Current mood:	tired
Entry tags:	fic: due south

Due South Fireworks fic for Zahra
I will post about my birthday weekend soon, because it is definitely worth posting about, if for no other reason than to remember the people sucking nitrous out of balloons at Live 8 (yes, I'm serious, omg so funny). But I'll do that later, when I'm not insanely tired and about to go home.

In the meantime, have some fic! This is for hackthis, because she didn't see any fireworks this year. Ray almost missed them too, as it turns out.


It's Tradition, Dammit!




“Fraser, this sucks.”

“I’m aware of that, Ray.”

“Are you? I don’t think so. I don’t think you can be aware of how very much this sucks, seeing as how you are Canadian.”

“We have our own national holiday as well, Ray. I missed it too, this year, I might add.”

This gave Ray pause. “Oh yeah, that’s right. That sucks for you, too, I guess. Except, hey,” he shook a finger to make his point. “You could have gone home, you know, you got vacation coming. You didn’t have to stay here and work. And you *really* didn’t have to stay here and get stuck on stakeout duty with me all night, thereby missing the fireworks, which is my point here.”

“Is it that your point, Ray? I’m sorry, I thought I missed it the first five times you made it.”

“Oooh, the Mountie fights back!” Fraser was getting snippy, which meant maybe there could be some interesting banter or…or something that wasn’t sitting in the dark stewing about how he was missing the fireworks over the Lake right now. This was all right, though, this was…well, okay, not good, but more interesting than sitting in the car, silently staring at a dark house--which was dark because even the criminals took the Fourth of July off for the fireworks. Sometimes Ray really hated being one of the good guys.

But Ray, you hate the crowds at the Lake, remember?, his inner voice, which was right now a horrifying combination of Stella and his mother, said. You can never relax and stop being a cop long enough to enjoy the show.

Yeah, but it’s the principle of the thing--wait, why the hell was he arguing with himself inside his head when he had a real, live Fraser to argue with right next to him?

“Maybe you don’t get it, Fraser. It’s not the Fourth of July without fireworks. It’s symbolic and…and, you know, it means something. It’s tradition.” Yes, it was tradition, and tradition was important. To society and kids and families and shit. Fraser, of all people, should understand tradition. “It’s like Christmas without a Christmas tree. Or Halloween without pumpkins, or Easter without—“

“Easter eggs, yes, I think I see where this is going.” Well, Ray was going to say Cadbury’s Cream Eggs, but that was close enough.

“Ray, I’m very sorry you’re missing the fireworks, which as I understand it are an important American tradition,” Fraser said with a patient sigh. “But if you don’t find something else to talk about I’m afraid I…I’ll have to ask you to…well, to shut up. Please.”

Ray sighed. “Fraser, you don’t ask someone to shut up please. It kind of ruins the effect.”

Fraser rubbed an eyebrow. “Yes, well.”

“Yeah, I know.” Ray looked over at Fraser, who was staring out the windshield with an unaccountably sad look on his face. Had he put that there? Just by being a whiny jerk? That sucked more than the no fireworks situation. There was an uncomfortable feeling in the pit of his stomach. Separate from the uncomfortable feeling that was his need to pee, that is.

“Look, I’m sorry,” he said. “I’ll shut up and get over this. It’s just one year, right? I’ll put in for vacation early next year. Set off my own fireworks the day before to make up for it, how’s that?” He grinned, trying to get Fraser to smile back.

But Fraser didn’t grin. He frowned instead, with that frown that meant Ray had said something that had set the hamster wheels in Fraser’s mind turning. “Hmm,” he said, still frowning at Ray.

“What?” What had he said? Had Fraser figured out something about the case? They might not know everything about the Mulcahey brothers’ operations, but Ray was pretty sure they weren’t involved in illegal fireworks smuggling or anything. “What? What’d I say?”

Fraser just stared at him for a second more and then turned and grabbed his hat off the dash. “Stay here and keep an eye on the house, Ray. I’ll be right back.” And then he was out the door and down the street and Ray was left saying “Fraser! Hey, Fraser, what—dammit!” to an empty car. What the hell was he doing?

Ray slumped back in the seat and stared at the house. Still dark. Still no activity. Still boring as hell.

He crossed his arms.

He uncrossed them.

He drummed out a beat on the steering wheel.

Then on his legs.

Then on the dash.

Then Fraser had been gone two whole minutes and where the hell had he gone? Did he need backup? Sometimes Fraser did things that needed backup and neglected to tell Ray that he was doing something that needed backup, so how the hell was Ray supposed to know if Fraser needed backup or if he just really, really had to take a leak?

Ray really needed to take a leak.

Where the hell was—

The passenger door slammed shut and Fraser was in the car again, just like that. “Ray, let me see your lighter.”

“Fraser, what the—wait, how do you know I have a lighter on me?”

Fraser gave him his very special Ray don’t pretend like we’re both idiots. Please. look.

“All right, all right, here.” He fished around in his jeans pocket for a minute and handed it over. The metal was blood-warm and slippery in his hand. “Now tell me why? Please?” Fraser had a paper bag on his lap and was rummaging through it.

“Well, something you said just a minute ago reminded me that there was a fireworks stand on the corner about two blocks away, and it occurred to me that, while it certainly can’t make up for a full fireworks show, that perhaps—“

“Sparklers!” Ray interrupted when he saw the box in Fraser’s hand. “Fraser you found sparklers! That’s…that’s really great. Uh, thanks,” he forced out around a sudden lump in his throat. Now he really felt like a shit. All he did was complain all night, and instead of telling him to stuff it, like any normal person would, Fraser went out and found something to make it better. Ray didn’t deserve that. But he’d take it, because if nothing else, sparklers were cool.

He pulled two out of the box and reached for the lighter in Fraser’s hand before something occurred to him.

“Wait, wait, not in the Goat. Uh, let’s see…” He looked around for somewhere they could go that might let them light the sparklers without giving away their position to anyone who might be—highly unlikely though that might be—watching from the house.

He started the car up (thank god he’d just tuned her, so her normally quiet rumble was an even softer purr tonight), left the headlights off, and drove her around the corner. He made a three-point turn, then pulled the car up so they were mostly hidden from the front of the house, but would still see if any cars pulled up into the driveway.

Ray and Fraser got out of the car and sat with their backs against the driver’s side tire on the sidewalk. If Ray craned his head around the front bumper he could see the entire front lawn of the Mulcahey’s house, so he figured he had all the bases covered. He turned back to Fraser, who was just flipping open the Zippo’s top with a familiar metal snick. The Zippo’s flame shot up and Ray took one of the sparklers from Fraser’s other hand and held it to the fire until he could see sparks at the tip. He pulled it away and then Fraser lit his, and then the street was lit by nothing but the moon and the streetlights and the flicker of the two sparklers.

Ray couldn’t help grinning as he watched the sparks fly off the ends. Some of the sparks flew onto his skin with a mild sting, but that was part of the whole experience. It wouldn’t have been the same without it.

He looked up, wanting to share the moment with Fraser, who had done this for him, just because he missed fireworks. Fraser’s face was lit up by the flashes of light, sparks flaring up and dying in his eyes as he watched Ray. He didn’t seem to notice the sparkler in his hand at all.

**end**