Geometry

Chapter 14

Ray's cell woke them all up offensively early, even Fraser and the wolf were still snoring in harmony. Ray swore groggily and fumbled for the bedside table, he wasn't used to Mina's bedroom and his reflex grab for the phone came up several inches short. Fuck, who was calling him at this hour? He disentangled himself from Mina and Frase and lunging across the bed, managed to grab the phone before his voicemail kicked on.

"V'cchio," he muttered. Welsh's bellow was like a knife across his eardrums and Ray groaned and held the phone away from his ear.

"Vecchio!" Welsh bellowed. "What the hell's going on?"

"With what, Lieu?" Ray protested, his speech still slurred with sleep. Last night caught up with him and he jerked awake and sat up in bed, the covers falling down around his waist. "Hey, did we get a hit on that name I faxed over?"

Fraser was awake, braced up on an elbow with an arm still wrapped protectively around Marina's waist. Mina was in her usual morning fog, and only burrowed deeper into the pillows with a sleepy, inarticulate protest at the disturbance.

"No, this is worse!" Welsh roared. "Do you know where the wolf's girlfriend is?"

Ray blinked and temporized. "Jeez, we moved into the apartment next to hers, Lieu, I could probably put my hands on her if I needed to."

"Find her, the wolf, the Mountie and I want all of you in my office in the next hour, detective!" And the phone disconnected with a ringing slam.

"He sounds upset," Fraser observed mildly. "Really, Ray, that's a terrible pun at this hour of the morning, 'I could put my hands on her if I needed to'?"

Ray dropped the phone on the floor and burrowed back under the covers, reaching for Mina's hip and Fraser's mouth at the same time.

"What?" Ray grumbled, dragging Mina's body close as he pulled Fraser's lips to his for a greedy, invasive good-morning kiss. "So I need to put my hands on her. Don't you?"

Fraser considered that as calmly as he could given Ray's very direct approach to morning osculation, and since the lithe warm female curves pressed up against his morning erection were very pleasant, duty took a short break while intimacy started the day instead. Even so after several minutes of satisfied necking, Ray and Fraser groaned in tandem and pulled apart.

"Mina," Ray said gently, nuzzling her ear, the closest portion of her head not buried in the pillows. "C'mon, baby, I need you to hear me. Can you come with us to the station this morning? The Lieutenant needs to see us."

An incoherent mumble drifted up out of the pillows but her groggy half-nod was enough of an answer for Ray.

"Awright, baby," Ray said softly, stroking her tumbled hair. "Frase and I'll go shower and get dressed. We'll leave the door between our place and yours open, and whoever's finished first'll come looking for the others, okay?"

Another gentle moan accompanied her hand fumbling for his neck and Mina pulled him down with the lightest of tugs, and brushed her sleep-softened lips over his mouth. It was so tender and unconscious a gesture Ray had to swallow hard. Fraser was watching them somberly and he leaned down, smoothed Mina's hair away from her temple and brushed a kiss over it. She sighed another achingly tender breath and caressed her cheek against Fraser's hand as he drew it away.

Fraser swallowed hard. Dear Lord, she was so fragile and beautiful like this, balanced on the border between waking and sleeping, drowsy and defenseless.