Songfic challenge response by M'lyn

[mlyn.livejournal.com]

Pairing: Frannie/Elaine
Rating: R-ish
Summary: Frannie and Elaine catch up and find something to bring them together besides the Civilian Aide badge
Notes: Not beta'd and written in a matter of hours, so any badness is all my fault. The song inspiration is "Good Enough" by Sarah McLachlan.


Good Enough

Approximately 1600


Elaine's handshake with Lieutenant Welsh was rudely interrupted by a powerful voice, female with a strong underbelly of takes-no-shit Chicago-Italian.

"You wanted these, Lieu? I gotta go restock the toilet paper in the guy's bathroom while it's empty or I'll be in deep sh--"

Welsh snatched the files. "Thank you, Francesca."

Elaine turned, offering a smile. It'd been a long time since she'd seen Francesca Vecchio, and who knew? Maybe she'd realized how much the job sucked, and had decided in the interim to take revenge on Elaine the next time they would meet.

Frannie only tossed a harried glance in the direction of Elaine's face, but it stopped somewhere around her collarbone. "Hey, Elaine." She turned on her heel and headed for the supply closet.

When the paper was restocked, amazingly with no blushing Mounties as victims, Francesca was in a better mood. She caught Elaine's sleeve as she started past the Civilian Aide's desk on the way out.

"How've you been?"

Elaine stopped, putting reports and her stupid partner and the tension in her shoulders all out of her mind. Frannie seemed genuinely interested. "Good, thanks. How about you?"

They chatted for a little while, the conversation coming surprisingly easily. Fraser left for the evening and said goodbye to everyone individually, but Frannie was hardly distracted.

"You want to go somewhere and get a drink?" Frannie asked.


1830


Elaine couldn't stop laughing. Her fits of humor were due mostly to the wine, she was sure, but the image of a crusty dead guy being squirreled about the station house was pretty comical in and of itself. Frannie was thoroughly enjoying herself as she told the tale, and her deadpan voice and sensitive timing were just as funny as the imagery.

"What I would give to see Fraser..." Elaine sighed and wiped her eyes with her napkin, suppressing a few last chuckles. "Oh, that's good."

"I knew the guy, though." Suddenly Frannie wasn't smiling. Elaine turned her wineglass by its stem, the rotations moving slowly along with Frannie's voice, the level of wine in the glass staying steady as she continued talking.


Approximately 2200


"Shh, sweetie." Frannie's forehead was smooth and soft and smelled like talcum powder. Her lips tasted like red sauce and merlot. "It's okay. He's not going to bother you any more. You're such a smart girl, you can take care of yourself now..."

Her grip on Elaine's uniform shirt argued the point.

Elaine was uncomfortable, twisted in the front seat of her squad car, trying to figure out holding Frannie without her hip cramping up. Finally she stroked the thick brown waves of hair and murmured something gently suggestive about going inside.

"Yeah, okay." Frannie sniffled and popped the lock on her door, then led the way up the rain-soaked front steps.

"You going to be okay?" Elaine said, standing on the mat. This was as far as she could go; any farther would be too much. Stepping over the threshold meant overstepping her bounds.

Frannie's face crumpled again. She hung onto the doorknob while the wet wind swirled into the house. "I don't know. I haven't slept at all this entire week. It's stupid..."

Suppressing a shiver, Elaine pulled Frannie's hand off the doorknob and closed the heavy oak behind her. "It's not, honey. Come on, let's get you warmed up. How about a hot toddy?"


2242


Her lips tasted like whiskey and lemon. The talcum smell was stronger between her breasts. Frannie's eyes were dry and her hands pulled at Elaine's uniform with a strange economy of gestures, like she was accustomed to handling the heavy utility belt and scratchy polyester.

"Sweetie, you sure about this?"

Frannie's smile was the brightest thing in the last two hours. "This was a good idea, Elaine. We should have done this a long time ago."

Her fingers slipped inside one cup of Elaine's bra and caught her nipple, accepting no further protests.


0023


"I'm thinking, I'm done waiting around for Fraser to notice me. For anyone to notice me. I'm a passionate person. Just treat me good and I'll be there for you, you know?"

Groaning into the pillow would be impolite, Elaine decided. She shifted her loosened shoulders under Frannie's hands and nodded instead. "I'm here for you, too. Any time you need me."

She meant in the police protection sense, mostly, but Frannie slid down and pulled up her flower comforter, her hips warm against Elaine's bottom. All that lovely soft skin was pretty inspiring. Elaine rolled over and started combing tangles out of the hair that had swung into Frannie's eyes. "I want to be, if that's okay."

"I know how cops' personal lives are." Frannie's gaze was as no-nonsense as everything else about her. Elaine was discovering that she'd matured quite a bit in a short period of time, even about love. "Maybe we could do hot toddies once a week or something. Just to catch up."

Elaine looped her arms around Frannie's waist and settled back into the pillows. "That would be good. That would be great."

Comments

[vienna-waits.livejournal.com]

Yes, I have seen the episode, but it didn't seem to me like she and Guy Rankin were in a relationship involving the kind of damage referenced in the song. But if this were right after the events of the episode, of course, Frannie would be badly shaken up.