Work Text:
Jumper
by Susan
Jim, after a hard day chasing crooks and dealing with Cascade insanity, collected Blair from Rainier; they decided to go to their local bar for some needed liquid refreshment. Behind the bar the television was blaring with commercials.
Finally Don Haas came on, anchoring the news desk at K-CAS, Cascade's Eye on the Northwest.
Blair's eye began wandering over a pale, washed out I did-it-myself-at-home-bottle blonde, whose only redeeming quality was she wasn't pitch-a-straw-through-thin. (Throw a dog a bone, he won't eat it if it don't have no meat on it, Naomi says.)
Grazing his fingers thru the curls at the nape of his Guppy's sweet neck, Jim gently turned Blair's head in a swivel back towards the bar.
"And on the depressing side," Haas announced, "Cascade had their 4th jumper of the day."
The screen showed a guy on the Pointview Bridge, obviously suicidal, threatening, badgering the cheering onlookers and terrifying his poor little mother, living on disability, needing her selfish son's handouts from his $2000 weekly check.
Hey, I remember that guy from-- He's an assistant to one of the vice presidents at Ellison Pharmaceuticals, Jim mused to himself.
Blair's eyes wandered again, this time to the relief bartender, a hot-to-trot blowsy, spiral-curled brunette, an 11th runner up at the Miss Cascade Crash and Burn Beauty Pageant last spring.
To get his attention back where it belonged, Jim said, "Chief. See this guy? I'll bet you $10 he'll jump."
Blair gazed at the boob tube and knows he's got a sure thing, says, "You're on. I'll take that bet. He ain't gonna jump."
The crowd cheered, some screamed, the poor mother fainted, as the man threw himself into the ocean.
Blair reached in and brought out the bill from his very thin wallet, and sighing, said, "Here, Jim."
Now Ellison's heart was melting like microwaved hot fudge over that empty wallet, and those puppy dog eyes.
"Blair, sweetheart, I can't take your money. I cheated you. I was out there today, in the crowd; nobody could persuade that idiot NOT to kill himself. I was there when he went over."
Blair hid his face in his hands and sighed, a tiny groan-sob threatening to spill out. "Jim...you..."
Jim clasped a warm hand over his lover's shoulder, thinking Blair was awfully emotional about a stupid $10 bet.
"No, Jim," Blair looked him in the eyes, "please take the money. I saw the 5 o'clock news in the Student Center before you picked me up--I just didn't think the guy was dumb enough to jump again!!"
end