Title: Running

Author/pseudonym: Kata Avalon

Pairing: J/B

Rating: G

E-mail address for feedback: catya0@yahoo.com

Series/Sequel: Part 8 of a snippet series (Trouble)

Other websites: http://www.geocities.com/catya0/index.html

Disclaimers: The original characters are mine, everything else belongs to PetFly or some such.

Notes: Might be the last one, depends on the bossy plot bunny.

Summary: Your friends have the most power to hurt you.

Warnings: AU, angst, betrayal

Running
by Kata Avalon

Jesus was pacing in his small apartment. To the window, back to the front door. Window. Door. Window. Door.

He stopped and leaned on the flimsy wall. His fingers threaded through his dark, shoulder length hair.

"I. Don't. Want. This!" He shouted to anyone who would listen. Only silence answered.

He tried to even his breathing. His stomach was growling, but he could not bring himself to eat.

It was close to midnight. He had been going through his options for hours. He could go to the captain, but what if he was in on it? He might be able to make it look like he was just checking how things stood. If the captain was not aware of Dolores' actions and did not approve of them, he would be basically ratting on his partner. No matter how things went, he would become an outsider.

He could always tell her yes.

*No.* He could not betray his principles. He would not be able to live with himself. Jesus had grown up listening to his grandfather's tales of jaguar warriors. He would not soil the memory of his grandfather like that. Come what may.

***

He went to the shift change feeling like he had aged a decade in a day.

Helquera opened the door. Dolores was already there.

"You in?" She asked from her perch on the windowsill. Helquera and Ruiz were looking at him steadily.

Jesus swallowed to get some moisture into his mouth.

"I'm out." He croaked.

The others smiled warmly.

*What's going on?* Jesus' alarm bells were shouting ´red alert`.

"Good. I had faith in you, kid." Ruiz said.

"Wha - This was -"

"A test." Helquera answered his half-formed question. "We had to know where you stand."

***

He was running. Running to burn his anger, running to escape the hurt, running to save his former friends from his hatred. Tears were burning in his eyes.

*How could they hurt me so?*

His lungs were straining to keep in pace with the rest of him, his legs were aching.

He steered towards a local park he remembered.

He collapsed against a lonely tree.

*How could they?*

He let the tears flow.

"Hi, you all right?"

He raised his head.

A tall well-shaped man with the bluest eyes was crouched down near him. Looking at him with worry and a touch of curiousity. A shorter muscular woman was standing behind him. She obviously considered him of no importance.

He knew he was quite a sight. Sweaty, tear eyed 25-year-old in street clothes sitting on a ground in a park.

"I'm okay. Nothing major." He said trying to pull himself together.

It was kind of ironic he had to admit. His friends stab him in the back and the ones concerned for him are a rising crime lord's boyfriend and a hired killer. He knew he would appreciate the irony of the situation later, when he was in better shape.

He rose. Sniffed.

"You sure?"

"Yeah. Thanks for the thought."

Jesus started walking back. He still had a work shift to go through. Tomorrow he would hand in his resignation. His cousin had written to him that the local police were short of manpower. He was sure he would enjoy working in the mountain area. After all, it was his territory.

***

Jim looked at the figure walking away. He felt kind of bad for the young man.

"Come on. Let's finish our run."

***

"They were pulling his leg?!" Blair asked for a confimation. They were in Blair's study, talking of the day's events. One of the calmer moments of a day.

"Basically, yes." Jim answered from his customary place on the leather chair.

Blair thought about it for a moment. Shrugged.

"It takes all kinds."

***

Jim was looking at the quiet streets. The last clubs had not closed yet.

The others had not understood the young man's decision to leave. Jim did. When the trust is gone.

*Do I trust Blair?*

To his surprise, he did. His guide would always look after him. Their thoughts on what that included were different, would always be different, but that did not change the basic truth.

He touched the window. The glass was smooth and cold. Like his guide had been until the old Blair began to surface.

Jim froze.

*Maybe.* If Blair would leave, if it were just the two of them.

But how to acccomplish it? If he left, Blair would come after him, with a force. That would not work. But if he could talk Blair into leaving. They could go off together, start anew. His guide had a nice stash hidden away and they both knew how to disappear.

Jim turned and started to pace. His silken robe was trailing after him.

His guide liked a challenge and building a criminal empire was certainly a challenge, but he did not seem to enjoy it for its own sake. And Blair had always been a restless soul.

Jim walked back to the window.

*What choice do I really have?* The alternative was to drown, to adapt, to lose himself. He could feel the seed of panic coiling and rolling inside at the thought.

He raised his head to look at the night sky.

*Two weeks. If he doesn't agree, there are other ways of escaping.*

Drowning in the midnight sea
Hearing the song of oblivion
The siren song of eternal sleep
Would you save me?
Would you hear my pleas?
Or would you join in the mermaids' song?
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