When the Ice Goes Out

Fanfiction
Title:	When the Ice Goes Out
Author(s):	Kellie Matthews
Date(s):	2000
Length:	229 KB, 32826 words
Genre(s):	slash
Fandom(s):	Due South
Relationship(s):	Fraser/Kowalski
External Links:	at the author's website, at AO3
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When the Ice Goes Out is a Fraser/Kowalski story by Kellie Matthews.

It has a sequel called Moonrise.

Author Notes

"Rated NC-17 for M/M sex and occasional bad words. If you're considered a minor in your community please take off now, you shouldn't be reading this. You may also want to skip this if you're narrow-minded, easily offended, or have something against Chicago Flatfoots with Experimental Hair-- unless of course you're masochistic, in which case knock yourself out. The characters Benton Fraser and Ray Kowalski are from the television series Due South. I don't own 'em, I wish I did. I'd be a lot richer, plus I'd be insufferably smug. Yeah, the characters are property of Alliance, yadda, yadda, yadda. Everything else is my smutty intellectual property. Timeline: Post CotW.

Soundtrack: John Gorka's "When the Ice Goes Out," and "Heroes;" Bruce Cockburn: I was going to list 'a few' songs from Dart to the Heart, then I realized it's pretty much the whole CD, but most especially "All the Ways I Want You," and "Closer to the Light." Also: Dar Williams' "Family."

Big honkin' THANK YOU's to my betas: Betty, who has a way of dynamiting me when I'm stuck, and being relentless on characterization; and to Audra, for reminding me that just because I've never done something, that doesn't mean I can't do it or that it shouldn't be done. Oh, and as always, that comma thing. Thanks also to realitycek who caught a little problem I'd missed. Additional thanks to Otsoko, for the new and improved psychobabble! --Kellie."

Reactions and Reviews

After Call of the Wild Fraser moves back to Canada, where he proceeds to be bored out of his mind, even though the locals have taken to staging bar brawls just to give him someone to arrest. Then he gets a letter in the mail and finds out that RayK has quit his job and is now missing. It's up to Fraser to find him, and there are a lot of surprises on the way... I love post CotW fics and this is a great one, with plenty of delicious relationship angst, an intriguing mystery (where in the world is Ray Kowalski?), and lots of self-evaluation from both of our boys. There is one scene with Ray and an OMC that I'm not thrilled about, but it's only a couple of pages long and it's more than made up for by the absolutely fabulous scene where Fraser and Ray finally meet again. Bonus: a unique (and yet utterly perfect) job for Ray. Double bonus: a smutty sequel featuring outdoor sex. Triple bonus: Diefenbaker being awesome! A great story all around.

[includes comments on "Moonrise"]: The first story is post COTW. The boys are back to their old lives and trying to make it without one another. Neither it turns out are doing a very good job of it. When Ray retires and then disappears without a trace, apparently out of his own design, Fraser sets out to find him and discover what the problem is. There's plenty of angst and pining away for one another in this one, which I just love. The boys are both under the impression that they are alone in what they feel and are pulling away from one another and hiding to escape the pain of Unrequited love. Might not be as unrequited as they think. I like the first story alot, but the second one , Moonrise, I love. It has a sex scene so hot it sets the screen on fire, let me tell you. There is just so much heat, love and closeness expressed in that one little story that I can't describe just how it made me feel. It can be read alone, but it's really either a sequel to the first or an epilogue, Kellie hasn't decided whether to end it there or not. We'll see.

This is one of only a few epic-length fics that I've ever felt compelled to read in one sitting. Usually I like to savor them since they don't crop up all that often, but this time, oh. I had to read it all, and as soon as possible.

What made this fic excellent for me, apart from its fantastic writing and stellar characterization, is how deeply it made me feel. I mean, of course I love Fraser and Ray, and I love Fraser/Ray, so deep feelings are a given going into most good fic. But something about the way they're written here made me even more invested than I normally am.

I've only read it twice because I can't imagine reading it part-by-part. It's an all-in-one-go-or-nothing sort of fic, and one of the finest gems I've come across in this fandom. Highly recommended!

Ray quits the force and goes to work as a private investigator without telling anyone where he's going. Fraser finds him, and what he finds is not what he expected. I admit it, I have a thing for loneliness in this fandom, because it's my basic belief that these two work so well together because they're two lonely men who have found something in each other, and this fic gives it from both sides.