Eavesdropping

by Rhane

Det. James Ellison parked his truck and got out. He walked toward Hargrove Hall, intending to surprise his partner and roommate and take him out to lunch. Blair had been working hard this week, preparing for finals, working with Jim, going on stakeout with him. Jim was going to tell him that he'd arranged with Simon to be on desk duty for a couple of days, so that Blair didn't have to come to the station, and could get his testing and grading done in peace.

Blair wasn't in his office, and one of his students said she'd just seen him on the quad. Jim headed that way. Extending his hearing and sight, he spotted his friend and started that way, but stopped as Blair began to talk.

Blair gave a dejected sigh. "I don't know what to do, Neely. I love him so much."

"There's no way you can tell him?"

"No. He's straight. And he's my best friend. I don't want to mess that up. I have a home, for the first time in my life. I don't want to do anything to get me thrown out of it."

"I wish I could help, Blair."

Blair sighed again. "You do, just by listening to me."

"Blair.....I don't want to hurt you... but.... are you sure he doesn't know? He's a sentinel, and they can sense things whether we want them to or not."

Jim gasped. She knew he was a sentinel?! Blair had sworn he'd never tell anyone! He.... Jim stopped, taking a deep breath to calm himself. No. He wasn't going to go there. He wasn't going to jump to conclusions. He let the deep breath out and returned to listening.

"If he has, he probably attributted it to my thinking about one of my girlfriends or something. He's never said anything."

"Maybe he's waiting for you to say something. I know Riona did.. She was so scared. I mean, it was scary enough finding out she's a sentinel, and is going to need to depend on another person to help her control her senses for the rest of her life. But then to find herself falling in love with said guide, who happened to be another woman? Oh, man, she was absolutely terrified out of her mind. And for someone like Riona, fear is not something she's used to. So it was up to me to take control. We never would've gotten together if I hadn't."

Blair had to smile. He nodded. "Yeah, sounds like Jim." He looked at Neely thoughtfully. "I wonder if it's a sentinel thing?"

Neely threw her napkin at him. "Personally, I think it's a control thing. Jim and Riona are both cops, they're both neat freaks, and they're both really big on being in control of their lives, of themselves. Never show any weakness, and needing another person is seen as a weakness." Neely shook her head. "There are days I want to go after Riona's mother and just beat the shit out of her for what she did to Ri."

"I know what you mean." Blair toyed with his drink, thinking.

Blair had known Neely McShane almost his whole life. She was barely five-three, with long, dark hair the same shade as his own, and blue eyes that were almost violet. She was four months younger than he and there was a chance she was his sister, as the same group of men who could have been his father, could have been hers. And they did look a lot alike. So growing up, they had, with their mother's encouragement, considered themselves siblings.

When Blair had become interested in sentinels, and had shared his theories and research with Neely, he'd been surprised when she embraced them herself. She had helped him with his research, while doing her own. She had been attending the University of Washington, in Seattle, and was as well-known and liked there as Blair was at Rainier. She had immediately figured out that Ellison was a sentinel when Blair had told her about him, and Blair had never held anything back from her. The fact that she had met her own sentinel, who was also a cop, in Seattle, just a few months after Blair met Jim, had both of them scrambling to come up with explanations for the coincidences.

And now Det. Riona Morgan had transferred to Cascade, to the Southside precinct, and Neely had transferred to Rainier to finish her doctorate, also in anthropology, on gangs and how they compared to the warrior societies in many primitive cultures.

Blair and Neely had watched their sentinels closely for signs that they sensed each other. Within days of Riona's arrival in Cascade, it was apparent they did not. There would be no repeat of the Alex Barnes fiasco. What they really couldn't figure out was this intense need to keep the sentinels a secret from each other. Their spirit guides, Blair's gray wolf and Neely's white arctic wolf, had only told them not to tell the sentinels of each other for now, that they would know when the time was right.

Neely glanced at her watch and sighed. "I have to go, bro, I have a class in fifteen. Why don't we have dinner tonight? Ri's on stakeout tonight and I was told, in no uncertain terms, not to show my face at the station until finals are over."

Blair shook his head. "Jim's been on stakeout himself this week, and I really need to go with him. If he's going to zone, he seems to usually do it during a stakeout."

Neely nodded. "Yeah, Ri does too. I'm lucky, I guess, that Luke knows what she is and can partner with her when I can’t be there." She hugged Blair. "Hang in there, bro, thing's'll get better."

Blair sighed. "Yeah. Maybe."

Jim went back to his truck and drove away. He had a lot to think about..

***

Shortly after seven that night, Blair unlocked the door of the loft and walked in. He stopped just inside, looking around. The loft was darkened, only one lamp on. The table was set for two, with roses and wine. There was a delicious smell coming from the kitchen. And Jim, walking down the stairs from his bedroom, was dressed in a dark blue sweater and black jeans.

"Hey, Jim, did I forget you had a date? Whatever, just give me five minutes, I'll get out of your hair before she gets here. I've got a lot to do anyway and..."

"Chief! Breathe, please." Jim smiled at Blair. "No, you didn't forget. As for whether or not I have a date, well, I don't know yet."

Blair looked at him curiously. "You don't know yet?"

"Nope. It all depends on whether or not you say yes." Blair's eyes widened as Jim reached out and barely ran the backs of his fingers down Blair's cheek. "Will you have dinner with me tonight, Blair? I've got dinner, or we can go out, if you want. I thought about taking you out to the Riviera, but...I have to admit, our first date, I'd really like to be somewhere private."

"Jim? Why?"

Jim lowered his eyes. "I....I went to the U today. I was going to surprise you, you've been working so hard, and take you to lunch. You were on the quad, with a girl named Neely? You told her you were in love with me." Jim hesitated. "Are you, Blair? Are you in love with me?"

Blair nodded nervously. "Yeah. I am."

Jim grinned, a full out, blazing smile that melted Blair's heart.

"That's good. I mean, that's really great, because, well, I've been in love with you for a while now."

"You have?"

"Yeah, I have." Jim took Blair’s hand, leading him into the loft, taking his backpack and jacket and setting them aside. "So, Blair. Will you have dinner with me?"

Blair grinned. "Yeah, Jim. I will. I'd like that a lot."

Jim squeezed Blair's hand. "I....I've never had much luck with relationships. I don't want to lose you, Blair. If its all right with you, I want to take this slow. There are a lot of things we still don't know about each other. Let's take the time to find out. This is going to sound so sappy, but....I want us to be the Riley's. They've been married sixty-six years and they still hold hands and call each other 'darling' and 'dear'. That's what I want, Blair."

"Me, too, Jim." Blair slid his arms around Jim. "I want forever, too."

End