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Patt's getting a tad bit bogged down in real life, so I'm taking over for her on Courage Under Fire for a bit. My name is Kel, my address is dragonbane4@aol.com
There was silence as Blair and the Dean both looked at the pictures Stephen laid out for them. "Holy shit, Stevie."
"There's more, Blair, but what is said in this office cannot get back to Jim in any way. I will tell him the rest of it, but what I say now cannot and must not get back to my brother, swear it, Blair. Or leave."
Blair got up and Stephen exhaled softly; he'd expected Sandburg to stay and hear it all. He was pleased when all Blair did was lock the door and come to sit back down. "I swear it, Stevie, what is said here will not get back to Jim."
"Wilkerson already knows it, I just found out. There's something you should know, Blair." He put the video in the VCR against the wall and played it, letting William's call of Jim's name echo in the small locked office.
"Holy shit," Blair said again. "It's... oh, God, it's not about me," Blair realized in that split second. "It would have been any man that had Jim before William did."
Stephen nodded. "I'm sorry you had to find out this way, Blair. But this is the dirty little secret that William is holding over the Dean." Stephen barely thought of the man as "father" anymore.
The Dean's face was chalky white, but relieved. "Thank God somebody knows. Stop it, Stephen. Stop it and I promise you, Blair's job will be safe," he babbled. "I didn't know until yesterday when Jim came to see me what was going on and it made me sick to my stomach," he continued. "Please stop it. I don't care about the money. It's mostly paid off now anyway. Here." He scrabbled in his pockets for the check William had written this morning. "Here, take it. Just as long as it stops."
Stephen said nothing as he pocketed the check. He was about to speak when Jim knocked on the door. "Chief, it's me. We're done, can we come in?"
Stephen jerked the tape out of the VCR and stowed it safely in his briefcase. "Come on in, Jim, I gotta unlock the door." Blair sprinted across the tight office and opened the door, and Jim was standing on the other side.
Blair was engulfed in Jim's arms, and Stephen looked around. "I think we need to retire to the Dean's office again. Dean Wilkerson, can you lead the way?"
"Oh. Of--of course," he said, as Stephen gathered the photos and other evidence and slipped it into his briefcase. Jim and Blair walked down the hall together behind the dean with Stephen, and Joel and Brian followed, exchanging mystified looks.
Once they were all settled in the Dean's office, Stephen looked at Jim. "What are you and the rest of the guys doing here?"
Jim flexed his sore knuckles. "I went to talk to the old man earlier... see if I could find a way to talk him out of this thing with Blair. But he wouldn't budge. My senses started freaking out on me, I called Blair for help but Pops hung up the phone, slapping me, telling me I was going to have to be a real man and not a drama queen."
A small smile played at the corner of Blair's mouth. //Jim, a drama queen. Never.//
Stephen's throat was closed. //Did William put the moves on you, Jimmy?// he wondered. "Brian and Joel, they were here to help me. Dad said that Blair'd slept with like thirty students here."
"Which is not true," Brian busted in. "Me and Joel, we've got fifty, sixty names of girls from the school who say that they came onto Blair and he turned 'em down."
The Dean visibly perked up at that. "May I see those lists, please?"
"Sure," Joel said at the same time Stephen said, "No."
"No?"
"Copy them first, and let the dean have the copies and turn the originals in to me," Stephen said. Joel took his and Brian's notebooks over to the copier in the Dean's office, and soon the dean had copies of the pages and the originals were safely stowed with Stephen. "Thank you."
"You're welcome," Brian said, and then looked down at the pager on his belt, which was vibrating wildly. He recognized the phone number--Megan's. "We gotta go, Joel. Megan's calling us back to the station. Want us to send her down, Jim?"
Blair answered for him. "Yes, send her on over, she needs to know what's going on. Me and Jim will fill you in later."
Bri ducked out and called Megan on his way out to the car. "Come on down, Megan. Blair's asking for you, and we're leaving. They're in the Dean's office."
"Tell them I'll be there in about ten minutes."
"Will do." Brian stuck his head back in. "Megan's on her way. She'll be here in about ten minutes, I figure we'll pass her on the turnpike."
Brian and Joel departed, and that left Jim and Blair and Stephen and the Dean. Jim was pacing the Dean's office. "Jim, sit down," Stephen said. When Jim didn't, Stephen looked at Blair.
"Jim, sit down." Only the timbre of Blair's voice was different, the tone was the same but Jim responded to Blair's request, and the young teacher went to sit beside him. "Thanks."
"You're welcome, Chief." He kissed the back of Blair's hand as he looked at Stephen. "What's going on?"
"This," Stephen said, passing Jim the envelope of bookie receipts, then after he'd thumbed through those, the pictures of Wilkerson and William together.
Jim didn't say anything at the first couple of pictures, but when he realized what was going on, he shot up out of the chair. "What the hell!" Blair caught the pictures before they hit the floor. "What the hell is going on, Wilkerson!" He lunged forward and hauled the Dean to his feet. "Tell me!"
"Jim! Let him go!" Blair commanded, putting the pictures on his chair and rubbing the small of Jim's back. "Jim. Let the Dean go. Put him down. Let go of him. We can tell you what's going on." His voice was calmly modulated, not showing the tremor of panic that was threatening. "Jim. Let. Him. Go."
His Guide's voice slowly brought him back, and he let the Dean go. Wilkerson stumbled back a few steps, and looked up at Jim with wide eyes. But it was Stephen who talked. "William found out that our friend here had debts to a bookie. I don't know how much--"
"Five thousand dollars," the Dean volunteered helpfully.
"--but he's been paying it off five hundred bucks at a time in exchange for sex," Stephen finished smoothly.
"And that's how he's been controlling you?" Jim demanded of the Dean.
"Yes... he said he wouldn't pay anymore and that he'd tell the board of directors here that I'd been sleeping with him for money. Stephen promised he'd help me stop it. I hated doing it but I had to have the money."
"Shut up," Jim said, his hands clenching into fists. "Just shut the fuck up."
Blair got up and went to Jim, wrapping his arms around his love. "Jim... calm down, okay? It's over. The Dean is going to work with us. He's not going to fire me, and I'm still going to be with you, I promise." Regardless of who was in the room with them, Blair reached up to cup Jim's face in his hands, and brought it down for a long, reassuring kiss.
Jim sighed, relaxation flowing through him as Blair reassured him. His arms wrapped around Blair, his hands tightened in Blair's hair. "We're going to be together?" He'd meant it as a statement but it ended up as a question.
"Yes, we are. Your father just lost his hold over us, Jim. He's lost the last hold he can ever have over you," Blair said softly, not releasing his Sentinel. "He won't be able to hurt you anymore."
"Who's trying to hurt Jim?" came Megan's voice, only having heard the last of Blair's statement.
"Our father," Stephen said before he thought.
"So fill me in. Brian told me some of it--"
"He promised!" blurted Jim as he remained still, embracing Blair.
"Bugger it, Jim, he'd already promised me after you called before you made him promise here! He already promised to keep me in the loop."
Stephen waved her over to the Dean's desk, and showed her the photos and quickly filled her in as Jim started to break away from Blair. "I've got to go and see Pops, Blair. I've got to tell him it's over, once and for all. If he comes near you again I won't hesitate to throw those receipts and pictures to the press."
Blair buried his face in Jim's shoulder, suddenly apprehensive. "Jim, don't go, man. I got a really bad feeling about this." //Don't do it, Jim, don't let your dad touch you.//
"I got to, Blair. I got to make sure that he knows he can never mess with us again." He kissed Blair's face softly. "Then as soon as we get done I'll take you up to the house. I bought it, babe, got the papers for it last night." He interspersed kisses between his words. "You and me, we'll go see it together... new house, new life," he promised. "I just have to cut ties with Pops."
"Then I'm going with you." Both men had seemed to forget about the audience, and neither cared.
"No you're not. I'm not going to give Pops another chance to get his claws into you and hurt you."
Stephen stepped up at that. "Blair, he's right. There's no telling what William might do," he said, his eyes pointing to his briefcase and the videotape inside it.
Blair followed Stephen's glance and sighed. //Shit, he's right. If he is that hot for Jim and I'm there... shit.// "Jim, you can't go alone."
"Oh, well, that's easily solved," Megan said, entering the verbal fray for the first time. "I'll take him. Brian said on the phone you left your truck there this morning, right? Well, I'll drive you over there, you can talk to Pops and we'll pick up the truck and come back here and pick Blair up for dinner--Simon's and my treat of course--and then we can take a tour of the new house. Everybody happy? Wonderful. Well, come on, let's go, mate," she said, putting her arm around Jim's shoulders and steering him towards the door.
Jim almost resisted her but the pleading in Blair's eyes convinced him otherwise. "We won't be gone long."
Blair watched Megan and Jim depart with a sinking feeling in his stomach. "Did you tell her?" he asked, as they shut the door.
"No," Stephen answered. "Only what was necessary. Not the dirty details."
The Dean flushed. "Gentlemen--Mr. Sandburg--let me--"
"Please don't," Stephen said, raising his hand. "Just leave. Go home for the day. Take a shower--you still stink of his smell, even I can smell it from here--and come back in the morning prepared to make sure that Blair's job is secure. Your secretary has a key to your office, I'm sure, she will lock up when Blair and I leave."
Wilkerson fled the office, leaving only Stephen and Blair behind. "Stevie--you okay?"
He slumped down in his chair for the first time today. "No. But I will be. Jimmy's protected me all my life, Blair, for as long as I can remember. Whether it was mom yelling or dad with a belt or the kids on the football team, Jimmy was there, taking care of me. Making sure I didn't get hurt. And boy... I didn't know to return the favor when I was old enough but now... now I can start. Finally, I can start taking care of my big brother."
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