Rating: G
Category: Drama (sorta AU)
Series: Instructions for Life
Warnings: Nope.
Notes: "Instructions for Life" is a new series of stories based an email forward I received by the same name. I (or rather my Muses) thought that most of them fit TS to a tee and would make great stories. Each will be based on a different instruction.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Share your knowledge. It's a way to achieve immortality.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
//Old. So old. When did Grace find time to grow up? Between soccer and dance lessons, the science fair and chemistry awards? Maybe during one of her godfather's endless life lessons.//
Jim grinned and turned his head, watching the man who was the godfather to his only child. Cerulean eyes met his own and returned the smile.
//Come to think of it, when did Blair grow up?//
The smaller man's once wild auburn curls were almost pure white now. The ponytail stretched down his back, tapering off at the waist. Blair hadn't cut his hair since his mother died four years prior; it was his way of honoring the woman, a true flower child until the end.
Blair was twitching uncomfortably in his navy suit, pulling conspicuously at the color-wild necktie. Jim sighed. His friend was the only fifty-five year old man Jim knew that still wore holey jeans. The Chair of the university's Anthropology Department, no less. The more things changed....
Jim chuckled at the thought.
"What?" Blair asked suspiciously.
"Nothing. Just quit fidgeting. The ceremony's going to start soon, then it'll be over before you know it."
"I know." Blair gave his tie one last tug and threw an apprehensive glance at the empty space in the row next to him. "I wonder where she is?"
"She'll be here. She wouldn't miss Daniel's graduation. *No one* is missing this."
Both men glanced at the rows surrounding them. All of their old friends had turned out to see their collective children graduate the academy. Simon, Daryl, Rafe, Brown, Rhonda, even Joel had managed to show up. The friendly faces had aged, but still reflected the same strength and loyalty that they ever had. Perhaps the most unexpected attenders were the other Ellisons. Stephen and his family were almost in the last row, but they were there. That was what mattered.
"Yeah, dad," Mallory said from the other side of Jim. "Mom probably got tied up or something." She grinned wickedly at the intended pun, dark brown curls sliding down to cover her impish face.
The elder Sandburg groaned. With their running luck....
A hush swept the crowd, turning Jim's attention back to the stage. The Fire Chief was standing at attention behind a thin wooden podium.
"Good afternoon," the chief said in a booming bass voice. "And welcome to Cascade Fire Academy's first graduation of the year of our Lord, 2024."
Scattered applause and several hoots resonated through the graduating class seated onstage. Jim's ice blue eyes immediately locked with his daughter's. She smiled, suddenly transformed into the spitting image of her mother. A shadow of loneliness flickered through the older man, but he pushed past it.
//No need to be sad. Margaret would have been so proud of you, Gracie.//
Jim didn't realize he'd spoken aloud until Grace nodded to him. Nodding back, he tried to tune into the Fire Chief's drone about responsibility, safety and integrity, but became aware of a new presence nearby--the faint buzz of an electric wheelchair.
"Sorry I'm late," a light Australian accent whispered, maneuvering her chair into the empty space beside her husband. "The lift on the van got stuck this morning, so my whole day got thrown off."
"S'okay, Meg," Blair replied, giving her a quick peck on the cheek. "They just started."
Megan leaned forward to wave at Jim. "Hey, nervous yet?"
"More so than when they graduated high school or the university."
Jim glanced back onstage in time to see the dean of the Fire Academy approach the podium. A second man positioned himself to the speaker's right, the diplomas in hand. The first man adjusted the microphone before speaking. "We will now announce this year's graduates. Please hold applause until all names have been called."
"Michael Anderson."
A muscular man with sandy hair stood and walked across stage to collect his certificate. After shaking several hands, Anderson returned to his seat. The names continued.
"Jacob Ebey."
"Grace Ellison."
Paternal pride swelled inside Jim as he watched his little girl, now twenty-two, glide across the stage and accept her diploma. "I love you, Gracie," he whispered.
"I love you, too, Dad," she whispered back, her lips never moving.
Beside him Blair was picking at invisible lint and shifting his position every few seconds. In his excitement, he once again reminded Jim of the free-spirited young man he'd first met some twenty-eight years ago. //And promptly threw against a wall,// he thought with a grin. //Caveman, indeed.//
The dean reached the "S's."
"Daniel Sandburg."
Tall like his mother, blue-eyed as his father, and with a shock of dark curls from both, Daniel stood to accept his certificate. Jim's godson crossed the stage with the grace of a wolf, winking at Grace as he passed.
The last four names were called and the Fire Chief returned to the podium. "Ladies and gentlemen, our graduates. The future fire fighting men and women of Cascade."
Thunderous applause filled the compact auditorium as the class stood and dismissed. Onstage, Grace and Daniel met each other in an all-enveloping bear hug. Happy, healthy and above all, together, as they should be.
Jim watched the pair and knew he and Blair had taught them well. Cascade was still protected. The new Sentinel and Guide would see to that.
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