Ray Vecchio could tell what kind of day it was from the twist in his gut. Usually, the twist in his gut told him that Fraser looked especially noble. And if Fraser looked especially noble, it meant he was feeling especially kind and dutiful, and if Fraser felt kind and dutiful he inevitably expected, in a very kind and dutiful way, that Ray would be feeling kind and dutiful too. He was usually wrong, in fact, nearly always, unless beautiful women were involved, but whether Ray was in a kind and dutiful mood or not, he usually ended up helping Fraser be kind and dutiful.

So when he felt the start of the usual twist in his gut when he looked up at the Mountie, he was almost ready to sigh and ask Fraser which little old lady he would be helping cross the road in twenty minutes time, or which house was going to be suspiciously on fire, or whose kids had run off. He was about to, when he realised it wasn't quite the usual twist in his gut.

It was saying something else entirely today. Something that seemed familiar, but that he'd never connected with Fraser before. He frowned, trying to think of it.

"...ay? Ray? Are you okay?"

He realised with a start that Fraser was talking to him and looked up. "What? Sorry, Benny, I was working and..."

"Oh, it's no problem."

Nothing, as Ray had observed on many occassions, was really a problem for the Mountie. Even breaking the law was excusable, as long as the criminal suddenly changed his or her ways and turned him or herself in immediately.

Ray looked up at Fraser, letting the twist in his gut do what it wanted, and came to an unsettling conclusion.