due South A Buck and Change #8 Warnings: R M/M sex, disclaimer. Ice warning elevated to gale force alert. The word "metric", a writer with a terrible penchant for titles (you'll see what I mean), and Mountie musings. Promises: Absolutely zippo cruelty to vegetation, animals, clothing, fine classic American automobiles, Frobisher, things *near* Frobisher, Sofia Vecchio, Meggie-weggie, greater Chicago, the state of Illinois, the U. S. and Canada, outer space. And you're wondering *why* the heck you should bother reading it. Go on, admit it! A quick TYK for the responses that have come in. They do keep this series going, you know. And the ideas that arrive with these responses have been delightful. I, unlike those poor *paid* screenwriters, welcome and freely steal *all* ideas mentioned within my vicinity.  Quiz by Laurie Taylor. Ltaylor@provider.uk.  Beta Reading by Dyevka.   A BUCK & CHANGE - Episode 8 or The Wild Hunch by Mitch Hudson (who is solely responsible for the horrendous experience you are about to endure, and shall immediately begin preparing a written reprimand!)   "Be-- Benny?" "M'hm?" "I can't--" Ray struggled to straighten his neck. "Can't breathe." "Mmm. Ray, you make me so happy--" he was interrupted by a guttural cough from the lean man behind him. Fraser shifted forward and turned to catch sight of Ray's body smashed back against the dash and windshield. The detective expanded forward, throwing his head back and hacking grating coughs into the tiny confines of Francesca Vecchio's car. His lover clutched at Fraser's sides as he struggled to bring his breathing under control and the Mountie held still and waited until Ray regained his composure. Delicately Fraser adjusted his jeans, still open but up around his waist and turned to cradle his flushed lover. "Did I hurt you, Ray?" he stroked his sensitive fingers tenderly across Ray's forehead as he waited for an answer. After a few raspy breaths Ray answered. "No, lover. I'm fine, just not enough air in here and my neck was kinda bent too much. Remind me the next time I wanna play around in some little car that I like the Riv for more than just its engine and classic lines, okay?" Fraser couldn't resist planting a kiss across Ray's flushed lips. He molded their mouths together and enjoyed the sweet sensation of Ray's parrying tongue. Every kiss he shared with Ray was like a new adventure. As a child he'd spent long hours reading the works of Rudyard Kipling, E. E. "Doc" Smith, and Edgar Rice Burroughs. A way to claim that adventurous life had never presented itself to him until he'd caught sight of Ray's disconcerted eyes staring up at him during that first fateful meeting in the Chicago Police 27th precinct building. It wasn't immediate, this odd tugging he felt now. Not when he saw Ray in the holding cell, or when he followed the man back to his desk. They'd discussed Ray's less-than-stellar attentiveness to the "dead Mountie" case as Ray had so disrespectfully referred to it. The callousness of the detective had shocked Fraser into *almost* equal rudeness. He knew full-well the reaction he wanted to cause the loud stranger when he so casually informed him that the "dead Mountie" was his father. Then Ray had looked up at him, those liquid green eyes wide with self-condemnation and intense regret. The feelings seemed to radiate out from Ray and brush delicately at Fraser's body. He had shoved the feeling to the back of his mind, invoking much used iron-clad discipline over himself to concentrate on the problem at hand, catching his father's killer. Over the next few months Fraser had played the scene back in his mind, recalling Ray's expression. Ray had been jovial, almost bouncing during their next days spent together. He saw no more signs of *that* part of Ray until the man was lying in a hospital emergency room, expressing his self-doubts again. Fraser remembered the moistness forming in his lover's eyes and he remembered himself fleeing. At that moment it almost proved impossible for him to keep that self-discipline in place. So he'd run. He'd left Ray behind and walked out with no intention of ever seeing the man again. And here he was, his own semen staining the backside of his jeans, sated, happy and holding Ray Vecchio, partially nude, in his lap. He smiled and kissed Ray's ear. Then he kissed that delicate neck, a shoulder, the neck again, and back up to the ear. Ray chuckled and squirmed. "Hey Benny, cut it out. I'm exhausted. You gotta let me rest for a minute." "Do I, Ray? You sure you're not up to a little more experimenting in this car?" "Absolutely not, lover! Once in here is enough to have taught me a lesson." "Oh," Fraser managed to sound *extremely* disappointed. "I'm sorry to hear that. I had an awfully rough day. With all the pent-up frustration in me I doubt I'll be able to sleep at all tonight. Perhaps I'll take Dief for a long walk through my neighborhood. We could cover a significant portion of it before dawn." "Benny!" Ray objected. Fraser smiled in the dark. "I'm not about to let you do that." Ray twisted around and wrapped his arms about broad, manly shoulders. "You really wanna do a little more experimenting?" "Yes, Ray." Fraser answered simply. He knew full well when to push and when to allow Ray room to make up his own mind. "Well, um, first you answer me a question. About in the hotel room earlier today. You were, you know, giving me a . . . blow job." "That's an awfully crude expression, Ray." "Yeah, well that's what it was," Ray challenged. "But that time it was kinda different, you know what I mean?" "Not a clue, Ray," Fraser said shaking his head. "Ah, come on, Benny," Ray whined. "You gotta know . . . well, maybe not. I mean you ain't exactly had a lot of experience at that sort of thing have you?" Fraser arched his eyebrows and gazed at Ray with a look of complete astonishment. "Benny? Do I have to spell it out for you?" "That would be most helpful," he replied then kissed Ray's cheek. Ray wiped at the spot and tried to sit up straighter. With his head pressing into the car's roof lining and his pants still down around his knees he completely failed at appearing more composed. "If that's what it takes . . . " he trailed off. "Well, it's not like I've never had to do *that* before. Is it, lover? So I'll come right out and say it. You know how to deep-throat." "Deep-throat, Ray?" Up went those eyebrows again. The blue eyes wide, the face flashing the Mountie's growing perturbation for all who were watching. Fortunately that audience was limited severely to one human being, Ray Vecchio. "Yes." For once Ray echoed Fraser's solemnity. The Mountie waited. "You took my . . . my . . . you took me in your . . . mouth . . ." He allowed his eyes to drop down to Ray's open lips. Yes. Definitely. Fraser felt his erectile tissues, the two corpora cavernosa and the corpus spongiosum respond as his spinal nerves sent impulses to the blood veins of his sexual organs commanding them to expand. His heart, as expected continued pumping blood along the circulatory system of his body and as said blood passed into the newly expanded veins resulted in a predictable alteration to the state of his genitalia. Ray seemed to be struggling to continue. "You went down-- You gave hea-- Oh, Benny!" Ray twisted away and managed to get his underwear and pants back up. "Are you ready to go home now?" "Not exactly, Ray. At least a part of me isn't," Fraser answered solemnly. He took Ray's warm hand in his and placed it over his delighted erection. He smiled, open and pleased at his lover. "Ah, Benny," Ray sighed and slumped back against him. "You are so . . . so incredibly sexy. You make me feel so needed." Fraser moved his mouth to Ray's ear. "I know," he whispered very low. "You *are* needed. By so many people it frightens me." "Why, lover?" Ray asked as he ran his fingertips lightly up and down the enticing bulge barely concealed by the unzipped jeans. Fraser hissed a breath in between clenched teeth. "I didn't exactly mean it frightens me. It's just that I wonder how you manage it all. Your sisters, Maria's family and of course your mother. And the people, the victims and their families of all those cases you handle. Does Lieutenant Welsh assign you more cases than he does the other detectives?" Ray smiled and leaned in to plant a moist kiss on Benny's lips. "No. It just seems that way because I don't have a partner. I mean an official partner. You really worried about me?" "Yes, Ray. I worry about you when I think about all the people who rely on you, all the responsibilities you have. I--" his words turned into low groans as Ray kissed along his jaw. "Ray, I've never had people relying on me, so many people. Cases in my postings in the Northwest Territories were actually rather sparse. Most of my time was spent patrolling, and tending to the occasional fisherman who would exceed the limit. My father only relied on me once in my life, my grandparents, never. It overwhelms me to watch you handle everything with such alacrity." "Mmmm. Nice word, Benny. Wanna try for a little alacrity of your own? Wanna let me try doing to you what you did to me yesterday?" Fraser smiled silently at the man on his lap. Ray opened the car door and tugged him outside. Fraser allowed himself to be positioned seated on the automobile's wide black bumper. Ray knelt between his legs and gently tugged the pants open further. Moist and tender, Ray's mouth encircled Fraser's fully erect penis. His lover's slim fingers slipped inside the jeans to tease at his scrotum and manipulate the testes inside. Fraser groaned appreciatively and stroked his lover's shoulders and neck. The silence of the woods around them swallowed their little noises of passion, leaving them isolated and alone with each other. Fraser began to undulate under Ray's ministrations. Ray strained forward, diligent in his task and Fraser felt the heightening of his sexual arousal. His penis was drawn deeper in by his lover. It was deep in and Fraser was peripherally aware of Ray shifting to accommodate its full length. The Mountie felt him balk but immediately resume his efforts. The flared head of his circumcised penis brushed along the very back of Ray's mouth. The man's uvula slid over the tip and he touched the thyroidal tissues at the top of Ray's esophagus. "Oh, incredible, Ray. More," he requested and followed his words with a thrust of his hips. He laced his fingers behind Ray's throat and thrust in against the tissue that triggered a human's gag reflex. Ray should be taking steady breaths through his nose. Fraser knew he should be feeling his lover working at keeping that gag reflex repressed. He thrust forward pushing past the back of Ray's mouth. His testes were no longer being massaged but they were tight up against his body and the release of sperm was imminent. Fraser thrust forward, riding a tidal wave of intense sensation into his lover, into his throat and down. The black night swept his reeling mind along with the flood of seminal fluid and his body was left with no thoughts to control it. The sharp edge of the automobile's flimsy hood creased into Fraser's back and he leaned away from it. The moon emerged from its silver shroud of cumulous formations and bathed him in colorless light. Ray was on the ground gripping Fraser's knee and coughing vigorously. Fraser dropped to his knees and steadied the man. "Ray? Are you all right?" The detective raised his head but didn't make eye contact. He seemed distinctly unfocussed and unable to acknowledge the inquiry. He drew a breath and swayed in Fraser's arms. "Ray! You didn't aspirate the fluid, did you?" he asked in growing alarm. Ray sank further into his arms and the coughing grew less patterned. Fraser heard rastoring during the infrequent breaths Ray managed to perform. He had to get Ray to a doctor immediately. Placing Ray in his sister's automobile and driving him to a small suburban hospital must have been a simple task. Fraser realized as he stood in the bustling examination cubicle that he had absolutely no memory of performing the functions. A doctor, elderly and authoritative, swept into the curtained area and shoed the nurse and orderly away. He placed his stethoscope against Ray's bare chest, moved it around several times and levered Ray's supine form onto its side. "Sounds as if he'll be all right. We'll leave the oxygen mask on for a little while. Give his body a good wash of the stuff and he should be awake and ready to go soon." "Thank you, Doctor. I appreciate your prompt and thorough treatment of my friend." Fraser nodded respectfully. "Glad you do, boy. Glad you do. Just want one thing from you, though." The brusque gentleman seemed to make the request more of a demand as he arched a bushy white eyebrow and stared intently in Fraser's direction. Fraser shifted his stance and anxiously cleared his throat. "Ah, one more thing, sir?" "Explain to me how your friend aspirated on what you told my nurse was a liquid substance comprised of organic components," he paused and lifted the medical chart from the instrument tray at his side, "such as ascorbic acid, citric acid, lactic acid, uric acid, calcium, fructose, sodium, magnesium, potassium, nitrogen, phosphorus, vitamin b12, and zinc." "Ah, yes . . . " Fraser dropped his gaze and ran his thumbnail along the orderly hairs of his right eyebrow. The doctor continued. "Certain antigens, chlorine, cholesterol, DNA, glutathione, pyrimidine, pyruvic acid, sorbitol, spermidine, spermine-- "I *didn't*--" Fraser interrupted but got no more than those two words out before the doctor harumphed in annoyance. "No, Mr. Frazier. You seemed to have left a few components out of your rather technical report. Thought I'd just fill in any gaps in your eclectic knowledge. But obviously by your recognition of them you knew them but didn't bother to name them. Why is that, do you suppose?" "Ah, I saw no need to continue. The nurse informed you of the nature of the fluids, organic and absorbable by the body, and those were the pertinent compounds, the ones that could affect my friend's treatment and recovery." "I see." The doctor pitched the chart clipboard back on the metal tray. "The nurse rattled off the compounds and made a casual remark about people who drink *liquid vitamins*. He thought it was rather silly, actually." "Ah. Liquid vitamins," Fraser murmured. "The point is, Mr. Frazier, this shouldn't have happened. Either one or the both of you were ill prepared for such an activity. I would advise you and your lover to get a little education before you attempt this again." "The fault was entirely mine, sir. I am solely culpable and quite deserving of your reprimand. I neglected to clarify the possible hazards with my . . . partner before undertaking the act. And I allowed myself to become distracted, less than cautious where my . . . partner's possible inexperience was concerned. He obviously was unaware of the possibility of fluid bypassing the esophageal passage when the epiglottis is in its upright position. He continued to breathe during the expulsion stage of our . . . act." "I see. But you'll take steps to prevent him showing up in here again, I trust?" "You may so trust, Doctor." "Get him a book. The two of you *have* read a book before, haven't you?" his voice dripped with globs of sarcasm. "Nice handy sized things, lots of papers all stuck between to pieces of stiff board, lots of teeny tiny letters all over the pages. And," he allowed his voice to wax enthusiasm, "if your *lucky*, Mr. Frazier, a few pretty *pictures* as well." "Ah, yes, sir. I *have* read a book before, sir. And so has Detec-- my friend." "Good for you both, Mr. Frazier." The doctor beamed out approval along with an indulgent smile. "And not that medical text you seemed to have memorized. I mean a manual, a *sex* manual." Fraser flicked his gaze to his lover's form and roamed up to his face. Oh! Ray's eyes were open and staring back at him. Lines showing his concentration bracketed Ray's mouth. "When he wakes up you two better high-tail it outta here. That nurse of mine might decide to do a little checking on that insurance card you handed him. And I don't believe my patient, Mr. *Fraser* there," he pointed a thumb in the general direction of Ray, "exactly meets the description he'd get back from the Insurance company. Do you?" "Ah, perhaps not, sir. But I can assure you I have tendered a check for the majority of the expenses incurred here tonight and will promptly pay the balance as soon as it is calculated by your establishment's accounting department." "Yes. That check drawn on the account of one Mr. Ray Vecchio, I believe," the doctor said as he extracted a small paper from his lab coat pocket. "I'd suggest you take this with you and replace it with a more anonymous money order. One matching the name on the hospital records might be an excellent idea." Fraser flicked a millisecond long glimpse in Ray's direction then plucked the paper from the Doctor's extended hand. "Yes, sir. Thank you for the advice." He looked at his poor imitation of Ray's boldly sloppy signature. Since he *was* authorized to sign on the account Fraser'd felt minimal guilt at the small attempt at deception. And he hadn't actually told a lie to the admitting nurse. The fellow'd asked of *he* had insurance. Without verbal acknowledgment he'd removed Ray's wallet, fished his own card from his pocket and presented the piece of thin plastic requested. The nurse had assumed the victim was Benton Fraser, further compounding the earlier event of mispronouncing Fraser's own name after a brief introduction upon arrival. No one but the doctor seemed to have noted the unmatched name on the check. "I don't suppose you happened to arrive in anything other than that old Riviera I saw all over the news tonight?" "Old?" Ray squeaked. "Actually--" Fraser said a bit loudly to distract the Doctor from his alert patient's ire, "we did arrive in a different vehicle." "Good," the doctor declared as he eyed his now-awake patient. "At least one of you has a few brains in his skull." "Can I go now?" Ray asked, expressing impatient disdain with every fiber of his being. "Yes, Mr. Vecchio. You certainly may. And take your Mountie . . . *partner* with you. I certainly don't need a media circus catching wind of you two being in here. Can't *stand* those circling buzzards. Well, what're you waiting for? Get!" Fraser drove with extreme caution now, much to Ray's unsubtle disgust. "I gotta know one thing, Benny." The close echo of the Doctor's request startled Fraser. "One thing?" he adjusted the rear-view mirror. He checked the fuel level indicator. He calculated their rate of travel and verified his estimation against the speedometer which was blessedly metric as well as custom. At the moment he had no patience for the stubbornly antimetric foolishness of this country's phobias. "I got this notion. You could call it a hunch if you wanted to." Fraser adjusted his hands to the optimal stable positions on the steering wheel. "A hunch that tells me you might've just known a little more about deep-throating than you led me to believe." "Ah. I see. Ray there *is* something I've been attempting to discuss with you during the past few days." Ray turned back to gaze at the approaching city lights. "I thought so, Benny." "You've made mention of . . . of Francesca lately. Francesca and her uninvited interest in me. I think I've allowed this to go unmentioned for far too long." Ray slowly turned back to his lover, his eyes wide, his face blanched. "My *sister*? Benny, are you telling me that my *sister*-- You and my *sister* have been-- have been-- You've been *learning* from . . . " Fraser cast a worried glance at his suddenly speechless lover. Ray looked like he needed an immediate return trip to the hospital. ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~   Will Fraser reveal a secret connecting his unexpected bit of knowledge to Francesca? And if so, will Ray require a return trip to the emergency room? Tune in again for more exciting adventures on A BUCK AND CHANGE Ep. 9 or The Red Line. ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ Cuffs R Us quiz department, under the Management of Ms. L. Taylor is delighted to bring you another of their titillating and mind expanding quizzes. Please, enjoy.   Quiz of the Week Fill in the blank and multiple choice questions 1. 'The __________ expanded forward.' 2 'And my --- was kinda bent too much.' 3 How does Ben recall Ray's eyes after the 'dead Mountie case?' 4 Define 'blow job.' a Drying one's hair with a hairdryer. b A particularly windy day in Chicago. c A verbal rebuke. 5 Define 'deep throat.' a A particularly virulent throat infection whereby verbal communication is typically 'raspy.' b In opera, a deep note reached by tenors. c A euphemism for choking. 6 What erectile tissues did Benton feel respond? 7 What does Ray handle with alacrity? 8 He obviously was unaware of the possibility of ____ bypassing the ____ when the ____ is in its upright position. He continued to ____ during the expulsion stage of our act.' ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ Quiz Answers: 1 Detective 2 Neck 3 As 'liquid green, wide with self-condemnation and regret.' 4 A 5 B 6 The corpora cavernosa and the corpus spongiosum - obviously. 7 Everything - pertaining to his social life. 8. Fluid, esophageal passage, epiglottis and breathe. ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ Disclaimer: This story is written for the private entertainment of fans. No infringement of any copyrights held by Alliance Communication, CBS, CTV, or any others is intended. This story is not published for profit, and the author does not give permission for this story to be reproduced in any form. The author makes no claims on the characters or their portrayal by the creation of this story. Mitch_H@hotmail.com geocities.com/soho/lofts/5843/mh-fict.htm