Love Stronger Than Death    Love Stronger Than Death by Iris Gray

 Author's webpage: http://victoria.tc.ca/~wy236/fic.html

 Author's notes: This may appear to be a death story, but it isn't. Be
patient and read it through and you will discover a happily-ever-after
ending.

  

 <PRE>
 Notes: This is NOT a death story. It appears to be one at the beginning,
but if you keep reading you will be rewarded with a happy ending. As my
father used to say when he watched my mother's soap operas and saw
characters come back from the "dead" : "He was dead, but he got better."
WARNING: Some supernatural stuff here.
 ----------------------------------------------------------------- Love
Stronger Than Death
 by Iris Gray
 Feedback to wy236@victoria.tc.ca 

 Ray Kowalski stood at the gravesite and tried to keep his emotions in
check. But it was no use. The tears flowed freely. He glanced over at
Maggie. The blonde Mountie squeezed his hand. She had been the one to
inform him of Fraser's accident. He'd caught the first plane out of
Chicago as soon as he got the call but he'd arrived too late. Fraser was
already gone. He'd left final instructions with Maggie, in case anything
happened to him. Had he had a premonition? Or was it just Fraser being a
boy scout, always prepared? The list set out instructions for his funeral,
and for the disposition of his few possessions. It also said that he
wanted his former partner, Ray Kowalski, to take care of Diefenbaker for
him when he was gone. 

 Gone. What a euphemism. //He's dead, Kowalski. Dead.// A stupid accident.
Some careless kids had been sniffing gasoline, and when Fraser went in to
stop them, there had been an explosion. He might have survived, but he'd
gone back in to get one of the kids out and had been overcome by the
smoke. That was Fraser, always a hero. Fat lot of good it did him. 

 He couldn't help but wonder if things might have turned out differently
if he'd still been there. It hadn't been that long since he left. He could
still recall their last conversation: 

 "I do love you, Ben. You know that I do. But I don't belong up here. This
is your territory, not mine. I'm going back to Chicago." 

 Fraser hadn't argued with him. He'd simply given Ray a sad smile and
said, "It was good while it lasted. You're a good partner." And he'd given
Ray a hug and wished him well, promising to write. As breakups go, he
supposed it was one of the better ones. Not like it had been with Stella. 

 Kowalski glanced over at Ray Vecchio. He'd informed the other detective
of Fraser's death himself. Vecchio had arrived alone. Ray Kowalski had
thought Stella or Francesca would come with him, but the stage Frannie was
at in her pregnancy made travel difficult. He didn't know why Stella
hadn't come. He saw that Vecchio had tears running down his face too.
Somehow that made him feel better, less alone. 

 There were others there too, Mounties mostly. Some he'd met, most he
hadn't. Turnbull was there, and Thatcher, though she wasn't a Mountie
anymore. She worked for some Canadian spy agency, CSIS he thought it was
called. Sergeant Frobisher he remembered meeting when they were chasing
Muldoon. There was a hockey player, Mark Smithbauer, that Ray vaguely
recalled having heard of. And some natives from the villages Fraser had
worked in before he went to Chicago. 

 Ray Vecchio didn't even bother trying to stifle the sobs that overtook
him. Benny was dead. He couldn't believe it. Stanley "Ray" Kowalski had
called him in Florida to tell him. He'd flown up here for the funeral.
He'd asked Stella to come but she'd refused. She'd met Fraser a couple of
times in Chicago but didn't like him very much. That had been the final
straw for Ray - he'd told her that he wasn't returning to Florida after
the funeral. He was going back to Chicago. He should never have left in
the first place. He should never have gone undercover as the Bookman. Then
he wouldn't have left Benny, and maybe Benny would have stayed in Chicago.
And Benny would still be alive. 

 Their relationship had been floundering when the undercover gig came up.
It had been the coward's way out, leaving while Fraser was on holiday, but
Ray hated emotional scenes, and he really hated goodbyes. That way didn't
have to explain to Fraser why he was leaving. 

 It had been awkward running into Fraser and his new partner in Las Vegas,
but he'd been happy to see him too. There didn't seem to be any resentment
over his sudden departure. Benny'd had a year to work through it, he
supposed. Or maybe the blonde guy at his side had something to do with it.
Stanley and Benny had stayed up north after they caught Muldoon and Bolt,
and Ray Vecchio assumed they were more than just friends and partners. Not
that he had any claim on Benny anymore. He'd given that up a long time
ago. 

 Kowalski had met Ray at the airport with a blonde woman that he
introduced as Benny's half sister, Maggie Mackenzie. Seems Benny had only
just found out he had a sister, and a Mountie sister, to boot. She stuck
pretty close to Kowalski, Ray noted. He looked over to where the blonde
detective was standing. He was crying too. Somehow that made him feel
better, seeing Kowalski cry, knowing he wasn't the only one. If his father
could see him now, he'd be telling him that men didn't cry. Well, too bad,
Pop, this man did. Sergeant Frobisher looked pretty torn up, too. He'd
buried Fraser's father a few years ago, now here he was burying the son.
The Dragon Lady and Turnbull were here, and Mark Smithbauer, and was that
- yes, it was. Eric was here. He hadn't seen Eric since the mixup with the
Tsimshian masks back in Chicago. 

 The priest finished his sermon and people started leaving. It was cold
out here in the cemetery. Ray started to leave too, when Eric approached
him. "Hello, Detective Vecchio," said the young Native man. 

 "Eric," said Ray with a nod. 

 "He isn't gone, you know," said Eric. 

 "What are you talking about, Eric?" sighed Ray. The Tsimshian had always
been trouble as far as he was concerned. 

 "Constable Fraser. He's still here." 

 Benny had mentioned that Eric had a habit of talking in riddles. Deciding
to humour him, Ray asked, "And how do you know that?" 

 Eric shrugged. "I just do." 

 "And do you know why he's here?" Vecchio asked. 

 "There's someone he doesn't want to leave. I don't know who." 

 If only that were true. "Well, I'll keep an eye out for him. Goodbye,
Eric." And he left before Eric could say anything further. 

 Ray Kowalski, meanwhile, was standing by Maggie as she thanked people for
attending the service. Vecchio approached him and they exchanged polite
greetings. Indicating Maggie, Vecchio asked, "Are you and she, you know,
together?" 

 "Me an' Maggie? Nah, she's like a sister to me. This is hard for her. She
an' Fraser were just starting to get to know each other. By the way,
where's Stella?" 

 Vecchio shrugged. "She didn't want to come. She didn't know Benny all
that well, I guess. Anyway, we broke up." 

 "Sorry to hear that," said Kowalski. Somehow he wasn't terribly
surprised. Stella was a high- maintenance kind of woman. 

 "Well, I wanted to move back to Chicago anyway, be closer to my family." 

 "Hey, Frannie must be about due by now," Kowalski said. "How's she
doing?" 

 "I haven't actually seen her yet, I came straight here from Florida." 

 The two detectives made small talk for awhile before Ray Vecchio went to
his room in a small hotel in town and Ray Kowalski went back to Maggie's
house, where he was staying. //So Vecchio's coming back to Chicago//
thought Kowalski. //Wonder if he wants his old job back?// 

 When Kowalski finally returned to work, he discovered that Ray Vecchio
did indeed have his old job back, and that the two of them had been
partnered. Welsh's decision, apparently. How ironic. 

 "Been awhile since I had an official partner," Kowalski muttered
self-consciously. 

 "Me, too," replied Vecchio. 

 "My last partner was Fraser." 

 "Mine too," answered Ray Vecchio. The two looked at each other. 

 "Think that's why Welsh put us together?" Kowalski asked. 

 "Probably," said Vecchio. He laughed, and some of the tension was broken.


 The two Rays found that working with each other was different than
working with Fraser had been for either of them, but they soon fell into a
good working relationship, and Welsh was pleased with their rate of
solving crimes. Each man had the highest 'solve' rate in the district when
working with Fraser, and the Lieutenant hoped that some of the Mountie's
influence might still be there. 

 Welsh hadn't been able to attend Fraser's funeral; he'd simply had too
much work. Getting Vecchio back had helped with that workload
considerably, especially since Huey and Dewey were spending most of their
time running their new comedy club and not a lot of time working on their
cases. Welsh also happened to hate police funerals, and he assumed that an
RCMP funeral would not be very different from a Chicago P.D. funeral. He'd
attended too many of those. Only one from his own command, thank God, but
even one was one too many. He was just glad that Vecchio hadn't been the
second - the bullet he'd taken from Holloway Muldoon had made that a near
thing. 

 Kowalski and Vecchio were eating lunch. They'd been working together for
about a month and even though they rubbed each other the wrong way once in
awhile, they were getting along fairly well. 

 "Stanley, my Ma wants me to bring you home for supper one of these days,"
said Vecchio. 

 "Don't call me Stanley," Kowalski responded automatically. 

 "Why not? It's your name." They'd gone over this several times already. 

 "I go by 'Ray.' " 

 "What did Benny call you?" 

 "Fraser called me Ray. Why did you call him Benny? No one else ever did."


 "He needed a nickname." 

 "Do you miss him? Fraser?" asked Kowalski suddenly. 

 "Yeah. Do you?" 

 "Yeah. I feel guilty for leaving him alone up there." 

 "I feel guilty for leaving him alone up here," replied Vecchio. 

 "So why did you, anyway? Leave, I mean. Did the Feds strong-arm you that
badly?" 

 "Mostly." He hesitated, then asked, "Did Benny tell you about us? Me and
him?" 

 "That you were lovers? Yeah, he did. We were too, ya know, me an' Fraser.
" 

 "I kind of figured that. Not that it's any of my business." 

 "Just so ya know, I don't usually make it a habit to sleep with my
partners." //But I'd make an exception for you// Kowalski suddenly found
himself thinking. He pushed the thought aside. 

 Ray Vecchio studied the slim blonde man sitting across from him. He was a
bit disappointed at Ray Kowalski's words about not sleeping with his
partners. He had to admit that Kowalski was attractive. "So, when do you
want to come over for dinner?" 

 A few weeks later 

 

 "Hey, Vecchio, did Fraser ever get you to watch curling?" Ray Kowalski
asked his partner. 

 "Curling? What the heck is curling?" asked Ray Vecchio. 

 "Some weird Canadian game played with brooms," answered Kowalski. He
launched into the story of the time he'd been given 'asylum' at the
Canadian Consulate and had watched curling with Fraser and Turnbull. By
the time he was finished both he and Vecchio were laughing. 

 "I'd love to see you in a Mountie uniform," said Vecchio. "Hey, did
Fraser ever tell you about the time we got trapped in a bank vault?" 

 For the rest of the afternoon the two cops swapped "Fraser" stories. They
laughed a lot, but there was an undercurrent of sadness in their stories
as well, knowing that they would never again have any 'adventures' with
Benton Fraser. Welsh watched them, knowing that they weren't getting any
work done, but didn't interfere. They needed this time, he decided. They
needed to mourn their friend. 

 When their shift was over, Kowalski got up and started to leave, then
turned back to his partner. "Hey, uh, Vecchio, do you want to go get
something to eat with me?" The words were almost identical to the ones
Fraser had said to him on the day they'd met, he realized with a pang. 

 Surprised, Vecchio agreed. He followed Kowalski out to his black GTO.
"Nice car," he said admiringly. His own car, a 1971 Buick Riviera, had
been burned by an arsonist not long after he'd gone undercover. He now
usually used a car from the motorpool, but was determined to find another
Riv just like the one - actually, three now - that he'd lost. 

 Over dinner the two detectives shared more stories, which led into
discussing each of their romantic liaisons with Fraser. Ray Kowalski told
of his and Fraser's "adventure" up north, looking for the hand of
Franklin, and how, when the adventure was over and Fraser had accepted a
posting in Inuvik, where he could be close to his sister, Ray had felt
like a third wheel and decided to leave. "The hell of it was, I still
loved him. Still do, I guess." 

 "So do I," admitted Ray Vecchio. "I did when I went undercover. But we
were having a few problems and I decided to bail rather than work on them.
You don't know how many times I've kicked myself for that." 

 "Probably no more than I have for leaving him when I did," replied
Kowalski. 

 "Are we a couple of idiots or what?" asked Vecchio rhetorically. 

 "Or what," answered his partner. 

 As he paid his portion of the bill and started to leave, Ray Kowalski
suddenly turned back to Vecchio. "Look, remember I said I don't make it a
habit to sleep with my partner?" he asked the other man. 

 "Yeah, I do. You made an exception for Benny, just like I did." 

 "Well, I would be willing to make one for you, too," he said, a little
shyly. 

 "Huh?" 

 "Look, Vecchio, I don't want to be alone tonight. And I like you. I don't
know if I love you like I loved Fraser - hell, I probably won't ever love
anyone like I did Fraser - but I think we could have something. If you're
willing to give it a try." 

 Ray Vecchio looked into his partner's eyes. "Look, Stanley, I don't want
a one night stand." 

 "Don't call me Stanley. Neither do I. " 

 "Are you sure?" 

 "Damn right I'm sure." 

 "All right then." Vecchio got into the car beside Kowalski. "But if we're
going to do this, how can I keep calling you 'Kowalski' ? I can't call you
Ray - that's my name." 

 The blonde detective laughed. "I kept calling Fraser 'Fraser' when we
were together. Yeah, I called him Ben sometimes, but I was used to calling
him Fraser, so I kept doing it." 

 "I could never call him Ben," admitted the Italian. 

 "Why not?" 

 "That's what SHE called him." 

 "She who?" 

 "Victoria." The word came out as if it had been spat out. 

 "Oh. I get ya. I heard about her." Nothing more needed to be said. "So,
my place or yours?" 

 "Yours, Stanley. I live with my family, remember?" 

 "Hey, they were my family for close to a year, too. And don't call me
Stanley." 

 "I know. That's why Ma keeps bugging me to bring you over for dinner." 

 "Did she know about you an' Fraser?" 

 "I never told her, but I think she knew. Mothers are like that." 

 "Yeah. I told mine. I think she approved. She liked Fraser." 

 Soon they arrived at Kowalski's apartment, and there was no need for any
more talking. 

 When it was over, and the two men were lying quietly in Ray's bed,
Vecchio noticed that his new lover was crying softly. He shook the other
man's shoulder. "Hey, hey, Stanley - Ray - what is it? What's wrong?" 

 Kowalski rubbed his eyes. "I'm sorry. I don't know why I'm cryin'. Silly
of me. " 

 "But what's making you cry?" asked Vecchio. 

 "Well, it's just - the last person I did this with was Fraser. Made me
think about him." 

 Ray Vecchio took the slim blonde man into his arms. "Hey, I understand. I
haven't been with another guy since Benny. I've been with women, but it's
not quite the same, you know?" 

 "Do you think he knows?" asked Kowalski. 

 "Knows what?" 

 "About you and me being together." 

 "I don't know. At the funeral, Eric told me that Benny's spirit was
hanging around." 

 "Who's Eric?" 

 Ray explained about the Tsimshian masks and the museum robbery. "Eric
said that Benny's spirit didn't want to pass on because there was someone
he didn't want to leave." 

 "Have you seen him since then?" Kowalski asked curiously. 

 "No. Have you?" 

 "Nope. Funny, I was thinking I wouldn't be surprised if I did. After all,
Fraser saw his dead father a lot." 

 "Did he? He never really talked about it. I think he mentioned it once,
but not after that. I see mine, too." 

 "Great. I hope my old man doesn't come back to haunt me after he dies." 

 A few months later 

 

 Ray Kowalski was feeling a bit uneasy. He didn't know why. His life was
going quite well. Ray Vecchio had moved in with him and their relationship
was good. They had finally taken the plunge and actually said "I love you"
to each other. The two of them had a stellar arrest record at work. But
something still didn't feel right. He missed Fraser more than ever. But he
didn't want to upset his partner, so he didn't say anything to Ray. 

 Ray Vecchio also had a sense of unease. He found himself looking over his
shoulder a lot, without knowing why. It didn't make sense, but he felt as
if someone was watching him. Maybe Eric was right. Maybe Benny was
haunting him. Maybe he didn't like the two Rays being together. But
somehow he didn't think that was it. He would want his former partners to
be happy, Ray thought. //God, I miss Benny// he thought to himself. But he
didn't want to upset Stanley, so he wouldn't tell him that. 

 He was actually getting away with calling Kowalski "Stanley" now. He did
it out of affection, with a little teasing thrown in. And the other
detective accepted it, as long as Ray didn't call him 'Stanley' when other
people were around. 

 As the two men prepared for bed that night, Ray Vecchio looked at his
partner with concern. "Is everything all right?" he asked. 

 "Yeah, sure, why wouldn't it be?" asked Kowalski. 

 "I don't know, you just seemed ... distracted." 

 Ray sighed. "It's just, it was six months ago that ...." 

 "That Benny died," Vecchio finished for him. 

 "Yeah." 

 "Do you want to do something to remember him?" asked the Italian gently. 

 "Like what?" asked his lover. 

 "Well, All Souls' Day is coming up soon, there's usually a memorial mass
at Ma's church to remember people who have died in the past year. We could
go to that." 

 "I'm not really big on church," replied Kowalski. 

 "If you think of anything you want to do, let me know. Remember, I loved
him too." 

 "I know you did. And I love you, Raymond Vecchio." 

 "Love you too, Stanley Kowalski." 

 'Stanley' hit his lover with a pillow, and was hit back. A pillow fight
ensued, which turned into other things, and it was some time before they
fell asleep. 

 After he had been asleep for some time, Ray Kowalski was awakened by a
sound, or a movement, he wasn't sure which. Vecchio was still asleep
beside him. He looked around, trying to discover what had awakened him. 

 Fraser was standing next to the bed. Not a solid Fraser, but a sort of
blurry Fraser. Ray tried to touch him, but his hand went right through.
Fraser looked sad, he thought. //Great. I'm seeing ghosts//. "I miss you,
Fraser," he said softly to the ghost. Fraser gave him a slight smile and
raised his hand in farewell, then vanished. 

 The next night, Kowalski wondered if he would see Fraser's ghost again,
but he slept straight through the night. His partner, however, did wake
up. 

 Ray Vecchio did much the same things as the other detective had done - he
looked around to see what had woken him. Then he saw the ghost. "Benny?"
he asked. The ghost, if that was what it was, smiled at him. Ray tried to
touch him, but as had happened with Kowalski, his hand didn't touch
anything solid. 

 "I love you, Benny. I miss you." 

 The ghost waved his hand and vanished, just as it - he - had done the
night before. 

 This continued for several nights. The ghost would appear to Kowalski one
night, Vecchio the next. It happened several times before the men thought
to mention it to each other. When they realized that they'd each been
seeing the same thing, they compared notes and discovered that the
sightings were identical - one of them would wake up, see the ghost, try
to talk to it, and the ghost would wave goodbye and vanish. 

 "Looks like Benny's spirit really is hanging around," commented Vecchio. 

 "But why? What can we do for him?" wondered Kowalski. 

 Vecchio sighed. "I wish I knew." 

 Getting desperate, the two men contacted a medium. She tried to contact
Fraser's spirit, but was unsuccessful. "I'm sorry, gentlemen," she said to
the two detectives. "I don't know what to tell you. Have you tried talking
to your friend?" 

 "Yeah, we have," answered Ray Kowalski, "but he doesn't talk back." 

 The woman thought for awhile. "Hmm," she said. "I wonder ... " 

 "What?" demanded Vecchio. 

 "Sometimes a person who dies before he is meant to hangs around in a
place where he was happy, and tries to reach his friends, as if they can
bring him back. For all I know, it may work. I haven't heard personally of
people coming back from the dead, but you never know....it's possible that
if a dead person does come back, the memories of the people around him
change so that they forget he was ever dead." 

 "That's too weird even for me," stated Kowalski, and he and his partner
went home. 

 That night, both Rays saw Fraser, though not at the same time. "What do
you want?" each of them asked him. "And what can I do to help?" But they
didn't get an answer, at least not that night. 

 The next night was Halloween. The two Rays took the Vecchio children
Trick or Treating. They spent most of the evening with the Vecchio family,
paying special attention to the newest member, Francesca's son. She had
chosen not to marry the father, though he apparently remained part of her
and her son's life. "I've done the marriage thing," she explained. "It's
not for me." Apparently one of her nieces or nephews had started a rumour
among their friends that Frannie had experienced an immaculate conception.
As far as the children knew, if a person wasn't married, that meant they
were a virgin, so if Frannie had a baby without being married, that meant
she'd had a virgin birth. 

 As they drove home later that night, Ray Vecchio asked, "So, think we'll
see him tonight?" 

 "It's Halloween," replied his lover. "When's a better time to see a
ghost?" 

 They got into bed and lay there, waiting to fall asleep. It took longer
than usual, because they were both nervous about seeing their ghostly
visitor. But it had been a long and tiring day, and they did, eventually,
fall asleep. 

 Ray Kowalski was the first to wake up. He sat up, expecting to see Ben
standing there as usual. This time, though, the ghost appeared to be a
woman. "Detective Kowalski," she addressed him. 

 Ray's jaw dropped. This ghost was talking to him! 

 "Yeah, I'm Kowalski. Who are you?" 

 The apparition smiled. "My name isn't important. I believe you were a
friend of Constable Fraser's ?" 

 "Yeah ... well, more than friends. What about Fraser?" 

 "Do you want him back?" the spirit asked. 

 "Wait a minute, slow down. Who are you and what are you doing?" 

 "Some call me a ghost. Some call me an angel. What you call me isn't
important. I offer people choices. You see, Constable Fraser wasn't meant
to die when he did. He still had things to do in his life. And as you have
probably seen, he hasn't fully left this life behind. So, I am offering
you a choice. Do you want him back?" 

 "Yes, yes, yes I want him back!! But what's this 'choice' you mentioned?"


 The whatever-it-was looked at the sleeping figure of Ray Vecchio in the
bed. "If Constable Fraser comes back, you will have to give up your
relationship with Detective Vecchio." 

 Ray thought about this for a long time. Give up Ray Vecchio? Get Fraser
back? No. No, he couldn't do that. Yes, he would have liked to have Fraser
in his life again, but he'd moved on since the Mountie had died. He
couldn't just abandon his lover for a man he'd already given up. Vecchio
would have no one - no Kowalski, no Fraser, no Stella. It wouldn't be
fair. 

 "No," Ray finally stated. "No, I won't give him up. I'm sorry, Fraser,"
he added, looking around but not seeing the ghost of his former partner. 

 Unbeknownst to Ray Kowalski, Ray Vecchio was having a similar
conversation at that moment. He was offered the same choice - get Fraser
back, but give up his relationship with Kowalski. And Vecchio had pretty
much the same answer. Yes, he missed Benny, and would love to have him
around again, but he wouldn't give up Stanley. He and Benny hadn't been
together for more than two years when the Canadian had been killed. He
wouldn't give up what he had in the present for something he'd had in the
past. "I won't give up Stanley. Not even for Benny. I'm sorry, Benny - I
hope you find whatever it is you're looking for." 

 There was a flash and suddenly both Rays were standing in front of the
mystery woman, and so was Fraser. 

 "Believe it or not, you answered the right way. Neither of you would give
up the other just to get Constable Fraser back. That's very unselfish of
you. So I am letting you have Fraser back, and this time, he will live a
long life - and, I hope, a happy one." The woman disappeared, and Fraser
was standing in the two Rays' bedroom looking slightly bewildered. 

 "When did I get here?" he asked. "I don't remember arriving." 

 "Fraser, you ain't gonna believe this, but Ray and I have a story to tell
you ...." and Kowalski started telling Fraser about his death, and his
funeral, and Vecchio jumped in a few times with details. 

 "So you're saying I'm dead?" the Mountie asked. 

 "Apparently, you're not dead," replied Vecchio. 

 Kowalski, meanwhile, had dialled Maggie in Inuvik. When she answered the
phone, somewhat groggily, since it was the middle of the night, he asked,
"Maggie, when did you see Fraser last?" 

 "Yesterday, when I took him to the airport. Has he made it to Chicago
yet?" 

 "Uh, yeah, look at dat, he just walked in the door. Sorry to bother you,
Maggie." Kowalski hung up the phone. "Maggie says she took you to the
airport yesterday," he told Fraser. 

 Diefenbaker, meanwhile, was in raptures at seeing his human again. He'd
enjoyed living with Ray and Ray, but no human was the same as HIS human,
Benton Fraser. Ray Kowalski and Ray Vecchio decided that the wolf had the
right idea, and joined in, both giving the Mountie a big hug, which Fraser
returned happily. 

 Ben still had a million questions, so the trio repaired to the kitchen
where Kowalski started making some tea. "So let me get this straight," the
Canadian said after listening to his partners' stories. "I was in Inuvik,
and I was killed in an explosion and fire six months ago." 

 "Batting a thousand so far, Benton-buddy," said Kowalski. 

 "And for the past couple of weeks, you've both been seeing my ghost," Ben
continued. 

 "Uh-huh." 

 "And then tonight, somehow, I crossed over and returned from the dead?" 

 "I know it sounds crazy, Benny, but that's what happened!" Vecchio
exclaimed. 

 "Listen, Fraser, there's something else you should know," put in
Kowalski. "Ray an' I are together. A couple. Lovers. Have been since not
long after you died." 

 Astonishingly, Fraser was pleased. "I'm glad," he said. "You both needed
someone. I could tell from your letters" - he indicated Ray K. - "that you
were lonely. And that you" - he indicated Ray V. - "were not going to last
very long with Stella, even with the best of intentions. I'm happy that
you found each other." 

 "The thing is, Benny," said Ray Vecchio, "both of us still love you." 

 "We do," added Kowalski. "We love each other, and we love you." 

 The Mountie looked at his two friends and former lovers. "And I love both
of you." 

 "So what are we gonna do about it?" asked Vecchio. "Benny? Stanley? Any
ideas?" 

 "We could live together, all three of us," suggested Kowalski. "I know it
sounds a little kinky, but if we all love each other ...." 

 "What do you think, Benny?" 

 "If the both of you are willing to put up with me, I would be happy to
live with you," replied the Mountie. "But I don't know yet what I'm doing
here. I don't know if I have a job." 

 Kowalski looked at the time, and seeing that it was morning, suggested
that Fraser call Maggie in Inuvik, which he did. 

 "Hello, Maggie. Yes, I had a good trip, thank you. Listen, I seem to have
misplaced something. My orders. Specifically, the letter I got from the
RCMP telling me where I am to be posted and when I start. Did I leave it
in my apartment? Oh, you have everything from my apartment. Good. Could
you check for me?" There was a pause. "Yes, that's what I was looking for.
Thank you kindly, Maggie. Goodbye." He turned to his two friends. "It
appears I am to take up the position of Senior Liaison Officer at the
Canadian Consulate here in Chicago next Monday. Maggie will be sending my
things along shortly." 

 Both of the Rays cheered when they heard the news. Then Kowalski put in,
"Now, about the living arrangements." 

 Vecchio looked around. "We're going to need a bigger apartment. Or maybe
a small house." 

 "Definitely a bigger bed," added Kowalski. 

 Diefenbaker barked. "Maybe a yard," added Vecchio. 

 Fraser tried unsuccessfully to stifle a yawn. "About the bed ... " he
suggested. 

 Kowalski grinned. "Think all three of us could fit in there for now?" 

 "Maybe, if we cuddle up really close together," said Vecchio
suggestively. 

 So the three men and one wolf piled into the bed. As they drifted off to
sleep, Kowalski was heard to murmur, "Welcome home, Fraser." 

 "We missed you," added Vecchio. 

 "We love you," both said at the same time. 

 Fraser put his arms around his two lovers. "I love you - both of you -
too." 

 END 

 </PRE>