Chapter Text
"Roaring River."
"What the hell is a roaring river?" Jim asked querulously. Blair sighed and rolled his eyes at the older man's snarky attitude. It seemed lately that Jim was mad all the time.
"Not what, Jim. Where. Roaring River State Park," Blair explained. "It's in Missouri, close to Branson."
"Oh." Ellison thought about it. "I've heard of that place.
"Yes, there are a lot of music shows there. A whole lot of really big name stars perform there, year round."
"Yeah?" Now Jim seemed interested. He perked up and looked over at Blair curiously.
"Country and Western singers," Blair clarified.
Jim slumped back down. "Oh."
Blair shook his head. If it wasn't Santana, or somebody that performed the same kind of music that he did, Jim wasn't interested. "But I'm talking about the park, man. Lots of fishing, plenty of sunshine and there's a legend about the really big cave that's one of the main attractions. Apparently a couple of different groups of people have tried to explore the cave and disappeared."
Ellison nodded his head without looking over. The anthropologist continued. "I visited in the area when I was younger, but never got to see the park."
"Visited?" That briefly caught the detective's attention.
The curly haired man took his glasses off and rubbed one eye carefully, it was still swollen and dark looking. "Yeah. I stayed with Grandma Hattie and Grandpa Mel# one summer." Blair shook his head at the older man's inquiring look. "No, they weren't my actual grandparents, but they treated me like I was one of theirs."
He stared off into space for a few moments, remembering younger and more innocent times. In Blair’s memory, he could easily see the elderly couple who had acted like Naomi Sandburg's little mistake was actually their grandchild. Not once, in all the times he'd visited there, had Blair felt anything less than welcome. It had been a nice change from the way most people treated him. Shaking his head, he relegated the memories back to the happy place where they lived, in his long buried memories.
Blair pointed to the computer screen and the website he'd found telling about the park. "There's even supposed to be a sea creature that people have seen, like a smaller version of the Loch Ness Monster," he added, trying to pique the detective's interest.
Jim gave the screen one brief, bored look and went back to drinking his beer and watching television. Blair threw up one hand in disgust. He bookmarked the site and stood up with a grimace. "I give up," the anthropologist said, carefully laying his reading glasses down on the table. "Trying to interest you in anything new is a waste of time," Blair muttered. "I'm gonna go take a bath, man."
"Do you need any help getting in the tub, Chief?" Jim's worried voice softened Blair's irritation. He smiled over his shoulder at his best friend and Blessed Protector.
"Nah, I think I can manage. You, uh, might have to help me get out though," he admitted with a blush.
"Just call if you need me." Jim frowned.
"I will." Blair gave him a smile and tried to lighten the mood. "I have a feeling you'll be able to hear me." He shut the bathroom door behind him as quietly as he could, so the sound wouldn't irritate the Sentinel's hyper hearing.
====
Jim frowned. He'd hear Blair alright. That was part of the problem and the reason for his crappy attitude lately. He'd heard Blair but had been unable to help him.
For the last few weeks, Cascade had been plagued by a series of especially vicious attacks. Someone had been going around to health food restaurants/computer bars and attacking the patrons as they left. The crimes had been mistakenly labeled as gay bashing before someone in the Hate Crimes Department had finally realized that only one of the eight victims had in fact been homosexual. The three previous attacks had been worse, with the last two victims being kidnapped and beaten up somewhere else. One young woman had almost succumbed to her numerous injuries, because it was nearly two days before she was found out in the middle of an abandoned lot.
Blair had been only one of several people who had volunteered to be bait. The four different targets had been well protected, that wasn't the problem. No, the problem occurred when Lisa Kelly, one of the uniformed officers, was attacked and all of the backup in the area hurried to help her, leaving the rest of their people unguarded. It turned out there were two perps and the second one jumped Blair while the backup officers were otherwise occupied.
Ellison had heard Blair yelling for help, even over the extremely loud protests of the assailant they were arresting. As a matter of fact, they'd all heard the attack. The rest of the police had heard it over the wire that Blair was wearing. Jim, lucky him, had heard it doubly, over the wire and through his own enhanced hearing. It gave the situation a stereo effect that he could have lived without ever experiencing.
The second assailant had attacked the observer as he'd come out of the computer bar down the street. Blair had been punched in the face, to make him unsteady and easier to handle, and then several times in the abdomen, causing a couple of cracked ribs. The anthropologist had been woozy and out of breath, but had still managed to fight back when the attacker tried to stuff him into a van. Blair had grabbed hold of the metal door frame and wouldn't let go. The kidnapper had punched Blair in the back, repeatedly, until he was more malleable, and then shoved him, face first in through the rear door of the older vehicle.
Blair's scream as his elbow was dislocated had horrified everyone who heard it. They'd all thought that the young man was being murdered. Luckily, Brian Rafe and Henri Brown, the two closest to Blair's position, were able to get there before he was injured any further. Rafe, normally a fairly laid back individual, had been so incensed when he'd seen Blair's battered body, he'd attacked the perpetrator and gotten in several very good punches before the man was subdued. Rafe was fortunate that the criminal had resisted arrest, so he didn't get into trouble with Internal Affairs for using 'Undue Force' as the perpetrator had tried to claim.
Blair hadn't been so lucky. The observer had three cracked ribs, one dislocated elbow, severe bruising to his right kidney and a plethora of cuts and bruises, including a very dark black eye.
This hadn't been the first time that Blair had been injured helping Jim, or at least as a result of helping Jim. Lash, and his horrible dentist's chair, sprung to mind first, but the insane man had plenty of company. Maya's father had hurt Blair as well. To be certain, the rich man hadn't done his own dirty work, instead instructing others in his employ to do it for him, but the result was the same.
'Of course, Maya and her little scene was even more painful,' Jim thought to himself. He could well remember Blair crying after the Chilean woman had left. It had been all Jim could do to keep from shoving his own date out the door and going in to hold the younger man. But he hadn't. Jim knew that Blair liked women and would have been surprised at Jim's advances, possibly enough that things would turn awkward between them. Jim wasn’t about to risk their friendship.
With a sigh, Jim glanced over at the closed bathroom door. From inside, he could hear Blair carefully lowering himself into the warm water. Each grunt of pain that the younger man made was like a dart being shot at the failed Blessed Protector.
Jim was seriously considering not letting Blair follow him around any more. It was just too dangerous and Blair didn't even get paid to put his life on the line. Luckily, this time, Blair was getting worker's compensation from the police department, because he had been officially working undercover for them. His medical expenses were covered and Blair was receiving a weekly paycheck until he could go back to work.
Ellison had talked with his captain, Simon Banks, who had also expressed worries over how many times the observer had been hurt. Simon had brought up the subject of Jim's senses and how Ellison needed the young man to keep them under control.
The Sentinel knew he needed his Guide, a lot more than Simon realized, but Blair being hurt just wasn't acceptable. It wasn't as if he was going to kick Blair out of the loft or even out of his life. But something did have to give...and soon.
'Maybe I should quit the force.' The idea popped into Ellison's mind, making him pause as he was about to take a drink. The Sentinel pondered the idea for a few moments. After a while, Jim nodded his head a couple of times. 'Yeah, I could be in private security, or something like that.'
He wasn't wild about the idea, but if it would stop Blair from being hurt, even once, then it was worth considering.
~~~~
Blair leaned back in the tub and let the warm water soothe his aching body. He wasn't able to relax completely, because he had to keep a firm grip on his right forearm, to prevent the injured elbow from moving. The anthropologist had naturally taken his sling off when he took off his clothes, so it wouldn't get wet.
Raising his right leg, Blair rested his arm on the knee, and then used his free hand to scoop up some of the water and pour it over the upper part of his body. The Epsom salts gave the water a silky feel and felt very nice on his injured and still aching ribs.
The observer looked over at the closed bathroom door and frowned. He could almost feel Jim's worried gaze, even through the wooden panel. It was like x-ray vision or something.
Blair grinned at the fanciful notion. He knew that Jim's abilities weren't the result of some comic book writer's imagination. No, they were because of his all-natural, Sentinel senses.
The smile fell off his face when Blair thought of the Sentinel's grim attitude of late. In his heart, Blair knew that Jim was contemplating ending Blair's observer's status. Simon too had been eyeing him speculatively.
The grad student had to admit that he wouldn't mind not getting hurt so much, but he wasn't going to leave the Sentinel in the lurch either. Jim was not going to have a zone out and die because his Guide wasn't there to save him.
Besides, it wasn’t like Blair had never been hurt before he met the detective. Why, the Jinto people alone had hurt him more than these few injuries. Blair shuddered when he remembered the beating he'd suffered from the South American people, who had decided that Blair and his group were devils and trespassing on their sacred grounds. He and his friends had been beaten, off and on, for two days before they had escaped.
Blair shifted around, trying to get in a more comfortable position, and moaned when it made his back hurt more. He closed his eyes and concentrated on relaxing the bruised muscles.
Knock. Knock.
"Chief, are you alright?"
"Yeah, I'm fine, Jim," Blair answered with a smile. Blessed Protector to the rescue. "I just twisted a little too much."
"Alright. I'll be out here if you need me." Jim didn't sound very reassured and it was apparent that he didn't want to get even that far away.
"Okay, thanks."
Blair didn't know what the Sentinel was planning, but there was no way he was going to stop helping him. He might not officially be the older man's Blessed Protector, but he was a protector too.
~~~~
Realizing how disappointed his response earlier had made Blair, Ellison did what any halfway decent friend, spouse/boyfriend/significant other-wanna be, would...he faked it.
"Chief, I think that place you mentioned, uh, Rearing River..."
"Roaring River," Blair corrected with a small laugh.
"Right, right. Roaring River, sounds pretty interesting. We could get in some good fishing, relax a little and maybe check out that mysterious cave. What do you say?"
Blair gave a semi-enthusiastic hop in his chair at Ellison's interest. "That sounds great, man." He brushed the still damp hair out of his face with his good hand. "I just know you are going to like it there."
"You said that you've you been there before. What all did you get to see?" Jim asked, this time with a real smile on his face. You just couldn't stay uninterested when Blair was so enthusiastic.
The Sentinel listened with half an ear to Blair waxing on about the points of interest in Ozark Country, as that area of the United States was nicknamed. The majority of his mind, however, was spent remembering helping Blair to finish his bath.
Blair had placed a small hand towel in his lap to protect his modesty, at least a little bit. It might have helped Blair, but it didn't do a thing for the Sentinel. The wet towel had quickly molded itself to Blair's lap and had given a very good hint of what treasures were hidden underneath.
Jim had tried to ignore the erotic display of Blair, wet and flushed with embarrassment, and only covered in one small area. He had helped wash the places that Blair couldn't reach because of his injuries, even his hair. Running his hands through those slippery locks of silk had almost been his undoing. Luckily for Jim, Blair had kept up a running commentary the whole time and Ellison had been able to concentrate on that instead of physical sensations underneath his hands.
"So, when do you want to go?" Blair's question abruptly wrenched Jim out of his memories and back to the here and now.
"I don't know, Chief. Are you up to going any time soon?" Ellison asked, remembering the multitude of still very dark bruises peppering the younger man's body.
"Yeah, man." Blair nodded enthusiastically. "I can sit in a car just as easily as I can sit here at the loft. And I can fish too. Holding a fishing pole is no biggie. You might have to help me put bait on and take fish off though."
Ellison's eyebrows shot up. "You're that sure that you'll catch a lot of fish, are you?"
Blair grinned irrepressibly. "Welllllll...who was it that caught most of the fish when you, Simon and I went fishing?" He pretended to sigh modestly and then laughed out loud.
"Hmmmm, that's true. Maybe I should rethink this whole fishing idea." Jim pretended to consider the question. Blair threw his washcloth at the older man and Jim laughed when the wet cloth splatted against his face.
~~~~
Simon shook his head. Only Blair could convince Jim, Mr. Anally Repressive, I've got to have everything planned within an inch of its life, to leave suddenly on a cross country trip. Spontaneous just wasn't in the detective's vocabulary.
The captain smiled to himself as he watched the two men saying goodbye to their friends and co-workers in the bullpen. Simon noticed that people from other units in the PD were coming around to wish them luck.
Banks shook his head. 'You'd think they were heading off on an expedition into Darkest Africa and wouldn't be back for two years,' he snorted to himself.
Samantha, the forensics expert that Blair had an on again/off again relationship with, sidled up to the anthropologist and drew him to one side. Simon watched as Blair went with her reluctantly. The observer had finally agreed with everyone else that the criminologist wasn't good for him and had been staying away from her. Apparently his good manners wouldn't let him be rude to her.
"Too bad she doesn't have the same manners," Simon stated under his breath.
Simon's eyes almost popped out of his head when he looked over and saw the expression on Jim's face. If looks could kill, Sam would have been cut up into little pieces, those bits burned, those remains pulverized, and the leftover residue scattered over three states.
But that was just Simon's opinion.
Banks shook his head and went out to head off a disaster.
"Jim. Could I talk to you for a minute?"
"Uh, sure." The Sentinel reluctantly followed the tall captain into his semi-private—because of all the glass windows—office. "Is something wrong?" he asked. Even as he conversed with his friend and superior, Jim couldn't help but watch his Guide through one of the many office windows.
Simon gave a soft laugh, one that curled up the corners of his mouth slightly. "Jim, just a friendly piece of advice, if you don't want the whole world to know how you feel about the kid you had better stop that now."
"Stop what?" The puzzled look on Ellison's face made Simon smile even bigger. He popped a cigar into his mouth to try and hide the fact from the ever-volatile ex-Army Ranger and Sentinel.
"You don't have a clue at all, do you?" Simon sat back down at his desk and looked up at his good friend. "Jim, Jim, Jim—you have been staring daggers at anyone who comes even remotely close to Sandburg, and just now, with Sam..." he paused and raised his eyebrows in surprise when Jim actually growled at him.
Jim blinked when he realized what he was doing. He leaned against Simon's desk and ran a hand over the back of his head, his cheeks were tinged a faint pink in embarrassment. "Do you think anybody else has noticed?"
"Probably," Simon admitted.
Ellison groaned at the news and put his head in his hands. He rubbed his hands over his head. Luckily, his rather short, military style hairdo wasn’t disturbed by the motions.
"Jim, Jim, Jim." He shook his head fondly. "Nobody is surprised." Ellison's head popped up. "Except you apparently. I'm sure the kid hasn't realized yet either.” Simon sighed and rolled his eyes at the tenacity of his friend. “Jim, we all know how you two feel about each other. And don't give me that look. Blair is just as much in love with you as you are with him."
"That's not true, Simon. I-I wish it were, but it’s just not. Look at all the women he dates." Jim waved a hand, apparently indicating the multitude of unseen women that Blair had hovering around him.
"What women?" Banks challenged. "Sandburg hasn't had a date in months, several months, if I’m not mistaken. Samantha is the only one who still pursues him and he gives her a wide berth whenever possible."
"Really?"
Simon just arched an eyebrow and waited while the detective thought back. The captain could see the days sliding backwards in Jim’s mind. Banks waited, knowing it might take the detective a while, especially if he kept going until the last time Blair had had an actual date.
"You're right,” Ellison finally admitted. “The last time he went out with a girl was Maya, and we all know that started out as a favor to me. Why haven't I noticed anything?"
"You're too caught up in your own misery," Simon pointed out. "You were seeing Blair as some sort of dating machine and he thinks you are out of his league—unattainable. The kid’s stopped going out, but he won't wait forever. If you are ever going to make a move, you better do it soon...or somebody else will snatch him up."
"Like hell," Ellison stated.
“Well, you know,” Simon took a deep breath, gathering his courage, “there are a lot of women—and men—who’ve been eyeing Sandburg.”
Ellison’s jaw clenched tightly enough that Simon expected to hear molars snapping off at any moment. The Sentinel stood up, snatched the door open, and walked out. He strode determinedly over to Blair and Sam. Blair looked relieved, Samantha just pissed off, which was the norm for the volatile scientist.
Simon nodded. Maybe they would finally get together now. He hoped so, because watching them dance around one another for the last several months had been dizzying. Entertaining, but tiring.