A/N: This is set right after the season two episode 'The Duel' Spoilers from season oneup to 'The Duel'. This is my first due South fiction so please review and tell me if you loved it, hated it or justsomewhere in between.
She Called me Benton
Fraser skulked slowly up the stairs of his apartment building, his head bowed and his brow furrowed in unbendable thought which is why it took several whines, a few barks, and finally a howl from Diefenbaker to shake Fraser slightly from his thoughts.
Fraser looked up and could see Dief's head peek around the wall and heard him let out another whine of impatience, gesturing with his head for Fraser to hurry up.
Fraser rolled his eyes and tutted. "You know you won't starve in the time it takes me to climb the stairs and reach the apartment." Fraser reached the landing and walked towards his apartment, coming closer to Diefenbaker regarding him with a chiding expression. "Perhaps I should teach you how to open the door as well as how to use the stove."
Dief snorted and grumbled in response. Fraser opened the door and turned to look at Diefenbaker. "Ahh what have I told you about your language?" Dief hung his head low as he walked past Fraser and into the apartment. Fraser closed the door behind Dief and removed his coat, making his way to the closet. "And besides…" He opened the closet door, "…can I not be allowed…" He hung up his coat and closed the closet door, "…to take time to reflect on the events of the day?" He then made the short journey to the kitchen and open the fridge door. "I mean we were kidnapped by a murderer and tied up in an old 1971 or 2 Buick Rivera…" He raised the index finger of his left hand into the air to emphasize the point, "…in which we could have been crushed to death." Resting his right arm on the fridge door he looked over at Dief who was circling the rug. He grumbled in response and admitted that Fraser had a point. Fraser nodded his head in satisfaction at having won the argument.
But, as Dief slumped lazily onto the floor, he made a scoffing sound. Fraser's head immediately snapped round to look at Dief. "What do you mean? 'As if your mind was even thinking about that.'" Fraser left the fridge door open and walked towards Dief. He crossed his arms over his chest in a single minded stance. "And do tell me. Where was my mind?" He asked sarcastically.
Dief didn't lift his head but merely looked up at Fraser and raised his eyebrows. Fraser immediately dropped his stance and turned on his heel to walk back to the fridge. "Oh please!" He scoffed. He took the eggs out of the fridge "And what would it matter…" He closed the door, "…if I was thinking about States Attorney Carnes?" He walked rather too quickly to the kitchen counter and placed the eggs down. "And what would there to be think about?…" He opened the right cupboard door and pulled out a bowl. "…All she did…" He cracked an egg into the bowl, "…was simply come up to me and ask if I was ok…" Fraser was halted mid sentence as he heard a grumble of protest from Dief. He looked over his shoulder and raised his hand in apology. "Sorry asked us if we were ok." He looked back at what he was doing and cracked another two eggs into the bowl. "And what would it matter…" He rubbed his thumb over his eyebrow. "…if she called me Benton." He rested his hands on the counter top and looked into to middle distance. "Again." He said somewhat timidly. He paused
Dief lifted his head and tilted it in curiosity. Fraser immerged out of his trance and Dief didn't question him placing his head on his paws once again.
"Not that it is in anyway peculiar that she called me Benton." He opened the left hand drawer and pulled out a fork. He picked up the bowl started to beat the eggs as he turned to face Diefenbaker. "It is after all my name." He continued beating the eggs as he walked back to the fridge. "It's just that no one really uses Benton." He placed the bowl on top of the fridge and opened the door and took out the carton of milk. "Everyone, for some reason or another, calls me Fraser." He poured some milk into the bowl before placing it back in the fridge and closed the door. "And it's very rarely that people I've just met call me Benton. So it did seem somewhat odd that she would call me Benton. Not even people I'm close to call me Benton. Even Ray rarely does." He rubbed his eyebrow. "That is to say that States Attorney Carnes isn't the first woman to ever call me Benton." He picked the bowl up and walked back to the counter and leaned down to open the bottom right hand cupboard and pulled out a pan. He made a rolling gesture with the pan in his hand. "Of course my mother and grandmother called me Benton." He placed the pan on the stove. "But they aren't the kind of women I mean." He once again walked back to the fridge and opened the door. "That is, I mean, they are family." And took out a tub of margarine and looked over at Dief. "So for them to call me Fraser would make no sense." He coughed nervously. "The women I refer to are women like…"
Dief lifted his head and sat up slightly and barked. "Yes…" Fraser shut the fridge door rather forcefully. "…women like Elaine and…" He walked back to the counter and opened the draw once again and pulled out a knife. "…Francesca." He said rather high pitched.
He rubbed his eyebrow with his thumb. "Although Francesca…" He scoped out some margarine with the knife and placed it in the pan. "…has also called me Benton twice." He placed the knife in the sink and looked over at Diefenbaker. He gestured round the apartment. "Once when she was here the other day. And the other when Ray tricked me into that church choir and that led to her standing in my apartment…" He looked over at the door. "…dropping her coat and revealing a lot more of her standing…" He gestured to the spot where it had happened. "…there." He let out a breath he hadn't been aware he was holding as he placed his hands in his jean pockets.
When Fraser didn't seem to come out of this trance after a few seconds Dief stood and let out a chastising grumble.
Fraser scoffed rather offended. "Excuse me but my brain is exactly where it should be in relation to my body." He turned and picked up the box of eggs and carton of milk and walked towards the fridge. He stopped and turned to face Diefenbaker, gesturing largely with the milk and box of eggs still in his hands. "And what gives you the right to be so judgmental." He turned again, opening the fridge door and placing the eggs and milk inside, he then closed the door and walked back towards Dief pointing a finger at him. "You were the one who had a girlfriend and didn't bother to tell me about." He began to walk back towards the kitchen but Dief was not going to back down without a fight. Dief walked behind Fraser and barked at Fraser nastily.
Fraser was somewhat taken aback by Diefenbaker's outburst and spun round to defend himself from his life long companion's truthful accusation. "Inspector Thatcher and I…" He began but began to waver as Dief tilted his head in mock curiosity. "Inspector Thatcher and I have a purely working relationship." He said warily. Dief snorted in response and then barked.
Defiantly, Fraser placed his hands on his hips. "That was a rouse. She simply called me Ben because she wished to give the impression to Mr Cloutier that she was in a relationship and that he would hopefully stop casting his unwanted attention on her." He passed Dief to walk to the fridge and opened it, not looking for anything in particular. "That was all." Dief turned around and grumbled begrudging that Fraser had a point. But Dief sat down self-assuredly knowing that he had Fraser with his next argument and confidently barked.
Fraser let out a short bitter laugh. "The train." He shook his head in panicked disbelief. He walked back towards the counter and picked up the tub of margarine then turned back towards the fridge. "What does a train…" he put the margarine in the fridge and shut the door forcefully, "…have to do with anything?" He once again went back to the drawer t pulled out a wooden spoon. He listened nervously as Dief began to speculate what had happened on the train. He looked over his shoulder at Dief and stopped him mid sentence. "I really don't know were you dream these kind of things up." He picked up the bowl with the beaten eggs and milk, and poured it into the pan, and began stirring. "Inspector Thatcher is my superior officer nothing more." Dief let out another snort of disbelief. Fraser faced him fully. "That's right, nothing happened on the train between Inspector Thatcher and I." He widened his eyes slightly to try and emphasis his point. Which was pointless because it was a lie and he knew that Dief could see he was lying. But Fraser had promised to try and erase the contact from his mind, and to help that process he told no one about it. Not that he would have anyway but he really didn't want to be having this conversation with Diefenbaker.
Dief, somewhat satisfied that he'd gotten a rise out Fraser, stood and turned to go lay back on the rug. Glad that the conversation was over, Fraser turned back to the pan and began stirring again. But it was Dief who had the last word and barked smugly.
Lifting the pan to check himself, realised that he hadn't yet turned the stove on, and pursed his lips somewhat embarrassed. He sucked in a deep breath and looked over his shoulder at Dief. "Smarty pants."