The Awakening

Author : Selena

Fandom : The Sentinel

Pairing : None

Email : kenndy_bowman@yahoo.co.uk

Archive : If you want it

Rating : R for some violence

Catogory : Drama

Warning : Blair as a cop, and OFC and mention of a mental illness

Summery : some one has woken up, the boys are n trouble now.



The Awakening
by Selena

“Come on, Man. You can’t stay mad at me forever!” Blair said as he trailed after his partner across the Major crimes bullpen.

“Wanna bet. Chief. Watch me.”

“Look, I said I was sorry. Would it help if I called her, straightened it all out?”

“NO! You will not speak to her, ever. I was you talking to her that got me in this mess in the first place.” Jim Ellison threw his coat over the back of his chair and fell down into the seat, resting his elbows on the edge he covered his face with his hands and tried desperately to block out the sound of his partner and friends voice.

“Ellison! Sandburg! My office, NOW!”

“Already? We just got here,” Sandburg grumbled. Jim pushed himself up and headed to the Captain’s office, once again Blair followed.

“Where the hell have you guys been?” Simon Banks hit at them as soon as they walked in through the door. “I have been calling the loft, but you weren’t there. And I couldn’t get through to your cells.”

“Sorry, Captain. Signal’s been down all morning.” Blair said, “What’s so important?”

“Hey, Sandburg. Let’s pretend for one minute that I am the head of a Police department, and everything I have to say is important. OK Detective?”

“Yes, Captain”

“That was a little harsh, Simon” Jim said straitening in his chair. Simon was not in a good mood, this could only spell trouble.

“Yeah well I’m far from being in the mood to be nice this morning, I got a call from Conover about two hours ago, spoke to Dr Turnbull.”

“Alex’s Doctor?” Blair asked warily, “What did he want.”

“Alex still faces charges for what she did, stealing the nerve gas, homicide. But she could never go to trial as she was deemed mentally unfit.” Simon paused in his speech to look at his best team. Jim nodded gravely, Blair looked at the floor. Alex had murdered her partner, he wasn’t the only person Alex had killed, or tried too. But neither Jim nor Blair wanted to dwell on how there partnership almost came to a premature end. “Until now”

Blair’s head shot up, he reached out and placed his hand gently on Jim’s forearm. He wasn’t sure if he was trying to center Jim, or himself.

“No, Simon. Don’t say it.” Jim Whispered, Blair barely caught the words, he was pretty sure Simon didn’t.

Simon looked his best Detective in the eye, seeing the torrent of emotions that the Sentinel was barely keeping in check. “I’m sorry Jim, Blair. Alex Barnes woke up at 11:22 last night.”

Blair visibly sagged, he stood up from where he had been sitting and began to pace the room. He took deep breaths but still couldn’t seem to get enough air. In an instant Jim was at his partners side, picking up on the accelerated heartbeat and shallow breathing.

“Hey, Chief, are you OK?” Jim asked resting a strong arm around Blair’s shoulders.

“Y yeah, I think so. It’s a bit of a shock, that’s all. So when do we go?”

“Go, go where?” Jim tried to sound like he didn’t know what Blair meant. But he knew, as soon as Simon had mentioned Alex, Jim knew that they would be paying a visit to Conover psychiatric hospital. Blair turned and gave Jim his patented ‘I’m not a child, you know exactly what I’m talking about’ look. Jim hated it. “Are you sure you’re up to this, Chief.” The look turned into a glare that made even Simon take note. “Ok, we go right now.”

“Jim,” Simon said standing up “Make sure she is still in one piece when you leave.”

“Sir?”

“I want her fit to stand trial. I am gonna make sure they throw the book at her.”

“Understood sir.”

*

“Man, I hate this place.” Blair grumbled as the two friends walked up the long stone stairs that lead to the main entrance. “I hated it when I did my work placement, I hated in when I did the undercover deal and I hate it now.”

“You don’t have to go in there, Chief. I can go by myself.”

“Oh I don’t think so Ellison. Don’t think I don’t remember what happened the last time you were left alone with her.” Blair felt Jim tense beside him, and he didn’t need to be a Sentinel to hear Jim’s teeth grinding. “Sorry, man. I really shouldn’t have brought it up.”

“No, Blair. Your right, I don’t think I should go in there alone. We’ve got to do this together.” They both stopped when they got to the main entrance. Blair took a step to open the door, but Jim stopped him by putting his arm out. “Hold on there, Chief.” Jim cocked his head slightly to the left.

“What is it, what do you hear?”

Jim drew his gun and motioned for Blair to do the same. Blair balked at this; he rarely drew his gun that would mean that there was a chance that he would have to use it. His hand went to his holster and fingers closed round the sig, it was then that he heard the screams.

“Oh shit!” Blair cried.

“Go back to the truck, call for back up” Jim ordered “And then stay put.”

“But Jim!”

“No don’t start with me, Sandburg. You can pull the ‘but I’m a cop now’ card but it won’t wash. I want you out of the way. She has already killed you once, I can’t take the chance she will do it again.”

“Jim, what did you hear in there.” Blair shouted after his partner, but it was too late Jim was already inside the building. Blair hesitated for a split second then ran down the stairs to the car park, when he reached Jim’s truck he pulled out his cell and dialed. When he was satisfied back up was on the way he hung up and began to pace. What the hell was going on? It had taken a while for Jim to get used to the fact the Blair no longer had to wait in the truck, took a long while, but he respected it now. Jim hadn’t pulled this blessed protector crap in a good few months, what was different? “Screw you, Jim” Blair muttered, “You’re my partner, not my boss. And I never really listened to you about staying the truck before, why should I start now?” Blair started running back towards the hospital; taking the steps three at a time in his haste he failed to see the girl racing towards him, until they were both sprawled on the ground.

“Oh god” the girl screamed clinging to Blair as he struggled to stand “She killed them! She killed them all, the blood, so much blood.” The girl babbled. Blair hauled himself to his feet and gently pulled the girl up, taking in her blood stained uniform, she was a nurse.

“Whoa, calm down. Who killed who?”

The girl just shook her head and began sobbing, she started to slip out of Blair’s grasp, he helped her to sit on the ground. As soon as Blair let go of her, she curled up into a ball and shut her eyes. Blair paused briefly to check she was ok before racing through the open doors of the hospital; there was only one thing on his mind. Jim. The halls were empty, Blair didn’t know what to make of this, he had half expected to find bodies littering the floor, blood running freely. But it seemed that the staff, those that weren’t dead he supposed, had managed to evacuate the patients and the visitors when, what ever happened, happened. Damn, where was Jim. He had to find Jim and then find out what the hell was going on.

“Come on, this way!” Blair’s heart froze at the sound of the cold, horribly familiar voice. It sounded like it was coming from the far end of the foyer, round the corner to the hall that lead to Dr Turnbull. Blair remembered the layout from his little undercover stint two years ago. “Bryony get your ass over here, there is no time for that!” Shit she was getting closer, blindly Blair looked around for somewhere too hide. In the back of his head a little voice was shouting at him, it won’t do you any good, she will hear you. But the fear had overtook him and he wasn’t thinking straight, and anyway, he told his little voice, it doesn’t matter it’s too late she’s here. Blair shrank back against the wall as if by some miracle it would shield him, as he watched wide-eyed as Alex Barnes stalked across the room. A chilling smile spread across the dark sentinel’s face as she took in the sight of the frightened guide. Blair was so focused on Alex that he almost didn’t see the slight bloodstained girl that followed her like a puppy. “Why if it isn’t Blair Sandburg” Alex said conversationally. “Bryony, this is Blair. The guy I was telling you about earlier.”

“Oh, wow” the strange girl said “pleased to meet you, Mr. Sandbug.” The girl held out her hand as if she expected Blair to shake it. Blair just stood there looking at it.

“His name is Sandburg” Alex looked down at the girl, her voice oddly soft when addressing her.

“Whatever” Bryony said with a dismissive wave of her hand. “So are you going to hurry up and kill him already so we can get out of here.”

Blair opened his mouth to protest, but no sound came out. Alex turned her full attention to the trembling man. “You’re scared, I can tell. I can hear it, I can smell it.” She grabbed Blair’s arm and pulled him close to her, his struggles were met with a stunning blow to his jaw, he would have fallen if not for Alex’s vice like grip. “I can feel that you’re scared, I can see you shaking.” She pulled him closer to her, leaned in and licked the side of his face. Revolted Blair tried to pull away. “I can taste it” she breathed, “I just wanted you to know that I am in full control of my senses. I wanted you to know this before I killed you, again. Bryony?” Alex held out her hand to the girl, it was only then Blair noticed that Bryony held a blood covered kitchen knife in her left hand.

Alex took the knife as Bryony handed it over. Alex raised it above her head, ready to bring it down. Blair kicked out catching Alex in the shin. The Sentinel howled and dropped the knife, losing her grip on the anthropologist as she bent to retrieve it. Blair took advantage of the distraction and ran for the door. Alex made chase but stopped when she heard the sirens.

“Shit, it’s the cops!”

“Cops, oh god. You had to gloat didn’t you?” Bryony accused “We couldn’t just kill him and leave.”

“You were the one who just had to kill her doctors, how much time did that waste? We could have been long gone by now.”

“They deserved to die, and anyway I didn’t stand and gloat over them, just stabbed and ran. Like that other cop in the rec room”

The other cop? Thought Blair, oh my god, Jim.

“It’s ok, we have a little hostage.” Alex said reaching for Blair. “Maybe it’s a good job I didn’t kill him yet”

“Don’t think you are going to get that chance again, Alex” Blair said, reaching at last for his gun. Alex stepped back at the sight of the Sig Sauer. “The cops aren’t just coming, they are already here, and I’m not talking about Jim.”

Alex gave him a feral smile. “Why Blair, it seems you finally grew a pair. Won’t do you any good though” She launched herself into a roundhouse kick, knocking the gun from Blair’s hand. Blair dived to retrieve it, his hand closed round the butt of the gun but he never got a chance to pick it up. Alex’s foot collided with his temple and then there was nothing.

*

“Ouch, that is some bruise you’ve got there, Chief” Jim laughed; then winced as he pulled at the stitches in his side.

“You can talk Mr. Sentinel. At least I saw them coming.”

“Ok, I deserved that.”

“So, Sandburg how’s the head?” Simon asked walking into the two friends hospital room with Megan Conner following behind.

“Oooh Simon, could you not talk so loud, I have a killer headache.” Blair said as he gently rubbed his forehead.

“I’m not surprised kid. That was one hell of a knock you took.”

“So Simon any leads as to where they went?” Jim asked his Captain.

Simon shook his head and folded his long frame into the small plastic chair that sat between the two beds. “No, they are long gone.”

“Damn it!” Jim spat

“So what exactly happened?” Megan asked.

“Apparently, these two, their luck holding true to form. Arrived just as Alex and her new friend were making their escape.”

“Friend?” Megan questioned. I understood that Alex Barnes didn’t play well with others. Who is this friend?”

“Bryony McKinley” Simon answered

“The girl who was accused of killing her father.” Jim said sitting up, his interest was now really peaked.

“Yeah” Blair said. “But the case never went to trial, didn’t she plead insanity, that’s how she ended up at Conover”

“I never heard about that.” Megan said, slightly confused.

“Yeah, you were still in Australia then. It was about 5 years ago, before Blair joined us as well. Bryony McKinley hacked her father to pieces with a kitchen knife. The DA got enough evidence to convict, but the case never went to trail, McKinley was deemed mentally unfit and was admitted to the Carter Grayson home for the insane.”

“Then how did she get to Conover?”

“She had been at the Carter Grayson Home for about two months before she was diagnosed with Dissociative Identity Disorder.” Simon continued. “She didn’t respond to the treatment she received at the home. She was moved to Conover two years ago, it was hoped that she could get help there. Apparently she was the model patient until now.”

“So what changed?” Megan asked. “Why the turn around, and why did Alex wake up?”

“Well we haven’t found that out yet, unfortunately an escape delayed that bit of information gathering.”

“We need to speak to McKinley’s Doctor.” Megan said.

“That might be a little hard,” Blair said. “She told me she killed her Doctors.”

“She didn’t get all of them, Chief. I was there she wasn’t really caring what she was doing. When I found them she was stabbing blindly at anything that moved, I stupidly rushed in and that was how I got my little flesh wound. Simon do we have a body count yet?”

The police Captain stood up and stretched. “Dr Murray, McKinley’s Doctor died an hour ago. Dr Turnbull is in intensive care. Severe head trauma, the Docs here don’t hold out much hope for him.”

“Shit! That limits our options slightly.” Jim muttered.

“So when do you guys get out of here?” Simon asked.

“He was by here just before you arrived. He said we are doing fine, and all going well we should be allowed out of here tomorrow.”

“Well that’s great. I will see both of you in the briefing room at 9 am Tuesday.” Seeing the looks of astonishment his Detectives shot at him he threw up his hand in surrender. “Look, I’m usually the first person to insist you two take time off after a trip to the hospital. But there are two dangerous women loose in my city. And I need you two to help find them.”

“You couldn’t keep us away, Captain.” Jim said as Simon turned to leave.

“Just make sure that the two of you rest up tonight. You have a lot of work ahead of you.”

*

Jim sighed contentedly as he sank into the soft sofa; he reached out his hand to take the offered beer from Blair. Blair in turn sank down beside him. Jim took a swig of beer while Blair sipped his herbal tea. The roommates sat in silence. Blair rested his head on the back of the sofa and let out a shuddering breath.

“You Ok, Chief?”

“No, I don’t think I am. Man this really sucks, how could she wake up? That was one deep coma.”

“It was nice while it lasted. But I have to admit; there was a part of me that was almost expecting this. Well not this, exactly. That McKinley is a bit of a wild card. But I knew that some when and somehow Alex would wake up and we would have o deal with her.”

“Yeah, I was hoping we wouldn’t.”

“So this coma, didn’t you tell me it was like one big Zone out?”

“I don’t think I put it quite like that but, yeah that was the size of it.”

“Which means some one would have had to have pulled her out of it? Like you do for me.”

Blair frowned and took another dip of his tea. “It is possible that she came out of it herself. But she had been deep in it for a year and a half, so I
personally don’t think that happened.”

“Something or someone woke her up, and I think we need to find out what that was.”

“Talk about stating the obvious, man. Where do we start?”

“How are you feeling, up to a little trip to the station?”

“What? Now?”

“Yeah, I don’t know about you but I really don’t feel much like resting right now. I do however feel a sudden urge to do some fact checking on Alex’s new friend. Maybe we will luck out and the guy’s who handled her case for homicide will be there. What do you say?”

“I say lead on my friend, lead on.”

“That’s what I hoped you’d say.”

*

The major crimes Bullpen was strangely empty considering that it was early evening. It didn’t get this deserted until at least midnight. The admin staff had most likely knocked off for the day, while the Detectives were probably out following leads that would hopefully bring them closer to finding Alex. Blair took a cautious look around, hoping that Simon had gone home. The police Captain would have a head fit if he saw that his best team was not resting like he told them too.

“Relax, Chief,” Jim said, “he’s not here.”

Blair let out a sigh of relief and head to his desk, once there he booted up his computer and sat down.

“Hey, Jim, Hairboy! I see they let you out early how are you . . . . Oh wow!” Henri said as he bounded into the Bullpen, he stopped short when he saw Blair’s face. “Wow Hairboy, I’m so glad that it’s you and not me, it would be a real shame to ruin these good looks.”

“Laugh it up Brown.” Jim said coming up behind his fellow Detective. “Coz in about a minute you are going to be laughing on the wrong side of a broken nose. You got it?”

“Yeah, Ellison, I got it.”

“Hey, Jim. Lighten up man, he was just kidding.”

“Shit, sorry H. I’m a little tense.”

“Don’t sweat it, babe.” Brown said easily “Takes a lot more then that to faze me.”

“Hey, Jim” Blair called looking up from his computer. “You had better come look at this.”

“What is it, Chief?”

“Its McKinley’s transcripts form her school. Apparently before she killed her father she was set to go to UCLA.”

“And that is important, how?”

“Her major was Anthropology with a minor in Psyche.”

“Oh no, Blair don’t tell me that.”

“I have a copy of her College application right here. It lists her hobbies, her interests, what she would like to do with her life. Funny, she doesn’t sound like someone who is about to commit patricide.”

“Chief, the point?”

“It also lists her favorite authors.” Blair paused to clear his throat. “Um Richard Burton being in the top three.” Blair looked up at Jim; his blue orbs wore a mixture of fear and excitement “Jim do you realize what this could mean?”

“Come on, I’m sure this guy wrote more than one book.”

Blair nodded “Yes he did, and I have read everyone of them. If this girl in any kind of anthropologist and calls herself a fan of his work, then I’m guessing that she has too.”

“But chief, what are the odds? I thought two Sentinels turning up in Cascade was a bit strange, But Alex Finding a guide in a mental institute. That’s a little far fetched dontcha think?”

“Think about it, Jim. Inchacha found you, I found you, I found Alex, Bryony found Alex. I think it might just be a case of being in the right place at the right time.” Blair tuned back to the computer and scrolled down the page he was reading. “Besides it’s not like it happened overnight. Alex was in a coma for almost to years, she was very far-gone. It obviously took a lot of time for Bryony to reach her.”

“But the girl was crazy, do you think she would sit there for hours on end calling for her to come out of this mega zone?”

“I’d do it for you.” Blair said softly not looking up at his Sentinel “No matter was condition I was in, I wouldn’t leave you.”

“Chief,” Jim began to say something but the words caught in his throat. What did he do to deserve so much loyalty?

“Beside, Bryony had been locked up indefinitely, she had nothing but time. And time was all she needed. So I will say again, do you realize what this
means?”

“Yup, it means we are in big trouble”



end