Title: Innuendo

Author/pseudonym: Silk

Fandom: The Sentinel

Pairing: Jim/Blair

Rating: R

Email address: silkn1@att.net

Disclaimer: All things Sentinel belong to Pet Fly and Paramount. This work is not for profit.

Status: New/Complete

Date: 3/14/02

Series/Sequel: No

Other Web Site: http://www.angelfire.com/ny4/tinsel/

Archive: If I sent it to you, please feel free. All others, please ask.

Summary: A rumor changes things between Jim and Blair.

Warnings: Occasional bad language, angst

As always, for Da Muse, Tinn.



Innuendo
by Silk

"No one said that, Jim."

"That's what *you* say," Jim muttered darkly.

"I heard that."

"Good."

"Is this what it boils down to? Is this the tradeoff for being given enhanced senses? That you're forced to act like a fucking two-year old?"

"You don't have to stick around if I bug you that much, Chief."

"You're right, I don't."

Jim waited. Blair seemed to be chewing on something that Jim wished he would spit out. Now. He hated waiting. He was not the world's most patient man, God knew, and right now, he was in a terrible mood.

It was a mood he was all too familiar with. It was the mood he got into whenever Blair was right and Jim refused to admit it.

"Dammit," Jim swore.

"Fuse is getting shorter and shorter, man. I'm telling you, in five years, you'll be nothing but a charred ember."

"Thanks for the medical update, Doctor--"

"McKay."

Blair could see the moment that recognition dawned inside Jim's all too complicated head. "Yes, Jim. I remember. That was the first time you tried to push me through a wall. Care to try it again?"

"No. Why would I?"

"I don't know. But then, I don't know why you're getting so bent out of shape by a rumor--" Jim tried to interrupt, but Blair raised his hands in silent protest and continued. "A rumor that you and I are lovers."

"Well, I am," Jim stated with a mutinous pout of his lips.

"I can see that."

Blair shook his head as if to clear it. "But the point is, Jim, it's nothing you and I both haven't heard before. It's not true and it's not new. So what's the big fucking deal?"

Blair was so intent on persuading Jim that there was nothing to worry about that he missed the stricken look that passed over Jim's handsome features. Turning so suddenly that his hair whipped around and caught Jim in the face, Blair said, "It's not like it's an affront to your manhood, Jim. No one seriously thinks you're gay."

Jim winced as the scent of Blair's hair filled his nose. No one but me, Chief, Jim thought, barely managing to hide the betraying shiver that Blair's customary touch on his shoulder provoked.

"You think...that being gay...makes m--someone...less of a man, Chief?"

"Well...no." For a moment, Blair looked puzzled. Then his face cleared and he began to smile. "Jim, I never would have suspected you of being...um, gay, man. But if you are, hey, it's okay."

"Gee, thanks, Sandburg, it's always a pleasure to have my personal beliefs validated by someone like you," Jim said sarcastically.

"Hey, I was trying to be understanding, Jim," Blair said, sounding personally affronted by Jim's attitude.

"Yeahhhh?" Jim growled. "What exactly is it you think you understand, Sandburg? Huh? Want to tell me that?" Jim grabbed Blair by the wrist, hard enough to produce several deep finger-shaped bruises.

"Jesus, Jim! What are you trying to prove? That you're a real prick?"

The fact that Blair didn't even struggle to get away should have told Jim something about the level of trust between them, but Jim was beyond noticing Blair's body language. He tightened his grip on Blair's wrist until the younger man visibly grimaced. "Hey, man, you trying to break me in two? What is it you want anyway?"

Suddenly Jim's face softened, trading its look of desperation for something far more frightening. "This," he murmured as he lowered his head.

That was all the warning that he gave Blair before he kissed him. It wasn't an act of possession. It was merely a kiss. But it changed everything.

As Jim drew back, the sight of Blair's dark blue eyes, now huge in his face, caught his attention. "I was going to ask you if you could deal with this," Jim said apologetically. "But I can see that you can't."

"Jim--"

"I know, Chief, I know. The thought of us being together that way never occurred to you."

"Well, no, not--"

"But I think about it all the time. I think about it enough for the two of us. And maybe--" Jim cut himself off before he could finish his thought.

"Maybe what, Jim?"

Jim stared at his partner in dumb wonderment. The original stunned expression that Blair wore was gone, leaving in its place something that took Jim's breath away.

"You afraid of getting what you want, Jim?" Instinctively looking to step back, Jim was surprised when Blair stopped him. "I admit, I never thought of you as a potential lover. I *couldn't*. I want you, Jim. You have no idea how much. But I was convinced that the minute you knew, I would lose you."

Blair's breath caught in his throat as he looked up at Jim: the sculpted shoulders, the chiseled cheekbones, every part of him was a testament to the fact that he was created by loving hands. "I couldn't stand to lose you, Jim," Blair whispered.

Jim shook his head. "You won't," he whispered back.

The tall detective ran his hands lightly down the sides of Blair's neck, forcing the anthropologist to tilt his head back to continue looking up at Jim. He pressed a kiss to Blair's temple, smiling when he realized that he could feel the lively pulse that beat there. "This is for keeps, Blair. You okay with that?"

When Blair didn't reply right away, Jim waited patiently. But eventually curiosity led Jim to question his silence. That was when he saw the tears that threatened to spill over Blair's dark brown eyelashes. "Chief? What is it? You can tell me."

"It's just--" Blair sniffled. "No one's ever wanted to keep me before."

"Oh, Blair." Jim pulled the younger man into a tighter embrace, his chin sitting atop Blair's disheveled curls. "I love you," Jim murmured, closing his eyes as his breath ruffled Blair's hair.

"I love you, too," Blair confessed.

"Then what say we go upstairs and confirm that rumor?"


End