Notes: Written for Get Frannie Laid.
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"Ray, remind me again why I agreed to come up here for the holidays?" Frannie said as she lost her heel in the third snowbank in as many minutes.
"Because you're my sister and you love me?" he guessed, reaching down to pick up the offending shoe and brushing it off.
"Or because she knew there'd be presents," Kowalski offered, appearing behind Ray and holding out a pair of big fluffy snow boots.
"See, now, that's what a brother does," Frannie said, turning to Ray. "I think I'm ready to trade you in again." Kowalski beamed, then held her arm as she kicked off her other shoe to put on the boots.
"Fraser sent those," Ray said sulkily, and Frannie ignored him.
"Merry Christmas, brother," she said to Kowalski, kissing him on the cheek, and he grinned at Ray, clearly enjoying the way he was turning an interesting shade of pink.
"Car's that way," Kowalski said, waving off to the left, and Ray raised an eyebrow.
"Could you possibly have parked further from the airport?" he asked, and Kowalski frowned.
"Coulda let you drive yourself," he reminded him.
"Fraser would have done it."
"Fraser's busy being a househusband." Kowalski turned to Frannie with an affectionate grimace. "He's been cleaning for weeks. With you coming up from Chicago and Maggie coming down from Northern Whatever, he's been all kinds of freaked out about being the perfect host. I swear, he's got Dief trained to hunt the dust bunnies."
"At this rate, he'll have scared off all the dirt in town by New Year's," Ray said, the corner of his mouth twisting into a tiny smile.
Frannie smiled too, for a different reason. "You guys are really happy up here, aren't you?"
Ray's grin got a little wider. "We really are." He paused. "Well, except for when Kowalski's being an ass."
"And when your brother's being a dipshit," Kowalski added.
"And when Fraser's being obnoxious."
"But other than that..." Kowalski shrugged. "Yeah. It's greatness." His eyes sparkled as he opened the car door for Frannie.
"Yeah," she agreed. "That's what I thought."
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They sat in the living room after dinner with full mugs of cider and cocoa, watching the lights blink on the tree.
"Remember when we used to do this when we were kids?" Frannie asked, tipping her head back against Ray's leg, and he smiled above her.
"I remember you knocking the tree down one year, trying to lie under it to see the lights."
"Hey!" she said, sitting back up. "That was Maria's fault, not mine! And anyway, I'm not the one who decided to throw a temper tantrum when I was twelve and fling mom's favorite ornaments at the wall!"
"Ray!" said Fraser, looking scandalized, and Ray had the grace to grimace sheepishly.
"Not one of my proudest moments," he admitted.
"I never had a tree when I was little," Maggie said from the armchair, watching wistfully as the lights cast shadows across the room. They all fell silent.
"Never?" Kowalski finally asked, looking like he'd just found out there was no Santa Claus.
"My mother thought it was a waste, cutting down trees just to throw them away. So we decorated one of the trees in our yard every year." She paused. "It wasn't the same."
"I imagine not," Fraser said.
Frannie leaned in to inspect an ornament near the bottom of the tree. "Where did you get all of these?" she asked, glancing up at Ray.
"Fraser made them," he said. "Well, not all of them. But that one, and a lot of the others. And ma gave me some of hers before I left. And Kowalski had some left over from..." he paused. "From before," he finished lamely, and Frannie winced. He never talked about Stella. He'd just shown up at home one day with a yeah, I'm back and expected that to be the end of it. She wondered if he ever talked to Kowalski about it.
"More cider?" Fraser offered to fill the silence, and Frannie glanced back at the couch in time to see Kowalski lay a hand briefly on his arm, smile a little.
"I'm actually pretty tired," Maggie said, her words punctuated by a yawn. "It was a long trip down here."
"Yeah, I could sleep too," Frannie said, and was a little surprised to feel a wave of exhaustion wash over her.
"I apologize for there only being one guest room," Fraser said as he led them down the hall after they said their goodnights, and Frannie smiled.
"Hey, Ray said you were living in a shack up here. I kinda expected mats on the floor or something."
"Your brother's influence, I'm sure," Maggie said with a grin. "I can't imagine him ever sleeping on the floor, shack or no shack."
The guest room was small, but warm and homey like the rest of the cabin. Two beds sat along opposite walls with a small table between them, leaving just enough space to walk in and out of the room.
"It's nice, Frase," Frannie said, because he seemed to be waiting for a reaction. "The whole place is nice. You guys are..." she smiled. "You're really lucky, you know."
Fraser smiled back, some of the nervousness fading from his expression. "I know," he said, and she leaned in to hug him quickly.
"Sweet dreams," she said, and left him and Maggie in the hallway to say good night.
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She could hear Maggie moving around restlessly in the darkness, seeming to have as hard a time getting comfortable as she was.
"Can't sleep?" she finally asked to fill the silence, and she heard Maggie sigh. "Too tired to sleep, I think," she said, and when Frannie rolled over, she could see Maggie sitting propped up against the headboard. "Either that or too much cocoa. I'm sorry, am I keeping you awake?" she asked abruptly. "I could move to the couch."
"No, I can't sleep either," Frannie assured her. "It's too quiet."
"You get used to it," Maggie told her, and Frannie shook her head.
"I can't imagine that."
"Your brother did."
"Yeah," she agreed. "He did." She paused, listening to Dief scuffling around in the hallway. "Have you seen them a lot since they moved up here?"
"A couple of times. My job keeps me away most of the year, but I spent my few weeks of vacation here."
"He seems happy here, doesn't he?"
"They all do," Maggie said.
"You don�t think that it's�I don't know. Weird?"
"Weird? No. It works, for them. What else matters?"
"Yeah," Frannie agreed. "Sometimes I wish�" she trailed off, shook her head.
"Wish what?" Maggie asked.
"Nah, nothing." She let the silence hang there for a few minutes, then gave up and continued. "It's just, I saw Kowalski looking at Fraser tonight, and�I mean, it was this split second thing, but I've never had anyone look at me like that."
"Me neither," said Maggie. "I don't know that I ever will. What they have�it doesn't happen every day."
"That doesn't make you sad?"
"Sad? Maybe a little. But I can't go around expecting to find a Ray�or a couple of them, as the case may be. That�s just not how life works for us mortals." She laughed, but it didn't sound bitter, just a little wistful.
"Don't I know it," Frannie said meaningfully. "I waited way too many years for Frase to notice me. Turns out he was too busy noticing my brother."
Maggie laughed again. "That's life, huh?" she said, her voice a little closer, and Frannie wasn't surprised at all when the bed dipped as Maggie knelt beside her. Frannie could feel the heat of their legs pressing together, and then Maggie's fingers, seeking out her face in the darkness. It was a question, an offer, and Frannie found that she had no intention of saying no.
When Maggie's lips pressed against hers, they were soft, warm, and still tasted faintly of cocoa. They kissed slowly at first, learning the taste and feel of each other, and then deeper, Maggie's tongue sliding across her lower lip, making her shiver.
Her hand sank into Maggie's hair, holding them together, and she could feel Maggie's fingers tracing a line up her side, stopping just before the curve of her breast, hesitating. Frannie paused for a moment, losing herself in the kissing, and then just as Maggie was about to pull her hand back, she arched up into the touch. Maggie's fingers brushed over her nipple, making her sigh, then found their way up under Frannie's shirt to touch skin. Her hands were cold to the touch, chilled from the night air, and Frannie shivered, then felt the way Maggie's skin grew warm as it pressed against hers.
They slid together under the covers, losing clothing almost unconsciously, peeling it off in order to reach more skin to touch, to taste.
Frannie pressed Maggie back into the pillows, letting her lips slide down her throat, her collarbone, the soft pale skin of her shoulders. When she took a nipple into her mouth, Maggie cried out, quiet but harsh in the stillness, and her hand wrapped into Frannie's hair, holding her there, letting out soft whimpers as Frannie sucked, licked, thrilling with each sound.
Eventually she had to feel Maggie's mouth against hers again, and she was sliding up the bed, pressing soft kisses along the way. Their lips met with more heat this time, frantic and desperate, and then Frannie's hand was clutching Maggie's hip, rocking them together, making them moan into each other's mouths.
When her fingers slipped inside, feeling heat and slickness, Maggie writhed against her, muffling a cry into Frannie's shoulder. Frannie rocked her hand against her, fast, hard, just the way she would to herself, and Maggie thrust her hips forward, reaching for more, more, until she was breaking in Frannie's hands, letting out a sob, her fingers clutching at the skin of Frannie's back.
She leaned in to kiss Frannie slowly, lazily, and then she was kissing her way down Frannie's body, throat, breast, stomach, until her lips were pressing against her, tongue tracing circles that slowly drove Frannie out of her mind. She could feel her hips coming up off the bed, thrusting into Maggie's touch, but she was helpless to stop them, helpless to do anything but wrap her fingers tighter into the bedsheet and close her eyes, trying to keep in her cries.
She came with Maggie's fingers deep inside her, her tongue stroking at her, and when she looked down, Maggie was watching her with something beautiful in her eyes.
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Frannie woke in the morning to the sound of a snowball hitting the window over her head. She wrapped herself in a blanket and peered outside to find Kowalski grinning at her from beside a half-finished snowman.
"What are you, five?" she asked aloud to the empty room and shuffled out to the living room to find someone who hadn't completely lost their mind. Dief was the only one there, lying in front of the fire, watching her out of the corner of his eye. She slipped her feet into her boots and pulled on one of Ray's coats over her pajamas. She stepped out onto the porch, wincing at the blast of cold air on her face, and found Fraser and Maggie sitting there, watching Ray and Ray out in the snow with the dogs.
"Morning," said Maggie, and Frannie smiled back at her.
"Did you sleep well?" Fraser asked, standing to offer her his chair, and Frannie nodded.
"Eventually," she replied, sneaking a glance at Maggie, who grinned at her behind Fraser's back. "Too quiet," she added at his worried look, and he seemed to relax a little.
"You get used to it," he told her.
"So I hear," she replied with a glance at Maggie.
"You're witnessing the daily ritual of 'exercising the dogs,'" Fraser explained, waving a hand at the Rays, and it was immediately apparent why he said those words in quotes, because they seemed to be much more interested in finding new ways to get each other covered in snow than in playing with the dogs.
"Morning, Frannie," Ray called, his voice carrying across the snow, and she waved back, laughing when Kowalski used the distraction to stuff a handful of snow down the back of his coat.
"You'd think it'd get old," she said, watching Ray twist around to get up in Kowalski's face, and Fraser let out a sigh beside her.
"You'd think," he said dryly, and Maggie laughed.
"You love it," she said, and before he could answer, two snowballs hit him in the chest.
He gave the Rays a withering look, and Frannie elbowed his leg. "Oh come on," she said, "you know you can take them."
He looked indignant. "Of course I can. That doesn't mean it's necessary for me to stoop to their level." But his eyes sparkled at he looked down at her.
"Oh, go on," Maggie said, leaning over to give him a push. "You know you'd be down there if we weren't here," and he smiled in a way that said yeah, I would.
"We won't think any less of you," Frannie said, and he rolled his eyes.
"All right," he said, "but only if you insist."
"We do," Maggie assured him, and they both applauded as he turned to head down the stairs. "Boys," she said with a grin as he sent a snowball flying in Kowalski's direction. "They can never back down from a challenge."
"Gotta love 'em," Frannie replied, leaning back to enjoy the show.
"Yeah," Maggie agreed, "you really do."
They sat there in contented silence and watched their boys playing in the snow, and Frannie decided that holidays should pretty much always be like this.