Secrets In Your Eyes
Secrets In Your Eyes
Chapter 4
Chapter Wordcount: 4270
It had been absolutely perfect weather all week. The whole city seemed alive, everyone in good spirits with how pleasant it was. Happy to finally be able to put their winter coats into storage for the warmer months.
Fraser was enjoying being outside. He had nowhere to be and could think of no better way to spend his time than to just walk through the city. Even Diefenbaker was happy to be out. He hadn’t complained at all when Fraser had suggested a stroll after breakfast.
He was waiting at an intersection, watching for the signal to cross when all of a sudden Diefenbaker took off in the opposite direction.
“Diefenbaker?”
The wolf threaded his way between pedestrians on the sidewalk and disappeared around a corner.
“Diefenbaker!” Fraser shouted, taking off running after him.
Dief had paused halfway down the street he had turned onto and waited until Fraser turned the corner, looking straight at him before continuing on.
“Dief, what are you...” doing, he started to ask. “Oh dear,” he muttered as soon as Dief once again disappeared from sight around the next building and Fraser was forced to take off running after him again.
He chased him what must have been ten city blocks before Dief skidded to a stop and watched Fraser as he came up beside him and took a moment to catch his breath.
“What on earth are you doing?” he asked, winded. “What got your tug line in a twist?”
It was at that moment that he realized they were standing in front of Tayla’s house. It was also that moment that Diefenbaker took off, again, running around the side of her home and into her backyard.
“Diefenbaker, get back here!” he hissed, he could not believe he was trespassing so unashamedly. He of course followed him, feeling horribly guilty with every step he took.
He was downright mortified when he entered her backyard in time to see Dief disappear through her open porch door and into her house.
“Have you lost all common decency?!, he hissed, poking his head through the door, reluctant to enter without permission, friend’s house or not.
The wolf grumbled something at him under his breath and climbed the stairs leading to the second story.
Fraser resigned himself to invading her home, rife with guilt and followed after him.
He felt ashamed, like he was lurking through her house, peeking into rooms trying to find his suddenly insane companion.
He stopped short when he looked into one bedroom door to see the wolf sitting on the bed, Tayla’s arms around him and her face hidden in the fur of his neck.
“Tayla…” he gasped, snatching his Stetson off his head and circling the brim through his fingers where he held it in front of himself nervously. He could feel the heated flush of embarrassment creeping up his neck. “I am so terribly sorry for his behavior. I have no idea what has gotten into him. I sincerely apologize for entering your home without permission…”
She laughed, catching him off guard and removed her arms from around Dief’s neck, one hand held out in a gesture to stop his rambling the other wiping underneath her eye, where he could now see the evidence that she had been crying.
“It’s alright,” she smiled. “He just knew I needed a hug,” she added, running her fingers through Dief’s fur while the wolf whined and licked her cheek in comfort. “You should know by now you’re both welcome in my home anytime Benton,” she said softly, looking up at him.
The flush that was continuing up his neck wasn’t entirely from embarrassment any longer.
He cleared his throat, looked down at his hat in his hands before looking back up at her.
“Are you alright?” he asked quietly.
She sniffed, smiled, swiped at her face again. “Yeah, I’m alright, just…” she waved her hand over the bed.
He finally took the time to assess the room. It was one of the spare bedrooms in the home. The bed was made, the quilt undisturbed except for where there were boxes set upon it. Boxes that looked to contain pictures and paperwork, perhaps things of her father’s.
She picked something up off of her lap and stood, walking over to where he still hovered in the doorway and held it out towards him.
He reached out carefully, taking the gloss black frame into his fingers before finally pulling his eyes away from her to look down at the black and white photograph she was showing him.
“Is this your mother?” he whispered.
Tayla smiled and nodded, eyes rimmed in red but at least no longer crying.
“She’s beautiful.”
“I always thought she looked like Julia Roberts when she was younger,” she grinned.
Tayla sighed and leaned against one side of the doorjamb. Fraser found himself copying her, leaning back against the opposite side, photograph still in his hand.
“When she started getting real sick we had to have a hospital bed brought in,” she started quietly. “This had been my brother’s room growing up, but we turned it into hers. Hospice was in here when…” she trailed off and he unfortunately knew how that statement was meant to end.
“Me and my brother moved on,” she continued after a beat of silence. “Life doesn’t stop, as much as you might want it to. But I think it killed my dad a little more each day, having to live in the house where she died.”
He nodded in understanding, remembering the shadow of grief that descended over his father after his own mother’s death. The way the proud man had walked off into the wilderness and seemed to turn his back on life. Remembers the horrible fear he had that his father wouldn’t return that time. That he had lost both of them.
“Ray’s mentioned it,” she said quietly. “You too huh?”
His lips tugged into a smirk and nodded at her.
“Still need that hug?” he murmured.
She smiled at him and he thought he saw some color flare in her cheeks. She dropped her eyes to stare at the floor, curling her toes against the carpet before hesitantly crossing the small distance between them and folding her arms into his chest.
He wrapped one arm around her shoulders, reaching behind her to place her mother’s photo on the dresser before letting the other settle warm and heavy above the waistband of her jeans.
She inhaled deep against him, hiding her face against the flannel of his shirt and he felt the air in his lungs seize. Forced himself to breathe out steadily and squeezed her just a bit tighter.
“Thank you,” she mumbled against him after a moment, beginning to pull away from him. He pulled his arms away, reached up to rub at his eyebrow, suddenly unsure of what to do with his hands.
“You want some coffee?”
He met her eyes again and smiled softly.
“I’d love some,” he breathed. Certain now that the blush he thought he had seen earlier was not a figment of his imagination.
***
The coffee maker burbled away on the counter, filling the kitchen with the earthy scent of coffee. The sound reminded him of the creek not far from where his father’s cabin used to stand.
Tayla had pulled leftovers from her dinner the previous night from her fridge and diced the chicken and potatoes into pieces, placing them in a bowl and offering them to Diefenbaker as a treat.
She told him how her mother had taken one look into the backyard and fell in love with the trees, convincing her father to buy the home, the interior sight unseen. She had loved birds and growing up they had had a large cage on their back porch, filled with finches that would fill the day with chirps and twitters. How just this past year her brother, although living overseas, had bought the house from their father, keeping it in the family and removing the worry of a mortgage payment from the older man.
She was smiling softly to herself as she handed him a cup of steaming coffee.
He felt privileged. Warmth blossoming in his chest, that she was letting him into her memories. Offering up pieces of herself. He was glad to build a happy picture of her family in his mind. A mother like Ray’s, a bit overprotective perhaps, but loving all the same. A quiet but steady father and an older brother who seemed to be equal parts harasser and best friend from the stories he had heard.
They stood in companionable silence, sipping their dark coffee. Dief licked his chops crudely, satisfied with his snack and wandered out into her backyard, flopping down in a sunny spot.
Fraser smirked, watching him from where he stood by the window. Tayla moved in beside him quietly, bare feet nearly silent on the tiled floor. He shifted, giving her the room to stand by the window next to him.
The soft clunk of her setting her mug onto the windowsill brought his gaze to her from where he had been watching Diefenbaker roll in the grass.
She was staring at her hand where it was wrapped around the warmth of the mug, the slight downward tilt of her head preventing him from being able to see her eyes.
She never looked up at him, just slowly drifted more into his space. She lifted one hand and placed it softly against his chest, eyes locked on where her fingers interwove with the plaid of his shirt.
The cool, crisp spring air he had relished all morning felt heavy and warm in his lungs. He breathed in a little deeper.
She curled her arms up against him and leaned into his body. He shifted his stance enough to let her settle against him more easily, his free arm wrapping around her as his other moved to place his own coffee mug down next to hers.
“This okay?” she murmured. He could feel the tremor when she inhaled shakily.
“Quite alright,” he mumbled back, washed in warmth, muscles feeling heavy with languor as he placed his arms around her.
They stood in silence for several minutes before he felt her quiet thank you shiver through his bones from where she whispered it into his chest.
“Any time,” he offered, resting his chin upon the crown of her head and sighed deeply, closing his eyes.
***
Fraser hung up the phone and sighed. This was not turning out to be his best day.
The RCMP had packed up what bits and pieces had been salvaged from the remains of his father’s cabin and shipped them to the Consulate.
His father had been aggravating him all morning about opening them. Curious as a cat about what might have been recovered. He’d been waving his hands through the boxes the entire time he had been on the phone with Ray, as if he could will his form enough physicality to open them.
“Stop that.”
“Well then open them.”
“I already told you, I’m not opening them here. We’ll deal with it at home.”
“I fail to see what the big deal is. It’s just stuff.”
Fraser sighed again and rubbed his forehead.
It had actually been Ray’s cell phone that the Consulate had called to inform him that the boxes had arrived earlier that day. Ray, being one of the few people who knew just how convoluted the story surrounding the cabin and the fire and as a result the boxes, actually was, had graciously offered to help him move them from the Consulate to his apartment. He was supposed to come by after his shift today with the Riviera.
That had been the call he had just received. Ray apologetic on the other end of the line. They had made an arrest towards the end of his shift and there would be no getting out on time.
Fraser of course understood, he held no ill will towards Ray. But that meant he would have to find another course of action to move the boxes.
He supposed he could just take one at a time, leave the rest in the office. Spread it out over the week, or perhaps move the rest later should Ray become available.
He picked one of the smaller ones up, testing its weight in his hands. It wasn’t too heavy. It might not be pleasant, but he was certain he could carry it to his apartment. He shifted his grip and headed towards the door.
“You can’t seriously be considering carrying these all to the apartment?” his father, oh so helpfully chimed in.
“Indeed I do. Why don’t you make yourself useful and grab one and assist me,” he growled, leaving his office and shutting the door in his face.
He hesitated outside his door. Glancing around the hallway and when his father didn’t appear anywhere he nodded to himself and headed to the front door.
He stopped short on the Consulate steps, turning from where he had shut the door behind himself to see Tayla, her Power Wagon parked by the curb, leaning against her truck and smiling at him.
“Ray called in the reinforcements,” she grinned.
“Tayla…I…uh…”
She laughed. “He felt bad he couldn’t make it. Besides, I dunno why neither of you bothered to ask me anyways, since I’m the one with the pickup.”
“I couldn’t impose,” he started. “It’s quite alright, I can manage.”
She arched her eyebrow at him and walked up the steps to where he was still standing, forcibly removing the box from his hands.
“Listen, you took an oath when you joined the RCMP to uphold the law and be honorable and polite and shit right?”
He nodded, still staring at her nervously.
“Well, when someone owns a truck, they take an oath to help their friends move. Now come on, go get the rest,” she grinned, headed back down the steps to place the box in the bed of the truck.
He nodded, not that she was watching and turned to go back inside. He also almost walked smack into his father right inside the door.
“I like her. She’s bossy.”
“Can you not?” he hissed.
Turnbull looked up at him from the receptionist’s desk.
“I can certainly not. What am I not doing, sir?”
Fraser’s eye twitched.
***
“I don’t think I can thank you enough for your help Tayla,” he said quietly, rolling up the sleeves on his khaki uniform shirt.
She gave him a chastising look, which wasn’t very effective as she happened to be smiling as well, from where she was sitting on the floor next to his bed, 100 pounds of white wolf squirming in her lap.
“If you try to thank me one more time I’m gonna sick Dief on you.”
Diefenbaker instantly rolled off her lap and onto the floor, staring at Fraser.
Fraser blinked. Equal parts surprised and at the same time not.
“Et tu, Diefenbaker?”
The wolf growled.
“It’s settled, I’m shipping you back to the Territories.”
Tayla kissed the top of Dief’s head, eyes locked on Fraser.
“Be nice to Benton, I kinda like having him around,” she mock-whispered to the wolf.
Fraser cleared his throat and rubbed at his eyebrow, turning to rearrange the boxes they had just finished bringing up the stairs.
“Seriously Benton,” she groaned, pushing herself up from the floor.
He expected her to continue, and when there was only silence, he looked over at where she was standing watching him.
She smiled softly and moved to walk towards him, “If there’s anybody that knows what it’s like to have to go through their parents’ things, it’s me,” she said quietly, continuing past him, letting her hand brush across his shoulders as she went.
He was so very grateful that her back was to him at that point because he wasn’t entirely sure he had been able to suppress his shiver at her touch.
He heard a mumble from Diefenbaker and shot him a glare.
Definitely hadn’t been able to conceal it then.
Dief panted loudly, tongue lolling out of his mouth. Arrogant animal was laughing at him.
“Good lord boy,” he heard called from the kitchen. “You really need to go grocery shopping.”
Diefenbaker shot past him and into the kitchen at the prospect of food.
“Let’s see what we can throw together for dinner, huh Dief?” he heard her murmur to him.
He placed his hands on one of the boxes and hung his head, taking a deep breath. Amazed at how the day had changed. From a shipment of painful reminders of the past, to his wolf and his friend currently bickering in his kitchen and making dinner.
He bit back his instinctual desire to tell Tayla to not trouble herself, that she had already done more than enough for him. He found himself smiling instead. Knowing that despite how much he might implore her not to, she would continue on, making herself at home within his life.
***
They were at a combination car show and food festival. Tayla had finally gotten her Grand National back from its final trip to the body shop just that week and had insisted they all had to go so she could show it off to the world. Ray brought the Riviera, parked it next to the National and a couple of the other guys from the shop that brought their own cars. Fraser and Tayla had wandered off towards where all the food vendors were set up.
There were local restaurants, offering samples of their menus mixed in with barbeque trailers hooked to trucks and tents with chefs that seemed to be competing for who could come up with the most unexpected food.
Fraser tried, he really did, but it was hard to keep the smile from his face as Tayla drifted from vendor to vendor, eager to taste a little bit of everything. She had even bought a strip of raffle style tickets that meant she was allowed to taste different wines that some of the shops had available.
They made their way through the layout once, trying things that caught their eye. Or well, Tayla tried things that caught her eye and more often than not, shoved some towards Fraser for a taste. Not that he had any desire to complain, the vast majority was quite delicious and he always enjoyed trying new things. The company only made it better, not that he would comment as such.
By the time they made their first pass through the streets, all those samples had already started to settle in their stomachs and they turned and slowly meandered their way back towards the beginning, where the car show was in full swing. Stopping less often to try one or two things they skipped on the first lap, or getting seconds on the things they had particularly enjoyed the first time around.
Tayla’s favorite of the whole show had been a fancy concoction of what the restaurant called duck bacon with a Grand Mariner sweet sauce for dipping. Fraser agreed with her, it was certainly one of the best things they had tried, and waited in line for her to get a second helping of it during their return trip.
She had walked over towards the edge of the park and hopped up onto a metal railing, a habit which still worried him and he swore she did on purpose whenever he was around. He shook his head at her as he finally returned with the cardboard container of food and she grinned, not apologetic in the least.
He shifted in closer to her, as he normally did whenever she insisted on sitting on a fence, ensuring she was in reach should she tumble.
She hooked her foot around his leg and stole his Stetson, placing it on her own head to shield her eyes from the sun before she picked a piece of meat from the plate he held between them, dipping it into the sauce before taking a bite.
Fraser glanced down the road, searching for a flash of white. Diefenbaker was going to get sick with as much food as he was begging off of people.
He turned back to look at Tayla and jerked when he realized she was holding a piece of the duck right in front of his face.
“Hurry up, before the sauce drips off!” she laughed, lifting her other hand in a cup underneath it as the sticky syrup started to ooze into a slow drop.
Fraser acted on instinct, he really did, opening his mouth and licking towards the syrup before wrapping his lips around the bacon. The bacon that was still held in her fingers.
They both froze. Fraser would have sworn it was for at least a minute. Maybe five.
Rationally he knew it was only a couple seconds at best. But once again everything had shifted around them.
His tongue wrapped around her fingers, swirled the sugar off her skin. The hell with what he knew would have been the appropriate, respectful, reaction to the situation, he took his time finally pulling away from the sweet taste.
There was a subtle tilt to her lips, like she hadn’t decided if she wanted to smile or not and she sucked her fingers into her own mouth as if there had been anything left to lick off.
He felt like he was burning up. Shuffled a step closer to her when he felt her apply pressure where her foot was still hooked around his leg.
It was bizarre, leaning into where his own Stetson was worn by someone else but the strange backwards feeling was forgotten when she softly placed her lips against his, her hand coming up around his neck, fingers carding through the short hair at the base of his skull. The same fingers that had been in his mouth.
He breathed against her and shifted closer still, his hand holding the food held out to the side while the other rested softly against the swell of her thigh.
It felt like the world around them quieted, like he was on a serene mountainside back home and he allowed himself to enjoy her attention. It had been so long. So many feelings attached to a display of affection like this, not all of them positive, but he felt safe with her in that moment. Felt cradled between the warmth of her leg and the soothing scrape of her fingernails against his scalp.
She tasted like salt and sugar, the crispness of the orange sauce they had shared.
“Jesus Benton,” she whispered against him.
Everything came crashing back around him and he found he was rather disappointed that it did, but he pulled back just enough to put some space between them, although not enough to remove himself from where he stood bracketed between her hips.
“We shouldn’t…”
There was a soft wounded inhale.
“You’re…you’re Ray’s friend. Ray’s my friend. He grew up with you,” he stammered, voice reflecting the tremor of his muscles, eyes fixed on where his hand still sat upon the denim of her jeans.
He forced himself to tear his eyes away, finally looking up at her. Her pupils were blown wide, hidden in the shadow of his hat’s brim.
“I just…I can’t honestly say I feel I can…continue,” he hesitated, voice rough over the word, “Without at least…ensuring he is comfortable with it.”
She started to smile then and her fingers resumed their slow curl through his hair, which did not help him at all with his current lack of ability to concentrate.
“Not that I think you require anyone’s permission,” he rushed to add, shaking his head and dropping his eyes, clearing his throat. “I don’t in any way think you’re owned or that a woman needs the approval of a man…”
“Benton,” she said softly, stopping him in his tracks.
“It’s okay, I get it. And no, I don’t need his permission. But he’s your best friend, and yeah, I’ve known him since I was a kid. It’s okay, you should probably talk to him. If…if you want to talk to him…” she finished slowly and he could hear the nervous question in her voice.
He nodded slowly.
“I do,” he said quietly.
She grinned again and dropped her head, hiding behind his hat in a way that was an achingly familiar gesture. He was smiling back at her when she finally met his eyes again.
Finally he cleared his throat and finished pulling away from the warmth of her body.
“We should probably head back,” he started, just in time for Diefenbaker to reappear, he really did have the worst timing, and jumped, knocking the forgotten food from Fraser’s hand and inhaling it from where it tumbled to the ground.
“I’m going to stop taking you anywhere. You have absolutely no manners whatsoever,” Fraser scolded, picking up the wolf’s trash and tossing it into a nearby trash can.
“That was the best thing here wasn’t it?” Tayla grinned. Diefenbaker barked in agreement and started trotting off towards the cars.
“Would you like to take him home? I think he rather prefers you to me,” Fraser said turning to look at her, his breath freezing in his lungs at the grin she was watching him with.
“C’mon Benton,” she said warmly, linking her arm through his and steering them to follow the shock of white fur that was weaving through the crowd further ahead.
Previous: Chapter Three | Next: Chapter Five
Chapter 4
Chapter Wordcount: 4270
It had been absolutely perfect weather all week. The whole city seemed alive, everyone in good spirits with how pleasant it was. Happy to finally be able to put their winter coats into storage for the warmer months.
Fraser was enjoying being outside. He had nowhere to be and could think of no better way to spend his time than to just walk through the city. Even Diefenbaker was happy to be out. He hadn’t complained at all when Fraser had suggested a stroll after breakfast.
He was waiting at an intersection, watching for the signal to cross when all of a sudden Diefenbaker took off in the opposite direction.
“Diefenbaker?”
The wolf threaded his way between pedestrians on the sidewalk and disappeared around a corner.
“Diefenbaker!” Fraser shouted, taking off running after him.
Dief had paused halfway down the street he had turned onto and waited until Fraser turned the corner, looking straight at him before continuing on.
“Dief, what are you...” doing, he started to ask. “Oh dear,” he muttered as soon as Dief once again disappeared from sight around the next building and Fraser was forced to take off running after him again.
He chased him what must have been ten city blocks before Dief skidded to a stop and watched Fraser as he came up beside him and took a moment to catch his breath.
“What on earth are you doing?” he asked, winded. “What got your tug line in a twist?”
It was at that moment that he realized they were standing in front of Tayla’s house. It was also that moment that Diefenbaker took off, again, running around the side of her home and into her backyard.
“Diefenbaker, get back here!” he hissed, he could not believe he was trespassing so unashamedly. He of course followed him, feeling horribly guilty with every step he took.
He was downright mortified when he entered her backyard in time to see Dief disappear through her open porch door and into her house.
“Have you lost all common decency?!, he hissed, poking his head through the door, reluctant to enter without permission, friend’s house or not.
The wolf grumbled something at him under his breath and climbed the stairs leading to the second story.
Fraser resigned himself to invading her home, rife with guilt and followed after him.
He felt ashamed, like he was lurking through her house, peeking into rooms trying to find his suddenly insane companion.
He stopped short when he looked into one bedroom door to see the wolf sitting on the bed, Tayla’s arms around him and her face hidden in the fur of his neck.
“Tayla…” he gasped, snatching his Stetson off his head and circling the brim through his fingers where he held it in front of himself nervously. He could feel the heated flush of embarrassment creeping up his neck. “I am so terribly sorry for his behavior. I have no idea what has gotten into him. I sincerely apologize for entering your home without permission…”
She laughed, catching him off guard and removed her arms from around Dief’s neck, one hand held out in a gesture to stop his rambling the other wiping underneath her eye, where he could now see the evidence that she had been crying.
“It’s alright,” she smiled. “He just knew I needed a hug,” she added, running her fingers through Dief’s fur while the wolf whined and licked her cheek in comfort. “You should know by now you’re both welcome in my home anytime Benton,” she said softly, looking up at him.
The flush that was continuing up his neck wasn’t entirely from embarrassment any longer.
He cleared his throat, looked down at his hat in his hands before looking back up at her.
“Are you alright?” he asked quietly.
She sniffed, smiled, swiped at her face again. “Yeah, I’m alright, just…” she waved her hand over the bed.
He finally took the time to assess the room. It was one of the spare bedrooms in the home. The bed was made, the quilt undisturbed except for where there were boxes set upon it. Boxes that looked to contain pictures and paperwork, perhaps things of her father’s.
She picked something up off of her lap and stood, walking over to where he still hovered in the doorway and held it out towards him.
He reached out carefully, taking the gloss black frame into his fingers before finally pulling his eyes away from her to look down at the black and white photograph she was showing him.
“Is this your mother?” he whispered.
Tayla smiled and nodded, eyes rimmed in red but at least no longer crying.
“She’s beautiful.”
“I always thought she looked like Julia Roberts when she was younger,” she grinned.
Tayla sighed and leaned against one side of the doorjamb. Fraser found himself copying her, leaning back against the opposite side, photograph still in his hand.
“When she started getting real sick we had to have a hospital bed brought in,” she started quietly. “This had been my brother’s room growing up, but we turned it into hers. Hospice was in here when…” she trailed off and he unfortunately knew how that statement was meant to end.
“Me and my brother moved on,” she continued after a beat of silence. “Life doesn’t stop, as much as you might want it to. But I think it killed my dad a little more each day, having to live in the house where she died.”
He nodded in understanding, remembering the shadow of grief that descended over his father after his own mother’s death. The way the proud man had walked off into the wilderness and seemed to turn his back on life. Remembers the horrible fear he had that his father wouldn’t return that time. That he had lost both of them.
“Ray’s mentioned it,” she said quietly. “You too huh?”
His lips tugged into a smirk and nodded at her.
“Still need that hug?” he murmured.
She smiled at him and he thought he saw some color flare in her cheeks. She dropped her eyes to stare at the floor, curling her toes against the carpet before hesitantly crossing the small distance between them and folding her arms into his chest.
He wrapped one arm around her shoulders, reaching behind her to place her mother’s photo on the dresser before letting the other settle warm and heavy above the waistband of her jeans.
She inhaled deep against him, hiding her face against the flannel of his shirt and he felt the air in his lungs seize. Forced himself to breathe out steadily and squeezed her just a bit tighter.
“Thank you,” she mumbled against him after a moment, beginning to pull away from him. He pulled his arms away, reached up to rub at his eyebrow, suddenly unsure of what to do with his hands.
“You want some coffee?”
He met her eyes again and smiled softly.
“I’d love some,” he breathed. Certain now that the blush he thought he had seen earlier was not a figment of his imagination.
***
The coffee maker burbled away on the counter, filling the kitchen with the earthy scent of coffee. The sound reminded him of the creek not far from where his father’s cabin used to stand.
Tayla had pulled leftovers from her dinner the previous night from her fridge and diced the chicken and potatoes into pieces, placing them in a bowl and offering them to Diefenbaker as a treat.
She told him how her mother had taken one look into the backyard and fell in love with the trees, convincing her father to buy the home, the interior sight unseen. She had loved birds and growing up they had had a large cage on their back porch, filled with finches that would fill the day with chirps and twitters. How just this past year her brother, although living overseas, had bought the house from their father, keeping it in the family and removing the worry of a mortgage payment from the older man.
She was smiling softly to herself as she handed him a cup of steaming coffee.
He felt privileged. Warmth blossoming in his chest, that she was letting him into her memories. Offering up pieces of herself. He was glad to build a happy picture of her family in his mind. A mother like Ray’s, a bit overprotective perhaps, but loving all the same. A quiet but steady father and an older brother who seemed to be equal parts harasser and best friend from the stories he had heard.
They stood in companionable silence, sipping their dark coffee. Dief licked his chops crudely, satisfied with his snack and wandered out into her backyard, flopping down in a sunny spot.
Fraser smirked, watching him from where he stood by the window. Tayla moved in beside him quietly, bare feet nearly silent on the tiled floor. He shifted, giving her the room to stand by the window next to him.
The soft clunk of her setting her mug onto the windowsill brought his gaze to her from where he had been watching Diefenbaker roll in the grass.
She was staring at her hand where it was wrapped around the warmth of the mug, the slight downward tilt of her head preventing him from being able to see her eyes.
She never looked up at him, just slowly drifted more into his space. She lifted one hand and placed it softly against his chest, eyes locked on where her fingers interwove with the plaid of his shirt.
The cool, crisp spring air he had relished all morning felt heavy and warm in his lungs. He breathed in a little deeper.
She curled her arms up against him and leaned into his body. He shifted his stance enough to let her settle against him more easily, his free arm wrapping around her as his other moved to place his own coffee mug down next to hers.
“This okay?” she murmured. He could feel the tremor when she inhaled shakily.
“Quite alright,” he mumbled back, washed in warmth, muscles feeling heavy with languor as he placed his arms around her.
They stood in silence for several minutes before he felt her quiet thank you shiver through his bones from where she whispered it into his chest.
“Any time,” he offered, resting his chin upon the crown of her head and sighed deeply, closing his eyes.
***
Fraser hung up the phone and sighed. This was not turning out to be his best day.
The RCMP had packed up what bits and pieces had been salvaged from the remains of his father’s cabin and shipped them to the Consulate.
His father had been aggravating him all morning about opening them. Curious as a cat about what might have been recovered. He’d been waving his hands through the boxes the entire time he had been on the phone with Ray, as if he could will his form enough physicality to open them.
“Stop that.”
“Well then open them.”
“I already told you, I’m not opening them here. We’ll deal with it at home.”
“I fail to see what the big deal is. It’s just stuff.”
Fraser sighed again and rubbed his forehead.
It had actually been Ray’s cell phone that the Consulate had called to inform him that the boxes had arrived earlier that day. Ray, being one of the few people who knew just how convoluted the story surrounding the cabin and the fire and as a result the boxes, actually was, had graciously offered to help him move them from the Consulate to his apartment. He was supposed to come by after his shift today with the Riviera.
That had been the call he had just received. Ray apologetic on the other end of the line. They had made an arrest towards the end of his shift and there would be no getting out on time.
Fraser of course understood, he held no ill will towards Ray. But that meant he would have to find another course of action to move the boxes.
He supposed he could just take one at a time, leave the rest in the office. Spread it out over the week, or perhaps move the rest later should Ray become available.
He picked one of the smaller ones up, testing its weight in his hands. It wasn’t too heavy. It might not be pleasant, but he was certain he could carry it to his apartment. He shifted his grip and headed towards the door.
“You can’t seriously be considering carrying these all to the apartment?” his father, oh so helpfully chimed in.
“Indeed I do. Why don’t you make yourself useful and grab one and assist me,” he growled, leaving his office and shutting the door in his face.
He hesitated outside his door. Glancing around the hallway and when his father didn’t appear anywhere he nodded to himself and headed to the front door.
He stopped short on the Consulate steps, turning from where he had shut the door behind himself to see Tayla, her Power Wagon parked by the curb, leaning against her truck and smiling at him.
“Ray called in the reinforcements,” she grinned.
“Tayla…I…uh…”
She laughed. “He felt bad he couldn’t make it. Besides, I dunno why neither of you bothered to ask me anyways, since I’m the one with the pickup.”
“I couldn’t impose,” he started. “It’s quite alright, I can manage.”
She arched her eyebrow at him and walked up the steps to where he was still standing, forcibly removing the box from his hands.
“Listen, you took an oath when you joined the RCMP to uphold the law and be honorable and polite and shit right?”
He nodded, still staring at her nervously.
“Well, when someone owns a truck, they take an oath to help their friends move. Now come on, go get the rest,” she grinned, headed back down the steps to place the box in the bed of the truck.
He nodded, not that she was watching and turned to go back inside. He also almost walked smack into his father right inside the door.
“I like her. She’s bossy.”
“Can you not?” he hissed.
Turnbull looked up at him from the receptionist’s desk.
“I can certainly not. What am I not doing, sir?”
Fraser’s eye twitched.
***
“I don’t think I can thank you enough for your help Tayla,” he said quietly, rolling up the sleeves on his khaki uniform shirt.
She gave him a chastising look, which wasn’t very effective as she happened to be smiling as well, from where she was sitting on the floor next to his bed, 100 pounds of white wolf squirming in her lap.
“If you try to thank me one more time I’m gonna sick Dief on you.”
Diefenbaker instantly rolled off her lap and onto the floor, staring at Fraser.
Fraser blinked. Equal parts surprised and at the same time not.
“Et tu, Diefenbaker?”
The wolf growled.
“It’s settled, I’m shipping you back to the Territories.”
Tayla kissed the top of Dief’s head, eyes locked on Fraser.
“Be nice to Benton, I kinda like having him around,” she mock-whispered to the wolf.
Fraser cleared his throat and rubbed at his eyebrow, turning to rearrange the boxes they had just finished bringing up the stairs.
“Seriously Benton,” she groaned, pushing herself up from the floor.
He expected her to continue, and when there was only silence, he looked over at where she was standing watching him.
She smiled softly and moved to walk towards him, “If there’s anybody that knows what it’s like to have to go through their parents’ things, it’s me,” she said quietly, continuing past him, letting her hand brush across his shoulders as she went.
He was so very grateful that her back was to him at that point because he wasn’t entirely sure he had been able to suppress his shiver at her touch.
He heard a mumble from Diefenbaker and shot him a glare.
Definitely hadn’t been able to conceal it then.
Dief panted loudly, tongue lolling out of his mouth. Arrogant animal was laughing at him.
“Good lord boy,” he heard called from the kitchen. “You really need to go grocery shopping.”
Diefenbaker shot past him and into the kitchen at the prospect of food.
“Let’s see what we can throw together for dinner, huh Dief?” he heard her murmur to him.
He placed his hands on one of the boxes and hung his head, taking a deep breath. Amazed at how the day had changed. From a shipment of painful reminders of the past, to his wolf and his friend currently bickering in his kitchen and making dinner.
He bit back his instinctual desire to tell Tayla to not trouble herself, that she had already done more than enough for him. He found himself smiling instead. Knowing that despite how much he might implore her not to, she would continue on, making herself at home within his life.
***
They were at a combination car show and food festival. Tayla had finally gotten her Grand National back from its final trip to the body shop just that week and had insisted they all had to go so she could show it off to the world. Ray brought the Riviera, parked it next to the National and a couple of the other guys from the shop that brought their own cars. Fraser and Tayla had wandered off towards where all the food vendors were set up.
There were local restaurants, offering samples of their menus mixed in with barbeque trailers hooked to trucks and tents with chefs that seemed to be competing for who could come up with the most unexpected food.
Fraser tried, he really did, but it was hard to keep the smile from his face as Tayla drifted from vendor to vendor, eager to taste a little bit of everything. She had even bought a strip of raffle style tickets that meant she was allowed to taste different wines that some of the shops had available.
They made their way through the layout once, trying things that caught their eye. Or well, Tayla tried things that caught her eye and more often than not, shoved some towards Fraser for a taste. Not that he had any desire to complain, the vast majority was quite delicious and he always enjoyed trying new things. The company only made it better, not that he would comment as such.
By the time they made their first pass through the streets, all those samples had already started to settle in their stomachs and they turned and slowly meandered their way back towards the beginning, where the car show was in full swing. Stopping less often to try one or two things they skipped on the first lap, or getting seconds on the things they had particularly enjoyed the first time around.
Tayla’s favorite of the whole show had been a fancy concoction of what the restaurant called duck bacon with a Grand Mariner sweet sauce for dipping. Fraser agreed with her, it was certainly one of the best things they had tried, and waited in line for her to get a second helping of it during their return trip.
She had walked over towards the edge of the park and hopped up onto a metal railing, a habit which still worried him and he swore she did on purpose whenever he was around. He shook his head at her as he finally returned with the cardboard container of food and she grinned, not apologetic in the least.
He shifted in closer to her, as he normally did whenever she insisted on sitting on a fence, ensuring she was in reach should she tumble.
She hooked her foot around his leg and stole his Stetson, placing it on her own head to shield her eyes from the sun before she picked a piece of meat from the plate he held between them, dipping it into the sauce before taking a bite.
Fraser glanced down the road, searching for a flash of white. Diefenbaker was going to get sick with as much food as he was begging off of people.
He turned back to look at Tayla and jerked when he realized she was holding a piece of the duck right in front of his face.
“Hurry up, before the sauce drips off!” she laughed, lifting her other hand in a cup underneath it as the sticky syrup started to ooze into a slow drop.
Fraser acted on instinct, he really did, opening his mouth and licking towards the syrup before wrapping his lips around the bacon. The bacon that was still held in her fingers.
They both froze. Fraser would have sworn it was for at least a minute. Maybe five.
Rationally he knew it was only a couple seconds at best. But once again everything had shifted around them.
His tongue wrapped around her fingers, swirled the sugar off her skin. The hell with what he knew would have been the appropriate, respectful, reaction to the situation, he took his time finally pulling away from the sweet taste.
There was a subtle tilt to her lips, like she hadn’t decided if she wanted to smile or not and she sucked her fingers into her own mouth as if there had been anything left to lick off.
He felt like he was burning up. Shuffled a step closer to her when he felt her apply pressure where her foot was still hooked around his leg.
It was bizarre, leaning into where his own Stetson was worn by someone else but the strange backwards feeling was forgotten when she softly placed her lips against his, her hand coming up around his neck, fingers carding through the short hair at the base of his skull. The same fingers that had been in his mouth.
He breathed against her and shifted closer still, his hand holding the food held out to the side while the other rested softly against the swell of her thigh.
It felt like the world around them quieted, like he was on a serene mountainside back home and he allowed himself to enjoy her attention. It had been so long. So many feelings attached to a display of affection like this, not all of them positive, but he felt safe with her in that moment. Felt cradled between the warmth of her leg and the soothing scrape of her fingernails against his scalp.
She tasted like salt and sugar, the crispness of the orange sauce they had shared.
“Jesus Benton,” she whispered against him.
Everything came crashing back around him and he found he was rather disappointed that it did, but he pulled back just enough to put some space between them, although not enough to remove himself from where he stood bracketed between her hips.
“We shouldn’t…”
There was a soft wounded inhale.
“You’re…you’re Ray’s friend. Ray’s my friend. He grew up with you,” he stammered, voice reflecting the tremor of his muscles, eyes fixed on where his hand still sat upon the denim of her jeans.
He forced himself to tear his eyes away, finally looking up at her. Her pupils were blown wide, hidden in the shadow of his hat’s brim.
“I just…I can’t honestly say I feel I can…continue,” he hesitated, voice rough over the word, “Without at least…ensuring he is comfortable with it.”
She started to smile then and her fingers resumed their slow curl through his hair, which did not help him at all with his current lack of ability to concentrate.
“Not that I think you require anyone’s permission,” he rushed to add, shaking his head and dropping his eyes, clearing his throat. “I don’t in any way think you’re owned or that a woman needs the approval of a man…”
“Benton,” she said softly, stopping him in his tracks.
“It’s okay, I get it. And no, I don’t need his permission. But he’s your best friend, and yeah, I’ve known him since I was a kid. It’s okay, you should probably talk to him. If…if you want to talk to him…” she finished slowly and he could hear the nervous question in her voice.
He nodded slowly.
“I do,” he said quietly.
She grinned again and dropped her head, hiding behind his hat in a way that was an achingly familiar gesture. He was smiling back at her when she finally met his eyes again.
Finally he cleared his throat and finished pulling away from the warmth of her body.
“We should probably head back,” he started, just in time for Diefenbaker to reappear, he really did have the worst timing, and jumped, knocking the forgotten food from Fraser’s hand and inhaling it from where it tumbled to the ground.
“I’m going to stop taking you anywhere. You have absolutely no manners whatsoever,” Fraser scolded, picking up the wolf’s trash and tossing it into a nearby trash can.
“That was the best thing here wasn’t it?” Tayla grinned. Diefenbaker barked in agreement and started trotting off towards the cars.
“Would you like to take him home? I think he rather prefers you to me,” Fraser said turning to look at her, his breath freezing in his lungs at the grin she was watching him with.
“C’mon Benton,” she said warmly, linking her arm through his and steering them to follow the shock of white fur that was weaving through the crowd further ahead.
Previous: Chapter Three | Next: Chapter Five