2:18 AM
by Cat Young

"Benny?" The apartment was dark and quiet, filled with the soft rhythm of his partner's breathing. Ray tried again. "Hey, Benny?"

There was a slight hitch in the breathing as Ben woke. "Hm?"

"You remember that time we were on that train loaded with unconscious Mounties and almost hit the other train full of radioactive uranium?"

"Mhmm..."

"There was a phone on that train, right? I mean, you used it to call me and interrupt my poker game."

"Mm. Ray, I told you, I'm sorry..."

"No, no, that's not what I meant. The point is, if there was a phone on that train, there was probably a phone on the other trains that run on that line."

"That's a reasonable assumption."

"And the guy at the depot probably had the numbers to all those phones."

"Yes..."

"So how come we didn't just call the guys on the other train, which as far as anybody knows had not been taken over by terrorists, and tell them to get off the track?"

There was a long pause. Then, "Ray, that was six years ago. It's two eighteen AM. Why are you asking me this now?"

Ray shrugged. "I was awake, and it just suddenly occurred to me that we could've saved ourselves a lot of trouble if we'd thought to use the phone."

"Ah. Can you sleep now?"

"Yeah, probably. Goodnight." Ray rolled onto his side and wrapped his arms around Ben, pressing a kiss to the bit of chest closest to his lips.

"Goodnight, Ray."

"Ray?"

END
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Based on my own experience last Saturday morning. Early last Saturday morning.