Archive of Our Own ^beta

Author's webpage: http://www.skeeter63.org/jayci/

Author's disclaimer: The characters from the TV series "The Sentinel" are not my property, and I am not making money off of them. That's all I have to say.

Three's Trouble by J.C.

"Sandburg."

"Hey, Chief."

Blair warmed at the smile in Jim's voice, never failing to feel thankful that they had worked through that rough patch they'd gone through some months back. "Hey yourself. What's up?"

"Naomi."

"What? What's she done now?"

"I have no idea, but she couldn't get you on your cell phone, and, evidently, she left a few messages on your voicemail that you haven't answered. So, she tried me. Here's where you can reach her."

Blair wrote down the number that Jim gave him. "Okay, got it. I'll call her. Thanks."

"No problem. I live to serve."

Chuckling softly, Blair ignored Jim's wry tone and whispered, "I'll hold you to that." Then a little louder, "Gotta run. Catch you later, Jim."

"Blair..."

Grinning, Blair responded as usual with, "Me too, man," before hanging up.

+++++

"Ellison."

"Uh...Jim?"

"Sandburg? What's wrong?"

"Nothing...it's just that...I need a favor."

"What kind of favor?"

"A ride."

With a low, sexy laugh, Jim said, "That's no favor, Chief. That's a pleasure."

"Jim!" Blair responded with a fierce whisper, "I'm talking about my mom!"

"Sorry, Chief. Only one Sandburg per customer."

"Jim, will you quit it? Naomi's coming in town, she'll be at the airport at four-thirty. She was supposed to be visiting some friends in Yakima, but got the dates mixed up or something, anyway, she decided to visit me...uh...us."

"Naomi's coming."

"That's okay, right Jim? But see, here's where you come in. I'm tied up in meetings for the rest of the day. In fact, I'm already running behind. Can you pick her up and take her back to the loft until I get there? I'll owe you one, man."

"Naomi's coming," Jim repeated stupidly.

"Jim. Snap out of it. It'll be fine."

"That's what you say."

"Jim..."

"I got it, Sandburg. I'll take care of it. See you at home."

"Thanks, seriously."

"Remember, you owe me one...a big one."

"Jim, that's such an easy setup, I'm not even going to go there," he laughed.

"Goodbye, Chief."

Blair laughed harder at Jim's growl. "Later, man," he said, then hung up.

+++++

It was almost seven by the time Blair made it home to the loft. He ran up the stairs, pushing his tired muscles in his haste to get to the apartment. In a rush to see his mother, and his lover, and hoping that the two in question were getting along. Naomi had a tendency to make herself at home with startling ease, and Jim was a tad...territorial about his place.

Breathing a sigh of relief at the door, noting the absence of the scent of sage or the sound of yelling, Blair got out his key.

Inside, he found Jim and Naomi sitting close together, laughing and talking quietly. A subtly spicy scent drifted over from the kitchen, and the soft strains of some jazzy guitar filled the air.

Two pairs of eyes turned to him, and he couldn't help but shake his head.

"Everything okay in here?"

"Sweetie! Welcome home. Come over here and let me look at you. I was just showing Jim some pictures from my last trip east."

Blair smiled, knowing Naomi didn't mean the East Coast of the United States. He went over, kissed his mother on the cheek, hesitating only briefly before doing the same to Jim somewhere along his jawline, and took the occasion to whisper "Everything really okay?" for Jim's ears only, finally relaxing at Jim's nod and slight grin.

"Hey, Mom. You're looking good."

"And you're looking beautiful, baby. Life must be agreeing with you. You're practically glowing. Sit down by me. Talk to me while dinner finishes up."

"Jim," Blair said, "I got it now, if you want to go shower and stuff," noting that Jim was still wearing his work clothes.

Stretching a little, Jim slowly stood. "Sounds good. Nice to see you again, Naomi."

"You too, Jim. Don't be too long, dinner will be ready soon. Now, Blair, tell me how are things. You know..."

Jim chuckled to himself, already tuning out what he knew would be the duel of the talking Sandburgs, as he closed the bathroom door behind him.

+++++

Jim whipped around, alerted by the rush of cool air invading the steamy warmth of the bathroom just as he was about to get into the shower.

"Jesus, Sandburg! Don't you know how to knock?"

Shrugging, but not looking at all contrite, Blair replied, "I thought you'd hear me. I'm used to you, you know, hearing me."

"Your mother is here, I'm trying to respect your privacy. Which brings up an important point...I'm trying to take a shower, and your mother is out there. What the hell are you doing in here?"

"Shhhh. I told her I had to take a leak." Rolling his eyes at Jim's raised eyebrow, Blair continued, "Well, I couldn't tell her what I was really going to do."

"Don't even think it, Sandburg," Jim said, suddenly feeling incredibly exposed as his dick perked up at Blair's implication.

"How about just a 'hello' kiss, then? A real one."

"No."

"Come on, Jim. We don't have much time here. I wouldn't put it past Naomi to start checking on us, make sure we're okay."

"Shit." But Jim was already moving closer, trying not to notice how hard he had gotten, aching and hot as his cock stretched upwards.

Their mouths met in a sweetly familiar dance, and Jim groaned softly as Blair sucked on his tongue, and his dick pulsed in envy. But not for long. Swiftly, Blair moved his oral attentions lower, and lower still, until Jim was gripping the sink behind him with tense fingers trying desperately not to scream at the wet fire burning him with pleasure. But Blair managed to get his nerve endings to yell a mighty chorus. His ass tightened, his knees gave way, and he shot hard and long into Blair's mouth, gasping harshly for breath.

"Shit," he finally managed, right before Blair kissed him again, sharing the bittersweet taste of his semen.

The sound of the toilet flushing made him focus his attention, and he looked up into Blair's amused, blue eyes.

"Better get that shower before all the hot water runs out," Blair said to him with a grin.

"Sandburg, your ass is mine," Jim shot back in a hoarse whisper. Adding silently, 'Once I regain my strength.'

With a look of mock horror on his face, Blair said, "Jim! My mother's here, you know."

And with a last laugh, he left.

Jim rose shakily, his legs still unsteady, and got under the spray of water, which had indeed started to cool. Washing quickly, he hoped Naomi didn't have plans to visit long.

+++++

Jim pulled out slowly, very slowly, ignoring the trembling of the body beneath him, the almost silent string of breathless curses and pleas, and concentrated on the pulsing grip around his cock marking his withdrawal inch by inch. All the way out until just the head of his dick was still inside, surrounded by a tightness that he knew so well, now. Then, he pushed forward, not too hard, not too fast, but strong enough and deep enough to elicit a panting groan from Blair.

And then he did it again. And again. Over and over and over.

A slow, rough rhythm that had challenged his own control, and had Blair shaking, moaning incoherently.

Leaning close to Blair's ear, he whispered, "Shhhh.... This is all your fault anyway, Chief."

Then that slow, slow retreat, and the forceful advance, burying himself in Blair's ass.

"It wasn't enough to ambush me in the bathroom, then you had to do that bit during dinner."

"F--f--f--uhnn", Blair tried. His breath leaving him as Jim concluded another torturous cycle of in and out. "It's called flirting, Jim," he finally choked out. "Maybe you've heard of it?"

Jim ignored him in favor of putting his energy into picking up the pace just a little.

Once Blair seemed reasonably inarticulate again, he said, "Whatever. You purposefully kept me on edge, laughing when she said we had such an 'electric field of energy' around us..." He gave a few quick thrusts when Blair managed to giggle at that, plunging in to emphasize his words, "...and then...you made her stay here...when she was all set to go to a hotel."

"She's my mother," Blair panted. "She just got over being mad that we took a year to tell her about us. I couldn't--"

Jim cut that off, turning up the juice and really stepping up the tempo. His muscles were tense with the strain, and suddenly he didn't want to hold out any longer. He fucked Blair fast, swallowing Blair's noises with his mouth, wondering if that creaking sound the bed was making was really that loud, or if his senses were opening up as he started to come.

The orgasm streaked through him violently, and he tore his mouth from Blair's, biting his own lip as he rode out the waves. He eased out as gently as he could; the tremors subsiding slightly as his muscles relaxed and he fell in a heap with an exhaled 'whew'.

"Oh fuck, Jim."

Jim opened his eyes, blinking while his senses fell back into place, and took in the sight of Blair, body still tense, legs still splayed, cock still hard...one hand reaching towards it.... Jim grabbed Blair's wrist in a firm grip.

"Talk to me."

In slow motion, Blair turned his head, eyes wide in utter shock, and Jim would have laughed, if he'd had enough energy to spare.

Blair took a deep breath and said, "You sure picked a hell of a time to promote conversation, Ellison."

Jim moved a little, positioning himself so that his other hand was free to teasingly touch Blair's body, chuckling at Blair's hiss. "I'm willing to help you out, Chief. Just tell me what's going on."

"What's your problem? Can't a guy want to do a little horizontal tango without it being a big deal?"

"Sure, sure, Chief. If that's all it is, I'm sorry." He reached for Blair's dick, squeezing it gently, took Blair's balls in a firmer grip when Blair bucked upwards into his touch. "Nothing else on your mind?"

"I just...missed you today, that's all."

"Okay." Jim renewed his stroking of Blair's erection, loving the way the warm flesh came alive in his hand. "You weren't getting a little...territorial, then?"

"Wha...shit jim...whattayousayin?" Words rushing haphazardly from his mouth.

"Just wondering about you and Naomi, that's all."

Blair jerked upwards, eyes sharp with emotion, and tried to wrench his dick free from Jim's grasp. "Will you just get off it, man? What's up with you and my mother, anyway?" He fell back on the bed. "Damn."

"Two way street here, Chief. Out with it."

Blair had to laugh a little, remembering his own efforts not too long ago to get Jim to talk about what was bothering him. How could he not love Jim Ellison? The man was something else. He might not always be the most insightful when it came to himself, but he was no dummy, and he'd recognized something was wrong before Blair had even had a chance to process it, and he hadn't let months go by before saying anything about it, either.

"Okay, Detective Ellison, you win."

"Blair, I'm not trying to--"

"I know, Jim. You're right, I guess I was pushing you a little--because of my mom. I mean, I was kinda worried about the two of you getting on each other's nerves without me there to be a buffer, and when I get home, you're all cozy."

"But that's not the first time we've been all alone and done just fine. Remember..."

"Hey, I know," Blair cut in, not wanting to think about his mother on the bed where he and Jim make love, "I remember. It's just that in view of the cop thing, and her protective instinct towards me, it seems like she's always gotten along a little too well with you. Besides, we weren't together before."

"You don't want us to get along?"

"Sure I do. But I expected to have to sell her on you...on us..."

"Thanks."

Blair snorted at the sarcasm in Jim's voice. "You know what I mean. She just accepted you even when she had problems with my working with you. And you liked her even though you had problems with some of her beliefs."

"Chief, that's because of you. You are a buffer, whether you're physically between us or not. We both love you. Plus, I don't want Naomi, and Naomi doesn't want me."

"Yeah well, I bet she'd do you if given half a chance," Blair said, adding, "Well, not now maybe, because we're together, but before..."

Growling low in his throat, rolling to cover Blair's body with his own, Jim replied, "The only Sandburg that gets to do me is you. Got that?"

"Not quite," Blair smirked, "but I'd like to get it." His hard-on, which had faded as he and Jim had talked, reasserted itself where Jim was pressing it into his belly with his weight.

Jim nibbled on Blair's neck, forging a trail south with bites and licks. "Remember...we have company. Try to keep a lid on it."

"I never thought I'd say this, Jim, but...please stop talking," Blair said, punctuated as it was with a series of whimpers.

So Jim put his mouth to better use. To Blair's initial dismay, Jim ignored the needy flesh bobbing a beat eagerly between his legs, but then he moved lower. Spreading Blair's thighs wider, pushing them back, until Blair's ass was in the air, cheeks gaping slightly of their own accord, puckered opening tensing and relaxing as Jim blew puffs of air against it.

Jim's quick thinking resulted in a pillow being tossed over Blair's face, which Blair clung to like a lifeline, muffling the grunts and groans as Jim's tongue took him to sensational heights, pleasuring his ass from inside and out, pushing him ever higher as time flew by, or stood still, or maybe some weird combination of both, until he thought he would explode from the intensity of it...which he did, shooting streams of hot wetness onto himself without his dick even being touched.

Sentinel hearing picked up the garbled sounds through a layer of hypoallergenic filling and cotton, and Jim was positive that Blair was repeating, 'Wow' over and over.

When he was sure that Blair was on the road to recovery, he got up to go to the bathroom, grabbing his robe out of deference to Naomi's presence in the loft. He executed a quick wash-up, rinsing his mouth out, and getting a warm cloth together to clean up Blair. Then he opened the door to head back upstairs.

He had only taken two steps when he heard movement from behind the doors to Blair's old room. Even rushing, he had only taken three steps more when the doors opened.

"Jim? Everything okay?"

"Yeah, Naomi, fine. Didn't mean to wake you, just...you know." Gesturing in the direction of the bathroom. Glad that it was dark and she couldn't see the color staining his face, and grateful that he had remembered the robe.

"Oh, thought I heard noises."

"No...uh...Blair probably...no...no noises. A car driving by maybe?" Jim finally offered lamely.

Jim was startled by Naomi's sudden burst of almost girlish giggling and dismayed by Blair's accompanying chuckle that he heard coming from above him.

"You're probably right...a car. Some noisy old engine. Well, sleep tight Jim. I'm going to put my headphones on and listen to some nice, soothing ocean sounds...just in case any more loud cars go by...like a police car."

The doors closed behind her, and as embarrassed as he was, Jim sighed in relief. Hell, it could have been worse.

He could still hear Blair laughing softly, and grinned evilly as he tossed the now cold cloth up in the air, and went up to take care of his partner.

The End