Interlocking Paths Interlocking Paths By Postcard postcard@manutd.com Rating: - PG. Romance. Pairing: - Fraser/Thatcher. Teaser: - Meg and Ben's paths come together. Spoiler: - None. Disclaimer: - The Due South characters in this story are not mine and anything else Due South isn't mine either. I do not mean to infringe on copyrights held by any copyright holders for Due South. The story however is mine (copyright March 2000 by Postcard on all original story content.) Please do not reproduce for anything other than personal reading without the written consent of author. This story is not written for profit and the author does not give permission for this story to be reproduced for profit. Author's note: - This story/snapshot is set after COTW. Hope you enjoy the story/snapshot and any constructive comments are welcome at postcard@manutd.com Her heart pounded against her white silk blouse at the sight of him. Even though she'd been away for quite a long time, he hadn't lost his looks; he still looked as handsome as ever to her. She'd been on numerous highly dangerous covert operations, but none of them had made her more nervous than she was right now. This man sent her nervous system spiralling out of control in ways that nothing else on earth had ever done or could ever do. Plucking up all of her courage, she walked up to the scarlet-clad RCMP officer stood on guard at Parliament Hill. He couldn't believe his eyes. * Could it be possible? Is it really her? * He knew that she had joined the CIS and he had sadly resigned himself to the fact that he would never see her again. But here she was, not more than ten feet in front of him, and even more beautiful than his memory had served him. He was pleased to see that she had grown her hair to her shoulders again, he much preferred it like that. Ben watched as the familiar figure walked up towards him and stood directly in front of him. "Hello Constable." She smiled at him and it took all of his self-control not to smile back and jump up and down for joy at seeing her. "If my watch is right, I believe that in approximately seven seconds you'll be off duty!" Those seven seconds were the longest seconds of his entire life and as the clock struck to signal his release from duty his face transformed into a huge smile. "Sir, is it really you?" "Yes, Fraser. It really is me." She smiled again at him as she took hold of him by the arm and they began to walk. "But as I am no longer your boss, please call me Meg. Erm, do I have your permission to call you Ben?" "Why yes, of course. Si…Meg what are you doing here? I thought that you were working for the CIS!" "Aren't you pleased to see me?" They stopped walking and as she looked at him; Meg bit her bottom lip. "Oh, Meg. Yes, I'm pleased to see you." He took hold of both of her shoulders and looked deep into her eyes. "In fact I'm more than pleased to see you, I'm ecstatic. I'm just surprised that's all. I mean, pleasantly surprised." "Really? You're pleased to see me? I…I wasn't sure if you would be!" "Yes, of course I'm pleased to see you. I've missed you." He bowed his head bashfully and looked down at his boots. "I've missed you too." He looked up at her and they both smiled shyly at one another. As they started to walk again, Meg began to explain why she was there. "I was working for the CIS, but I realised that it wasn't the life for me. At the time I thought that it was what I wanted to do, but it isn't. It's not the kind of life that I want to lead. I want my own life back, my identity. I've achieved what I wanted to achieve. I know that I'm quite capable of doing that kind of job. But now I feel like its time for the rest of what I want out of life." "And what's that?" "I want a husband and children. I want a family. I want you, Ben." Meg spoke the last four words very softly, but just loud enough for him to hear her with his sensitive ears. Ben stopped walking and turned once again to look at her. "You do? You want me?" "Yes. Now that I'm not your Superior Officer anymore there's no reason why we can't be together. Is there?" "Oh, Meg. No, there's no reason in the world why we can't be together now." The relief was visible in her eyes as she smiled at him and taking her into his arms, Ben hugged her tightly. Embraced in his loving arms, for the first time in ages she felt safe. She had finally come home. Not just to Canada, but to Ben and happiness and to her inner self. Smiling, two ghostly figures watched as the reunited pair kissed. Glad to see that their boy was finally happy, they felt that they could both now rest in peace. "I'll finally get some grandchildren now," Bob Fraser announced to his wife. "Let's give them some privacy," Caroline told her husband. Both ghosts turned around and walking away, they faded. Their paths were always destined to be together and that night, Ben's path interlocked with Meg's and a new path was created.