STORY: Alternate Thinking, part 26/?
Sasscat Bu-to-y
Author: Sasscat Bu-to-y
Rating: [ADULT] PG
Codes: Alternate Universes
Part: 26/?
Teaser: Meg finds herself in situations she could never have
predicted...
Disclaimer: Alliance owns all.
Archive: DuSC, yes. Anyone else, just ask.
Note: This one's rated PG; the series does contain NC-17 content. Read
ahead at your own discretion.
(Previously on Alternate Thinking... Meg has been (finally!) discharged
from the hospital. Meg-two has *graciously* allowed her to stay at the
Consulate until she moves on to the next universe. And Fraser is...
well, Fraser.)
Alternate Thinking
(c) Sasscat Bu-to-y 1999-2000
When they reached the Consulate, Meg was quickly dispatched to the
Queen's Bedroom - ostensibly for rest, although she suspected that
Meg-two's desire to keep her away from Fraser played a significant part
in the suggestion as well. Really, that woman was the most irrationally
jealous-- She cut that thought off with the acknowledgement that she
*did* need to rest, and she could talk to Fraser later.
When 'later' arrived and she finally awoke, she remembered that anything
higher than the ground floor was not necessarily a safe place to be, and
hastily went downstairs.
Now that she was awake she couldn't hide from her persistent headache.
In fact, just the jarring from walking down the stairs proved too much
for her. She sat on the bottom step for a moment, pressing the heel of
her good hand against her right temple. This... How would Ray put it?
This truly sucked. But then, Ray - this universe's Ray... Nurse Ray...
Well, he wasn't top of her popularity charts right now either.
Meg got up, seized by an urge to do something other than just sit there
in pain. She made a face at Meg-two's office door and went to find
Fraser.
Fraser was, unsurprisingly, in his office. Well, perhaps a little
surprisingly; he could have been down at the station with-- oh. Or not.
Meg shook herself and walked in, closing the door behind her.
"Ah," Fraser said when he saw her. "How did you sleep?"
Meg considered that for a moment, then finally decided, "Very soundly.
That's the one good thing about this concussion."
"Mm," Fraser agreed sympathetically. "If you'd like some
paracetamol..."
Meg nodded. "I would appreciate it." She was slightly surprised he
didn't offer her some kind of herbal concoction, and more than a little
relieved. She'd tasted his 'native remedies'. Disgusting was too good
a word for that leaf-litter.
She followed him into the Consulate kitchen, every step a conscious
thought. She felt as though she couldn't be bothered to do anything,
only forcing herself to continue with the minutiae of day-to-day
existence because otherwise she'd just stand in a corner of Fraser's
office for the rest of her life. Oh, how she loathed being concussed.
But being concussed here was better than being concussed in hospital.
"So," she said, watching him move between cupboards and resolutely
refusing to acknowledge how much her head hurt, "tell me about your
universe."
He glanced at her over his shoulder as he fetched a glass. "My
universe?"
"Yes." She nodded briefly. "What's it like? Tell me about..." she
thought for a moment then seized on something she really wanted to know
about, although couldn't quite believe the words actually came out of
her mouth, "your relationship with Meg."
Fraser slowly moved to fill the glass with water. Meg's eyes rested on
his shoulders, drawn by the broadness of them. And the red, obviously.
But it was a deceptive broadness, she recalled, remembering that time
she'd walked in on him using his office as a locker room. Under the
loose singlet his body had been slim and smooth, the sort of smoothness
that begged to be touched. To be stroked. Her fingers curled slightly,
brushing her dress.
Fraser was, of course, oblivious to her scutiny. "She's... my superior
officer," he finally said, sounding wary and a little unhappy.
Meg raised an eyebrow at his obvious state of denial. "Which is why you
kissed me in hospital?"
He cleared his throat slightly, not looking at her. "Well, obviously
there are some unresolved... issues between us. Unfortunately our
professional roles preclude any kind of, ah, romantic entanglement."
"Mm," Meg agreed. Boy, did she know what that felt like. But oh, what
a vision he was out of uniform.
She moved closer to take the glass and the aspirin from him. Swallow
one, swallow two, brief grimace at aftertaste... "Of course, *I'm* not
your superior."
"No." Fraser took a breath, looking at the bench uncomfortably. "No;
you are a woman whom I have known for less than a week."
Meg paused slightly, suspicious of that answer. "I'm also Meg Thatcher;
you've known me for two years."
He shook his head. "You're from another universe. I have no way of
knowing... *who* you are--"
"That's ridiculous!" Meg exclaimed. "I'm exactly like your Meg
Thatcher."
"Well, no; for one thing, my Inspector Thatcher is considerably more
monogamous."
"For crying out loud," Meg muttered, then his words sank in and she
stopped short. "I beg your pardon?"
"Ah..." Fraser coughed slightly. "What I meant to say was..."
"Fraser, did you just call me a tramp?"
"Well, I wouldn't go so far as to say..." He hesitated. "That is, I
wouldn't exactly..." He rubbed his thumb across his eyebrow awkwardly.
"Well, yes."
This was incredible. Meg stared at him in disbelief for several
seconds. Bastard. How *dare* he--? What gave him the right to stand
there and judge her? "I'm obviously not the only one who's different in
this universe," she said in a low voice, and walked out on him.
Out of the Consulate, she walked along the street, wherever her legs
took her, walking off her seething anger until she no longer knew where
she was. Well, that wasn't, strictly speaking, true; she recognised the
street, just wasn't sure quite how it related to... any other street.
Concussion. Damn. She rubbed her forehead tiredly and leaned against a
wall to rest.
It couldn't have been more than a few minutes later when a vaguely
familiar black car pulled up and a very familiar nurse got out. "I find
you leaning against walls in the weirdest places."
"Ray," Meg said in surprise.
"Yeah, the hospital's got a new outpatient policy." He nodded
seriously. "If we're driving along and we see an outpatient, we say
hi."
"Hi," she said, awkwardly, not able to forget what he'd said to her in
hospital. And what he hadn't said to her.
Ray looked at her for a moment, obviously expecting a more enthusiastic
greeting. When it became apparent he wasn't going to get one, he sighed
with his entire body: head dropping, shoulders slumping, back and legs
bending slightly. "Right. I'll... I dunno. I'd better go, my
lunchbreak isn't... that long."
Meg stared at the concrete, scolding herself. All right, she didn't
know what to say; there was no call to be rude. Ray had rejected her
more nicely than Fraser, after all. Fraser... damn. "Ray," she said,
before he could get back into the car. "Can you give me a lift back to
the Consulate?"
He glanced at her over the top of the GTO in surprise. "Yeah, sure, but
it's not far--"
"I know that," she interrupted patiently. "I... got lost."
"Huh." He looked at her a while longer then shook himself. "Zz--
right. Headcase. Uh, get in."
Meg did so, wishing he wouldn't call her a headcase. Once was cute,
maybe even twice, but after that it began to grate on one's nerves.
"Thanks," she said anyway, because after all, he *was* giving her a
lift.
"No problem." Ray glanced at her, looking as though he was going to say
something more, then shook his head and pulled into the traffic.
Well, this was... awkward. Meg grimaced, keeping an eye out for the
Consulate. It wasn't that she disliked Ray (anymore), but the sooner
she got out of this car, the better.
Ray slowed as they neared the Consulate; she reached with her right hand
to undo her seatbelt. Ray grabbed her wrist, "Hey, wait til I park,"
and then there was a fall, and something hard and rough, and a piercing
jolt to her broken arm, and Ray swearing.
Meg blinked at the asphalt, and slowly pushed herself up, wincing at the
graze on her right hand. It had happened again. Of all the rotten
luck... The car had disappeared from under her. Again.
"What the hell--?" Ray started, looking around.
Ray had come *with* her? Meg stared at him for a moment then thought to
get them both off the road and onto the sidewalk where they could stand
in safety. Then she kept staring as she slowly dropped her arm, torn
between confusion and a slight malicious glee that at least she wasn't
the only one going through this anymore. Too many seconds passed before
she collected herself. Fortunately Ray was too occupied in gaping
around this universe to notice her own unbalance, but she quickly put on
a confident expression, as if this were merely par for the course in her
life - which it almost was. "Welcome to my nightmare."
--
End part twenty-six
Light Otter
I keep getting a message stating that the domain is for
sale. Is Alternate Thinking archived anywhere else?
Or could you send me a copy?
--Light Otter--
lco...@crosswinds.net
ICQ#22131799
http://www.crosswinds.net/~lcotter/
"Sasscat Bu-to-y" <sas...@crosswinds.net> wrote in message
news:2000070216...@p43-max1.christchurch.netaccess.net.nz...
Sptmb...@aol.com
> Title: Alternate Thinking
> Author: Sasscat Bu-to-y
> Rating: [ADULT] PG
> Codes: Alternate Universes
> Part: 26/?
Oooooooh, neat twist...
____
Anything
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.
Melanie M
>the DuSC Archive is down or something..
>I keep getting a message stating that the domain is for
>sale. Is Alternate Thinking archived anywhere else?
>Or could you send me a copy?
Were you trying the archive at
http://www.crosswinds.net/~atdusc/ ? I just checked it and the
story's there. Well worth the search!
Melanie M
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sptmb...@my-deja.com
> >the DuSC Archive is down or something..
> >I keep getting a message stating that the domain is for
> >sale. Is Alternate Thinking archived anywhere else?
> >Or could you send me a copy?
>
> Were you trying the archive at
> http://www.crosswinds.net/~atdusc/ ? I just checked it and the
> story's there. Well worth the search!
Hmm... The archive WAS down, for a while. Glad to see it's back.