Yeah, I'm back. Got to write while the... ink is fresh. I wanted to say "while the iron's hot" but Fraser said that's mixing a metaphor. Know-it-all.

Five people have looked at my story. Three in the USA, one in France and one in the Philippines. Weird, I'd have expected there to be a Canadian reader. *shrug*

Chapter 2: Family

I walked out to my car. Right before I got to it, I realized Fraser wasn't right behind me. I looked back. Fraser had stopped a few yards away and I saw him looking uneasily at me before glancing away. I followed his look and saw Vecchio standing by his car, looking back at Fraser.

Last night we had all gone for drinks in the Riviera and then Vecchio had dropped Fraser off at the consulate on his way back to the station where I had left my car. The Vecchio house was a little further away, so it made sense to take my own car so no one would have to drive me back. Fraser didn't know who to ride with.

Diefenbaker had no such dilemma. With a little grumbly growl at Fraser, he trotted over to me and stood up with his front paws against my passenger door. It may be a little petty, but it made me feel good that Dief preferred to ride with me.

The feeling passed quickly, though. I felt like I owed Vecchio. Without him, there was no duet in the first place. I'd had Fraser to myself for a long time, and Vecchio hadn't had much time to catch up with him.

"We'll see you there," I called to Fraser with what I hoped was confident nod.

Fraser nodded back. Just like that, his hesitation was gone and he headed for the Riv.

I put Dief in the backseat and got into the front. In the rearview mirror I saw Dief put his head on the back of my seat by my shoulder. "I know," I told him. "I feel like my alpha's gone, too. But I think he operates more like a salmon sometimes, you know? He's got to go back to what he knew first. Oh my god, I'm starting to equate people to animals of the Yukon. See, this is why a little time away from Fraser is good for both of us."

Dief grunted, as if to point out that I was still attempting to have an intelligent conversation with a deaf wolf.

"True."

I pulled up in front of the Vecchio house a little later. I had been there many times during my undercover days in order to keep up the facade of being part of that family, though I did have my own apartment. A lot of the house and its contents had had to be repaired or replaced after the fire, and I was sure glad I wasn't there when the other Ray saw that his pool table was singed. I'm sure he would have blamed me. By now, he's gotten used to the changes and understands that things probably would have happened just the same, even if it had been him there instead of me. Though he would have taken that shortcut and possibly gotten there about ten seconds sooner...

Thinking about the fire reminded me that in helping Franny get to the ground after Fraser all but thew her out of an upstairs window, I had inadvertently touched her butt—and she had complained loudly. It wasn't on purpose... I was just trying to keep her from falling. I grimaced at the memory. It was early in my acquaintance with Fraser, too. I had been trying to be totally cool and confident, and not doing the best job.

Dief nudged my shoulder.

"Yeah, sorry," I said. I unfastened my seatbelt and got out of the car. I cracked my neck before I let the dog... wolf... thing... out.

Dief sprang eagerly toward the house, where he knew a lot of simpering Italians would be happy to give him treats.

The Riv was already in the yard, and as I walked after Dief, I realized Vecchio and Fraser were still in it. They seemed to be talking, and Fraser's head was turned toward me, but I couldn't tell if he was actually looking at me, and I only looked for a second before going inside.

"This is so dumb," I grumbled to myself. It sucks.

Then I was dragged inside by the kids who still called me "Uncle Ray," and surrounded by them, Franny's mom and her sister, Maria. Only Franny and her brother-in-law, Tony, were almost indifferent to my arrival.

"Where's Fraser... and Ray?" Franny asked me.

"Outside."

"Well, tell 'em to get their butts in here."

Great... I was thinking about her butt again. "You tell 'em," I retorted.

Her mom grinned at me. "You two still act like brother and sister," she said, like it made her day.

I laughed awkwardly. "Yeah..." Then I muttered, "tell me about it."

Soon, Fraser and Vecchio came in and I was in a sea of loud Italian voices. Months of conditioning had accustomed me to the harsh, rapid-fire conversation, but I still didn't like it. If someone's got to be yelling, I want it to be me, at a suspect.

Franny planted herself by Fraser at the dinner table, and I got stuck on the end by one of the kids. Mrs. Vecchio sat on my other side once we were ready to eat though, and she was always super nice to me. Acted like I really was her own son, even when there was no chance that anyone was spying on us. Even now, she still does that. It made me feel like I should offer to stay and help with the dishes after. Which I hate.

I put off doing the dishes as long as I can. No clean spoons? No problem. I'll just stir my coffee with the handle of one I used the day before. Problem solved. So, when I say that Ma Vecchio made me feel like I should be doing chores, you know I thought of her like my mom as much as she thought of me as a son.

My problem was that I wanted a shot at being her son-in-law. I had no idea where to start. Even if I somehow got a date with Franny, we might realize we have nothing in common, and that would be that. But I just wanted the chance to see.

My attention suddenly jumped to conversation further down the table when I heard Franny tell her sister, "And Saturday I have a dinner-movie date with that Glenn guy I told you about."

"I thought you said you didn't like his mustache," Maria said with a surprised look.

"Eh, it grew on me. Or rather, it growing on him grew on me!" Franny laughed loudly and Maria chuckled along with her.

Fraser smiled. Vecchio grimaced. I chewed mechanically, looking back at my plate as I listened.

"I forget the name of the movie that's playing," Franny went on. "It's supposed to be this romantic suspense thingy."

"Can't get enough of those romantic suspense thingies," Vecchio put in. "Such an underrated genre."

I couldn't help smiling a little at that. Franny paid him no attention, continuing to describe what she had heard about the movie.

"We should go bowling Saturday," Vecchio said.

I stole a glance down the table and saw that he was definitely talking just to Fraser. I like bowling. I don't like the idea of my best friend going with his best friend and not being invited. It sucks.

"Hey, that sounds like fun," Franny said enthusiastically. "I need to practice my strike."

"A strike isn't something you practice," Vecchio snapped. "Your throw, your aim, your walk-up—those are things you practice. A strike is what you aim for. And you are not coming. You just said you have a date."

"Maybe the movie won't go very late and I can meet you guys after."

"No."

"We'll see."

"No."

I wanted to tell Vecchio to let her go, but I knew she just wanted to because Fraser was going. And he wouldn't listen to me, anyway. Then Fraser put his two cents in.

"If we're still out when she concludes her date, I don't see why..."

"Benny, come 'ere for a sec." Vecchio pushed his chair back and Fraser followed him through the door to the living room.

I looked around. Franny pouted for a moment before tossing her head back and turning to talk to Maria again.

"So, how was the wild North?" Mrs. Vecchio asked me.

I whipped my head around and stared at her a moment before my brain caught up. She was asking about my trek in Canada with Fraser. "Uh... wild," I said, forcing a smile. "Cold. Very cold. It's no wonder the ship of that guy we were looking for got stuck in the ice. You know, Fraser says they sent dozens of search parties after Franklin, and a lot of them never came back either. Like, more men died trying to find his exploration party than were in his party in the first place."

"Oh, my! How exciting."

"I guess. Kind of quiet now that they're dead, though."

"And did you find him?"

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Vecchio and Fraser coming back into the room, and I glanced back at them. "Uh... no. Still no one knows where his grave is, and we probably never will."

"A mystery!"

"Y-yeah."

"So," I heard Franny start.

"No," said her brother.

"Fraser—"

Fraser cleared his throat, sounding uncomfortable. "I think perhaps it's best you listen to your brother, Francesca," he said. "Besides, you wouldn't want to cut your date short, or be distracted by thinking of meeting up with us afterward."

Franny stared at him with her mouth open for a few seconds. Then she shut her mouth. Then she looked down. Then she took a bite of her dinner.

Vecchio engaged Fraser in work-related conversation.

"Now that you're back, you'll stay a while, yeah?" the matriarch asked me. "No more crazy adventures?"

"Nah... not for now," I said. She was making an effort to entertain me, and I felt like a selfish ingrate. I lifted my glass and held it toward her. "Here's for some good old-fashioned crimes to work on. The peaceful, safe crimes. Not the ones that have us taking bullets for each other and running off to other countries."

She smiled and clinked her glass against mine. "Cin cin."

"Cheers."

"Hey, what are we toasting?" asked Tony.

"We want in," Maria added.

Her mother renewed her smile and held out her glass to them. "Safe work and good health for our boys."

"Aw, ma," Vecchio complained. "At least call us policemen." But he reached out his glass, too, and everyone joined in, even the kids.

When we set our glasses down again, she put her hand on my wrist and gave it a squeeze. "We're so happy to have you back."

I kept from looking at Vecchio, but I could feel his eyes on me again. He was weirded out that I was so integrated into his family. "Thanks," I said, giving her a little smile and then dropping my gaze. To be honest, it still weirded me out, too. My parents loved me and everything, but they weren't so open about showing it. This lady who had known me less than two years loved me like a son. I didn't deserve it.

I was helping clear the table after dinner when I remembered something. I took a stack of plates to Mrs. Vecchio at the kitchen sink. "Hey, um... I read in Ray's file that he has a brother. I kept meaning to ask about him, but I never got around to it."

"Oh, Paulie!" she exclaimed, smiling her broadest smile. "Of course, didn't I tell you about him? He designs clothes. Well, now he has people to design clothes for him... has his own company in New York. Very successful, but very busy. He hasn't gotten away for a visit in years."

I frowned, confused. "But... Ray was shot. He didn't come then?"

She sobered a bit. "Well... we told him it was serious, and he said he couldn't leave right away. So he would wait and see."

"Wait and see...? What, if he died?"

She crossed herself. "Oh, dio, yes, he would have come then, for sure! Fortunately, he recovered. Paulie was still too busy to visit a recovering brother."

I huffed. I didn't mean to intrude on personal family stuff, but that sounded like a load of crap to me. "You'd think he would have at least been happy to be able to talk to him again after he was done with his undercover work."

"Well..." she shrugged. "Paulie lives so far away and hardly talks to Ray anyway, so... we didn't tell him about that."

My eyes widened. "You didn't... you didn't tell him Ray was undercover?"

"It seemed safer that fewer people knew."

"I guess, but... what if he'd tried to call him or something?"

"Eh... He calls me on Mother's Day. If he asked to speak to Ray, we would say he wasn't there. I could take a message if he wanted to leave one and call him back saying Ray told me what to say." She shrugged again. "Very simple."

"Wow."

She handed me a clean plate and a towel and I started drying.

"He's a good boy, Paulie. But very busy."

"Wow," I repeated.

"It's good you're here," she said, not looking at me. "Good to have Ray back, but good you're here, too."

"It's good to be back. Do you... is it okay if I still call you 'ma'?" I asked, hoping it wasn't too awkward.

"Madre di dio, what else would you call me?" she asked in a scolding tone.

I cracked up. "OK, just checking."

Hope you enjoyed a glimpse into the Vecchio household. Drop me a line if you got the time. ~Ray K.