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Jun. 16th, 2003 04:25 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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wolfshark for the beta. Other notes at the end.
Two Adoptions, 383 words.
He'd been staring at the form - neatly filled out, complete except for his signature - for three weeks. Last time, he'd been interrupted by Denny Scarpa, all cool poise and criminal intent, and it had seemed like the hand of Justice: this, too, is your punishment, a reminder of what you have done.
Not that Scarpa was in the same league as Victoria, not for a moment--and not that Scarpa would ever cause this--this--
"Haven't you signed that yet?" Inspector Thatcher stood in front of the desk, arms crossed.
"I...have not been able to do so," he said, ashamed, tasting the shame like bile in his throat.
Her eyebrows skyrocketed. "Are you going to?" she asked. "If not, you'll need to move out. You can't keep him in your office like you do that dog." Dief barked. "Wolf," she said, "sorry."
For a moment he wanted to crumple the folder and the form, burn it, as if that would make it all go away. Instead he bit his lip and scrawled his name at the bottom, the last place it was required. He capped the pen and set it down, and looked up at Thatcher.
There was something like sympathy in her eyes; it didn't suit her. "I'll fax it for you," she said.
He flipped the folder closed and handed it to her before he could change his mind. "Thank you kindly."
She nodded and turned away, as they all turned away, in the end.
After she had gone, he put his head in his hands and leaned his elbows on the desk. "It was the right thing to do," he said to Dief, who whined. "He's lived with them since he was born. Well, since Victoria--" abandoned his child, her child, their child "gave him up."
Dief barked, twice. You did the best you could, he said. I always made sure my pups went to good homes.
"Yes," Fraser said, rubbing at the ink on his finger, "but I'm not a wolf."
Like hell, Dief answered. Man, wolf. Wolf, man. Same except for your skin. Want to hunt rabbits in the park?
Fraser looked down at him, dropping his hands to the desk. Something tight in his chest eased. "You know," he said, "I believe I do."
----
The End.
Note: This is something I've been thinking of for a long time, but was never quite able to get together. For some reason, this challenge made it *click* in my head. It's based on a nearly-invisible bit of canon - the title of the form Fraser is staring at when Lady Shoes comes up and starts playing cards with him in the Consulate. Pause your tape sometime and look.
wolfshark for the beta. Other notes at the end.Two Adoptions, 383 words.
He'd been staring at the form - neatly filled out, complete except for his signature - for three weeks. Last time, he'd been interrupted by Denny Scarpa, all cool poise and criminal intent, and it had seemed like the hand of Justice: this, too, is your punishment, a reminder of what you have done.
Not that Scarpa was in the same league as Victoria, not for a moment--and not that Scarpa would ever cause this--this--
"Haven't you signed that yet?" Inspector Thatcher stood in front of the desk, arms crossed.
"I...have not been able to do so," he said, ashamed, tasting the shame like bile in his throat.
Her eyebrows skyrocketed. "Are you going to?" she asked. "If not, you'll need to move out. You can't keep him in your office like you do that dog." Dief barked. "Wolf," she said, "sorry."
For a moment he wanted to crumple the folder and the form, burn it, as if that would make it all go away. Instead he bit his lip and scrawled his name at the bottom, the last place it was required. He capped the pen and set it down, and looked up at Thatcher.
There was something like sympathy in her eyes; it didn't suit her. "I'll fax it for you," she said.
He flipped the folder closed and handed it to her before he could change his mind. "Thank you kindly."
She nodded and turned away, as they all turned away, in the end.
After she had gone, he put his head in his hands and leaned his elbows on the desk. "It was the right thing to do," he said to Dief, who whined. "He's lived with them since he was born. Well, since Victoria--" abandoned his child, her child, their child "gave him up."
Dief barked, twice. You did the best you could, he said. I always made sure my pups went to good homes.
"Yes," Fraser said, rubbing at the ink on his finger, "but I'm not a wolf."
Like hell, Dief answered. Man, wolf. Wolf, man. Same except for your skin. Want to hunt rabbits in the park?
Fraser looked down at him, dropping his hands to the desk. Something tight in his chest eased. "You know," he said, "I believe I do."
----
The End.
Note: This is something I've been thinking of for a long time, but was never quite able to get together. For some reason, this challenge made it *click* in my head. It's based on a nearly-invisible bit of canon - the title of the form Fraser is staring at when Lady Shoes comes up and starts playing cards with him in the Consulate. Pause your tape sometime and look.
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Date: 2003-06-16 02:00 pm (UTC)Lovely.
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Date: 2003-06-16 02:46 pm (UTC)Woah.
This was positively lovely, though. I'd want to give Fraser a hug, but Dief seems to have things covered.
Well, okay, I want to give him a hug anyway.
no subject
Date: 2003-06-16 03:10 pm (UTC)And Thatcher, with her sharp "you can't keep him in the office like that dog" -- well, I'd bark, too, if I were there, but she knows what Fraser has to do. It's tough love, I suppose. Really good work.
Woah!
Date: 2003-06-16 03:11 pm (UTC)I just found my way here to flashfiction (how did I miss something this good until now??) And strangely enough I watched 'Odds' last night and thought that Fraser seemed, well, a bit odd in this ep. *g* Depressed, melancholic, down, somehow. Can't rea lly describe it, I just thought there has to be more to it than the thing with Denny Scarpa. Then I read your story, rewind the tape to that scene and go 'woah! that's it!'
I never noticed that little tidbit before, and you wrote a beautiful little gem ar ound it. :-) Thank you! And I'd really love to see this plot extended...
Foxy3
Glad you made it
Date: 2003-06-16 04:59 pm (UTC)And don't forget to check the "Memories." We're having way too much fun here.
no subject
Date: 2003-06-16 04:09 pm (UTC)So. Good Dief, good Thatcher, great Fraser. Thank you.
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Date: 2003-06-16 07:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-06-17 06:47 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-06-17 11:39 am (UTC)Like hell, Dief answered. Man, wolf. Wolf, man. Same except for your skin. Want to hunt rabbits in the park?
Dief is so wise. Sometimes the right thing isn't the easy thing. But it *is* the right thing. So you do it and then you get on with your life.
This made me all sniffly. I hurt for Fraser, but I'm glad he's got Dief.