Siren Song	 Siren Song by Manna LaDroit

 Author's webpage: http://members.tripod.com/~mannaladroit

  

 Siren Song 

 by 

 Manna LaDroit 

 Title: Siren Song
 Author: Manna La Droit 
 Pairings: Fraser/Vecchio 
 Part: 
 Rating: PG-13 
 Warnings/Notices: I use spoilers for all sorts of episodes, in my
universe the series ended with "Flashback," and there's major hot Mountie
love ahead. 

 Raymondo Vecchio. 

 For as long as he could remember, he'd been a little bothered about that
name. "Raymondo Vecchio" sounded like an important Italian senator, or a
mobster, or an artist. It had never really sounded like him. 

 And so it was Ray. Ray Vecchio. Plain and simple and friendly. 

 Not that he was simple, really, and most people didn't think he was
friendly, he supposed. He was certainly plain enough, though. 

 Even his wife hadn't thought he was good-looking, and Ange had the taste
of a garden slug. He'd heard she was dating a cop on the south side now,
some short guy that looked a little like Leonardo DiCaprio if he gained
about forty pounds. 

 With a little shake the woman behind the desk didn't see, he returned to
the present: Ray Vecchio. 

 "V-E-C-C-H-I-O." 

 "R-A-Y?" 

 "Yes." 

 She smiled. She had pert little lips and soft, sweet breasts. Her wedding
ring had yellow diamonds studded around it. 

 "Very good," she chirped. "I have you in an aisle seat, non-stop to
Toronto, and from there to Nova Scotia, with the fruit plate, leaving
O'Hare 04:47 AM tomorrow morning, to return on the 15th." She augmented
her list by passing over an itinerary print-out. "Is this all correct?" 

 Ray looked over the lines, still half-inclined to change the tickets for
Miami. What was he doing going north, for Pete's sakes? He wanted to burn
the stress out of his body with sun and wash it away with surf and...and
if he really wanted that he supposed he would have bought tickets to
Miami. 

 Nova Scotia? What the hell was he thinking? 

 "Yeah, it's all right," he said, watching her nod and smile and print out
the tickets. He tried to smile back at her. He was celebrating, after all,
taking two weeks' vacation time for the first time since becoming a cop
seventeen years ago because Welsh had been like some Godfather of Heart
and Soul since Vecchio had busted Frank Zuko for the hit on Joe Paducci. 

 Ray gave up trying to smile. The guy had been all right, a good man who'd
wanted nothing more than to have a decent life working with his hands and
supporting his wife and kid. After stealing from the poor box at a local
church, Paducci had become the center of controversy when Zuko had asked
to have the man found and arrested. By the time Vecchio had realized it
was all just a ploy to have the man killed, it had been too late to save
Paducci. 

 But even while Vecchio typed up a letter of resignation and stuck it in
his desk drawer, at the ready, he'd turned the matter into a personal
vendetta, not stopping for rest, it seemed, for weeks, until finally he
had not only Zuko's muscle, but The Man Himself behind bars and facing
multiple sentences. 

 Zuko had slipped up in calling the hit, especially in choosing his
talent. Vecchio knew he wouldn't have gotten anywhere without that. So
when Welsh made a big deal of his accomplishment, Ray had felt primarily
irritated. What was a commendation when all he could think about was Irene
Zuko, Frank's sister, looking at him from across the courtroom while her
brother was arraigned? He'd had hopes that maybe one day they could work
things out, somehow, but now that he was responsible for her brother's
arrest...no. There was nothing left there even to wish after. 

 It was an old flame, he told himself, taking the tickets. Old and musty,
a left-over from a bad childhood that only looked innocent in comparison
to watching Frank Zuko plead not guilty. 

 Zuko could have him rubbed out, Vecchio supposed, walking now to his car,
itself an old flame, though a much more faithful one. Faithful and
dependable: they were qualities Ray hoped people found in himself:
faithful and dependable and just a dash of true style. 

 Taking out a hit on the arresting officer wouldn't help Zuko, though.
Vecchio wasn't a key witness. If anything, Vecchio's sudden demise would
just make Zuko look worse. 'Course, Frank might do it out of spite, but
that would be later, after the trial. 

 God, he was tired. Welsh wouldn't take the resignation, gave him the two
weeks' vacation time instead. Maybe he was right and it would make a
difference. 

 And maybe that explained his destination. Maybe he needed something
different. Maybe the armpit of the frozen north could help him find
something, something maybe that would be more comfortable if it were all
frozen up too. 

 Now he just had to tell Ma. 

 @@@ 

 "Two weeks?" the Vecchio matriarch asked with dismay. 

 "I'll be back before you know it." 

 "But you won't have any more vacation time, not for months. I thought you
were going with us to Lucille's." 

 "That's not for a couple months, Ma. This is special time, right? I took
down Zuko, and I gotta get some rest." 

 "But..." Mrs. Vecchio looked to her eldest daughter for help, but Maria
only shook her head. 

 "If Ray feels like he needs a break, Ma, he should go." 

 "But where is this place again?" 

 "Nova Scotia, Ma. It's right above Maine." Ray had looked it up on a map.


 "But that's so cold, this time of year." 

 "Chicago's cold, Ma." 

 "Then you could stay in Chicago." 

 "Ma, I gotta get away, be by myself, do nothing, stare into space." Ray
was up and pacing, unable to help himself even though he knew his mother
didn't like it. Why did his skin feel so tight? His feet hurt. 

 "Ma," he said, cutting off the next round. "I just gotta go, okay? I'll
be back in two weeks." He left the room, avoided the kitchen, and headed
upstairs. He needed to pack. 

 It was unpleasant, walking out on her like that. It made him feel like
Pop, storming out when his wife asked him not to yell at the children, not
to stumble around where he might break something, not to...do all the
things Pop used to do. 

 He got his best suitcase out of the closet and put it on the bed. Opened,
it seemed very empty, waiting to be filled up in that patient way
suitcases had. 

 Ray grinned a little. He was getting punchy. Please, God, let him sleep
on the plane. 

 He packed one gray suit. Then jeans, brown pants, and three sweaters, a
knit hat, one pair of heavy gloves, walking boots, and thick, soft socks. 

 "What's going on?" 

 Ray didn't bother turning to his sister Francesca's voice. 

 "I'm heading out for a while." 

 "That doesn't look like beachwear." 

 "How'd you get so smart all the sudden?" He dug through the drawer,
looking for his silk bodywear he'd bought but never gotten to use for one
long-ago attempt at skiing. 

 "I heard about Zuko." 

 He stopped then and looked at her. She was heading out herself, dressed
to kill...or to get arrested. He wasn't sure which. 

 "Old stuff," he said. 

 "You're taking a break, then?" Her eyes went to his suitcase. "But where
are you going?" 

 "Nova Scotia." 

 "Switzerland?" 

 "Canada. I'll be back in two weeks." 

 "You want a ride to the airport in the morning?" 

 "It's real early." 

 "I don't mind. I'll probably still be up." 

 He got up a smile. "Thanks." 

 She nodded, then came forward to kiss his cheek, overwhelming him with
Passion Splendor, or whatever she was buying by the pint these days. 

 It was a little weird, these days, the way he shared something with his
little sister, some sort of...wandering. They'd both gotten married with
stars in the their eyes, and divorced not too long after with mouths full
of dust. He hugged her close a second, thinking about how she was too
thin, about how she should be round and soft, like Ma, and then let her
go. 

 To something less than his surprise, he slept little, and when Frannie
tapped on his door at three in the morning, she was still in her date
clothes. He'd already parked the case by the door, so it was just a matter
of picking it up and walking out to Frannie's piece of junk compact next
to the family station wagon. The Riv, of course, was tucked safely into
the garage. 

 "So how was the date?" 

 She shrugged and pulled out into the street without looking. It was too
early for traffic in this neighborhood, anyway. 

 "He's a plumber." 

 "Good money." 

 Another shrug. 

 "Not a good at conversation?" 

 "He told me I didn't have any sort of an ass." 

 Ray's hands clenched. "You try to date him again, and I'll break both his
legs." 

 She laughed. 

 "I told him he had enough ass for both of us, and a gut I could store
frozen food in. That was pretty much the end of things." 

 "No loss for you." 

 She nodded, but he didn't press it. They both knew the flip-side of being
relieved to end another lousy date: searching for the next lousy date
after that. 

 She waited with him at the terminal. 

 "So what's with the royal send-off?" 

 She said nothing for a while, then, right when they were calling his
section of seats: "They got women up in Canada, right?" 

 He smiled again. She was making his face hurt. He gave her another hug,
hoisted his carry-on, and went down the ramp. 

 To his surprise, he did sleep on the plane, and on the plane after that.
It left him grumpy and groggy: not the best way to arrange for a rental
car, but he slid behind the wheel of a nice sized Ford and pointed it
towards the cabin he'd rented, getting it quick and cheap through the
agent during the off-season. 

 He stopped at what he'd been warned was the only store around and paid a
fortune for some pretty basic foodstuffs, then finished the trip peering
through sleep-swollen eyes and praying the bed was soft. 

 When he woke in the morning, he was alarmed that he couldn't really
remember unlocking the cabin door. He did remember putting the milk in the
'fridge, and shedding his clothes, and sliding into the nicely soft
sheets. 

 It was chilly in here this morning. The place had space heaters in the
bedroom and bathroom, and a gas fireplace with these tubes through the
grate in the front room. The rooms actually heated up pretty quickly, as
did the water for the coffee. There was a proper hot water heater for his
shower, and more coffee. 

 He looked out the wide sliding-glass door while he drank. There was snow
on the ground, but nothing more than he'd seen in the dead of a Chicago
winter or two. The cabin was set well back from the coastline, and mostly
looked out over this sort of white plain boarded by rocks on one side and
snow-covered trees on the other. Actually, it looked kind of pretty out
there, and in a few minutes he was wrapped in a sweater and his coat and
stomping through the snow in his boots. 

 Vecchio smiled, feeling quite alone in the universe. It was a little odd,
but nice. There were probably very few purse-snatchings out here, and with
the exception of the occasional polar bear, not much to shoot at. 

 By the fourth day, the oddness of being completely alone had worn off.
Ray had gone now two days without saying a word, and three days without
seeing another person at all. He was running low on coffee, but hated the
idea of leaving this white place of silence. It was so cold, so beautiful
and pure and...*something.* He felt he could stay here forever. 

 "My God." 

 There was a seal, a *seal* on the rocks. 

 He was walking towards the coast, he realized, which wasn't part of his
usual flight plan. The water from the sea wasn't frozen, and splashed and
sprayed everywhere. In fact, he could hear the sea. 

 Still, the seal had come inland several hundred feet. It was a white
seal, like the type that got clubbed to death. It was also regarding him
with an odd intensity. Perhaps Ray was walking towards little seal babies,
or something. 

 "Sorry," he muttered. "Even out here it's too easy to intrude, huh?
Didn't mean to come stomping through your living room." 

 The seal's head cocked, the white skin shining in the bright, cold sun.
It seemed almost as though the creature were listening to him. 

 "Are you all alone out here, fella?" Ray looked around, but none of the
other rocks moved or produced whiskers. "You get off course or something?"


 "Ark! Ark! Ark!" 

 Strange, it was a friendly sort of barking, not angry. Ray found himself
edging slightly forward. The seal dipped its head in an encouraging way,
and in a minute Ray found himself standing a few feet from the seal's
large rock. 

 "Ark!" The white seal waved a flipper, and Ray laughed. 

 "I sure wish I had some fish for ya." The golden brown eyes looked at him
adoringly. "I don't guess you'd like to be petted, either." 

 The seal looked almost offended, then stretched its long neck down. In
near disbelief, Ray put out his hand and carefully stroked the lovely
beast behind what looked to be the ear holes. The seal made little
snuffling noises that sounded quite happy. 

 The hairs on the back of Ray's neck tickled. He whipped around, hand
going to his gun, even though it wasn't there. 

 "Who's out there?" he called, then listened to the question echo back at
him. "Come on out where I can see you." 

 The seal made a strange noise that sounded quite a lot like a snicker, or
perhaps a snigger. Ray turned slowly back to look into those wide,
baby-cute eyes, then felt a sense of loss when the seal slipped back out
of sight. 

 The next day, feeling foolish, Vecchio carried a bait bag of small fish,
purchased along with more coffee and milk and bread. He headed for the
rocks again and crawled around them quietly for about an hour before
sitting in defeat, watching the sea crash against the rocks. His boots
were wet, and there was this slimy sort of ice-snow-frost on the rocks
between himself and the ocean that shone in the sun like mucus. 

 Ray snorted. The wonders of nature couldn't inspire poetry in a plain
brain like his. 

 "Ark!" 

 Ray almost slid from the rock and then almost dropped his bag of fish. 

 "Ark ark ark snurgle." 

 "Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up." Ray settled himself back on the rock with good
grace, unable to help smiling at the white little slip of a thing peering
at him from under a craggy outcropping. A whiskered nose popped into the
sunlight, then back, as though inviting the man to come closer. 

 Ray dourly regarded the slippery rocks, then set to the task of getting
closer. After a few yards, he could see that the seal was lounging in a
sort of wide crevice, the bottom of which never saw the sun, for it was
filled with snow. 

 "Ark!" 

 "Keep your pants on. I'm coming." 

 The seal snuffled out a bit, but evidently didn't want to leave the shade
of the crevice. Ray sat along the upper edge and dangled his feet down,
feeling ridiculously pleased to see the creature again. 

 "I'm probably breaking wildlife laws, you know," he said as he opened up
his bag. The smell of fish was just awful, but the seal went into a little
shivering flap, wriggling his nose like crazy, so Ray guessed he'd guessed
right. 

 When it occurred to him he'd actually have to touch the fish to get them
out of the bag, he stopped feeling so pleased with himself. The question
now was, did he spare his hands and ruin his gloves? 

 With a sigh, he pulled off his right glove and reached down into the bag
with a grimace. He threw a fish at the seal and watched him catch it right
out the air and swallow it without chewing. 

 "Hungry, big guy?" He laughed, an abrupt sound cut off when his eyes
finally noticed something in the dim snow that looked a lot like a human
hand print. 

 Ray squinted. It looked a *lot* like a human hand print. 

 The seal barked and he threw it another fish, not even paying attention
to the squishiness of it this time. 

 The thing was, while he could easily believe that the snow was quite old,
being protected in the crevice, and that the print had been left there by
some tourist or something, perhaps even the last occupant of the cabin, it
was very odd that there was nothing else, just that sole hand print. 

 Of course, there might have been footprints around that got wiped out
when the seal wallowed and slid around in there. But the problem with that
theory was that around the hand print the snow was very smooth, with a
sort of sloping indentation that suggested it was either following a
trench in the rocks or...Ray looked closer, throwing the last of the fish
at the seal. It looked strange there, as though a very large fish had been
lying there. He could see the slow curl and broad fan of the tail. 

 And then, all by itself, there was that hand print. 

 Weird. 

 "Ark!" 

 "Sorry," Ray muttered, looking at the seal as he turned the bag up-side
down to show it was empty, laughing at himself the whole time. 

 But the seal seemed to understand, lying down on the cool snow with an
expression of contentment. 

 Smiling, Ray looked up over the rocks at the sea. It was so cold it was
green, and when it tore against the rocks little emerald and diamond
fireworks caught pieces of the sun. 

 "It's weird you're all alone like this," he said. "Why don't you have a
girl seal? Aren't you supposed to mate and have cubs and stuff?" 

 With a shake, Ray remembered he'd brought himself something to eat with
the seal. Awkwardly digging into the right-side pocket of his coat with
his left hand, he eventually produced a Snickers bar and tore the wrapper
off with his teeth, taking care not to lose the wrapper piece in the wind.


 "Ark! Ark! Ark!" 

 In surprise, Ray looked down to an extremely excited seal, stretching
itself up on its tail until the nose actually reached Ray's shin, butting
it gently in entreaty. 

 "You gotta be kidding me!" 

 "Ark! Ark!" The head was awkwardly laid along his leg, the eyes looking
up in abject need. 

 "No way." He could just see it now, getting arrested for killing the seal
with chocolate poisoning or watching it choke to death on a nut, or
something. "This is bad for you." 

 "Ark! Ark! Ark!" 

 "Don't even think about it! Don't even think about it!" Ray stuffed half
his Snickers in his mouth and chewed, yelling around the sticky mess, "I
brought you herring, for Pete's sakes!" 

 The seal settled down and regarded him resentfully. Ray defiantly
finished the candy bar, then went back to looking at the ocean's
green-cold crash and pull. 

 He found the seal the next day and fed him an even bigger bag of fish. He
brought himself a sandwich this time, eating at the same time as his
companion, and escaped the worst of the begging. 

 "Been here over a week now," he said. "It's like I can't remember
anything before coming here, really. Is that crazy, or what? I think about
what it will be like to be back in Chicago, and I can't come up with
anything. I can't even imagine it." 

 The seal rolled over on its back, evidently regarding the sky. They were
out of the crevice today, basking in the sun on a rock wet enough for the
seal and dry enough for the man. Ray was surprised at how warm he was,
getting both the direct sunlight and the reflected heat from the rocks. 

 The ocean was a calming companion now, but staring into that cold moss
color surrounded by the tumbling, swirling foam still disturbed him. 

 "No one would believe me if they saw me here, you know. No one who knows
me. They'd never believe I could be so quiet, or that I'd be talking to a
seal, for that matter. I guess it is kinda nuts." 

 *Snuffle.* 

 "Well, that's easy for you to say." Ray frowned, meeting those eyes. "Or
is it? I mean, if there were other seals here, would they be getting on
you for talking with a human? Our kind has been known to club your kind to
death and wear you and stuff. I could see it, if you wanted to hold a
grudge." 

 The eyes closed and the seal seemed to relax even more on the rocks. 

 "Right decent of you." Ray just sat there a while, then found himself
lying on his back, closing his eyes against the bright blue sky, warmed
when he'd thought he only wanted to be cold. 

 "Miami in the arctic," he mumbled. 

 "Ark." 

 "I don't know if I can do it anymore, but there's nothing else I can do,
you know? I don't know...I don't know if I'm up to it anymore." 

 Pressure on his leg made him start, but looking down only revealed that
the seal had placed his head on his thigh. Ray found it hard to breathe. 

 Gently, he put his hand on the seal's head, and for a long, long time
they lay together like that, listening to the endless music of the sea. 

 The next day at the store, the owner, Ron, seemed to be expecting him,
greeting him with both a bag of "bait" and a nod towards an elderly woman
waiting by the counter. 

 "Gina wants to talk to you, if you don't mind, eh?" 

 "Mr. Vecchio? I'm Gina McMorrant." 

 She was just about the palest woman he'd ever met, and her hand when he
shook it was dry as a desert wind. She was in her fifties, he thought, or
maybe older. Her hair was blonde-white and her face was a study in
contrasts between tight skin and web-like wrinkles. 

 "Nice to meet you," he said. It felt more normal to talk to another human
than he would have thought. Chicago seemed suddenly much more possible,
and the thought depressed him. 

 "You're at one of the cabins in Siren Cove?" Ms McMorrant asked avidly.
Her eyes were blue-white and, Ray thought, a little cold. 

 "I guess. It isn't called that on the map, but..." He shrugged towards
Ron, who'd mentioned the name. 

 "Right." She took an expectant breath. "So...any sightings?" 

 "Sightings?" 

 "Of sirens!" 

 Ray had a feeling she wasn't talking about squad cars or fire trucks. 

 "Sirens." She looked at him. "Creatures of the sea who sit on icebergs
and lure unsuspecting ships to their doom with their song. The call of a
siren is said to be irresistible, a call to the sailor's loneliness for
home." 

 "What? What is that? Some sort of Canadian joke?" Ray laughed. "I got it.
You pull this on us Americans, huh?" 

 Ms McMorrant was frowning. 

 "Hey," Ron spoke up, "in America I bet they're better known as mermaids,
eh?" 

 "Mermaids?" Vecchio knew it was a joke now: Darryl Hannah, and Ester
Williams movies, and the Little Mermaid in the cartoon the kids used to
watch. Besides, everyone knew mermaids lived in the Caribbean, and other
warm places where it was okay to go around without clothes. He had a
vision of sea-shell bras over breasts. Canadian mermaids. Right! 

 "Sirens are a type of merperson, it's true," McMorrant was saying now.
"We've had several sightings over the years, including some documented
evidence." 

 "Right. Well, if I see anything, I'll be sure to take a picture," Ray
said, grabbing some expensive but shiny red apples and then turning to pay
for them and the fish. 

 Driving back to the cabin, he couldn't figure out who was being sillier,
McMorrant with her fish stories, or him with his bag of bait and hopes
that some seal would be waiting for him on the rocks. 

 Three hours later, he knew. 

 It had only been chance that had brought the seal to him those times. He
couldn't even swear to it that it was the same seal. Certainly, it looked
like the same seal, but what did he know about arctic wildlife? And now he
was cold and holding a stinky bag of fish. 

 Not wanting to bring the bait into the cabin, he found the crevice again.
The same hand print still made him wonder about the last guests at the
cabin, but then a sudden thought made him laugh. 

 "Maybe I should take a picture of it for the locals. They could build a
theme park around it, or something." 

 He stood there a minute, realized he was listening for seal barking in
the wind, and dropped his bag of fish down to rest on the snow. He'd get
it before he left and toss it in the garbage bin outside. 

 He walked slowly back, noticing he had company. Some locals, it looked
like, were out with cameras about a quarter-mile down the coastline, right
at the turn of the cove. 

 In the cabin he watched incredibly bad television that helped him take a
nap, made himself a dinner of pasta and sauce, read a few chapters in a
book he found in the nightstand about some mad scientist who made up a
plague that would only kill women -- unresolved childhood issues, he
wondered? -- then finally turned out the light and closed his eyes. 

 He only had a few days before he needed to return to Chicago and his life
and everything. 

 He rolled over on his back. The moon must be full and the sky clear. He
hadn't shut his bedroom curtains and light was just pouring through the
windows. He had already gotten to know this ceiling pretty well, though.
Maybe that crack over there was new? Was that a spider web? 

 "Yeesh." 

 Ray frowned at his own voice. Was he hoping the spider would come out so
he could talk to it? 

 Of course, if he wanted to talk to anyone, he should talk to himself.
Wasn't that really why he'd come up here? 

 But there was nothing to say. He knew why he became a cop: to keep from
being like the goombahs he'd grown up with, to make something decent out
of his life, to help people. To be someone the exact opposite of his
father and Frank Zuko. 

 So now his father was dead and Zuko was facing life in prison. That
should make him happy, he guessed. 

 But he wasn't happy his father was dead. A man only got one father in his
life, and Ray's was gone. 

 And he wasn't, he realized, happy that Zuko was in jail. He was
only...satisfied, in this kind of grim, depressing way. 

 Maybe he just needed a new case. 

 "Ark!" 

 Great. Now he was hearing seals in his sleep. 

 "Ark! Ark!" 

 Ray sat up. 

 "Ark! Ark!" 

 "Geeze, it sounds like Lassie or something," Ray groused to cover his
amazement as he got out of bed and padded into the front room. He looked
toward the glass door, and stumbled to a halt. 

 White, glowingly white, smooth lines like wedding-cake icing, like
marble, like some damn marble statue except that he... 

 He. 

 There was a naked man standing outside his door. An incredibly beautiful
naked man. 

 "Ark!" 

 Ray got his eyes to look down and saw the white seal beside the man. It
finally dawned on him that both man and beast looked frightened. 

 He moved to the door and unlatched it, then slid the glass over. The man
trembled and hesitated, but the seal immediately waddled through. 

 "It's all right," Ray murmured, waving him inside. 

 The man nodded and stepped over the threshold, then quickly moved deep
inside the room. Ray closed and latched the door, then drew the curtain
over it. He went into the linen closet next and brought out a soft blue
blanket. He also took the opportunity to draw in a few deep breaths and
get a hold of himself. 

 *This is a man, Vecchio! What the hell's the matter with you?* 

 He turned with resolution, then was struck dumb once again. 

 Black hair, short, but thick as a beaver's pelt, blue eyes like something
from a stained-glass window, the cutest little chin, the -- 

 *Stop it! Stop it! This is a guy!* 

 Ray got the blanket around the creamy white shoulders and summoned up a
smile. 

 "Sorry for gawking. You lose your swimsuit?" 

 Brilliant blue eyes stared at him in caution. 

 "Let me get you some soup." Ray smiled at himself suddenly. He sounded
just like his mother. "And some sweats. I got some. Hang on." 

 Someone knocked on his front door. 

 The man startled violently and stared at the seal, who had gone quiet and
still. 

 Was this guy a fugitive? Impossible. 

 "Get into the bedroom," Ray whispered. 

 The man moved silently, the blanket like a cape, swirling around to
reveal alabaster legs. 

 Vecchio made his body slump, got his eyes all tired, and shuffled to the
door, which he opened a crack. 

 McMorrant was there, along with some other men and women. They held
flashlights and cameras. Someone was filming him. The sudden, restorative
flush of anger went right through Vecchio's body. 

 "What the hell is going on? I'm trying to sleep! Get that camera outta my
face!" 

 "Mr. Vecchio," McMorrant started in. "We think we saw something around
your cabin!" 

 "Yeah? Well, I'm seeing something, and it looks like a bunch of rude
Canadians crashing in on a man who's taking his first real vacation since
the dawn of time and was sleeping until you jokers decided to wake him up!
Didn't I tell you to get that camera out of here? You wanna be wearing
it?" 

 "Mr. Vecchio --" 

 "I said get out of here!" He slammed the door, enjoying the hard, solid
wood. 

 He stood there a long while, listening to them back off, then grow quiet.
Peering out the little front window he watched their flashlights float
like glowworms back towards the seacoast. 

 Satisfied, he went to the kitchen. 

 "You want tomato soup or clam chowder?" he called. 

 "Ark!" came distantly. 

 "I ain't asking you," Ray groused, opening up the can of chowder and
putting it in a pot. He turned on the gas and lit it, then moved carefully
back into his bedroom. The man was just standing there, eyes wide,
clutching the blanket around his shoulders. 

 "Look, you're all right, okay? What happened? They see you swimming or
something and decide you're a mermaid?" Ray shook his head and opened up
the drawer for his sweats. Good thing he liked them loose. He got out
socks too. He didn't think the guy would fit into his tighty whites. Too
bad he didn't have boxers. 

 "I've heard about people who swim in ice water." Ray chuckled, kneeling
down to open the drawer that held the two T-shirts he'd brought. "Always
thought you people were nuts, I admit." 

 Fishy breath was hot on his neck, and he turned to stare levelly at
golden brown eyes. Ray patted the slick head and earned himself a nudge on
the knee with a whiskered nose. 

 "He yours?" Ray asked, turning and holding out the clothes. "I thought he
was pretty tame." 

 The man frowned slightly, then smiled, and Ray felt his guts tighten up a
little. His guest shook his head. 

 "Don't you talk?" Ray asked. 

 "He...belongs...to no one...but...himself." The voice was odd, rusty and
husky, with an extremely peculiar accent. 

 "But you're, uh, friends, right?" 

 A hesitant nod. Ray sniffed the air. 

 "Think your chowder's burning." Ray moved off for the kitchen. "Get
dressed. I'll serve it up." 

 Ray got out two bowls, then made it three, dumping a can of tuna in the
third one and setting it on the floor. By the time the table was ready,
the man walked out. 

 "So, my name's Ray Vecchio." He motioned towards the table. The seal
undulated over to the tuna bowl, sniffed, and then ate. The man seemed
reassured and went to the table, sitting awkwardly once Ray had settled
himself. Ray picked up his spoon, smiled a little, then ate a bite. The
man cautiously followed suit, seemed surprised by the taste of the soup,
and then ate very quickly. 

 "Makes you hungry, swimming, huh?" 

 The man nodded, then said softly, "Yes." 

 "So, you got a name?" 

 Another nod. 

 Ray waited. 

 "Can I know your name? And, if you don't mind my asking, considering you
were naked and all, where you've been?" 

 The man looked slightly upset. 

 "Been," he repeated slowly. 

 "Yeah." 

 The man blinked at him. 

 "Oh, Ben, you mean? Your name's Ben?" 

 The man bit his lip and nodded. 

 "Okay, Ben. All right. How about the seal? He got a name?" 

 Ben nodded, and then emitted a very high squeak. Ray blinked at him, but
the seal left the empty bowl and waddled over, his nose up, as though
seeking something. 

 "Eeek?" Ray tried. But the seal ignored him. 

 "No," Ben said. "Eek." 

 Ray tried it several times, feeling foolish, then gave it up. 

 "Look, can I drive you some place?" 

 Ben stared at him again. 

 "It's real late," Ray tried. "You wanna stay here the night? We can get
you all fixed up in the morning." 

 "Thou art very kind," Ben said. 

 Ray stared at him, then stood up and collected the dishes, shaking his
head slightly. Canadians! 

 "Thou art very welcome, I'm sure," he said. He would have made more out
of it, he supposed, but considering that he wasn't acting right himself
right now, he couldn't bring himself to get into it. At least all covered
up, the guy wasn't challenging his sexual identity anymore. 

 It was just the shock, Ray told himself, the surprise of having the guy
show up like that. And he'd been alone at the cabin for a lot of days now.
And he'd been lonely for so much longer than that. 

 Ray almost dropped a dish into the sink, then busied himself washing up.
It was true, though. He'd been lonely forever. 

 A warm nudge at his knee made him laugh, and he looked down into marble
eyes, thinking about that bag of bait. 

 "Sorry," he said, rubbing Eek behind his ear holes. "All I have is
chocolate." 

 "Chocolate?" 

 Ray stared in amazement at the man standing next to him in skin-molded
sweats. Ben's eyes were actually sparkling. 

 "Yeah. You want some?" He thought about how athletes sometimes craved
sugar, especially after a workout. He had a vision, a downright vision of
a pale, perfect body swimming naked through the moonlit sea. 

 *Think about baseball! Think about baseball!* 

 "If thou wouldst be so kind," Ben asked with a shy smile. "It is a
delicacy I and Eek have not enjoyed in...some time." 

 The seal perked up at the sound of his name, his whiskers quivering. 

 "He can have some, then?" Ray asked while moving to the bag of Snickers
he was keeping in the cupboard. "I wasn't sure it would be okay for him." 

 "Living with him would be impossible else." 

 Ray laughed at that incredible accent. He passed a bar to Ben and watched
him fumble with the wrapper. At the noise, Eek "arked" several times.
"Where are you from?" Ray asked over the noise. 

 Ben's eyes glanced at him in concern. 

 "North, sir." 

 Ray laughed again and opened a bar for Eek. He noticed Ben covertly
following his hands' motions. 

 "Ark! Ark!" 

 "Right," Ray soothed, handing the bar down and watching as the seal all
but floated in ecstasy as his jaws worked the candy. "But just call me
Ray, all right?" 

 "Ray." Ben smiled, then took a small bite of the candy, his face flushing
slightly in pleasure. Ray felt his own candy bar go heavy in his hand. 

 "Thou art most generous of thy home and hearth," Ben said quietly. 

 "I'm just here on vacation," Ray said, waving his hand slightly and
deciding against eating the Snickers bar after all. It would be hard
enough to sleep without veins full of sugar. 

 Ben finished his own candy and smothered a yawn. 

 "Ready for bed?" Ray asked, keeping it nothing but casual, even
impersonal. 

 "We may sleep here?" 

 Ray shrugged. "That's the idea, right? You take the bed, I'll take the
sofa, and Eek can have the bathtub, if he wants." 

 "Bath...tub?" 

 Ray looked at Ben a moment, then turned and led him into the bathroom. 

 "You wanna take a bath?" he asked. "Get that salt water off?" 

 Ben smiled at him, dazzling the man, then skimmed almost instantly out of
his clothing. Ray lunged to the taps and turned them on full. 

 "I'm afraid the water never really gets hot," he sputtered, feeling the
warmth of Ben's naked body right there at his side and well aware he was
*too* aware of it. Damnit, he was straight, and this was too weird. He was
just lonely, but still. Maybe he should have done McMorrant when he had
the chance. 

 *And when was that, exactly, Vecchio?* 

 "There," he announced, watching the water fill the tub at a quick, if
tepid, rise. "You have your bath and I'll change the sheets on the bed,
right?" He almost shouted the last of this at the door, having escaped the
bathroom on clumsy feet. He turned and almost stepped on Eek. 

 "Ark, snigger." 

 "And where did you find him, anyway?" Ray hissed at the beast, well aware
that his face was burning. It was downright unnatural, the whole thing. 

 He ripped the sheets off the bed and put on the fresh ones, then used his
old sheets to make a bed for himself on the sofa. 

 "Hey, Ben!" he called out, sticking his head through the open bathroom
door. "You want..." 

 Later, Ray would never be able to remember just what he had wanted to ask
his house guest. However, he would never forget the long, red, sparkling,
sharp-scaled fishtail that hung over the edge of the tub. 

 "Dost thou wish thy bath?" Ben asked. "The water is strange, but pleasant
indeed." 

 "Eeep," Ray said. It was the closest to the seal's name he had gotten
yet, and Ben smiled. 

 "Yes, he would like it too." 

 "You're a mermaid." 

 Ben frowned slightly. "In point of fact, indeed, I would be a mer*man* in
your parlance." 

 "You're half fish!" 

 Ben blinked in the aftermath of this small explosion. 

 "Didst thou not realize --" 

 "No!" 

 Exquisite blue eyes filled with fear. The pale skin of Ben's hands turned
chalk-white over his knuckles as his fingers throttled the rim of the tub.


 "You're...that's a fish tail!" Ray wailed, pointing now. "You're...Oh my
God! Oh my God!" 

 "Sir, I --" 

 "Oh my God!" But even as he shouted it, Ray heard the "sir" from Ben's
mouth and forced himself calmer. The poor guy looked like he was trying to
disappear down the drain. Maybe he could. 

 "Look," Ray said, soothing now, gentling the air with his hands. "Look.
You're okay, right? You're all right. I'm not gonna turn you over to Miss
National Geographic. It's all right. I just...I just gotta get used to
this, okay?" 

 But Ben was now pushing up on the sides of the tub, lifting himself out
of the water. The fishtail glittered like an enormous ruby fashioned into
a disco ball, tossing out blood-red flashes all around the otherwise
rustic room. "I should never have --" 

 "Don't get out of the tub!" Ray shouted. 

 Ben blinked at him, but otherwise just stayed right there, the muscles on
his arms twitching slightly. Ray gathered himself with a super-sized
breath and tried again. 

 "It's okay, all right? You just kinda took me by surprise there, okay?"
Ray couldn't help looking Ben over again. If anything, the man was even
more incredible as a fish. "You just stay there and enjoy your bath. You
look like it's helping you." 

 Ben swallowed, hesitated, then lowered himself back into the water. "I do
feel a little...hemmed in whilst wearing legs." 

 "Well, yeah, that makes sense," Ray babbled. "Hey, I don't even know why
this is so much of a shock. That seal of yours is kind of a give-away,
right? I mean, he's not exactly your typical seal." 

 Ben nodded gravely. "His sire was ta'en by the Brine Maiden." 

 Ray nodded vigorously. "Yeah, that would explain it." With effort, he got
himself to back out of the room. "Well, you finish your bath. The bed's
all ready for ya, unless you'd prefer to sleep in here?" 

 Ben shook his head. "No, I thank thee kindly. A bed would be...most
pleasant." 

 "Great! Great. Well, it's all settled, then." Ray got himself into the
living room, where Eek was lying over the rug. 

 "Arkle." 

 "Yeah." 

 Ray sat on the sofa. A long while passed. 

 Ben came into the room wearing the sweats, his dark hair wet and bristly.
Eek pushed his nose into Ben's hand, then rested his head on Ray's knee
for a rub, then waddled off to the bathroom for the night. 

 "Ready to get some sleep?" Ray asked. 

 Ben sat in the armchair. "I thought thou might have questions." 

 "Can you answer them?" 

 Ben looked slightly embarrassed. "Some, I think." 

 "So...is what McMorrant said true? You sit on icebergs and lure ships to
their destruction?" 

 Ben looked scandalized. "No!" 

 "None of your kind do, then?" 

 Ben looked ashamed. The play of expressions across those blue eyes was
downright hypnotic. "There have been some...young persons who have caused
some havoc in their dealings with thy kind." 

 "My kind?" 

 "Humans, such as thou art. Men and women of the land." 

 "So you're a merperson. You breathe in the water? You live in some big
underwater mer-city?" 

 Ben looked surprised. "I did not realize the knowledge of thy people
regarding my kind was so vast." 

 "We don't know anything about you. We just have legends." Ray tried to
think. "But don't you guys live in warm water? What are you doing all the
way up here?" 

 "Human, thou dost live here. May not we?" 

 Ray puzzled over that, then laughed. "Okay, you got me there." 

 Ben's eyes turned sad. "Indeed, thou dost have me. The moon shall not be
full again this second fortnight." 

 Ray worked that out. "Yeah, it will be a month before the moon is full
again. So what?" 

 Ben shrugged slightly. "I had not been to see the world of Mankind for
long a time." 

 Ray couldn't help chuckling. "Yeah, kinda figured that." 

 "Oh?" Ben raised his eyebrows. It was exceptionally cute. 

 "We don't go much for saying 'thou' anymore, Ben." 

 "'Go much'?" 

 "We just say 'you' when we mean 'you.'" 

 "Ah." Ben seemed to think this over. "Indeed, it had been many years
since I ventured into thy domain. I had thought to see what the world was
like above. And then Eek told me of thee...of you." 

 "He's...great," Ray said, feeling stupid. 

 "He is my bedfellow," Ben said. 

 "Ahhhh," Ray emitted, hands going up, head full of unwelcome images. "Too
much information, Ben!" 

 Suddenly, Ben laughed. Ray was instantly enchanted. So musical. So
innocent. 

 "I didst not mean what thou thinkst I meant," Ben said, laughing again.
"I meant only that my heart is closest to my friend. We share intimacies
of love between friends, such that we have talked until dawn, sleeping
where we were, uncaring of the night. His body does not display his soul
to the world." 

 "You mean...you're best friends?" 

 "Yea, that hast the right of it." Ben sounded quite hearty and approving,
and Ray felt himself flush with pride, then with embarrassment at that
pride. "Thou must have thy own bedfellow, to speak thus." 

 Ray's stomach dropped. "Uh, not really, no. I had a partner once, but she
and I...she wasn't into it, you know?" 

 The puzzled look returned to Ben's face. 

 "You still haven't explained the moon thing," Ray prodded. 

 "The tide will change, and getting home will be too great a task. I must
wait until the tide changes again to return." 

 "But the moon's full tonight." 

 Ben looked pointedly outside. "I shall not be that citizen amongst my
people who betrays my kind." 

 "You mean those jerks outside are keeping you from getting home for a
month?" 

 "'Jerks'?" 

 "Unpleasant people." 

 "Ah." Ben thought about it. Then, even as Ray watched in horror, those
sapphire eyes filled with tears. "Yes, Ray. They are keeping me from
returning home. For twenty days, after this night, I must stay in thy
world." 

 Ray scowled, forgetting for a moment he had worked on this expression to
scare criminals with it. "So you're saying you need to get back in the sea
tonight, then, before the moon goes down?" 

 "Yea, though I cannot --" 

 "You ever been in a car, Ben?" 

 "Car?" The cupie-doll lips twisted around the word, and Ray was standing
up before they were done. 

 "Get Eek," he snapped. 

 The moon was bright enough that Ray worried about being seen. He kept the
lights off, wishing irrationally for the Riv and her perfect handling. The
Ford was all right, though, and the road was okay for a piece of crap
back-water gravel pit. 

 He went north, about twenty miles above "Siren Cove," to a place on the
map that looked as popular as Carrie after the prom. As much as he could,
he drove without lights, and he was pretty sure they hadn't been followed.


 Eek took the backseat like a pro. Ray flashed on this ridiculous image:
himself behind the wheel of the Riv, Ben in the passenger seat, Eek in the
back, all driving around in Chicago. He suppressed it. He didn't know just
what Ben and Eek were, but they didn't belong in Chicago...no more than he
belonged wherever they lived. The thought poked little holes in his heart,
but there it was. 

 It was really something, the way his heart was pounding and his head was
so clear. He was even breathing kinda hard, like a kid. He flashed Ben a
smile and was answered in kind. 

 "That was your hand print, right? In the crevice where Eek was?" 

 The seal nudged his shoulder. He was getting closer on the name. 

 "I believe so, Ray." 

 "I got just the spot in mind, you know, from the map, but if it's not
what you need, just say so. We can go further up." 

 "I thank thee -- thank you kindly, Ray." 

 Vecchio laughed. 

 He found the turn-off and sped down, feeling for all the world like he
was chasing some back robber's car down Main. Ben had grasped the seat,
his eyes wide and full of wonder, and Eek was sliding around in the
backseat and "arking" to beat the band. Ray laughed again, and felt drunk.


 The Ford pulled up at the end of the middle-sized cliff, dropping off to
the ocean's luminous waves crashing and sucking back. He could feel Ben's
excitement. Eek all but flew out the door when he got it open. 

 "Did we make it in time?" Ray asked over the sound of the waves. 

 "Yes." 

 They walked together to the cliff's edge. The moon was right above the
horizon now, huge, yellow, watching them. Ray chafed at the feeling of an
adventure ending before it had begun. He had found a mermaid...or, the
male version of one. A real one! Didn't that count for anything? 

 Ben turned to him. "I shall never forget thee and thy kindness, Ray." 

 Vecchio smiled. Yes, this counted for a great deal, actually. For
everything. 

 "Be careful, Ben. Don't let the giant squid get ya." 

 Ben frowned, eyes narrow against the wind from the ocean. "Giant squid?
They are a very tame species, Ray." 

 Vecchio laughed and held his hands out for his sweats. He'd never wash
them again. 

 Benny shucked the clothing and handed them over to Ray, who threw them in
the trunk of the Ford. Ben seemed taller when he was naked. Eek was
dancing around now, excited and "arking." 

 "I would have liked staying with you," Ben yelled as the walked to the
coast, unsteady on his human-legs. "When I saw you with Eek, I wished to
talk with thee." 

 "I don't live here. I live in Chicago!" Ray yelled back. The wind was
picking up, and he put an arm around Ben's shoulders to help him. "I'm
going back there in a few days." 

 "Chic...ago?" Ben asked. 

 "Yes!" Ray yelled now both over the sea and at the sight of headlights
back on the road. It might be nothing. It might be McMorrant and her herd
of idiots. "You need to go." 

 They had reached the cliff's edge then, and Ben turned to him, all pale
skin and blue eyes and dark hair blowing in the wind. His body was so warn
against Ray's, his arms strong, and when he smiled his pointed teeth
glinted almost golden in the moonlight, like something feral, like the
thing in his arms was really some half-tame beast used to having his way. 

 "I have never known anyone as kind as thee," Ben said. 

 "Be careful!" Ray told him, his eyes worried by the glow of those
headlights. "Take care of yourself." 

 Ben leaned forward then, and, impossibly, kissed him. Ray drank in salt
and sweet honey and was dizzy with it, his moan lost in the wind. 

 And then Ben was gone, leaving a cold place where he had been. Ray heard
a splash, saw a glimpse of white that might be Eek, and then there was
nothing but the buffeting spray of cold green water in the moonlight. 

 "Be careful, Benny!" he shouted, more for himself than anyone else. More
because he was returning to a land more dangerous than the sea than
because his friend was gone. 

 But Chicago was a part of the real world, and suddenly that had become so
much more than he'd thought. There really were mermaids. What else might
there be in the universe? 

 Ray turned for his car, eyes closed against that cold wind, and knew he
would go back to being Ray Vecchio, Chicago PD, though for a moment he'd
been Raymondo, and the magic in his arms had been more real than any
triple homicide, any robbery with assault, anything the world could throw
at him. 

 He knew the truth of things now, however fleeting this time had been.
Blink, and the magic of the world passed you by. Stand still, and the
whole world would come to you. 

 He turned then, shouting into the sea, "Benny! Thank you, Benny! Get
home! Be safe!" 

 And the wind answered with the sea, and the moon slid down out of sight,
and in the dark night Ray found his way into his rented car, and smiled. 

 THE END