use. She shoved him in the closet, *their* closet, the one she'd seen Fraser and Ray disappear into so long ago when she'd been the one humming tunes by the carpenters. The door clicked shut and she flipped on the light bulb. Ray stared up at it dumbly.
"Didn't know this closet had a light, did you Vecchio?" she teased then sobered quickly. She shoved him against the wall and rifled through his pockets, getting little gasps, awkward slaps and shoves from the startled man. Digging deep in his front left pants pocket Elaine felt what she was searching for, then moved on to the other thing and drew it out. She held the shiny little key before his eyes. "A ha!"
"A ha? A ha?" he repeated with a definite nasal quality. "A ha, what? And give me that key," he demanded as he made a grab for it.
"Not till you listen to me," she declared, holding the key behind her.
Ray narrowed his green eyes and glowered. He could wait her out, try grabbing it again or just leave the closet. No. leaving without that key wasn't an option. He glowered harder and crossed his arms. Obviously she took this for acquiescence because she started jabbering. Ray rolled his eyes.
"No business storming around here acting like some hard up virgin. You got a good thing, Vecchio, and you got it under lock and key. I expected to see a change in you today but *amazingly* you seem to be even more grouchy than usual. I don't get it. What's up?"
"Nothin"
"Bull!" She wagged the key under his nose. "You should be on cloud nine today."
That's the second stupid expression you've used in the last two minutes. Did you ever stop to think how ridiculous some of the crazy expressions we use sound? On cloud nine. Chew your butt off. No wonder Benny gets so confused about American expressions and . . . and . . . " Ray closed his mouth and swallowed at the sudden dryness in his mouth. "Uh. Just what do you know about that key?"
"I know it could be called by another one of those "stupid expressions". The key to your heart," she added softly. She laid a hand on his arm. "Ray. Tell me what's up. You should be *happy* today."
For several long agonizingly silent moments he stared at her. Finally he dropped his gaze to his fine Italian footwear. "I should be. You're right, you know. It *is* the key to my heart." He shuffled his weight from one foot to the other. "I just . . . Well I'm a little preoccupied I guess. And oh, Elaine! Last night I was *rude* to . . . somebody. My lover."
The civilian aide smirked. "Like it's the first time *that's* ever happened. You being rude to Frto somebody."
"Yeah." He couldn't help but grin.
"But you need to find out what's making you so unhappy." She took his hand and placed the key in the center of his palm and curled his fingers over it. "If I were in your shoes I'd be the happiest person on this planet."
Ray nodded as he stared at their joined hands. Slowly he looked up into her face, warm with honest affection and friendship. "You know? You know about him and me?"
A smile flitted across her face then broke out beaming, crinkling her eyes and showing off her even, white teeth. "Yes. Since the first time I watched you two duck into here."
Ray grinned lopsided and ran his other hand back over his shorn scalp. "Well I guess there's no use pretending that you've guessed wrong. You wouldn't buy it."
"Nope." She patted his hand then released it. "So you need to find out what's bothering you and get it settled."
"I know what it is. And I don't think I can settle it short of shooting a certain Mountie."
"Oh dear."
His eyebrows rose. "You sound just like him. Not the one I wanna shoot. The other one. I mean, you sound like Benny. It's *Buck* that I wanna shoot."
"Oh. Frannie mentioned something about Sergeant Frobisher. She said he'd been coming to your house for dinner a lot lately. I thought maybe Fraser was bringing him over."
"I wish. I really wish that's all it was." Ray sank onto his usual mop bucket.
Elaine sat on Fraser's bucket and propped her elbows on her knees. As Ray began to spill his guts, one of those expressions again, she rested her chin on her hands and listened to his fears for his mother, her happiness and his deep dread of Buck causing her heart ache.
Fraser concentrated on the fifth leaf from the end of the twig that truncated precisely five point three meters from the earth's surface on the elm across the street. It sustained a caterpillar at the moment.
He breathed in. the lock on his collar shifted against his skin sending a warm sensation down his arms to his fingertips. The caterpillar began the arduous task of reversing its course and Fraser checked his leg posture. Perfect as was humanly possible.
He breathed out and the leather collar shifted a few microns against the material of his red serge tunic. This also sent a warmth down his body. But in a different direction. He consciously did not smile.
Suddenly inspector Thatcher was toe to toe with him. Fraser didn't blink but he did lose site of the caterpillar as it made the seventh shift forward on this circuit of the leaf. His superior officer trained her eyes on his chin. He sensed her gaze go lower to his neck. Finally she stared at the collar region of his tunic, then down past the first gleaming gold button. Her gaze rose slowly. It stopped just below his eyes.
"My office. No more than thirty seconds after your shift at guard duty ends, Constable. That's an order."
She was gone. He concentrated on not swaying as the caterpillar made what he estimated to be its tenth forward undulating movement.
His shift ended at 1600. He was at her door at 1600:21, hand poised to knock when the door was jerked open by the inspector. She hooked a hand through his lanyard and yanked him in then slammed the door. "Take off your tunic, constable."
"Are . . . are you needing a wire precisely five and a half centimeters in length, sir?"
"No. Take off the tunic."
"Are . . . Do you . . ." He fumbled with the center buttons, not bothering to loosen the belt straps or the lanyard which she'd jerked quite tight around his neck. "Am I in some kind of . . . trouble, sir?"
"Do you understand English, Constable? I could repeat the order in French. "Ou"
"Not necessary, sir." He closed his eyes and bared his soul, laying the tunic open, exposing his throat. Silence. He couldn't even hear her breathing. He knew she was still in the room by virtue of not having heard the door being opened. He hadn't heard the window open either though he knew full well she rarely shared his penchant for that route of evacuating a dwelling. So she was still there. Undoubtedly perusing his locked collar. Undoubtedly looking at the band of leather that encircled his neck. Undoubtedly visually inspecting the lock that Ray, his lover, his master had placed on him, had locked on him last night in full view of strangers, of Ray's sister, of anyone who cared to look. Ray had claimed him, marked him, taken him. Fraser almost sighed with happiness then he remembered where he was and what he was doing. He opened one eye.
His superior officer stared. "Sir, if I may ask. How did you deduce that I was . . . hiding something under my uniform."
Margaret managed to close her mouth. "What? Oh. Uh. I've . . . I've seen that particular bulge before."
"You have?" He failed to hide his total shock. Instantly three questions warred with each other to be first on his tongue. Fraser clamped his lips together.
"Yes. I know what a collar like that does to the line of dress reds. The padlock took me a minute to figure out but eventually I knew what it was."
She stepped back to her desk and Fraser dared to open both eyes.
"I've collared my share of submissives, Constable," she said with a touch of rebuke in her voice. "but I'm not looking at some weekend lark, am I?"
"No sir! It's not a . . . lark," he said the word with abhorrence as his right hand came up to caress the collar and lock. She'd collared people before? "It's not a game. It's . . . " He shook his head, at a loss for adequate words.
"Love?" she said with a smile as she perched on the edge of her desk.
Fraser blushed, beamed a smile at her and blushed some more. "Yes." He should feel reticent in admitting this to her; she'd conveyed a desire for him at one time. But he was so full of happiness he couldn't contain anything. It must shine on his face, he realized.
"I see. Well just make sure you comport yourself to the best of your abilities as sub to your master." She shook a finger at him. "You know your master's wishes come before your own when you're wearing the collar."
"Yes sir."
"And you have responsibilities. You're not just along for the ride. You have to"
He listened, enthralled as she gave him instruction. Some of the things she talked about he had figured out. Others were complete surprises to him. Fraser listened intently. He left her office at five that afternoon, even more confident in the new direction his relationship had taken with Ray.
It was easy to sit in the Riv, eyeing the consulate front door, waiting for his lover to come into view. Ray had done it more times than he could count. Today would be the first time that he'd waited for his collared sub, his love slave, his . . . His what? Things had changed last night, mostly for Benny. The guy seemed somehow happier.
"Yeah, you big dope!" he berated himself. "If you'd taken the time to notice you'd have seen how calm and happy and . . . Well, happy Benny looked after you snapped that collar on him. And then you go and shoot your mouth off, yelling about that damned Buck. Benny was all smiles and cuddling and loving and you gotta start yelling about Buck. Benny doesn't deserve that kind of treatment. You locked him in that collar, and like Elaine says, it has certain responsibilities. You better start meeting those responsibilities." He stopped as a dashing figure in red serge trotted down the consulate front steps. Instantly Ray responded, becoming calm, mellow, happy and more alert. "Yeah. I'm a dope. A great big . . . *damned* lucky dope."
Fraser claimed his spot in the front seat, Diefenbaker in the back seat amid stray wolf hairs. "Hello, Ray."
For several moments Ray stared silently at his lover. "Hi." He reached out a finger and traced along the almost imperceptible bulge at Benny's throat. "You're wearing it."
"Of course," Fraser said as a look of uncertainty flashed across his features. "It's locked on." His voice grew hesitant, quiet. "You have the key, Ray. I can't take it off ever without"
"Oh, I know, Benny," Ray interrupted. "I know. I was just thinking out loud. Admiring it, I guess." Then his eyes searched Fraser's face. "Benny, I want to take you home and take that tunic off and lick every square inch of your throat and face, all around that collar."
With a flush coloring his cheeks Fraser closed his eyes and sighed. "Yes, Ray. I want to please you in any way that you desire. You must also tell me what I should do to bring you pleasure."
"I will, lover. I will." Ray scanned the area for stray newshounds and saw that it was clear. He took Fraser's hand. "I want the collar to stay on half the week like Monday through Wednesday and only on the weekend if I've planned something special for us. But Benny, I need you to be uncollared half the time. I need you to be . . . my partner in more than just our occasional officially sanctioned investigations. I need things to be like they've always been in a lot of ways. I need . . . "
Fraser opened his eyes and looked solemnly into his love's face. "I understand, Ray. You need me as much as I need you."
For a moment Ray looked stunned. Elaine hadn't said anything about how much he needed Benny during her lecture. Perhaps she assumed he knew that already. He should have. And here he was thinking this was just something that had developed in the last few minutes. Boy, he was right! He was a big dope!
"Then this being Wednesday, Ray, perhaps we should hurry back to the apartment. I suspect you have a lot you'd like to accomplish before midnight?" Slowly Fraser grinned.
Ray gaped at the bold Mountie. He stared. He guffawed. Finally he sprang into action, starting the Riv and roaring off down the crowded streets of the windy city.
Alone behind a barred, barracaded, newly deadbolted door labeled 3 J one very lucky detective got luckier. One exceedingly fortunate RCMP Constable experienced more favorable fortune. One arctic wolf became imensely bored and considered chewing on a field boot or a tassled loafer. Wisely the wolf went for a handy leather chew toy instead.
The whole of Chicago was none the wiser, oblivious to the interplay between the two men. Two news hounds, desperate for a story staked out the apartment for a short while but a late breaking story about a mutant space alien halfbreed human baby found by an FBI agent at the museum had them off and running at 9:15.
Inside the apartment the lamp was turned out. Two naked bodies tangled together on a narrow cot and indistinguisable noises were barely audible outside the door.
"Ray, could you move your . . . Ouch! Yes. Your left knee . . . just a little . . . more."
"That working for you, Benny?" the lucky cop asked as he pushed his hard cock deep into his lover. "You feel me in you so deep I'm about to strangle you?"
"Mmm. Yes.
End of Episode 16. Will Mitch ever get off his lazy ass and write another episode? Will Ray regret his decision to collar the Mountie? We'll all find out, if episode #17 or, Promises and Promises ever gets finished.
2 What time did Fraser arrive at Thatcher's office door?
3 What is cloud nine?
5 What happened after Elaine shoved Ray against the closet wall?
6 Translate 'Take off the tunic' into French.
7 From the known information, extrapolate the genus, weight, age and gender of the caterpillar Fraser sees.
1. A weight, slave collar, bulge, under lock and key, leather collar, band of leather, something, particular bulge, it.
2. 16:00:21
3. B
4. Him, squawking, hall
5. She rifled his pockets.
6. Strippe!
7. 'Whogivesadamnus'; 3kg; 83; none.