Fruit Fight
By Postcard
Rating: - PG. Humour. Slight Violence.
Pairings: - Fraser/Thatcher.
Teaser: - Poppy's visit to see Father Christmas (Santa Claus) ends in a fruit fight.
Disclaimer: - The Due South characters in this story are not mine and anything else Due South isn't mine either. I do not mean to infringe on copyrights held by any copyright holders for Due South. The story and Poppy are mine (copyright October 2000 by Postcard on all original story content.) Please do not reproduce for anything other than personal reading without the written consent of author. This story is not written for profit and the author does not give permission for this story to be reproduced for profit.
Author's note: - This story is a sequel to 'Seeing Red' and it is in the series called 'Crackerjack Parents'. This story is for Blink, Kiki, Marybeth and zzzaney. Hope you enjoy the story and any constructive comments are welcome at postcard@manutd.com
Holding onto her parent's hands and with Dief pottering along protectively behind her, Poppy walked excitedly through the shopping centre, towards Santa's Grotto. The little girl looked up in awe at the gigantic Christmas tree in the centre of the shopping mall. It rose so high, that Poppy had to strain to glimpse the fairy perched on the top. Meg looked down at her daughter and seeing that Poppy's eyes were lit up as brightly as the lights on the Christmas tree, Meg smiled and gently squeezed her hand.
Jumping from one foot to the other, Poppy waited in the queue to see Father Christmas. "Daddy, can I ask Santa to make granddad real?"
Ben glanced at Meg and she gave him a look that said, 'she asked you, not me'. Bending down so that he was at eye level with his daughter, Ben spoke softly to her. "Honey, I think it's best not to. I know it's hard to understand, but no matter how much Santa might want to, he can't turn granddad from a ghost into a human. I'm sorry, sweetie."
Poppy wrinkled her forehead up in concentration. Then, looking at him with her brown eyes, she said, "All right, I want to go and watch Manchester United play at Old Trafford!"
Ben rubbed his left eyebrow. "Don't forget, sweetie, that Old Trafford is in England. It might be a little difficult for Santa to do that!"
Poppy pulled a face and shouted, "I want a pony, then!" She folded her arms stubbornly in front of her.
"We'll see, honey," Ben told his daughter. Straightening himself up, he whispered into his wife's ear, "Where in the world we're going to keep a pony in the middle of Chicago, I don't know! I visited all of the stables in the Greater Chicago area and they were all full."
"Don't worry, Ben. It's already covered," Meg whispered back. "I found a stables that we can keep her pony in."
"You did?" Ben couldn't keep the surprise from his voice and face.
Meg smiled smugly at him. "Yes, I did. I used some gentle persuasion." Ben cocked his head to the side and raised one of his eyebrows questionably. "I called in some outstanding favours," Meg elaborated. "It's surprising what you can accomplish with a few contacts and a little---blackmail."
Sat on Father Christmas' lap, Poppy scrutinised the bearded, round-bellied man. Somehow, he seemed familiar to her. "So, what would you like for Christmas?" He asked pleasantly and smiled at her.
Hearing the voice, Poppy knew that this wasn't Father Christmas. "You're not Santa. Uncle Hardy, why are you pretending to be Santa?" Getting a fistful of his fake white beard, Poppy tugged at it.
"Poppy, don't do that," Thatcher told Poppy off.
"Be a good girl and let go of the beard," Fraser backed his wife up.
Poppy obeyed and let go of it. To Welsh's pain, the beard was on an elasticised band and when Poppy let go of it, the beard sprang back towards Welsh's face. 'THWACK'.
"I want Santa Claus!" Poppy whined. "Where is he?" She sulked.
"Er---well, he had to go and sort some last minute things out for Christmas and so I'm standing in for him," Welsh said, slightly flustered at the inquisition.
"What things?" Poppy folded her arms across her chest and scowled at Welsh. At that moment in time, Welsh thought how much she resembled Thatcher interrogating the Mounties under her command.
"Oh! Erm---what things?" Welsh looked at Fraser and Thatcher for help, while Poppy slowly nodded her head, causing her dark ponytail to bounce.
Thatcher wore an amused smile on her face and shrugged her shoulders at Welsh's unspoken plea of help. Fraser on the other hand, piped up with; "It's a secret. Isn't it, Uncle Harding?"
"Yes. Yes, that's right. It's a secret." Welsh gave Fraser a grateful look.
Lifting Poppy up off Welsh's knee, Ben handed her to Meg. While Father Christmas' elf gave Poppy a candy stick, Fraser asked Welsh, "I didn't know that you were the Santa here!"
"I'm not normally. We, er---we had to bust the normal guy for a shoplifting offence and to cut a long story short, Commander O'Neil made me stand in today." Fraser nodded and gave Welsh a 'knowing look'.
"Yo! Frase!" Kowalski shouted across the mall and waved. Dodging around the masses of Christmas shoppers, Stan made his way over.
"Uncle Stan!" Poppy shouted and he picked her up.
"How's my favourite niece?" Stan asked and gave her a hug.
"I wanted to see Santa, but he isn't here!" Poppy complained to him.
"Huh? Oh! Er, well, there's always next year!" Turning his attention to Welsh, Kowalski grinned broadly. "So, how ya likin bein Santa, huh? Are ya gonna volunteer to do it next year? Ya know, the outfit kinda suits you."
"Very funny Kowalski. I suggest you shut your mouth, unless you like the sound of traffic duty!"
"Ya know, I still can't believe O'Neil made ya be Santa. Neither can the guys at the precinct and so I came ta take a pic ta show em." Taking out a camera, Kowalski took a snap of Welsh.
Sensing that the situation was going to turn ugly, Meg said, "Come on, Poppy. Let's go for some ice-cream!"
Kowalski looked at Thatcher and smirked; then started to laugh.
"What is it, detective?" Meg asked, giving him a hard look.
"I was just thinkin dat's all."
"Oh! You were? That'll make a nice change!"
"Yeah! Well, I was just thinkin that 'The Ice-cream Queen' had a certain ring to it! What d'ya think?"
In response, Meg glared at him and took hold of her daughter's hand. "Come on, Poppy."
Saying 'goodbye' to Stan and Welsh, Fraser followed Meg and Poppy to the ice-cream shop.
After their ice cream, Ben and Meg each took hold of their daughter's hand and led Poppy out of the ice-cream shop, towards the nearest exit of the mall. Passing the jewellery shop, the family heard a high pitched scream. The next second, two masked robbers burst out of the shop, both waving a handgun and carrying a bag.
Fleeing out of the way, nearby shoppers dropped their shopping bags on the floor, as they shoved past one another. Fraser and Thatcher's police training immediately kicked in and they both rushed their daughter out of the way, behind a stall that sold fruit and fruit products.
Firing shots into the air the gunmen started to run off towards the exit of the mall. The noise of shrieks and gunfire in the mall was deafening and Meg held tightly onto her shaking daughter. Telling Dief to 'look after Poppy and Meg', Fraser jumped up from behind the shelter of the fruit stall.
Picking up an orange, Fraser hurled it at one of the gunmen. 'WHACK'. It hit the gunman on the back of his head, taking him completely by surprise.
Knocked off balance, the gunman tripped over a shopping bag that someone had dropped in the chaos. As he went sprawling onto the floor, he lost the grip on his gun and it went skidding across the floor, out of his reach.
Startled, the second gunman whirled around to face Fraser. While Ben reached for a second orange, the gunman took aim at him.
Before the robber could pull the trigger, from out of nowhere, an apple flew through the air and expertly knocked the gun out of his hand. To his surprise, a barrage of apples, oranges and dried apricots, hurtled through the air and clobbered him. Trying to run away, he tripped over his partner in crime, who was attempting to scramble to his feet and falling on top of him, he flattened him back onto the floor. Dazed, both robbers lay in a heap by the exit.
For good measure, the second fruit thrower picked up two apple pies and let them soar, one at a time, towards the robbers. 'SPLAT'---'SPLAT'. Each of the apple pies landed squarely in the face of a robber. "Nice shots, love," Ben told Meg as he gave her a quick hug in appreciation.
"Yes, I'm quite pleased with them, too," Meg crossed her arms and smiled smugly at her fruit display. The apple pies were starting to drip down the villains faces.
Now that it was safe, Dief left his post of guarding Poppy and made a beeline towards the smell of apple pie. Seeing the wolf approach them, the villains nearly wet themselves.
Approaching first one villain and then the other, Dief sniffed the faces of the two men. Sticking out his tongue, Dief started to lick the apple pie off each of their terrified faces.
Ben moved behind the fruit stall and picked up Poppy. Kissing her on the cheek, he gave her a reassuring hug. "Everything's all right now, sweetheart."
Stan handcuffed the robbers and examined the contents of their bags---they were full to the brim with loot.
Before Ben or Meg could stop her, Poppy ran up to the robber that had tried to shoot at Fraser. Yelling, "Don't you hurt my daddy," Poppy, kicked him in the shin.
"Ouch! You little brat." Drawing his leg back, the robber attempted to kick Poppy, but Fraser pulled her out of the way. With one swift movement, Fraser dropped the robber to the floor.
"Don’t you ever lay a finger or foot on my daughter," Ben spoke in a hard tone, which was uncharacteristic for him.
"Grrrrrrrrrrr," Dief snarled at the criminal.
"Yeah! Yer ever try anythin like dat again on my niece and I'll floor ya," threatened Stan. "And then Dief'll bite yer balls off." The robber's eyes went wide and turning very pale, he gulped.
Now that fruit wasn't flying at him, the other robber took a good look at Fraser's uniform. "What the hell are you? Some kind of Superman Santa?" He asked Fraser.
"No, I'm not Santa. I'm a Mountie."
Stan picked the guns up and then dragging the robbers off, he jokingly asked them, "So, what d'ya want fer Christmas? Shin-pads? Or a good lawyer?" Neither of the criminals answered, they decided to take the 'fifth', as Stan pushed them out of the mall.
Once the criminals were out of sight, Ben turned to his daughter. "Where did you learn that, my flower?" Ben asked Poppy. "You know, you really shouldn't kick people. It's not nice."
"Mummy told me that if anyone tried to hurt me, to, 'kick em in the shins and then run for it'."
"Did she now!" Ben arched his eyebrows at his wife.
"Erm---I, er, may have said something along those lines," Meg confessed. "But I think that it's good advice. I wouldn't want anything to happen to this little one." Meg bent down and hugged Poppy.
The End