Rated PG
This is dedicated with much affection to all my fellow Chicago House Party mates.
Benton Fraser and Ray Vecchio legally belong to Alliance and I claim no right to them. Any similarities between what occurs in this story and what actually occurred in our hotel in Chicago are entirely intentional.
RESERVATIONS
Ray Vecchio sprinted up the steps of the apartment building on West Racine and rapped lightly on the door of apartment 3J. The door was promptly opened by Ben, who was carrying a knapsack.
"Sorry I'm late, Benny." Ray said "But Ma gave me such a send off that you'd think I was going off to war instead of a three-day police seminar."
"That's quite all right, Ray." Ben said, a fond grin on his face. He loved it when Rosa's Italian Mother-Hen instincts took over. "Actually, I'm not quite sure why we even need to stay in the hotel. The seminar is right here in Chicago."
They reached the Riv and Ray unlocked the trunk and tossed Benny's knapsack in next to his much larger suitcase.
"We're staying at the hotel because the Chicago PD and the RCMP are paying for us to stay there." Ray grinned. "Besides, some of the sessions might run late, and we'll be tired. It'll be nice to just have to go a couple of blocks, instead of clear across town."
"Mmm hmm."
"Mmm hmm? What mmm hmm?"
"Nothing Ray. Your reasoning is quite logical."
"Just be quiet and get in the car, Benny."
It was a far more dubious Ray who led Ben into the lobby of the hotel a short time later. The hotel was not situated in the best part of town, and it looked rather shabby, although some obvious attempts were being made to rectify that situation.
It had been most difficult for Ray to leave his beloved Riviera with the parking attendant, but the threat of arrest if anything happened to the vehicle had seemed to inspire the man to do a good job.
As they approached the desk, Ben and Ray noticed one rather harried-looking desk clerk attempting to help a rather large crowd of guests, many of whom seemed most displeased.
"What in the hell do you mean you don't have a room for me?" A man attempting to check in was bellowing. "This reservation was made over two months ago! You have my confirmation number and my credit card number; now I want my room!"
"Sir, I would love to provide you with a room, but unfortunately the hotel is overbooked and the room reserved for you has been given away."
"Overbooked? Are you not aware that's illegal? I'm a cop. I could bust you right now!"
"Sir, there is fine hotel just around the corner; and we will put you up there tonight at our cost."
"Oh. So I go to that hotel tonight, check in, unpack and then tomorrow I pack up again, check out then check in and unpack here? I don't think so!"
"Sir, I'm terribly sorry, but there is nothing else I can do." The desk clerk said.
With a last curse, the man stalked off to the cab waiting to take him to the other hotel.
Ben and Ray exchanged a look filled with dread.
The next person in the line got a room with no problem, and some hope returned to the two men, until they overheard the conversation between the person directly ahead of them in line and the desk clerk.
After he had typed in the man's reservation information, the desk clerk looked up warily. "Oh, sir, I'm sorry, but there is a problem with your room."
"What?"
"It is not ready, and most likely won't be until tomorrow."
"Why not?"
"Most of our housekeeping staff did not show up today, and we do not have clean rooms available."
"What?!" The man exclaimed in disbelief.
Ben leaned closer to Ray and whispered "Didn't he tell the other man that the hotel had been overbooked?"
"Yes." Ray whispered back. "Sounds like he's trying to cover his ass."
"Ah."
With more apologies from the desk clerk, another very disgruntled guest went off to another hotel.
A now extremely wary Ray and Ben stepped up to the desk to attempt to check in.
"Yeah," Ray said, stepping forward and using his best 'don't mess with me' voice, "we have a reservation in the name of Raymond Vecchio."
The clerk rather nervously typed the name into his computer. "I'm sorry, sir, it's not coming up."
"Excuse me?"
"How do you spell that last name?"
Ray very calmly and very clearly spelled his name for the man.
The desk clerk shook his head. "Still nothing. Do you have your reservation number?"
"Do I have my reservation number... this is such crap." Ray muttered and mumbled as he pulled the piece of paper from his wallet, then gave the number to the hapless desk clerk.
The man typed in the number, and a look of pure relief crossed his face. "Oh, there you are! We had your name spelled wrong."
"How did you have it spelled?"
"R-a-y-m-u-n-d."
"You misspelled Raymond?!"
Ben looked away, laughing.
"But your room is ready, sir." The clerk said hastily, handing Ray two electronic keys. "If you could just sign here, please."
Ray signed the form, picked up his suitcase, grabbed Benny by the arm and the two men beat a hasty retreat to the elevators.
Ray pressed the call button, then turned to Ben with a wan smile. "I'll be glad to get up to the room and relax, Benny."
"As will I."
The two men waited, and Ben shifted his knapsack to his other shoulder. The two men waited some more, and Ray switched his suitcase to his other hand.
"Are the elevators working?" Asked Ray.
"They must be." Said Ben. "They're making creaking and clanking noises."
Eventually the doors opened and the two men stepped gratefully into the elevator. They rode for a few floors in silence, then Ray said "Benny, look at this elevator."
"It is blue, isn't it?" Ben asked. "It's very blue."
The elevator was "decorated" with deep electric blue, marbleized walls. Ben found himself unable to look away from it, completely mesmerized and perplexed.
"It's giving me a headache." Ray complained.
"That's not Italian marble, is it?"
"Bite your tongue, Benny!"
Ben smiled at him. "I was hoping you would do that for me."
Ray grinned at him, then glanced up at the number panel. "Come on, come on! Where's our floor already?"
Benny and Ray entered the room slowly and a little warily. Ray flipped on the light and as it slowly blinked into service, the two men looked around the room.
"This room is... interesting." Ben said hopefully. He wandered through the room, checking things out. "There are two bathrooms, Ray. Two."
"Yeah, there's two of damn near everything, Benny. See this door to the hallway that has been sealed shut? This used to be two separate rooms." A grin spread slowly over his face. "I think we're in a converted flophouse, Benny. You should feel right at home."
Ben glared at him, then went and pulled back the drapes on the window. "Well," he said, "that would explain the proximity of the mission."
Ray hurried over and looked out the window along with Ben. Sure enough, just a block away was a small, shabby, but obviously well-cared for building adorned with a red electric cross declaring 'Jesus Saves'.
Ben grinned at Ray. "I find that very comforting."
"Yeah? Look how close the El tracks are, Benny. We can practically lean out the window and touch them. How comforting do you find that?"
"Do you really think it will be that bad, Ray?" Ben asked.
Just then a train lumbered by on the tracks, drowning out any potential reply Ray might have made. When silence had again descended, Ray laughed. "Does that answer your question, Benny?"
Ben let the drapes fall back into place with a sigh. "Why don't we go get a bite to eat?"
The two men found a lovely restaurant just a few blocks away, and after their meal, they enjoyed a leisurely walk back to the hotel, Ray insisting on stopping at a liquor store on the way to pick up a nice bottle of wine.
"I think we've earned it, Benny. We'll put it in the ice bucket to keep it chilled."
"And what will we drink out of, Ray? The styrofoam glasses in the room?"
"Sure!" Ray grinned. "That does seem somehow appropriate, doesn't it?"
"Indeed." Ben agreed.
So armed with their bottle of wine, the two men headed back to the hotel. The wait for the elevator seemed even longer this time, and by the time the car arrived, there was a small crowd waiting to get in.
No one wanted to wait even longer for the next elevator, so they all squeezed in and rode up together. When they got to their floor, Ray and Ben squeezed past the other occupants and gratefully exited what Ray had termed "the blue monster".
They entered the room and Ray flopped onto the bed, and instantly regretted doing so. "Geez, Benny! This bed makes yours feel like a soft downy feather bed!"
Ben grinned. "Maybe you'll appreciate it from now on."
"Don't hold your breath."
Ben set the bottle of wine down onto the table and picked up the square plastic ice bucket. "You just rest there, Ray. I'll go get the ice. I'll be back in a jiffy."
Ray nodded. After Benny left, Ray got up and did a little more exploring of the room. To his disgust, he found that there was only one set of towels for the two of them. Grumbling, muttering and cursing, he called down to the desk and was assured a second set of towels would be sent right up.
Ray sat down on the edge of the bed and listened as another El train passed by just outside the window. He sighed in disgust, then glanced at his watch and frowned. Where was Benny, anyway? He had been gone an awfully long time.
Ray felt a small stirring of worry. He hoped Benny hadn't gotten himself into some kind of trouble. Trust the Mountie to have an adventure while getting ice.
He had seriously begun to contemplate going in search of his partner when he heard the door open and Benny stepped through with a full ice bucket.
"Benny!" Ray exclaimed, his relief giving way to mild anger. "Where in the hell did you go for the ice, back to the Yukon?"
"No Ray." Ben sighed tiredly. "The ice machine on our floor was broken, so I thought I'd just walk down to the next floor and use that one. But the stairwell doors on each floor were locked from the outside, so I had to walk all the way down to the lobby, wait for the elevator and then ride it back up again to the floor below ours, get the ice, wait for the elevator there, and then ride up the one floor here."
Ben put the bucket on the table, then pulled out a chair and sank into with a sigh.
Ray smiled. "Poor baby. Here, let me help." He retrieved two of the small styrofoam cups and Benny opened the plastic wrap protecting them while Ray opened the bottle of wine using the corkscrew on his swiss army knife.
He poured them each a glass of wine, then set the bottle in the ice bucket. Holding up his glass, he grinned at Benny. "To memorable events."
Ben smiled and they toasted, then sipped gratefully at the wine. "Speaking of memorable events, I had quite an interesting ride up here." Ben said.
"Really?"
"Yes, a bunch of giggling women got on in the lobby and rode up to the eighth floor."
"Oh, were they ogling your body, Benny?" Ray grinned.
"No, actually they took very little notice of me at all. They were talking about coaxial cables and pornographic videos."
Ray raised his eyebrows in surprise. "This hotel keeps getting better and better." He drained his glass of wine and picked up the bottle. "Come on, Benny. Drink up."
"Are you trying to get me drunk, Ray?"
"Yup. I don't know if you know this, Benny, but wine makes you kind of easy."
"You make me easy, Ray."
"Really?"
Ben just leaned back in his chair and grinned at him.
Ray rather emphatically placed the wine back in the ice bucket, then moved over to Benny and sat in his lap, straddling his partner so that they sat face to face.
Ray leaned forward and nibbled at the juncture where Ben's neck met his shoulder, then moved slowly up until he had captured his lips for a kiss.
Ben happily returned the kiss, sliding his hands slowly down Ray's body to grasp his hips. Things were just starting to get very interesting when they were interrupted by a knock on the door.
The two men jumped and pulled apart. "What now?" Ben exclaimed in a rare show of temper.
Ray groaned and laughed. "It's the towels!"
"Excuse me?"
"There was only one set of towels, so I called and ordered another. That must be them. It figures that on this they'd be efficient."
With an exaggerated sigh, Ben removed Ray from his lap and went to answer the door. The young man on the other side gave him a smile and held out the towels. "Here you go, sir."
"Thank you kindly, Harry." Ben said, reading the man's name off his name tag. "I really appreciate you bringing these towels all the way up from the lobby. That must have been quite the trip for you."
"Actually sir, I only had to bring them from the fifth floor. That's where the linen closet is."
"Ah, the fifth floor you say? Well that's not so bad. Still, we do appreciate it." Ben took the towels and gave the man a couple dollars as a tip.
Smiling, Ben crossed the room to stand in front of Ray again.
"Benny, I know you're interested in a lot of weird stuff, but why would you care where the linen closet is?"
"It's simple, Ray. This way, if they forget to bring us towels again, one of us can go downstairs and get them ourselves, and not risk being disturbed again."
Ray rose to his feet and took the towels from Ben, throwing them carelessly onto the table. "Oh, I like the way your mind works, Benny."
"My mind? I thought you wanted me for my body." Wrapping his arms around Ray's waist, Ben backed him over to the bed and pushed him down onto the mattress.
"Well, it's a package deal." Ray grinned up at him. He grabbed Ben's ass and pulled his lover down to lay on top of him.
Ben kissed Ray, and smiled as Ray's hands continued to play with his ass. Suddenly, a noise penetrated Ben's consciousness. A low-pitched keening, moaning noise. He pulled away and looked down in surprise. He had never heard Ray make that noise before.
Ray blinked up at Benny in surprise and confusion. Then he noticed the look on Ben's face, and putting two and two together, he started to laugh.
"Ray, what is that noise?"
Ray's laughter trailed off and he grinned up at Benny. "Old building, old pipes. They're bound to make all kinds of odd noises."
"It's not going to keep doing that all night, is it?"
Ray managed to shrug. "Hard to tell."
Ben shook his head. "It's rather... distracting."
"Well, then. We'll just have to see if we can't drown out the noise."
Ben smiled as Ray pulled him down into another kiss.
THE END
One final note: While most of the events actually did occur, sadly none of us had a close personal encounter with either a gorgeous Canadian or a sexy Italian-American. At least as far as I know. If one of us did, I want that story, and I want it now.
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