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Peja's Wonderful World of Makebelieve Import
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2020-11-04
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Eavesdroppers

Summary:

In response to a Challenge to write from the bullpen's POV of Jim and Blair's relationship.
Disclaimer: I love these guys like, well not family, I'm not into incest. I don't own them. I don't get a penny for all my hard work and I don't care. This is just for fun.
Notes: This is the first TS story that I've actually finished. Many thanks to Kim for all her help, encouragement and beta reading.
Summary: Brown and Rafe get an earful at the loft.
This is the first story I've actually finished.
Submitted through the sentinel_fic mailing list.

Notes:

(See the end of the work for notes.)

Work Text:

Eavesdroppers
By Lisa Glasscock
January 23, 1999

"Let's make this quick and go grab some lunch before we head back." Rafe said as they rode the elevator up to Ellison's loft.

"Hope they won't mind the interruption, after all it is their day off." Brown replied and shifted the stack of files he was carrying to his other arm.

"Ellison won't mind. He lives for his job. I don't think he has a life outside of the department." Rafe joked as the elevator ground nosily to a halt.

"Don't fool yourself. Our friend Ellison definitely has a life. You just don't see it." Brown headed out of the elevator but stopped and turned back to face Rafe, "You're in denial man."

"Yeah, yeah. So you say. But you are so wrong." Rafe raised his hand to knock on the door when a loud shout from within the apartment interrupted their conversation and stilled his arm in midair.

"Umph! Ow!! Keep that thing away from me."

"Easy man, relax. Breathe."

"Sandburg, it's too big. It won't fit."

"You said it was my turn to try it and we're going to do it my way. If I can do it, so can you. See if you can open it up just a little bit wider."

"We need some grease or something."

"Well we don't have any. I'll just have to push a little harder and jam it in. Ready, on three. One, two, threeee!!!"

"Oh, shit. That hurt, Sandburg. Am I bleeding? I can't see."

"Sorry about that, I didn't mean to hurt you. Are you okay?"

"I'm okay. See if you can wiggle it around some."

"Yeah, yeah. There, right there almost *YES*!!!"

The two detectives stared at each other, eyes bugging out and mouths hanging open in shock.

"I knew it!" Brown chirped, nearly doing a jig. "You owe me $50 bucks. Pay up."

"What do you think they're doing in there?" Rafe whispered, his eyes wide with shock as he stepped away from the door.

"What do you *think* they're doing?" Brown laughed as he juggled the files in his arms trying to keep from spilling all over the hallway as he followed his partner.

"No way. I can't believe it. Not Ellison! Sandburg maybe, he'll try anything, but not Ellison. They are NOT doing what I think they're doing in there." Rafe shook his head, disbelief evident in every fiber of his being.

"Sounds like it to me. Pay up." Brown demanded.

"I wouldn't have believed this in a million years." Rafe's eyes glazed over as he leaned back against the wall totally oblivious to his partner. "There has to be a different explanation."

"Get over it my friend. Those two were meant to be together." Brown turned back to the door and knocked. He grinned at the scuffling sounds emanating from within the loft.

"Coming."

"Yeah, I bet you are." Brown laughed.

"Hey cut it out, they'll hear you." Rafe pushed off the wall just as a disheveled and bouncy Blair opened the door just in time for them to see Jim limp to the table and set himself down very gingerly into the chair.

"Hey there Hairboy. Just brought over some files Simon wanted Jim to review before the meeting tomorrow." Brown tossed a look over at Rafe and raised his eyebrow, gesturing slightly at Jim.

"Uh, Ellison, you okay man?" Rafe asked as he tried not to stare at the sweaty, bare-chested detective.

"Yeah, I just pulled a muscle in my back. We were trying to open that trunk Blair bought at an auction." Jim winced slightly as he shifted position in his chair and pointed across the room. "We had to break it open."

"Whew! Looks like that took some work to crack open." Brown eyed the old trunk with its lid leaning back drunkenly on its broken hinges.

"Yeah, it was really stubborn." Blair grinned, "But it was worth all the effort."

Jim shifted uneasily in his chair drawing their attention from the old trunk.

"Well, uh, take it easy. We'll just get going and let you get back to, uh, what you were doing." Rafe backed nervously toward the door.

"Enjoy your day off, you two. See you tomorrow bright and early." Brown slapped Blair on the back and laughed as he followed Rafe out the door.

As the door closed quickly behind them, Rafe hurried down the stairs unable to wait for the elevator. He didn't stop running until he was back to the car where he leaned up against it gulping in air.

"Hey man. You okay?" Brown looked at his friend worriedly. "That really shook you up, didn't it? Man, I'm sorry. I didn't think you'd have a problem with Ellison and Sandburg."

"It's not that. I don't have a problem with Ellison and Sandburg being together, not exactly." Rafe moaned. "It's just it's just, did you see Ellison? My God, he looked so *hot*. "

"What?" Brown gasped in shock.

"You were right. I've been in denial. I didn't want to see it. I didn't want to see Jim with someone someone not me." Rafe hesitantly turned to face his partner's reaction to the admission that he was attracted to another man.

Brown's sense of compassion swelled in response to the pain filled eyes anxiously staring at him. He could tell that his partner was expecting to be rebuffed but was hoping for understanding. Well, he wasn't going to let his partner down. "I'm sorry. I didn't know that you felt *that* way." Brown placed his hand comfortingly on his friend's shoulder and steered him down the street to a nearby caf. "Let's get some coffee and talk."

Rafe nodded his thanks for friend's acceptance and understanding. He remained silent until after Brown placed their orders.

"It's been there right in front of me, hasn't it? The closeness. The way they're always in each other's space. Always touching." He sighed deeply and reached for his coffee.

"What they've got *is* special." Brown agreed. "It shows in a thousand different ways for anyone to see who isn't wearing blinders and cutting out half the picture."

"I never stood a chance." Rafe mumbled.

"You never tried, did you?" Brown asked although he already knew the answer.

"No. I didn't think there was a chance." Rafe replied ruefully.

"And you didn't want Jim to rearrange that handsome face." Brown tried to inject a little humor and lighten the atmosphere.

Rafe nodded and grinned in response to Brown's joke. "Yeah, Ellison's not known for his open, easy going, friendly personality."

"Except with Blair. The love and concern they feel for one another colors everything they do. Blair is drawn to Jim like iron is drawn to a magnet. And Jim is so focused on Blair it's like watching a compass needle always pointing north."

Rafe choked on the coffee he was trying to swallow and sprayed it across the table. "That describes them perfectly. "

"You going to be okay?" Brown asked.

"Maybe not now, but I will be. I still can't believe that I was so blind. It's so obvious." Rafe began to eat his lunch, his appetite returning.

"And stupid. You bet against them being involved with each other. That was stupid. You still owe me $50 bucks." Brown insisted teasingly as he began eating his own lunch.

### The End ###

Notes:

This orphaned work was originally on Pejas WWOMB posted by author Lisa Glasscock.
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