"Ray."

"Yeah?" Ray, his nose almost in the bag, continued to count his hamburgers.

"I thought the point of using a drive-through window was that you wouldn't have to stop the car."

"Yeah, but if yer miles away before ya realize they forgot something, yer screwed. Be thankful I park first. I know folks who do this at the end of the driveway with their foot on the brake."

"Then I shall give thanks that you're no more reckless than you are."

"Gee, thanks."

"But we might as well go inside and order, then."

"Nope, drive-thru's still faster." A large furry head settled itself on Ray's shoulder. Ray grinned at it and asked, "Hey, Dief, wanna White Castle?" He got a happy bark as a reply. "Yeah, I know, dumb question."

"You will not give him one."

"What's the harm? It's better than a donut. Meat's steamed, not fried, and it's topped with onions and pickles. Veggies." Dief backed Ray up with an affronted *whuff!*

"Aside from it being junk food," Ben grinned at the indignant "Hey!" the term elicited from Ray, "the onions on it are toxic to dogs."

"Toxic?"

"It's dose dependent, but onions can cause Heinz body anemia in dogs." At Dief's grumble and glare, Fraser answered, "Yes, that does apply to you too."

Diefenbaker whined, but Ray just ruffled his fur and said, "Sorry, guy, but I'm not gonna endanger yer life with onions no matter how hungry you are. And a White Castle without onions is like a sun without sunlight. You can have my piece of pound cake though."

"Ray." Despite his rebuke, it never failed to amaze and please Ben that Ray seemed to treat Dief almost as a kind of little brother.

"Hey! Ben, he's dissing my pound cake."

"Perhaps he feels he's too good for it."

"That won't do. Dief, there are starving wolves in China who don't get any pound cake. I'm keeping this in mind next time you do that 'I'm starving' act. Spoiled doggenses don't prosper."

"He's quite right," Fraser told Dief. "You brought this on yourself. Think on this. Maybe you'll learn something." Diefenbaker settled into the backseat to sulk. "Look at me when I talk to-- Oh, never mind. Ray?"

"Yeah?"

"'Doggenses'?"

"Plural for 'doggens.'"

"That's not a word."

"Sure it is. It's a nickname, but like those French ones where it's longer than the original name."

"You're joking."

"Nope," Ray answered. A slow, sultry smile crossed Ray's face, and Ben couldn't help wanting to feel it against his skin.... "Hey, what are you grinning at?"

"Nothing."

"Looks like a grin to me. If it's because I'm doing something right, let me know what it is so I can do it more often, 'kay?"

"I'll keep that in mind."

His attraction to Ray still struck him anew at even the oddest moments. Like now, when he felt Ray's presence sizzle along his skin like a heated caress.

Ben had practiced and refined the discipline of self-control until it reached the status of art. Foremost among the impulses he'd kept tightly leashed had been his desire for his partner. It had made him feel strong to stay within his chosen limits for how, when, and where he could touch Ray. Now that they were lovers, it seemed as if every impulse he'd ever thwarted in that direction had returned, magnified twice for every denial. It was a hunger that only grew after every attempt at satiation.

Yet he still needed to maintain discipline at least part of the time. Their personal relationship could not be allowed to become an obstacle to their working one. A loss of professionalism would be a betrayal of the oaths they'd made to the public and their superiors.

Ray looked dazed and moved toward Ben as if magnetized before he shook his head, drew back to his own seat, and sighed. "Damn. I'm as greedy as the wolf. Spoiled."

"How so?" Ben asked softly, even though he knew.

Ray looked away, out the windshield, away from Ben, yet it didn't break the sparking link between them. Ray took a deep breath and shifted the car out of park. "This is gonna feel like the world's longest stakeout."

Greedy. Indeed.

Ben could swear he heard Diefenbaker snicker from the back seat.

*********************THE END************************

More Viridian5 stories can be found in The Green Room at http://members.tripod.com/~drovar/viridian/
Fandoms represented: due South, X-Files, the Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie, Two Guys and a Girl (was Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place), Once a Thief, Angel, X-Men, Hard Core Logo, Doctor Who