Disclaimer - I don't own anything/I'm not making any money/I'm just working off a major crush.
Chapter 9 - The Perils of Popularity
Benton Fraser awoke in a hospital room feeling a lot more mentally competent than the last time he'd registered any sort of consciousness. Morning light was streaming through a window to one side of him. On the other side a blue curtain on a metal rod was pulled closed, giving him privacy. He took stock of the situation. He was hooked up to the usual array of monitors, and had an IV running into his left arm and an oxygen tube tickling his nose. The two broken fingers of his left hand were taped together and splinted, and the burn on the palm bandaged. His wrists were also wrapped in gauze where the ropes had rubbed them raw. The hand throbbed angrily, and he had a few aches and pains, but overall he felt pretty good. Tired, almost exhausted, but a lot better than he could have been. The last thing he remembered clearly was seeing Diefenbaker go down. After that his memory seemed to be like a grainy film strip cut and re-spliced into snippets of unrelated impressions.
There wasn't much from before the Harley Quinn had tied up at the dock. After that, he remembered trying to get to his feet to walk out under his own power, and Mark leaning over him and telling him to "sit your ass back down", in firm but not unkind tones. He remembered seeing Ray, who, having pulled his t-shirt and shirt back on, finally looked scruffy enough to be a true local. He could only picture the volunteer EMTs who stretchered him off the boat as comfortably familiar faces, not clearly enough to put names to them.
He remembered looking across inside the old ambulance that served Tuk, and seeing Susan's dark eyes projecting implacable hatred toward him. And then later in the ER, meeting eyes with Inspector Wheeler across the room and seeing her look at him like a human, not a piece of meat, for one instant, her gaze a mix of tender concern and irritation.
He thought he remembered being told that his wolf would have to wait outside, but either he was imagining that or Dief had pulled some kind of stealth entrance. Diefenbaker was sitting watchfully to the left side of the bed. Fraser turned his head. "So, they let you in here." His voice sounded strange and husky to his ears.
The curtain around his bed twitched open and a fresh faced looking nurse appeared.
"Mr. Fraser, you're awake, good! How are you feeling?"
She was fussing about, fixing his pillows and taking his temperature with a space age thermometer that apparently only needed to be waved over his forehead to measure it.
"Quite well, considering, thank you." Fraser said. He coughed to clear his throat, and the nurse poured him a glass of water.
"You were a bit confused when we admitted you yesterday." the nurse said, writing in his chart. "I have to ask a couple of questions, just to check on your cognitive function."
"Please, go ahead." Benton said.
"Let's start with an easy one. What's your name?" the nurse asked.
"Benton Fraser." He was pretty confident on that one.
"Good. Who's Prime Minister?" she asked, watching him carefully for signs of difficulty.
"Ah! That would be Joseph Jacques Jean Chrétien, known as Jean Chrétien, first elected to Federal office at age twenty nine. Did you know, by the way, that he was one of nineteen children, although tragically, only nine of his siblings, counting himself, survived childhood. Interestingly, in October of 1970, he was one of the-"
The nurse put up her hand to stop him, with a laugh. "Thank you, Mr. Fraser, I would say that there are no problems at all with your memory." She made a note in the chart.
"If you're up to it, there's an Inspector Wheeler who is demanding to see you." the nurse said. "And your friend went to get coffee, but he should be back soon."
"Detective Vecchio?" Fraser asked.
"Yes, he and the wolf both refused to leave your side, although it's a bit outside our normal policy. But the Detective was the only one who could talk your wolf into letting us change the dressings on your hand, and nobody wants to argue with a wolf, so we let them both stay."
Fraser sighed, and looked over at Dief, who had an incredibly self-satisfied expression on his face. He didn't have the heart to reprimand the wolf for following his over-protective instincts, even at the expense of hospital policy.
"Is it all right if I show Inspector Wheeler in?" the nurse asked.
"Of course." Fraser said. Then he regretted it. The predatory gleam that was often in her eyes scared him, and here he was dressed in nothing more than a skimpy hospital gown, with nowhere to run.
"Just a moment." he added. "If it's not too much trouble, would you mind waiting for Detective Vecchio to return before you show her in, please?"
The nurse nodded. "No problem!"
Ray and Catherine Wheeler entered the room together, Ray bearing a big cup of steaming hot black coffee.
"Hey, Frase, how you doing?" Ray asked, taking the seat beside the bed.
"Better than I could be, thank you." Benton said. "Hello, Inspector Wheeler."
"Constable Fraser." Inspector Wheeler avoided making eye contact with Benton. "I'm glad to see that you're recovering. Obviously thanks to your hard work and the information you provided me the day before yesterday, we were able to divert wasted resources from pursuing the Arctic Defence leads that we had, and as a result we were able to round up the major players in this affair. We have arrested several of the board of Nesbitt Loggie Curtis Engineering in Edmonton. We also captured one of the men who was on the boat yesterday, he seemed to have been attacked by a wolf," she looked dubiously at Diefenbaker, "and didn't get very far, but the other, Carl Johnson, is still at large."
Ray watched Benton closely to see how he'd take the news. Although Ray assumed (correctly) that Benton would never tell him what Carl did or threatened to do while Benton was captive on the boat, he'd heard enough while Benton was out of his right mind to guess that it was ugly. But Benton appeared unruffled by the fact that Carl hadn't been caught. Something stood out with surprising sharpness from among the jumble of memories of the day before. Ray had promised him that they'd go after Carl, that they'd get him. It wasn't just the promise, but the intensity with which he had said it that was ultimately reassuring.
Wheeler went on. "We also found some evidence suggesting that the NLC conspirators were the ones behind the rumors connecting William Campbell and Arctic Defence. Mr Campbell has sent his..." she seemed to have a hard time getting the words out "Apologies. For losing his temper."
Wheeler cleared her throat. "Your role in events has not gone unnoticed in Ottawa, I assure you, Constable. I'm sure you'll be the first to agree that we have had a successful collaboration on this case."
Benton wanted to point out that she'd actually ignored the information he brought her and denigrated his investigative abilities, but after all the fuss and publicity over the events surrounding his father's death he felt that it might be best if he let her arrange the story so that she and her team took the limelight. There was just one thing.
"Indeed, Inspector Wheeler. Of course, I'm sure you'll make certain that Detective Vecchio and the Chicago PD get the credit that they deserve for the international assistance."
He knew she wouldn't like that, and neither would Ottawa, but unlike Benton, Ray was ambitious, and he had more than earned the recognition.
Inspector Wheeler smiled stiffly. "Of course. I'm sure that your report and mine will accord on all the major points. Now, there's a lot of wrapping up to do, so if you'll excuse me..."
"Oh, one more thing, Inspector." Benton said. "I wanted to know how the cleanup efforts are going."
"It's going to take years, unfortunately. There was quite a bit of oil spilled, not to mention toxic chemicals and heavy metals in the water." Wheeler said. "Oh well. That's not really my concern, at least." She turned and left abruptly.
"What was that all about?" Benton asked Ray, his eyebrows raised.
Ray grinned. "Somehow word spread pretty fast about us breaking the case wide open and all the heroics on the boat. I gather you're still not too popular in Ottawa, and she was on the phone all yesterday afternoon taking the heat for screwing up to the extent that you once more emerged as the man of the day. And if that wasn't enough, I talked to Elaine and I guess Welsh called Wheeler up and told her that if you came back to Chicago with as much as one hair on your head out of place, he'd cause a diplomatic incident."
Ray chuckled. "No-one's exactly sure how he'd cause a diplomatic incident over a Canadian getting hurt in Canada, but it seems that as far as Welsh is concerned, you came onto this case from Chicago and you're one of his guys."
Fraser's eyes opened wide with surprise, and he couldn't help smiling. It felt very good to think that he was one of the Chicago PD's family.
Most of the day was spent drifting in and out of sleep. By the next morning, Fraser had a wicked case of cabin fever. The nice nurse told him the newspaper men were clamoring to see him, and all he wanted was to go out after Carl.
The doctor cleared him to leave at around noon. The nurses and security were still holding off reporters, so Ray, Benton and Dief were snuck out the back way of the hospital to a cab where Mark was waiting to take them to the airport.
Mark had kindly offered to put Ben and Ray up at his father's house. They couldn't go back to the Richards' home, obviously, and Mark wouldn't see Benton spend any time in a hotel when he had a bed to spare. Benton might be chaffing at the bit to get out after Carl, but he still hadn't regained his full strength.
The afternoon turned into a sort of open-house, with many people from the village gathering in the Smithbauer's family room to see Benton. Diefenbaker stuck tightly by Benton's side and patiently endured some good natured ribbing and some fussing over what a good wolf he was.
Ray sat in a chair across the room from him and watched. Benton's face had returned to its normal guileless placidity. He was too pale and had dark circles under his eyes, but if it weren't for the bandaged hand and some bruising around the jaw, you wouldn't know he'd been through any trauma worse than a few late nights out.
Ray mused that it was funny, you could probably know a guy like Benny for years and never notice that the open expression that looked like transparency was at the same time opacity so complete that it obscured emotions buried so deep that even Benton didn't realize they were there. While his face gave away nothing, the bandaged left hand that rested on Diefenbaker's scruff and occasionally curled as if to make sure the wolf was still right by his side said much more, if you knew what to look for.
Sarah Little came by with her husband Joseph, who'd flown back early from his trucking runs down south at the news of the danger she'd been in. They looked a comfortable, happy couple together, Sarah's smaller hand resting easily in Joseph's big, rough hand.
"You know that Susan's being held as an accessory to your kidnapping?" she said to Benton after asking how he was.
"Yes, I'd heard. I'm sorry, Sarah. At least she's safe. The court may be lenient because she saved your life."
Susan made a wry face. "I would be able to hope that if she weren't blaming everyone but Carl for what happened. Her lawyer said if she keeps making hostile statements about you, he may not be able to do much at all for her."
"Ah." Benton didn't know what to say; he couldn't honestly say that he hoped she got off lightly, he wasn't sure that it would do Sarah any good for Susan to be at liberty but furious at the world, probably including Sarah.
"Ben... my parents... there's no way for them to tell you how sorry they are. I heard you refused to have charges pressed against them."
Ben nodded, looking away for a moment. "They did what they thought they had to. Susan was in danger, I imagine Carl threatened her life."
"Still." Sarah said. "I just can't believe that Dad would- I can't believe he didn't tell us as soon as Carl called when you arrived in town, instead of passing on information behind my back. We could have helped then. I know you would have." She looked miserable, as if she were holding back tears. "If he could have seen what Carl did. He had no right. He knew Carl might kill you."
"Sarah." Ben said. "Your parents are good people, and they were terrified for Susan's life. I survived. I'm all right." He knew Sarah would need to forgive her parents if the three of them were to make it through the literal and figurative trials ahead of their family. She would need the strength of her parents, and they would need the steadfast light of goodness and courage that beamed out like a beacon from her.
"Sarah, you have to forgive them for the choice they made."
It was easy for him to say, because she needed to hear it, and easy for nine parts of his being to mean. If one part of him was instead possessed with feelings of betrayal and hurt at the way Rob Richards had thrust him into the path of Carl's malice, it didn't even make a ripple on his serene surface.
Ray sat glowering, glad that he was across the room listening, not taking part in the conversation. His feelings were ever nearer the surface than Fraser's and he was not inclined to speak nice words. Ray knew his friend, and if Rob Richards had come to Fraser and told him of the danger Susan was in, Fraser would have put his life on the line willingly. But it would have been with backup, with a plan, with Ray knowing where he was, not as a lamb to the slaughter. There was no excuse to his mind for Rob Richard's sheer disregard for Fraser's safety.
"I guess you're right. It's hard." Sarah replied to Benton. Joseph had one arm around her shoulders, steadying her. "I feel like I don't know my family. Susan... Dad... I feel like I'm losing them both. And even Mom didn't stop him. I just don't know how they could hurt you when you were helping us."
Joseph spoke up. "We'll get Susan all the help we can, love. This could be the wake up call she needs. And you know Ben's right about your parents. They may have screwed up seriously but you still need them, and they still need you, and the little one on the way needs a proper family with all of us." He reached down to caress her pregnant belly tenderly. "Thank god nothing happened to you on the boat." he said. Benton had a feeling it wasn't the first time he'd expressed that sentiment since flying home.
"I'm so very sorry you ended up in danger." Benton said, looking at Sarah, and then Joseph. It was clear to both of them that his apology was utterly sincere, even though it was no fault of his that she'd been in the middle of things.
Joseph said quietly "Sarah did what she had to do too. I wish I'd been here, but I'm proud of her, even though the thought of anything happening-" he choked up, and Sarah squeezed his hand. "I won't be letting her out of my sight for a while, you'd better believe."
Eventually almost everyone in Tuktoyaktuk had trooped through Mark's father's house. Finally Diefenbaker left Fraser's side to cruise the low side tables for leftover snacks. He still had his wolfish eye on Fraser, but the aroma of the strange and apparently ketchup flavored potato chips on offer had a lure he couldn't resist. Ray came over and sat by Benton.
"You look wiped, bud." he said. As an outsider he'd been spared from chatting with many of the locals. He hadn't been precisely ostracized but it was obvious that they were mostly there to gawk at the hometown kid who was an instant regional celebrity thanks to clearing up the sabotages.
"I admit, that was a bit of an ordeal." Fraser agreed, slumping from his upright posture in his chair. "You know how I feel about being the center of attention."
"Better rest up. Soon you gotta do the mountie thing and go get your man." Ray smirked.
Fraser smiled back, for once letting the stupid motto argument go. "No, Ray, I believe that you and I have to get OUR man."
Author's note: There's a brief epilogue to follow shortly!
