Adventures With Elaine 

Hello all, 

Some time ago on the dsfict list, I remember we were bemoaning the lack of
stories about Elaine. Well I am stuck here staring at my computer screen,
bored out of my mind, and thought what the heck? I feel terrible, I think
I have the flu or something so if you don't like the story, blame it on my
fever dreams. I am just writing as a I go so I hope it all works out at
the end. Enjoy! 

I hope I don't offend anyone,  but Thatcher does not exist in this
universe. Is that really a problem? 

Standard non-legally binding disclaimer 

Elaine, Ben, and Ray aren't my characters, etc etc etc. 

Besides my dad is a lawyer, not that that would help matters any, since he
would sue me if he could. Really. Don't ask. 

Special warning: I kind of slander the mayor of Chicago in this story. If
anyone has any problems with me ruining the good name of politicians, just
let me know. Oh, and it's a bit part really. Nothing based in fact,
honestly!!!! In fact, I am not going to vouch for the accuracy of the
facts in this story. Just so you know. 

Minimal violence, almost no sex (too bad), and some language you would
hear on TV any day. Consider yourself warned. 

Any problems, just let me know!!  

Adventures With Elaineby Peg Carr  

Elaine closed the door of her black Mazda and walked briskly across the
parking lot. She kept her head high and eyes forward. Even before she
began working at the police office, she knew the dangers of a parking lot
at night. Still, it didn't help her very much when she saw a man approach
her. 

"Excuse me, miss." The man walked up out of the shadows. He seemed to be
well-dressed, if casually, in khakis and a brown leather jacket. Elaine
didn't trust him at all and wished, uncharacteristically, for her gun. She
hoped her uniform, with "Chicago Police" prominantly displayed on it,
would be enough to protect her. She didn't count on it. He seemed to
self-assured, and besides, she could hear footsteps behind her. 

Elaine tilted her chin up. "What the hell do you want, accosting me in a
deserted parking lot?" She tilted her stance to a ready position. Never
hurts to be prepared, she thought. If the man noticed her change in
attitude, he didn't let it show. "I'm sorry, but there seems to be a
problem." "What kind of problem?" she demanded. Sadly, that was all she
could get out before the blow came and all she knew was darkness. 

"He didn't even ask for money or anything, he just clobbered me." Elaine
glared at Ray, sitting across from her. "So you can't even tell me what he
looked like?" Ray gave her a sour expression. Elaine fumed behind her cup
of coffee, cradled in her hands. She hoped it covered the tremors that
still shook her. "Oh yeah, Detective, he even showed me the tattoo on his
ass after he handed over his ID." Fraser looked condescendingly over at
his partner. Elaine hated that expression, it seemed so demeaning to her,
but Ray deserved it. "Ray, I believe Elaine is helping us to the best of
her ability. She knows how the process works and I have confidence in her
opinions." Ray glared at the Canadian as Elaine sent him a meaningful
smile. 

"So all he took was your wallet." Ray continued to question her. "How many
times do I have to tell you? Yes, dammit. Don't you have any other
suspects to bother or something?" Elaine sighed deeply. Fraser tried a
different tack. "Could you tell me everything that was in your bag when
you got out of the car?" Elaine smiled to herself. These guys played that
old cliched good cop/bad cop so well, and probably didn't even realize it.
She listed off everything for Fraser, right down to her socks. Her bag
held everything she needed for work, even her workout clothes. 

"Oh, wait! I forgot something." Elaine pondered while Fraser looked
hopeful. "I had a couple disks in there too. I don't usually carry them
around with me, but I wanted to mess around with some stuff at home." Ray
grinned snidely. "Surfing the 'net, are we?" Elaine met him with a cold
gaze. "Pretty big talk from someone whose idea of the Internet is 10
million ways to meet women. Or at least post virtual pictures of them."
Fraser rummaged through the contents of the bag. "What do they look like?
I don't see any here." Elaine considered. "Just your plain old 3 1/4 inch
floppy. Why, are they missing?" Fraser nodded. 

Elaine glanced over at the tall Mountie next to her. He scanned the
darkness covertly and gave her a kind smile. "It's really nice of you to
do this, Fraser. I guess I've kind of got a case of the jitters." "I
understand," he replied. "But I think you will be perfectly safe now.
Despite the adage, a thief will seldom return to the scene of the crime."
They walked across the parking lot and up the stairs to her apartment. As
she fumbled for her keys, she asked him hopefully, "Would you like to come
in? I guess I'd feel better if you scoped out the place first. Call me
crazy." "Certainly, Elaine," he answered. "I would feel the same way." 

As the clock creeped toward 2 am, Elaine yawned and looked at the alert
Mountie. She wondered if he even knew what a bad hair day was. She hadn't
asked, but he seemed to sense that she didn't want him to leave. Elaine
felt a lot more shaken up than she had expected. With all the violent
cases across her desk, and all the perps that walked past it in a day, she
never realized how it felt. Or had she just tried so hard to forget? 

Fraser walked over to Elaine and took a seat on the couch. He didn't want
to upset her, but he could tell she needed someone to lean on. She didn't
seem to mind, in fact, she relaxed considerably. He reached over and laid
her head in his lap. Staring at the wall, she asked her companion, "Do you
ever get used to this?" After a moment, he asked, "What do you mean, being
victimized or watching others I care about get hurt?" Once, it seemed a
lifetime ago, her heart would have jumped to hear him say that. Instead,
she continued. "Either one." All Fraser said was, "No." 

Fraser looked down at his friend. Even though she had relaxed, the tension
showed on her face. He meant what he said about having to watch her get
hurt. For some reason, he felt it more strongly than he would have
expected. He would never tell her this, but she had frightened him when he
first knew her. Fraser hadn't spent a lot of time with women, come to
think of it, he hadn't spent a lot of time around people at all. He always
felt more comfortable out on some ice floe with his wolf, or that's the
way Ray would tell it. Now that he got to know her, he realized he had
more than respect for her. But just what did that mean? 

"Hey, sleepyhead! Wake up." Elaine blinked her eyes. "Awww, Ben, do I have
to?" She rubbed a hand across her face. "Yes, the doctor said to wake you
every hour to make sure you don't slip away in your sleep." "Are you
serious?" She looked at him questioningly. "Yes." "No, I mean are you
really going to stay all night?" Fraser looked hurt. "Of course. You need
someone to look after you. Actually, now that you mention it, my legs are
kind of falling asleep." Elaine sat up. This was turning out to be an
interesting night. 

At six the next morning, Elaine's alarm went off. She looked down at the
sleeping Mountie on the floor. Amazingly enough, he managed to look the
tiniest bit disheveled. Elaine rolled over. She had insisted that he got
some sleep, and even convinced him to come into her bedroom. The alarm had
woken them up every hour, but at least she got some rest. Fraser's eyes
opened and he yawned. "Good morning. How did you sleep?" He gave her a
malicious grin. Wow, she thought. He really is loosening up. 

She dropped him off at his apartment in time to get dressed for work, and
then went straight to the precinct. Elaine had a hunch, and she didn't
want to let her friends in on it yet. Her computer looked okay, but
someone had been into her files and erased the ones she was looking for.
She ran a recovery program, but whoever did it knew what they were doing.
"No need to look for fingerprints," she murmured to herself and leaned
back. "You're looking awfully good this morning." Elaine turned around to
find Ray taking a seat by her desk. "You feeling any better?" She
shrugged. "Well, Ben took care of me last night. He's in better shape than
I am." "Yeah, like I say, he got Scotch-Guarded at birth," Ray replied.
"Whatcha doin'? You got a lead?"She filled him in on what she had found.
Ray looked pensive. "So what were those files anyway?" Elaine pointed him
to her screen. "I almost didn't remember. I ran across them when I was
running a little less-than-legal investigation on that guy you picked up
on a hit-and-run." "Murphy?" asked the detective. "Yeah, I checked him out
to find out whose payroll he was on. You'll never guess." Ray looked
blank. "I dunno. The Canadian Consulate? The FBI?" His eyes gleamed.
"Chicago's Finest? I give up." "Nope." She crossed her hands across her
lap. "The mayor." 

Ray stared at her. "You are kidding me. And now you want my help. Why
don't you just take my badge now. Here," he flipped her his wallet. "Just
take it. It'll be easier. I'm off to my missing pet case." Ray turned and
began to stride away but bumped into, or rather, tripped over Diefenbaker.
He looked up to see the Mountie offering his hand up. "I'm sorry Ray.
Diefenbaker seems rather excited to see you today. Or maybe," he amended,
"someone else." Ray looked around to see Dief trying to jump into Elaine's
lap. "Hey, watch the keyboard! Oh, hi Ben." Was that a silly grin on her
face or was Ray in need of a cup of coffee? 

"You'll never believe what she wants us to do," Ray informed Fraser.
Without missing a step, Ben asked her, "How can we help you, Elaine? Do
you know who assaulted you?" Ray rolled his eyes behind Fraser's Stetson.
"Here we go again. Maybe it's a citizen thing. Do you have any idea what
prison in America is like? Oh, wait," Ray stopped. "I guess you do." But
it seemed he was talking to himself. Elaine was already filling the
Mountie in on what she had found, and it looked like Ray needed to catch
up. 

"Let me see if I can find my way back into those files." Elaine ticked
away, and Fraser stared intently at the information flowing past. "Damn. I
guess I knew it would happen. The files are gone." Ray heaved a sigh. "Oh
well. We tried. Wanna go bust some easier prey, like drug dealers?" "We
have a winner," Elaine tried. "It is drug dealers." 

Elaine filled Fraser and Ray in on what else she had figured out. "So this
guy, Murphy, is just a hired grunt for Thomason. He's the head of the drug
trade, I figured that out from the other stuff I found. He's just working
for the mayor, I'm afraid." "So you didn't think to tell us about this
highly incriminating information you found hacking?" Ray was adamant.
Elaine tried again. "Look, a lot of this is just suspicion. I found some
names on some records that look suspicious. I hadn't even meant to do
anything else but check it out some more until those guys grabbed me." She
wrapped her arms around her tighter. Fraser put a hand on her arm.
"Elaine, this is all very useful information. No one wants to see your
attackers brought to justice more than I do." Ray softened. "Yeah, I'm in
too. Besides, a good drug bust couldn't make my rep any worse around
here." "Thanks guys, I really mean it. So what's the plan?" Elaine looked
determined, or as much as she could with a white wolf licking her face. 

That evening, the Riv laid in wait outside one of dozens of identical
warehouses on the south side. Elaine sat in the front next to Ray, to the
protestations of Dief, who had appointed himself her keeper. "Okay, tell
me if you see anything promising." Ray had chosen this spot out of one of
his many hunches and tips the others would just as soon not know about.
"So what do we do now? Wait?" "Yep. That's pretty much it. Unless you ask
the guy in the hat, he'll probably suggest charging in with bolas." He
grinned at Fraser. 

Hours later, our heroes were about to call it quits when Dief started
growling. "Awww, sorry big guy, all I have is Milk Bones, no donuts." Ray
rolled over, or as much as he could behind the wheel of the Riv. "Wait!"
Elaine started, "there's somebody over there. Wanna check it out?" "Might
as well, I could use a stretch," responded Ray, and opened the door as
soon as no one was in sight. They spread out, Ray with his gun, Elaine
with Dief, and Fraser with his hat, presumably. Fraser found a door and
the others followed him in. Dief led, sniffing avidly, and leading them on
into the gloom. "Nobody here," Ray whispered. Fraser's eyes were closed.
"No, I think you are right." He opened his eyes and continued in after
Dief. 

"That's funny, I was sure I saw someone," whispered Elaine. "Maybe we
better split up," suggested Ray. Elaine followed Dief through the maze of
boxes, pallets, and concrete for several minutes. Then the wolf stopped in
front of a small crate, whining and pawing. "What is it, boy?" she asked
him. The lid came off easily and Elaine found herself face-to-face with a
large package of something white and powdery. "Uh-oh, not again." She
could feel a gun pressed into her back. She sent a silent plea that Dief
hadn't been spotted as she backed up slowly and turned around. "Rachel?!"
She stared at the woman with the gun. "Elaine? What the hell do you think
you are doing here?" 

Elaine couldn't believe it. The woman facing her looked a lot like she
did, if you didn't notice the clothing. Long black hair, dark skin, except
her slim fingers were wrapped around the grip of a .38 special. Elaine
started forward, but Rachel said, "Don't move," her voice quavering. "What
are you doing in Chicago? I heard you left Detroit but I never knew what
happened to you." Elaine's mind was racing. Should she play along? "Uh,
yeah, I came here and finished school. I guess we were never cut out to be
dancers." She laughed half-heartedly. "Look, you don't want to shoot me,
do you? Please put down the gun." Rachel's eyes hardened. "Just as soon as
you tell me what you are doing snooping around here." Think!! she told
herself. Where the hell is that damn wolf? Or the cops, for that matter? 

"Freeze! Police!" Ray spun out of the darkness with his gun pointed at
Elaine's captor. Oh great, there goes the playing along gambit...and she's
still got a gun on me! Elaine glanced over at Ray. 

Whatever he was trying, it wasn't working. Rachel didn't seem to notice,
or care that her life was in danger. That's when Elaine noticed the look
in her eyes. They were sunk deep in the sockets. She didn't look stoned,
but she looked lifeless. Almost like she was already dead. Elaine
shuddered. Rachel asked her, "So that's what you left for? To be a damn
cop? You always were worthless." Elaine prayed she knew what she was
doing. "Rachel, you and me, we had a chance. It's Jeff, isn't it." She was
taking a shot in the dark, she knew, but was rewarded to see Rachel's
eyelid twitch. "He got his claws into you, too. And he said this was your
chance, he was going to make you rich. And you bought it." Rachel's hand
squeezed the gun even harder. "I'd shut the hell up if I were you." "You
don't want to do this, Rache. Please. It's a mistake. If any part of you
remembers, put it down. I can help you." Maybe it was the pleading in her
face, but Elaine managed to convince Rachel to put the gun down. Ray
caught her as Elaine's friend swooned. 

"Where's Ben?" Elaine demanded. "He's calling for backup. I hope they
listen to him, I mean, it's not you at the scanner." He gave her a quick
grin. "But if he's got half the talent you do, he'll get them here." Dief
padded up beside Elaine, who was trying to talk to Rachel. "Where have you
been? Huh?" He went over and licked the unconcious woman's face. "He knew
you were okay." Ben came striding up and glanced at the prone figure. "The
cops will be here any minute." 

Elaine stuck her legs out of the front seat of the Riv. If she could only
will them to stop shaking. She looked up as Fraser approached her,
Diefenbaker in tow. "Are you going to be alright? It's been a long day for
both of us." Elaine frowned at the ground. "Yeah, I guess so. I just hope
she's going to be okay." Ben told her, "The paramedics think so. They say
she was suffering from exhaustion and dehydration, probably related to
heroin use." "God, Ben, what have I done?" She threw her arms around his
broad shoulders and buried her head in his neck. "They won't throw her in
jail will they? I want her to have a chance. I got out of there, I was
lucky." Fraser thought how he would feel in her situation. Victoria was
different, but not by that much. 

"Listen." Ben cupped her jaw in his hands and faced her. "You did the
right thing. How long do you think she would have lasted on that stuff?"
Elaine nodded. Somehow, it didn't make it any easier. 

Elaine stared unseeing into her coffeemug. She didn't notice Ray walk up
and sit down until he started talking. "She's gonna be okay. They've got
her in detox now. They say we caught her in time." Elaine didn't look up.
"Look, she's going to get an easy sentence. She told us where to find
Jeff. He admitted to everything, and said Rachel didn't deal the stuff. He
even pointed us to Thomason." Elaine was still for a long time, and then
asked her friend, "Do you ever wonder how things would have turned out
different if you had just been there when it mattered?" She turned and saw
Ray put his head in his hands. "Oh, God, Ray, I'm sorry. I wasn't
thinking." Ray looked up, tears in his eyes. "Every day of my life," he
whispered. 

"Elaine, I don't know how to say this," Rachel tried. Her friend held her
hands tightly. "I'm sorry. I know it was the smack, but I can't believe I
might have...killed you." "I know," Elaine whispered. "It's alright. I'm
sorry I didn't say goodbye. I just had to get out of there. It could just
as easily have been me." Rachel shook her head. "No, you were always the
smart one. I just knew how to get into trouble." "Girl, what are you
talking about? You made it through. I didn't make you get off the drugs.
We got through it together back in Detroit, and that's how it's going to
be now." Elaine hugged her friend, and then told her, "Always, I promise."


Then Rachel found herself covered in wolf. Dief had bounded into the room,
with Fraser following. "Ah, how are you today, Miss Valmont?" Rachel
glared at him without letting go of her grip on Elaine's hand. "Jeez, call
me Rache. Has he always been this stiff?" she asked her friend. Elaine
rolled her eyes. "You have no idea." Fraser cleared his throat, and
continued. "I am happy to inform you, Rachel, that Ray has finished
some..." he paused and cleared his throat again, "negotiations with
State's Attorney St. Laurent. She thinks she can get you out with a few
months." "And don't think I won't be waiting when you get out," finished
Elaine. 

"And, if you will allow me, I believe Elaine and I have to be going."
Rachel winked at the pair as Fraser offered her friend his arm and
escorted her out. "What's up?" she asked Ben. "Oh, nothing...just,
something has come up." "Oh no, not more guys with clubs," Elaine moaned.
"Or computer scandals." "No," continued Fraser. "Something much better."
Without another word, he pulled Elaine close and kissed her deeply. 

THE END