#(altho ray is better at the caretaking and meg is better at the mean femme domming)

[variousqueerthings]

realising the thing between fraser and meg starts quite early on really:

we hear her talked about in vault (episode 2) as basically a terrifying entity that everyone's scared of and punishes fraser by taking away his uniform. when he stands up to her at the end of the episode, she declares that he's fired. so very basically: it's clear she doesn't like him, doesn't want him around. it's never 100% clear why she doesn't to begin with, but there are some clues -- she mentions his spotty work record (although how much she knows about the details we'll have to imagine), she also later in the season is shown really struggling with sexual harassment from a male superior, and so it'd justified to see her a little in the same vein as the woman in the pilot episode who considers fraser something of an interloper, who neither deserves, nor belongs in, this position. added to that he could be potential trouble for meg's own career, which she's rightfully pretty careful about maintaining. also. she's a control freak. and fraser is not a very controllable man (or so she thinks...............)

in witness (episode 3) fraser's running menial errands (laundry -- callback to the pilot) in order to make her change her mind and also just because he would do that without complaint, but she's essentially put in to have him transferred... back to canada. he spends the episode thinking about it, and at the end turns it down. to which she smiles (to herself). so here already she sort of likes him and trusts him enough to be okay with him sticking around. potentially the firing was something of a test -- how much can i actually rely on you, because if you're just waiting to get away you're no good to me in this position. maybe she also kind of enjoys how seriously he takes picking up her laundry, that's not even a joke, their whole... ordering/taking orders dynamic is more than just work

in bird in the hand (episode 4) she's away and she's left fraser in charge... so that's also interesting. pretty quick turnaround from "in danger of transfer" to letting him run things. i bet reading the paperwork afterwards was an interesting experience

in the promise (episode 5) he goes above and beyond to get her broach back for her. ray is very unimpressed by his loyalty and points out that fraser would look for the good in anyone even if he had to manufacture it. dunno how much this was intended, but it doesn't not read as ray remembering victoria in a sort of "oh here we go again, you're trying to fix another woman who's treating you like shit." meg, meanwhile has mellowed somewhat more, still very "barking orders" to begin with but more just an average amount of annoyed that fraser will follow the letter of the law and not stop the car for two seconds to let her out! then, the personal upset about the broach makes her more aggressive (hey look, she's definitely got some wonderfully bitchy stuff to her, im not saying she's misunderstood here), and at the end they share quite a soft, quite a loaded moment after he's returned the broach to her by placing it on her desk, that ends on her promptly reasserting her boundaries ("don't ever come into my office without permission again. that's my first and last warning") which leaves him looking uh... idk what to call it. turned on? turned on. something like that. spaced out. he walks straight into a desk afterwards!

(sir what are you thinking???)

tomorrow i rewatch mask, which i know contains all her least-favourable moments (but i cannot remember if there are any that aren't that right now, we'll see), and then there are two episodes unfortunately that she's not in at all, and then the edge, when fraser essentially asks her out on a date and she becomes very flustered and honestly quite sweet about the idea

i do think it's kind of a shame that there's not a little bit of her in between mask and the edge, because that's where there's a bit of a leap in their relationship development that clearly happened offscreen but it's interesting that she seems to at least privately like him from all the way back at the end of witness when she smiles to herself about him staying on. not "loves" or anything like that, but likes something about him anyway