Fandom: Due South
Summary: A short but bumpy ride.
“The wheels on the bus go round and round, round and round, round and round.”
The sweet, soft crooning, mother to young child, drifted past the passengers seated and standing at the back end of the crowded bus. It was the woman’s second time through the song at the behest of her three-year-old daughter. She continued singing softly.
One passenger in particular, a noticeably handsome man in a heavy plaid jacket and Stetson, was enjoying the singing and the interplay between mother and child. From where he stood (he had, of course, given up his seat the moment the bus filled up) he could only occasionally glimpse the brunette mother and the strawberry blonde child. They were sitting in the center of the back row of seats.
The bus slowed for a right turn, then picked up speed and veered sharply coming out of the turn. The passengers tilted and swayed then righted themselves only to be shifted once again as the driver changed lanes.
As people leaned way this way and that he would suddenly get a clear view of the little girl. He smiled at the delight in her tiny expressive face as she was pushed up against her mother and then slung the other way. It was obvious that to her the bus was providing the same effect as an amusement park ride.
The mother, who also had an infant nestled against her chest sleeping in a baby sling resumed singing once the motion subsided. “The babies on the bus go up and down, up and down, up and down.”
On cue the front tires hit a deep pothole — hard. Barely recovered from the turn and lane change everyone on board jounced, tottered and collided, and then the back tires hit the same pothole.
At this point three things happened in what seemed like an instant.
The mother suddenly shrieked out, “Oh! Oh! Oh, my God!”
Her toddler bounced up and off the seat and began to fall toward the unyielding surface of the floor before her mother’s grasp could stop her.
The man in the Stetson let go of the metal pole he had been holding and lunged toward the back seat. Practically knocking bodies out of the way with his momentum, he stretched full out, leading with his arms and miraculously caught the falling toddler before she hit, although his jaw impacted with a jarring thud.
“Oh, God. Thank you. Thank you.” The shocked mother reached out for her daughter. With the man’s help she pulled her back up beside her, this time wrapping her right arm protectively around the child so that no amount of bus bouncing would dislodge her again.
Several nearby passengers offered their hands to help the fallen man back up. Before he could decline they had assisted him into an upright position.
A male voice shouted up toward the driver, “Hey, you should take it easy, you got precious cargo on board, buddy.”
A few other voices echoed agreement.
Someone handed the man the Stetson that had snagged on a woman’s knee as he’d sailed past.
“Thank you.”
“Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. Thank you kindly.”
“Thank you. Thank you again,” the grateful mother reiterated. “It happened so fast, I couldn’t come close to catching her.” She looked down at her little one. “Sweetie, are you okay?”
The child looked uncertain. The ride had gotten a little rough, but it hadn’t hurt. She was still trying to decide if it had been fun or scary. “Okay.” She knew that much, but whether she wanted to do it again. . .
“Selby, that’s the nice man who caught you.” The mother pointed to the rescuer who was putting his Stetson back where it belonged.
The little beauty looked up at him and smiled shyly. She liked his eyes and his funny hat. He smiled back at her. She liked that, too.
“Can you say thank you, Sweetheart?”
“That’s not nec–”
“Tank you.” She smiled even wider.
His head was still reverberating from the impact with the floor, but her face made it all recede into so much background clutter. She had a smile that could crack open a heart like a peanut shell.
“You’re very welcome, Selby. That’s a pretty name. I’ve never heard it before.”
The little girl just beamed. Her head tilted downward for a moment and then back up again, hazel eyes sparkling at the compliment.
“It’s a family surname, but we thought it had a good sound — unusual but not too strange.”
“You’re right.”
“We wanted her name to be as special as she is.”
“It’s a perfect name. I can’t imagine a better one.” He smiled at the little girl once more and she looked at up her mom then back to him. She reached out her hand and seemed to be offering him whatever she held inside it.
“For me?” he asked. She nodded and he looked to the mother for permission before accepting whatever it was. At the mother’s encouraging nod he crouched down and held out his open hand, placing it under the child’s. She opened her fingers and pressed a small stone into his palm.
“Special,” she said simply, with just a hint of childish lisp.
“Yes, it is. Do you want me to keep it? Or do you want it back?”
She thought about it. “Keep it,” she said decisively. “I have more special ones.”
“Thank you Selby. I’ll keep it in my place for special things.”
That seemed acceptable to Selby.
Realizing that the bus was pulling out of a stop, Fraser straightened and looked through the nearest window. They had just left the stop closest to the Vecchio house.
He gave no indication that he had missed his stop. “I have to get out at the next stop.”
Hearing that, one of the people who had helped him up moments earlier hit the stop request tape, though it wasn’t his stop. Fraser would have thanked him had he noticed.
“Good-bye, Selby.”
“G’bye.”
“Thank you again for the stone.”
“It’s magic,” she informed him.
“I’m sure it is.” He smiled at Selby’s mom, who smiled back.
He made his way past the passengers standing between him and the exit. Each person got his or her very own own customized, individualized, “excuse me, please,” and “thank you, kindly.” Glancing back he caught one tiny shy wave which he returned and then the little girl disappeared from his view behind the other standees.
At the top of the steps to the door he looked back one more time, but could see neither Selby nor her mother through the remaining passengers.
The bus lurched to a halt and the indicator light turned green, someone pushed open the door ahead of him. He made his way down to the sidewalk and held the door for the last of the disembarkees.
As the bus pulled out past him he could see no sign of the winning little girl. Nevertheless he stood watching until it was nearly out of sight. It had been a good feeling to hold her — to help, protect and share her for a moment with her mother — almost as though she had been his own daughter.
Placing the “magic” stone in a pocket, he smiled as he pictured her smiling face. He was abruptly reminded of his jaw’s hard contact with the floor as his muscles tugged against the soreness under his chin. Setting out in the direction of the Vecchio family manse, he felt his jaw line with thumb and forefinger. It was already a bit swollen and definitely tender. It would certainly be black and blue before dinnertime. He wondered what his friends would make of it.
It would look like he’d been in an altercation.
Ma and Francesca would fret over it. Maria would be mildly concerned — and mildly impressed. Tony would assert that he could have taken… whoever it had been. And Ray… Ray would tease him unmercifully. He wouldn’t let up until Fraser told him exactly how he’d acquired the injury and then he’d tease him even more.
Once the truth was out his relentless partner would never let him hear the end of it — not only had he once again lived up to Ray’s image of him as Dudley Do-Right, but he’d been flattened by a three-year-old — in more ways than one.
The End
