No-One Else	  I refuse to warn for this one other than to say that
someone dies and I'm not terribly nice to my characters. The ending made
one of my beta readers swear at me. She claimed that meant she liked it,
after she finished calling me sadistic and cruel. Angst ahead. 

 Heartfelt thanks to Livia, for her, um, uncensored commentary and
encouragement, Mary for Ray V. beta and helpful suggestions, and always,
to Galadriel, who listened to it ad nauseum and helped me pick it apart
line by line and put it all back together.

 No-One Else
 By Ophelia Coelridge

 "Hello, Ben. Did you miss me?"

 He'd never really expected to hear the voice that greeted him ever again.
Then again, on some level he'd been listening for it in every half-heard
whisper of sound for the past year and a half.

 * * *

 The fax had not come through official channels. Not strictly official
channels, Benton Fraser amended in his head. Because if it had been anyone
else, they'd have had no reason to inform him. Not this way. 

 He stared at the paper. The grey smudges. The formal, empty words. There
was a scribbled note attached, from Inspector Thatcher. It read simply, "I
thought you should know. I'm sorry."

 "Hey Benny, you ready to g--what is it?"

 Fraser silently handed over the flimsy sheet of paper.

 "Dead," he said quietly. "They thought I'd want to know."

 Ray also stared at the page. "I don't know if you should be laughing or
crying," he said blankly.

 "They checked the dental records," Fraser continued in an empty, even
voice that hurt to listen to. "It really was her. Single shot,
execution-style, to the head."

 Silence. An impenetrable bubble that enveloped the two of them and made
the noisy bustle of the precinct something very, very far away.

 "C'mon, Benny," Ray said finally, gently, breaking the frozen tableau.
"I'm taking you home."

 Fraser said nothing, and let Ray guide him from the station and into the
car with an arm around his shoulders.

 Ray let the Riv idle outside of his building. "Are you o--are you going
to be okay?"

 "I believe I'm in shock," was the toneless response.

 "Do you want me to come in with you?"

 "No. If it's all right with you, I... I think I'd like to be alone."
Fraser stared unseeingly out the window.

 "You need anything, and I mean anything at all, you call me," Ray said
with an intensity that bordered on fierceness. "I mean it, Benny." He
squeezed Fraser's shoulder briefly. Fraser blinked, and smiled as if his
face would crack.

 "Understood. And Ray?"

 "Yeah?"

 "Thank you." A flicker of emotion escaped past the blank mask. It may
have been gratitude. It may have been pain.

 "You just remember--you need anything, you call." 

 Fraser said nothing, just got out of the car, and raised one hand in a
silent farewell. Ray let out the breath he hadn't realized he'd been
holding, and waited another long minute or so before reluctantly driving
away.

 * * *

 Fraser took off his hat. Hung it up. Removed his jacket carefully,
fingers steady on the brass buttons. Hung up the jacket, too. Turned to
face the ghost that greeted him.

 "Hello, Victoria."

 END 

 Tell me I'm evil and sadistic at ophelia@thepurplebuffalo.net. More of my
fanfic can be found at http://www.thepurplebuffalo.net/~ophelia.