ds_flashfiction | dirty challenge by pearl-o

1000 words, Fraser/Kowalski-flavored. This is set in the same universe as this story and these fragments, and will probably make more sense if you've read those; otherwise, all you really need to know is that it involves Fraser and Ray with a small child, several years after CotW.

Thank you to

lyra_sena for beta.

*****

They'd just finished bathtime, and Ray'd gotten Carrie into her nightgown, found her bear and sat her down in front of the fireplace so he could comb her hair. Dief was laying there, too, stretched out sleepily on the rug.

Ray was running the comb through the wet tangles while Carrie said, "Ow. Ow. Ow," in a small calm voice, when Dief suddenly jumped to his feet and ran straight across the room to the door.

Carrie turned her head around, watching him, with a small frown on her face. Ray set the comb down and listened for a minute, and then he could hear it, too, the sounds of the snowmobile outside.

"Hey, Dad's home. That's exciting, huh?" Ray said, giving Carrie's shoulder a shake. He got up to put the kettle on so Fraser'd have tea when he got inside. When he walked back into the living room, Carrie was standing next to Dief, petting him slowly and staring at the door.

"Hey, munchkin, you ready for your snack?" Ray said lightly, and Carrie nodded.

Dief stayed at the door, on guard, while Ray and Carrie walked into the kitchen. Carrie sat at the table, bear next to her, while Ray got the cookies down from the jar on the top shelf of the cabinets.

"Two cookies," Ray said, setting them in front of her.

"Thank you," Carrie said. She took a small bite, chewed and swallowed slowly. Ray leaned against the counter and waited, and sure enough, a few seconds later Carrie looked up at him and said, "Nanuq would like a cookie, too."

"You know what Dad says," Ray said. "Cookies aren't polar bear food. How'd you like it if we served you ringed seal fat?"

"I don't think I'd like that very much," Carrie said.

"See?"

Carrie looked like she was thinking this over for a couple seconds, but then she went back to focusing on eating. Carrie focused really hard on these things; Ray had memorized her schedule for each cookie. The first one she ate in nibbles, eating it around in a circle, this whole spiral thing, till she barely had enough cookie left to hold in her hand, and that last bit went right into her mouth. The second one, her routine was different -- she ate that one straight across, with bigger bites.

She was just starting on cookie number two when Ray heard the door open and thump shut, and Fraser's boots loud on the floor.

"Yes, I know," Fraser was saying to Dief. "You know why. Honestly, do we have to go straight into the criticism? I've had a very long few days--"

"We're in the kitchen," Ray finally called out.

"Just a minute," Fraser called in return. Ray grabbed the curling mug from the other cabinet, and fixed Fraser's tea and set it next to Carrie at the table.

It was another minute before Fraser appeared in the doorway. He'd abandoned his boots and his overclothes at the bench by the door, but Ray guessed he'd probably been wearing the clothes on his back four or five days straight, and they sure showed it, all stiff and filthy and kind of disgusting. Fraser's face didn't look much better, either -- the dirt was practically caked on, where you could see it through Fraser's patchy stubble -- and there was a streak of something black across his forehead.

Carrie moved Nanuq out of the chair next to her, and put him on the table in front of her. She twisted in her seat to look back at Fraser, and Fraser's face broke out into a wide smile when he saw her.

"Looking good there, Frase," Ray said.

Fraser turned back to him and said, "Thank you kindly, Ray." Ray could hear the exhaustion in his voice.

"Tea's on the table."

"Oh, thank the lord," Fraser said, and he practically collapsed into the chair next to Carrie's. He picked up the mug with both hands and breathed in deeply.

"Expected you back yesterday," Ray said. He moved over to sit at the table, too, across from both of them.

"Mm-hmm," Fraser said. He took a small sip of the tea, his eyes closed. "Perhaps we should wait until later to discuss this?"

Later meant after the kid was asleep. Fair enough. The kid in question had finished her cookies by now; she was staring down at the table surface shyly, tracing the crumbs with her fingertips.

"Carrie. You gonna say hi to your dad?"

"Hello, Carrie," Fraser said, real solemn. "I missed you a great deal."

"I missed you, too, Dad," Carrie said, finally looking up. "Daddy tells awful bedtime stories."

"Hey!" said Ray, feeling weirdly insulted.

"He didn't even know who the ballerina princess was," Carrie continued.

Fraser smiled into his cup. "I suppose we all have our flaws."

"See if you get a bedtime story tonight," Ray said. "Speaking of which, somebody at this table just finished her snack. Fraser, you wanna give her a hug before I drag her to bed?"

"Of course." Fraser put down his mug and leaned over Carrie carefully and squeezed her tight. Tighter than usual, Ray thought; it seemed like Fraser really had missed her. Ray looked him over again -- dirty, yeah, but he could also see the telltale bandages peeking out from his cuff and bulking up one of his thighs. He'd been walking stiffer than normal, too -- probably his back, he'd been having problems with that again lately. All that along with the extra day that Fraser wasn't ready to talk about yet added up to a closer shave than Ray liked to think about.

"Your face is scratchy," Carrie said, trying and failing to squirm out of Fraser's grasp; Fraser kissed the top of her head and let her go.

"Off to your room," Ray said, "and if you're not under the covers in thirty seconds, Dief's gonna tell me."

Carrie rolled her eyes, but she padded off to her bedroom anyway. Ray leaned over and kissed the cleanest spot he could find on Fraser's face, over right in front of his ear -- he wanted to hug him, too, pull him close, but he didn't want to risk it when he didn't know where all the bruises were yet, or how bad they were.

"Go take a bath. Soak. I'll help you with the salve and the ointment after I take care of her, okay?"

Fraser breathed out a long sigh and leaned a little forward on the table. "Thank you, Ray."

He squeezed Ray's hand, and Ray squeezed back before he went off to tell a stupid story about princesses.