RATED G
Benny sighed as he exited the Consulate and headed for home. Today had been a very bad day.
It had started that morning when he and Ray had gotten into a big argument. Ray had stayed over the night before, and over breakfast he had again broached the subject of he and Benny moving in together.
Benny wasn’t exactly opposed to the idea, but he was worried about the timing. While Ray’s family knew about his and Ray’s relationship, and while they were working hard at coming to terms with it and accepting it, they still weren’t entirely comfortable with the situation.
Benny didn’t want to do anything that would further strain things between Ray and his family- or himself and Ray’s family for that matter.
And then there was the matter of his apartment. It wasn’t the best apartment or best building or best neighborhood in the city, but Benny liked it. He liked how close it was to his work, liked the easy efficiency of the apartment, and he truly liked and cared for his neighbors. He couldn’t just suddenly walk away from that.
He and Ray had discussed all this before, but this morning’s discussion had quickly degenerated into a fight. Each of them had been unwilling to listen to the other, and both had said stupid, hurtful things. The fight had ended with Ray storming out of the apartment and driving off.
Diefenbaker had witnessed the entire exchange, and he had been very upset. After Ray had left, Diefenbaker had jumped out the window and fled down the fire escape.
He hadn’t shown up at the Consulate all day, and when Benny had returned to his apartment for lunch, there had been no sign of him.
Benny entered his apartment to see that Dief had returned. He was lying on the floor in the kitchen, curled up next to the table.
“Hey boy,” Benny said, walking over to him. Diefenbaker didn’t look up or acknowledge his presence at all.
Benny sighed and knelt down next to him. “Dief, I know you’re upset, but come on, don’t stop talking to me.”
Dief gave a listless little whine and closed his eyes again.
Benny frowned, starting to worry. “Dief?” He gently shook the wolf and Diefenbaker opened his eyes and looked up at him again. “Dief, are you feeling all right?”
Dief gave another little whine and flicked his tongue quickly over Benny’s hand. “Are you upset? I’ll give you some dinner, that will cheer you up.”
Dief just sighed and closed his eyes again.
Benny frowned again, growing more and more worried. While Diefenbaker had been upset earlier today, he usually took such feelings out on Benny, acting up and generally being impossible to live with. He didn’t lie around listlessly, and he most certainly didn’t refuse food.
Benny wondered where Dief had been all day, and what he had been doing- and eating. He liked to rummage through garbage bins, and people threw away all kinds of things. Dief could have accidentally eaten something to make him sick- or worse.
Benny decided to try one more tactic. Getting Dief’s attention again, he said “I have some of Mrs. Vecchio’s home made lasagna in the refrigerator. What do say I feed you some for dinner?”
Dief just whined and licked Benny’s hand again and closed his eyes. Benny stood up and hurried from the apartment, his heart beating faster in fear. He ran to Mr. Mustafi’s apartment and knocked rapidly on the door.
Mustafi opened it, looking both annoyed and alarmed.
“Mr. Mustafi, may I please use your phone? It’s an emergency.”
“Of course, Fraser.” The older man stepped back, letting Ben enter the apartment.
Benny hurried over to the phone and dialed Ray’s cell phone number. It was answered on the third ring.
“Vecchio.”
“Ray, it’s me.”
Ray sighed. “Benny, I’ve had a long, bad day, and I really don’t want to get into things with you again right now.”
“It’s not about that, Ray. It’s Diefenbaker. He’s sick, and I need to get him to the vet’s.”
“I’m on my way.”
In less than fifteen minutes, Ray was there, bursting through the door and into the kitchen, where Benny was sitting next to Diefenbaker, petting him reassuringly.
“Hey boy,” Ray said, looking down at the wolf.
Dief just whined softly, and Ray swallowed. “I called Dr. Hansen from the car and told him we were on the way; he’ll be waiting for us.”
Benny nodded silently and he and Ray lifted Dief up and got him settled comfortably in Benny’s arms, then they headed downstairs. When they got to the Riv, they placed Dief in the front seat, and then Benny slid into the car, placing Dief’s head in his lap.
Ray broke more than one traffic safety rule on the way to the vet’s, but for once Benny didn’t complain at all. They got to Dr. Hansen’s and rushed inside, and Diefenbaker was quickly ushered into one of the exam rooms.
Benny slumped into one of the chairs in the waiting room, and Ray sat down next to him.
“I’m sorry, Ray,” Benny whispered. “I didn’t know who else to call.”
“No Benny, you should have called me.”
Benny nodded, looking down at his lap.
“He’s going to be all right,” Ray said.
Benny took a shaky breath, squeezing his eyes closed. “He has to be. He’s the most important thing in my life.” He finally looked up at Ray. “Next to you.”
Ray pulled Benny into his arms, and Benny clung to him, burying his face against Ray’s shoulder. After a few minutes, he pulled away. “Ray, about this morning, I’m-”
“Ssh, Benny, no, it’s okay.”
“No,” Benny insisted, shaking his head. “I want to live with you, Ray. I want it more than anything. Please believe that.”
“I do,” Ray said with a hint of a smile.
“I just want don’t want to alienate your family. They’re too important to you. And to me,” he added in a whisper, looking down at his lap again.
“Benny, they’ll deal with it. Trust me, I know them.”
“And then we have to work out where to live,” Benny said.
A genuine grin crossed Ray’s face. “That could take a while longer.”
Benny nodded. “I am willing to give up my apartment, Ray. It won’t be easy, but you’re leaving your home and your family, I can certainly leave my apartment. We need to find a brand new place to start our life together.”
“We will,” Ray said, taking Benny’s hand and squeezing it. “We’ll work all that stuff out, Benny.”
“We’ll both need to stop being so stubborn,” Benny said.
“I was going to say pig-headed, but stubborn works,” Ray said, grinning again.
The two men lapsed into silence, and time seemed to drag until the door to the exam room opened and Dr. Hansen entered the waiting room, Diefenbaker right behind him.
Ray and Benny stood up, Benny gripping Ray’s hand even more tightly. “Is he okay?” Benny asked.
The doctor shook his head. “I must admit I’m puzzled. I’ve examined him, and I can’t find anything obviously wrong with him. There are some tests I can run, but you would need to leave Diefenbaker with me overnight.”
Dief, meanwhile, looked carefully back and forth between Benny and Ray, then he suddenly trotted across the room to them, head high, tail wagging.
All three men looked at the wolf in astonishment, and Benny gasped. “You were faking?” He asked his wolf. Benny looked at Ray. “He was faking! I don’t believe this! He knew that if he played sick you’d come over to take us here.”
Ray laughed in amusement and relief. “I guess Dief really hates it when his daddies fight.”
Dr. Hansen was watching them, a mixture of emotions on his face. “I hate to break this to you, gentlemen, but wolves don’t have that sophisticated a thought process.”
“You don’t know this wolf,” Ray told him.
Benny was looking down at Dief, obviously torn between feeling incredibly relieved and incredibly annoyed. He finally settled for a mixture of the two. “Don’t you ever do anything like that again!” He ordered. “You scared the life out of me.”
Dief jumped up, placing his front paws on Benny’s chest, and Benny hugged him, burying his face in Dief’s fur. He pulled away and scratched Dief behind the ears before pushing him gently down.
“Keep an eye on him,” he told Ray, walking over to the desk to settle the bill.
Ray looked sternly down at Diefenbaker. “That wasn’t cool, Dief. You scared Benny and me both.”
Dief looked up at him, completely unrepentant.
“Dief, I know that you think you’re smarter than we are, and that you run the family, but you don’t.” Ray sighed heavily. “Ah, who the hell am I kidding?”
Benny stepped up to them, grinning. “Ready to go?” he asked.
“Very ready.”
Benny turned his attention to Dief. “And don’t think you’re getting any lasagna now, young man.”
Dief actually snorted and scampered on ahead of them. His two humans followed after him.
“He’s getting lasagna, isn’t he, Benny?”
“Yes, Ray. He is.”
THE END
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