SquidgeWorld Archive

It's not like Jim and I haven't had arguments before, even since we became lovers. In fact, we've had some doozies. One of them ended up getting me drowned by a Sentinel gone bad and another one had me branding myself a fraud on television. Not some of my favorite memories… or Jim's either, for that matter. Since we got together, as in *together*, though, most our arguments have been pretty mild and more likely to end with us having fantastic make-up sex in whichever room we happen to be in at the time, than in me storming out of our home. I guess this one hurt more because deep down, I knew Jim was right.

~oOo~

An hour earlier:

"Hey, Jim." I wandered out to the kitchen from what is now my office as soon as I heard him open the door.

"Hey," he replied, giving me a smile and a kiss. "Good day?"

I shrugged. "Same-old, same-old. You?"

"Pretty good. Wish you'd been with me when we got Sanderson, Chief. Man, was he pissed. Diana said my testimony would put the guy away for at least twenty years."

"That's great, man," I said, trying not to wince at the mention of Diana. She was the new D.A. and Jim and she had been working day and night at nailing Sanderson, a creep who made a living out of turning teenage girls into drug-addicted hookers. Jim had gone undercover to get evidence on the guy and then Diana had gotten in on the case, helping Jim prepare his evidence for court. Hey, I knew it had to be done. Undercover evidence can be tricky in court. Jim hadn't worn a wire and a lot of his evidence could be construed as hearsay. Jim had been singing Diana Davidson's praises for weeks now. I was getting used to it.

"So, what did you do today?" he asked.

I frowned a little at the question. He knew I was working on setting up a serial killer database with Rafe and H. Cascade had turned out to be a pretty dangerous place to live and after I'd become a cop, I'd been surprised that the Cascade PD only had access to the F.B.I. Vi-Cap program. I'd suggested to Simon that I set up a similar database within the PD and he'd given me carte blanche to get it done. I shook my head at Jim's forgetfulness, figuring he was just caught up in the elation at getting Sanderson, and replied easily, "Oh, this and that, you know. Rafe came up with a pretty cool cross referencing program today."

"Good, that's great, Chief." I could feel him behind me as I stood at the stove, stirring the spaghetti sauce I'd made for dinner. He nuzzled my neck and I pressed back against him, lifting my head enough for him to reach my ear.

"Mmm, nice," I murmured. "You know," I turned and gave him a kiss, "we could reheat the sauce later."

"Huh?" he said intelligently.

"The special sauce for our special dinner? We could reheat it later *after* we've done some celebrating of our own."

"Oh God, I forgot!"

"You forgot?" I was conscious that my voice had edged into the nagging-wife range and I took it down a register or three. "What do you mean, you forgot?"

"Jesus, I'm sorry, Blair. I told Diana I'd take her out for dinner tonight to celebrate the end of the case. Simon's bringing Amy-"

"And you conveniently forgot that we were celebrating my birthday tonight and even more conveniently forgot to invite me to your little celebration?" My voice was edging up again so I picked up a glass of wine that I'd been going to use in the sauce and chugged it down.

"Well, you were the one who insisted we should date women now and then so no one would know we were together," Jim said as he grabbed the glass from my hand, refilled it from the bottle on the counter and drank it down.

"*Not* on my *birthday*," I said heatedly, as visions of me unwrapping Jim in our big bed upstairs fizzled away like smoke on the wind.

"Look, I'll make it an early night, tell her I'm tired and come home and we can still celebrate," Jim said, wiggling his eyebrows in what he obviously hoped was sexy innuendo. Any other time I would have laughed. Tonight, I wanted to kick him in the nuts and leave him howling on the floor while I guzzled the rest of the wine, and the champagne chilling in the fridge and the expensive brandy I'd bought for dessert...

Instead, I calmly turned off the burner, twisted out of his arms and walked over to grab my jacket from the coathook. "I'm going for a walk," I said.

"Blair, come on, I'm sorry, okay? I shouldn't have agreed to dinner but you've been pushing this thing about nobody knowing about us ever since we got together. I just thought it was another way to divert attention from us and I completely forgot about your birthday-"

"Have a good night," I said as I pocketed my keys and ran out the door.

~oOo~

I flinched as Blair slammed the door behind him and the sound echoed in the stillness of the loft. He can be a pain in the ass when he’s pissed with me.

I turned from the closed door, picked up the bottle of wine and slugged down another good glass-worth. It tasted great. I looked at the label. Whoa, this stuff’s worth at least twenty bucks. Guess he wasn’t kidding when he said he was making a ‘special’ dinner. Shit, I felt like a heel. I wouldn’t have blamed Blair if he’d kicked me in the balls before he walked out. But Blair’s not like that. He’s one of the gentlest souls I’ve ever known. He’s taken out bad guys before with whatever was handy, but he’d never dream of laying a hand on me. It’s just not in him, the thought would never even cross his mind.

I scraped the remains of tonight's planned dinner into a container and stowed it in the fridge then took a shower and got dressed. By the time I was ready, Simon was honking his horn downstairs in the street and Blair was still not back. Shit! I thought about writing him a quick note but then decided it wasn't worth it. Hopefully, he'd take his walk and cool off in time for me to come home and show him just how sorry I was about forgetting his birthday.

"What took you so long, Jim?" Simon groused, as I climbed into the back seat of his roomy sedan.

"Sorry," I murmured. "Had a couple of things to do when I got home."

I said hello to Amy who smiled at me from the front passenger seat.

"Where's Blair?" Diana asked brightly from her seat next to me.

"Huh?" I asked monosyllabically. I seemed to be doing that a lot lately. I turned toward her and noticed the pretty blonde scrunched up against the other passenger door.

"I just assumed Blair would be coming," Diana said. "I hope you don't mind, Jim. I asked Kelsey to join us. Oh, I guess you two haven't met yet. Jim, this is my partner, Kelsey Evans."

I groaned inwardly as I realized she meant partner in the domestic sense and looked up to see Simon's amused eyes in the rear-view mirror. I leaned across Diana to shake Kelsey's hand and murmur the appropriate greeting.

"So where is Sandburg?" Simon asked as he pulled out onto the street. "I know it's his birthday and all, but I figured we could've combined the two celebrations."

I leant back in my seat, feeling as if I'd pissed off one enormously powerful God and retribution is right here and now. "He, um, he had something else planned," I finally managed to say. Then I sat back in my seat and avoided Simon's eyes all the way to the restaurant.

~oOo~

To paraphrase Bogie - Of all the 7-11's in all of Cascade, why the hell did they have to walk into this one? Sometimes, I'm sure Simon's right when he says I'm an accident waiting to happen. There I was, waiting for Hoshi from the 7-11 down the street from the loft, to serve me, when suddenly there was something hard pressing into the back of my neck, and I was pretty sure it wasn't a pencil.

I sighed, raised my hands in the method preferred by hostage-takers and robbers everywhere and said, "This is a really stupid thing to do, man."

Next thing I knew I was waking up at the foot of the stairs leading down to Hoshi's cellar and Hoshi was sitting next to me, crying his eyes out.

"Ow! What happened?" My mouth was working, so I figured that for a positive sign.

"Oh, Detective Sandburg, I thought you were dead!" Hoshi said, leaning over me, his face pale and his eyes red-rimmed.

"No, though I get the feeling I'm gonna wish I was in the morning," I replied, as I attempted to sit up. That was a big mistake. As I leaned back on my right arm, pain shredded up it all the way to my head and back down to my toes and next thing I knew I was curled up on my side, my injured arm held protectively across my chest as I retched and stars prickled at the edges of my vision.

Hoshi was rubbing my back. "I believe your arm is broken. I don't think you should move," he said.

"Good advice," I managed to get out. "Hoshi, what the hell happened?"

"The robber hit you over the head and made me open the cellar trapdoor. Then he threw you down and made me come down and he locked us in. I am sorry, Detective. This is all my fault," Hoshi said, his breath hitching.

I flopped over onto my back and looked up at him. "It's not your fault, Hoshi. I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. It happens to me all the time."

"I managed to set off the silent alarm and, anyway, Detective Ellison will soon come looking for you," Hoshi ventured hopefully, obviously trying for his own silver lining in the black cloud hanging over us.

"Well, don't count on it for a while, Hosh," I replied. "Jim's out on a date."

"A date?" Hoshi looked as shocked as if I'd told him I'd seen his grandmother wearing hotpants in a disco in Little China.

"Yeah, a date, Hoshi. Jim's a great-looking guy, you know. He has dates."

"Of course, but I thought… I mean, I always believed that you and Detective Ellison-"

What?" I surged up, forgetting for a moment that I'd just been tossed down a flight of stairs. "Oh God!" I flopped back down as the pain kicked in big time and gave me a wake-up call. "Note to self, don't do that again," I muttered. "Jim and me? What gave you that idea?"

"I observe people, Detective. It's obvious that you love each other very much."

"Obvious? How obvious?" I asked.

"Enough that I find it hard to believe he went out on a date with someone else." Hoshi pulled off his jacket and draped it over me.

"You should rest for a while. You are in much pain from your injuries. The police will come soon to investigate the alarm. And, I think that Detective Ellison will come looking for you, date or no date."

"Maybe," I murmur, closing my eyes. Hoshi's right about one thing - I hurt like hell and suddenly it's all I can do to keep my eyes open.

"I will wake you again soon," I heard him say. "On 'ER' they say you must wake a person with a head injury every half-hour."

"Good to know I'm in such expert medical care."

~oOo~

I'd looked at my watch three times before we were even past the entrees. Simon was giving me strange looks, a half-smile on his face, Diana was more interested in canoodling with Kelsey and Amy finally leaned in close to whisper, "Jim, why don't you just call Blair, make sure he's okay? You're obviously worried about him."

I shook my head and flashed her the brightest smile I could summon up. "I'm not Blair's keeper, Amy. I'm sure he's fine. He just had something else to do tonight."

Simon snorted out a laugh at that and I glared across at him. "What?" I asked.

"Jesus, Jim, do you think we're all blind and deaf. You and Blair think what you two have going on is such a big secret. I've been suspecting it for weeks, probably since you first got together."

I spluttered into the wineglass I'd just raised to my lips. Diana helpfully patted my back while Kelsey shoved a napkin into my hand. "Me and Blair?' I finally managed to get out. "Together?"

"Well, of course," Diana said. "That's why I brought Kelsey. I figured it'd be Simon and Amy, me and Kelsey and you and Blair."

"Oh man. We thought we were doing such a good job of hiding it," I said, feeling the blush right up to the roots of my hair.

"So call him," Simon said. "Tell him to meet us here. We'll wait on the main course till he gets here.

"We… um… we had a fight," I replied. "He was pissed that I was going out to dinner with Diana and that I'd forgotten about his birthday."

"I don't blame him for being pissed off," Kelsey butted in, her voice tight now. "You forgot his birthday."

"Fine." Amy stood up and grabbed her coat off the back of her chair. "We're going to find him. Simon, let's go."

I blinked as Simon stood up and called the waiter over, paid the abbreviated check and began to lead the way out of the restaurant. He stopped at the door and fixed me with a stern look. "On your feet, Detective. We're going to find your partner."

"Um, yes, sir." I stood up, grabbed my coat and followed them out to the car.

~oOo~

"The problem is, I don't know where he was heading," I said as Simon turned onto Prospect, heading for the loft.

"So, we'll check the loft first to see if he's come back yet and if not, you can call around his friends, see if any of them know where he is-" Simon began.

A voice on the police radio interrupted him, reporting a silent alarm at the 7-11 on Prospect.

"Anyone want to take odds on Sandburg being involved?" Simon said as he planted his foot and the car surged ahead.

"I'll take that bet, and I don't even know the guy," Kelsey said.

"Honey, what have I told you about gambling?" Diana rebuked her.

"I'm just saying I'm willing to put money on the guy, that's all. From how green Jim's looked ever since that call came in, I think it's pretty good odds," Kelsey snapped back.

I looked over at Diana, who mouthed 'I'm sorry' at me and shrugged. I couldn't really blame Kelsey though. If I hadn't been so worried about Blair, I'd have taken Simon up on his bet myself.

We pulled up in front of Hoshi's store and I almost fell out of the door and raced inside. There were several uniformed cops milling around inside and one of them looked and nodded in recognition. "Hey, Detective, wouldn't have thought this would be a Major Crime just yet. It's just a smalltime robbery."

"Don't suppose you've seen any sign of my partner?" I asked.

"Sandburg?" The cop shrugged. "Haven't seen him."

I turned in a slow circle and then stopped, my eyes going down to the floor at the end of the checkout counter. A glint of silver flashed in the light and I crouched down and hooked a set of keys out.

"They Blair's?" I heard Simon ask from behind me.

"Yeah. He was here. Simon, I need you to get everyone to be quiet for a minute."

Simon nodded and called for silence. That was the good thing about Simon knowing about my senses. He knew what I needed to use them and made it happen. As soon as the chatter stopped, I reached out with my hearing. It took a minute or two for me to pick up and discard the heartbeats around me but once I had, I heard two more. Motioning Simon to follow me, I headed for the back room and came across the drop door leading down to what I presumed was some sort of cellar. "They're down there," I said.

Within seconds, Simon and I had the door up and out of the way and I was racing down the steps.

~oOo~

I blinked against the sudden flood of light above me and then Hoshi was beside me, grinning as he said, "I told you he'd come looking for you."

"Jim?"

"Hey, Chief, you okay?" His voice was filled with concern and I managed a smile for him. "Yeah, I'm okay. Glad you're here though."

"I think his arm is broken, Detective Ellison. Those bastards who robbed me pushed him down the steps."

"You all right, Hoshi?" Jim asked.

"I'm fine, but thank you for asking." Hoshi leaned in and patted my cheek gently. "You take care of yourself, Detective Sandburg. I'm going to see if I have any stock left at all." He stood up and headed for the stairs, cursing loudly in Cantonese all the way.

"I've called an ambulance," a deep voice said just above my right shoulder and I looked up to see Simon staring down at me, his dark eyes worried.

"Hey, Simon, glad you're here too."

"Sandburg, I'm beginning to think we should never let you out alone," he replied as he stood up. "If you're okay here, I'm gonna go upstairs and make sure Mr. Hoshi doesn't disturb the crime scene."

"We're fine, sir," Jim said. He ran his hand down my cheek and I turned my head into the caress and noticed two pairs of high-heeled shoes just inside my field of vision. Looking up, I saw Diana, her arms wrapped around a pretty blonde. They were both smiling at me.

"Um, Jim, we've got company, man," I warned.

Jim nodded. "That's Diana. You've met her before," he said. "And the other lady is Kelsey, Diana's partner."

I closed my eyes for a moment. "Her partner?" I asked, unable to stop the hope tingeing my voice.

Diana knelt beside me. "Blair, you and Jim are so together. You make a great couple. I'm sorry I made Jim forget your birthday. Forgive him, okay? He's been miserable all night." She stood up and walked up the stairs, towing Kelsey by the hand.

Jim looked into my eyes. "I am sorry, Blair. I don't know why you put up with me sometimes."

"I could show you why, but not here, okay? Although I guess we're out of the closet for real now, hey?" I pushed myself up on my uninjured arm and pulled him close, then hissed in a pain-filled breath as the movement jogged my injured arm. "Shit, that hurts," I muttered.

Jim's breath whispered softly against my ear as he said, "Jesus, I love you, Sandburg, you big wuss."

I turned my head so I could smile at him. "Love ya back, macho man. Now, get me the hell out of here. I need good drugs."

He patted my head gently in the way only he can and stood up, letting the paramedics in. I took as deep a breath as I could without it hurting too much and kept my eyes on him while the medics did their thing. As soon as they got me on the gurney, he was back, at my side, his hand covering mine as they wheeled me to the ambulance.

I closed my eyes then and let him take over. I knew he'd be there when I opened them again.

The End