Title: "Love Me, Love My Wolf"
Author: Katherine F.
Disclaimer: Don't even bother thinking of suing me, sweethearts; I'm
too poor for it to be lucrative and too craven for it to be fun.
Spoilers: Nahh...this is just fluff, really.
Pairing: BF/RK 
Distribution: If some kind person would forward this to DIEF or DSX,
I would be most grateful. And feel free to send it elsewhere, if you
like, but please let me know. 
Summary: Sequel to "Verisimilitude". Still no plot, and not much of anything
else either.
Feedback: yummy! katherinef@softhome.net
Notes: A huge TYK to all of you who liked "Verisimilitude", and told
me. I was really bowled over by the response. Hope this meets with your
collective approval...

	"Love Me, Love My Wolf"
	by Katherine F.

Morning.

//Gah.//

Warm sunlight pricking through his eyelids, which is kinda nice, or would
be if he didn't have that heaviness in his limbs and his 
head. A sort of fuzzy feeling. A sort of warm weight, on top of him,
not letting him move...

//No, wait a second...//

He shifts slightly in the bed and feels a layer of fuzz dissolve. 

//Mmm. Well, *this* is nice.//

So long spent with Stella that he never sleeps well on his own; so long
spent alone that he'd forgotten what it was like to sleep well. That's
where the heaviness comes from; not just from the warmth of the body
resting on his, or the blurred-but-still-sweet memories of What Happened
Last Night, but from eight long hours of honest-to-goodness *sleep*.

It's nice. It's so nice that he'd like to just stay there, wrapped up
in that fetal-cottony-fuzzy-warm-comforter-thing that isn't quite sleep
and isn't anything else either. 

But the body on top of him has other ideas. 

It shifts, breathes noisily, and settles itself so firmly on Ray's chest
that he finds it hard to breathe. It then proceeds to lick Ray's face
tenderly, thoroughly, and with no regard for morning breath. 

//Huh?//

Ray opens his eyes, meaning to remonstrate with Fraser about his lack
of early-morning ettiquette, and finds himself face to face with... 

//Holy shit!//

...Diefenbaker.

Not that Dief isn't a welcome sight at other times; but right now, the
shock of his visage is so great that Ray leaps out of bed with an awkward
twisting motion that leaves him flat on his back and tangled up in sheets
and rug.

It takes him several minutes to untangle himself, muttering curses and
threats at Dief all the while. Dief himself watches Ray's progress with
an expression that Ray would call "sardonic" if there wasn't still a
small part of him that considers it ridiculous to attribute to a *wolf*
the ability to be sardonic. 

As soon as that thought passes through his mind, Dief cocks his head
to one side and growls.

//Oh, so you're a mind reader now, too?//

Dief shrugs and lowers his head between his paws. 

"And so *modest* about it," says Ray, at which Diefenbaker's 
expression

//even if wolves can't have expressions, which I am less and less sure
of every day//

can only be described as *smug*.

By the time he's finally free, the pleasant early-morning fuzz has vanished
and Ray is awake enough to remember the previous night in more detail.
He remembers an alley, and a kiss, and a brief conversation which then
led to another kiss. He remembers having difficulty driving. He remembers
an agonizingly long search for the keys to his apartment, while Fraser
stood fidgeting, practically *twitching* with impatience, and then...

//And *then*...//

A little smile creeps onto Ray's face. 

He isn't really surprised to find himself alone. Fraser's an early riser
and a conscientious employee; he's not the type to skip a
morning's work just to laze around in bed with his lover. 

//Lover? ...loved one. Beloved. Significant other. Boyfriend. Yecchh,
no, not *that*.//

He yawns and stretches, trying at first to keep himself covered by the
sheet, then giving up when it dawns on him that Dief is going to look
disdainful no matter *how* much flesh he exposes. Dief is, in fact, displaying
a higher than average level of snottiness this morning. He can't help
wondering whether last night

//that is, Last Night: capital L, capital N//

has anything to with it. Does Dief think that now Ray's become 
Fraser's 

//life partner? Is that too cheesy?//

*whatever* -- that he can treat Ray with the same mixture of affection
and arrogance he inflicts on Fraser? He likes the wolf, to be sure, but
if Dief thinks he'll get an easy ride and lots of donuts from Ray just
because he and Fraser are sleeping together, he's got another think coming.

At that, Dief barks huffily, jumps off the bed and stalks into the living
room.

//Hm. Maybe he really *can* read minds.//

Filing that thought away for future reference, Ray crawls over to the
pile of clothes in the corner and rummages around for a pair of jeans
that aren't so rank they stand up to attention. Yesterday there was a
fortuitous landromat crisis which resulted in him going commando -- which
is the kind of weird coincidence that's almost enough to make Ray believe
in a benign deity. Today he's feeling

//what's the word? Begins with "L"...lugubrious? lascvious?//

...languid. It's his day off, too, so no need to jump in the shower and
get refreshed right away. A little half-clad wandering round the apartment,
a leisurely breakfast, maybe some cartoons...

But there's nothing in the refigerator, except for some guacamole, which
even *he* wouldn't consider having for breakfast, and beer, and something
thick and gloopy and brown which, on examination, turns out to be leftover
curry sauce. The breadbox contains the ends of a white loaf and a slightly
stale chocolate donut. 

A whine. He looks down to find Dief crouched beside him and looking up
expectantly.

"All right," he says, "but just this once. And don't tell Fraser." 

Dief cocks his head to one side, as if to say "Who, me?" For a moment,
Ray is disconcerted by the gesture; it's terribly Fraserlike, and he
can't help wondering which of them started off using it. But he 
shakes it off.

"Don't pull that innocent act with me. You're not getting this donut
until you promise not to tell him."

Dief pauses, as if considering his options, then gives a bark of assent.

"There ya go," says Ray, tossing him the donut, "that wasn't so hard,
was it?"

But Dief's mouth is too full for him to answer with more than a 
resentful glare.

Grinning, Ray saunters back into the bedroom. On top of the chest of
drawers is a note in Fraser's impeccably neat handwriting. He picks it
up and reads it.

	"Ray,
	     Sorry I left without saying goodbye, but duty calls; and I
didn't have the heart to wake you."

He shakes his head in wonder. 

//Trust Fraser to use semi-colons in a morning-after note...// 

"Perhaps after work we could go out for dinner? I'll call you this afternoon.

	     Much love,

   		         Ben.

P.S. I'd be grateful if you could walk Dief. And *please* don't give
him that donut."

He's just basking in the glow of Fraser's affection when Diefenbaker
slumps into the bedroom with a 

//Hangdog? Yeesh. It's too early in the morning for puns that bad.//

guilty expression. 

"Yep," says Ray, "he didn't want you to eat the donut." 

As an afterthought, he adds, "But I won't tell him if you don't." 

Dief perks up immediately, which makes Ray smile. He leans forward and
scratches behind Dief's ears. 

"This could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship..."

And Dief, to judge from his satisfied whine, agrees.

[end]