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{behavior:url(#default#VML);}		     Disclaimer: Due South and its
characters are owned by Alliance. I make no claim to them and receive no
profit for using them.   Rated: PG-13 

   Past, Present, Future  Part 1   

By: Kelly Ward calico321@yahoo.com  

  

 A woman walked through the doors of the squad room and surveyed the
activity. The room was filled with police, civilian workers, and criminals
waiting processing, but there was no sign of the one man she was looking
for. A petite, dark-haired young woman walked toward her, her shirt
identifying her as Civilian Aide. 

 "Excuse me," she asked the approaching woman. 

 Francesca seemed startled out of her reverie by the sound. "Yes?" she
inquired. 

 "I'm looking for a man," she replied. Francesca rolled her eyes. 

 "Aren't we all?" 

 "I mean a specific man. He's supposed to spend a lot of time here." 

 "What's his name?" 

 "I don't know." 

 "Is he a cop?" Francesca asked impatiently. 

 "Not exactly," she looked confused. "I mean he's a Mountie, but I don't
think that's considered a cop, is it?" 

 Francesca's mouth dropped open. "Did you say 'Mountie'?" 

 "Yes," she said. "I know it sounds a little odd, but he's supposed to be
here, or at least he was a few years ago. I'm really sorry to bother you."
As she turned to walk away Francesca put her hand on the woman's arm
turning her back around. 

 "You're talking about Fraser?" 

 "Fraser? Is he a Mountie?" 

 "Well, yes. He works with my brother Ray. They're out right now, but I
expect them back any time now. That's Ray's desk over there," she pointed
towards the middle of the room. "You can wait there for them if you'd
like." 

 "That's really nice of you, thanks," she said as she headed over to the
indicated desk. She sat down in the chair on the side of the desk and
pulled a book out of her shoulder bag, preparing for a long wait. 

 A few minutes later she heard a commotion coming through the doors and
then a cold, wet nose poked itself under her book. "Oh!" she exclaimed,
"Aren't you adorable!" She put her book down and started scratching Dief's
velvety ears and under his chin. Before long he was on the floor allowing
her to scratch his chest. His eyes rolled in ecstasy and he let out a sigh
of satisfaction. A pair of worn but well polished brown boots came into
view next to Dief's head. She slowly let her eyes travel up the legs then
up the bright red tunic to the man's face and let out a gasp. It was like
staring directly into the sun. She had ceased scratching Dief's chest so
he let out a disgusted yowl and got up, shaking himself as if he had just
awoken from a deep nap while walking away nonchalantly. 

 Fraser smiled and said, "How are you today, Ma'am?" 

 She stared for a minute than said, "Are you Fraser?" 

 "Yes, I am Constable Benton Fraser, RCMP, and that wolf you were
molesting was Diefenbaker. Can I be of service?" 

 "My name is Marta Reynolds and..." she paused as Ray came up behind
Fraser and sat down at his desk. 

 "Hi, I'm Ray, Detective Vecchio, that is. Can we be of service?" 

 Marta frowned, looked back to Fraser and said, "May I speak to you
privately?" 

 "Anything you say to me you can say to Ray, but we can go into the
interrogation room if that will make you more comfortable." Marta nodded
and Fraser led the way down the hallway. Dief saw the precession and
followed. Marta sat in the chair Fraser indicated and Dief walked over and
laid his head in her lap.  

 "He's just so lovely," she cooed as she stroked his head and rubbed his
ears. She then cleared her throat and took a deep breath. "I've come to
ask for your help." 

 "What kind of help?" Ray asked. 

 Marta looked from Fraser to Ray and back to Fraser. "Help stopping a
jewelry heist." 

 "What do you know about a heist?" Ray asked, slightly skeptical of the
mousy woman with horn-rimmed glasses. 

 "I know I planned it and it should go off without a problem so I want you
to find out where it's going to happen and stop it first." 

 "I'm sorry Ma'am, but did you say you planned the heist?" Fraser asked. 

 "Yes." 

 "Are you involved in the robbery?" Ray asked. 

 "No," she replied wearily. 

 "I think you have some explaining to do," Ray said. 

 Dief rolled his eyes towards Marta as he sensed the tension in her arm.
"I don't mean I planned to do it; I just planned it. Hypothetically that
is." 

 "Why?" Fraser asked. 

 "It's the sort of thing I do, not planning crimes exactly, but theorizing
things. I have a 250 IQ and I'm able to 'enact' things in my head, using
existing information and coming up with a probable outcome. Certainly
there are computers that do that, however there are always certain factors
that a computer can't calculate like the human equation, which is
basically illogical, if you know what I mean. Companies hire me to figure
out how safe one product will be or what kind of improvements they can do.
But in my free time I get bored. TV is so mundane and I've read so many
books I've had to start wearing glasses. I've started surfing the net..." 

 "Pardon me, but doing the what?" Fraser asked confused. 

 "You know, going online...the Internet? Haven't you ever used computers
before Constable?" 

 "Yes I've used computers but I've never gone inline." 

 "Online," both Ray and Marta corrected at the same time. 

 "My apologies, online. Please forgive the interruption. Continue." 

 "Anyway, like I said, I've been spending a lot of time online and in chat
rooms. Not really genius level stuff, but it passed the evening hours.
Well, one night someone in the chat room asked me what I did and I tried
explaining it in layman's terms, when almost immediately this woman gets
really interested in what I have to say. She even suggests going into a
private chat room. After a while she asks if I could plan a robbery to see
what steps needed to be taken to avoid one. She claimed her father owns a
jewelry store and was concerned to the point of paranoia about getting
robbed. She thought this could calm him down. I figured that would be no
problem and had her Email be the specs of the store. It took me about
three hours and I figured the perfect way to do it. So I Emailed it to
her. But her response was very strange. I even printed it out for you.
When I tried to contact her after, all the messages were returned saying
user unknown. That's when I knew I had to track you down." Marta pulled
the piece of paper out of her shoulder bag and handed it to Fraser. 

  

  Thank you for your help. It will come in real handy. If you're ever at
the 27th district of the Chicago PD look up a Canadian Mountie for me.
Tell him he made a choice once and he will have to pay for that choice for
the rest of his life.   VM     

 Ray noticed Fraser went pale at the paper and snatched if from his hands.
"Son of a Bitch! It's her, isn't it? I can't believe her gall!" Steam was
practically coming out of his ears as he stormed around the interrogation
room. Marta shrank back in her seat, eyes wide open. Dief made a little
woof of inquiry at Fraser whom apparently, although still there
physically, was no longer in the room. 

  ******************* 

 It can't be, it can't be, it can't be, Fraser kept saying to himself as
his friend, Detective Vecchio ranted about how horrible Victoria was. For
a moment he was numb, then he grabbed the back of the chair he was closest
to and jerked it out from under the table and sat down heavily in it. He
took a deep breath and then leveled his gaze across the table at the
frightened woman who was staring at Ray as though he would pounce on her
any minute. She finally noticed Fraser staring at her and met his gaze. 

 "Is he ok?" she asked. 

 Fraser took a moment before forming his words. Was it possible she really
didn't know what she had done? "He will be fine. But please, I must be
certain that this is for real. This is a very serious situation you have
just described." 

 "I swear that's exactly how it happened. Will you please tell me what's
going on?" 

 Constable Benton Fraser, RCMP, lowered his head and let out a raged sigh.
Ray, who had apparently finished venting his aggression at the absent
women, turned to Marta and said, "Several years ago a woman named Victoria
Metcalf was involved in a bank robbery. Benny tracked her down and
arrested her, but not before falling in love. He had to choose love or
duty. He chose duty. After she was released from prison she came to town,
seduced Benny here, and then tried to get us both arrested. That was of
course after she torched his father's cabin in Canada, and let's not
forget shooting Diefenbaker." Dief seemed to shrink from the memory and
nudged Marta's hand for comfort.  

Ray continued, "We were able to figure out what was going on, almost too
late, but by then she'd blackmailed Benny into helping her buy stolen
diamonds with money from the bank robbery. Yet he still loved her," Ray
looked a Fraser with a combination of pity and incredulity. "She asked him
to run away with her, and I wound up shooting him in the back." Marta was
startled by this last revelation, and she looked from one man to the
other.	

 Fraser looked up at Ray and it seemed all the pain they had gone through
was back. Would they really have to go through all this again? He closed
his eyes and seemed to steel himself to the task. There were more
important issues at hand then his personal life. 

 "Ms. Reynolds, we will need all the information you have that can lead us
to the location of the intended sight of this robbery," he said to her. 

 "Well, I don't really know much. I think it is in Chicago. Her profile
said that's where she lived." She closed her eyes and thought for a
moment. "She said it was on a corner; had both a storefront door and a
rear entrance to an alley; opened at 9 am, closed at 6 pm; had several
employees, but only two closed the store." She opened her eyes and looked
exasperated, I'm really sorry, but other than the floor plan, I don't
remember anything else." 

 Ray and Fraser looked at one another. Fraser said, "Could you draw it for
us?" 

 Marta paused for a moment, then said hesitantly, "Well I'm not very
artistic, but I'll try." 

  *******************   

 Ray drove the Riviera will Fraser sat silently staring out the window.
Dief was in the backseat not unaware of his human's aura of misery. He
periodically would lean over and nussle Fraser's ear, but this received no
response. 

 "Um, Benny, are you going to say anything at all to me? I'm sorry I got
so hot under the collar in there, but she still boils my blood. I didn't
mean to reopen the old wounds." He looked over hopefully. 

 Fraser looked at Ray and said, "I'm not angry at you. I think I know the
store." 

 Ray was suspicious at his friend's insistence this wasn't bothering him,
but said, "Where do you think it is?" 

 "I don't want to say anything right now." He looked at his watch; it was
6:15. "According to Marta's plan it would have happened by now if it was
scheduled for today, so I think we should just call it a night. Can you
drop me off at the Consulate? I've some paperwork to finish for Inspector
Thatcher by tomorrow morning." 

 "Sure, Benny. I think a good night's sleep is what we both need. We'll
start fresh in the morning and get this figured out, right?" Fraser just
nodded his head and continued to stare out the window. Ray knew that his
friend must have been having some heavy thoughts to be so quiet. Surely he
would have heard some Inuit story by now. Ray pulled the Riv in front of
the Consulate and Fraser got out with Dief. Before turning to go inside he
looked pointedly at Ray and said, "Everything will be fine, Ray, you'll
see." Then he stood up, turned on his heel and marched smartly up the
stairs. Ray shook his head unable to imagine what his friend was going
through at this time. He put the car in gear and drove away lost in his
own thoughts. 

  *******************   

 Fraser went directly to his office and sat down at his desk. He stared at
the wall for a full five minutes before he heard his father's voice. 

 "I know what you're feeling, Son," Fraser, Sr. said. 

 "No, Dad, I don't think you do." 

 "You still love her don't you?" Fraser closed his eyes. 

 "You mean do I think this time we can get away together? No, that's not
what I'm thinking. I'm thinking that when faced with the choice of duty or
love there really is only one true answer. If love doesn't lead you down
the same path then there's something wrong." 

 "Then why didn't you and the yank go stop that robbery?" 

 Fraser looked at his father and said, "It was too late, she meant for me
to fail. There was no way to stop her." 

 "Then by not trying, you have just forsaken you duty! You gave up without
even trying. That's not the son I raised." 

 "You didn't raise me Dad," Fraser said wearily. Normally he looked
forward to bantering with the spirit of his dead father, but tonight it
seemed as if he were debating his own conscious. "I won't have her look at
me that way again. She hates me! I can't do anything about that, and I'm
sorry if I can't face it either..." Just then the phone on his desk rang.
"Canadian Consulate, Constable Benton Fraser speaking. How may I help
you?" It was Ray. 

 "Benny! You'll never guess what! There was a robbery tonight! Somebody
tipped off a beat cop who happened along at the time and they got 'em." 

 "Them? There was more than one?" Fraser asked. 

 "Yeah, there were a couple of guys, and another one, possibly a woman,
who got away. I bet that was her!" 

 "You're probably right, Ray." 

 "Benny...Did you tip off the cops?" Ray seemed embarrassed to ask. He
didn't want to imply he didn't trust his partner, but it seemed too much
of a coincidence. 

 There was no answer for so long Ray was worried the connection was
broken. Then Fraser said quietly, "Good night, Ray. I'll see you in the
morning," and he gently hung up the phone. 

 She was still out there trying to hurt him, make him look the fool
running after shadows. Fraser swallowed the lump that had developed in his
throat. What Ray didn't know was that the woman who got away from the
jewelry store was not Victoria, but Marta. She was part of the grand plan
to make Fraser suffer, but why? And how had she met Victoria? It really
wasn't important. What is important was that Fraser had had the
forethought to do a little background checking on Marta Reynolds. While
she did possess genius level IQ and worked as a freelance theorist, it was
she who's father owned a prominent jewelry store in Chicago and who for
certain social disgraces had been disinherited six months ago. 

 Fraser tiredly rubbed his eyes. 

 "I'm sorry, Son," Fraser, Sr. said standing before him. 

 Without a word Fraser rose from his desk and went home. 

  The End.