[identity profile] bohemian--storm.livejournal.com posting in [community profile] ds_flashfiction
Title: Pen to Paper
Rating: G
Spoilers/Summary: Up to Mountie on the Bounty. Ray signs the transfer form. Rather, he attempts to sign it.
Word Count: 410-ish


Pen to paper, he tells himself and presses it down gently, another black dot on the very white sheet. Another beginning of the name he hasn't signed in nearly a year. He counts the dots silently, curious to see just how many times he's started and stopped himself already. Seven. He thinks that's a good number. Forget all that 'third time's the charm' crap, he knows that the eighth time is going to be his time. He can do it. It's easy. Pen to paper.

Another dot.

"I could get you another sheet, detective," Welsh says, looking at him expectantly.

The first sheet is crumpled up in the wastebasket signed 'Raymond Vecchio'. Neither of them is sure if he did it on purpose or if it was just out of habit that he signed that name. He supposed it doesn't matter and he puts the pen to the paper and makes another dot.

"If you need more time to decide I--"

"No," Ray says too quickly, then presses the pen against the sheet so hard that it explodes, ink staining the empty space for his name. "Dammit." He drops the pen onto the desk and wipes his hand on his jeans, black on the dark denim, black on his fingers, black all over the transfer form.

Welsh tosses the sheet into the wastebasket, then hands him a fresh one. "Take your time with this one, alright?"

Ray nods and takes the sheet. He folds it once, tucks it into his back pocket and returns to his desk. He thinks about going to see Fraser, another habit, but pulls out the paper instead. There's a black pen in one of his drawers and he fishes it out, fingers groping under unfinished paperwork until he finds it and he tries again. It can't be that hard. It's just a name, just a transfer. He's done it before. Lost partners, had partners transfer out of him, transferred out of other guys. Guys he liked a hell of a lot more than he likes Fraser, guys who didn't piss him off all the time.

It's just a transfer, it's just pen on paper.

Eighteen dots later, he folds the paper and returns it to his pocket.

He'll talk to Fraser first. Then he'll put in the transfer. It's easy. Yeah, just like signing his name has been easy.

Date: 2005-01-13 08:58 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] tex.livejournal.com
Wonderful story and a perfect fit to the episode.

And this

"No," Ray says too quickly, then presses the pen against the sheet so hard that it explodes, ink staining the empty space for his name. "Dammit." He drops the pen onto the desk and wipes his hand on his jeans, black on the dark denim, black on his fingers, black all over the transfer form.

is so Ray.

Great job!


Date: 2005-01-13 09:56 pm (UTC)
ext_3548: (Default)
From: [identity profile] shayheyred.livejournal.com
Unique take on the challenge, and a fascinating addition to canon.

Date: 2005-01-13 10:42 pm (UTC)
china_shop: Close-up of Zhao Yunlan grinning (Default)
From: [personal profile] china_shop
This is wonderful! :)

Date: 2005-01-13 10:50 pm (UTC)
ext_12460: acquired from fanpop.com (Default)
From: [identity profile] akite.livejournal.com
Oh! Me like. :g:

Date: 2005-01-14 12:00 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] claire.livejournal.com
Beautiful!

Date: 2005-01-14 02:38 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] mergatrude.livejournal.com
Very clever.

Date: 2005-01-14 02:51 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] nowlive.livejournal.com
Nice little story. Made me smile because it ends up as it should.

Date: 2005-01-14 07:21 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] zebra363.livejournal.com
That's great - I really like it.

My favourite line:

The first sheet is crumpled up in the wastebasket signed 'Raymond Vecchio'. Neither of them is sure if he did it on purpose

Date: 2005-01-14 03:10 pm (UTC)
ext_20943: (ass (by Stormy))
From: [identity profile] sam80853.livejournal.com
Great!

It can't be that hard. It's just a name, just a transfer. He's done it before. Lost partners, had partners transfer out of him, transferred out of other guys. Guys he liked a hell of a lot more than he likes Fraser, guys who didn't piss him off all the time.

Date: 2005-01-14 07:29 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] estrella30.livejournal.com
What a terrific idea!! I really liked this a lot - thanks for writing it!

Date: 2005-01-18 09:53 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] wistful-fever.livejournal.com
The connection between Ray's identities, his signature, and his resistence to leaving was handled skillfully, all tied together by the ink. Nice.

Date: 2005-01-22 04:44 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] celtiknot.livejournal.com
I love the different ways Ray finds to sabotage his transfer; counting dots, mangling a pen, using the wrong name. great job!

Date: 2005-01-23 02:50 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ayrdaomei.livejournal.com
[livejournal.com profile] silverakira had this insta!rec'd on her lj, and I'm so glad she did. I really liked this (and I totally need to join this community, because dude, I could have had this fic in my life for over a week now!) I have absolutely no trouble fitting this in to what we didn't see in this episode. Fab job getting RayK's voice, and even his mannerisms - I could totally envision him counting the dots ^_~

Date: 2020-09-12 05:40 pm (UTC)
ride_4ever: (Kowalski)
From: [personal profile] ride_4ever
Perfect filling-in of a missing scene. I can totally picture it being just like this.

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