The Hours And The Days 6 : Afternoon Delight	  

(Standard, all-purpose disclaimer) All pre-existing characters are the
property of the creators and producers of "Due South." No copyright
infringement is intended. All new characters and situations are the sole
property and responsibility of the author. 

m/m content, no rating necessary. Maybe next time. 

Getting ever closer to the end ... I've decided to draw the line at eight
parts so if I'm lucky, I'll be done with it all by Thanksgiving. And even
though it's from one of my least favorite songs, I couldn't resist
stealing the title for this piece. I also decided to write it from the
perspective of one of my favorite characters ... no, it's not Turnbull. ;)


 THE HOURS AND THE DAYS 6: AFTERNOON DELIGHT 

by Katrina Bowen 

**A damn sight easier than trying to catch a rabbit.** Diefenbaker edged a
little closer to Elaine's desk, made sure he was still wearing his
cuddliest, most winsome expression and tried to be patient. Elaine usually
fell for it. Lieutenant Welsh, on the other hand, was more receptive to a
slight, almost inaudible whine. Nothing ostentatious or pathetic -- that
would have been too obvious -- just loud enough to sound like he was
politely asking for a slice of salami. Jack Huey was a problem. Dief had
tried a variety of techniques, but he'd finally decided none of them
worked well enough to bother with. Now he just waited for the all too rare
opportunities when Huey left unattended food on his desk to engage in some
snatch and run tactics. It wasn't very honorable, perhaps, but it was
effective and that was what mattered. 

Elaine was still engrossed in her keyboard and monitor. He'd waited long
enough, and it was time to up the ante. Dief sidled another inch closer,
just far enough so he could, by stretching, rest his muzzle on Elaine's
leg. She started and looked down. "Well, hello there, sweetie. So you
belong to the Chicago PD today, hmmm?" 

Dief raised his eyebrows and gazed adoringly at her as she began
scratching behind his ears, and his eyes closed in ecstacy. **Oooooh,
yessss ...** This was almost better than the bagel she had sitting beside
her. Bagels were good, but a good ear rub was nothing to sneeze at,
either. 

"You're not fooling me, you know." Looking around to make sure no one was
watching, Elaine tore off a piece of the bagel, making sure there was a
good-sized piece of salmon on it. Dief gulped it down, then replaced his
head on her lap and looked up imploringly. "You got what you wanted and
you're still here? My dream man." She gave his ears one last scratch and
nudged him aside. "Scoot now, go play on another woman's emotions. I've
got a lot of work to do before quitting time." 

**Fair enough. And still better than a rabbit.** Dief made a quick circuit
of the squadroom to see what else might be available. He didn't actually
dislike rabbits -- it was just that he'd never met one who hadn't tried to
make him feel guilty for eating it. Just try to find a rabbit that didn't
have a family to support. It was so much harder to feel sorry for a bagel
or a doughnut ... 

Doughnuts ... no, Ray wasn't back at his desk yet. Ray seldom required any
specialized begging techniques. He'd taken to sharing his meals with the
wolf as a matter of course, and that was one of the reasons Dief approved
of him; so few humans really understood that food was something to be
freely shared among the pack. 

Fraser, for all his other good points, had never managed to grasp that
concept. He was constantly nagging Dief about losing his natural hunting
instincts, an attitude that Dief found utterly incomprehensible. No wolf
would bother to hunt when there was food there for the asking, of course
he wouldn't. It was a ridiculous waste of time and energy. Still, it
seemed important to the human, so Dief played along whenever he was taken
out to "refine his natural skills." Fraser was his responsibility, and
that meant it was up to Dief to keep him happy. 

There didn't seem to be anything worthwhile that he could find, so
Diefenbaker went back to Elaine's desk. The bagel was gone and she was
ignoring him again. The wolf perked up as Lt. Welsh came into the
squadroom, squinting at a report. "Is Vecchio still on his break?" 

"I think so. He said he had something to take care of and he'd probably be
a while." 

"And I suppose the Mountie is with him?" Elaine said nothing, very
eloquently. "I see." Welsh glanced down at Dief, who looked back blandly.
"If he decides to grace us with his presence sometime this afternoon, tell
him I want to talk to him about this report. Either his spelling is
getting worse all the time, or the witness actually did see an elephant
heading toward Washington Avenue." He started to walk away. Dief turned
his eyes to Elaine, looking to see if she had anything else to say. 

"Um, Lieutenant?" Welsh raised an eyebrow at her. "It really was an
elephant, Lieutenant -- the story was on channel 9 this morning." 

Welsh stared at her. "It *was* an elephant?" 

Elaine shrugged and pointed. "The followup report is right there on his
desk. I wouldn't have believed it either if I hadn't seen it on the news.
I think it made the papers too." 

Welsh grunted, went to Ray's desk and picked up the new file. "An
elephant. You know, my cousin had a nice carpentry business, he wanted me
to go to work for him, but I wanted to do something more interesting with
my life ..." He shook his head and headed back to his office 

Dief briefly considered following him; but Welsh closed his office door,
and the wolf knew that while the lieutenant would tolerate discrete
foraging in his precinct, scratching at doors wasn't allowed. He sighed
and looked around -- no more food in sight. He could just sit here and
wait quietly. He could curl up under Ray's desk and grab a quick nap. Or
he could look for more food. Dief shook himself and walked out the door. 

The wolf looked up and down the hall, disappointed. By this time in the
afternoon, Frannie was usually here with sandwiches and the typical
Vecchio free hand with food. But she hadn't come down to the precinct for
a few weeks now ... **Sooner or later, she'll be here.** He settled
himself by the vending machines. 

Actually, the only Vecchios Dief was wary of were the little ones. Oh,
they weren't stingy with treats by any means, and they definitely weren't
mean, nothing like that. But they didn't seem to understand that he was a
wolf, not a dog, and therefore entitled to a certain amount of respect.
**Fetch, indeed.** He snorted at the memory. If it hadn't been for the
Ding Dongs, he would have refused to go along with it. But they were young
ones, and young ones had to be indulged now and then. 

Ray's mother, now ... all right, she always called him a dog too. That was
different. Dief was willing to bear it in her case. Not just for the food;
more because of the obvious affection she showed Fraser. It wasn't good
for Fraser to be alone. 

After his time spent in Chicago, Dief was finally starting to enjoy humans
as a group, but he simply couldn't figure them out. They behaved so -- so
unnaturally. For example, he couldn't understand why Ray and Fraser
touched each other so often in private and not at all when there were
other people around. Not as peculiar as the human prejudice against naps,
but odd enough, certainly. 

Dief looked up and down the hallway, hoping that someone would stop at one
of the vending machines. Most of the people walking by either ignored him
completely or gave him a wide berth. **You'd think they'd never seen a
wolf before,** he thought in some confusion. **Well, if no one's going to
feed me, what's the point of staying?** He got to his feet and headed for
the exit. 

Once outside, he began scanning the cars parked along the curb. **All
right, I've waited long enough ... ah. There they are.** Dief trotted down
the block to where the Riviera sat. Fraser and Ray were both leaning
against the car, seeming not to touch. He plopped to his haunches in front
of them. 

Fraser stared at him, one eyebrow raised. "Well. In a hurry to go
somewhere, are we?" Dief stared back impassively. 

"He probably wants you to get him some lunch or something," Ray put in.
Dief looked at him in gratitude. He knew Ray would understand. 

"Ray ..." Fraser shook his head. "Believe me, he's adequately fed. He
certainly ate most of *your* breakfast. It won't kill him to wait until
supper, he just thinks it will." 

Ray grinned. "Great. We've got a hungry wolf roaming the streets of
Chicago. I know I feel a lot safer now." He pushed himself away from the
car, brushing a hand against Ben's arm as he straightened. "Okay, I better
get inside ... I know Welsh is gonna ask about the elephant thing. I'll
see you after I get off later, okay, Benny?" 

"I'm looking forward to it, Ray," Ben murmured as the detective went
inside. "So." He looked down at the wolf again. "I suppose you made a pest
of yourself again -- don't give me that look. I've seen the way you
manipulate people. It's shameless, and it reflects badly on me. Did that
ever cross your mind?" 

Having had enough of the conversation, Dief started looking up and down
the street. He knew there was a hot dog vendor somewhere in the
neighborhood, he could smell it ... 

Ben reached down, grabbed Dief's muzzle firmly, and made the wolf look at
him. "If you think I'm buying you anything when you sit there with salmon
on your breath, you're sadly mistaken. Come along now, Diefenbaker." 

He started down the sidewalk. After a few moments, Dief sighed and
followed. If he was lucky, Fraser and Ray would get distracted from their
supper long enough that he could have a shot at it ... all right, that was
selfish of him. **But I am, after all, a wolf ...**