Work Text:
KISS.
by JustJeanette
'Cold, wet AND dark is my world, NOT.' Blair was not a happy camper. He and Jim were, please note the operative 'were', supposed to be camping beside a salmon filled stream right about now. They were NOT supposed to be somewhere cold, and wet, and dark, and dirty, and so locked in that the newly minted detective hadn't been able to affect a daring escape whist waiting for his Blessed Protector to return from the la-la land that a sharp blow to Jim's cranium had sent the larger man. Blair, apparently wasn't worth the trouble of coshing, he'd just been blindfolded, cuffed and gagged until he was thrown, head-first, into the dirty shed that was to be their home for some unknown amount of time.
"What is it with us, Man. Try to take a little R&R and we end up kidnapped, again. You know Jim; the guys aren't going to let us live this one down." Blair rambled on as he inspected his Sentinel for any other signs of damage, or better yet signs that the big man was coming too. A sudden smile lit up the features of the shorter, curly haired man as he questioned his companion, "Hey, we got grabbed right after we left the loft, didn't we?"
Jim Ellison, Sentinel of the Great city, Detective first-class and all round gorgeous specimen of manhood didn't answer; concussion will do that to a person.
"Because, if that's the case there is at least a silver lining to this debacle; I won the pool this time." That there was an ongoing pool based on when, during attempted vacations, the duo of Sandburg and Ellison would end up injured, kidnapped, lost, or some other combination of unlikely events, said a lot about the trouble pulling power of the pair.
"Come on, Man. It's time to open those baby blues and help get us out of here." Blair stared long, and hard, at his unconscious companion. Another unexpected silver lining of this debacle was the opportunity to drink his fill, sight wise, of his partner. Jim was the poster child for buff and more than one man had looked on the detective and considered jumping the fence; Blair didn't have to worry about jumping the fence, he was already over there, he just wished his partner would join him.
His partner was staying stubbornly unconscious.
Giving up on his partner regaining consciousness in the foreseeable, near, future, Blair again stood up and tried to take stock of there situation. Floor, dirt; no help there unless he found a suitable shovel in which case digging their way to freedom was an option. One door, locked, and apparently bolted on the other side. Two windows, boarded over, again on the outside. Mind you, Blair was willing to try and prise the boards loose except for the fact that with his hands still cuffed he lacked a little in leveraging power; this of course led to one set of cuffs, currently engaged in making Blair's wrists ache, the blindfold and gag accounted for the last of their available resources. Looking down at what he had available Blair had to admit that even MacGyver would have had a hard time getting out of this one. Blair, deciding that there was nothing he could do in the short term relaxed and granted himself permission to indulge in a bit if Jim watching; something to take his mind off the possible reasons why he and his friend were currently incarcerated.
After what felt like an eternity, but was in all fact only half an hour, Jim Ellison finally began to stir.
"Hey, Jim. Come on buddy, time to wake up." Blair started in on the big man the moment he noticed Jim's eyes beginning to flicker; the upside of Blair's quick response to signs of life in the bigger man was that Jim had something else, other than the splitting headache that had taken up residence in his loft, to concentrate on.
"Dial it down, Jim." Blair spoke microseconds before Jim instinctively went to bunch face and temple muscles in protest at the excruciating pain. Obeying Blair was programmed into Jim's subconscious and the larger man was dialling back the pain even as he dragged his mind out of the morass of la-la land and back to the same time and place that his guide currently resided.
Opening his eyes the merest fraction, Jim took in their current situation. "Who grabbed us this time, Chief?"
"I don't know. They jumped us as we were just getting into the truck, Man. Coshed you pretty good and trussed me up like a turkey." Jim could actually hear the 'glare' that had to grace Blair's features. "Why is it no one really takes me seriously as a threat? Can you answer that one?"
"You can have the headache if you want, Chief."
"Sorry, Man. Anyway, the strange thing is no-one's been in to gloat since we were dumped here, wherever here is."
"Any ideas where here is, Chief?"
"Well we were driving for at least an hour, possibly closer to two on bitumen, mostly at speed, before we turned off onto dirt road; probably spent another 40 minutes on dirt. I've checked out the shed as much as possible, but with these cuffs on I'm kind of limited, anyway there are no tools left conveniently lying about, the doors lock from the outside, and the windows are barred, also from the outside."
Consulting his internal map, Jim reckoned on one of three places for there current local; the mining camp where they'd played tag with Dawson Quinn; Pinecrest were they played tag with Dr. Steven Morrow; or, they could be off the I35 where they'd played tag with the girl next door, Iris. Not that it mattered much, at least not until they got out of the shed they were in. Extending his hearing beyond the walls Jim heard no movement, no extraneous heartbeats, in fact a big load of nothing; like they'd been dumped and whoever had done the dumping had gone off again. Not one to look a gift horse, or incompetent kidnapper, in the mouth Jim started thinking of ways out of their current predicament.
"Whoever grabbed us seems long gone," Jim smiled as he realised that whilst Blair was cuffed, he wasn't; talk about a fatal over-sight. Blair's observations about time, layout and the available material to work with went a long way towards determining their next course of action; well, the next course once the room stopped spinning.
"So, you think we've been left for dead?"
"Nah, Chief. I think someone, or something might have spooked our kidnappers."
"Like who?"
"Them." Jim nodded his head, carefully, towards the corner of the shed farthest from their current position. In the dark, for it was nearing full dark now, Blair could just make out two pair of eyes, one feline, and the other lupine.
"Way to go... Wonder if rescued by spirit animals is an allowed category in the pool?"
"Doesn't matter Chief if it is, or isn't. We still have to get out of here and back to Cascade."
"So what's that plan then, Jim?" Blair wanted out, sooner rather than later.
"We KISS, Darwin. Whatever the plan, we KISS." Jim failed to notice the look of hunger that sped across Blair's face at his statement; maybe later was looking up as a time frame for leaving...
"We kiss, Jim? Hey, I can be down with that." Blair eagerly lent forward, eyes closed, anticipating Sentinel lips on his.
When said lips failed to materialize Blair opened his eyes to the sight of Jim Ellison standing before the locked door in almost perfect Sokuto Kebanashi form; left leg raised, bent and ready to apply lethal force to the door-knob. Jim's muscles, bunched visibly, as the ex-ranger concentrated the available power in his body into his left hip. Suddenly all the tension was released in one powerful kick; supposedly immoveable object met irresistible force (in more ways than one) and immoveable object lost. The door was propelled open as the door-knob gave way finally allowing the trapped pair to escape to freedom.
Turning back to face his stunned partner, Jim beckoned the other man forward. "Yes Chief, we KISS. WE Keep It Simple Stupid."
end