"Benny!" I hear Ray Vecchio shout from outside our apartment door. No way was I walking out of the bathroom now. Fraser could get the door. Or not. Didn't matter to me one way or the other. It was late. Very late. And I was naked and not moving until Vecchio left along with his whiny irritating and most likely drunk voice. I hear a fist pound on the door three times and then Fraser shuffling through the apartment. He's flipping on lights and muttering under his breath. One thing I learned early on living with the Mountie. You do not wake him up when he's sound asleep, especially after sex. Yes, even Fraser has his moments of moodiness.
"We need to talk." I hear Ray shout through the door followed by a few more pounds on the door. Yep, he's toasted. Fan-fuckingtastic. Just what we needed at two am, a drunk Italian on our door step.
"Hold on. I'm coming." I hear Fraser shout back. He's to the door when I realize I should let him know where I am. After all, I wasn't in bed with him when he got up. I don't want him to be concerned about my whereabouts while Vecchio's saying whatever it is he has to say. What does he have to say at two am?
I poke my head through the halfway closed bathroom door and holler just above a whisper, "Hey, Ben." He turns around and scans the apartment searching for my voice. "Make it quick, I'm trapped in the bathroom. Naked." I can see the relief wash over his face as he realizes the constant knocking at the door isn't because of me. And then in an instant, that relieved expression is exchanged for one of amusement at my current predicament, I'm sure. Guess I'll just have to drop the lid on the toilet and have a seat because I am not scurrying through the apartment back to our bedroom with a bath towel wrapped around my waist. Not with Vecchio there. No way. No how.
The knocking persists until Fraser finally opens the door and I hear Vecchio stumble into the apartment. He must have been leaning against it when Fraser opened it.
"Benny," I hear him slur. I shut off the light in the bathroom and crack the door a bit more to better hear what he is saying. "We need to talk."
Fraser is checking his watch for the time, I'm sure as he replies through a stifled yawn, "It's two am, Ray. What couldn't wait until morning?"
"Kowalski…" Vecchio snaps and I hear the apartment door slam shut.
"You've been drinking, Ray. Don't you think this would be a better conversation to have when I'm more fully awake and you're a touch more sober?"
"No, we're gonna talk about him now."
Great, this was about me after all. I hear Fraser sigh in frustration as he clambers in the kitchen trying to start a pot of coffee in the attempt to sober up his friend. I wonder what beef Vecchio has with me now. Wasn't it enough that I stood back and kept my mouth shut when he married my ex? For Fraser, I gave the man the benefit of the doubt and didn't question his concept of friendship. In my eyes, he was a lousy friend, at least from what I had seen since he came back from Vegas and reclaimed his life so abruptly from me. I'm sure he had qualities to him that he only shared with Fraser.
"Why did you have to shack up with Kowalski, huh? Why not someone like Frannie?" If I weren't naked, I would storm out of this bathroom right now and pound on this guy. Who the hell did he think he was questioning who Fraser was with?
"Francesca? Your sister was only ever interested in my body, Ray. She was in love with the illusion of a being a perfect couple. And if memory serves me correctly, you told Francesca that guys like me didn't marry girls like her." Oh crap, Fraser's pissed.
"You never gave Frannie a chance," Vecchio blurted out. "You're sleeping with Kowalski for God's sake.
"Not that it is any of your business," Fraser ground out, "But we did try taking a chance."
What? This was all news to me. Fraser and Frannie? Together? Holy crap! When the hell did that happen? I lean closer to the door so I didn't miss anything.
"But since you seem to want to make my sex life your business at two in the morning, I suppose you might as well know that part of it as well. We just realized after that one night that we weren't meant for each other."
"You call yourself my friend?" Vecchio lunged for Fraser and stumbled over what I presume were my shoes I left haphazardly by the island.
"Get ahold of yourself, would you?" Fraser helped Vecchio to his feet and ducked a flying fist. "It was a mutual understanding on both our parts."
"You better not have hurt her." Vecchio warned but there wasn't any bite left in his bark.
"I didn't hurt her."
"She better not have hurt you, either."
"We are both fine, Ray."
"Then why Kowalski? If you're going to switch sides and bat for the other team, why him? He's a divorced loser, Benny." Vecchio was shuffling closer to Fraser. "He was only pretending to be me… You just settled for him because you thought I wasn't coming back. But I'm here, right here ."
"He did a commendable job protecting your identity while you were away, Ray, which makes him anything but a loser. And I in no way confused your identities. You are both unique to your own being."
"Why didn't you wait for me then? I loved you, Benny."
Wait? What? Vecchio loves Fraser. I poke my head out of the door to see why it has grown eerily quiet. Vecchio has his hands wrapped around the back of Ben's neck, fingers twisting in his hair and he's kissing him hard. I watch in disbelief as Fraser's best friend is standing in our kitchen kissing him. But Ben isn't kissing him back. He has his hands pushed against Vecchio's chest and he's working on pulling free. The drunk bastard has a pretty good hold on him. Ben finally pushes himself free and steps back quickly, swiping his hand across his mouth.
"You are my friend, Ray, my best friend. But I have no other feelings for you than that of a friend. I'm with Ray and you're with Stella. You tell me who really settled."
I see Fraser move to the door, open it and motion with his head. "I think you need to go home to your wife, Ray."
"I'm sorry, Benny. I had to know." Vecchio shuffled out the door and Fraser closed it quietly behind him.
When Vecchio was finally gone, I leave the safety of the bathroom and go to Fraser who is still standing with his back against the door.
"You okay?" I ask him.
All he can do is nod. I think Vecchio just shocked the hell out of him.
"Did you settle?" I boldly ask him.
"No." He takes my hand and leads me back to our bedroom.
That's the sweetest single word I've ever heard.