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Jim opened the door to the loft. It had been an exceedingly long day at the end of a long week at the end of an even longer month. There had been none of the 'take a couple days off and recoup' after a particularly ugly case with serial a rapist, because the next ugly case had already started and the higher ups wanted the best team on the case. Which of course meant him and Sandburg. Now the cases were over, he was bone tired both mentally and
physically, and very glad for the week that Simon had given both him and Sandburg off. He knew that if the cases and workload had affected him then Blair would be feeling it as well. The grad student not only had to keep up with his duties as Jim's partner but he also had his obligations to the university, especially during the middle of finals week.
So it didn't surprise him to find Sandburg stretched out on the floor in front of the fireplace sound sleep. What did surprise him, however, was what looked like a purebred English Springer Spaniel lying curled up next to him. He could tell she was obviously pregnant, even though the dog was pitifully thin.
"Uh, Chief." Jim called loud enough to wake but not startle the sleeping man.
"Mmm..." Blair mumbled as he stretched. "Oh Jim. You're home." He sat up and released his grip on the dog and stood, joining Jim at the kitchen counter for a beer.
The terribly thin dog followed Blair and pressed up against Jim, waiting to be acknowledged. Jim absently reached down and scratched her ears, thinking that at least she was clean.
"Now do you want to explain why we have this dog?" Jim asked calmly as he motioned to the dog he was still petting.
Blair started to explain as they moved back into the living room and took a seat near the fireplace. "Molly asked me to pick her up today at the animal shelter where she volunteers. I saw this dog and that as all it took. Jim they were going to kill her today, she'd been rescued from a puppy mill and no one wanted her because of the puppies. She was a throw away and I couldn't let them throw her away..." Blair had been caressing the dog as he spoke.
Jim had watched his friend's face as he told the story, Blair always felt so much for others and this was no exception. "Chief, what are we going to do with a dog and a litter of puppies?"
Blair tucked his head down looking at Jim through the fringes of hair that now hung in his face. "Raise them? Give them away when they are old enough? Hell Jim, the vet didn't even know if all the puppies would live or not, she's so malnourished and weak, but man, I had to try, I just had too."
Jim sighed, he knew he was beat, he was beat before he even came home and found out about the dog. There was no way that he'd be able to resist Blair's request and now that he'd met the dog, and felt a life moving inside her, there was no way he'd say no. "All right Sandburg, you win." He watched as Blair's head raised and a look of relief passed across those blue eyes of his. "So do you know anything about delivering and\or caring for puppies?" He had to ask because he sure knew nothing about it himself.
Blair shoved a pile of books toward him and watched as Jim picked them up and read the titles out loud.
"Book of the Bitch, sounds like an interesting one."
Blair sighed at Jim's lame attempt of humour.
"Canine reproduction, at least now we are talking about dogs."
A pained "Jim," came from Blair.
"The Complete English Springer Spaniel, the Joy of Breeding your own Show Dog. Are we planning on showing her, Chief?"
Another pained, "Jim."
"So Darwin, which one is the best?" Jim asked. He noticed that neither of them had stopped the gentle caresses they each were giving the dog, comforting her. He also knew that he'd need to read at least one of the books just in case Blair needed his help.
Blair handed him the book on the top of the stack, 'The Book of the Bitch'. He'd already read through the delivery section once before he fell asleep.
"So, just when are the puppies due?" He asked just knowing that his week of doing nothing was shot to hell.
"With in the next 24 hours."
"Oh," Jim flipped through the book Blair had given him and came across the list of supplies needed to deliver. Most seemed reasonable, hell they probably had most of it in the cupboards already. Dental floss, check. Scissors check. Alcohol, check. Nasal aspirator, nope. KY, nope. "Hey Chief, do we have all the supplies that they recommend here?"
"Yeah Man, I picked them up on the way home."
The rest of the evening they spent reading and making all the preparations for Lady, as Blair had started to call her, to have her puppies. When he started to get stiff sitting on the sofa reading, Jim excused himself and took the Springer book with him to bed figuring that he could read a little before he passed out.
.o(0)o.
Jim rolled over and looked at the clock 3:30 am. Something had woken him. Reaching out his senses he heard the soft sobs coming from his roommate. He was up and down the stairs in a flash. Blair never cried, not even when Maya broke his heart. The younger man had held it all in. Something was definitely wrong.
Jim found them all in the corner near the fireplace and wrapped his arm across Blair's shoulders, "Blair, what's wrong?"
"They're all..." he words choked off by his swallowing in attempt to gain control, "They're all dead." He pointed to the wrapped bundles away from where Lady was giving birth. 'It feels like there is one in the birth canal, but it's stuck. I tried to get in there and feel for it to pull it out but I couldn't..."
Jim was glad that he'd done the reading that he had. "Get me the lube." He instructed.
Blair dug through the basket of supplies he'd collected and produced the lube. He watched as Jim coated his fingers and with just a small yelp from Lady, proceeded to lube her up and finesse the puppy out.
Jim handed the puppy to Blair and let him work to save the life of the third puppy. A defeated sigh made him look up at Blair. "Chief?" he nodded toward the puppy.
"He...I..." Blair stopped his voice catching on the words.
Jim knew, even without the Sentinel sense that told him the small heart wasn't beating, "I know." He reached out and took the still form from Blair and wrapped it in the towel he'd just wiped his hands off on and placed it with its littermates. He turned back to Blair and wrapped his arm around the younger man's shoulders. Comforting him. He listened to Lady's heartbeat and heard it's slowing. He focused in again and heard the faint heart beat of another fragile heart inside. "Chief, how man puppies did the x-ray show?"
"Four." Blair said weakly.
"Then lets get this last one out. Lady isn't doing so good and I can hear the heartbeat of the last puppy."
Blair, bolstered by the fact that Jim had used his senses and heard the last puppy, moved quickly out of Jim's comforting embrace.
Together they stimulated Lady's contractions internally and massaged her abdomen. When Jim could feel the last puppy in the birth canal he stepped up the stimulation until he could get a grip on the puppy and pull it out. Lady was failing fast.
Jim handed the puppy to Blair and sat back and just caressed Lady, letting her relax to his gentle touch.
"She's alive." Blair announced, his smile lit the room and was very different from the despair that had been present since Jim had awoken.
"Chief," Jim called softly, "Can you get her to nurse? Lady's not..." he couldn't say the words, not after Blair had lost so much with the puppies already.
Blair nodded, he understood what Jim couldn't say. He put the still damp liver and white puppy with its asymmetrical markings to a nipple, opening its mouth and hoping that it would suckle. The little puppy made a valiant attempt to suckle some but was still uncoordinated and didn't do much more than slurp at the nipple, missing most of the vital first meal.
Jim watched as Lady tried to acknowledge the puppy, Blair had held it under her face so she could lick at it. She was too weak to do much more than that and left the bulk of the cleaning to Blair. Her heart rate slowed and finally stopped while Blair was trying to get the one surviving puppy to nurse.
"Chief..."
Blair nodded and pulled the puppy back to his chest. Cradling her against his chest, he allowed her to soak up his warmth and scent. He'd be her 'mother' now, if she survived.
Jim wrapped Lady up in an old blanket, putting the other three puppies along with her. Unbeknownst to Blair, he'd called the clinic earlier that evening and arranged to bring any animals that didn't make it back to the clinic for cremation.
"Chief, I'm going." Jim called as he carried his bundle out the door.
Blair had been so wrapped up with the remaining puppy that he hadn't noticed what Jim was doing. "Okay." He replied weakly.
.o(0)o.
Jim returned home a little over an hour after he'd left. This time the bundle he carried was a case of puppy formula, feeding supplies and a small disassembled crate to keep the puppy in, and last but not least instructions for the care of the little puppy.
He found Blair once again sound asleep on his side in front of the fireplace. This time however the small body of the puppy was curled under his chin with its head resting on his neck. Jim closed the door quietly and set his load down on the table. He didn't want to wake Blair, the young man had been through enough tonight and deserved to sleep.
Jim laid down and curled up behind Blair. Throwing an arm over his roommate's side he reached up and ran a finger lightly down the small body of the little puppy.
"Mmm, Jim..."
"Yeah."
"You're back."
"Yeah. I have a list of instructions from the vet and some more supplies that we'll need." Jim told him softly, in deference to the fact that his mouth was very close to Blair's ear.
"Good." He knew that they would need all the help that the vet could give them.
Jim started to move away again, but Blair grabbed his arm, "Stay, Please."
"If you want me too."
"Yeah. Jim do you think what I did was right? I mean she died after all," Blair whispered.
"I do Chief. She gave her life for this little one and even though most of her life wasn't great, you did your best to make the last day of it comfortable and loving." Jim continued to gently stroke the small body of the puppy.
"I guess." Blair said quietly.
Jim listened to the heartbeats of both his roommate and the little puppy that was curled under their hands. He thought Blair had drifted off to sleep when he heard the quiet voice one more time, "I named her Angel..."
FINIS