Edge of Snow

Fraser/Kowalski Fanfiction
Title:	Edge of Snow
Author(s):	Arrow
Date(s):	2007
Length:
Genre:	slash
Fandom:	due South
External Links:	online here online at AO3
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Edge of Snow is a Fraser/Kowalski story by Arrow.

Reactions and Reviews

There are a few "Steve" fics in this fandom, "Steve" being the name Fraser utters in the episode North, when he and Ray Vecchio crash-land in the Canadian wilderness and Fraser gets a bump on the head. Fandom has long postulated that Steve was a former lover or a childhood friend, and in this story of pain and loss arrow00 goes with the first interpretation, with an added twist.

Fraser and Kowalski are just wrapping up their quest for Franklin, and Steve's cabin is the only logical stopping point where they can board the dogs and unpack from their journey, since Kowalski is due to fly back to Chicago very soon. Fraser's reunion with Steve is awkward and painful and as Arrow reveals the true nature of Fraser's relationship with Steve, she does a delicate balancing act by implying exactly what happened between them long ago (in all its terrible dimensions) without exploiting the situation or turning this story into a soppy h/c fic. Instead she gives us a multi-layered look at the way rape can impact someone's whole life, and she does it without turning Steve into a monster, or Fraser into a traumatized victim.

I really appreciated her take on Fraser's innocence; the way he dealt with (and deals with) past sexual trauma is realistic and, at least for me, helped explain some of Fraser's complicated relationship with sex. The set-up for the story also allows Fraser to emerge as an unreliable narrator. He is absolutely unable to articulate what happened to him, even in his own head, and it takes Ray Kowalski's determination and compassion to help him break through and begin to deal with Steve's actions. Arrow does a great job of setting Kowalski up as someone whom Fraser trusts and loves with absolute devotion, and yet she doesn't allow the story to tip into one of the "healing powers of sexx0rs" fics that trade realism for a happy resolution. Edge of Snow is a sad, romantic, complex and troubling story, and I can't recommend it highly enough.

Poignant and achy, but absolutely brilliant and spot-on with characterization. An unpleasant part of Fraser's past gets raised, causing tension between Ray and Fraser.