Chapter 9"I wish you'd let me take you to the hospital," said Fraser, as he walked Ray carefully into Maggie's cabin. Maggie ran off to fetch the first aid kit as Fraser gently unwrapped Ray's arm from around his neck and lowered him onto the sofa, propping him up with the cushions.
Ray still had his hand clamped onto the handkerchief pressed over his wound, which had begun to bleed freely again. "I told ya buddy, I'm not goin' back there. Helen'll want to keep me in again and I'll, er, go nuts in there."
"Perhaps she likes your company?" suggested Fraser flippantly, as he took the first aid kit from Maggie.
"Not as much as she likes yours," grinned Ray. Fraser immediately stopped rummaging for dressings and looked straight at Ray, his face suddenly feeling a little flush. He tugged at his collar and cleared his throat and then returned to treating Ray's injury.
Ray looked at Maggie, with a knowing grin and Maggie smiled back, but her smile faded as Fraser removed the handkerchief from the wound. "I'm calling Helen," she said, heading towards the phone.
"No," insisted Ray, wincing as Fraser placed another thick dressing over the injury and pressed down hard.
"Ray, you're bleeding all over the sofa," added Fraser. "You may have aggravated internal damage."
When Helen arrived she was not best pleased with Ray. She began to examine him with gloved fingers, tutting as she did so. "How exactly did he do it?" she asked Fraser.
"Er, hello," said Ray, waving his hand in front of her face. "I'm sittin' right here y'know and quit with the tuttin'."
"Well," began Fraser, tugging at his left ear, "I'm not sure if it was the running, falling, jumping or punching that caused it."
"Fallin'," stated Ray, "definitely happened when I dived out of the way of that bullet. Fell on, er, a pile of trash or somethin'."
Helen lifted her head and looked at Ray. "He shot at you too?" she said quietly.
"Yeah, but he missed. How is, er, how is Ashe anyway?" asked Ray.
"He's, um, he's alright," replied Helen, a little distracted. "Danny did a great job with him. There could easily have been significantly higher blood loss." Helen started fumbling with some gauze. Ray glanced at Fraser, a little concerned at Helen's change of mood.
"Are you alright Helen?" Fraser asked. "I don't know how much you know about what happened."
"I know that he's in a cell," replied Helen, taking a deep breath and continuing to attend to Ray "and I know that you put him there. He can't hurt anyone else now. Thank you. I wish you hadn't got involved though Ray, you were healing so nicely too."
"Just doin' my job," replied Ray, adding "ow!" as Helen worked on him.
"Technically Ray, you were doing my job," Maggie corrected him. "Talking of which, I really need to get back to the station. I wish I could stay." She leaned forward and kissed him on the head.
"I'll be fine," smiled Ray, "Helen's gonna patch me up just fine." Maggie smiled, picked up her hat and went out of the door.
"Ray, this is going to take more than a little patching up," said Helen, frowning. "Some of the internal stitches have been damaged, I'd like to take you back into surgery."
"No way," replied Ray, shaking his head, "you knock me out again and I'm stuck in hospital for, er, for two days at least."
Helen thought for a moment. "I could do it here I suppose," she said, "I'll give you some morphine, but you'll still feel some discomfort. I'll need a strong light and another pair of hands though, Benton?"
"Of course," replied Fraser, getting to his feet to fetch a lamp, "just tell me what you need me to do."
XxX
Later on, Ray was sleeping off the effects of the morphine on the sofa, sporting a brand new dressing on his side. Helen and Fraser had been enjoying some bark tea and each other's company. Helen was avoiding the subject of Christopher Brace and her attack and Fraser had respected her wishes at this time. He felt she probably needed a little longer for everything to sink in properly, but she would need to talk about things soon. "Ray is one of the stubbornest patients I've ever known. I certainly didn't expect to be doing that here today!" she smiled. "Thank you for your help, we made a good team."
"Yes we did," replied Fraser, a little sheepishly. "You are highly skilled. It was an honour to watch you work."
Helen blushed. "I've left you with another dose of morphine for Ray," she said, swiftly trying to change the subject, "you can administer that later, if he feels he needs it, which he probably will." Fraser nodded in agreement. "You'll need to get him moving around soon, but not too much to start with. Are you alright with the dressings, or do you want me to come back tomorrow?" asked Helen.
"Understood," said Fraser, hesitating slightly before adding, "I'll be fine with the dressings, thank you kindly, but you're welcome to come back tomorrow anyway," he tugged at his collar, desperately wishing his face didn't feel quite so hot. "Perhaps we could have some more tea?"
Helen smiled at him. "I'd like that very much," she said. Then, feeling her own cheeks begin to flush some more, she got to her feet and picked up her two heavy bags.
Fraser immediately leapt up and took the bags from her. "Let me carry those to your car," he said.
"Oh, thank you," she said and followed Fraser out of the cabin. He put the two bags into the boot of her car and slammed it shut. Then he turned to face her. "I'll see you tomorrow then," she said.
"Yes," replied Fraser, awkwardly, "I'm looking forward to it." He smiled, took a deep breath and leant in to kiss her gently on the cheek. Helen smiled, unable to say anything and she got into her car and drove off.
Fraser walked back into the cabin and closed the door behind him. "How are you feeling Ray?" he asked his friend, who was still laying with his eyes closed on the sofa.
Ray opened one eye and looked at his friend. "Er, not sure," he replied, "how did ya know I was awake?"
"Your breathing pattern changed around ten minutes ago," replied Fraser.
"Sorry buddy," said Ray, "but you two seemed to be, er, havin' a good time y'know, I didn't want to ruin the moment."
"What moment?" asked Fraser indignantly.
"So, did ya kiss her just now outside?" asked Ray, laughing.
"Ray, it would not be chivalrous to discuss that with you," replied Fraser, running his index finger around the inside of his collar again.
"So ya did then," grinned Ray.
"On the cheek Ray," Fraser clarified.
Ray's grin grew even wider. "It's a start, buddy," he said. "Greatness!"
XxX
Later that evening, Fraser was clearing away their dinner plates as Maggie sat holding hands with Ray. "I spoke to a lawyer in Ottowa," she said, "he thinks we'll be able to charge him with Helen's attack."
"That's good news," replied Fraser from the kitchen.
"He effectively confessed in front of three police officers," Maggie went on, "and there's talk of doing a deal with Thompson, if he changes his story."
"A deal with Thompson?" Ray exclaimed. "That bastard doesn't deserve a deal." He let out a slow breath as a wave of discomfort radiated from his side.
"I believe the only concession will be that he is not prosecuted in relation to any of the drugs charges," explained Maggie. "The length of his existing sentence is such that he will most likely die in prison anyway."
Ray nodded. He still didn't like the idea, but if it was the only way to prosecute Brace for the things he did to Helen, then he was willing to accept it. He stiffly tried to shift his weight to make himself more comfortable, letting out a groan just as Fraser was walking back into the room. "I think I should give you that other dose of morphine now," said Fraser. Ray sighed. He hated having to keep taking medication, but he was in a considerable amount of pain again after his impromptu surgery that afternoon.
"OK buddy," agreed Ray, reluctantly rolling up his sleeve. "Then there's a movie on TV that I want to catch, maybe we can all, er, relax tonight."
"It has been a rather stressful day," agreed Fraser as he began to prepare the dose that Helen had left earlier.
Maggie smiled at Ray and kissed him tenderly, "I think you'll be very relaxed fairly soon, Helen's made sure of that," she said.
"If you two would like to be alone this evening, I can retire early," offered Fraser.
"No buddy," replied Ray, looking away as Fraser administered the morphine shot. "I'll probably be asleep soon anyway after this," he grinned.
"Right you are," replied Fraser.
"I have some pemmican," announced Maggie, "shall we treat ourselves?"
"Oh Maggie that sounds delightful," replied Fraser, beaming, "after today, I think we deserve it."
Ray looked from his best friend to his girlfriend. "Freaks," he said, with only half a smile.
About an hour into the movie, Ray was asleep, just as he had predicted. Both Fraser and Maggie had overindulged somewhat on pemmican and were both now feeling rather full. Maggie was gently stroking Ray's forehead as he snored and Dief was helping himself to the remains of the dessicated meat. "Dief, it expands in your stomach," Fraser warned the wolf. Dief made a noise in his throat. "There's no need to be rude," Fraser reprimanded him, "I was merely reminding you. You know how grouchy you get when you have indigestion." Dief looked at him. "Suit yourself," shrugged Fraser and Dief returned to enjoying the pemmican.
"I can't believe that Helen didn't insist on taking him back to the hospital," said Maggie, keeping her voice down so as not to wake Ray.
"We could have persuaded him," replied Fraser, "but I think Helen could see that Ray really didn't want to go back. I don't think she felt that she could insist after everything that's happened today. Ray is really not comfortable during a stay in hospital."
Maggie narrowed here eyes and looked at her brother. "Neither are you," she said. Her brother nodded silently. "I imagine you endured a long stay after you were shot?" she suggested.
Fraser looked at his sister. "Yes, it was several weeks," he replied quietly.
"I'm sorry Benton, but I've noticed the scar on your back. Was he apprehended eventually?" asked Maggie apprehensively. Fraser looked puzzled. "The criminal who shot you," continued Maggie.
Fraser drew a deep breath. "It wasn't a criminal," he began, "it was...it was Ray Vecchio." Maggie looked completely shocked. "It's alright Maggie," Fraser reassured her, "it was an accident. Although I will be eternally grateful for his actions. That bullet saved my life." Fraser fell silent for a moment as he remembered.
"I'm sorry," said Maggie again. "I don't mean to...I mean, I didn't want to..." She couldn't find the right words. She had been shocked by the pain she'd seen in her brother's eyes, not just the physical pain as he remembered being shot, in fact that was hardly visible at all, but Maggie had seen the deep emotional trauma that the incident had caused him. She desperately wanted to know more, to know who had hurt her brother so badly, but she didn't want to force him to relive what had clearly been a terrible time in his life. She thought perhaps she wouldn't ask him about it again.
"She drove the getaway car," began Fraser suddenly and Maggie listened as he proceeded to tell her the whole story of how he'd met Victoria Metcalfe and how she'd almost destroyed him.
"Benton, I'm so sorry," sighed Maggie, wiping away her tears, "I never imagined..." she fell silent.
Fraser smiled through his own emotions. "The thing is, I would never have found the key if it wasn't for our father," he said, sniffing, "I turned the Vecchio house upside down, I was about to give up, but then I saw that snow globe. I'd thought Dad was unhinged earlier at the station, talking about snow, wearing his coat, but he knew, he was trying to tell me. If I hadn't found that key, Ray would have lost everything..." his voice cracked and he let a few more tears fall. Maggie threw her arms around him. "Why Ray?" he went on, "I understand why she wanted to hurt me, I deserved it, but..."
"No you didn't," Maggie interrupted him, pulling away from her brother, "you didn't deserve any of that, you were doing your duty. We've both sworn an oath to uphold the law, do you think you would have been able to live with yourself if you'd let her go free?"
Fraser shrugged. "No," he replied quietly. Maggie smiled. "Part of me still loves her," he added.
"Oh Benton," said Maggie, "love doesn't always make any sense, I should know, I married a criminal. He lied to me too, our whole marriage was a lie and deep down I knew that, but I still loved him." She looked away. Now it was Fraser's turn to comfort her.
Suddenly, she looked at him with a puzzled look on her face. "One thing I don't understand Benton," she began, hesitantly, "when you were running after her, running after the train, what were you planning on doing when you caught up with her?"
Fraser sighed. "That's just it Maggie, I think I was going to get on the train and go with her."
Maggie was stunned. "No," she replied, shaking her head, "you would have stopped her, you would have brought her in."
Fraser looked at his sister and smiled wistfully. "I don't think so," he said, "I loved her and I know that she loved me too, despite everything. That's why she hadn't killed me, she'd had plenty of opportunities since her arrival in Chicago. I just wanted to be with her, nothing else mattered at that moment." He paused, attempting to regain his composure, "that's why I owe Ray Vecchio my life. His bullet stopped me and I don't think he really understands what he did for me. He can't get past the guilt."
"Benton he almost killed you, he almost killed his best friend. The bullet's still lodged inside you, it's no wonder he feels guilty," Maggie said, squeezing Fraser's hand.
"That's why we could never really talk about it," explained Fraser, "not really talk, I mean. I kept it all inside for too long and if it hadn't been for Ray here..." he glanced over towards the sofa. "I assumed he'd think I was unhinged when I told him, but he didn't."
"He knows you too well for that," smiled Maggie.
"Indeed he does," replied Fraser.
"I didn't mean to upset you," said Maggie, uncomfortably, "I had no idea..."
Fraser waved his hand dismissively and smiled. "I'm fine Maggie, this..." he dried his eyes one more time with his handkerchief, "this is nothing compared to the time I discussed it with Ray." He paused and looked across at his sleeping friend, remembering how Ray had encouraged him to talk openly about Victoria. Ray had seen how much it had been eating away at Fraser and he remembered how Ray had gently pushed him to release his emotions. When that release had come, when he'd completely broken down, Ray had simply allowed him to cry on his shoulder, providing his friend with the strength that he so badly needed. Ray Kowalski had probably saved him too that evening around their campfire, just as Ray Vecchio had saved him with his gun three years previously. "At least I refrained from vomiting this time, which upon reflection, is a good thing isn't it Ray."
Ray opened his eyes. "Oh, ya knew I was awake then. Ya were listening to me breathing again, right?"
"It's not something I actively choose to do," shrugged Fraser. "I must say Ray, you appear to be remarkably resilient to the effects of the sedative."
"Hey, takes more than a shot of that stuff to, er, keep me down for long," grinned Ray. "Sorry," added Ray, "ya were havin' a private conversation. I should have, er..."
"It's quite alright Ray," replied Fraser, "it's not as if you haven't heard it all before."
"Er, yeah," said Ray, hesitantly, "apart from the bit about your Dad, ya never mentioned that before." Fraser and Maggie looked at each other, neither were quite sure what to say next. "It's OK buddy," continued Ray, "I figure it's a, er, it's a Mountie thing, right?"
Fraser smiled. "Something like that," he said.
