Work Text:
TITLE: Wind Up
FANDOM: due South
CHARACTERS: Fraser/Kowalski
WORD PROMPT: 022. Enemies
WORD COUNT:
RATING: R
AUTHOR’S NOTES: Late 1800s, Montana Territory, United States
Wind up – western slang meaning to settle; finish.
“Sheriff! He’s here! Fraser’s comin’!”
Ray ground his teeth together as the eager voice of his deputy rang out, clear enough, no doubt, to be heard at Thatcher’s rooming house. “Turnbull! Get your ass in here!”
Turnbull’s boyish face, flush with excitement, popped into the open doorway. “Yes, sir?”
Ray sat up straight and deliberately folded his hands on top of his desk. “Ben Fraser is a dangerous man, would you go along with that?”
Turnbull’s tall, lanky body joined the rest of him in the doorway, his hat tipped back on his head. “Oh, yes, sir. A scourge on the Territory.”
“And if our fellow citizens got wind of the news that Ben Fraser is in town, they would likely get nervous, wouldn’t you agree?”
“It would cause quite a stir, Sheriff.”
Slamming his palms down flat on the desk, Ray glared at him. “Then what the hell are you doing, standing on Main Street, yelling, ‘Fraser’s comin’, at the top of your lungs?”
“Oh, dear.”
“Yeah, oh, dear. Now, either get in here and keep your mouth shut or get on back home.” Turnbull’s face fell and Ray felt like he’d kicked a puppy. Ray was tense enough without having to deal with this.
Turnbull threw himself into the chair next to his desk, his shoulders slumping, giving Ray the peace that he needed to think. All his muscles were tight, like his body was on a hair trigger.
Ben Fraser. Here.
Ray tried to wrap his head around that fact and all it got him was a dry mouth and a burning in his chest he usually got after eating the Wednesday Special at Miss Frannie’s Hotel. He pushed his hat down on his head. He checked his pistol again and adjusted the leather strap around his thigh, not that Ray thought for a minute that there would be any gunplay tonight. Because what Turnbull didn’t know - what nobody in this smelly cattle town knew - was that Ray and Ben Fraser went way back.
Ray rubbed his damp palms on his thighs and stood up as the distinct sound of a single man on horseback grew closer and closer. Finally, it stopped right outside the jail. Turnbull got ramrod straight in his chair, throwing Ray a wide-eyed look of panic as the sound of footsteps on the plank porch split the stillness of the night.
Putting one hand on the butt of his pistol, Ray waited until the broad figure was framed in the doorway before he standing.
Ray recognized him immediately. The craggy face and the well cared-for Colt at his side were very familiar to him. “Gerrard.”
“Sheriff. I thought you were supposed to be alone.”
Ray’s mouth tightened. Gerrard was looking older, and a mite fatter, too. If Ray didn’t know that he was a crack shot, he’d wonder why Gerrard was still alive. “This is my deputy. He’s gonna stay here until I get back.”
Gerrard nodded once. “Well, what are you waiting for? Let’s go.”
Ray nodded, walking around the desk, giving Turnbull’s shoulder a reassuring pat as he passed him and followed Gerrard out the door.
Gerrard took the lead, steering his horse west, where the hills were clogged thick with pine and spruce trees. Ray didn’t speak to Gerrard, though his head was full of questions. Why was Ben coming here now? How was he? Where was he going next?
When they arrived on the edge of the woods, and Gerrard dismounted, Ray tensed in the saddle. He watched through the dim light of evening as Gerrard walked over to him, a bright blue bandanna in his hand.
“Get down here, Sheriff. You know I have to blindfold you.”
Ray opened his mouth to argue. This was his home, his place. He could find his way through these woods drunk and hogtied. But Ray knew who was giving the orders Cursing under his breath, he dismounted and let Gerrard cover his eyes and tie the cloth behind his head.
Once Ray and Gerrard were mounted up again, they continued riding for another half hour. There was a chill in the air, and Ray was soon longing for the jacket he had left in his office. He wasn’t enjoying having his eyes covered, either, and Ray tried to take note of every clue that he came across – the splash of water as they crossed a stream; the gusting wind when they rode through a clearing; the smell of smoke – so that he could get his bearings.
About the time that Ray was ready to start complaining, the horses stopped, Without getting permission, Ray pulled the bandanna off over his head, dropped down to the ground and looked around him. There was a fire going a few feet away and a couple of bedrolls next to it but that was all.
Ray turned quickly toward Gerrard with his hand on his gun, expecting an ambush, but the older cowboy just gave him a look that was too quickly gone to read. “Wait here,” Gerrard said. He took the reins of Ray’s bay then got back in the saddle. Ray watched until the shadows swallowed Gerrard and then Ray was alone.
He edged closer to the warmth of the fire, holding his hands out as he scanned the area around him. In the distance, Ray could hear the echo of voices and the knots in his shoulders pulled tighter. Fraser’s gang. Three men, other than Gerrard, the last Ray knew. If things went south, if he had to make his way out of these woods fast, he was in for trouble.
A twig snapped behind him and Ray whirled around, his heart hammering against his ribs.
“I’ve always said it, Ray. The badge looks good on you.” Ben Fraser walked into the flickering light thrown off by the fire, almost smiling.
Ray, struggling to take a decent breath, almost smiled back. “That’s a high compliment, coming from somebody that’s seen as many badges as you have,” Ray answered.
Ben came closer, that slow swagger of his sending a flush through Ray’s body like a fever. It could have been the shift in the direction of the wind and the heat from the fire but he didn’t think so.
Ben was bareheaded and his hair was a little longer than it was the last time Ray had seen him, curling around Ben’s ears and his collar. He looked damned healthy for an outlaw. But then, in Ray’s experience, those folks who walked on the wrong side of the law seemed to have more luck and more lives than a cat. And Ben Fraser was luckier than most.
Cursed or blessed. Ray wasn’t sure which, because Ben couldn’t be standing here and smiling at Ray like he had just walked into a church social, without considerable outside help.
“Our jobs are inherently dangerous, Ray. We both accept that.”
Ray snorted loudly and crossed his arms over his chest. “Oh, is that what they’re calling larceny and murder these days? A job?”
The light went out of Ben’s eyes then. “Self-defense is not murder. We don’t commit murder and you know it.”
He did know it and the feeling of shame that rose in Ray made him angry. True enough, Ben and Gerrard and their guys weren’t known for killing folks for sport but they were still criminals, even if they had a conscience.
“What do you want, Ben? Why are you here?” Ray wondered if Ben noticed the way his voice was all scratchy. He hoped not. “Last I heard you were up in Calgary.”
Ben nodded, some of the lines easing off his face. “I was. But I had a business concern in Great Falls that needed dealing with and since I was so close, I decided to check in on my favorite officer of the law.”
Anyone who heard Ben talk knew that he was educated. Ray loved listening to the big words and proper grammar and his weird Canadian accent. It was almost like another language.
Suddenly, in the middle of his think session, Ben was right there in front of him, close enough for Ray to feel Ben’s breath on his face and Ray backed up a step. Ben’s eyes were the color of hot metal in the firelight and Ray fought the ache that squeezed his heart.
“No, Ben.” Ray said in a raw voice, shuddering when Ben’s hands grabbed his upper arms and held on tight. “We’re not going to do this again.”
Ben wasn’t smiling anymore, but looking at Ray with that steady way he had, the one that Ray had seen the first time that they met. The one that made his dick twitch and his face hot. “I’ve missed you, Ray,” Ben replied, the words almost a whisper on the air.
Ray held his body stiff, preparing himself in case Ben made a move. But whether he was going to move away or move closer, Ray was still deciding. A beat of time passed, with him and Ben looking at each other, wary and waiting. Then, Ben looked down at Ray’s mouth and just that quick, all Ray’s grand ideas about resistance went up in smoke.
From the minute he’d gotten Ben’s message, Ray had known it would come to this, despite all the lies he had told himself, despite the lies he had told himself since the day they met. He started breathing hard and his hands began to shake.
Ray took another step and his back hit a tree trunk, knocking his hat off the back of his head. Ray grunted with surprise and Ben put one big hand on the back of Ray’s neck and pulled him close. In the next instance, they were grinding their mouths against one another’s, harsh and desperate and too long denied. Ray held onto the front of Fraser’s plaid shirt and licked at the inside of Ben’s hot mouth as Ben started yanking on the buttons of his pants, giving up, giving in, fucking letting go,
~*~*~*~*
Ray kissed Ben dirty, dirty like he couldn’t kiss Stella Miller when she had him over for Sunday night dinner. His dick was rock-hard, like it wasn’t when Stella pressed into his side as she walked him to the door. When Ben knelt down and his mouth closed around Ray’s cock, Ray made a sound in the base of his throat, like he didn’t make when Stella let him hold her hand.
Ray shoved his hands into Ben’s hair, leaning back against the tree and moving his hips, pushing his dick into Ben’s mouth, between those lips that were so soft and wet. Ray pressed his lips together, trying to stay quiet while Ben sucked him, as he held onto Ray’s thighs tight enough to hurt. Ben kept making these little sounds, a hum that Ray could feel around his dick, like it felt as good to him as it did to Ray. A rush of heat that made his legs shake and his breathing hitch…
And Ray was coming and it was good, so damned good, like it was never going to be with Stella, or anyone else. There was only Ben. Ben.
Ben’s smooth skin under his hands. Ben’s cock so hard that it jutted out from his body. Ben’s hands cupping Ray’s face with gentleness while Ray took Ben all the way in, as deep as he could, Ben’s voice repeating his name with a growling urgency until Ray’s mouth was filled with Ben's come. Then, Ray got to his feet and kissed Ben again, slower this time, running his hands under Ben’s shirt and over his skin, storing every taste, every sensation, so that he would never forget.
~*~*~*~*
Ray picked up his hat off the ground, brushing it off before setting it securely on his head. There was just the sound of the fire now, wood snapping and shifting, covering the racket going on in Ray’s head. It was always the same, this struggle that Ray had, after he and Ben had been together – the sweetness fighting regret and fear. And it was the last two that won out every time.
He started a bit when Ben came up behind him, wrapping his arms around Ray’s waist, hugging him close. For just a moment, Ray let himself lean back against the solidness of Ben’s chest. He breathed in Ben’s scent, and took a minute to say a prayer, that Ben wouldn’t come to any harm.
And then, Ray drew in a deep breath. “Ben…”
Ben pressed a kiss to the side of Ray’s neck and squeezed him tighter. “Ray,” Ben said with a little lift in his voice, like they were sharing a joke.
Ray looked straight ahead, just barely making out the hills in the distance when the moon came out of the clouds. “Leave with me. Tonight. Right now.”
A heavy sigh blew out over Ray’s shoulder. “Ray, Gerrard will be back soon. Let’s not…”
“Ben, I don’t want anything to…come on. We can find some place, somewhere that no one will bother us.”
“Ray…”
Ray unwound Ben’s arms from around him and faced him. “I’ll go wherever you want – Canada, Mexico, I don’t give a shit - let’s just go.” If he had had the time, Ray would have laughed at himself. He was standing there, shaking in his boots, begging another man to run off with him. It was the first time either of them had come so close to talking about what went on between them and it scared the hell out of Ray. “What do you say?” Ray asked, even though he knew the answer before Ben spoke it.
“You know that I can’t do that.”
He looked at Ben, at that closed, stubborn look on his face and Ray felt hate for Gerrard rise up and nearly choke him. There was a pressure in chest that felt good and hurt at the same time. “He’s gonna get you killed, Ben. I know what he did for you after your grandparents died, but you don’t owe him your whole fucking life!”
Shaking his head, Ben looked at him like Ray was a child, having a lesson explained to him. “He took me in when I had no one else to turn to. If not for him, I might have died that winter.”
Ray snarled and grabbed Ben’s arms, shaking him once. “If not for Gerrard, you wouldn’t have a price on your head, don’t you see that, you hard-headed son of a bitch?”
Ben tilted his head and cupped the side of Ray’s face, as if Ray hadn’t spoken. “He’s getting older. He’s not as fast as he used to be, or as careful.” A helpless panic started to spread through Ray’s veins. “I can’t leave him. He needs me.”
“Yeah, I get that. Gerrard’s getting old and he needs you around to keep his boys in line, huh? But he still wants to play the big gun, only he don’t have it anymore! Everybody knows it, Ben, except maybe Gerrard.”
Ben said nothing, but Ray knew that closed, stubborn look. He’d seen it before.
Ray straightened, dropping his hands to his sides with a slap. His eyes felt hot and gritty all of a sudden and he blinked at Ben without saying more. God, but he was tired. So damned tired. And so damned mad. Ray rubbed his forehead, wanting to yell, wanting to throw something. The need hammered at him, sluicing through his veins, hot and fast and without thinking about it, Ray pulled his fist back and threw it at Ben’s face as hard as he could.
Ben twisted back, but stayed on his feet. He touched the corner of his mouth and looked at the blood that came away, then looked at Ray. “Do you feel better now?” Ben asked quietly, staring at Ray with those serious blue eyes.
Breathing hard, Ray stared back at Ben, wishing he could take it back, wishing for the guts to do it again. Instead, Ray did what he should have done the first time Ben Fraser had kissed him, just three short years ago.
“This is done,” Ray said, his voice sounding thick and rough. “You got it? Done.” Ray walked past Ben, toward the fire.
“Ray…”
Ray raised his hand and Ben said nothing more. Ray was glad for the darkness because for a long minute, he fell backwards into a memory, of the first time he had come face to face with Ben Fraser, and at the same time, a hard truth about himself.
One minute, Ray was choking and fighting the current that tried to take him farther down river. The next thing he knew he was laying on the bank, a hot, wet mouth moving on his. Ray sat up, pushing the stranger away and coughing up a lungful of water all at the same time. When he was able, Ray wiped the water out of his eyes and took a good long look at his savior.Looking past the broad shoulders and blue eyes, Ray stared at that mouth that had just been on his. “What was that?” Ray asked, a little hysterically, because, despite almost dying, Ray realized that it had felt pretty good. The man smiled a little and pushed the wet curls off his forehead. “What was what?” “That thing you were doing with your mouth.” “Oh, that. You seemed to be in a bit of, a, well, having a problem. And I was trying to help out.” “What? By kissing me?” The man grinned at him full out. “It worked, didn’t it?”
He could do this, he could. This thing with Ben should never have happened and Ray could put it behind him now. Before he met Ben, he had imagined himself with a wife, a house, rocking chairs on the front porch. Stella liked him and he liked her well enough and maybe he could have that, now that he was washing his hands of Ben Fraser.
Ben appeared at his side but Ray didn’t look at him. “I can’t do this, Ray.”
“Look, you have to. I just did. You have to.”
“This is for good?”
“That’s what I said, Ben and I meant it. Because I swear – you send me another message? I see you or Gerrard again?” Ray paused, swallowing hard. “I’m taking you in.” Even as he spoke the words, Ray wondered if he could do it. Gerrard – hell, yes, he could arrest him and not think twice about it. But Ben…Jesus, Ben… Ray shuddered, with doubt and need and fear.
Ben was still watching him. Ray watched back, thinking to himself, Say something, damnit! Just fucking say something! After what felt like hours, Ben’s lips parted but before he could say anything, a shrill whistle split the brisk air. Ray closed his eyes. It was Gerrard’s signal. Their time was up, in more ways than one.
When Ray opened his eyes, Ben was right in front of him. There was a beat of time when neither one of them moved. And then, they were both moving. Ray’s arms closing around Ben, Ben grabbing hold of Ray’s face and kissing him, fiercely and hungrily. Ray kissed him back until he could taste the blood from the punch he had given Ben, until they were both shaking.
Ray didn’t remember getting back on his horse. Nothing seemed real after Ben let go of him for the last time. But once he was in the saddle, before he turned his horse toward town, Ray looked down at Gerrard and breathed out heavily.
“Anything happens to him?” Ray tried to keep the tremor out of his voice and failed. His bay, sensing his tension, began to move restlessly beneath him. “I’ll come after you, Gerrard. There won’t anywhere on this earth that you’ll be able to hide from me.”
Gerrard didn’t show any reaction. Ray let his eyes shift to take one last look at Ben. Standing next to Gerrard, Ben had a little smile on his face. It was a smile Ray couldn’t read but it made him smile back.
Then, Ray turned his horse around and headed out of the woods.
He didn’t look back.