Hi There!
Ok, so I know it is Christmas and New Year's, not Halloween, but I have had this done for awhile and I didn't have the time to send it. This is the continuation of Fraser's Halloween Nightmare. It is not really necessary to read the first story, but if you want to know what is going on with Ben and why he is coming up with such stange thoughts, you might want to read the first story.
As for the disclaimer, the standard these characters don't belong to me and all that. I really do like playing with them and I mean no harm.
For a rating, I think PG should do for a few bad words, and just a bit of violence. Nothing graphic, I promise. There is a Thatcher warning for those who like that sort of thing, and it is also implied m/m but m/f as well. Like I said nothing graphic.
As for one part in this, I'll let you use your imagination as to what is going on. I think it is more fun that way.Ok-that's it from me. I hope you enjoy.
Comments, questions, or anything Mountie related always welcomed. Rebecca rebecca-warth@uiowa.edu or RLW82367@aol.com
Benton Fraser opened the door to see an immaculately dressed Ray Vecchio. Ray was standing in the hall wearing a very nice tuxedo, carrying an expensive bottle of champagne and red roses. Fraser couldn't imagine why Ray would stop by his place on the way to his date. Ray had enough of standing in the hall and asked if he could come in.
"Certainly Ray," Ben stated. "What is the occasion, if I may ask?"
"What, you don't remember?" Ray questioned, shaking his head. "We are going to that consulate function tonight. You said it was "Black Tie", so here I am ready to go. And if I may say so, you look great. That dress looks good on you." With that said, Ray entered the apartment and slowly kissed Ben.
"HUH? Ray are you feeling alright?" Ben couldn't believe what Ray had just said and done, so he looked down at himself to find that he was wearing an elegantly cut, dark red evening gown.
"So the champagne and the flowers are for..."
Ray finished the statement for him, "They're for you silly. What's wrong with you anyway? We have been dating for the past few months and I have to tell ya, I think you can do a bit better with the welcome part." Ray finished that statement and leaned over to kiss Ben again, but this time Ben backed away.
"Ray," Ben began, "You must be mistaken. You are my friend, my best friend and I love you as such, but I am, oh how can I put this delicately? Ray, I am not in love with you."
Ray stood there with a shocked and hurt look on his face and then he started laughing. "Sure Benny, sure. April Fool's Day is a ways off yet, so I'll just take it that you are just a bit confused. What did you do, hit your head or something? Come on, let's get going. We don't want to be late now, do we?"
"But Ray, don't you think I should change first?"
As Ray grabbed Ben's coat and ushered him out the door he said "Nope, you look just fine."
*
The Riv pulled up to the Consulate and both men exited the car and made their way into the building. As they entered the ballroom, Meg Thatcher spotted Ray and came over to him quickly.
"Detective, I know that Constable Fraser invited you this evening, but I can't seem to find him anywhere. Do you know where he is?"
Ray smiled and said that he did in fact know where Fraser was. Meg suddenly became aware that Ray was not alone and she decided to introduce herself to the detective's date. As she looked at the woman standing next to him, she noticed they had on the same dress. The exact same dress. Same color, same style. As she began to speak, she realized the woman was quite tall because she had to look up to see the woman's face. She began to introduce herself again and complemented the woman on her obvious good taste in clothing.
"Hello. My name is Margaret Thatcher and I am an Inspector with the RCMP. May I say that you have excellent taste. That dress looks fabulous on you."
Fraser began to blush, but he decided he would return the complement. "May I also say Ma'am, that the dress suits you quite nicely as well. You look beautiful this evening."
After Ben stated this, two things happened. The first was that Ray turned a particularly nasty shade of green with a scowl that would make most people run and take cover. The second was that Meg took a couple of steps back and turned around to see where Fraser was. As she slowly turned back around, her face registered complete and total disbelief. "Fraser?", she questioned.
"Yes Ma'am."
"You realize this is not a costume party, don't you?"
"Yes, I am aware of that fact," Fraser replied.
"Would you mind explaining then, exactly why you are wearing a dress?"
"Well, I'm not exactly sure. Detective Vecchio says that I am his date this evening and in fact, he has told me that we have been dating for a few months now."
"WHAT?" Meg screamed. All of a sudden, the ballroom became so quiet you could hear a pin drop.
Ray smiled at Thatcher and just told her that it was true.
Meg's face blanched. "My office. NOW! And I mean both of you." She turned and stomped out of the ballroom with both of the bewildered men following her sheepishly.
*
They entered her office and she slammed the door behind them. She looked at both men and just shook her head.
"Fraser, you could have at least told me," Meg said with an exasperated tone as she plopped down in the chair behind her desk. She put her head in her hands and began to softly cry.
At this point, Ben couldn't decide what to do, but obviously, she needed to be comforted. "Ma'am, um, Meg, I'm sorry. I didn't realize that you would want to know. As a matter of fact, I don't really think I knew either. I don't know what has happened, but I can't seem to remember ever having gone out with Ray. The last I knew, we were just friends."
Meg looked up at Ben and he wiped the tears from her face. Ray finally decided that he needed to speak up now otherwise he might not ever be able to get his Benny back.
"Excuse me. This is touching and all, but the fact is that we are a couple so you might as well get used to it Inspector. And shame on you Benny, this just isn't funny anymore. We have been going out for several months now. Everyone at the precinct knows it and has excepted it. OK, so Elaine is still a bit upset, but hey, she'll get over it. And something else. Fraser and I are moving in together next week. We picked out the apartment and everything." Ray practically spat that bit of information out.
"What?" Fraser replied.
Meg just looked at Fraser and then at Ray and then back at Fraser, and then she started crying again.
"What am I going to do? What am I going to do?" She just kept repeating those words.
Once again, Fraser went to comfort the woman in front of him.
"What do you mean by 'What am I going to do'," he asked softly.
She looked deep into Fraser's blue eyes and whispered something into his ear.
Ben staggered away from Meg and Ray demanded to know what she had just told him.
"I don't think you'll want to know Ray." He looked back at Meg and silently mouthed the word "Me?"
Meg couldn't speak, but she did nod indicating he was correct.
"What is going on here. I want to know now." Ray was furious. Actually he was acting like a spoiled child, but he didn't like the feeling he was getting. For some reason he felt like he was about to lose the one person he loved most in the world.
Ben decided to tell Ray what he demanded to know, but didn't want to hear. Just as Ben began to speak, three men, dressed completely in black and wearing ski masks broke into Meg's office. The only other accessory they each seemed to have was a semi automatic pistol.
The leader, or the one they took to be the leader, stepped forward. "OK, you three, up against the wall."
Meg, Ben, and Ray all did as they were told. Then they were told to give the second gunman their money and jewelry. The gunman seemed to be disappointed with what Meg and Ben gave him and he was just plain disgusted when he got Ray's wallet. The money wasn't the only thing in the wallet. His badge was there as well.
"This is just great. He's a cop," exclaimed Gunman Number Two.
Ben took that opportunity to mention the fact the he and Meg were also police officers, but not in an official capacity in Chicago at which point, Ray and Meg screamed for him to shut up.
"Oh, my God!" exclaimed Gunman Number Three. "You're a man!"
"Well yes, that is correct," Ben stated plainly.
"Ok, we have three cops here. One woman, one man dressed as a woman, and one man in a tux. Hey, you, the cop in the tux." The leader was trying to get Ray's attention.
"Yeah, what the hell do you want." Ray was quickly losing his patience and swore he would not be responsible for what happened if his tux was ruined.
"Who designed the suit?"
"Armani. Why?"
"I want it."
"Well you're not gonna get it."
"Oh really?" the First Gunman sneered. "Oh boys, would you please take the tux off him, and be careful. I don't want you to ruin it."
As the other two gunmen approached, Ray began to back up until he had really backed himself into a corner. While the Second Gunman distracted Ray, the Third Gunman hit him over the head with the butt of his gun. Ray crumpled to the floor silently with two very concerned Mounties looking on.
Once Ray was left wearing nothing but his boxers, the First Gunman said "What do you guys think we should do with them?"
"Let's kill them," said Gunman Number Three.
"No, let's torture 'em and then kill 'em," Gunman Number Two said gleefully.
"I have a better idea," said the First Gunman. "This robbery has been a bust. We have two diamond earrings, one gold necklace, and $50 dollars, $45 of which is Canadian, and I have a new Armani tuxedo. There are a lot of people downstairs, probably more cops, why don't we leave while we have the chance. Besides, the cop is gonna be embarrassed when he comes to and I think what these two Mounties have to look at will be torture enough for them. Let's go!"
After hearing what their take had been from the three police officers, both of the other gunmen agreed with the first, but they decided to make sure the three occupants of the office wouldn't go anywhere any time soon.
*
"Do either of you have any idea how we are going to get out of this mess," Ray asked. "And why the hell didn't either of you try to stop them from taking my clothes. What am I supposed to do now?" Ray was really grouchy since he had regained consciousness. Not only had they taken his money, his tux, his shoes, and his sox, his dignity had gone out the window as well because of the particular pair of boxers he was wearing. He couldn't help it if he still liked cartoon characters on his underwear, he just really wished he had chosen another day to wear the boxers with the funny-looking blue creatures on them. Not just funny-looking blue creatures, but female funny-looking blue creatures.
Both Meg and Ben had a hard time trying not to laugh at the site of a detective who preferred Armani, wearing a pair of cartoon character boxer shorts. Ray looked up and explained in a rather strained voice, "They were a gift from Maria's kids and I haven't had time to do laundry lately, OK?"
"Understood." That was all Ben felt was necessary to say.
It was quite a predicament. Who knew the thieves had a sick sense of humor. Who knew they had any idea of who to handcuff to who. Meg and Ben were facing each other. Ray was looking at Meg's back and Ben's face. So Meg was handcuffed to Ben, which she really didn't mind; Ray was handcuffed to Meg, whom he couldn't stand; and since Ben had nice long arms, he was handcuffed to Ray, whom he was supposedly dating, but looking at his commanding officer, which didn't bother him a bit.
Meg kept looking at Ben and finally, he just couldn't take it any longer.
"Is there something I can help you with, Ma'am?"
"Do you have a hairpin holding your wig in place Fraser?"
With a very large grin, Ben replied that he did, in fact, have a hairpin in the wig. He leaned forward to allow her better access to the hairpin. Ray watched in abject horror as Meg and Ben seemed to be getting quite cozy. He didn't like the way she was nibbling on the wig and he liked it even less that Ben seemed to be enjoying himself and the attention that was being lavished on him by the Inspector. What bothered him even more was the fact that they looked like they had done this before. But what Ray really despised was the ringside view he had of the whole damned thing and the fact that he couldn't easily join in the fun.
Then it happened. The hairpin slipped. Meg tried desperately to stop the pin from falling, but to no avail. Ray took the opportunity to try and scurry around Meg's side to "help" her stop the pin from falling. As both Meg and Ray had their mouths pressed against Ben's chest, no words were being spoken. Lots of angry mumbling, but no actual words. Then Ray uttered something which Ben didn't like.
"Ray, there is no call to be nasty. She is only trying to help. And watch you language, there is a lady present."
Ray muttered something under his breath which Fraser didn't catch, but Meg assumed it was directed at her. The pin continued to slide until it finally came to rest precariously on the dress's belt. All three of them stopped breathing for a moment, afraid that even the slightest movement of air would cause the pin to fall. Then Meg smiled, Ray nearly began drooling, and Ben just stood there blushing. Ray scooted around the Inspector once again, jockeying for position as it were. Just as Meg and Ray were beginning to fight each other for the right to grab the hairpin, Ben yelled for them to stop.
"What's wrong Benny?" Ray questioned.
"If you two keep going at each other like this, the pin is going to fall to the floor and there will be no way to retrieve it easily. Now Ray, why don't you let the Inspector do this. We have had a bit of practice at this once before."
"I knew it!" Ray screamed.
With Ben's statement, Meg's mind flashed back to the incident on the train and what it had lead to afterwards. Until tonight's announcement, that is. Her attention was returned to the situation at hand when Ray told her that if she didn't hurry up, he was going after the pin.
It only took one attempt for her to grab the pin. (Retrieving a pin from a belt was much easier than it had been for Fraser when he had to retrieve her hairpin. Not nearly as enjoyable, but much easier.) She and Ben pulled it open like they had once before. Once that task was accomplished, Ben unlocked his handcuffs, followed by those of Meg and Ray. As they began to leave Meg's office, Ray screamed for them to stop.
"Uh guys, aren't you forgetting something?" Ray asked.
"What might that be detective?" queried Meg.
"Oh the little fact that I am not wearing anything other than a rather embarrassing pair of boxer shorts."
"You'll find a raincoat in the corner closet." Meg said.
Ray went to the closet in search of the raincoat. When the door opened, no one was prepared for what they saw next.
Inside the closet was the ugliest raincoat imaginable, but that wasn't what was so surprising. Ray stood there with his mouth hanging open and Meg and Ben approached to get a better look.
Standing in the closet was a bound and gagged Constable Turnbull. Wearing his stetson, his boots, and a rather interesting pair of boxers. It really was quite the coincidence that both Ray and Turnbull liked funny looking female blue cartoon characters on their boxers and that they were wearing them on the same day.
Turnbull began to explain how he ended up in the closet when suddenly, his voiced changed. It was still Turnbull speaking, but it was Ray's voice. All of a sudden, the cold water hit his face and Fraser sat up with a start. Looking around, he saw Ray and Inspector Thatcher standing beside him with concerned looks on their faces.
"What happened Benny?" Ray asked.
Ben explained as much as he could remember while checking what he was wearing. No dress in sight. He exhaled a sigh of relief, then looked at Ray.
"Ray, we haven't been, uh, dating, have we?"
Ray took a couple of steps away from Fraser and screamed "What the hell are you talking about?"
"Never mind Ray. It was just a bad dream."
"Constable, I think you need to go to the hospital and have your head examined," Meg said, speaking for the first time.
"Benny, I agree. That must have been some knock you took this time."
Ray and Meg helped Ben to his feet and escorted him to the hospital, where it was determined that he had a mild concussion. The doctor also confirmed what they had both thought for some time, Ben Fraser had an extremely hard head.
The End
If, for some reason you would like to reprint this, I don't mind, but please ask me first.