~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Shaman School Chapter 7c

Blair was definitely surprised. At least that's what Jim thought as his partner stood there with his mouth hanging open and nothing coming out.

Seeing as how his partner had more or less zoned on the shock of the surprise, he gently took him by the arm and led him to his desk. Blair's own personal desk. The new one next to Jim's with his own computer, and a name plate hat read Detective Blair Sandburg, Special Consultant. "Sit," Jim said as he pushed his partner into his new chair.

Simon chose that moment to come out of his office. Beaming like a proud new Papa, he walked over to Blair's desk, and laying his hand on Blair'shoulder, he waited until Blair looked him in the eyes before saying, "I told you that you were indispensable, didn't I?" then added, "Come on into my office a moment, won't you please?"

Blair slowly rose from his chair and followed Simon mutely into his office, as Jim turned to the now silent group in Major Crimes and said, "Give us a minute guys, He's just a bit overwhelmed at the moment." Then turning to Jamie, Mike and Carol, he said/thought //"Well, he was definitely surprised"//

Jamie merely nodded and said, //"Go, we'll wait for you right here"//

As Jim turned to go into Simon's office, the remainder of the people in the room went back to work, at least until Blair came back out.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

When Jim entered Simon's office, he turned his senses to his partner to make sure that everything was indeed ok. All vitals were within normal range for someone who had just had the surprise of his life. Closing the door, he turned to find his partner slumped in one of the two chairs in front of Simon's desk.

"Blair, buddy, are you alright?" he asked with concern in his voice.

"I think so. I just got knocked for a loop there. It was definitely not what I was expecting." Blair said as he turned to look into his Sentinel's face.

"What were you expecting, Blair?" Jim asked his partner.

"Not this, how…how…" he gave up when his mouth and brain seemed to not be connected any more.

"Well" Jim began, "You remember when we were waiting for the buyers to show up yesterday?"
When Blair nodded, he continued. "Well, I discussed it with Simon, and we came up with the story that you were originally going to do your thesis on Sentinels. But because you could not find one, you decided to do it on Closed Societies. And to make it even more interesting, you decided to do it on the most closed society that you could find. At least from the way you grew up and all.

Anyway, you were paired with me, and I had developed a couple of heightened senses, and you wanted to see if I was going to develop any more. In case the sentinel angle didn't pan out, you still went with your Closed Societies thesis as well."

"Everything was going great until Alex showed up. You met her the first day here at the station, and tried to help her, unknowing that she was the person that we were after. She tried to kill me, and left you to die. After you got out of the hospital, you went to stay with a friend who could help you understand this vision you had when you were dead, and I wound up there as well to try to help, and Simon was there as moral support. While there, we figured out where she went and why, and we followed her."

"Ok, so, what does all this, "Blair pointed to the Bull Pen, "have to do with that story?"

"I took it to the Commissioner first thing this morning." Simon answered, then added, "We got you the position of Detective, Special Consultant, but the detective part is honorary until you finish the academy."

"And the Commissioner just bought this whole thing. Hook, line and sinker?" Blair asked.

Well, actually," Jim stepped in, "we did finally have to tell her that Jim was indeed a full fledged Sentinel, but that for safety sake, you would not be doing your diss on me. We told her, that if another Sentinel came along, then you would have a subject for your diss, otherwise, you would just be doing the diss on Closed Societies."

Simon then added, "She did ask why you weren't going to use Alex, and I told her, that number one she tried to kill you. And number two, she was no longer a Sentinel."

"What did she say to that?" Blair asked.

"She asked why, and I told her that it had something t do with the Temple and ancient curses, and that she really did not want to go there." Simon said with an interesting smile on his face.

"So, that is basically it." Jim said as Simon turned to retrieve something from his desk. As he turned back, there was a knock on the door, and Jim went to answer it.

"Good afternoon, gentlemen," the Commissioner said as she stepped into the office. Blair rose from his seat and greeted her with a warm smile and handshake.

"I assume that captain Banks has filled you in on the details of his meeting with me this morning?"

"Yes ma'am," Blair answered.

"Do you accept the position?' she asked.

"Yes ma'am!" Blair answered again.

"Well, then, I hate to swear and run, but I have a meeting with the Mayer in fifteen minutes. If you will kindly step out into the outer office, we can get this done, and you can start your new job."

Blair looked at Jim with this very confused look on his face.

Jim answered that look, "You have to be sworn in before you can officially work as a police officer, and it has to be witnessed."

Blair stood there shaking his head as everything clicked, the surprise party, all of the people from the different departments…

Simon ushered them all out the door, and the commissioner did her thing.

Five minutes later, the Commissioner was gone and Blair was once again swarmed by well wishers.

After another twenty minutes, Simon broke up the `party´ and got everyone back to work.

Once again, Simon called Jim and Blair into his office, only tis time, Jamie, Mike and Carol were invited in as well.

Blair stood there staring at his badge and ID card. He was now officially a cop. Thinking he might pass out, he quickly sat down.

Simon couldn't resist, "Well, you might as well enjoy it while you can folks, cause as soon as the newness wears off, Blair is going to be back to talking ninety miles a minute again."

Blair looked up with unshed tears in his eyes.

Standing up, he put the badge in his pocket and wrapped both arms around Simon and simply said, "Thank you".

Simon was shocked for a second, but then returned the embrace as if he were hold giving his son a hug.

At that moment, said son knocked on the door and poked his head in, "Hey, I hear that there was a party around here. Did miss it?" Seeing his Dad holding B;lair, he said, "Blair, are you ok?"

Blair turned Simon loose, and pulled his badge from his pocket and showed it to Daryl, and said,

"Oh, I'm better than ok, right now.

After introductions were made, and everyone got acquainted, they all decided to go out for a nice dinner to celebrate. After which, they were all going to go home and get some much needed sleep as they were going to be leaving at first light to make the long trek back to Colorado so Jim could get his truck
and Jamie, Mike and Carol could return home.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Dinner was a resounding success. They all went out to the Chinese place where Jim and Blair always order out from. Blair, Jim and Simon decided that it would be much better if they waited until Blair and Jim got back from Colorado before dropping any bombs about Shape Shifting and dragons, not to mention Sentinels, to Daryl. Or anyone else for that matter.

Dinner was enjoyably peaceful, mostly discussing Daryl's life and school and future ambitions. Other topics, of course were Blair, and his `new, paid´ position with the PD.

After dinner everyone said their goodbyes and Simon and Daryl went to Simon's house while the rest of the gang went to the loft to get everything together for their early departure the next morning. It was still 11:00 PM before they finally got to bed.
~~~~~~~
Shaman School Chapter 7d

At 5:30 AM the next morning everyone was up, showered, dressed and fed when Simon called to make sure that everything was ok, and that they had everything that they needed before they left.

"Sure wish you were going with us, Simon," Jim said as he worked in the kitchen putting the rest of the dishes away as Blair was getting the rest of their stuff together.

"I'd like to go with you, but somebody needs to stay here and hold down the fort," Simon answered.

//"Better you than me,"// Jim thought to no one in
perticular.

"I heard that," Simon said while trying not to laugh, but failing misserabily.

Jim started laughing at Simon's attempt to not laugh.

"Alright Jim, you all just try to be careful, cause I do not want to hear that your flying is as bad as your driving." Simon said, again laughing.

"I will, good bye Sir" Jim said and then hung up the phone.

Putting the phone back in the cradle, Jim chuckled to himself as he turned to give Blair a hand with the rest of their things.

"Thanks man," Blair said as Jim took his bag and set it by the door. "What did Simon have to say?" he added.

"Not much, just telling us to be careful."

"Ah, I see, the proud Papa looking out for the cubs, huh?"

"Something like that."

"Ok, I think that we are finally ready," Jamie said as she exited Blair's room with her bag, while Mike and Carol came down the stairs with their stuff.

"Alrighty then, everything is turned off and, and I think that we've got everything that we need." Jim said as he moved to the door and grabbed his bag.

"We're outta here then," Mike said as he ushered everyone out the door and let Jim lock it.

"Up, up, and away," Carol said laughing as they made their way towards the elevator.

Once down on the street, they all looked around to see if there was anyone around. It wasn't that they were afraid to morph in front of anyone, but they just didn't want to give anyone a heart attack.
Seeing that the coast was clear, they all morphed into their eagle forms and took off heading south east.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

They had flown for like four hours before taking a break. Landing in a nice clearing in a park that was vacent at the moment, they morphed into their human form.

"Oh man, I am like mega mega beat here," Blair said. Then looking at Jamie he said, "Please tell me that this gets easier as you go along?"

"Like any other exercise, it gets easier as you build up stamina." Jamie answered.

"Hey, as long as we are down here, I saw a diner not too far from here. What's say, we go get something to eat?" Mike said.

Carol looked at Jamie and said, "Men…they always think with their stomach."

"Yeah, I can agree with you there, but I'm hungry as well." Jamie answered with a little smile finding it's way onto her face.

"I could eat," Jim and Blair said in unison.

"Alright, I give, let's get something to eat, and then we can go from there." Carol said to the three `men´ standing in front of her with those great big puppy dog eyes.

Together they decided to walk the half mile to the diner that they had seen from the air.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

They spent two hours leasurly eating lunch and just enjoying each others company. Finally, after their lunch and relaxation, they decided that it was time to take to the skies again. Going around to the back of the building, they looked around to see if there was anyone that would see four grown adults turning into birds. Finding none, the morphed intotheir eagle forms and then took to the skies.

They landed in Jamie's back yard at 7:00 PM.

Totally exhausted they all went into the cabin and headed straight for the beds that were waiting for them. Mike and Carol were even too tired to walk the hundred or so yards to their own home and just curled up together on the large sofa in the living room.

Jamie called Simon to let him know that they had made it home safely and that she would have Jim or Blair call him in the morning to give the somewhat of an itenary. Having done that, she draped a large quilt over Mike and Carol as she made her way to the stairs to her own room.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

********
Epilogue
********

Having slept until noon the next day, Jim and Blair decided to stay another day or two before making the long drive back to Cascade.

They spent the time fishing, walking in the woods, and just all around relaxing.

The Governor found out that they had returned, and sent his limo down for them to come to the Governor's mansion for the dinner in their honor.

He had also gotten in touch with Simon, and had him flown down to Denver for the dinner.

The dinner was a resounding success, and everyone went away happy. They explained to the Govenor and his family that that were all Shaman, and used what they knew in their work to better do their jobs and protect the people of their city. But they also explained, that they did not want any kind of publicity that would make the public aware of their skills, because it would make them a target as well as their families, and in the long run it would do more harm than good.

The Govenor agreed wholeheartedly. If the criminal element new of what these good people were capable of, they would never have any peace. And that was something that he didn't want to see.

Simon flew back home that evening while Jim and Blair spent another day with Jamie as they decided to leave the next evening when all of the traffic was not near as bad.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Pulling up in front of the loft, a very tired looking Blair looked at an even more tired looking Jim and said, "We're home."

"Well, what do you say we head upstairs and get some sleep?" Jim said as he opened the door on the truck and started to get out.

"I'm with that," Blair answered as he opened his own door.

As they stood there waiting for the elevator, Blair said, "First I'm gonna sleep for a week, then I gotta go talk to the U, and then I am gonna have to cleann out my office. Of course, I have to go through my room and completely clean it so that I have a place to put everything, otherwise I'll wind up sleeping on the sofa, and that would violate house rule number...30001," Blair said smiling as he looked at his very tired partner.

Jim just steered his partner into the elevator that had just arrived.

"I'll worry about everything after I've had at least twelve hours of sleep," Jim said as the evelator climbed to the third floor.

"I'm behind that five hundred percent, man," Blair said as he waited for the door to open.

As they got off of the elevator, Jim stepped aside to let a young woman in. Her jacket read Cascade Reality. Glancing at her clipboard, he focused in on the address of the property that was for sale. It was the loft directly across the hall.

*Apparently the Johnson's finally got their house in the country.* Suddenly, a thought occured to him, * Maybe I could expand*...

THE END
for now anyway

Author's end notes

Well, I finally did it. It's finished, and I sure hope you enjoyed it.

Any reading materal mentioned in this story is real. The last story that was mentioned about the lady who died , went to heaven, and then came back four years / four days later is called

*Within The Gates*
Rebecca Springer's remarkable vision of paradice
formally called *Intra Muros*
by Rebecca Springer

published by
Christ for the Nations, Inc.
Dallas, Texas
The Year 1971
Reprinted 1979

This book as well as *Dancing With Dragons* by D.J. Conoway, and Shapeshifting by John Perkins will be gone into in more depth in the stories that follow. That is, if there is anone out there that is interested in a sequel. Hint hint?

Have a good one, and thanks for reading.