A missing scene for Love and Guns

By Kelly Wood

**ppffft**

The silencer had done its job...the sound of the bullet leaving the gun was no louder than a whisper. To normal hearing. To Jim Ellison, it might just as well have been a shout. There was a hot pain along his ribs. He froze, paralyzed by the implications.

The heavy body under his went limp just as Ellison realized that he was still breathing...the pain was where the heat of the bullet's passing had burned through to the Sentinel-sensitive skin beneath his clothing. Pushing himself off the still figure below him, he rolled to the side and inhaled deeply, grateful that the gun had ended up pointed at Hector Curasco's bodyguard rather than himself.

The fight had only lasted seconds. In the greenhouse, Maya was still screaming as Jim pushed himself to his feet and headed for the structure at top speed. Avoiding the splinters of glass scattered all over the lawn, he used his sleeve to clear the shards still in the frames; then stepped in through the hole he had made earlier. A flowerpot flew past his head to crash through the glass behind him.

"Easy, Maya. It's me...Jim. Blair's friend. Are you all right?"

Maya stopped in mid-scream and threw herself at him, grabbing the front of his shirt and hiding her face in the material. Even with Sentinel hearing, Jim couldn't understand the words leaving her lips between gasping sobs. He caught enough to know that she was speaking Spanish...the words not exactly terms he would have expected to hear from someone of her supposedly protected background. He didn't have time for this though. "Maya, where's Blair?"

The Spanish changed to English, but the sentiment didn't vary." That bastard killed my mother. I hope you killed him. I hope it hurt!"

Jim felt like shaking her. "Maya, where's Blair?" His ability to track his guide by scent or sound seemed to have disappeared in the greenhouse filled with exotic odors and the wail of the woman clutching him like he was her lifeline. Or maybe it was the adrenaline rush from the fight.

"Did you kill him? Or will he come back?" She looked terrified and clutched even more desperately. Jim patted her awkwardly on the back, trying to discretely disengage her at the same time.

"He's dead. Where's Blair?"

"Good." Teeth briefly showed in a snarl of satisfaction. "I hope he burns in hell."

Jim had lost all patience. He held the young woman at arm's length and shook her lightly. "Where...is...Blair?" The muscle in his jaw threatened to crack with tension.

"Blair? He's over there. By the bench," she added, pointing to a corner of the greenhouse. "Vargas hit him."

The corner in question was filled with the splintered remains of several small trees and other plants, with a large amount of dirt scattered over all of it. There was no visible sign of Blair. Now that Maya was quiet, his hearing seemed to have returned. Focusing, Jim could hear a heartbeat under the debris as he cleared it away. When he finally reached the bottom of the pile, he found Blair lying on the remains of a broken table. A wave of rage filled him at the sight of his young partner with his arms tied behind the back and a gag stuffed into his mouth. There were bruises marking the pale face, and a large bump on the side of his head. "Chief?" Jim called, worried by the unresponsiveness. "Blair? You're safe now." Matching his actions to his words, he gently untied the gag, trying not to add to the collection of bruises. The ropes were more of a problem, until he looked around and spotted the machete on the floor. "Can you hand me that?" he asked Maya, who was standing at his back, staring at Blair's still form.

"Of course," she said, leaving him to retrieve the object. She returned carrying it between two fingers, as if it might bite. Jim shoved down his irritation with her squeamishness as he pulled Blair forward. Holding him steady, he reached around to saw through the ropes confining Sandburg's arms.

"Hey, buddy," he said gently, as Blair let out a low moan."You're okay."

"Jim? Wha--? How did you find me?" The voice was scratchy and faint, but Jim's heart leaped at the return of consciousness.

"Yeah, don't move for a minute." The ropes parted with a snap, and Blair groaned. "Sorry, Chief. Maya called me." Working carefully, Jim pulled his partner's arms around and started massaging the wrists, working the circulation back into the fingers. Another wave of anger passed over him at the lacerations the ropes had left behind. "No, don't move yet...I want to check you over."

Sandburg's blue eyes blinked slowly, then his gaze moved past Jim's shoulder to find Maya, standing behind him. "Maya. You okay?" he asked. "Did Vargas hurt you?"

"I'm okay," Maya said, looking away from the bloody wrists. "Your friend killed that..." The rest of the sentence was unintelligible as she collapsed into sobs again. "I'm glad you're not hurt Blair."

Jim clenched his teeth and ignored the traumatized young woman, concentrating on his obviously injured young partner. Taking Blair's chin in hand, he turned his face away from Maya so that he could examine his eyes. They looked okay, if slightly glazed. "You were unconscious when I found you Chief. Does your head hurt? How did you get knocked out?" The pupils were reacting normally, that was promising. Running his hands lightly over the younger man's body, he searched for any other injuries.

Blair squirmed under the examination. "Ah, man...probably just a lot of black and blues. Vargas took me out the first time with a sucker punch." He gasped as Jim's fingers found the knot on the side of his head. "That's probably from hitting my head when I attacked him."

"You don't remember?"

"It's a little blurry Jim. I was trying to save Maya. Vargas hit her; he was going to kill her. So I jumped him." Blair laughed, but it wasn't a happy sound. "In case you didn't notice, the guy's about a foot taller and a hundred pounds heavier than I am. I lost."

"You're alive...looks like you came out ahead in my book." Jim squeezed his partner's shoulder reassuringly. He spotted tiny drops of blood Blair's T-shirt and looked closer. "What about this cut on your neck?"

Blair's hand flew to his neck, and looked over at Maya as he replied, Sentinel-soft, "Curasco did that. He said..." Blair gasped as his eyes looked at something that had happened earlier. "He said... It was personal. He...he was going to kill me because I hurt Maya." Jim looked away from the pain swimming in those expressive eyes. "Jim!" Blair wrapped his fingers in the material covering his Sentinel's chest. Jim felt satisfaction at this sign that Blair's wrists had no permanent injuries, while at the same time wondering if his shirt would ever go back into the right shape. "Senor Curasco...he's going to be at a warehouse on..."

"Shhh, Blair. Maya called me. Simon's there now."

"Maya called you?" Blair let go; his eyes drifted back over to the young woman.

"She told me you were in trouble."

Blair blinked at the meaning behind those simple words. "She turned in her father." His gaze fixed on Maya, who was shivering, arms wrapped around her body as if to keep herself warm. "I have to help her, Jim."

"Chief, I need to get you to the hospital..."

"No. Help me up."

Jim sighed, knowing that Blair had already made up his mind. Gently, he wrapped one arm around his partner, pulling him up. Blair swayed as he put his weight on his feet; Jim tightened his grasp, ready to catch him if he went down. "Okay?"

"Yeah." Patting the Sentinel absently on the arm, Blair pulled himself out of the taller man's grasp and approached the young woman watching them, her expression unreadable. "Maya..."

"Blair," she acknowledged, her voice shaking with emotion.

"I'm so sorry..." Blair reached out to her, one hand almost touching the wavy dark hair. She stepped back, avoiding his touch. Her eyes flashed as she looked from Blair to Jim.

"Don't. Thank you for saving me from Vargas. I'm sorry you got hurt. But just..." she took another backwards step, almost losing her balance as she stepped on the remains of a flower pot. "Just...don't touch me."

"Maya." Jim flinched at the emotion in the name, and Maya squeezed her eyes closed.

"I don't want to see you right now, Blair," she said, turning her back to him. "Because of you, I betrayed my father." Her voice broke, and she moved towards the greenhouse door. "I can't talk about this with you. Maybe some day, but not now." She opened the door, pausing. "Where do I go now?" she asked, looking out over the lawn littered with shards of shimmering glass.

"The police will want to know what you heard," Jim answered, remaining at Blair's side. "Someone will take you down to the station now. After that..." he shrugged. "We'll help you all we can."

Maya nodded. A police cruiser pulled up outside; Jim nodded to Rafe as he entered the greenhouse. "Detective Rafe will take you down to the station to give your statement," he said. "Take care of her, okay?"

From Rafe's expression, Jim knew he would have plenty of questions to answer, but the younger detective nodded at Jim's mouthed "later".

Blair's eyes were swimming with unshed tears as he looked to Jim. "She can't go down there alone, man," he said. "She'll be scared. She doesn't know anyone. Go with her."

Jim rested one hand on his shoulder lightly. "Rafe will take care of her. My place is here with you, Chief." Blair looked like he would object, and Jim added, "Everyone knows she's special to you. They'll look out for her." He almost sighed with satisfaction when Blair nodded uncertainly, then relaxed against him.

"Okay. Thanks, man."

"You're welcome, Chief." Jim wasn't sure if the thanks was for coming to get his partner, the physical support, or the reassurance of Maya's future...but it didn't really matter. He started moving towards the door, guiding his partner out. They were going to go to the hospital, and then Blair was going home for some serious relaxation. And he still had to check on Drennan.

They paused in the doorway, surveying all the activity outside. Uniformed officers and ATF agents were sweeping the grounds, looking for any other members of Curasco's forces. Two detectives bent over the bodies of the two guards he had shot. An ambulance was in the driveway tending Drennan, and Rafe was helping Maya into the front seat of his borrowed cruiser.

Blair's eyes were focused on the young woman. "I love her, Jim."

"Yeah Chief, I know."

"Do you think she'll ever forgive me?"

Jim wasn't sure how to answer that. He didn't think that Maya was who Blair thought she was; but he knew his partner truly loved her. The woman he thought was behind the pretty face didn't think of anyone but herself...but that wasn't the kind of answer Blair was looking for. He hesitated, then told Blair what he needed to hear. "I think that if she doesn't, she'll never know what she's missing."

Blair shrugged and looked up at him, a halfhearted smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. It wasn't a very good smile, but it was a brave attempt. "Hey, careful Ellison. You talk like that and people might think you're going all sentimental or something."

And Jim knew he had said the right thing. Wrapping an arm more securely around his partner, he smiled. "Let's get you home, Junior."

--the end--