Just a short story that came to me at 9:20 am this morning. It is rated PG for a couple of sentences and yes, it has an m/m premise. Oh, yeah, one more thing: all I know about parallel universes I learned from watching Star Trek. {g}
Disclaimer: Not my characters, just my story. Please don't sue - the exchange rate is terrible and you wouldn't get anything anyway.
By T'Mar
"Ray!" Fraser called his partner over to the Consulate's new computer. Well, it belonged to the Consulate, but it was in his office. That favour he'd done last month for the inspector from Ottawa had apparently paid off... not that he would have looked at it that way.
Ray Vecchio strode over to the computer. "Yeah, what? You're not gonna tell me you found a porn site, Benny."
Fraser merely shook his head. "No, Ray. I actually think I've found an alternate universe."
This was a non-sequitur to the detective. "What?!"
"Quantum physics definitely posits the existence of alternate universes, Ray. Universes that come into being every time we are faced with a decision. The thinking is that all possible decisions actually happen in alternate universes, you see, and..."
Ray interrupted him. It was a kindness. "Benny." He paused and took a deep breath. "What the hell are you talking about?!"
"Well, just look here, Ray." Fraser clicked to bring his web browser back up, and Ray was confronted with... pictures of himself and Fraser.
"Benny, we've posed for pictures for some of our cases."
"I know that, Ray, but have we ever sat in a *trunk*?" He clicked 'back', and a picture appeared.
Ray squinted at it. "I don't think so, but maybe they doctored it..."
Fraser clicked 'back' again, and there on the screen was a picture of Ray dancing with Irene. "Oh dear." He clicked 'forward' and the trunk picture appeared.
Ray grabbed the mouse and clicked it. "I wanna see!" There on the screen was a picture of him dancing with Irene. But that wasn't all. Underneath the picture was a caption that said it came from "The Due South episode Juliet is Bleeding". "Huh?" Ray looked at Fraser.
"There's more, Ray." Click. Click.
Ray read the page. "Who the hell is this Paul Gross person? And this David Marciano? Huh?"
"I believe they play us in this TV show, Due South."
"What?"
"And that's not all, Ray. There are *stories*."
Ray collapsed onto the side of Fraser's desk. "Stories."
"Yes, Ray."
"Okay, show me some."
Fraser clicked a couple of times. "Oh dear."
Ray heard more clicking. "What?"
"Well, perhaps you don't want to read that, Ray."
Ray got off the desk and grabbed the mouse again, clicking the 'back' button until something looked interesting. He began to read off the screen. "This story is rated NC-17 for sexual content. That is, sexual content between two people of the same gender. Leave now if that kind of thing offends you." Ray let go of the mouse and stepped back as far away from Fraser's desk as he could. Since Fraser's office was tiny, it was only about two feet. "They... they..."
Fraser began to read from the screen. "...Fraser undid Ray's belt with agonizing slowness. 'Benny, please,' the cop begged."
"Arg! Stop!" yelled Ray.
"But..."
Ray flung himself forward to see what happened next. He had to know, and yet he didn't want to hear Fraser's voice *reading* it.
The story was very explicit. It gave details that no woman (it was a woman who'd written the story, he noticed) should really have known about. "Oh my G-d."
Fraser just sat there nodding. "It must be an alternate universe, Ray."
Ray got to the end of the sex scene and managed to tear his eyes away from the screen. "What do you mean, alternate universe, Benny? We did that last week!"
Fraser blushed; after all, they were still at the Consulate. "I know, Ray."
"So someone is bugging your apartment."
"I don't think so, Ray."
"You don't think so! Someone heard us and wrote it down and put it up here on the damn *Internet* for the whole world to see and you don't think so!!"
"Well, the rest of the story has no resemblance to anything we ever did. I also found some stories about me and somebody named Stanley Ray Kowalski. And some about me and some women I've never met."
"Well, I know Kowalski," said Ray. "Met him after his wife grilled me that time in court, remember? Oh, wait, that was before you came here. Why would someone write stories about the two of you?"
Fraser noticed that Ray didn't once doubt him. He smiled at that, then looked back at Ray. "If it's fiction, anything could happen."
"But it isn't! Our lives aren't fiction, Benny!"
"It must be..."
"A parallel universe. Yeah, yeah. Explain to me how one of the intense sexual experiences we've ever had gets into a parallel universe."
"Ray, there are only a finite number of ways for two men to have sex, after all. This person probably..."
"But she wrote what I said almost exactly!"
"Ray, look for yourself. There are dozens of sites for this show. And most of the fiction sites contain these kinds of stories."
"People will find out, Benny."
"Ray, most people already know. Your family. Our co-workers. Dief."
"Yeah, yeah, it's nice to see our love celebrated, Benny, but still..."
There was a yell from outside the door. "Constable!"
Fraser stood up quickly. "Sir!"
Thatcher's head poked round the door. "Are you playing on the Internet again?"
"I was actually intending to do some research about the RCMP's new policies, ma'am. The website is updated very quickly, and I thought I would check to see if they had mentioned everything..."
Thatcher sighed. "Commendable, Fraser. But you're supposed to be getting ready for that formal dinner. We're expected at seven." Thatcher looked sympathetically at Ray. "I'll get us away early, Detective. And thank you for understanding that Fraser does have a few diplomatic responsibilities."
"Hey, no problem," said Ray. And when Thatcher was out of earshot Ray said to his lover, "She's mellowing."
"Yes, I'd agree," Fraser responded.
As they were talking, a huge clicking sound came from the computer.
Ray looked at the screen. "Connection lost. Redial or cancel?" He clicked the 'exit' button on the browser. "I suppose we can start over. I get to look this time."
"No!" Fraser actually yelled it, but the browser window disappeared.
"What?"
"I think we lost our connection to that universe, Ray. We'll never get it back."
Ray sat in the chair and clicked the dialup icon. "Nonsense, Benny." He opened the browser and said, "Okay, what was the URL?"
Fraser leaned over him and typed it in quickly.
'Unable to contact host. The named host probably does not exist.'
The computer was obviously mocking them. "Lemme try." Ray typed in a URL he could remember.
'No such file or directory. Check that you have typed the address correctly.'
Ray typed frantically.
'File not found.'
Fraser clicked on a bookmark for a search engine, then asked it to look for "Due +South".
'No entries match your query. Click _here_ to refine your search.'
"Paul +Gross."
'No entries with that exact name. Click _here_ for possible alternatives.'
"David +Marciano."
Same response.
They tried everything, but nothing came up. "I'm sorry, Ray," said Fraser, logging off.
Ray managed a grin. "Maybe we were just hallucinating, Benny. Maybe we wanted to believe people would like us so much they'd have pages and stories about us."
Fraser opened his mouth to disagree, then changed his mind. "Maybe," he said softly, then he remembered doing something by accident. "Wait! I saved one!"
"What?"
Fraser opened a text reader. "Look!"
"You go get ready, Benny. The Dragon Lady will be pissed if you're late. I'll take care of the story." He clicked 'print'.
As Fraser removed his lanyard and belt and got out his formal accessories, he looked over. "What are you doing, Ray?"
"Printing it. We can read it together tonight." Ray grinned evilly.
"Ray, what...?"
"Hey, maybe it'll give us a few ideas."
"Ray!" One part of Fraser was scandalized, but some other parts of him were looking forward to it.
THE END