Disclaimer: Yadda Yadda, not mine, but theirs. Although I can play all I want to.

Author's Notes: Thanks to Carla for beta, and to the boys for inspiration.

Story Notes: Written for the "Five Minutes After" challenge on ds_flashfiction. Spoilers for CoTW, sort of.

They were all set. The last buckle buckled. The last strap tied down. Bags packed. Ready to go. No jet planes, though. Just a sled, some dogs, provisions and the Mountie.

It was like something out of a storybook. One of those ones you had to read in high school with lots of snow, dogs, and adventures that nearly ended in death. Hero books. Could even be a movie of the week. Clean crisp air, bad guys all tied up and sent off to jail. The good guys win.

Except...there was something missing. Ray just knew they'd forgotten something important. He did a quick mental inventory as Fraser gave the "hike" command and the dogs began moving.

Compass: check. Food: check. Water: check. Tallow: check. Tent, bedrolls, extra harnesses -- everything a couple of adventurers would need, even a coupla decks of cards just in case he got too bored listening to Inuit stories by firelight.

Ray couldn't put his finger on it. Something wasn't quite right. Even the sunset was there, just like it was supposed to be. Heroes riding off and all.

Damn it. What was it? He knew it had to be something important. Something that would bring them...what was the word? Closure, yeah, that was it. Closure and a new start.

As the dogs began picking up speed, Ray Kowalski's head fell back against the Mountie and he had an epiphany. There was one thing they hadn't done.

"Stop, Fraser, stop!" Ray tugged at the layers of blankets and bedding, stripping them off just as the layers of his uncertainty peeled away. He scrambled to his feet, tripping in the snow.

A quick breath, an exchange of glances, and five minutes after they started out on the quest to find that reaching hand, Stanley Raymond Kowalski kissed Benton Robert Fraser.

In the valley below, Sergeant Buck Frobisher saluted and smiled as he watched the men embrace, silhouetted against the setting sun.

Now the quest could begin.

End Five Minutes After by chickwriter: cybrcubana@yahoo.com

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