Chicago Rules (Due South, Benton Fraser)

[RiversD]

A little too long for my drabble thread, I decided, so here's a short one-shot.

Title: Chicago Rules
Author: (mostly important if you are sharing someone else's work)
Fandom: Due South
Disclaimer: I own nothing but my brain.
Summary: Fraser wasn't at the consulate, so Ray came looking for him.
Authors Notes: I've just started Due South, and am about part-way through season 1, so "Ray" here is Ray Vecchio. I'm told this show may become more emotionally distressing in the near future, so I'm taking my fluffy feelings while the getting is good.

“You took a day off?”

Ray didn’t bother knocking, bursting into Fraser’s apartment like a whirlwind of incredulity.

“You never take a day off!”

“Ray?” Fraser pushed himself up from the mattress, and blinked blearily up at the detective. “Did you need me?” Beside the bed, Diefenbaker raised his head from his paws and whined.

“And you’re sleeping in the bed?” Ray ignored Benton’s question in favour of more of his own. “I thought that was the wolf’s patch.”

“Oh, he can come up here if he wants to.” Fraser seemed more awake now, but to Ray’s ears there was still something off about his voice. It sounded… thicker, was that the word? And why was he still in bed at 11:30? Benton Fraser usually got up before Chicago’s limited bird population could be bothered to produce so much as a quartet.

“Not my point. What’s going on?”

“Well, it’s quite simple, Ray. I’m not fit for work this morning, so I took a couple of days off.” Fraser sat up, swinging his legs over the side of the bed as he did so. He blinked slowly down at Diefenbaker, looking as though the movement had taken more out of him than it should have.

“Not fit for work?” Ray was beginning to understand, but was still finding it hard to believe.

“No, I- actually, excuse me one moment.” Seemingly distracted mid-sentence, Benton reached for a slightly crumpled handkerchief beside the bed, and raised it to his face. He held it there a few moment’s longer, his breaths steadily deepening until something tipped him over the edge.

“khssht! ah-ksschuh!” His head bobbed down twice in quick succession, and Ray blinked. Fraser must get sick sometimes, everyone did. But it was still strange to be seeing the evidence for himself.

“Bless you.”

Fraser took a moment to discreetly clear his nose before answering. The second of the two sneezes had been a little too productive to be ignored.

“Thank you, Ray. I’m sorry about all this.”

“What? You’ve got a cold, right? No good apologising for that.”

“I meant for the inconvenience to you, coming down here.”

Ray clicked his tongue, mildly exasperated by Benton’s relentless unselfishness. “No, I was just coming to check in, see if you wanted to get lunch later. I ain’t been inconvenienced.”

Fraser seemed to consider this. “Oh. Well, good.” He pushed the blanket away from his legs, and stood up.

For a moment, this seemed to have been managed without incident. Then he was visibly struck by a wave of dizziness that sent him reeling. He almost toppled over, only just catching himself against the wall with an unsteady hand. Diefenbaker leapt up and started fussing as he swayed on his feet, breathing in fast, shallow gasps.

“Hey, hey!” Ray took hold of Benton’s shoulders and began to steer him back down onto the bed. To his surprise, he encountered very little resistance. “You get back in there. Don’t know what you think you’re doing, getting up in that state.”

“Wasn’t thinking much of anything, really.” Fraser murmured.

“Yeah, I can see that. You stay right where you are, you got that?” Ray tucked Benton back under the covers, then turned and headed for the door. Fraser frowned confusedly after him.

“Where are you going?”

Ray turned his head, hand already on the door handle.

“I’m going home, and I’m going to get you some of my Ma’s chicken noodle. Cures all ills, guaranteed.”

“You really don’t have to, Ray. Back home, I’ve always managed with-”

“You live in Chicago now.” Ray interrupted him. “My city, my rules. And Chicago rules is the sick person eats chicken noodle, no arguments.”

“Well, if that’s what the rules say…” Benton lay back with a fond smile. “Thank you, Ray.”

“Hey, just doing it by the book. You get some rest.” Ray closed the door behind him much more gently than he’d opened it.

[fraggle]

This is really cute, love it!

[silentdreamer789]

Wonderful to see some Due South stuff. Great little fic!