due South snippet: "Past"

[luzula]

Title: Past
Fandom: due South
Pairing: Fraser/Kowalski, Kowalski/OFC, Fraser/OFC
Rating: G
Length: 300 words
Summary: Had he really been that person?
Notes: La la la, Yuletide procrastination. For the dsc6dsnippets prompt "echo". If you're feeling particularly OTP-y, you might want to avoid this one.

Ray was rifling through the mail--phone bill, holiday card from Laura's sister, flyer from some new pizza place--when he saw it. It was a small Christmas card, with a reindeer on the front. The handwriting was Fraser's.

Ray held it, read it. Just a few words, polite as always.

God, he hadn't talked to Fraser since forever--the card felt like some sort of echo from a past that didn't even feel real now. Had he been that person? Who'd fallen out of planes with Fraser, driven through windows? And gone sledding in the Arctic, for Christ's sake.

Ray'd gone home after the sledding thing, and Fraser had been stationed in Canada. They'd called, visited each other. But then Ray met Laura and her two kids, and they'd moved in together after a while, made a life. Ray stopped taking undercover jobs--it didn't really go with being a dad, which he was now, even if the kids weren't his to start with. He got a new partner, an older guy near retirement.

And Fraser just...drifted away. Or Ray did, maybe. Fraser had married some Native woman, up in Fort McPherson; Ray knew that, even if he'd never met her.

But they'd had something, him and Fraser. Hadn't they? Running on adrenaline, facing down the world together. They'd been partners. Ray'd felt more alive then than he ever had before or after.

And he thought there might've been...something else, too.

But, well. Life, it's what happened. And it's not like he regretted where he was now, with Laura and the kids. Maybe the thing that might've been between him and Fraser was even something he'd dreamed up.

He was never going to find out.

"Hi, honey," Laura said, coming in the door. "What's up?"

"Uh, nothing," Ray said.

Comments

[helens78]

Awwwww! *sniffle*

[luzula]

Hey, I did warn for it. : )

[mergatrude]

Oh, life happens to you, sometimes. *hugs them all*

This is good.

[luzula]

Thanks! Yeah, life does happen. I mean, I have old crushes that I remember wistfully, and then for even older crushes, like in high school, there's just the memory of once having had a crush, and none of the actual feeling left.

[ride_4ever]

And he thought there might've been...something else, too. He was never going to find out.


Well, you warned me (my OTP! gah!)...but I was looking for a momentary escape from reworking my dSSS...plus, well, you are just that irresistible.

Pains my heart to read this, but that is a compliment, 'cause it means "damn good writing".

[luzula]

Thank you! And yes, I did warn you. : )

[spuffyduds]

Oh but they're both OKAY! And nicely written.

[luzula]

They are okay! It's so interesting to see people's responses to this snippet, because some people are all "gah, angst!" and other people aren't. : )

[exbex]

I love it; there's a touch of bittersweetness, but it's realistic and satisfying and actually comforting. Very deftly handled.

[luzula]

Thanks! Yeah, this is definitely a realistic ending, just one that most fanfic isn't that interested in.

[lamentables]

Oh I like this. I like it because it's leftfield for fanfic, because they're both happy and settled, and because that 'something else' gives it all an edge.

[luzula]

Thanks! Yeah, sometimes it's interesting to write something out of the fannish norm.

[hazelwho]

I love this, Luz! They've moved on and they're both happy, but that thread of wistful ache that runs through Ray at the memory is delicious.

[luzula]

Thank you! Yeah, this was an interesting story to write.

[ardyforshort]

Oh, ouch. Very good though. Sobering and wistful. Thanks!

[luzula]

Thanks! Yeah, "wistful" is probably the word for it...

[podfic-lover.livejournal.com]

Wonderfully touching, it rings so true.

[luzula]

Thanks! Yeah, it's certainly a plausible future...

[desireearmfeldt]

*wistful sigh* :)

[luzula]

I actually tagged this with "Wistful" on the AO3. : )