~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Jim and Blair walked into the Psychologist's office and told the receptionist who they were. And what they were there for. They went and sat down in the waiting room and tried to patiently wait to be called. The receptionist brought over all the paper work for Jim to fill out. That helped kill some of the time. Jim hated paperwork, but Blair helping him made him seriously think that it wasn't that bad.
A nice looking gentleman came out of his office and called Jim's name. Standing up, both Jim and Blair went into Dr. Morrison's office and waited for him to introduce himself. "Hello," he said, "my name is Dr. Tyler Morrison. I like my patients to call me Tyler."
"It's good to meet you, Tyler," Jim said, "I'm Jim Ellison and this is my friend Blair Sandburg."
Blair stepped forward to shake the man's hand. Once the formalities were out of the way, Dr. Morrison asked them both to sit down. "Okay, where do you think we should start this, Jim?"
"Dr. Morrison, I want to tell you a little about Jim and his senses. I've learned a great deal about him in the last couple of days. My studies took place in the classroom and South America."
"Excuse me, Mr. Sandburg, what are you talking about?"
"Tyler," Jim said, "I have problems with my senses, but no tests showed anything being wrong. They all thought I was nuts. But Blair has an answer. One that not only makes sense, but it'll work for me so that I can continue doing my job."
"Well, I have to hear this," Dr. Morrison said, "Mr. Sandburg, sit down and tell me all about this."
So Blair proceeded to tell him everything that would pertain to him helping Jim get back on duty. Then he had Jim do some simple tests and the Doctor was easily talked into believing with the results that Blair was showing him.
"Jim, I think I can go ahead and release you as of tomorrow." Dr. Morrison said, "I'll tell them that we'll continue to see each other monthly, but the problems seem to have disappeared."
"Thank you so much, Doctor." Jim said letting out a breath, not even noticing that he had been holding his breath this whole time. Things might look up.
"Jim, set up an appointment for three weeks." Tyler said, "then we'll find out if you need to see me as often or not."
Jim waited while the doctor wrote the letter for Jim's release. The whole time he was waiting, he and Blair were both pacing. They couldn't wait to get out of there.
Once the release was in his hands, he asked for copies to be made and he and Blair walked to the truck.
"We have time for a nice lunch before we meet with Simon, want to try that new Thai place?"
"Jim, do you want to talk about any of this? You didn't seem too open with that doctor and I felt like you could have covered a few things while you were in his office."
"Blair, not everyone wants to open up and talk about things."
Shrugging, Blair said, "Sure, Thai sounds fine." Jim could not help but notice that Blair wasn't smiling anymore. *Ellison, this is a new world record. One day before you piss your lover off.
"Blair, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to sound so mean. I'm just not good at opening up to anyone."
"No problem." But again, Jim could tell there was a problem. Blair didn't do as he said. He talked a good game, but didn't follow up with any talk about what exactly bothered him."
Jim didn't start the truck up, and just stared out the window of the truck. Blair finally looked over at him and said, "Jim, what the hell are you doing?"
"I'm waiting for you to talk to me about what's bothering you. You want me to talk about myself, but you don't talk about yourself either."
"You're right, Jim. I hate when someone else is right. Okay, here is the deal. For some reason, I'm wild about you. I feel like we've known each other for years and yet I can't tell you that I think I'm in love with you."
Jim stared at Blair this whole time listening and when he heard the "I think I love you," part Jim moved over and pulled Blair into his arms and kissed him soundly. Blair finally gave in and kissed him back with just as much passion as he was getting.
"And you know what else, Jim? I don't like the idea of you being without some backup during firefights. So, I want to ask your boss for a ride along status. It might be considered if he knows what's going on."
"Let's go to lunch, Chief and then we'll worry about Simon. How does that sound?"
"Sounds good to me." Blair moved over a bit and put his seatbelt on and noticed that Jim hadn't put his on. At the stop light, He undid his and reached over and did Jim's up and then kissed him and put his back on again.
"Damn, but I'm a sucker for romance, Chief." Next thing I know, I'll be singing that song, "I went and fell in love, and stepped in a pile of you."
Blair began laughing and went into the hardest laugh he'd ever done in his life. "Jesus, Jim, where the hell did you hear that song?"
"I don't know the name of it, but I saw it in a movie called 'Waltz Across Texas' and it makes me think about you."
"A pile of you, makes you think of me?" The laughter was beginning again and Blair wasn't fighting it one bit. Jim gave him a look of having his feelers hurt and Blair laughed even harder. *Thank god, I found a romantic man, Blair thought to himself still smiling. He's so fucking gorgeous; I can't wait to have him in the bed again.
They got to the new restaurant and got right in and found themselves in a booth. Very cozy, Blair thought. Before they ordered, Jim found time to kiss Blair a few times, not caring who saw them. Jim wasn't paying attention to what was going on and the next thing he knew there was someone at the table clearing his throat. Jim pulled away from Blair smiling and then his smile left his face quickly. There standing at Jim and Blair's table was no other than William Ellison. Jim just sat there not knowing what to say.
Blair stuck his hand out and said, "I'm Blair Sandburg and you are?"
Ignoring Blair's hand, still glaring at Jim, William said, "I'm William Ellison, Jimmy's dad."
"Oh man," Blair said sadly, wanting to crawl under the table. It didn't help that Jim was still sitting there without saying one word.
"Jimmy, could you please follow me, I want to talk to you."
"Dad, I'm having lunch here, if you want to talk to me, do it here."
"Jimmy, I don't think you want your 'friend' to hear what I have to say. Follow me outside and we'll discuss this."
Jim started to slide out of the booth, and Blair stopped him. "No, Jim, if he has something to say about me, let me hear it. You'll tell me anyhow. You're not a child. You don't have to listen to him."
William glared at Blair as he said, "Listen here you little fag, you stay away from my son. He was never into men before. Must be something you did to him."
"Dad, stop it right now. It's nothing Blair did. He's a great guy. You don't even know him. Why not at least give it a chance? Have dinner or lunch with us and let us all talk."
"Jimmy, do you suppose that having lunch or dinner with the two of you make me think this is any less sick? I don't think so. You'll choose right now if you want to be part of the Ellison family or not."
"Right this moment, you want me to decide if I want to give up Blair for you and Steven. Fine, Fuck you, dad. Nice knowing you."
William glared at Jim and turned fast on his heels and stormed out of the room. Jim's eyes followed him out the door, trying not to show too much on his face. But Blair saw plenty. He saw the pain, the heartbreak and the misery of knowing he just gave up his family for someone he just met.
Jim glanced over at Blair and saw the pain in his eyes and said, "Okay, Chief, stop right now."
"Jim, I don't know what you mean."
"Cut the bullshit, Blair. I can see how bad you feel. This is no big thing. My dad has been looking for a reason to unload me from the family anyway. This just made it easier for him."
"Speaking of bullshit, Jim, I see your face, you don't. He just broke your heart."
Jim leaned into Blair's arms and said, "Yeah, he did. I was hoping, but I knew in the back of my mind what he would do."
"I'm sorry, Jim. I really am."
"Let's finish lunch and get to that meeting with Simon. I need to work. Keep my mind off things. Is that okay with you?"
"Sounds good, in fact, why not box it up to go. And then we can get out of here."
Jim kissed him softly and said, "Thanks for understanding my need to get out of here."
The drive to Simon's office was pretty quiet and uneventful. Blair trying to give Jim some space and down time to think. When they drove up, Jim said, "Blair I don't know if I want to tell them yet. What if they disown me too?"
"Jim, that's fine, I didn't expect you to change your life in one day. That comes later."
Jim kissed him again and said, "Thanks."
When they walked into Simon's office, Henry Brown, Brian Rafe and Joel Taggart were all sitting there waiting for Jim to get there for this big meeting. Jim hugged them all when he walked in the door. Blair found himself feeling a little left out. Jim hadn't even introduced him to any of his friends. Brian looked over at Blair and stuck his hand out and said, "Brian Rafe, and you are?"
Putting his hand out to shake with Brian, Blair said, "Blair Sandburg, Professor Blair Sandburg."
Jim looked around and realized what he had done. "Man, I'm sorry, Chief."
"Everyone, this is Blair Sandburg, a professor at the university. He was my teacher but I've decided on another subject to study. He has some things to talk to all of us about today."
Taggart shook hands with Blair as he introduced himself. *They all seem really nice, Blair thought. We'll see when they figure out what's going on.
Brown walked over and shook his hand saying, " Nice to see you again."
Simon opened up his office door and said, "Does everyone want to come in now?"
Blair looked up at Jim and said, "What would he say if we all said no and left?"
Henry smacked on Blair's back and said, "Good one, teach."
Smiling Jim walked into Simon's office knowing that things would be just fine. Megan was waiting in Simon's office and she looked really nervous. Blair stood up to talk to everyone. He had a book about Sentinels and he had a lot of data that he had studied for years. He went into his teacher mode and Jim noticed that everyone was paying attention. Blair was a great teacher. Jim also was thinking about how crazy about him he was and how fast this was happening.
For the next four hours, Blair told them all anything and everything he could think of and then asked if there were any questions. They all had questions, so one at a time, he let them ask and answered them to the best of his ability. It made for a long damn day. Blair was exhausted when he was done.
Jim stood to give Simon the paper from the doctor releasing him for duty. Everyone stood up and congratulated Jim on his news. But Simon asked Jim how he planned on doing this. If he needed someone on behind him watching his back, he needed to figure out something or he wouldn't be able to go out on a call.
This is when Blair hit Simon up for the ride along status. Simon actually liked this idea. He wouldn't worry about Jim so much that way. "When you're not here, one of us will work with him," Simon said, "so that he'll never be alone. At least until he has these under control."
"Thank you so much, Simon." Jim said softly but earnestly.
A fire alarm broke out and they all flew into action. Jim said, "Blair are you going to come with me? Or would you rather wait here?"
"I'll go with you, Jim. I'll watch your back, don't you worry."
As they drove up the mountain side, Jim wondered what idiot started this fire this time and if they were too late to stop a lot of the damage. The smoke was all encompassing to Jim and everyone else. Jim started coughing and gagging more than a person usually was.
"Jim, we need to turn those dials down. Remember the ones we talked about? Now find those in your mind and turn them down. This'll help you cope with being in the impenetrable smoke."
Jim followed everything that Blair said to do and found out that he could handle the smoke much better this time. *This might just work, Ellison.
They fought side-by-side getting the small fire under control so that they wouldn't have to bring in all the water choppers. Henry flew one, but preferred to be on the ground helping with his friends.
After the first was under control, Jim relaxed by the Fire Truck and told Blair what a good job he did. They both needed to get a shower, but that would have to wait. Jim was on duty and would be for the next three days.
He turned to Blair and said, "I won't be off for three days. I'm really sorry."
Smiling Blair answered, "No problem man. Just think what fun we'll have once you get to my place."
Jim knew this was going to work. They'd figure things out as they came up. No need to start worrying now.
Tune in next week.
What do Jim's fellow workers think of having a Sentinel working with them?
Will Joel and Brian have any type of love life?
Will Henry and Sarah both come to the station house for poker night?
Will Blair ask Sarah and Henry for dinner? He wants things to go as smoothly
as possible.
What classes will Jim decide on taking?
Will he have time with the fire freaks starting fires right and left?
How will Blair do with Jim's co-workers and friends?
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*