Note: This story takes place immediately following my previous story Protection. It won't make a lot of sense if you haven't read Protection. The usual disclaimers apply. I don't own anything, I don't make money from it, I just like telling stories. This story is much more focused on people and relationships than action, although I hope the crime solving is satisfactory! I hope you enjoy, and please review and let me know what you think. I love hearing peoples' responses, and I really do find them very helpful!

o-O-o-O-o

Take my hand,

Don't think of obligations

Now, right now,

Your love is liberation

To free in me

The trust, I never dared

I always thought the risk too great

But suddenly, I don't hesitate, so

Take my hand,

Don't think of complications

Now, right now,

Your love is liberation

Liberation - Pet Shop Boys


o-O-o-O-o

Chapter 1 - Wake Up

The soft drape of dark hair on the pillow next to his head was a surprise. Benton Fraser in his half-waking state panicked for a moment. Dark hair. Was it- could she have returned? Victoria? He blinked and rubbed his eyes and the evening before rushed back to him as he realized the dark hair was straight and smooth, not a mass of medusa-like curls, and this woman in his bed most definitely was not the one who wanted to harm him. No, this woman in his bed, rumpled up into one of his flannel shirts to sleep, breathing so softly and peacefully, this was his commanding officer.

Which in itself was enough to make Benton prop himself up on his elbows and wrinkle his brow with worry. They'd talked about why they shouldn't fall in love. Then they'd let their feelings, the wave of chemistry and longing, overrun them. And now? Well, he had no idea how she felt, but he couldn't make love in every meaning of the word and wake up and pretend that nothing had happened. He'd just made a commitment.

Margaret Thatcher rolled over and opened her eyes, looking up sleepily at Benton's troubled face.

"You're thinking. No thinking." she murmured. She wrapped her arms around him persuasively. The worried expression was replaced with a soft smile on his face as he curled back down into the bed with her. Not that he wasn't attractive with his lower lip curved into the shadow of a pout. On the contrary, every different angle of his face seemed to highlight a new loveliness. But Meg wasn't ready to relinquish the giddy joy of waking up next to him to the hard realities of the morning after.

Meg had some ideas of how to keep him from brooding. His reaction to her touch was a constant delight. She was still realizing that the stiff, uptight posture was for public consumption. Not that it was a false image of who he was, just an incomplete one. In private, in the most intimate moments, he was not withdrawn or repressed at all. He, in turn, seemed to relish the way her body responded to him, the way even a simple nuzzle into her neck could make her shiver with pleasure.

A full fifteen minutes of sleepy snuggling and necking passed before Fraser realized that he wasn't being pestered for breakfast by a certain vociferous half-wolf. Which lead him to the question of just where Diefenbaker was, and when he had left the apartment. He pulled himself reluctantly from Meg's arms, and rubbed his face.

"I seem to have misplaced my wolf." he said. He stood up. Meg looked at his boxer-short clad body with open admiration. She could, now. Lying in his bed, she wasn't hiding how she felt behind layers of serge and duty.

Fraser noticed the note that Ray had left under his door the previous night.

"Oh." He blushed red to the roots of his hair. "It would appear that Detective Vecchio stopped by some time last night and took Diefenbaker with him." He didn't know what to expect from Meg's reaction, but he wasn't expecting laughter.

"You're not angry?" he said.

"No." She got out of the bed and stretched. It was his turn to admire her slim frame in his buttoned shirt. It swam on her, but it was somehow alluring. "Detective Vecchio's a grown man. I'm sure he wasn't too shocked. And I'm sure he'll be discreet about it."

"That's probably true." Benton said.

"He'd do anything for you. But I expect he'll feel the need to tease you." She was still smiling, relaxed, as she opened his fridge door and pulled out a carton of juice.

"Glasses?" she asked.

He reached around her, the note still in his hand, and opened a cupboard door. It was nice to stand so close to her without worrying about what she might think he was thinking. Especially since he was thinking the things she might think he'd be thinking, and his body language was amply demonstrating this, to which she responded with a teasing brush of her body against his before getting the glasses out.

She poured two glasses of juice and handed him one.

"About last night," Meg began.

Benton sipped his juice, a guarded expression moving across his face.

"You said you didn't have the right to fight for me." Meg said. "I'm not going to ask you to."

Benton didn't let anything show in his eyes, but he felt his stomach churn. That was it? It was a one night stand and she was done?

"It's not like that!" Meg said, reading him better than he expected. "It's just that it's not fair for me to expect that because you're the man you'll come sailing in and make everything all right. No, damn it, Benton Fraser, I know what I want now, and I know you want it too, and I'm going to fight for you."

Her gaze was direct. It almost scared him. She did know what she wanted, and she wanted him, in spite of all the obstacles. And in spite of - he knew he was blushing again as the thought entered his mind, and he knew he shouldn't ask, but he wouldn't be comfortable if he thought she was settling for less than what she deserved.

"So. Last night. It was all right?" Benton said, quickly looking away from her and examining his juice glass as if staring closely at it would reveal all the answers to his questions.

Meg put her glass down and stepped close to him, taking his glass away too. She put her hands on his arms.

"It was more than all right. You have nothing to worry about." she said.

"It's just that - I don't normally-" he fell silent.

"What?" she teased. "Go to bed on the first date?"

"No. Uh. Date. At all. Really."

"Benton." Meg shook her head with a smile. "It had not escaped my notice that for a good looking man, you aren't exactly Casanova. And I do. Date. As you well know. And you have nothing to be worried about."

Their lovemaking had been necessarily gentle and careful because of his physical state, but that didn't mean it hadn't been beautiful, that it hadn't taken Meg to a higher place with him.

She reached up and ran her fingers through his hair, pulling him into a long, slow kiss to demonstrate the sincerity of her statement.

When they pulled apart, Fraser said, "I'm sorry to be so terribly unromantic, but I really should contact Ray. May I-?"

"That would be fine." she agreed. Of course, he didn't have a phone. Fortunately, in her capacious purse which she'd managed to drop by the door on her way in the night before, she had her cell phone. The purse had wandered during the evening when she'd had to scour it for a certain necessary item, and she found it by the bed. She fished the phone out. It still seemed to have plenty of battery life.

Meg decided that she'd have to see to it that he got a phone. It was one thing to be frustrated and irritated at not being able to contact her subordinate, another thing entirely not to be able to find the risk-taker she had serious feelings for. Because not being able to reach him would not so much be irritating now as potentially terrifying.

Fraser dialed Ray's number.

"Hello? Benny, geez, it's eight a.m. on a Saturday, and I left you in the arms of a beautiful woman. Where's the fire?"

Fraser cleared his throat. "Ah. Ray. I'm sorry about last night. I just thought that you might not want Diefenbaker hanging around for too long."

"He weighs a ton. Since when did you tell him it was all right to sleep on the bed?" Ray grumbled.

"I'll have a word with him." Fraser said.

"Okay, well, how about I bring him over and then we can get some breakfast." Ray said. "Uh, Inspector Thatcher too, if she's still there." It was awkward but he didn't want Fraser to feel like he had to hide his love life away because he was afraid of Ray's disapproval. That could only lead to trouble. It had only lead to disaster before.

"I'll ask her." Fraser said. "I'll see you soon."

He ended the call and handed the phone back to Meg. "He's coming over. He invited us to breakfast." He blushed again. "I imagine I just confirmed his understanding that you spent the night. I'm sorry."

Meg shook her head impatiently. "I don't mind that." she said. "Until we can work out what we're doing, there may have to be some, for want of a better term, misdirection. But I am not embarrassed that your best friend knows I was here. Trust me, I understand how close you two are!"

She put the phone back in the purse. "But I should probably be going. Is there somewhere I could get cleaned up?"

Fraser found yet one more thing to be mortified by. His shoulders drooped.

"I share a bathroom." he said. "Quite literally a bathroom. I don't think there's a single functioning shower in the building. I'm sorry."

"Look, would you stop apologizing for your life?" Meg snapped. "Apparently I want to be a part of it. That means I value you for who you are. Even if who you are is frequently inexplicable!"

She was immediately ashamed of losing her temper with him so soon after the beginning of their - whatever this was - relationship? She sighed.

"I'm sorry." she said. "I should be going. Maybe, if you're free tonight, we could have an actual, proper date? I'll pick you up around seven?" She did her best to make it a request, with no hint of an order. It didn't come easily.

"That would be nice." Fraser said. He wanted to add that he'd miss her during the rest of the day, but he didn't want to scare her away by seeming clingy. He settled for a light kiss on her cheek.

Thatcher quickly threw back on the clothes she'd been wearing the night before and ran her fingers through her hair. She stopped in the doorway to turn and smile at him. "I- I'll see you tonight."

Meg ran into Ray on the stairs leading down from Fraser's apartment.

"Ah, Inspector Thatcher. Fancy seeing you here." Ray was wearing an unsettling smile. It was more menacing than the average scowl, promising a world of pain for anyone who crossed him. "Perhaps you'll walk with me a moment." He turned around, Dief still following him, to walk down the stairs with her.

"Detective. Was there something I could help you with?" Thatcher said coolly. It was hard to appear as composed as she'd like with her hair unbrushed and her makeup off, but her frosty attitude made up for it.

"You could say that." Ray said. "Listen, I don't imagine Benny's said a whole lot about the last woman who he was with. But I'll tell you she was bad news. And I'll tell you another thing. You might be into whatever, casual this, easy that, but he's not. So if you're just messing around, you be careful. You break his heart, you have me to answer to."

By this point in his speech. Ray had Meg backed against the wall of the landing, and his eyes were blazing, even though the taut smile was still painted across his face.

"Not that it's any of your business, Detective," Meg hissed, "But I have no intention of breaking anyone's heart. And you need to learn to back off. Benton is a grown man. I know you're his friend, but you don't get to choose what risks he takes."

Ray backed a step away. He noticed that Diefenbaker was poised ready to intervene if he'd got any more heated. He realized he'd been way out of line.

"I'm sorry. It's just that the last time just about killed Benny. I won't, I will not, stand by and watch someone do that to him again."

"I think you've made your point clear, Detective. He's lucky to have a friend who cares so much." Meg said, more warmly. "For his sake, we should probably start on a fresh page. We don't have to be best friends, but I suppose we should make an effort to get along."

"Sure." Ray said. "We both want what's best for him, I guess. Just remember what I said." He held out his hand, and Meg shook it. For Fraser's sake she'd make peace with him, even if he was seriously pushing his luck with her. Having seen Francesca Vecchio, the thought crossed her mind that maybe the heavy older brother act was ingrained in him at this point.

"Listen," Ray said, "I know they cleared you to leave the safe house, but I'd feel better if you weren't running around on your own while Loman's still out there. Let me call up an escort for you." He grinned slyly, finding that he had new tools that he could bring to bear in keeping the stubbornly independent woman safe. "You know it's what Benny would want."

Thatcher raised her eyebrows and then sighed. "That's not fair. But, fine. I haven't had a chance to go home yet, and it would probably be smart to have someone check it out, after last time."

Ray called dispatch and got a patrol car assigned to meet Thatcher at Fraser's building and follow her back to her apartment.

"Ready for breakfast?"

Fraser was dressed and was washing out the glasses that he and Meg had just used when Ray arrived at his door.

"Good morning, Ray, Diefenbaker. Yes, I'll just be a moment."

The wolf slipped into the apartment and started sniffing around curiously.

Fraser set down the glasses and turned to Ray.

"Thank you for taking care of Diefenbaker."

Ray felt nervous. His friend's manner was not exactly warm. Fraser might not often flare up into outright anger but he could be chilling in his politeness when the situation called for it. Usually, Ray wasn't on the receiving end.

"Did I happen to hear you arguing with Inspector Thatcher on your way up?" Fraser said.

Oh, yeah. Mountie hearing. Ray sighed.

"Uhh, we sorted it out, Benny."

"I appreciate your concern for me, but I can take care of myself."

Ray stepped closer to his friend. "Listen, I know I was over the line." he said "But that doesn't mean I don't worry about you. Things have been tense, and sometimes in the heat of the moment people do things, people think they feel things, mistakes happen..."

"I don't think it's like that, Ray." Fraser said. "I know, on the train," he smiled slightly as Ray shook his head, "well, on the train we might have been carried away by the moment. But this is more than that."

Fraser really wasn't in the mood to explain further. He rubbed his forehead. "Well, shall we go and eat?"

Diefenbaker barked his immediate approval of this suggestion.

"Sure." Ray said. But internally he added, "But you're not getting out of talking about this that easily, Benny, my friend." This was not going to be another Victoria situation, even if he had to drag information out of the Mountie.