Hi everyone! Okay, this is my first fan fiction story so please bear with
me. There is no swearing in this, no violence, and virtually no plot.
You're warned. This is what comes out of laying in bed for an hour at
night trying to get Due South out of your head.
Disclaimer: All Due South characters belong to Alliance. Anything else,
unless stated, belongs to me. No copyright infringement is intended, and
the story below is for entertainment only, not to be used for profit. All
errors are mine.     (Was that okay?)

"Made in Canada"
by Katie Zajdel

A Due South / Toy Story crossover (well, sort of)

Okay, if you haven't seen Toy Story, the basic premise is toys that
come to life when their owner leaves the room. Not a brand-new concept,
but one that I've always found interesting. And yes, I admit that I still
have toys in my room, I just don't use them anymore. Now then...
**
We've all waited for the day when the Fraser, Ray, and Dief action
figures would hit the market. This is what happens when that day finally
arrives...

   I ran up the stairs to my room with my newfound treasures in my hands.
The toy store finally got the Due South action figures in, and I had
just gotten one of the last "Fraser, Ray, and Diefenbaker" sets. I almost
had the "Riv" accessory, too, but someone wrestled it out of my hands at
the last minute. Oh, well--good thing the store had those rainchecks
handy. I'll get it someday, when they stock more. But for now, I had my
posable action figures, and that's all I cared about.
   My parakeet, Cosmic, squawked at me as I raced into my room. Jumping
onto my bed, I ripped open the package. Let's see--Fraser came with his
Stetson (of course), Ray came with a little cellular phone and a pair of
sunglasses, and Dief came with what I could only assume was a little box
of Milk Duds. With three proofs of purchase, you could send in for a
crocheted sweater for him. I stood them up next to my window by my other
Mountie figurines, and was surprised at how detailed their faces and
clothes were. Then my mom called me down for supper, so I walked out of
my bedroom, closing my door behind me.
****
   As soon as the door was firmly shut, Fraser cautiously opened his tiny
blue eyes. He looked around and, seeing no one, turned to Ray and Dief
and said, "It's all clear. You can 'unfreeze' now."
   As Fraser straightened his hat and bright red serge and Ray had a nice
long stretch, Dief shook his head and started running around. Seeing
this, Ray said to Fraser, "Hey, Benny, control your wolf! He's gonna run
into something."
   "He's just excited, Ray. He has a lot of pent up energy after spending
a month in that blister package."
   Then, noticing their new surroundings, Ray groggily turned to Fraser
and asked, "Benny, where are we? Why is everything so huge?"
   "Well, Ray," the Mountie responded, "we appear to be in someone's
bedroom. And everything is huge because, well, we're toys. Five inches
tall. We're made of plastic. Here, look." Fraser took off his boot and
flipped it around to show the bottom of it to Ray. "'Made in Canada'
right there, engraved on my boot."
   "What?" said Ray. "I mean, now that my head is clearing up, I remember
the toy thing and all our rules, like how we can't let real people know
we're alive and all, but are you saying I'm a Canadian right now?"
   "Look on the bottom of your shoe, Ray. What does it say?"
   Ray lifted his shoe and stared at the inscription. "Oh, no. What is it
with America and these dang imports?"
   "It's of no importance, Ray. Anyway, I think we should introduce
ourselves to all the other toys here."
   It was then that the cop and Mountie toys had their first good look
around the room. On shelves next to the window, there were model horses
of all sizes, who were now cautiously peering out at the newcomers. Model
space shuttles hung from the ceiling, and on the floor were some action
figures from some sort of science fiction show, setting their phaser guns
on "stun" out of their uncertainty about any new toy. The blue parakeet
sat on top of his cage, occasionally flying around the room, but always
looking uneasily at any toys that talked or moved.
   Fraser smiled, and held up his hand in greeting. "Hello everyone," he
called. "My name is Benton Fraser, Royal Canadian Mounted Police. This is
my friend, Detective Ray Vecchio, Chicago P.D., and my wolf, Diefenbaker.
It's nice to be here, and I hope we will all become good friends."
   "Hi there," came a voice from behind them. Fraser and Ray whirled
around to see another Mountie with a sharp red tunic standing there. He
was a little taller than they were due to his R.C.M.P base, and he was
not an action figure, but rather more of a plastic statue. "My name is
Constable Turnbull, and I'd like to welcome you here to Katie's Room."
   Fraser looked puzzled for a moment, then asked, "By any chance, you
wouldn't be..."
   Turnbull smiled and said, "No, I'm not Due South's Turnbull. I'm
just named after him. You see, Katie, whose room this is and who owns us,
loves watching him on the show because he makes her laugh so hard. So,
she named me after him. But I'll tell you now that I'm not anything like
what I've heard he's like."
   "Ah," Fraser answered quietly, "that's good." He still looked a little
distressed, something Ray wasn't used to, so Ray changed the subject.
   "Hey, do you know how we can get down from this ledge?"
   "Oh, sure, sure," Turnbull answered. "There are two shelves beneath
you: just climb down."
   Fraser and Ray started to climb down to the floor. As soon as they
were safely on terra firma, Fraser looked back up toward the ledge and
called to Dief, "Jump!"
   For what seemed like the first time ever, Dief obeyed willingly. He
jumped right into Benny so he would catch him, but the wolf was so big
from all his junk food that Fraser would have toppled over from the
wolf's weight and momentum had Ray not been there to steady him.
   "That does it, mister," Fraser said to Dief. "As of right now you're
on a diet. You're getting too soft." Dief just whined softly and trotted
away.
   From the floor they were able to get a little better view of the
bedroom. "Hey, what's with all the Mountie stuff in here?" Ray asked. "A
poster, drawings, a scrapbook? I specifically saw that our box was being
shipped to the States. How can this American citizen be so much into all
this Canadian stuff?"
   "Maybe she just likes learning about police work, Ray."
   "Oh, yeah, do you see any *American* cop stuff around here? No! Not
even a Sherlock Holmes hat in honor of all us detectives out there."
   "Ray, you're forgetting that you're just a toy. You're not *the*
Raymond Vecchio."
   "I know, Fraser, I know," Ray sighed. "This place is weird, though,
Benny. I don't like it. But it looks like we'll be here for a while
before we get thrown in the attic or sold at a garage sale."
   "It's not that bad, Ray," Benny said, walking over to pat a horse that
had followed them over towards the door. "This girl looked to be about 16
years old, and she appears to care about us and the show very much. We
could be in a little five-year old's sticky hand right now."
   "Yeah, I suppose you're right, Benny," Ray said. "But her room sure
isn't that much cleaner than a five-year old's."
   "Oh, Ray, it's not messy, just...cluttered."
   At that, a huge commotion started behind them. Ray and Fraser turned
around just in time to see Dief barking at the real-life bird that
actually was bigger than he was. Dief was running wildly around on the
floor, and the bird was squawking back loudly and trying to swoop down on
Dief out of his excitement and annoyance. Fraser ran over to Dief,
shouting, "Dief! Stop it!" But being the deaf wolf he was, Dief didn't
hear Fraser, and was concentrating too hard on having fun by driving the
bird nuts to look around and read Fraser's lips. So Dief continued
barking (in the most threatening way that a 4-inch wolf can) until Fraser
reached him and grabbed him. It took both Benny and Ray to hold Dief
still to quiet him down.
   Dief stopped, but the bird didn't. Now that his target had stopped
moving, he took advantage of the opportunity and dove straight for the
little group. Ray, out of more habit than anything else, reached for his
gun and yelled, "Police! Freeze!" to the bird. Panicked, his hand
searched his belt, but there was no gun anywhere. "Where's my gun?!" he
yelled. "Fraser, didn't the manufacturer put my gun in with me?"
   "Probably not, Ray. After all, everyone writing to the networks to
save Due South is saying what a good family show it is."
   By this time, the bird that seemed to come out of a Stephen King movie
was so close that all they could do was duck (they knew when "duck" meant
"duck"). Luckily, the parakeet wasn't used to grabbing things like an
eagle or hawk, and he missed them and started coming around for another
try.
   Then through the floor boards, Fraser heard a voice from below them.
It said, "Katie, your bird is making a racket up there. You'd better go
and check on him."
   Fraser looked at Ray with an alarmed look on his face. "She's coming
back up, Ray. We have to get in our spots!"
   "What? We can't make it all the way across the room before she comes
up here!"
   "You're absolutely right, Ray. We'll have to ride."
   "What, on that horse? No way! I ain't gettin' on it. What if it breaks
its leg or something? Will we have to shoot it with a phaser from those
space-ranger guys over there?"
   "No, Ray, the horse is plastic, and I saw a half-empty tube of model
cement over there we could use to fix it. But, Ray, that's a moot point.
We have to go! Now!"
   "Alright, I'm coming."
   Amid the diving bird, the cop, the Mountie, and the wolf all climbed
onto the nervous horse. With one good "Hyah!" from Fraser, they were
tearing across the blue carpet, with Ray and Dief barely able to stay on.
   They tumbled down as the horse skidded to an abrupt stop near the
window. They clambered up to the places where they had been set before,
and froze into the exact same position. Turnbull was frozen already,
standing at attention as he always was, and the horse jumped into his
place on the shelf.
   Cosmic made one last dive at the now-inanimate toy Dief, and veered
off only as he heard me enter the room. I stared at my parakeet and
asked, "What's your problem? Don't you like the new law enforcement
around here?"
   With that, I gathered up my Fraser, Ray, and Diefenbaker action
figures (and my Turnbull statue for good measure) and said to them, "Come
on, guys. We're having a second season Due South marathon in a few
minutes. You can come watch with us."
   As I started down the stairs, I thought I noticed something strange on
one of my action figures. I looked more closely, and then I wondered,
"Why would my Diefenbaker have a blue feather in his mouth?"

THE END
***********
Comments? Any comments welcome, just please go easy on me, this is my
first try at this. TYK! :)
Southly, Katie Z. (who's wondering just how many people stayed awake til
the end! :) )
 

This page last updated April 9, 2001.