Title: Better Than Chocolates

Author: Leigh

Fandom: The Sentinel

Pairing: Jim/Blair

Rating: NC-17 - m/m

Status: New - PWP

Archive: Feel free, just let me know first

Email feedback: Leigh1503@yahoo.com

Disclaimer: Not mine, no money made.

Summary: Just how should you show your appreciation for your partner?

Warning: Un-beta'd.



Better Than Chocolates
by Leigh

It was Megan's fault. I mean, I probably would have thought of it eventually but she was the one who actually went up to him and did it. It was after he'd spent hours researching some obscure artefact for a case we were working on, hours when he should have been catching up on some much-needed sleep. She walked up to him in the bullpen in full view of everyone and hugged him, loudly proclaiming how grateful she was for his help. And to crown it all, she gave him a box of chocolates. He stood there, pink and squirming, ducking his head in that embarrassed way he has when someone makes him the centre of attention, while all around the others catcalled and hooted.

But afterwards I could see how pleased and excited he was, just because someone gave him a cheap box of chocolates.

He doesn't even like chocolates.

Anyway, that was the start of it, really. I began to think about everything he does for people everyday and what little thanks he gets. Then I began to think about everything he does for me and how I'd never given him so much as a lousy box of chocolates to show how much I appreciated him. Or something. And I started to wonder whether he thought I took him for granted and once I'd started wondering, I couldn't stop. So it was Megan's fault. All of it.

"Chief."

"Mmmmmm?"

He was sitting cross-legged on the floor, both feet tucked firmly under his thighs. His glasses were perched on the end of his nose and he had that air of complete absorption he gets when he's reading something like - well, let's face it, when he's reading anything.

"Sandburg!"

"Hmmm?"

He looked over at me, eyes still dreamy and unfocused.

"Sandburg, do I take you for granted?" I ground out, suddenly not sure I wanted to have this conversation.

"Yeah, Jim, sure you do." He said it almost absently and turned his eyes back to the book.

Oh. Just for a moment, my throat hurt. I thought about that and what I should do about it: then I took the easy option and got angry.

"Well, that's just great, Sandburg. Just great."

I thought I was being pretty restrained but the amount of pissed that came through was obviously enough to set off Blair's internal 'Irritated Ellison' alert and his gaze came back up and abruptly sharpened.

"What's wrong, Jim?"

"There's nothing wrong, Sandburg. Why should there be anything wrong? I mean, just cos you're lumbered with a cretin for a partner, who obviously doesn't have the brains or the grace to appreciate you, what could possibly be wrong?"

"Jim?" He looked mildly confused and a little cross. "Who said you don't appreciate me? Was it Simon? Megan? What do they know, anyway? Do you want me to talk to them?"

Now I was confused. And irritated. Maybe a bit warmed by his instant reaction to straighten out anyone who might be taking digs at me, but still irritated.

"You did, Sandburg."

Light dawned; swiftly followed by a firm headshake.



"No, Jim, " he said in his best 'let's-explain-to-the-poor-confused-student-one-more-time' voice. "I didn't say you don't appreciate me, I said you took me for granted. That's completely different."

I looked at him, wondering when the vehicle had left the road on this particular conversation. As usual, Blair spotted the silent 'lost' signs I was giving out and decided to throw me a map. He got up from the floor and plonked himself down next to me on the couch, one leg tucked underneath him, arms moving for emphasis as he clicked into full lecture mode.

"See, Jim, it's easy. When you're partners, taking each other for granted goes with the territory. I rely on you and you rely on me. That's what it's about. It's exactly the same in all successful team situations: you have to rely on the other members to do their job while you concentrate on doing yours. If you couldn't trust say, Joel or H, to back you up when you're going into a confrontational situation, then you wouldn't be able to do your job properly. And the bigger the place someone has in your life, the more you can take for granted. So the same way as you trust me to do my job, take what I do for granted, I trust you to do yours. Although it's not just a job in our case but anyway, what I'm saying is, if you couldn't take me for granted, we'd have a problem. But you do, so we don't."

"And how much can I take for granted, Chief?" I said it softly, not wanting to lose the warm feeling in the pit of my stomach his words had caused.

He looked at me seriously. "That I won't let you down. That I won't ever sell you out or leave you. That - a lot, OK Jim? A lot."

I stared at him, kneeling there on the couch with his big blue eyes fixed on me, totally on me, and suddenly it all fell into place - what he was saying, what it really meant. I hugged him, hard and he hugged back. The guy's a great hugger. He had both arms locked tight round my shoulders and I had a mouth full of soft curls where he'd burrowed his head under my chin.

"Of course," came a muffled voice from somewhere in the vicinity of my armpit. "It wouldn't exactly hurt you to show you appreciate it sometimes, big guy."

I pushed him backwards and looked down. The asshole was laughing at me. I could feel the edges of my eyes crinkling and he knew he'd got me. The grin widened and on an impulse I put my lips on his and kissed him. The sudden stillness was almost shocking. He wasn't moving at all: I'm not sure he was even breathing. I flicked my tongue across his lower lip and heard him make this tiny sound between a breath and a sob and then his mouth opened under mine.

It was sweet and hot and more intense than I'd been expecting - which was about the point I finally clued in to the fact that I had been thinking about kissing Blair. For a while now.

Some detective I am. It's not as though wanting guys was exactly a revelation to me. It was wanting Blair specifically that I hadn't let myself notice. I'm not in the habit of fucking friends and fucking up friendships. This was something more. I hoped.


We kissed for a long, long time, soft and slow and almost gentle. When I finally pulled back, Blair's hand went to his mouth and he ran his thumb across his lips.

"Jim?" he said uncertainly.

"Just showing my appreciation, Chief," I said and watched the corner of his mouth quirk upwards.

He looked at me for a long moment. I don't know what he saw but his face suddenly lit up, like someone had turned a light bulb on behind his eyes.

"Um, exactly how much do you appreciate me, Jim?" he asked and I swear I could actually see the warm blue pools of his eyes start to smolder.

My dick, which had started showing signs of attention during the hug and had gotten real interested when we kissed, chose that moment to sit up and beg. With so much eager anticipation from the watching audience, who was I to disappoint?

Muttering "I'll show you" I slid my hands into that incredible hair and tightened my grip, holding his head firmly in place as I took his mouth again. It wasn't gentle anymore and it wasn't soft or sweet. I was kissing him like I was trying to crawl down his throat and he was kissing me back in the same way. He was suddenly in my lap, straddling me and damn near bouncing as he rubbed up and down. I moved one hand down to grab his ass and slipped the other up under his shirt, untucking the billowing white cotton to get to the soft, warm skin. Blair's hands were roaming over me, stroking and squeezing. He was grinding against me, the hard length evidence if I needed it that he was just as into this as I was.

He grabbed the bottom of my t-shirt and tugged, wrenching his mouth away from mine to voice his demands.

"Off, Jim. Take it off."

Pulling away I dragged the t-shirt over my head, throwing it to one side and watching as Blair did the same. Skin to skin now and I pushed him back and down until I had him trapped underneath me. No amount of wriggling was going to get him out until I'd demonstrated my appreciation properly - not that I thought he wanted out, not by the way he was rubbing up against me and starting to hump. Time to up the ante.

I stroked a finger down his side and he shuddered: it felt amazingly hot so I did it again. Unable to stop myself I ran my tongue round his jawline and licked his neck, hearing him gasp. He wrapped his legs round my waist and rocked hard. I was so close I could have come from that but I hadn't even touched his dick and I wanted to taste some more so I bit gently on a nipple and took advantage of the distraction to move lower down his body, kissing and sucking.

No one ever said Blair wasn't bright. He got the idea immediately and gave it some enthusiastic co-operation, opening his legs as far as he could to give me access. I undid his jeans and pushed them down his hips, hooking my fingers through the top of his boxers so they went too, baring him fully. It was a sight worth the cost of admission and I licked my lips before swallowing him down and sucking hard. It's a talent I've acquired over the years and one that Blair appeared to enjoy if the frantic clutching at my head and rapid fucking motions were anything to go by.

Of course, that wasn't all I had to build my case on. Sandburg being Sandburg, vocal accompaniment was a given.

"There, Jim. Right there. That's good, like that. Ohgodohgodohgod, just like that. No - more! Give me more! Suck harder!"

And, of course, being fully Sandburg-trained I did everything he said. With a just little more for good measure. After all, he's not the only high achiever in this partnership. And, though I say it myself, the effects were pretty spectacular. As I sucked the head and gave a twisting jerk to the shaft, his back arched upwards like he'd been shot and he shouted something unintelligible. It was pretty heady stuff so I kept doing it and watched as his calves tensed and his toes curled, all at the same time.


"Gotta tell you, I'm really feeling appreciated now, Jim," he assured me, panting. "Really - oh god! - really appreciated, man."

It was the earnest tone in his voice that did it. I cracked up, letting his dick slide from my mouth with an almost audible pop as I tried to laugh and breath at the same time.

"Jiiiiiiiiiiiimmmmmm," he wailed, then looked up at me and started to laugh, too, a bit shame-faced.

"Asshole," he said, a little weakly. I grinned at him.

But as we stared at each other the grin dropped away and I moved up to kiss him, hungrily. I could feel his hands on my jeans, pulling the zipper down and freeing my dick and that was the end of conscious thought. I shifted until we were lined up, linked my hand in his round both of our hot, eager cocks and thrust madly. It was sex at its most basic level, none of the frills, but the rhythm and the friction were good and seeing Blair - mouth open, sweating and just so abandoned - under me was better and when I grunted out "come for me, Chief" he gave me this almost startled look and just about exploded, shooting out between us. That was it for me: I came hard, riding out the frantic bucking beneath me until we were both reduced to still-shaking heaps on the couch. Christ, I couldn't remember ever feeling so damn good.

When I could breathe again, I kissed him hard, rolled over and stood up.

"Bed. When I've recovered I want to appreciate you properly. In fact, I intend to nail you to the mattress and appreciate you into the middle of next week."

I was halfway towards the stairs when something stopped me.

Sandburg hadn't moved.

"Aren't you taking something for granted here, Jim?" he drawled. I looked at him quickly, afraid I'd already blown the best thing that ever happened to me. His face had a quizzical look but his eyes were dancing. The pressure in my chest lessened and I took advantage of the fact to start breathing again, hoping he hadn't noticed.

"Yes, Sandburg," I said in my best 'let's-explain-something-blindingly-obvious-to-the-idiot-civilian' voice, "I'm taking a whole lot for granted. I thought that was the point."

His eyes crinkled at the edges.

"OK, cool," he said, "Just checking." Then he gave me one of those incandescent smiles and launched himself off the sofa into a full body hug.

Did I mention he gives great hug?

Anyway, I'm standing there with both arms full of nearly-naked anthropologist, wet blobs on my chest and stains on my couch that I don't even want to think about and you know what? I can't remember ever being happier.

Perhaps someday I'll get round to telling him, although I suspect he already knows. Or perhaps I'll just buy him the chocolates instead. If I can't think of something better.

Actually I think I should buy a box for Megan. What do you reckon?


ENDS