The Twenty-seventh Precinct ….
The Next Day ….
Fraser walked into the precinct behind Ray. Ramona sat in her stroller looking at the people and colors around her. Diefenbaker strolled in, bringing up the rear. Huey sat working his computer, Dewey peering over his shoulder.
"Well, if it isn't 'Mr. Mom'." Dewey snickered, pointing at the detective, the Mountie, the baby and the wolf.
"Yeah, at least I didn't drag up out of the slimy end of the gene pool like you, Dewey." Ray tossed right back at him.
"Ray." Fraser admonished just shy of a growl.
"For once we agree." Frannie sauntered up to Ray's desk just as he sat down and began rifling through the desk drawers.
"Agree on what, Frannie?" Ray asked without looking up.
"That Dewey came out of the stagnant end of the gene pool. How's Ramona?" The Civilian Aide knelt down, her assets on display as she unbuckled the infant.
"I resent that, my parents were only fifth cousins, that's not illegal." Dewey opened his mouth before thinking. Fraser barely kept a skeptical brow from lifting.
"And the Americans make snide remarks about us." He thought to himself.
"Francesca, may I have your permission to film you with Ramona?" Fraser asked as he pulled the video camera out of Ramona's diaper bag.
"Yeah, sure, Fraser, anything for you." Frannie batted her eyelashes at him coquettishly.
"Thank you kindly, Francesca." The Mountie quickly started the device up and zoomed in on Ramona's face as she took in the person holding her.
"What's this for anyway?" Frannie asked still smiling into the camera. Her dark eyes went from the camera lens to Fraser's face.
"For Rachel, when she recovers." The Mountie answered, panning the lens away from Frannie to capture the bull pen around them.
"How's she doin'?" The Civilian Aide untied the woolly, pink toboggan on Ramona's head and threw it in the stroller seat.
"There's been no improvement I'm afraid. Doctors aren't overly optimistic at this point." Fraser answered over his shoulder. His Stetson sat precariously on the back of his head as he studied the view finder.
"That's too bad." Frannie shook her head as Ramona tried to grab her shiny, dangling earrings.
"Fraser, you sure you didn't move my health insurance stuff?" Ray's voice cut through the din as he turned his top drawer out onto his desk top.
"I have no idea where you've stored that information, Ray. You took care of those forms while I was on vacation, remember?" Fraser referred to the switch between the real Ray Vecchio and the undercover detective currently known as Ray Vecchio.
"Yeah, right, I did." The blond, replacement detective's face was pinched as he tried to remember that far back.
"Ray, may I speak to you?" Stella's voice drew everyone's attention as she sailed through the throng of people scattered between the entrance to the bull pen and Ray's desk near the rear.
"As if this day wasn't bad enough." Ray muttered when he saw his ex-wife on the war path.
"Hey, Stella, how's it goin'?" The detective pasted on a more pleasant attitude.
"You were supposed to have the legal name of that source to me first thing this morning. Now here it is almost eleven and I still don't have it. The DA is breathing down my neck, and guess what, he's got bad breath." She ignored the video camera, the other detectives and uniformed officers staring at her. Fraser instinctively turned to see what the lady lawyer was saying, the camera still on his shoulder. Between him and Stella stood Francesca. The spicy Italian bristled, biting her lower lip to keep from shouting.
"Stella, now's not a good time, okay. Ramona had a doctor's appointment this morning is why I didn't get you that name first thing." Ray didn't back down, Stella had been his sparring partner too often in recent years for that.
"And that's my problem how?" Stella crossed her arms over her chest, glaring back at him.
"I'm not sayin' it is, Stella, I'm just sayin' cut me a little slack, alright. Not everyone's perfect like you, some of us have responsibilities other than our all consuming careers er whatever." Ray's jaw worked in frustration. He still felt hurt from their fight the night before. Stella looked shocked, her light blue eyes wide and her mouth open.
"I still need your informant's legal name for the paperwork, Detective." She spat out after a long moment of silence. Ray watched her walk toward the door, his eyes blazing. The detective leaned on his desk top, head hung as he took a deep breath to stop himself from doing or saying something stupider than what he already had. Fraser shut off the camera and set it on the seat opposite the desk.
"Ray," Before he could say another word the detective's head popped up.
"I'm fine, Fraser, it's just me and Stella stuff, okay." He straightened himself up and grabbed his desk drawer, shoving it back into place.
"Come on, Fraser, let's go down to uh, to Human Resources." Ray turned to Francesca.
"Mind watching Ramona for a few, Frannie?" It was more of a demand than a request.
"Yeah, sure, no problem, Ray." Frannie shrugged, Ramona against her arm, peering over her shoulder.
"Thanks." Ray walked out of the bull pen quickly. Fraser smiled an apology and followed in Ray's wake.
The District Attorney's Office ….
Frannie had been to the District Attorney's office before, as part of her job. It wasn't a big deal to the Civilian Aide. This time her visit was personal.
"Is Kowalski in?" Frannie asked the clerk scouring a huge legal text.
"Yeah, just let me tell her you're here." The twenty-ish law student picked up the phone and dialed.
"Yes, there's someone here to see you from the twenty-seventh." The clerk hung up and pointed Frannie toward the glass and wood door between them.
"Thanks, Kyle." Frannie grinned at the young man and walked into Stella's office. The ADA's office was modernist, all silver accents and glass. It was as a cold place devoid of color.
"Hello Mrs. Vecchio, what have you got for me today?" Stella looked up from her computer screen to the curvy Civilian Aide.
"I've got a piece of advice for you," Frannie paused, nervous. The anger she'd felt seeing Ray being scolded like an errant schoolboy had begun to die.
"Oh?" Stella leaned back against her leather roller chair. Francesca Vecchio's reputation as a spitfire had reached even the DA's office.
"Ray's doin the best he knows how, dealing with Ramona by himself, working and trying to visit his cousin in the hospital every few days. I know he's your ex-husband but that doesn't give you the right to talk to him like he's some rookie just out of the Academy. I don't know what this thing is between the two of you, I don't care, what I do care about is Ray and baby Ramona. So get over yourself for Pete's sake, this ain't about you, he's bustin his butt for that baby girl." Frannie had worked up a good, mad speech as she stood across the desk from Stella. The attorney looked at her as if she had two heads.
"My relationship with Ray is none of your business, Miss Vecchio and I'll thank you to stay out of it." Stella finally retorted. It wasn't often that she was on the receiving end of a telling off.
"Can it sister, I'm makin' it my business to see that Ray gets the help he needs to do right by Ramona. If you don't like it, tough, deal with it." Frannie fired back, unfazed. She argued with her siblings for fun growing up. Stella Kowalski was an amateur by comparison.
"That dummy still loves you but you keep pushing him away. I'd give my eye teeth if I could get a man to look at me with half as much love as he sees you with." Frannie's tone became softer.
"I know that, but there's nothing between us anymore." Stella's cold tone and even colder expression didn't fool the Civilian Aide, she knew a mask when she saw one.
"Keep telling yourself that and it'll be true someday." Frannie turned and walked out of the office, closing the door noisily behind her.
"See you later, Kyle." Frannie winked at the gaping clerk before heading out of the building.
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Ray took Ramona to his parents' house after lunch. The small, white house smelled like fresh baked biscuits and coffee. It always smelled good, like home.
"Hello, Constable Fraser, how are you today?" Barbara Kowalski asked the red serge clad officer as she took Ramona from Ray.
"Quite well, thank you kindly for asking." Fraser set Ramona's empty car seat and full diaper bag on the coffee table in the small living room.
"Where's Pop?" Ray asked, pulling off Ramona's toboggan. He had a tendency to keep her over dressed when going outside.
"He's in the garage, working on an Impala for some boys." Mrs. Kowalski pointed toward the building behind the house nearly as big as the house itself.
"Thanks Ma, think I'll go, ah, go see him." Ray walked toward the back door in the kitchen without another word.
Alone, Mrs. Kowalski turned to Fraser. It wasn't like her son to come in and not give her a hug or a quick peck on the cheek.
"What's going on with Ray, he seems tense." Mrs. Kowalski's light eyes scrutinized the Mountie with an all knowing air.
"Stella came to his apartment last night, there was an argument. She also came to the precinct this morning. It seems they both still have unresolved issues stemming from their marriage." Fraser said truthfully.
"Unresolved issues is a nice way of putting it. Losing that baby nearly killed both of them." Barbara shook her head as she fished out Ramona's bottle. The baby's blue eyes sparkled at the sight of her milk.
"Ray hasn't discussed that aspect of his marriage with me in detail, did they seek any kind of couples counseling?" Fraser wondered aloud.
"No, I think both of them just wanted to put it past them, but how do you put something like that away?" Barbara moved into the kitchen where she began preparing Ramona's bottle on the stove.
"I'm not an expert but I don't think that's possible, not entirely." Fraser toyed with his Stetson thoughtfully. He couldn't imagine losing a child.
"Ray and Stella have both hurt for so long, they've hurt each other. Stella wasn't always the way she is now. When she and Ray were younger they were so happy, so carefree. She was like my daughter, I hate seeing her … and Ray, so sad." Barbara tested the milk's temperature before giving Ramona the bottle.
"As do I, Ma'am." Fraser sighed.
"That's why I think Ramona's been such a blessing, I see the way she and Ray are getting along, he's beginning to settle down again." Barbara smiled as she pressed a kiss against the baby's forehead. Ramona blinked as her chubby hands laid along each side of the bottle she seemed intent on drinking.
"Yes, so he has." Fraser agreed, his mind going over scenarios on how to help Ray and Stella have closure.
"Hey, Fraser, when are you due at the consulate?" Ray's voice broke into the conversation.
"Oh dear, I should have been there five minutes ago." Fraser checked his watch.
"Pitter patter, let's get at 'er." Ray rubbed his hands together.
"I'll see you later, Ma, thanks for taking Ramona for me this afternoon." Ray kissed both ladies on the cheek before hustling out into the fall air.
"You're welcome, Ray, I'll see you for dinner, okay?" Mrs. Kowalski called as she followed them to the front door. "both of you, for dinner, understand?" She pointed toward both younger men.
"Thank you kindly, Mrs. Kowalski." Fraser waved to her before he slid into the GTO. She smiled as she watched them drive away. Ever the optimist, she had a feeling things were going to be fine.
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