Blair came bounding down the steps at Hargrove Hall, rushing to the warm embrace of his lover.

"Jim! Glad you could make it! I'm sooo happy you'd pick me up. I promise I'll take better care of my car, but you know, it was raining and the battery so does not like cold and wet weather. Neither do I for that sake..."

"Breathe, Sandburg."

Blair sucked in a big breath and continued: "Man, I gotta tell you. I had this student here today, she told me about this new store that's opened in one of the suburbs, it's so totally cool. They deal in all kinds of tribal stuff, mainly South American, and they have herbs imported from the jungle and art and clothing and..."

"Breathe, Sandburg."

"Can we go there, Jim? I'd really like to see that place, and maybe I can pick up that herb I've been looking for. That special tea I've been wanting to make? You know, the one that should be slightly trance-enducing but still mild enough that you can drink it without any side effects? Please?"

'Oh no... not the eyes....' Jim thought; but yes, Blair had turned the full force of his puppy dog look onto his Sentinel and there was nothing Jim could say to his defense. He was doomed.

"All right, Sandburg, we'll go there, but just to look. We're not going to get anything. You hear me?" Jim tried his best to look gruff but the little minx knew exactly where he had the big man... twisted firmly around his little finger. Blair's smile lit up the day and they got in the truck with destination the new shop.

Jim looked around nervously. He didn't trust the neighbourhood. It was a mixed ethnic group, which wasn't a problem, but there was something in the air. He cycled through his senses trying to figure out what it was that bothered him. Nothing obvious, that was for certain.

The shop was all it had been promised. Blair looked at everything at once, bouncing from shelf to shelf, checking out item after item.

"Jim, they even have handicraft from the Peruvian tribes. I wonder if there's any Chopec stuff here...?" He continued browsing the shelves while keeping a running commentary to Jim about what he saw and his opinion on it, plus the few million other comments that sprang to his quicksilver mind.

They finally ended up outside the store having purchased only the herbs Blair wanted and a single leather necklace from some obscure tribe way down south, which the anthropologist had explained was adorned with the symbol for strength and endurance and therefore just what he needed in order to follow his Sentinel through thick and thin.

Jim suddenly stopped short. That sound... no, it couldn't be... he looked around and saw a delivery truck parked outside a house a bit further down on the other side of the street. Nothing distinct about the house, a one family building. The delivery guy was saying his goodbyes to a big black guy at the front door and then turned to walk back to his truck.

Blair immediately noticed the tense look on Jim's face, his head cocked slightly to the side.
 
"What is it, Jim? What do you hear? Filter the sounds and tell me what you get."

"A ticking sound... the smell of plastics... it's a bomb! That delivery guy just delivered a bomb to that house!"
 
With those words Jim sped across the street with Blair in hot pursuit. Jim wondered briefly if he should get the delivery guy first, but quickly decided that keeping the bomb from doing harm was of greater importance. He did though make a mental note of which delivery company it was from plus the make and model of the truck.
 
"Cascade PD. Don't open that package" he shouted as he got close. The black man stopped and looked suspiciously at him and Blair. Fortunately, he didn't make any move to open the parcel.

Jim slowed down. 'Now's the time to think fast,' he thought.

"Detective Jim Ellison, Cascade PD". Jim flipped open his badge. Blair stopped right behind him, ready to go into action and help as soon as it was necessary.
 
"Yes, officer?"

"Do you know who sent you this package, Mr....?"

"Jones, Harry Jones. And no, I don't but I guess my wife has been ordering something again. She does that from time to time. Why?"

Blair piped up, saving Jim from trying to make up an explanation that would stick. "We've been following some leads about this delivery company. There have been incidents with mail bombs being delivered around Cascade and we'd like to make sure that this isn't one of them."

"And you are?" Jones looked rather suspiciously at both of them, but especially at Jim. Blair's words apparently didn't ring totally true to him. That was in reality no wonder, since Blair had made it all up.

"This is my partner, Blair Sandburg," Jim said. "Would you mind if we check with your wife to see if she ordered a package before we move on?"

Jones looked like he was weighing his options, but finally he relented. "Come on in, then. I'll go find my wife."

He led the way into his house and preceded them into the living room. He called out for his wife who entered from what was apparently the kitchen. "Mindy, did you order something recently? We've gotten a package that might not be for us."

Blair was rather grateful for the tactful phrasing and flashed a big smile at both men.

She looked thoughtful for a bit, absently wringing the edge of a flowered apron. "No, not that I know of. I would know if I had, I'm sure of that."

Jim was getting more and more tense, he could hear the damn thing ticking and it was not a clock. The plastics in the parcel smelled hot and he was getting worried that there wouldn't be enough time to get rid of the bomb one way or another. Blair sensed his tension and put his hand on the small of Jim's back to ground him and calm him down.

"Mr. and Mrs. Jones, can we get this package checked out at the station, just to make sure it's not related to those cases?"

Two boys chose that time to barge in through the kitchen door and start a free-for-all for the remote control, shouting and laughing all the way. Jim estimated the eldest to be 15 and the youngest about 10 years old. He looked nervously at Blair. This was going to get bad fast if they didn't get that package down to the Bomb Squad or at least out of the house.

Jones suddenly turned and looked at them intensely. "Why should I trust you? Cops have never done anything good for my family. Especially not white cops! How do I know this isn't some kind of scam to make a fool out of me?"

Blair sighed deeply. He'd thought they wouldn't meet bigotry in this part of town, but apparently it was everywhere, in all levels of society. "Mr. Jones," he began, "believe me, we mean no foul play, we are quite serious here. It is not a matter of your skin color or anything, we just want to make sure that no one comes to any harm. There are a lot of cops who take the Protect and Serve part seriously."

"Detective Sandburg..." Mindy began.

"I'm not a detective, I'm an observer for the police department and partnered with Detective Ellison here" Blair interrupted. "And please call me Blair." He gave them all his friendliest smile, the one who could make most women and not a few men melt like butter in the sun.

"Blair. We've lived in this neighbourhood for several years and there's so far never been any reason to trust a white cop. This area is God's forgotten back pocket and now you come here and expect us to just trust you at your word? What is there about this package anyway?"
 
Jim looked at Blair and sighed. He was fast running out of both time and ideas for convincing these people of his good intentions. He stared slightly into the air. The plastics were getting hotter by the minute and he needed to think fast.
 
Suddenly he gave a little wicked smile and turned towards Blair. He murmured quietly to Blair "I've got an idea that either might convince them or they'll throw us out of the house". Blair just looked back at him, a little smile curling his own lips as if he knew what Jim had in mind.

"Mrs. Jones, I'll give you proof that we are not bigots and that you have no reason to suspect any overt reasons for wanting the package away from this house". With those words he closed the distance between himself and his lover and gently tilted Blair's chin upwards.

Softly, lovingly he kissed the soft lips he knew almost better than his own. The taste of pure Blair, mixed in with traces of toothpaste and the meals of the day exploded into his mouth, making him crave more. A daring tip of a tongue licked at his lips and he willingly opened up for Blair, deepening the kiss into something hotter and more daring.

After what felt like an eternity but was probably only a few very short minutes they parted, both slightly out of breath. Jim looked a bit sheepishly at the Jones couple and simply said. "I have a black captain. I'm a gay cop on the force. My partner in everything is Jewish and male. I don't have a single reason to feel prejudice against anybody. Now can we please take that package down to the station to check it out?"

Harry and Mindy looked stunned, and the boys on the couch wore peculiar expressions as if they couldn't make up their minds to be disgusted or intrigued. Blair was standing next to Jim with a soft pink flush to his cheeks and his heart beating slightly faster than normal.
 
"Yes. Yes, of course, officer." Harry gave the package to Jim, who hurriedly bid them all a good day and dragged Sandburg with him out to the truck.

The trip to the station was made in no time at all. They used their running lights and siren plus they ran a number of traffic lights. The package was hurried up to Joel and whisked away to be taken care of.

Blair hadn't said one word since Jim had kissed him in front of the Jones family.
Jim typed up the report, ending up with a bundle of half-truths and outright lies to get around the fact that he should not have been able to hear the bomb. Then he and Blair went home to the loft.

Jim was actually quite worried about Blair's silence but figured his lover would most likely talk when they got in the door. He was right.

"Jim, I can't believe you did that! I mean, proving your intent by kissing your partner in public is so not you! What made you do it, man?" He shook his head, unbelieving.

"Chief, it seemed the only way to get them to believe. Did you really mind it that much?" Jim had always thought they stayed off the public thing because Blair wanted to protect him against prejudice. Maybe he was wrong...

"I didn't mind it at all! In fact I loved it, I just didn't think you had it in you, man!" He flashed a megawatt smile to his big partner. "Kiss me again!" And Jim did, and held on to the most important man in the world for the Sentinel of the Great City.