Families
Epilogue
Northern Territories 2025
Meg smiled at she walked up the driveway to their house. What once had been a cabin in the outskirts of their little town now was a rather big house. As their family had grown so had the house, now all their children had moved out, it was actually only their youngest, Joanna, who still used her room when she was home visiting from Ottawa where she were attending the RCMP depot. She was to graduate in about a month on her 25th birthday and Meg couldn't feel prouder. All four of their children had on their own chosen to serve the RCMP in different ways, Molly now 30 years old was on maternity leave with her second child but worked side by side with Meg, Markus a year younger had chosen to become a lawyer and was working in their aunt Rebecca's office. Their youngest son Jay had turned 27 and was now out touring Canada with the musical ride.
Meg was still the acting inspector although she was turning 67 in August, she hoped she would be able to step down within a year and spend more time with her husband and their ever growing bunch of grandchildren. So far it was 3 years old Mia and her little brother 6 months old Robert, named after their great grandfather born by Molly, but Markus and his wife had just this weekend at the big family dinner in Rebecca's house told them all that they were having twins in about 6 months.
Ben had been forced to retire due to a back injury already 7 years ago, it had been the worse summer of Meg's life when Ben had had to spend all that time tied up in a hospital bed far away from home. She had spent as much time as she could get off work with him, so many times running her hand through his light gray hair. It had started to turn gray already in his early 50's and he had let it do so.
It was one of those things she now was smiling about, he was sitting in a rocking chair on their front porch with Mia and Bobby in his arms, all three of them were sleeping in the spring sun. She remembered one time before Jay was born she had been with Ben out patrolling and Molly and Markus had stayed with Ben's parents. When they came walking back Bob Fraser Sr had been sitting kind of the same way, although it had been in the early autumn, about a year after they had moved there.
Last year had been a sad year, Bob and Caroline had both passed away as the last of all the grandparents around. Bob's old friend Buck and his wife Lillian had passed away earlier in an unfortunate plane crash when they were in their early 80's. Meg's own parents had too passed away, but it was Bob and Caroline she mourned the most. Caroline, her mother-in-law that had helped her deliver their three youngest children. And Bob, with all his wisdom and knowledge about the area, what would she had done without him when they first had arrived here 30 years ago this autumn coming.
"Hi there" she heard the soft voice of her husband and looked up.
"Hi" Meg said and tried to smile through her tears, but she couldn't fool Ben.
"Were you thinking about my parents again?" Ben asked and with Meg's helped got untangled from their sleeping grandchildren.
"Yes, I couldn't help it, do you remember when we came back to their house after those weeks out patrolling when Markus was about 5 months old and Bob was sitting much like you with him and Molly in his arms sleeping" Meg knew her husband's memory was as good as hers, it was just his back that was bad.
"I do" Ben carefully got out of the chair and put his arms around her and drew her close.
He still used the same soap as he had all his life and he smelled like fresh pine "Do you want me to massage your back when Molly's picked up the children?" Meg asked.
"I think that would be a good thing" Ben answered.
"Did she say when she was coming back?" Meg asked.
"Before dark, you know how she is, when she starts one of her projects she doesn't stop until it's done" Ben chuckled.
"She's so much her father's daughter" Meg looked up at her husband and stood on her tiptoes to kiss him.
"So you say" Ben said as they broke the kiss for some air.
Ben felt someone move around his legs and looked down at Sally, it was their current husky/wolf of their own breed all descending from Diefenbaker and Tally who they had found out in the woods their first winter at the post. They had named her Tally because of her tall legs and they were pretty certain that she just like Diefenbaker was half husky and half wolf by natural breeding in the wild. Sally trotted over to lay down beside the children on an old quilted blanket that Caroline had made one winter when she hadn't been able to get out to see her patients.
"I almost forgot Kowalski called this morning, soon after you had left" Ben said referring to their friend Ray by his last name to part him away from Ray Vecchio their other Ray friend.
"What did he want that early?" Meg asked.
"First to tell that he and Line finally were grandparents too" Ben smiled. It hadn't taken them many months to get married and start a family, just like Ben and Meg they had four children of their own coming quickly in a row, well one pair of them were identical twin girls.
"A boy or a girl?" Meg asked.
"A boy, Ray was so proud, almost like when his Jake was born" Ben said.
"Well with the twins the the little one being girls I understand. We should send them a present" Meg said.
"We can give it to them in Ottawa, they're coming there for Joanna's graduation" Ben said.
"Oh that's great" Meg said. Although Ray was Molly's godfather only he had always showered their children with presents when they met.
"He also said that Ray and Louise and Frannie and Renfield are coming too" Ben filled in as they went inside the house letting the children sleep on the porch.
"It will be great to meet them all again, we haven't seen Ray and Louise since they came to Toronto when you were in hospital there" Meg said.
"That's true" Ben said, although they did use the computer to communicate from now and then with their friends, it was something special meeting in private.
"I've been thinking Ben, would you be very crossed if we stayed in Toronto a bit before we come back here after Ottawa?" Meg asked.
Ben smiled at her "Would there be any use on getting crossed? I think you have already booked it"
"You know me to well Benton Fraser" Meg said and fixed them both some coffee.
"We are soul mates aren't we?" Ben said and carefully put his arms around her waist and nuzzled just behind her ear where he knew she liked it the most. He couldn't wait for Molly to come pick the children up and take them home to her house, his parents' old place. He had seen it in Meg's eyes when she had offered that it would be more than a massage of his sore back that evening.
Disclaimer/Copyright 2014 and forward: I don't own the characters from Due South, but I've written the story and therefore feel I own that. I also want to say I don't know about how the Academy for RCMP or something alike works so I've made it up a nice way to fit my story. I'm also not familiar with names for different kind of people in a village such as the Inuits live in.
A/N: Thank you kindly for reading, please let me know what you think.