Curtain Challenge	   Curtain Challenge

 by Kikala

  

 

 Disclaimer: I don't own the characters and no copyright infringement is
intended.

 Author's Notes: This story was written in response to a challenge on
ds_flashfiction, a Live Journal community. Many thanks to BethH, Speranza
and Celeste for offering suggestions on how to improve and clean up this
little story. 

 Story Notes: Implied Fraser/RayK pairing.

 

 

 Curtain Challenge Response - by Kikala, 2003 

 The honeymoon was a gift from her parents. Ray had never gotten along
with them. He knew they didn't like or approve of him, Stella had told
him; but he didn't need to hear the words for him to know. Whenever he was
at their house, her mother had an expression on her face that made him
check the bottom of his shoes. 

 He tried to win them over, slicking his hair down, wearing a clean white
shirt his mother had ironed, with black slacks; sitting politely and
talking about college and future plans, but it didn't matter, he just
wasn't good enough for their little girl. 

 Stella married him anyway and her parents gave them a honeymoon to the
Caribbean. They rented a jeep and drove up to a secluded spot straight out
of a picture postcard. There was a large lagoon, as blue as Stella's eyes,
with a waterfall flowing into it. Large tropical leaves from plants he
couldn't even begin to name waved lazily in the breeze and the sweet
smells from colorful flowers scented the air. They shed their clothing and
swam in the lagoon, reveling in the warm water and their freedom. They
swam through the waterfall into a large cave and made love behind the
curtain of water that shielded them from the outside world. He had his
beautiful Stella, looking at him with such love that he felt he would do
anything for her. Life was perfect. 

 Ray didn't know when things started changing, maybe he wasn't paying
attention or maybe he was just too stupid to tell, but at some point in
their marriage Stella's eyes had taken on a hard steel-blue color and the
love that used to be in them was cloaked behind an expression of
disappointment. He found himself checking his shoes when he was around
her. 

 ~~~o0o~~~ 

 Ray sighed as he looked at another waterfall, this one colder, but just
as beautiful. The water came from the snow melting high up in the
mountains as spring made its cautious way into the north. The air was
crisp and clean, the silence beautiful, broken only by the sound of the
water cascading over the rocks. He was content. No one was judging him, no
one was making him feel as though he had let them down, he didn't have to
prove himself to anyone because the one person who mattered thought he was
just fine. 

 "Ray?" 

 Ray turned to look at his partner. Fraser's head was tilted, his eyebrow
raised slightly. When Ray looked into his eyes, there was no curtain
hiding his soul. The love and respect were there for the whole world, but
Ray especially, to see. 

 "Are you okay?" 

 Ray smiled, "I'm great, Ben, just great. Everything is perfect." 

 And this time, it really was. 

End Curtain Challenge by Kikala: kikala@earthlink.net

Author and story notes above.