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Cast of Characters:
Jim Ellison, Our Calif. Firefighter
Blair Sandburg, Calif College Professor
Henry Brown, Chopper Pilot for Fire Dept.
Simon Banks, Capt. of Firefighters Unit
Megan Conner, Firefighter and wife of Simon
Sarah Michaels, Fellow Teacher at the college
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Jim Ellison, a California Fire fighter was having a bad day. He and his co-workers were up in the forest trying to keep the fire from spreading. This was his job. But it was a hard job these days for him. The smoke about killed him these days. He wondered why no one else seemed to be affected by it. No one else was complaining at all. But Jim's eyes hurt, his nose burned and his sense of taste was totally off. When he could hardly see anymore, Captain Simon Banks walked up to him and said, "Okay, Jim, lets get you out of here."
Once away from the smoke, a hard thing to do since they were in the middle of a firefight, Simon asked Jim, "What's going on Jim?"
"Simon, for some reason I can't seem to see while I'm in the smoke. Something is wrong, I just don't know what it is."
"I want you to head back into town with Megan and have some tests run. There must be something wrong. Jim, we can't have you out there if you can't work in the smoke."
"I know, Simon, I'll go and see someone as soon as I get off."
Simon walked over to his wife and asked, "Megan, do you mind driving Jim to the hospital for some tests?"
"Jim, what's wrong," Megan asked with nothing but concern in her voice.
"I don't know, Megan. It's something with my senses and I don't know what to do."
"Simon, we'll get on the road now." Megan told her husband as she led Jim to the truck and helped him into it. "I'll let you know as soon as we find something out."
The drive down the mountain was a quiet one. Jim had a lot on his mind. He really felt like he was losing it. The idea of leaving this job scared the hell out of him. If he couldn't be around smoke, then he wouldn't be able to keep working with his friends and colleagues.
Once they got to the hospital, Jim got out and told Megan, "You don't have to wait, it's not necessary."
"Oh yeah, Jim, Simon will love that. Just dropped him off and went on about my regular life. Simon would have a cow."
"Fine, whatever." Jim said scowling.
As they waiting in the Urgent care waiting room, Jim was having a hard time even reading. One minute he could see a poster down the hall and read every word and the next he couldn't make out the blur in front of him. /Oh shit, maybe I'm losing my eyesight. But that would have nothing to do with my sense of smell and taste, not to mention my hearing. /
When they finally called Jim in, Megan stood up to go with him. He turned to her and said, "Megan I think I can take it from here."
"Jim, I really need to be with you, you don't look well at all."
"Megan, please, just let me do this and I'll tell you all about it when I get out of here."
As Jim walked into the room, she was on the verge of panicking. She didn't know what to do. She felt like Simon asking her to go with him, meant he entrusted Jim's care into her hands. But what good was she doing out in the waiting room? She walked up to the nurse and said, "Once Jim Ellison is changed into the examining gown, could you tell me so I can go in and talk to the doctor too?"
The nurse looked her over and said, "Are you family, ma'am?"
"Yes," Megan replied quickly. The nurse said, "then follow me and we'll see if he's ready for you to come in."
Jim was sitting on the examining table wearing the stupid looking gown when the door opened and a nurse popped her head in and said, "Your family is here for you, Mr. Ellison." The nurse stood aside as Megan walked into the room. The nurse left the room closing the door.
"Megan, what the hell are you doing? I don't need you in here holding my hand. I'm a big boy."
"Did you ever think that maybe it's for me? I'm scared Jim. You're our best friend and I don't want anything to be wrong with you."
As she said this, she had moved closer to Jim. Jim pulled her into a hug and said, "Megan, thank you. I'm scared and you being here really does help."
"It'll work out, Jim. I just know it." Megan said trying out her best smile.
The doctor walked in and said, "Mr. Ellison, my name is Dr. Dread."
Jim and Megan couldn't help it, they both started laughing. The doctor smiled and said, "okay, now that the ice is broken, my real name is Dr. Dean and what can we do for you today?"
Jim went on to tell the doctor about what he had been experiencing and the doctor set up all the tests to be run on him. By the time they were all done, it was nine hours later. When he got back to the room, Megan was waiting with Simon when Jim returned to the room. Jim looked upset and confused. The doctor walked in and said, "Jim, I can't find a thing wrong, but I have no doubt that you think there is something wrong. So, I want you to see a Dr. Kellen."
"A Shrink, right?" Jim asked angrily.
"Yes, she is." Dr. Dean said. "She's very good and might be able to help you out. In the mean time, you'll be on medical leave until she releases you."
Jim stood up and said, "Megan I'd liked to get dressed, do you think you could leave the room?"
Megan got up without saying a word and left the room. Simon stayed in the room and watched his best friend as he got his clothes on. Simon didn't say a word, but he knew he was in for plenty once they left the hospital.
"Jim, I think it would be a good idea if you maybe took some classes at the university. That would help pass the time a little more quickly. What do you think?"
"Simon, what the hell do I want to do at the university? I want to fight fires. It's my job."
"Not right now, Jim. You're off until further notice. Take some classes and learn something you've always wanted to learn."
As they walked out of the room, Megan joined them and the three walked out to Megan's truck. As they were talking, a horn honked and Jim fell to his knees and held his ears. Megan looked at Simon with many questions in her eyes. "Jim, come on, it's okay." Simon said helping him up off the ground.
Megan dropped Jim off at his apartment and wondered if she should go in with him. Deciding that maybe he needed some space, she let him be and drove off into the night.
Walking into his apartment, he didn't turn the lights on. Even though it was pitch black in the rooms, he could still see enough from the moonlight. And not having the lights on seemed to be helping his headache. Tomorrow, he'd get up and go to the University and sign up for some class. Maybe something totally different than anything he'd ever think of doing.
Jim got into the shower, still not turning on any lights. Wondering if this was normal behavior. Then a smile came to his face when he realized that he was probably insane and all his friends thought that was perfectly normal. Sleep came easily to Jim that night, minus the headache. It was nice for a change.
When Jim woke up, he showered, got dressed had coffee and went to the U. He was going to do what Simon said, even if he didn't agree with him. He found a class in Anthropology and figured that would be something that would make them all roll their eyes over. This made him smile again. He filled out all the paperwork and got his books and they informed him he had twenty minutes until his first class. Jim wasn't expecting to go to a class today, but what the hell. He was here.
Once he found the classroom he sat down in the front part of the room and just sat there reading the book. He didn't even notice as the room started filling up. When the teacher came walking into the room, Jim could hardly stop staring. He was one of the most gorgeous men he'd ever seen. /I don't usually look at men. Who am I kidding? I never look at men. But this one has my attention. /
Professor Sandburg saw this nice looking older man sitting in the front of his class and couldn't help but notice how he was giving him the once over. Blair blushed as he introduced himself to the class and welcomed them to the first class of Anthropology.
"Now, if you'll take notes it would make things easier." Blair said smiling. Everyone in the room got out their notebooks, except for the man in front. He seemed to be staring at him, but yet he wasn't.
Blair walked over to him and touched his arm and said, "Are you all right, man?" Jim came out of whatever he had been in and looked up at Blair with confusion written all over his face. "What is your name?" Blair asked quietly.
"Jim Ellison."
"Mr. Ellison, may I speak to you in the hallway, please?"
Not knowing what was going on, but knowing this sounded pretty important, he walked out to the hall and just stood there staring at the floor.
"Mr. Ellison, I swear if I didn't know better, I'd say you zoned out on my voice."
"My name is Jim. And what do you mean, zoned out?" Blair could see the panic clearly on Jim's face.
"Well, Jim, let me ask you this. Do you have any problems with your senses? Hearing more than you should? Seeing farther than you should be able to see? Smelling things much stronger than anyone else? Any of these?"
"How do you know that? I just spent an entire day and evening at the hospital and they had no idea of what was wrong other than I need to see a shrink."
"Well, my studies on Sentinels is quite extensive and I believe that you might be a Sentinel. They are the watchmen of the tribes. That is why they're able to hear, see, smell, taste and feel more than anyone else. They can better prepare themselves for anything."
"So why didn't the doctor's know this? I would think if you know it, they should too."
"Jim, they don't believe in Sentinels. That's the difference. I truly believe in them and I believe that you're one. We'll start doing tests if you want to find out."
"What's in this for you?"
"Nothing other than being able to study someone that no one believes exists. Jim, what do you do for a living?"
"I'm a Ranger/Firefighter for the California Forest Patrol. Why?"
"That's probably why it's come out now. You've been up in the forest a lot lately, most likely by yourself watching to be sure there are no small fires starting from the big ones. This makes the senses become more pronounced."
"Okay, so where do we go from here?"
"Well, I think we should go back in the class and try to not concentrate on one sense too much and lets talk afterwards."
When they got back in the room, Blair continued with the speech he'd prepared. The whole time Blair knew Jim was watching him. He'd never ever had a man watch him the way that Jim Ellison was. He wasn't quite sure how he felt about that. He didn't have a problem with male couples, but had never thought about himself being in one. But today he was thinking about just that. He looked over at Jim and could see the need in Jim's eyes.
When class was over, Jim and Blair walked outside. Jim heard his name being called and turned and saw Henry Brown. Jim introduced H to Blair and the two men were talking away as Jim was walking over to his truck.
"So Blair, you want to come to our poker game this weekend?" Henry was asking Blair.
"That would be great. I don't know too many folks here yet. Jim, do you mind?"
"I don't care." Jim said in his usual grouchy tone.
"Don't worry about him. His bark is worse than his bite." Henry said smiling.
"Henry, would you like to go out one of these nights?" Blair asked.
"Henry smiled and said, "sure, that would be great. Want to check out some of those singles clubs?"
"Yeah, that would be great." Blair said almost bouncing in his step.
/Why am I jealous? It's not like I date guys. It's not like he dates guys. It's not like there's anything between us at all. / Jim continued staring at both men, glaring the whole time.
Henry said he had to get to his class and left Jim and Blair alone. Blair smiled at Jim and said, "Jim, would you like to have dinner tonight?"
"I don't hang out at single clubs, Sandburg." Jim said, snapping at Blair.
Blair backed up a bit and said, "Jim, if you don't want to go, say no. It's no biggy. I just figured we could get to know each other better."
"I'm sorry, Blair. I'm a grouch sometimes. I'd like to have dinner with you. I don't know what's wrong with me."
"Jim, are you extra touchy feely?"
"Blair, what the hell are you talking about." As he hollered at Blair, he was backing further and further away from him. Blair walked closer to him and said, "it's part of the package, Jim. You feel things more than anyone else."
Getting himself under control again, he said, "So where do you want to go to dinner tonight?"
"I love Italian, how about you? We can go wherever you want. I just love food."
"Italian, it'll be. I'll pick you up, if that's okay."
"Here's my address, Jim and I'll see you at about 7:00?"
"Sounds good to me." Jim said smiling for the first time that day.
"Oh Jim, why aren't you working?"
Jim's smile wiped off of his face quickly. "I got put on medical leave until they can figure out why I'm having problems."
"Don't worry about it, Jim, we'll get it all worked out. I'll see you tonight. Bye."
Tune in next week to see if Brown actually goes out with Blair to find babes, or will Blair pump our dear Henry for info on Jim? Will Jim tell Simon and Megan, seeing as they are his best friends? And what about Blair? What is going on with he and Jim? Will they take it slow, or will they take it fast and furious? Who will be more frightened of this relationship? Will we find someone for Henry? Will this be Sarah, Blair's friend at the college?
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