Auld Lang Syne
by Shannon McKinnon

Ben stretched lazily and smiled happily. It was 9:30 in the morning on the Thursday after Christmas, and he was still in bed.

He would usually not allow himself to be so sinfully lazy, but he had a very good reason for lingering- Ray was in bed with him, still sleeping soundly.

Ray was working only half-days all week. The citizens of Chicago were apparently still caught up in the holiday spirit, and the crime rate was down. When Ray was at work, he spent most of his time doing paperwork.

Ben liked having Ray around the apartment, it made his days much less boring. Of course, that wouldn't be a problem much longer; Ben was scheduled to return to work the day after New Year's.

Ray was still a little leery of the whole idea, even though Ben had assured him he would be spending his days doing paperwork and computer work and filing.

"Thatcher's not going to make you stand guard duty, is she?" Ray had asked.

"No, Ray; I won't be standing sentry."

"And don't let her force you into doing any errands for her!" Ray had demanded in his infuriating yet touching way.

Ben hadn't even attempted to argue. "Yes Ray."

Ben smiled down at his sleeping lover, lightly stroking his face.

Ray's eyes blinked open and he smiled up at Ben. "Good morning, Benny."

"Good morning, Ray." He leaned down for a kiss. "Would you like me to make breakfast?"

"No."

"No?"

"I mean, not yet." Ray reached up and grabbed Ben's arm and gave it a sharp tug, so Ben wound up sprawled across his chest.

"Ah."

Benny did make them breakfast eventually, and the two men sat enjoying a leisurely meal.

"Hey Benny," Ray said between bites of toast, "I've been thinking about New Year's Eve."

"Oh? What about it?"

"Well, I think we should have a quiet celebration. I know we have a couple of invitations to parties, but I don't think we should go. I think we should stay home; just the two of us."

"You do?" Ben asked, surprised.

"Yeah," Ray said a bit defensively. "I just want to spend an evening alone with you, is there anything wrong with that?"

"No Ray, of course not. Not at all. But didn't you once tell me that New Year's Eve is a night to party with your friends and not 'hide out at home'?"

"Well, yeah I did, but I changed my mind. I feel like being selfish."

"Selfish?"

"Yeah, selfish, Benny. I'm not in the mood to share you with a bunch of other people. I want to keep you all to myself.

"You're going back to work in a few days, and I'll be busy, too. We're going to be seeing a lot less of each other. I want to make the most of our time together."

Benny was smiling broadly. "That sounds like an excellent plan to me, Ray. You know I'm not that fond of parties, anyway, and if your idea gives me the chance to spend an entire evening alone with you, then I'm not about to argue with it."

Ray smiled happily. "I thought you might say that."

On New Year's Eve Ray worked his afternoon shift, and was off at 6:00. On the way home he stopped and picked up dinner for himself and Benny. They had agreed that they didn't want to waste time cooking that night and would order takeout instead; ordering from one of their favorite Italian restaurants.

Ray picked up their meals, left a generous tip, and headed home to Benny. When he walked through the door of the apartment, Ray stopped short, a smile spreading over his face.

The lights in the apartment had been dimmed; the fire crackling in the fireplace and the colored lights of the Christmas tree providing most of the illumination.

The dining room table had been elegantly set, with a linen tablecloth and napkins, fine china place settings, crystal goblets and the "good" silverware laid out.

Tapered candles were placed in crystal candleholders, and a bottle sat in a silver ice bucket next to the table. Ray walked over and lifted the bottle out of the ice bucket, and he grinned as he read the label. It was a bottle of ginger ale.

The kitchen door opened and Benny entered the room. Ray caught his breath when he saw his lover. Benny was already dressed for dinner, in black pants and a sweater that had been a Christmas gift from Ray.

Ray had bought the sweater because he thought the deep blue color would match Benny's eyes exactly, and he had been right. Ray smiled at Benny. Trust Fraser to make such a simple outfit look so gorgeous and elegant.

"Welcome home, Ray," Ben said with a happy smile. He took the bags of food from Ray's hand. "I'll finish setting up, why don't you go get changed?"

Ray nodded wordlessly and headed off to the bedroom. He returned just a few minutes later, and everything was indeed ready for him. The food was laid out on their plates, the bread wrapped in a napkin and placed in a bread basket, and Benny was just finishing lighting the candles.

He looked up and saw Ray and smiled, then moved around the table to give Ray a kiss. "Dinner's ready," he said and led Ray over to his chair.

The two men ate in happy silence, listening to the quiet music playing on the stereo.

As Ben ate, his mind wandered back to other New Year's Eves he had spent. Those holidays had been nothing special- he had not celebrated the holiday at all as a matter of fact.

It had just been him and Dief, alone in the cabin, and he had been in bed well before midnight, resting up for the next day's patrol.

So while he slept the old year had slipped into the new, as the days passed into the weeks passed into the months; every day the same as the one before.

Looking back now, Ben knew that he had been lonely, but at the time, he had barely noticed. It had just been an accepted part of his life. He was male, he was Canadian, he had brown hair and blue eyes, he was alone.

But that had all changed now. Now each day was different than the one before, and he never knew what adventure he might encounter. He loved waking up in the morning not knowing what was going to happen.

The only constant in his life now was Ray. Ray- ever boisterous, always full of life and passion. Ray gave him more love than he had ever known, and more amazing than that, Ray accepted the love that Benny offered him.

He couldn't even imagine his life without Ray in it. It was much more fun to imagine what his life with Ray would bring him next.

Looking up, he met Ray's eyes and smiled.

As Ray ate, his thoughts drifted back to other, bleaker holidays. He had usually gone to some big New Year's party or other, and there, among a large crowd, his loneliness would be brought home to him more sharply than ever.

At midnight he would look around him, and it seemed that everywhere he looked he would see happy couples, celebrating together; and all he was able to see was another bleak, empty year before him.

Man oh man, how that had changed. Little had he known what he was in for when a certain Mountie had entered the holding cell looking for "Detective Armani".

Practically from the moment Benny had entered his life, loneliness had left it. Annoyance, insanity and danger had taken its place. But so had friendship, and laughter, and an honest, caring relationship. And that had all happened long before he and Benny had become lovers.

It sill amazed him sometimes that he and Benny were lovers. For so many years he had longed for someone. And then he had met one Benton Fraser, who had so much love to give; and amazingly enough he wanted to give it to Ray.

Ray didn't know why he was blessed enough to receive Benny's love, but he was going to take very good care of it.

He couldn't even imagine his life without Benny in it; and he didn't want to try. He didn't know what the coming year would bring, but it was going to be fun as hell finding out.

Looking up, he met Benny's eyes and smiled.

After dinner the men cleared the table then washed the dishes and put them away. Ray caught himself humming happily as he put the dishes in the cupboard and he had to laugh at himself. He was having a good time washing dishes, for God's sake! He was getting disgustingly domesticated.

Ben saw him laughing. "What, Ray?"

"Oh, nothing, Benny. Come on, we're done here." He threw his dish towel on the counter, then grabbed Ben's hand and led him into the living room.

They sat down in front of the fireplace and Ray threw another log on the fire. The two men sat watching the roaring flames, talking about the year that had just passed.

"The year is certainly ending on a good note," Ben said, looking happily at the apartment around him and the man next to him.

"Yeah," Ray smiled, "it is. Although I could have done without some of the stuff that happened at the end of the year." He gave Ben a kiss, then shivered as he thought about his close call.

"It's all right, Ray. Everything turned out okay."

"I know," Ray nodded. "But I was so scared for awhile there. I thought maybe I'd lost you, Benny."

Ben drew Ray into his arms and held him tightly. "But you didn't, Ray. You didn't lose me, and you're not going to."

Ray pulled away and looked at Benny. "Promise?"

"Promise." Ben sealed the promise with a kiss, then stood up and held out his hand. "Come on, Ray. We're going for a walk."

"We are?" Ray stared at his lover in surprise.

"Yes. It's a beautiful night..."

"It's a sub-zero night!"

Ben ignored the interruption. "And we need to work off some of that fattening food we ate. The fresh air will be good for us both."

Ray sighed heavily, but he knew better than to argue.

He and Benny put on their coats and hats and gloves and headed out of the apartment. Dief avoided going on the walk by hiding under the bed.

Benny and Ray took a long walk around the neighborhood and through the park, and when they got back to the apartment, Benny decided to warm them both up by making hot cocoa.

They wound up in front of the fireplace again, watching the flames leap and dance as they enjoyed their cocoa.

When they were done with their drinks, Ray put both their mugs aside and stood up, drawing Benny to his feet as well. He then moved to the stereo and turned the volume up slightly.

Turning to Benny, he held out his hand with a smile. "May I have this dance?"

"Absolutely." Ben crossed the room to Ray and was taken into his arms, and the two men began swaying gently to the music.

They had been dancing for a few minutes when the peace was shattered by a sudden burst of noise outside the window. Yelling voices mixed with car horns honking and firecrackers being set off.

"It must be midnight," Ray grinned.

"I assume so. Happy New Year, Ray."

"Happy New Year, Benny."

He drew Ben into a long kiss, pulling Ben even more tightly against him. Eventually they broke the kiss and stood smiling at each other.

"You know Ray," Ben said, running a hand lightly over Ray's hip, "there is an old superstition that whatever you do at midnight on New Year's Eve you'll be doing for the rest of the year."

"Really?"

Ben nodded.

"Well then, I don't think we'd better take any chances." Ray said, and pulled Benny into another kiss.

THE END

This is sort of a sequel to "Thankful" and "I'll Be Home For Christmas". Absolutely no angst at all in this story, just lots of gooey holiday sap.

Alliance legally owns these characters, I'm just playing with them for a little while.

Rated G