ds_flashfiction | Midsummer Amnesty 2008: Dog's Life Challenge by leafy22

Title: Understanding
Author: leafy22
Pairing: F/K (pre-slash?)
Rating: PG
Length: just under 1000 words
Notes: Definitely written in a flash - got the inspiration yesterday and wanted to post before the deadline. Also, it started out as a superpower challenge fic, turned into a foreign tongue challenge fic and now..... I think it fits the dog's life challenge but I'll change the tag if wise mods disagree!

Understanding

Diefenbaker was in a particularly buoyant mood that evening as we arrived at the 27th precinct to meet up with Ray. He made his usual tour of the room, sniffing at all the familiar places before bounding over to Francesca’s unoccupied desk. The portable cassette player beside her pencil pot was emitting a tinny melody and as I caught the words “Je ne sais pas pourquoi”, I realised it was another part of Francesca’s recent attempts to master foreign languages through the medium of popular music. Last week I thought all my prayers had been answered when I heard Ray singing a suggestive French lyric whilst we were waiting for a pizza delivery. Unfortunately it turned out only to have been a catchy refrain from Francesca’s most played song that day – something about marmalade, bewilderingly enough.

Dief leapt up and began nuzzling the cassette player before giving it an experimental nip. There was a sharp, crackling, fizz followed by a startled yelp from Dief. He dropped the machine, still playing, on the desk and jumped back, his fur standing on end.

“Nice spikes, Dief!” Ray called out to him as he returned from the break room.

Diefenbaker turned to Ray and barked something I couldn’t quite make out.

“Hey!” Ray said, his voice tinged with offense, as he lightly touched the gel stiffened points of his own hair with the palm of his hand.

I was curious about what Dief had said to Ray – and how Ray, who had never before seemed interested in conversing with him, claimed to have understood him on this occasion.

I watched Diefenbaker, fur settling now, trot over to the edge of Detectives Huey and Dewey’s desk. Again I seemed unable to make sense of his three low barks – one long, two short – even though they were well within my normal range of hearing. Detective Huey appeared to have no such problem, however. “No, I won’t tell”, he agreed, as Dief snatched the donut which Detective Dewey had, perhaps foolishly, left unattended. When Dewey returned, Huey denied all knowledge of there ever having been a donut on the desk in the first place and Ray, when questioned, was too engrossed still in gently patting the top of his head to formulate any kind of answer.

Just then, Francesca came into the bullpen wearing a skirt, which though it was beautifully tailored, may have been a little cold for the time of year. She greeted me with her usual “Hi, Frase,” as she walked past, and Dief, as was his custom, followed her to her desk. He began what sounded like a soft growl and as she sat down on her chair, she looked at him with wide, anxious eyes. “Really? Not at all? But...But are you sure?” Dief disappeared briefly behind the other side of Francesca’s desk and returned with a box of Kleenex held delicately between his jaws. She took one, dabbed lightly at her eyes with it, and continued listening intently to him. “But that’s good, right. I mean, good friends is...is good?” Dief’s gentle vocalisation was almost inaudible now, but Francesca smiled weakly as he went on and then ruffled his fur affectionately. I felt a small swell of pride at Dief’s chivalrous behaviour. Whatever upsetting news he was relaying, he was at least doing it with discretion and courtesy even though his sudden ability to hold these discussions with my colleagues remained a mystery to me.

After a few moments, Dief left Francesca, who was now visibly more cheerful, and came over to Ray.

“I’m not sure I’ve forgiven you yet”, Ray said as Dief stood, tail aloft, in front of him. Dief replied with a series of short yips, the meaning of which I still could not discern.

“Oh really? And what could you possibly tell me that I...?” Ray stopped, his face a study in concentration as he listened to Dief. Every now and then he replied, questioning Diefenbaker with an “Is he?”, a “Does he?” or occasionally a “Do you think so?” His frequent glances in my direction began to unsettle me. When their exchange ended, both Ray and Diefenbaker turned to look directly at me. This time when Dief began to bark, I knew he was communicating with me, but I was still, embarrassingly, unable to understand him.

“What do you think, Frase?” Both Ray’s voice and expression suggested a wary hopefulness.

I cleared my throat, knowing I could prevaricate no longer. “I’m afraid I appear to be temporarily unable to tune in to Dief’s speech patterns. Would you perhaps care to...er...?”

“Sure, I’ll translate.” Ray waved his hand in my direction, signalling to Diefenbaker to speak again.

“Dief says I know,” Ray pointed at his own chest for emphasis as he paused, waiting for Dief to continue, “and I’m not freaking out. So you should definitely do something. Um. With me”

“Ah.” I felt my skin flush despite my relief at Ray’s apparent calmness.

“So....you gonna do something?” Ray asked. “With...um...with me?”

My heart was thumping wildly in my chest, but I nodded with as much self control as I could manage and even allowed myself to smile as I replied. “Yes. If you’d like.”

The confident smile which began to curve Ray’s lips was halted suddenly by Diefenbaker’s renewed barks. We turned to see him approach a chair by Ray’s desk, place his front paws on the empty seat and rise up on his hind legs. The suggestion was unmistakeable.

“Dief!” Ray hissed. “Stop that! No, we do not want any tips from you, thank you very much. Geez! Come on, Fraser, time to get out of here.”

Ray and I walked out of the squadroom side by side, Dief following along behind. I wasn’t sure whether I was regaining my understanding of Diefenbaker’s articulations or whether it was just my frequently over-active imagination, but I could have sworn Dief was giggling.