The cabin …
Dinner with Ben, Fraser, and Ray was more fun than Meg had had in ages. Ray was a real talker when he had an audience. He and Ben told Meg the story of how Ben come to Chicago and been kidnapped. The boy left out the visits by his granddad's ghost. Meg let herself laugh. She spent time with the boys at Camp Cumberbatch but they were a bit shy around her for the most part. Meg wasn't good with children. Over the years she'd learned a few things but she knew she'd never be as good with children as George and Tootsie Daniels.
"Do you play music like your dad?" Meg asked as they moved their coffee into the living room.
"No, but he's teaching me to play hockey." Ben answered, sitting on the rug in front of the fireplace while the adults took seats on the couch and in the arm chair. Dief had take up a spot on the floor between Fraser and Meg as they sat on opposite ends of the couch.
"If you learn to play an instrument and play hockey, girls will flock around you." Meg leaned back against the couch, her gaze moving toward Fraser who stared into the flames. Ben shook his head, not knowing what to say.
"She's telling the truth, Ben, and when me and the Inspector agree on something, write it in stone, cause it's got to be true." Ray added. Everyone laughed. They'd never gotten along all that smoothly. Mostly they kept the peace because of Fraser.
"What do you say, Dad?" Ben asked as he drank a mug of hot chocolate.
"About girls flocking?" Fraser asked, stalling his answer. He didn't want to think his son was old enough to pay attention to girls.
"Yes, which is better, to be a hockey player or a guitar player, or both, like you?" They boy watched his father consider his answer carefully.
"I believe a young lady may be initially attracted to a hockey player or a guitar player but she will more often come to care for the kind of man you are on the inside. You should treat people with the kind of respect and consideration you would wish them to treat you." Fraser spoke frankly. Neither Ray nor Meg had anything to add.
"What time does Aunt Maggie's shift end?" Ben broke the ensuing silence. Meg checked her watch.
"Oh my, she should be clocking out as we speak. I should be heading to my apartment to meet her." Meg stood up, setting her coffee on the kitchen table as she found her purse.
"I'll walk you home." Fraser stood too, taking his leather jacket and Stetson from a peg by the door. Dief rose from his seat and came to stand beside Meg. He still watched her carefully.
"Ah, I see we have a chaperone." Meg scratched the old wolf between the ears.
"Have a good evening, Inspector." Ben wished her as he walked them to the door.
"Thank you kindly, Ben. I'll hopefully see you tomorrow." She waved and walked through the door ahead of Fraser.
"Don't stay up too late, Ben. I love you." Fraser said in a low voice as he closed the door. The boy nodded.
"Love you, Dad." Ben answered. It had taken him a while to get used to saying that and meaning it. Ben knew that when it all boiled down, his dad loved him more than anything in the world.
Fraser caught up to Meg and Dief easily as they headed toward the center of Spencer Falls. She chuckled as he extended his arm for her to take.
"You are too good to be true, Benton Fraser." Meg sighed, feeling younger and freer than she had in ages.
"Oh, how so?" He asked, his free hand covering hers as they walked down the sidewalk beneath the sparsely placed street lights.
"You treat me like I'm a precious gem being guarded. I can take care of myself you know." She squeezed his hand. A cool breeze rustled the leaves around them, toying with Meg's hair.
"I am well aware that you can take care of yourself, Meg. I simply want to help." Fraser sounded distant.
"I've done it again, haven't I?" Meg sighed heavily. She could have kicked herself.
"What?" He stopped in the shadow of a building.
"I've pushed you away, I'm sorry. I know you want to protect me, to show me how much you care." Meg frowned, wishing she could express herself better. "I don't want this to end, me and you, this, us, talking. What we leave unsaid hurts worse. I want to try, I will try, if you will." She pushed forward, her eyes closed, saying what she needed to whether it made sense to her or not. It felt good to get it out in the air.
"I will try, Meg." When she opened her eyes to see his face, Fraser was smiling.
"We won't always agree on things, Fraser, I want us to be able to speak our minds and know that just because we may not agree, it doesn't mean that we aren't willing to listen or that we don't care about each other." Meg's heart raced as she let her thoughts spew. She knew that if she didn't say it that way, she never would and everything she'd been through would have been in vain.
Fraser listened to what she was saying, his mind spinning, amazed at how open she was with him. If only she'd been this open all those years ago.
"I understand, Meg. I am willing to work with you and for you." He reassured her, still smiling as he leaned them against the side of the building in the shadows.
"I'm not easy to live with, Fraser." Meg started to protest but he put his index finger against her lips, silencing her. Quickly, Fraser leaned down and pressed a kiss against her lips. Meg closed her eyes and leaned against the building. She heard his Stetson hit the lathe board above her head and it slid backward onto the ground as he leaned to his right. The buttons on his uniform brushed Meg's blouse as he pressed closer. Meg found her arms slipping around his neck and her fingers running through his short, silky hair. When he pulled away he simply moved his kisses down her neck, his breath tickling her skin as he held her.
"Benton! ?" Maggie's voice brought both of them out of their private world and back to Spencer Falls. It was difficult to tell if it was a question or an exclaim.
"Oh dear." Fraser muttered as he released Meg and stood up straight. "Maggie, hello, I, uh." She stood beneath a street light, her hand up to wave away his explanation. The younger Fraser had gone pale then blushed when she'd seen her brother, of all people, kissing in the dark. It just wasn't a sight she could comprehend to begin with.
"I was just going up to the Inspector's apartment." Maggie turned and found the door leading up the stairs, disappearing as Meg and Benton tried to catch their breath.
"I don't anticipate her saying anything at the post, do you?" Meg ran her fingers through her hair and readjusted her jacket and slacks.
"No, Maggie will be discrete." Fraser shook his head, rolling his shoulder to one side. He picked his Stetson up off the ground and dusted it off.
"I've caught people in this situation, but I never knew what they felt until now." Meg smiled, biting her bottom lip. Fraser nodded. He understood now why Maggie and Ray were always so happy. Benton extended his hand for Meg to take and together they walked up to her apartment.
Maggie waited for them at the top of the steps, at Meg's front door. She had regained her composure. In a way it was good to see Benton doing something spontaneous for a change. It wasn't a secret that he had feelings for Meg Thatcher. Maggie was glad to see that she felt the same way for him.
"Thank you for giving up time with your family, Constable Kowalski, I appreciate the sacrifice." Meg spoke as she unlocked her deadbolt and opened the door. She entered her security code and disarmed the system before motioning them inside. Maggie noticed the bars on the window and the presence of a knife stuck into the top of the front door frame.
"I'm glad to be able to help, Inspector Thatcher. Please, call me Maggie when we're not at the post." She smiled openly as she surveyed the living room and kitchen area. "We're probably going to be sisters-in-law, I might as well get used to the sound of it." Maggie thought to herself.
"Maggie, call me Meg. I'm afraid all there is for dinner is left overs, I hope you like chicken and rice." Meg shrugged, she hadn't gone to the store in a while, even though it was only a floor away.
"That's fine, Insp-, ah, Meg." Maggie caught herself, she looked to Fraser who was standing back watching them together. He had a Mona Lisa smile on his face and his hands behind his back.
"You remind me of our dad when you do that." Maggie came to stand at the bar separating the kitchen from the dining area where Meg stood looking into the refrigerator. Fraser stood near the front door.
"Do what?" He shifted his weight.
"Stand like that, that's the way he always stands," Her eyes widened when she realized she'd used the wrong verb tense. "in the pictures you've shown me of him." Maggie added quickly, praying that Meg hadn't caught on to her error.
"I know what you mean." Benton smiled, he'd heard more of his father in himself since Ben had come to live with him than ever before. Fraser wasn't that much younger than his father at the time of his father's death. He prayed to live to a much riper old age than Robert Fraser.
"Is there anything either of you need before I walk back to the cabin?" Fraser offered.
"No, thank you, I've already been to the cabin." Maggie and Fraser turned to Meg for her answer.
"I'm fine, thank you." She sat a glass bowl of chicken and rice on the stove.
"Then if there's nothing else, I should be going." Fraser retrieved his Stetson and turned to walk out the front door.
"Fraser, let me walk you out." Meg hurried to catch up. They disappeared out the front door together, leaving Maggie and Aurora in the apartment.
"You shouldn't be out alone, Meg." Fraser admonished her as she hurried down the steps behind him. They stood the same height as she stood a step above him.
"I wasn't planning on it, Fraser, I just wanted to give you this." The Inspector tipped his chin up and planted a quick kiss against his lips. Her eyes sparkled in the fluorescent light overhead when she opened them. Fraser stood there, still as a statue for a moment, his eyes closed. Then he smiled and opened his green eyes. He kissed her quickly before turning and leaving. If he didn't make himself leave, Fraser knew he'd spend the night at Meg's apartment.
"Be safe, Meg, I'll see you in the morning." He said as she watched him close the door behind himself.
"You too, Benton, be careful."