Meg's Apartment ….
Taking a leave of absence was more work than Meg had anticipated. There were a hundred kinds of forms to file, the wait for a response from Ottawa, and financial as well as medical arrangements to be seen to. Still, she was excited to start looking for a larger apartment, buying baby clothes and furniture.
The lady Mountie began her to-do list at the consulate, filling out paperwork. Fraser, or 'Benton', as she called him when Turnbull was out of earshot, dove into the paperwork as well; part of his 'fatherly duties'. Meg didn't mind. Gone was the awkwardness that had plagued them both for so long. Meg still caught herself stumbling over words when she lost her train of thought staring at him. The regular consulate work and the new paperwork kept them busy all day.
After his shift, Fraser went to the Twenty-seventh Precinct to catch up with Ray. He had cut down on his crime fighting with the American detective quite a bit since Meg had started the IVF process. Ben wondered if his friendship with Ray would change now that his life was changing.
"Hey, buddy, how's Thatcher?" Ray asked as the Mountie sat down in a metal chair across the desk from the laid back, blond detective. Dief took his usual spot out of the way beneath Ray's desk.
"Inspector Thatcher is doing quite well, she's with child." Fraser noted that Ray hadn't called her the 'Ice Queen' or any of his other unflattering names for Meg.
"That's great, I bet she's uh, she's happy as a clam." Ray sipped his coffee, scanning a file without the benefit of his prescription glasses.
"Yes, she's elated." Fraser hesitated to drop the bomb of the baby's paternity on the detective, especially after their conversation about marriage proposals.
"Are you free for lunch, Ray?" Fraser asked casually, hoping he would be.
"Not really, I got to go talk to, to, um, Victor Rifkin, about a case." Ray scanned the file for the name. Fraser looked around the bull pen. It was busy, as usual and he didn't want to talk in such a public place.
"May I accompany you, we can stop for a bite afterward." Fraser suggested. Dief perked up, coming around the desk, ready to leave.
"Yeah, I guess so, give me a minute to get this info." The detective wrote the address on a Dollar General Store receipt and stuffed it into his jeans pocket. He grabbed a Chicago Bears jacket and waited for Fraser to retrieve his Stetson.
"You got somethin' on your mind, buddy, you seem tense er somethin'." Ray asked as he and Fraser walked toward the exit and into afternoon foot traffic. The Mountie just nodded, still reluctant to talk. He waited until they were in the muddy colored Intrepid before coming clean.
"Inspector Thatcher's second round of IVF was unsuccessful." Ben began, his gaze on traffic beyond.
"Then how's she pregnant, far as I know there's only been one immaculate conception." Ray pointed out, zigging and zagging through traffic, taking the speed limit as a suggestion.
"Margaret was quite upset after Dr. Milton told her the process had been a failure. She came back to the consulate late that evening …." Ray slowed the car down, holding up traffic.
"Whoa, buddy, you tellin' me you and Thatcher done the dirty?" Ray asked incredulously, pulling the car over to the shoulder of the road.
"That's not exactly the term I would apply to the events of that night." Fraser turned in his seat to look at his friend. Dief lay in the back, wondering when lunch would show up.
"You're the father of Thatcher's kid then?" Ray still couldn't wrap his mind around the idea of Ben as a daddy.
"Yes, I am." Fraser admitted, a content smile spreading. Cars began honking their horns as other cars swerved to avoid the Intrepid.
"Congrats, Fraser." Ray shook his hand, still shaking his head. "Is Thatcher's okay with you as the father, I thought she'd have some fancy pants, Einstein donor lined up."
"I believe Margaret is relieved, this way the child will have a father figure to look up to. I intend to be an active participant in raising the child." Fraser said in all seriousness.
"She let's you call her 'Margaret'?" Ray laughed. He couldn't imagine her being called anything other than 'Inspector Thatcher'.
"That is her name, Ray." Fraser deadpanned. Dief rolled his eyes, growing impatient for lunch.
"You gonna marry her?" Ray checked his side mirrors for traffic and pulled back onto the pavement.
"Yes, I proposed yesterday afternoon and she said yes." Fraser stated matter-of-factly.
"How'd you do it?" Ray wondered, curious to know.
"I was standing at the window looking at the street outside the consulate when Margaret came up behind me. She asked me what I was thinking and the proposal just came of its own accord." Ben talked with his hands as he rode.
"Just like that, you popped the question?" Ray marveled.
"Yes, Ray, just like that." The Mountie didn't see it as any sort of mystery.
"Congrats buddy, you're doin' pretty good. You two set a date er anything?" Ray could just see the wedding, everyone in uniform, a Canadian flag cake, a whole rigmarole.
"No, not as yet, but I think the wedding will be soon, probably before the baby's born."
"I guess you and me'll have to cut out the adventurin so much, eh?" Ray shook his head.
"I don't want our partnership to be affected but I don't see any way around it, Ray, I now have other responsibilities." Fraser studied his friend for a moment as they sat in line at a red light.
"I know, buddy, I used to have one out of two of those same responsibilities." Ray avoided mentioning his ex-wife, ADA Stella Kowalski. His time with her had been some of the best as well as some of the worst days of his life. He still loved her.
"Would you be my best man, Ray?" Fraser asked, changing the direction of the subject.
"I'd be glad to, Fraser, I get to plan the bachelor party." A plum assignment he could sink his teeth into.
Fraser didn't know if he liked the sound of that or not. He had recently learned of American bachelor party traditions such as strip clubs and massive amounts of alcohol, neither of which he wanted any part of.
"Don't worry, buddy, I was thinking a poker game, maybe some pizza and a few beers, nothin' that'll get you in trouble with the little woman." Ray snickered, thinking of the short leash Thatcher already kept him on.
"Yes, that sounds very enjoyable, but we'll be playing for match sticks or candy of course." The Mountie in him just couldn't break Illinois state gambling laws.
"Yeah, I guess." Ray groused, feeling defeated.
"Good, as soon as Margaret and I set the wedding date you can send out the invitations." Ray only rolled his eyes, planning a strictly word of mouth kind of bachelor party at his apartment.
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Meg stuffed the unfinished paperwork in her briefcase and gathered her things to go home. She was tired of jumping through hoops for a leave of absence.
"Constable Turnbull, I'm leaving for the evening, it's time you should as well." The lady Inspector stopped by the junior Mountie's desk in the entrance. He looked up from organizing the consulate Rolodex, his eyes bloodshot from eye strain.
"Yes, Sir, I'll leave as soon as I get through the J's, it won't take two shakes of a lamb's tail." He assured her effervescently.
"Alright, but leave the rest, it will be right there tomorrow." Meg slid into her jacket and headed toward the front door. She was glad to be leaving for the day.
"Good evening, Inspector." Turnbull wished her, waving when she turned back.
"Good night, Constable Turnbull." She smiled, shaking her head at his guileless manner.
As soon as Meg arrived at her apartment the phone began ringing. She dumped her coat and brief case on the couch before snatching it up.
"Hello." The Inspector slipped out of her pumps and began unbuttoning her jacket.
"Hi, Sweetie, how are you?" Mrs. Thatcher asked cheerfully.
"I'm fine, Mom, I was just about to call you, I've got some good news." Meg sat down in her armchair, curling up like a cat.
"Oh, do tell." Mrs. Thatcher prompted.
"There's two things, first I'm pregnant." Meg waited for her mother to speak, hoping it would be something supportive.
"So the second round of IVF was successful." She at least sounded cheerful.
"Not exactly, Mom, Ben's the father." Meg said cautiously. She'd told her mother about her second-in-command and the way they felt about each other, just not that they'd actually slept together.
"Oh, your subordinate officer, isn't that against regulations?" Mrs. Thatcher asked, a bit confused.
"Yes, but Ben's been there for me through all of this, it took the in vitro process and the miscarriage for me to realize that I love him, that it's not just a crush or an infatuation. He loves me too, Mom." Meg sounded amazed at the revelation.
"Does he know you're pregnant?" Mrs. Thatcher asked, her tone unreadable through the phone.
"Yes, I told him as soon as I found out yesterday. He asked me to marry him this afternoon, and I said yes."
"That's great, Meg, I'm so happy for you." Meg released a breath she didn't know she'd been holding.
"I want to fly down in a few days, I'd like to meet the man my daughter is marrying and the father of my grandchild." Mrs. Thatcher's mind began to spin, planning the next steps toward going to Chicago.
"That'd be great, Mom, let me know your schedule so I can come and pick you up at the air port." Meg and her mother talked for a while about the trip and the engagement ring. When they hung up, Meg felt even better, if possible. She'd been determined to have this child with or without her mother's approval, but it felt good to have it anyway.
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