This was such a nice surprise! And it was very sweet of you to dedicate the story to me instead of one of those unfortunate bovines, who would probably not have fully appreciated this story very much :-)

Everyone has commented already on the greatness of your Ray, and I'll chime in and say that he is absolutely perfect here: self-conscious, worried about being abandoned, and so very tender with poor Fraser in the midst of the heatstroke. Since I moved south I've had heatstroke about four times myself (turns out spending most of your life in a cold climate really doesn't prepare you for heat and humidity) and I can completely sympathize with the sickness and Fraser's sensation of relief in that bathtub. Ugh to the heat!

Speaking of which, that bathtub scene is pretty much the hottest thing ever. And I loved this line: Ray felt like they were cartoon characters just after the bulldozer treatment, both of them inflating and popping back into their old shapes. Again, perfect Ray voice. There are many, many more bits I loved in this but quoting them all would take too long; suffice to say, I adored the whole story, and thanks for posting it!