Body     *THE HALLOWEEN TREE*   

  *By GILDA LILY*   

Pairing: Benny/Ray V. 

Rating: G (This could arguably be PG, but the few lascivious thoughts are
not explicit. And since I don't believe that the mere presence of a gay
couple warrants a PG or PG-13 when all they're doing is holding hands, I
chose to rate this 'G'. I'm a firm believer that if children can read a
book or go to a movie and see a het couple show their love in non-explicit
ways and it's still rated suitable for them, then the same should happen
for any gay or lesbian couples in a work aimed at children. Though, of
course, I doubt many children are surfing the DUE SOUTH fic lists or
Archive! :) It's just the principle of the thing. 

Category: Romance (This is pure, Grade-A sap). Holiday (Samhain). 

This story is in response to the Halloween Challenge issued in the Closet
and then posted to DIEF and DSX. I wrote a Snapshot using a brief scene
from this work. I decided to write a full-length story to answer the
question as to why I missed the IRC chat on October 22nd. I was enjoying
the Jack O'Lantern fest! :) 

This story fit the first Challenge, since it was one of the genres I'd
asked for: sap. Then as I wrote it I realized that it was answering my
second Challenge as well: using the following items in a story: (1) A Jack
O'Lantern (thousands of 'em in this story!), (2) A black cat, (3) A Witch,
(4) Candy Corn, (5) Candy Apples, and (6) Trick-or-Treat.  

Well, enjoy! 

Comments can be sent onlist or offlist to: jeanniemarie@sprintmail.com. 

Disclaimer: I don't own 'em, Alliance does, more's the pity. 

(c) October 30, 1999  

*Benny sniffed the air, crinkling his nose in his adorable way. Ray smiled
and unobstrusively bumped his hip against the Mountie. "What's up?" 

"I smell apple pie, Ray." 

"Mmm, so do I. It's from that concession stand over there." 

The concession stands were located about ten feet away. One of the town
organizations was selling apple muffins, cupcakes, pies, candy apples,
breads and cookies. Right next to the apple stand was the pumpkin stand. 

Ray also found the stand with glow-in-the-dark boppers, lightsabers and
collars/wrist rings to be fun. Children were eagerly picking out the toys,
and it was a good way of keeping track of them in the dark, which was
rapidly falling as the clouds scudded across the sky. 

Ray buttoned up his coat. It was getting colder as the night approached,
and there was little chance of warming up as they stood in line. Naturally
Benny was not bothered by the cold as he wore his lumber jacket open, but
his white ski sweater would keep his delicious body warm. 

Ray had dressed casually in jeans and a sweater tonight. Armani just
didn't seem like the thing to wear when viewing thousands of Jack
O'Lanterns in a forest. His lips curved into a smile as the baby in the
stroller just ahead of them laughed as a pumpkin flashlight went on and
off. 

He and Benny had come to Boston on one of Ray's cases. After wrapping it
up, they had some time before returning to Chicago. Ray had been talking
with one of the officers they had worked with and she had mentioned the
Jack O'Lantern festival in Central Massachusetts. Ray had immediately been
intrigued and had gotten directions from the woman. 

It was the perfect thing to take Benny to as Halloween approached. From
what his lover had said about the holiday during his childhood, he hadn't
had much opportunity to celebrate it out in the Territories. Or at least
not the way Ray knew how to celebrate it. Trick-or-treating and parties
and candy and everything that had passed Benny by. 

So here they were, standing in line with teenagers and families, waiting
for darkness to fall so that the full effect of thousands of glowing Jack
O'Lanterns could be appreciated. For a moment, Ray felt uneasy, but then
he noticed the two grown women standing a family down in line, and he
relaxed. 

"Not long now, Benny." His stomach growled. "Wait here." 

He dashed over to the apple booth and then over to the pumpkin stand. He
came back to the line and handed his lover a pumpkin cupcake with vanilla
frosting and two pieces of candy corn decorating the top. 

"Thank you kindly." Benny suddenly looked down. "You are so good to me,
Ray. You're always doing little things for me." 

Ray was overwhelmed by tenderness as he gazed at the shy, gentle man
beside him. He desperately wanted to kiss Benny but restrained himself and
settled for a light tap on the forearm instead. Benny looked up and Ray
almost lost it. 

"Benny, I love doing things for you." A baby's wail covered his next
words. "When you love someone, it's easy." 

Benny's sapphire eyes shimmered, and he lifted the cupcake to his mouth
with a trembling hand. He took a bite. "Oh, Diefenbaker would like this." 

"More like devour it," Ray snickered. 

They ate their cupcakes as the wind blew. Leaves swirled high up into the
air, riding on moonbeams as two workers strolled by with Casper the
Friendly Ghost balloons for sale. A serachlight cleaved the night sky,
causing comments about Batman and Robin to be made. Benny looked over at
the forest and pointed. 

"Look, Ray, they've got the pumpkins lit up!" 

Flickers of light could be seen through the trees, and there was a big
display that Ray would enjoy checking out. He enjoyed Benny's enthusiasm
even more. He deserved a chance to be a kid. 

The forest was officially opened as dusk turned to darkness, and the line
began moving. They bought their tickets and were inside, greeted by a
large pumpkin with a likeness of Clara Barton, Civil War nurse and native
of the town of Oxford. 

The Jack O'Lanterns were amazing works of art. There were famous faces and
traditional spooky ones, and appropriate music played for elaborate
setpieces. Ray grinned at a line of Loony Tunes characters, and Benny
immediately was attracted by a wolf design. He went over for a closer
inspection. 

"The skill in carving these designs is extraordinary, Ray. It reminds me
of an Inuit craftsman who could carve a whole village from a..." 

"Benny, spare me the Inuit stories tonight. Just go with the flow." 

"Understood." He paused, then said, "Oh, my." 

A small tree was lit up, festooned with strings of small Jack O'Lanterns.
Bigger Jack O'Lanterns were at the base of the tree. Ray peered closely. 

"Hey! Those aren't just pumpkin lights! They're miniature Jack
O'Lanterns!" 

"Yes." 

Ray felt a sense of awe creep over him. Excitement shivered along his
bones. "Looks like a Christmas tree." 

"Yes." 

After viewing the tree for a few minutes, they moved on. It was so dark
that it was difficult to see where they were going. Like everyone else,
they took great care not to trip over rocks or tree roots. Ray brushed his
hand against Benny's and they walked down to the lake. 

Here the serenity was perfect. The moon's light shimmered on the water,
Jack O'Lanterns set adrift on tiny barges to cleave the sparkling water. A
setpiece of the Battle of Midway was tucked in the corner of the lake, a
sound system quietly speaking about 1942 and the war. The juxtaposition
should have been jarring, but the big band swing music seemed made for
moonlight. 

Ray looked at his partner. The moonlight shimmered in Benny's hair,
caressing his skin. He looked like a marble statue, but Ray knew that he
was a warm, loving human being. 

Benny looked at him in that moment and their love poured between them. Ray
took a deep breath and they headed away from the lake, walking up a small
incline as they marveled at displays featuring the Hollywood sign and
Marilyn, John Wayne, Rhett and Scarlett, and more of Tinseltown. They came
upon a graveyard with amusing sayings on the pumpkin headstones, and then
paused at Cinderella's pumpkin coach. 

"Miss Fraser would be perfect for that," Ray said. 

"Yes, I believe she would be, Ray." 

As they moved away from the coach pumpkin, Ray slipped his hand into
Benny's under cover of darkness. Benny squeezed it, and they walked a few
feet hand-in-hand, only letting go when a family walked past them. 

"Whoa, this looks interesting," Ray commented as they approached a section
of forest with a giant mirrored ball spinning around, hanging from the
branch of a tree. The prisms of light whirled around and around,
highlighting the grinning Jack O'Lanterns. These pumpkins displayed the
traditional Halloween symbols of Witches, ghosts, and black cats. As they
walked further into the forest, Ray looked down and said, "Hey, I'm
getting dizzy!" 

"Not surprising, Ray, as the angle of light from the ball..." 

Ray let Benny ramble on. He obviously enjoyed imparting knowledge. Who was
he to object? 

They passed a display about Germany, then Benny chuckled. "Look, Ray,
Italy!" 

The Leaning Tower of Pisa tottered on the face of a huge pumpkin, and
Italian music played as the revelers passed by on their way to more
treats. 

There seemed to be no end to the talent. After leaving the mirrored
section, they saw carvings of Bob Dylan, Martin Luther King, Mickey Mouse,
and a staggering array of other famous faces. They passed a jungle
scenario with carved tiger and lion Jack O'Lanterns by a small pool of
water. 

The Wild West carvings showed stagecoaches and Indians and pioneers. It
was almost pitch-dark in this section. The wind had blown out some of the
candles inside the pumpkins. This was another golden opportunity for some
hand-holding. Benny slipped his hand into Ray's and they stood there
listening to the theme from Bonanza playing through the trees. 

They walked up a steep incline next, and they stopped and looked with wide
eyes. 

The second Halloween tree was huge compared to the first one. The lights
were festive and sparkled in the moonlight as the Jack O'Lanterns swayed
slightly in the night breezes. Huge carved pumpkins were ringed around the
base of the old maple tree. Smoke drifted up from smudge pots as a
creepy-sounding techno song played. 

"Wow," Ray said. 

"Indeed," Benny agreed. 

They approached the marvelous sight with a sense of wonder. 

The woman dressed up as a witch tended the smudge pots as the smoke
drifted up to the clear night sky. Ray shivered as the eeriness of the
effect seeped into his bones. 

The tiny lights entwined around the small Jack O'Lanterns twinkled like
stars come down from the heavens. Ray looked over at Benny. He was his
angel come down from heaven. 

"Ray?" 

Startled green eyes widened. "Uh, sorry, Benny. What?" 

"Are you all right?" 

He looked at perfection and felt his heart pound hard. "Sure, why wouldn't
I be?" He gave his lover's hand a quick squeeze and they returned to
gazing at the tree. 

A star was perched atop the great tree, and it made Ray think of Christmas
again. It sparkled in the moonlight. He closed his eyes briefly and made a
wish. 

Several minutes later they moved away from the tree and exited the forest.
Ray looked back. It had been an enchanted forest. He turned to his
Canadian. 

And it still was an enchanted evening. 

"Uh, Benny, go get me an apple pie, will you? Ma bakes her own but I want
you to have one at the apartment." Ray held out some bills. 

"Ray..." 

"C'mon, Benny, let me pamper you." 

"You always do that, Ray." Benny took the money. 

Ray merely grinned and waited until Benny was involved with the pie
transaction, then he scurried over to another booth. 

When Benny returned, Ray was standing nonchalantly with his hands in his
pockets. 

"This pie smells good, Ray." 

"I know. We'll have to eat it as soon as we get home." 

"Good thing Halloween is still a week away. Otherwise we would be
inundated with trick-or-treaters once they smelled this pie." 

"Yeah. As it is, all we have to fend off now is Dief." 

"Yes," Benny sighed, and Ray laughed. 

The Italian followed his lover out to the school parking lot and grinned
as he slipped out a set of glowing rings from his pocket. Yes, tonight his
wish upon the Halloween star could well come true.*