part 4
"What's up with you, man?" Blair demanded, rubbing the back of his neck as he headed towards the bathroom.
"We're in the papers."
"What?!" Blair spun on the spot, wincing as the movement told on his still-healing ankle.
"Careful!"
"What do you mean we're in the papers?" Ignoring the needs of his bladder, he limped over to the table where Jim was sitting, the paper spread out in front of him.
"'It has been confirmed by the Cascade Clan that the Senior Sentinel Prime, James Ellison, twice decorated Cop of the Year'," Jim smirked at Blair, "that's me, by the way."
"I guessed that seeing as they mention your name," Blair pointed out, his tone only slightly snide.
Jim silently mimicked Blair before he continued, "'Has finally found a Guide. Blair Sandburg, 26, a Teaching Fellow at Rainier University -'"
"They know my name?" Blair twisted the paper around so he could see the article better. They didn't just have his name, there was also a reasonably clear photo that, amazingly, didn't make him look like a serial killer, next to a picture of Jim, smartly dressed in a tuxedo. "I don't believe this! How did they get my name?" He glared at Jim. "The Cascade Clan."
"Yep." Jim turned the paper back and gazed at the photos admiringly. "Good pictures, aren't they?"
"Good pictures? You've just painted a bull's-eye on your back and all you can say is 'good pictures'?!" For a moment, words failed Blair then the urgent signals from his bladder sank in. "If I didn't need the bathroom, I swear, Ellison, I'd kick your ass for this!" With as much dignity as he could muster, Blair limped towards the bathroom door.
"You might want to wait until your ankle heals up before you try, Chief." As Blair turned to glare at him, Jim added, "We don't want you making it any worse."
~'~
Once Blair had washed, got dressed and was ready to face the day, he returned to the other room and casually took a seat across the table from Jim. "So what's the plan?" he asked, accepting the plate of food that the Sentinel had acquired for him.
Jim looked pleased, his smile holding more than a hint of smugness. "We get to relax, talk, bond," his smile widened, "and generally take it easy for a couple of days."
Refusing to be distracted by the thought of bonding, appealing though the prospect was, Blair kept on track. "And then?"
"And then I'll return to work." The words were said calmly but Blair could see the Sentinel gearing up for a dispute.
"While I sit around taking it easy...again."
"That's right, Chief."
Abandoning the subject until he'd thought of a way to defeat his Sentinel, Blair said, "She wasn't there last night then?"
"No."
Blair raised his eyes from his breakfast and looked at Jim. The smile had disappeared and he knew that he wouldn't like what he was going to hear. "How bad was it?"
Jim's eyes flickered, then the mask came down, although it couldn't prevent Blair from picking up on the frustrated fury the Sentinel felt. "She trashed the place. I'm sorry, Chief."
Although he'd been more than half expecting it, Blair's stomach clenched painfully and he put his fork down. "Everything?"
"Most of it, yeah."
Biting his lips to hold back his disappointment, Blair shrugged. "They're just things. I can replace them." Not all of them, he knew that. Some had been gifts from friends who were gone.
A warm hand settled over his wrist, and clasped lightly. "They brought back a boxful of stuff she missed."
"Not right now, Jim, okay?" The pain was too fresh for him to go looking through the remnants of his life just yet. Taking a deep breath, he redirected the conversation slightly. "Guess the laptop bought it too, huh?"
The grip tightened slightly then Jim released him and got up. "Sort of, yeah." Reaching under his pillow, he brought out a laptop. "The hard drive was a bit battered but Pais' brother-in-law thinks he managed to transfer everything."
Blair's jaw dropped.
"So, check it out."
His mouth still hanging open in disbelief, Blair pushed his plate to one side and put the laptop in its place, hitting the 'on' button almost automatically. Just one glance was enough to tell him that it was a far better laptop than his old one, fond though he'd been of it. "Jim, this is -"
"I thought it'd keep you occupied for a while."
Smiling at his Sentinel, Blair swallowed down the lump in his throat. "Thank you." His grin widened as Jim smiled back at him. "But don't think you're going to be able to sneak out and let Alex use you for target practice, Ellison. I'm still going with you."
"Yeah, yeah." Jim pulled his chair around the table and sat down next to Blair, gazing with interest at the screen. "So, does this thing have Minesweeper?"
"Minesweeper?! What are you playing that for? FreeCell's way better!"
"Is not." Reaching past Blair, Jim opened up the Minesweeper programme.
Opening up a game of FreeCell, Blair elbowed Jim's hand out of the way. "Minesweeper's for wimps! FreeCell's a man's game!"
"Man's game," Jim echoed derisively, using one arm to block Blair while he took control of the laptop again. "Minesweeper has bombs and explosions, Sandburg; you don't get much manlier than that!"
Blair stopped fighting and stared at Jim. "You're sick, Ellison, you know that?"
"Whatever, Chief. Now watch a master at work!"
~'~
Scrawling his name across the bottom of the report, Jim dropped the pen and flexed his fingers a few times. He hated writing the damn things. Personally, he believed that unwritten reports were like coat hangers: while you weren't looking, their numbers multiplied. And, although his brief report had been almost sufficient for Simon to sign off on, the pen pushers had demanded a more detailed report.
Well, it was done now and if the bureaucrats didn't like it... Jim stopped that train of thought and grinned. Simon would never tell them that.
"More coffee, Sandburg?"
An absent-minded, "Huh," was his only reply but Jim took it as a yes. Grabbing the three-quarters full cup, he ducked into the bathroom and emptied it down the sink, before rinsing the cup out and returning to the other room to make Blair some more coffee.
Convinced that his Guide's attention was fully upon the screen of the laptop, it was almost a shock when Jim turned to give him the coffee and found Blair's gaze fixed on him, a contemplative look in his eyes.
"Something wrong?"
There was silence for a few seconds as Blair seemed to mull the question over, then he laid a hand on the laptop's keyboard. "You didn't have to do this, you know."
"I know that, Chief." Putting the cup down in front of Blair, Jim sat on the bed and sipped at his own coffee before adding, "How else am I going to sneak out without you noticing?"
Blair grinned. "You know that's not going to work."
Jim shrugged. "I'll take my chances." It didn't matter. The truth was that he needed to repair the damage done to his Guide's life and the laptop was only the beginning. Maybe it tied into the Sentinel's drive to protect his Guide - Jim hadn't analysed it and wasn't about to - it was just something he had to do.
If Blair saw through his dissembling, and Jim was sure he did, he didn't say a word about it. "Okay, big guy. Well, I'll be ready when you make your move."
"I'll keep that in mind," Jim promised. Changing the subject, he added, "So why did you choose a warehouse to live in?"
"Oh, man!" Blair half-laughed. "It wasn't my first choice - though the space was great. I was uh...living with a Barbary Ape."
For a brief moment, Jim's mind fought to make sense of that. Surely Blair hadn't said what Jim thought he'd said. He considered himself to be a pretty tolerant guy and alternate sexualities were, well...he'd seen a lot while he was working in Vice but...with a Barbary Ape?!
"I was doing a study on how watching violence on TV affected him and there aren't many places that'll let you keep primates as pets, so...I ended up renting the warehouse. I always meant to find somewhere else once I gave Larry back to the university but never got around to it." There was a pause then, "Jim, are you okay?"
The relief Jim felt was enormous but he couldn't explain that to his Guide without explaining the conclusions he'd jumped to. And they weren't exactly complimentary. Deciding it was too much hassle to explain, Jim took another gulp of coffee, wincing as it burnt his tongue slightly, then said, "Yeah, I'm fine. You were saying you never got around to moving?"
Blair cast him a doubtful look, but continued, "Yeah, well, the deposit for the warehouse had cleaned me out so I was trying to save up for another place. Anyway, then I ran into Alex and the rest, as they say, is history."
"So you wouldn't mind living somewhere else?"
"Are you kidding? Did you see the place? I mean, I know Alex tore it apart but even at its best, it wasn't that great."
"Yeah, I noticed the rats." Jim was glad that Blair wouldn't mind moving. If his Guide had wanted to move back into that hellhole, the Sentinel had been determined to prevent it. At least now, they wouldn't have to fight about it. Jim pretended to think it over, then said, "I know of a place you could rent."
"Really?"
"It's not expensive and you'd have a bedroom to yourself, but you'd have to share the rest of the apartment with the owner."
"Jim, I've shared with rats, I'm sure I could get used to living with a human."
"Well then, I'll have a word with the owner and see what he thinks." Jim grinned. "He's a Sentinel, by the way. Do you think you can cope with that?"
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure that'd be okay." Blair's smile lit up the room and Jim took pleasure in the warm affection that flowed through their bond towards him. "Thanks, Jim."
~'~
By the next day, that warm affection was tinged with a hint of exasperation as Jim was apparently still determined to face Alex alone.
Safely hidden away in the Sentinel suite, one over-protective Sentinel at his side and a veritable gang of them milling around the suite, Blair weighed up his options.
Option one: he could sit back and do nothing and let his Sentinel encourage Alex to use Jim as target practice.
Staring at the back of Jim's head from where he was lounging on his bed, Blair discounted that choice. Jim was stubborn, opinionated and determined to get his own way. Despite that, Blair liked him and most definitely didn't want Alex to harm him. It wasn't just because of the bond - they'd clicked somehow. If he were honest with himself, his Sentinel was the big brother he'd never had. Of course, like all big brothers, the Sentinel was convinced that he knew best. Unfortunately, that was a drawback that the majority of Sentinels seemed to share where their Guides were concerned.
Option two: he could persuade Jim that Alex wasn't going to go for it unless Blair was there too.
Blair repressed the urge to laugh hollowly. He'd tried talking, he'd tried cajoling. He'd even, much to his embarrassment, tried to use the bond against Jim. The Sentinel had ignored what he'd said; laughed at his coaxing, and taken the third as an invitation to bond. Not that Blair had minded that much.
So that left option three: make sure that wherever the Sentinel went, the Guide went too, which was easier said than done. The incident the other day when Jim had gone to Blair's home - ex-home - proved that, even if he were up to full speed, Blair had no hope of fighting Neds off. It had been appallingly easy for the well-muscled ex-Marine to manhandle Blair and stop him from following Jim.
And that left....
Thinking it over, Blair realised that it left him with nothing. Well, nothing except a Sentinel who was hell-bent on suicide, it seemed.
"Chief?"
Glancing up, Blair's gaze met Jim's.
"What's wrong?"
Blair heard the tone in the question. Whatever it was, the Sentinel would fix it. Just like Jim had replaced the laptop and found Blair somewhere else to live, the Sentinel would repair this situation. Only, it was the Sentinel who was insisting on ruining it all.
As his Sentinel loomed over him, Blair rolled onto his side to avoid straining his neck. "Just thinking."
Sitting on the edge of the bed, Jim prodded, "About?"
"About why you shouldn't have bonded with me," Blair replied honestly.
The hint of panic was quickly hidden under a wave of fury as the Sentinel grabbed his shoulders and pushed him flat on the bed, leaning over him, domineeringly. "Never say that! You're my Guide!"
Later, Blair thought that Jim had to have hurt his throat with that harsh tone but, at the time, the Guide was more intent on getting through to his Sentinel. If calm reasoning or coaxing couldn't work, maybe plain honest truth would sink in. "It's true! You're more vulnerable that you were before. More vulnerable than she is! She doesn't have a Guide; she doesn't know what it's like to depend upon a Guide to keep her out of zone outs! You do!"
Pulling back, Jim let go of his shoulders and stood up. "That's rubbish, Sandburg, and you know it!"
"No, it's not!" Pushing himself up, Blair followed him. "And while you're out there, putting your life on the line to catch her, I'll be stuck in here. Waiting for them to come knock on the door to tell me my Sentinel is dead! I'm not going to do it, Jim."
That infuriatingly smug look settled upon the Sentinel's face. "And how exactly do you plan on stopping me, Sandburg?"
"I'm not planning on stopping you, Jim. You want to kill yourself, you go right ahead. But I won't be sitting here waiting for you to be carried back in a coffin!" There was a moment's pause as the Sentinel's eyes darkened with his fury, then Blair took the plunge and said it. "If you go to face Alex without me, I won't be here. I'll break the bond and go."
"I won't let you." The words were forced out between Jim's clenched teeth.
"How will you stop me? You'll be dead."
Stalking forward, the Sentinel invaded his space. "I'm not going to get killed, Sandburg. And there's a whole Clan of Sentinels out there who'll stop you from leaving!" With that, he brushed past Blair and yanked the door open.
"Now where are you going?!"
Jim's eyes gleamed at the sound of concern in Blair's voice. "Not far. Don't worry." Then he shut the door behind him.
~'~
Ignoring the loud muttering and insults concerning his manhood, parentage and personal habits that Blair was giving vent to, Jim nodded to Sentinel Pierson and his Guide who were on guard in the hallway, and went to find the Sentinel Prime.
He wasn't sure if he'd find them still in the suite, or if they'd gone home for a while, but the sound of David's voice told him they were around. Following the quiet voice, Jim eavesdropped shamelessly on their conversation. After all, if anyone wanted a private conversation, they had to know better than to try to have it in a communal room in the Sentinel suite.
"But I don't think it's fair that Blair should have to stay here! If it were you, I'd want to be there."
"David."
The warning tone in Edwards' voice told Jim that the Sentinel Prime was aware of his approach and wasn't willing for his Guide to face an annoyed Sentinel.
Jim hid his smile as he entered the room. As if Edwards would let anyone - even the Senior Sentinel Prime - show their annoyance to his Guide.
"Senior Sentinel Prime."
David's voice softly echoed the greeting, then the Guide retreated to his Sentinel's side.
Not bothering with any preliminaries - he was sure that Edwards knew why he was there - Jim said, "I wanted to talk to you both about Blair."
There was a quick exchange of glances between Edwards and David, then the Sentinel replied, "David and I were just discussing the matter."
Jim smiled slightly. "So I heard." Tilting his head towards the door, he added, "Let's take this somewhere more private," and headed towards the nearest bonding suite. Holding open the door, he let Edwards and David enter first, then followed them in, making sure to keep his distance from the Guide. While Edwards knew that the Senior Sentinel Prime was bonded and was not a threat to his own bond, there was a risk that being in here would drive him to defend his Guide, regardless of Jim's intentions. However, Jim wasn't prepared to discuss his own Guide where others could listen in, and the bonding suites were the only truly private areas available.
Tucking his hands into his pockets, Jim adopted the most casual and non-threatening pose he could, and gazed across the bonding platform to where Edwards was standing, David tucked slightly behind him. "How easy was it for you to shield Blair?"
Edwards shook his head, the tension easing slightly. "If he hadn't been recently bonded, I wouldn't have been able to shield him at all. Once he's back to full strength, you're the only one who'll be able to hold him back."
Despite knowing what that meant, Jim couldn't help the surge of pride he felt; he'd known Blair was strong the first time he saw him. "He wants to go with me when I go back to the PD."
"I don't blame him," David put in.
Taken by surprise, Jim stared at the Guide for a second before yanking his gaze back to Edwards.
Instantly, Edwards side-stepped, hiding David from view; one hand clenched into a fist, the other curling around David's wrist possessively.
Deliberately keeping his voice calm, Jim asked, "Sentinel Prime, does your Guide believe that my Guide should go with me?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
After a few seconds, Edwards said, curtly, "Because he's your Guide."
Jim nodded. He might have guessed that David would side with Blair on that one. "What do you think, Edwards?"
"You're not going to be able to stop him." Edwards shrugged. "He's your Guide. He belongs with you." His gaze turned pensive. "And from the difficulty I had holding onto him, I'd say he'll be able to put down any Sentinel who gets near him."
Jim sighed. Maybe Blair had been right; Jim should have waited until after Barnes was captured before bonding with him as it had increased Blair's empathic abilities. On the plus side, if Barnes ever did manage to get hold of Blair, he could zone her before she did a thing to him.
"Thanks. I guess that settles it then." Opening the door, he glanced over his shoulder, knowing he wouldn't see the Sentinel or Guide for the rest of the day. "See you when I see you."
~'~
Returning to his room, Jim was surprised to see Blair sitting quietly on the bed although the scent of his anger lingered in the air.
"What did Neds say?"
Jim frowned.
"It was obvious that you were going to get some advice," Blair added, curtly.
That explained the anger. "He and David agree with you."
Blair nodded slightly, his jaw still tight. "So?"
Turning his back on him, Jim stared down at the laptop and replied, "So I guess you win." The Sentinel hated defeat and could not take it lightly - especially when his Guide's safety was involved.
His voice softening, Blair said, "It's for the best." As Jim spun to glare at him, he continued, "Think about it, man; we're stronger together. She tries anything, she's got to take us both on."
Well, they'd find out soon enough if Blair, Edwards and David were right. In the meantime, the Sentinel had had enough of listening to anyone's advice. Stalking over to the bed, he pushed Blair flat and leaned over him. "Claimed and marked, Guide."
The gleam of triumph in Blair's eyes was quickly hidden, and he tilted his head back invitingly. "Claimed and marked, Sentinel."
~'~
The next day came all too soon for the Sentinel, and he ushered his Guide towards the elevator, his heart sinking with every step. This was a mistake, he knew it, and yet....
"Stop worrying, Jim. You've got half the Clan watching my every move."
Jim glared at Blair. It wasn't half the Clan, it was the whole Clan, and they'd damned well better make sure nothing happened to his Guide.
The drive to the precinct, in an unmarked and unnoticeable car, was quiet and Jim's tension eased slightly as he ushered Blair into the elevator, making sure to block any threat to his Guide with his own body.
Once up in the bullpen, Jim relaxed a little more. While it was all too easy for Barnes to get into the building, it was extremely unlikely that she'd manage to infiltrate the bullpen. Especially with the Clan on guard. His eyes narrowed though as he spotted the pair of strangers sitting at Rafe's desk, while the detective was unhappily sitting at Jim's own. As Jim came in, Blair at his side, Rafe leapt to his feet.
"Ellison! Uh -" He grabbed for some papers, knocking half of them onto the floor as he did so. "Captain Banks asked me to use your desk as Agents Naylor and Sampson needed a desk and -"
"Relax, Rafe." Jim would far sooner have Rafe sitting at his desk than the FBI agents, and it was obvious that Simon had realised that.
"Detective Ellison." The elder of the two agents approached and Jim hid his grin as he saw Rafe hurriedly retreating to Brown's desk and taking refuge there. It looked like the Feds weren't popular. "I believe we have you to thank for the reported sighting of Bannister in Cascade?"
Pale eyes flickered to one side and Jim saw the gleam of interest as Naylor looked at his Guide.
A quick sidestep and a soft growl brought Naylor's attention back to him, and Jim dismissively replied, "Her name came up in connection with a case I was working on. That's all."
Naylor's gaze shifted under Jim's glare and a faint flush tainted his cheeks. "Well, if you have any more information to offer us -"
"I'll know where to find you." Turning, Jim latched onto Blair's arm and tugged him forward. "Let's go, Chief. I want you to meet Captain Banks."
Pushing Blair ahead of him, Jim ushered him into Simon's office. As he turned to shut the door, he caught the very quiet, "Do you think it was the short guy who gave him the info?"
"I don't think anything of the kind, Sampson, and you better hadn't either."
Satisfied that the Feds knew better than to approach Blair, Jim shut the door and turned to face Simon with a smile on his face.