Disclaimer: I don't own Due South. The title of this story is 'Why Can't We Be Friends?' by War, and the chapter names are lyrics from the same song. I don't own that song, either.

A/N: This is set sometime during/after season 2. I've only just started watching season 3 (bless you ITV3), so I don't know Kowalski or any of the other characters that might come up well enough to write about him (or them, as the case may be).

Why Can't We Be Friends?

Chapter One: I Seen You 'Round for a Long, Long Time

His hat lightly grasped in front of him, Constable Benton Fraser made his way downstairs, nodding to his neighbours with a courteous smile as he went. To his private merriment, most of them didn't slam their doors shut at the sight of the Mountie. Ever since he had sprung to their defence during the John Taylor incident, they all seemed much more accepting of his presence.

Although Mr Letterman on the fifth floor was still quite secretive. Fraser presumed it was because of the exotic plant life he kept in his apartment; perhaps he thought Diefenbaker would soil it somehow.

Turning the corner and making his way down another flight of stairs, Fraser paused as he realised a certain someone was missing. With a sigh, he turned around and looked up through the fine wire mesh of the elevator shaft.

"Are you coming?"

Diefenbaker moaned indignantly. Fraser rolled his eyes and sighed heavily.

"Look, the cat belonged to someone. I couldn't very well let you eat someone's beloved companion, now could I?"

The wolf just stared at him accusingly.

"You wouldn't very much like it if I allowed someone's pet… bear, say, to eat you, would you?"

Diefenbaker turned and walked up the stairs, his head held up high in a pose reminiscent of a sphinx.

"Would have been better off with an otter…" Fraser sighed, making his way downstairs and to the front door of his apartment building.

Taking a deep breath of the fresh Chicago air, the Mountie firmly locked his hat on his head, running his hand over the front rim in his customary manner. He stepped forward to the curb and looked up and down the street, checking for the familiar sight of a green 1971 Buick Riviera.

Nothing.

He looked down at his watch and confirmed the time.

9:30 AM.

Usually, Fraser wouldn't consider this unusual. After all, Ray Vecchio was not one of the most disciplined people he had met, and he rarely arrived anywhere on time (although compared to the people he had met in Chicago, he was remarkably prompt). Of course, that was usually because of Fraser's talent for finding trouble. But Ray was picking up Fraser on the way to some important business, so as far as the Constable knew, he wasn't responsible for Ray's delay.

In fact, Fraser had become so accustomed to Ray's timekeeping skills, he had gotten into the habit of coming outside to meet Ray fifteen minutes after the time they had organised the previous day.

The time they had organised being 9:15 AM, Fraser was somewhat perplexed by Ray's (relative) tardiness.

"Huh."

Fraser shrugged and decided to wait for another ten minutes before proceeding down to the 27th Precinct Station of the Chicago Police Department. Ray would naturally assume that Fraser had gone to the Station and go to meet him there.

Naturally.

After another brief pause, Fraser looked down at his watch yet again.

9:33 AM.

Something was definitely amiss.

As though in answer to Fraser's almost anxious glances at his watch, a loud screech of tyres came from his left from the street corner. Fraser looked over and heard a blast from a car horn, followed by a series of colourful expletives and euphemisms that the Constable had never heard so imaginatively put together.

The green 1971 Buick Riviera that Fraser had been waiting for came to a screeching halt in front of him, almost skimming over his toes. Fraser leaned down to look through the window.

"Good morning, Ray."

The detective shot him a 'not in the mood' look, and Fraser opted to simply get in before Ray decided to shoot off without him. The Constable removed his hat as he took his seat and fastened his seatbelt, although the rate at which Ray accelerated away made even that a difficult task. Fraser barely had time to close the door before the car began moving down the road.

The Mountie looked over at his silent friend, whose eyes were locked firmly on the road in front of him.

He opened his mouth to make some kind of small talk.

He closed his mouth.

He opened his mouth again.

Again, he shut his mouth.

This process repeated itself several times until Fraser found the right words. Ray obviously was not in the mood for small talk, so the Constable decided to get down to the business of the day.

"Where are we going, Ray?"

The detective glanced over at him, and then at the seats. "To get the leather re-upholstered."

"Ah."

Another silence followed as the car came up to a long queue of traffic. Fraser looked down at his seat, then at the back seats. He attempted to turn around to more closely inspect the leather on his own chair, but found that the seatbelt restricted his movement somewhat. His struggle to turn around grabbed Ray's already flared attention.

"What are you doing?"

The look on Fraser's face resembled that of a deer caught in headlights. "I just was checking the leather, Ray," he said matter-of-factly.

"Why? Do you not think the leather needs changing?"

"That's what I was trying to determine, Ray."

"I just told you that it needs re-upholstering! Why would I get the leather re-upholstered if it didn't need re-upholstering?"

"Well… you wouldn't, Ray, that would be pointless."

Ray nodded vehemently. "Right! So why bother checking the leather?"

"I was simply curious as to the reasoning behind the re-holstering, Ray."

"Does it really matter, Fraser?"

"Well, on a grand cosmic scale, I suppose not, Ray, but-"

"They why bother?"

"Well, Ray, one could say that about anything, if we were talking about a cosmic scale on which to measure events."

Ray paused for a moment, frowning in sheer miscomprehension.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"The seats, Ray." He paused. "That… is what you were talking about, isn't it?"

"I don't know anymore, Fraser! Why were you looking at the chairs anyway?"

"Well… I assumed that there must be some fault in the leather, but I didn't want to bother you about it, since you seem so… um…"

"What? I seem so what?"

Fraser paused. "…agitated."

"I'm not agitated!"

"You clearly are, Ray."

"Oh, really. I'm clearly agitated, am I? And on what great cosmic scale do you measure that?"

"Well, the fact that you are becoming angry at my looking at the chairs of your car."

"That's not unusual, Fraser, it was just because you were being annoying!"

"Well, I apologise, Ray. You are clearly not agitated."

Ray raised a warning finger. "Don't do that."

"Do what, Ray?"

"That 'trying to get me to calm down by agreeing with me' thing. It won't work. I can be agitated if I want to be! I'm not saying I am, but if I wanted to be, I could!"

The Mountie looked out of the window at the road ahead. "Ray."

"And besides, you think that this is agitated?"

"Ray."

"You haven't seen agitated!"

"Ray."

"What? What is it, Fraser?"

"Green light," Fraser said, nodding at the traffic lights in the front of them. Not to mention the empty road ahead of them and the angrily honking queue of drivers behind them. His expression darkening considerably, Ray accelerated forward much harder than Fraser thought necessary, his head thrown back against the headrest by the sudden lurch forward.

"Are you certain everything is all right, Ray?"

"I'm fine."

"Well… it's just that… you do seem… out of sorts."

"I'm… fine, Fraser."

Fraser paused for a moment, and then nodded. "Huh."

Ray cocked a sceptical eyebrow and looked over at the Mountie. "'Huh'? What does that mean, 'huh'?"

"Nothing, Ray. It's merely an expression of interest."

"Interest in what?"

"It's nothing, Ray."

"Well, good. Because there's nothing wrong."

"As you have said."

"Right."

"Right."

"Good."

They were both silent as Ray continued to drive through the city.

"All right, fine."

Fraser looked over at Ray with an interested expression.

"The reason I'm so…"

"Agitated," Fraser supplied.

Ray nodded. "…Agitated, is because-"

"Red light, Ray."

The detective's eyes widened in alarm as he slammed his foot down on the brake, causing the two of them to lurch forward in their seats.

"As you were saying?"

Ray sighed. "Fine, fine. I was in a bar last night."

Fraser paused. "That's it?"

"No, that's not it!" Ray said. "What, you think I'd get upset about going to a bar?"

"Well, no Ray. The pause just seemed indicative of something."

"What pause?"

"The pause."

"I didn't pause."

"You did, Ray. You said 'I was in a bar last night', and then paused."

"That wasn't a pause."

"I suppose that would depend on your definition of how long a pause was."

"Exactly. What you call a pause, I call stopping to catch a breath."

Fraser nodded. "Very well, Ray."

"And besides, what if I did pause? This is a very difficult thing for me to do, all right?"

"I apologise."

"I'm not saying it was a pause, though."

"Of course not, Ray."

"Don't do that! You're doing it again!"

"Doing what?"

"Agreeing with me to calm me down!"

"I didn't notice, but if I did agree with you, I apologise."

Ray nodded. "That's better."

"Please continue."

The detective took a breath. "All right. Anyway, I was in this bar last night, and-"

Ray paused as he noticed Fraser staring at him rather intensely. Feeling slightly awkward at the unwavering eyes of the Constable, Ray backed up slightly.

"Uh… Fraser?"

He snapped his fingers in front of his friend's face, but to no effect. Slowly, Ray realised that Fraser was not looking at him, but rather over his shoulder and out of the window. Ray turned and saw what had grabbed the Mountie's attention. A masked robber was robbing a convenience store. The robber backed out of the store, pointing his shotgun at the terrified customers before running off down the street.

Ray turned to look at Fraser, who had already gotten out of the car and was making his way down the street after the criminal. With a roll of his eyes and a tired sigh, Ray opened the door pulled himself out of his car.

The criminal turned a corner, heading down an alleyway and towards a wall that blocked his path. Leaping up, he managed to struggle up over the wall and jump onto the other side. Fraser stopped at the mouth of the alleyway and looked up and down the either side. Spotting a drain pipe going all the way up the building, the Mountie quickly latched onto it and hauled himself up the building.

Ray groaned as he saw the two different methods of pursuit before him. Either climb over the wall and most likely fall over the other side, or climb up an already wobbling pipe and most definitely fall to the ground. Looking determinedly at the wall ahead of him, Ray ran at it, preparing himself to take a flying leap.

Fraser, meanwhile, was already on the roof of the building, rapidly making his way to the ledge. He looked down to see the robber tearing down the street as fast as his legs could take him. Fraser took off in pursuit, leaping from rooftop to rooftop as he gradually caught up with his quarry.

Ray managed to clamber over the wall and fall to the ground on the other side.

The criminal reached the end of the street and again turned the corner. Fraser reached the building that was at the furthermost edge of the street and, seeing a van parked below him, prepared himself to jump down. The Mountie fell onto the van, quickly changing the direction of his roll so that he was in pursuit of the criminal. Bounding forward, he landed on the panicking robber, flattening him into the ground.

Ray turned the corner, his gun at the ready. Fraser got to his feet as Ray brought out his handcuffs, quickly binding the robber's hands together. Fraser frowned as Ray remained silent as he pushed the bag full of money away from the criminal. His hands clasped loosely behind his back, Fraser leaned forward.

"Ray," he said, "I think you should read him his Miranda rights."

"I know, Fraser! I was just going to finish cuffing him, if you don't mind."

"Oh, I see. It's just that you seemed to pause."

Ray scowled and looked up at the Mountie. "Is that meant to be a joke?"

"No, Ray."

Ray turned back to cuffing the robber. "Good, because it's not funny. Not all of us can do everything at once, Fraser."

"Well, I can't either, Ray."

"I never said you could."

"Oh. Well. Perfectly all right."

He paused. A crowd seemed to the gathering around them.

"Ray."

"I'm gonna do it, all right? Just give me a minute to-"

"No Ray, I mean that we should-"

"Look! Fraser, seriously; I have been doing this for awhile myself. So just-"

"I think we should go now, Ray," he said, nodding at the crowd of people that were curiously looking at the display of law enforcement before them. The detective looked over at the crowd disparagingly.

"What? You've never seen police work in this town? Take a picture, it'll last longer!"

Fraser gave pause to the confrontational attitude of Ray. Usually, he was quite edgy, but certainly not to the degree he was being to himself and the public. Something was most definitely amiss.

As if in reply to Ray's challenge, a bright flash emerged from the crowd. Ray blinked and put his hand to his eyes, attempting to shield them from the bright light.

"Hey!"

In the confusion, the robber tried to stand up. Fraser quickly stamped down on his back, driving him into the ground once again.

"Ray, perhaps we should-"

Ray nodded, still rubbing his eyes from the camera flash. "Yeah, yeah, let's go."

He gathered up the criminal, pulling him by the arm to make the trek back to Ray's car.

Fraser turned to the crowd. "I apologise; he's feeling quite agitated today. Thank you kindly." With that, he turned to follow Ray.

As the two turned a corner, a woman from the crowd broke away and walked down the street excitedly, holding the Polaroid picture she held in her hand with the same adoration a child would have for a Christmas present. She looked down at the picture of the detective, stroking it fondly.

"Oh, my wonderful Ray…"

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(A/N: Well, that's the introduction chapter. The chapters will probably get longer, but this wasn't meant to be that long anyway. Just think of it as the teaser before the theme tune plays.

Anyway, what'd you think? Good? Bad?)