This story is set somewhere in the middle of Season 3/4 of due South. Thanks to my good friend vic32 who gave me the idea for the title. I hope you enjoy it. Please leave a review - good or bad. Thank you kindly!
TWISTS AND TURNS
CHAPTER 1
"My feet are killin' me Fraser!" Ray Kowalski stopped and stood with his hands on his hips and his head bent forward as he tried to catch his breath. Diefenbaker sat next to Ray and whined in agreement.
"Ray, we've only walked for fifteen blocks," replied Constable Benton Fraser as he spun on his heels to look disapprovingly at his friend.
"Only fifteen?" replied Ray, sarcastically, "funny, I lost count at ten, when the oxygen starvation kicked in."
"I don't understand, this is hardly a marathon?" Fraser frowned. "You're are currently in good health, you are at the peak of fitness, why are you struggling so much with this walk?" He looked down at his wolf who was showing no signs of moving. "You, on the other hand, are not at the peak of fitness." Dief stared at him and made a quiet noise in the back of his throat. "Don't argue with me," Fraser scolded him. Dief folded his front legs under himself, resting his head on his paws in a deliberately defiant gesture. "Now you're just embarrassing yourself, " Fraser shook his head despondently. He looked back at Ray. "We're going to have to continue, we have very little choice this morning with the traffic situation."
"I like drivin' buddy, walkin' sucks," replied Ray, by way of an explanation. He and Fraser surveyed the traffic for a moment. There had been a torrential downpour overnight causing serious flooding in the centre of Chicago resulting in a series of traffic accidents all over the city during the morning rush hour. Add to that the bus that had got stuck under a bridge when it's driver tried to take a detour to avoid the congestion and the city traffic was at a standstill and nobody was getting anywhere. Some people had abandoned their cars and decided to walk to work which had just exacerbated the situation. Everywhere they looked, people were shouting in frustration and leaning on their car horns, as if either of those things was going to make a difference.
"Ray, Lieutenant Welsh has requested our presence at the station this morning to discuss the details of the robbery at the luggage factory," Fraser reminded his partner, who was still acting undercover as his previous partner, Ray Vecchio.
"I know," agreed Ray and then he added with a small grin, "it was an open and shut case."
Fraser frowned. "Ray, that is the second time you have made that reference in as many days. Judging by your facial expression, I assume that it is some sort of witticism, but I'm afraid that I really don't..."
"It's a really old joke buddy," grinned Ray. "Luggage, case, geddit?" A smile of recognition flickered at the corners of Fraser's mouth. "C'mon, don't tell me ya don't have really corny old jokes up in the Yukon Territory."
Fraser's face fell. "Ray, I've told you before, it's the Northwest Territory or the Yukon and of course we do, although Canadian humour is much more..." but before he could continue, he was interrupted by the cries of a man running towards them.
"Help!" yelled the man, "I need help!" He ran right up to Fraser. "Are you the Mountie?" he asked, as he struggled to catch his breath. Ray couldn't help laughing to himself every time someone asked his partner that question, particularly when he was wearing the distinctive red serge as he was today.
"Yes I am," replied Fraser, "whatever's the matter?"
"I got a lady in the back of my cab," began the man, "she's havin' a baby man! We've been stuck for nearly an hour or somethin' and she's yellin' and screamin' and..."
"Take me to her," Fraser interrupted him and the taxi driver turned and raced back to where he'd left his taxi two blocks away, with Fraser, Ray and Diefenbaker running along behind.
When they got there, Fraser was slightly disheartened to see that, despite the fact that there was clearly someone in distress in the back of the taxi, not one passer by had stopped to help. The taxi driver opened the back door of his vehicle and Fraser climbed in. "Hey lady," said the driver over Fraser's shoulder, "I couldn't find no doctor, but I gotcha a Mountie."
The woman wasn't quite sure if she'd heard him correctly, but right now she didn't care. She was laying on her side across the back seat of the taxi cab trying desperately to remember the breathing exercises she been practising and trying equally as desperately to forget that this was happening in the back of a taxi. Fraser removed his hat and placed it on the roof of the taxi, then he tucked himself down between the seats and gently placed two fingers on her wrist to check her pulse. "Constable Benton Fraser, Royal Canadian Mounted Police," he introduced himself.
The woman's face was dripping in sweat and her shoulder length curly hair was plastered to her face. All she could manage to reply was, "Sarah," before she let out another loud moan.
"Hello Sarah," Fraser replied calmly. "How far apart are your contractions?"
"I don't know," replied the woman as she panted through the pain.
Fraser looked back over his shoulder at the taxi driver who was paying close attention to the events unfurling in the back of his cab thinking what a great story this was going to make. Fraser raised his eyebrows questioningly. The taxi driver thought for a moment. "Um, if ya mean how long between the screamin', then I guess, um, about two minutes? Maybe three?"
"Ah," replied Fraser and he turned his attention back to Sarah. "Is this your first baby?" he asked her.
"Yes," she replied, letting out a loud moan as soon as the word had left her lips. "I don't want to do this here!" she exclaimed, becoming slightly hysterical.
Fraser placed a reassuring hand on her arm. "I'm afraid you have little choice," he replied, "your baby is determined to make an appearance imminently and I'm afraid with the traffic as it is, there is no possibility of transporting you to the hospital in time." The woman was suddenly terrified as the reality began to sink in. "You have nothing to worry about," smiled Fraser reassuringly, "I've done this before, everything will be alright. If you'll just excuse me for one moment." Fraser climbed back out of the taxi and stood between Ray and the driver.
"What's goin' on?" asked Ray, anxiously.
"Her name is Sarah and she's having a baby," replied Fraser, matter of factly.
"Now?" replied a slightly shocked Ray.
"Yes Ray," replied Fraser.
"In the back of this cab?" Ray was trying to get the situation straight in his head.
"Yes Ray," Fraser nodded calmly.
"Jeez," Ray let out a slow breath and rubbed his face with his hand. "Er, ya have done this before right buddy?"
"Yes Ray, several times," confirmed Fraser. "Although this will be my first experience with an ambient temperature above freezing," he added. "Now if you could ask amongst these kind people in the surrounding vehicles whether they happen to have any blankets or towels, I would be most grateful." Ray nodded and ran over to the nearest occupied car. Fraser turned to the cab driver, "Sir...I'm sorry I don't know your name..."
"Clive," replied the driver.
"Clive," repeated Fraser, as he started unbuckling his Sam Browne. "I assume you carry a first aid kit?"
"Yeah," confirmed Clive, "we all gotta carry one, standard issue, it's in the trunk, I'll get it for ya."
"Thank you kindly," said Fraser, quickly removing his red tunic as Sarah let out another loud scream. He climbed back into the taxi. "Breathe," he encouraged and Sarah tried her best to comply. He folded his tunic and put it on the seat behind her. "I'm afraid you'll need to adjust your position slightly, this should help support your back" he said, rolling up the sleeves of his undershirt, "the conditions in here are a little cramped I admit, but..."
"I was going to...try the birthing pool," wailed Sarah, panting every few words.
"I believe many women have commented on the rewards of that method," smiled Fraser as he tried to make her as comfortable as possible. "We don't have them where I come from though," he explained, "the water would freeze over."
Sarah was about to query that last statement, when another contraction overwhelmed her as Clive handed the first aid kit to Fraser. "Jake's going to miss it all," said Sarah suddenly as the pain subsided slightly.
"Is that your husband?" asked Fraser as he pulled some essential items from the first aid box and a few others that he hoped he wouldn't need.
"Yes," Sarah was panting again, "he left early for work...I called his office but he...he hadn't arrived..."
"Breathe, well done," Fraser encouraged again, squeezing her hand this time for support. "I imagine he's also been caught in this rather frustrating traffic congestion. Where does he work?"
"He's the...the manager of Super Splash...the water park..." gasped Sarah.
"I'll make sure someone contacts him," smiled Fraser and he climbed out of the taxi again just as Ray appeared with two blankets and a towel which he handed to his partner as Fraser passed on the information about Sarah's husband, Jake. Sarah let out a loud scream and Fraser dived back into the vehicle as Ray called Francesca at the Two Seven so that she could attempt to contact the woman's husband.
Ray and Clive stood with their backs to the taxi. "Does he do this sorta thing a lot?" Clive asked as he glanced over his shoulder, desperate to bear witness to the events taking place in the back of his very own cab, but at the same time feeling slightly uncomfortable.
"Uh-huh," agreed Ray, a sudden surge of pride welling up inside him. Sometimes it seemed as though Fraser could do anything. Ray of course knew there were a whole list of things that didn't come quite so easily to his partner, asking a woman out on a date for one thing and his driving abilities somedays were scarily uncoordinated, but it was situations like these that cemented his reputation in the city as the Super Mountie. Ray tried not to think about exactly what was going on in the back of that taxi, in fact, he would rather have been anywhere but there at that moment. Every time Sarah let out a scream or a guttural yell, he felt slightly faint. Every time he heard his partner's words of encouragement, he thought he was going to be sick. He could almost hear Fraser's voice in his head, talking about how it was the most natural thing in the world and how there was no need for Ray to feel or react the way he was, but he just couldn't help it. Ironically, he had similar issues with the end of life too, so what was that all about? Now his thoughts were becoming far too weird for this early in the morning.
Soon, they heard a tiny cry and Ray glanced over at Clive who had a huge smile on his face. Ray managed to crack a smile too, although his was more relief that Fraser had safely delivered the baby, not that he really expected any other outcome of course.
xXx
"You know Ray, childbirth really is the most natural thing in the world..." Fraser was struggling to understand his partner's attitude, but Ray didn't want to hear it. He'd already heard most of it in his head earlier anyway and now here was Fraser saying virtually those exact words.
"So let me get this straight buddy," Ray screwed up his face in disbelief, quickly changing the subject as he drove along in the fading evening light. "The Ice Queen insisted ya take this, er, this huge bunch of flowers to the hospital?"
"Yes Ray," confirmed Fraser from the back seat of the GTO, as the flowers were taking up the entire front passenger seat, "with the compliments and best wishes of the Canadian Consulate."
"No catch?" Ray asked.
"No," Fraser replied, curtly. Ray waited for the real explanation. His buddy was a terrible liar. "Well," Fraser began quietly and Ray grinned to himself, "Inspector Thatcher wished to arrange for an official photograph of myself presenting them to Sarah."
"A photo opportunity," Ray rolled his eyes, now that was more the kind of thing he expected from the Ice Queen.
"Apparently the Inspector felt that the events of this morning would be of some interest to members of the public," Fraser shrugged as his spoke, "I cannot imagine why?"
"Because, Fraser, it's all about publicity," Ray tried to explain, "y'know, ya deliver a baby, save a life, throw some, er, lowlife criminal scumbag in jail, all while you're dressed like that and it all looks good for the Consulate and the RCMP. Hell, it looks good for Canada."
Fraser sighed. "I informed her that I did not wish to participate as I felt it was inappropriate."
"You informed her?" Ray queried incredulously, as he pulled up at a stop sign.
"Yes Ray," replied Fraser.
Ray grinned again. "C'mon buddy, tell me what she made ya do."
"I'm sure I have no idea what you're referring to Ray," Fraser closed his eyes as soon as he'd said that and then added, quietly, "sentry duty."
"What?" exclaimed Ray, "I thought ya didn't do so much of that these days?"
"It's true that since we now only have three permanent members of staff at the Consulate, the number of hours of sentry duty has been significantly reduced," Fraser began, "however, we like to maintain a token visual presence. Recently, Constable Turnbull has been covering most of the shifts." Ray shook his head and drove the GTO into the hospital car park.
xXx
Fraser knocked quietly on the door of Sarah's hospital room. "Come in," a man's voice replied and Fraser entered the room. "Oh, you must be the Mountie! I don't know how to begin to thank you." The man strode across the room towards Fraser with an huge smile on his face and a hand extended.
Fraser quickly swapped the giant bunch of flowers from one hand to the other and accepted the man's warm handshake. "Constable Benton Fraser," he introduced himself, "you must be Jake. Hello again Sarah." He crossed to the bed where Sarah was sitting up holding her tiny newborn baby and she smiled at him as he showed her the flowers. "These are for you, with the compliments of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police," he said, a little awkwardly. "Shall I put them in water for you?"
"Thank you," replied Sarah, "they're beautiful." Fraser filled a vase with water and began to arrange the flowers perfectly. "This is Bethany Anne Dantzig," added Sarah.
Fraser smiled. "I believe we met earlier," he said and Sarah laughed.
"We wanted to wait until we saw her before we decided on her name," explained Sarah. She paused for breath and her face became suddenly serious as she continued. "If you hadn't been there...I...I..." but Fraser waved his hand to stop her.
"Please," he said, embarrassed now, "it was nothing. I'm pleased to see that you're both alright. I should probably be going now." He turned quickly, shook Jake by the hand again and with a final quick smile over his shoulder at Sarah and baby Bethany, he left the room.
Fraser had only taken a few steps when he heard Jake's voice call after him. He stopped and turned as Jake caught up with him. "Constable, I'm sorry, do you have a minute?"
"Of course," replied Fraser, "how can I be of assistance."
Jake hesitated for a minute. "Um, well, I need some advice."
"Ah," replied Fraser, confused now. He hoped that Jake wasn't going to ask him for advice about babies as he knew his expertise virtually stopped at the delivery. He waited for Jake to continue, but the other man was strangely silent. Fraser frowned slightly.
"I'm the manager of Super Splash, you know, the water park," began Jake, finally. Fraser nodded. "Well, the thing is, we've been having some trouble recently."
"Trouble?" queried Fraser. "If you're in need of Police assistance then I'm afraid I have no jurisdiction here, however my good friend Detective Vecchio works for the Chicago PD. He's waiting outside for me, if you'd like to speak to him."
Jake thought for a moment. "I did speak to the Police, but they weren't really interested. You see, I can't really prove anything."
Fraser was concerned now. "What exactly has been happening?" he asked.
Jake shook his head. "Nothing," he said, "I shouldn't have even mentioned it. I'm sorry to have bothered you."
"If you're absolutely sure," said Fraser, who wasn't at all convinced that it was nothing. Jake nodded and headed back to his wife and child.