Jim closed the door to the loft. The flight from Hawaii had been long, more so than the trip out to the island. He picked up the luggage and started for the stairs. Realizing half-way to the foot he had Blair's bag also, he sat both pieces down.
"Jim..." Blair walked over beside the taller man. Having learned that the cop didn't respond well to the words 'let's talk', he turned his body language into a question, taking an open stance.
"Blair." Where to start? There were so many questions up in the air.
"What do you want." Blair delivered the words evenly, each word with its own stress.
"You. I want you." Jim struggled to keep from shaking. His eyes drifted shut as his head tipped down.
"I'm yours." The shorter man walked forward until his forehead was against Jim's bowed one. He let out a sigh as strong arms crossed along his back, hands clutching his shoulders.
Mack faced off the small bungelow. While the memories that crowded his thoughts had occurred in a hotel room, they seemed focused here. "'Cause this place has 'Mack' written all over it." Wasn't that it in the end? Blair had left with Jim, the real Jim, because Mack was Mack?
So it wasn't that simple. Maybe he'd deal with it better once he was on active duty, instead of just behind a desk. Digging a few last items from their hiding places, Mack threw them into the basket and picked up the laundry.
Placing the last load into the teal sports car, he slid behind the wheel.
"What do you say to dinner?" Blair could have stood clasped to Jim's chest forever if it hadn't been for his stomach complaining about airplane cusine. As it was, he looked up for some sign of agreement.
"I'll order." Jim slowly released Blair and stood up, going to the phone. "Chinese okay?"
"Sure." After his friend hung up the phone, Blair pressed close.
Jim fingered Blair's curls. How would they work this? "I never figured it out..." His fingers stopped.
"With Carolyn?" Blair rubbed the hand near his face. "It is okay, Jim." Blair smiled in reassurance. "What didn't you figure out?"
"What did we?" Jim pulled away to pace in place. "I couldn't... wasn't..." He'd never been the man Carolyn thought he was. That she wanted and needed him to be.
"I'm not looking to change you." Blair smiled. "Much."
Mack sorted his clothes into the usual loads; the cream and tan, the blue load and the catch-all. The laundromat pretty much to himself, he took up several tables. Picking through the blue load for stains, he caught on a Hawaiian shirt. Rubbing the turquoise cloth between his fingers, he got lost in his memories as Jim. His rescue, Blair's friendship, the start of a love affair. Clutching the shirt tightly, Mack pushed away the impressions of their lovemaking. *Guess I should mail this to Jim.* He started in on the laundry in earnest.
The food having arrived, Jim and Blair ate quietly, much as they had numerous times before. Before. Each was lost in his own memories. Finally, Blair spoke.
"How are we going to do this?" He watched as Jim looked up from his meal.
"This?" He looked at his guide, wondering what the younger man would say next.
"This. You, me. Us. There is an us? Right?"
*That.* "There is an us." Before Blair could fidget anymore with his chopsticks, Jim had them out of his roommate's hands and the food put aside. "Was an us before Hawaii. The rest... We give it some time." He watched as Blair yawned and stretched. "Looks like you should go to bed."
Blair's breath hitched. *Which one?* He glanced back to his small room and up to Jim's.
"Mine? Ours..." Jim heard the spike in his partner's pulse, as he headed to the bathroom.
"Jim?" Blair looked upstairs and then to the retreating form.
"Got to shower that airplane air off." He whispered much lower, "see you shortly."
Jim stood at the top of his stairs, looking toward the bed. *Sounds right.* Not just Blair's heartbeat, but his breath as well. He paused in a moonlit patch, droplets collecting from still damp hair to glisten on the bare chest before soaking into the boxers' waistband. He heard a catched breath.
"Are... are you just going to stand there?"
Jim slid under the blankets. "That better?" Seeing the half-hearted yes, he moved closer, draping an arm over Blair. "Comfy?" Feeling the younger man relax into him, he lay down. "Get some sleep."
"Goodnight, Jim-boy." Slowly his mind stopped turning things over and Blair sank into the heat so close to him.
"Mack, you okay?" Holli looked at the bandage on the big cop's forehead.
"Oh, this?" Mack pointed to the obvious. "Never better. The papercuts, those were murder." Finally cleared to get back to work, real work, not just riding a desk, Mack's spirit was returning. "Understand you have a body for me to look at?" He managed to look hurt when the coroner slapped him with her eyes. "The Conner case. Husband found dead and wife missing?" He smiled as she pushed him in the right direction.
Blair unbuttoned his shirt slowly, pulling it off and dropping it into the hamper. A tiny gold hoop glinted in the dark nipple. Jim had just called to say he had finished up at the station and was on the way home. Blair sat on the edge of the bed, pulling off first one sock, and then the other. In the few days since they had gotten home, neither of them had really made a move.
Now, Blair decided, was the time. Pulling the t-shirt from his jeans and over his head, he threw it into the laundry. Getting up from the bed, he emptied his pockets onto the dresser tray. Undoing his buttons, he pushed the pants down and stepped out of them. He bent over and shook them out, placing them across the chair. Walking back to the turned down bed, he stripped out of his boxers and climbed in. Now, it was up to Jim.
"So, what did the dearly departed from?" Mack looked down at the draped slab.
Holli pulled the cloth back a bit. "Heart attack. I'm still waiting for a toxicology. Anything about the wife?"
"No. Funds were withdrawn from the couple's accounts. A plane ticket was purchased but went unclaimed." Mack started to look intently at the body. "Doc, what is that under the nails?" Something was lodged there, though otherwise the hands looked clean.
Holli looked down. "Mack?"
"There is something there. Humor me, okay?"
Jim approached the loft, and started listening. *Something's... not right.* Usually, he'd hear cooking, typing, music. *Quiet.* Then he found the heartbeat, a little faster than normal. Opening the door, gun in hand, he sweeped for anything unusual. Nothing.
"Jim?"
He looked up to the loft, mounting the stairs quickly. He halted and his thoughts dropped a few octaves. Blair was gloriously nude and more than a little aroused. After a thorough visual survey, Jim put away his gun and badge in the nightstand. Fingers unbuttoned each button and let the shirt fall to the floor. Shoes were toed off, and socks pulled. Pants unfastened, unzipped and dropped. Slipping his hands under the elastic, he eased the boxers free, letting them slide down. He climbed fluidly into the bed straddling Blair, hands even with the face. Leaning down slowly, Jim met the lips, lowering himself as the kiss deepened.
Heats touched and engorged as the embrace tightened. Hands roamed, lips claimed as the two men writhed in passion withheld. Thrusting, they climbed ever higher until they were forcefully spent.
"Wow." Blair sprawled completely boneless, eyes wide and hair wild.
Jim, rolled to one side, looked over at his lover. "Yeah." He smiled and pulled the smaller man closer. He snuggled in tight, rubbing his cheek against the man he loved as they drifted asleep.
"Blaiiiir!" Mack opened his eyes, releasing his grip when he saw his hand-wrapped cock. It had been so real, the dream of Blair sucking him. Loving him. Mack absently rubbed his head. The dreams were so vivid, felt so real, whether he was taking Blair in his mouth, lying length to length, or had his ass full. He looked at his twitching lap. Pushing up from the bed, he bunched up the sheets and headed for the bathroom. Thrusting the soiled linens into the laundry bag, he turned on the shower and stepped under the spray. He needed to stop thinking of Blair. He washed forcefully. *No...* The sudsy hands slowed and teased himself like a lover. There was so much he hadn't shared with Blair, but his mind insisted on creating details. What a soapy Blair would feel like against his chest, under his hands. The water turned cold as he came again.
*Alive. Mine. Need.* Jim held his nearly cooked Blair tightly pressed into the brick of the loft, assuring himself that the younger man was really okay. Again his partner had been abducted, this time to cover up something Blair had discovered. What, Jim didn't care right now, didn't know now.
Blair bucked away from the wall, arching against Jim. He ground his hardness on Jim's, flesh blocked by denim and twill. Hot mouth leaving his to suck his neck, Blair caught his breath. "Jim. Bed." He didn't know how Jim could stand the charred smell, but he wasn't going to complain. Right now though, he preferred to nail and be nailed on a horizontal surface. They could recreate their first, well second, meeting another time.
Jim looked up from his work. Clutching Blair tightly, he carried them through the french doors. Laying them onto the bed, he pulled Blair's sooty and his own soiled clothes off, dropping the lot to the floor. It had been too close. If Blair hadn't opened the valve, he would have been doused with gasoline too, instead of just everything around him. The paramedics said that the wet layers had protected him from the intense heat. *He was only sweat-damp when I found him.* He lapped at the salt riming his love.
Blair surged and flopped on top. Possessing Jim's mouth, he then worked his way down the hard chest. Blair didn't mind when he was slipped back under Jim. Cocks slid together as passion built ever higher.
Jim yeowled as he and then Blair spilt, dropping onto his love.
"So it really was a heart attack?" Mack chewed on yet another Twizzler.
"Brought on by the exertion of killing and disposing of his wife's body. Mack, how did you see anything? There was more pumice soap under there than Mrs. Conner."
"Jim. You feel great, but I smell something terrible." Blair stroked along his sentinel's powerful arms, encouraging the larger man to lift up. "Thanks." He looked at the pile of clothes that had narrowly missed a stack of anthropology journals. Borrowed anthro journals. Carefully avoiding everything, he headed for the bathroom, giving a quick glance to the living room. As he took care of business, he kept thinking of the body sized soot print on the wall.
Blair went back into his old room. Jim looked up at him from the small bed. "Planning on sleeping there?" Blair tried to figure out the best way to get the pile out without ruining anything not already marked. Finally, he went to the kitchen to return with a garbage bag, slipping the mass inside. "Want to help me find your gun in this mess?" Blair headed to the bathroom to sort through things.
"Blair?" Jim looked at the smaller man piling pocket contents on the toilet lid as he tossed checked clothes to one end of the bathtub. Naked and crouched low, hair matted, Blair seemed... Jim couldn't come up with the right words but didn't like seeing it. He touched the bare back. Then he started taking over some of the sorting duties.
"I'll wash these tonight. At least some of it should still be wearable." Blair scooped the pile back into the bag.
"Blair." Jim took hold of Blair's hands. What was going on in that quick mind? "Did I do something wrong?" When he got no answer, Jim swung the bag over into a corner and turned on the shower taps. Pulling Blair in, he slowly worked on washing away the grime.
Blair started shaking and turned to face Jim. He latched on desperately, kneading at Jim's chest with fingers and lips. The larger man rubbed his large hands up and down Blair's back.
"I almost lost you."
"You were the one in the flames." Jim held the Blair's face upturned in his hands before descending for a kiss and neck suckle. He pressed Blair tight against his chest. "I'm the one that's supposed to be in danger."
"Don't you get it? I almost lost you! It doesn't matter... I need to come home... need you to be here." Blair sobbed against Jim, the salty tears in stark contrast to the chlorinated water.
Once Blair had gotten the worst of it out of his system, Jim turned him around and uncapped Blair's shampoo. Sudsing up the tangled locks, Jim cooed to him. "I'm here. You're here. G-d, that scares me every time." He choked up, and skipped the frantic moments before he found Blair with the EMTs. "There was my sooty angel." Jim worked at the last traces, rinsing Blair throughly before quickly using the detangler on the mane with the last of the hot water.
"Not an angel." Blair grabbed at the towel as Jim dried him. Next thing he knew, he'd been scooped up, legs hanging over Jim's right arm. "I can walk." Jim was silent as he carried Blair upstairs, gently centering him on the big bed. Blair threw back his head as Jim crawled up his body, kissing his stomach and working his way up. Lapping nipples into tight peaks. Suckling his throat before slowly claiming his mouth and tongue.
Jim evaded the hands trying to find purchase in his short hair, making his way back down Blair. Loving the less obvious special places scattered across Blair's body. Then he lapped at one very obvious bit of flesh, smoothly downing it as hips surged up.
"JIM!" Blair hung there, Jim holding him up, cock down the large man's throat. Slowly, he was lowered as Jim's mouth worked just part of the shaft. He watched amazed as Jim swallowed him again, fucking his mouth on Blair's cock repeatedly, before letting some slip free to better lick the remainder. Bucking, Blair moaned when the mouth left him.
Jim kissed his way down, suctioning sensitive patches of flesh before licking across the sole of one foot. Swiping hard enough not to tickle, he lavished one foot and then the other.
Blair arched and writhed. Hard, so mind-shatteringly hard and his feet were the center of attention. Jim slowly worked past one ankle, to lap the back of a knee, and teeth-tease flesh right above the hipbone. He watched as Jim slowly loved his hand, scraping teeth along heel, tonguing palm and web. Suckling each finger before moving to wrist, inner elbow and upper arm.
"YESS! Yes, Yes, Yes." Blair encouraged Jim as he returned to his engorged length. Swung between the licking and the deep-throating, Blair keened when his other side was given the same lavish treatment, leaving his hardness bereft. "Fucking take me! Finish..." His breath fled as Jim laved his inner elbow.
Jim sank onto Blair, soul-searingly sucking Blair's full mouth, as he thrusted hardness hard into hardness. Trembling, he came, tumbling Blair. Wetnesses mingled between their bellies.
"My angel." Tucking Blair tight to his side, Jim watched as Blair went to sleep.
Mack tore at the cellophane, opening the small box. His pinched fingers hesitated before grabbing one, jamming it into his mouth and quickly lighting the cigarette. So, he was weak. Big news. He drew a long drag.
Mack started hacking like a cat with a hairball. He stared at the burning object, nose wrinkling at it. He put it back to his lips and tried again. Coughing, he mashed in into the ash tray.
He was a smoker. Holli just put too much of a tax on the habit, repeatedly trashing freshly lit cigarettes. Mack pulled out another cancer stick, rolling it in his fingers. Lighting it, he held it for a moment before bringing it to his mouth. He was a mess, and he smoked for stress. Hacking, eyes tearing, he managed a few drags before dropping it into the ash tray.
Mack lit another. And another. Each to be dropped or mashed. Finally three-fourths of the way through the pack, he threw it across the room. It plunked on the side of the trash can. He rubbed his hands over his face to look at the one in distaste. Great. Now he could smell the tar, and it sickened him.
*What?* Jim sat his other mail on his desk and opened the brown wrapped package. He smiled wryly at Blair who sat down to finish typing up a report. Pulling out the contents, he found a *purple Hawaiian shirt?* Yes. Purple with magenta and burgandy flowers.
"Looks like somebody got lucky. She trash one of your shirts?" Brown quickly moved away from Jim, laughing as he went.
Jim looked closer at the return address. He had just assumed from the postmark it was sent by the conference. *Mack.* He turned to Blair and whispered. "Guess this is for you." He half extended the shirt, secretly tucking the enclosed note into a pocket.
"It's yours. I swear the one I bought was more tasteful." As Jim got more confused, Blair decided it was time for lunch. He was not going to risk explaining here.
In the truck, Blair abruptly started talking. "I bought you a shirt at one of the vendors. A little ridiculous, but in a good way. To remember the trip by. Something you'd wear once in awhile, at least." He noticed Jim looking at him expectantly. "Except you were Mack and we made love in the morning."
"So he sent me a shirt?" Jim really wondered how Blair had thought Mack was Jim. "A rather hideous shirt, I might add."
Picking up the mentioned article, Blair looked at it. "I don't know. I mean, it really isn't you, but it's not so bad. The colors are nice. I think he was trying to replace the shirt." Blair looked out the window for awhile. "I really thought he was you. It was scary, but you meant so much to me, mean so much... I've never felt what I feel for you before. I'm sorry."
Jim pulled into the parking space, and turned to his guide. "Come on, Blair. Let's get inside." Leading the shorter man into the building and up to the loft, he unlocked the door and pulled them inside. Kissing Blair thoroughly, gently, he held the shoulders, shirt hanging from his hand. "Don't ever apologize for love." He considered his next words carefully. "I'm not sure I could have done what Mack did. I love you so completely. To think I would have never said, never acted..."
The two men clung tightly in the living room, the shirt still swaying like a flag.
Mack kneeled, looking closer at the partial shoe prints on the pavement. Whatever his suspect had ran through, it was persistant on the treads but had a way of seeping into the concrete. Opening his sight wide for the eratic footfalls, he looked for any other clues to the route taken. Following the trail left, Mack loped along the back alleys.
*Damn it.* Mack looked in disgust at the Zen garden, with its black lava and white crushed shell patterns. While he could see the foot prints imprinted in the garden itself, the paving stone walkway didn't reveal any more of the prints. He stopped to catch his breath before calling it in.
"What the?" He whispered subvoice as he tried to focus on the peculiar sound. Splashing. Heading towards it, gun pulled he was met with a sight. The burglar, dressed casually, was in the carp pool, apparently searching for something. *You didn't....* Mack would, if he were still a betting man, stake that the suspect had just dropped the uncut stones into the water.
"You have the right to remain silent." Mack kept his gun focused on figure in the water. "You're under arrest, too." He called for back up before finishing the Miranda, still on dry land.
"Jim?" Blair looked up at his big, silent cop. The second half of the day had been quiet. Well, for them. More noticable was the thick stillness between them.
Jim slowly rubbed a thumb over the stubbled jaw, cupping the side of Blair's face. Wordless, he leaned down for a gentle, melding kiss. Blair was his. He was here, with Jim, amazing though it was. Caressing over the younger man's body, he started on shirt buttons. Jim sighed as Blair kneaded hands on his butt. About to pull the arms back to slip off the shirt, Jim noticed the glimmer of another set of buttons.
*What did you do this morning?* Blair was always so cold in Cascade. Jim fumbled through yet another set of buttons, sighing as he finally hit t-shirt. Pushing the top shirts down Blair's arms and past wrists, Jim husked the tees up and over Blair's head.
Blair scrambled fingers over Jim's chest, pulling buttons in search of flesh. So hot. He leaned in, claiming a nipple revealed.
"Upstairs." They struggled up the flight, dropping Jim's half-off shirt, and Jim steered Blair up to the big bed. He undid Blair's jeans and his own pants. He smiled when Blair gathered enough wits to shuck the conforming denim. He moaned as a strong, square hand clasped over his groin. Jim pressed the smaller man back onto the mattress.
Mack unlocked his door, and pulled his company in with him. Usually, the piano bar was not a real hot spot, unless one counted his tip jar. Some bad weather off-island had stranded a number of outbound flights, radically decreasing the average age in the club. He couldn't quite recall if this was one of the stewardesses or just a shapely passenger.
"Nice place." She unbuttoned Mack's shirt part-way, stroking and stoking. "So, where are those etchings?"
Mack scooped her up and over his shoulder, going back to the bedroom. Encouraging Blue off the bed and out, he plopped his burden down, backside up. Mack finished removing his shirt, crawling up behind his company. He worked the top's buttons open, teasing revealed flesh. Sure that she was ready from the smell and the sounds she was making, he cupped her breasts, flinging the garment aside. Shortly, Mack leaned across a bare shoulder and pulled open the nightstand drawer. Foil packet in hand, he returned to work on the skirt. That unknotted, Mack pulled back and stripped out of his pants and boxers. Tearing open the foil he prepared himself before tossing the skirt one way and the panties another. Mack slid slickly in.
Jim looked at his sleeping lover. Hair fanned out, head tipped to one side, Blair was the picture of innocent beauty. Carefully, he slipped out of the bed, and padded downstairs, hitching a towel on as he went.
He smiled at the pile of shirts discarded on the floor. It had been a lot of fun unwrapping Blair, though frustrating at the time. One shirt off to the side reminded him why he was downstairs in the dark and not upstairs waking his love. Tossing the garment on one end of the couch, he found his own shirt and dug out the note. Sitting on the far end, he started reading.
'Dear Jim,
Right. This isn't the shirt Blair bought you, but I found I couldn't part with it. Guess that is pretty small of me. Figure you wouldn't want a used shirt, anyway.
Take care of him. If he wonders, let him know I'm okay. Sense-wise, anyway. That much is true. You're lucky... So was I. Just take care of him. Maybe you'll even like this shirt.'
Down at the right there was a scrawl that could have been 'Mack'. Jim had felt the shirt was a slap in the face. Now... *I couldn't have let Blair go.* Mack had and still felt guilty about keeping a shirt. *I need to dislike you.*
Mack woke up, realizing right away he wasn't alone. And it wasn't Blair come back. He scooted a little further away, waking her in the process. "Hey, want to catch a shower while I make breakfast?"
She headed into the bathroom. "Don't bother. I should have a plane to catch."
Mack tuned out the sounds from the bathroom, and picked up her discarded clothes. Throwing on last night's boxers and pants, he pulled on a cleanish shirt as he left the bedroom and pulled the door shut.
"Okay, Blair. What do you want me to look for?" Trish continued looking into the microscope. "You could have just asked before the sample showed up in the mail."
Blair proffered a vial. "Any sequence matches. I expect some superficial ones..." Blair felt a little sneaky about this. Before leaving, he'd asked Mack to send a blood sample. He'd just about given up hope when Trish called wondering where the unsolicted cold-pack labeled c/o Sandburg had come from. From there he'd gotten Jim to agree to a few tests. Including a blood sample. Here was a chance to compare genetically the only two full sentinels he'd found in years of study. So they didn't know it was a comparative test.
"You don't know what I'm looking for." Trish took the vial, marked it and slipped in into the freezer. "You're lucky I've got a washer already. Out of here; I'll call you when I've got results."
Blair was so beautiful between his legs. The strong, agile fingers ran along his spread thighs, balanced on Blair. The gelled finger pressed inside, slowly stretching him. *Closer.* Two fingers. He ground his ass needfully on the younger man, wanting, needing his cock. Three fingers. *So full.* Then a searing heat. He threw his head back, and Blair pumped, keeping the ass from slipping off bent legs. *Goood.* He needed more and Blair gave it to him, harder and faster. *Never wanta stop.* He could feel his love's speeding pulse in his depths. The thud of Blair's heart melded with the thrusts.
And then Blair was coming. The streams into him triggered his own orgasm. His muscles clenched at the intimate tickling. A stupid grin spread across his face. He could feel 'them'. He guided Blair down to lie on him.
Mack opened his eyes. Stomach splattered in cum, knees bent, he looked well-fucked. Almost felt it. Almost. "Small miracles..." Stalking into the bathroom, he turned on the shower. What he wouldn't do for Sandburg to take him again. He couldn't say 'just once', though. He wanted Blair in his mouth, wanted Blair's mouth on him, wanted Blair deep inside him. He looked down at his resumed arousal. Might as well handle it before making up the bed. Mack grabbed the shampoo he had tore through every shop on the island to find, that almost smelled like Blair. It was half-gone, and he had promised himself, more importantly promised Blair, that he wouldn't buy a second bottle.
"How did it happen?" Jim kissed the lounging Blair. He pressed the mute on the remote.
"Well, Germany had a pact and Britain had a pact and things just escalated from some posturing..."
"Not World War One. How... how did I seduce you? Mack..."
"You kissed me. Mack. It was like the Twilight Zone. You'd re-discovered your senses... Anyway, he just kissed me out of the blue. You're straight, I'm straight, and the kissing isn't unpleasant, but it's scary."
"That's all it took? A kiss..." He smoothed away the sputtered defense before Blair could voice it. "Where did he, where did I kiss you?"
"On the beach. You, he, had been pointing everything out to me. I'd had to call a time out- I needed to catch my breath from running after you."
"And I... Mack kissed you and then we made love." *I should have kissed you. So many chances and it never crossed my mind.* He'd been ever touching Blair, but it hadn't often occured to him to even hug his friend.
"It was some kiss." Blair smiled wide and then more warmly. "Not right away. Not until I woke up and pounced. He had to slow me down. You were so sweet. Jim, I'm sorry you had to walk in like that, that it wasn't you loving me."
Mack poured himself another glass. He wasn't worried about the inquiry. It had been a clean shot and the courier had been armed to the teeth. But until the judgement came down, he was suspended. *Too much time to think.* He'd almost found himself going to the track. Mack drained the glass and poured himself another drink. He might be fooling himself, that it really made a difference, if he got his finances in order. Reality, Blair was gone. The better man had won, and all that. Still, he wanted... Didn't matter what he wanted. Anyway, just by stopping and keeping up his moonlighting, his debts were getting under control. It made him feel a little better.
If only he could get Blair out of his head. No matter how many women he bedded, he wanted Blair. He was not going to try the other option. Mack nursed his glass. "To Jim. You had it all and didn't know it. Then you took him back." He clinked against the bottle, and topped off his glass.
"Jim?" Blair looked at his large lover. One of the few days Jim had off while Blair still had classes, office hours and library searches to attend to, Blair took in the loft as he put his things in their places. Most importantly,he took in Jim himself. "You're wearing the shirt." And looked positively edible.
"How was your day?" Jim played casual until he thought Blair was well and confused. Then he leaned in and kissed the full lips. "First time." He whispered the words by Blair's so tempting ear.
"Jim?!" Blair cringed a little at the squeak. His generally agile mind gathered its reserves. Though right now he was surprised enough he really didn't need to act to play along.
"I wish I could say I've been thinking of doing that forever." Jim dipped back in for another kiss, still gentle but this time more inquisitive.
Blair had been so... shocked, conflicted, whatever.... He couldn't duplicate that. "Jim." The word roiled slightly off his tongue.
"Right. Just friends." He toyed with the hair, settling things and then stole a last kiss. "Our room's going to play hotel." Jim whispered it as he headed upstairs.
Blair followed and looked at the room partly stripped of its details. Getting onto the bed, Blair whispered. "Let's skip to the good part." He smiled as Jim stretched out on the bed, lying on his side, eyes closed. Blair had been so anxious. This was going to be different.
Slowly, he touched his sentinel's lips with his fingers. Blair placed a tentative kiss in their stead. He drew inward as Jim's eyes opened, questioning. Blair rubbed his groin against Jim in answer, starting on the buttons keeping him from the smooth chest.
Clothes were teased away until Blair lay naked atop of Jim, mouthing and undulating against the hard body. Hands stroked along his back and ass as if they had never transversed them. The sweet, slow seduction lasted until neither of them could take it any longer. Bucking together, they came.
Mack had to be dead, because nothing hurt this much. He accidentally opened his eyes, and it got much worse. So much for being dead. Everything stank and his tongue felt absolutely foul. Even thinking about his eyes made him nauseous. What could possibly be making that horrible racket?
*Hang-over.* No, even the worst one didn't feel this bad. Without it involving at least a subway car and sandpaper. He opened his eyes again, or rather one, thinking to halve the pain. Mack saw the nearly empty bottle. Rather distorted image of the label mocking him in reflection from the shiny counter.
"Jim," Blair rolled onto his side to contemplate his lover. Sometimes it still amazed him that that was what they were. So much of their lives went on exactly as before, proving just how intimate they'd been long before the vacation without even knowing it.
"Ummph." Jim slowly opened his eyes. *Hi.* Smiling, he drank in the sight of his bed-tousled partner. "What, Blair?"
How was he going to broach this? He really loved Jim in this warm, snuggly mode. He traced the bare pale shoulder gently. "Why don't you make love to me?" They had slept and played together in this bed; at times Blair felt like a god worshiped by another. That's how intense Jim could be. But his lover had still not taken him since returning to Cascade.
A sweet request. Jim scootched closer, nuzzling into the tangy neck. His hands travelled caressingly until they chose the soft tangle of chest hair. Blair was a sensory joy; a wonderous mix of textures, scents, sounds and flavors.
Blair wondered if he was really going to break this moment? *Yes.* He had remained quiet far too long already. Maybe, he could get Jim to make love to him. He undulated with the thought. There was lube waiting in the drawer. Blair placed a hand on either side of Jim's face. "I want you. Please."
"You've got me." Jim suckled the fingers he could grasp with his lips. Liking that so much, he worked his way to an inner elbow. To one nipple and then the other.
Blair latched his hands firmly to the broad shoulders. "Inside me. I want you." He could feel the wheels braking as Jim processed the first statement second. Then the physical shift of the bed. "Why don't you want to?"
"It scares me."
*What?* While it was true they weren't 'experienced' as such, nothing bad had happened. Either time. "Jim. Talk to me."
He shook his head, leaving his head rolled away.
"Why does it scare you?" The scholar could postulate rationales by the cart. Blair wanted Jim's. "Did it in Hawaii?"
*Yes.* "Not as much as losing you." No, he didn't say that. He never taunted fate that way. *Never.* "I don't ever want to hurt you." Though he had, by seducing his Guide away from Mack. He might deserve to lose Blair. *Not to Mack.* Though some days it was close.
"You didn't hurt me." Blair thought back to the first time. He flushed with remembered intensity. His ass clenched as his cock filled. "Nothing has ever felt that fantastic."
"Not fucking Mack?" Jim's eyes dialated as he realized what had slipped out. He should just pack Sandburg's bags and buy him a one-way ticket. *Don't choose him. Please.*
"You were loving me." He flashed on the feeling of Jim deep within him as he plumbed Mack. "I want you." He reached out to the pale chest. "Only if you want me." He rolled over.
"And it scares me." He pulled Blair close, back to chest. "What if I got lost?" He scented the fragrant curls. "Would I notice?"
Mack looked around the rocky hills, wooded here and there, but it was mostly open ground. Wherever this was, it wasn't Hawaii. He started walking, wondering what he was doing out in the country. As he travelled, the terrain changed, became rougher, closer to cliffs instead of mere outcroppings. Mack found himself crawling more than walking, whether he was going down or climbing up.
He had no idea how far he'd gone when he saw the motion out of the corner of his eye. Wary, he continued on. He could feel he was being watched. Picking his ground, he turned around. "Show yourself."
Mack heard a few rocks skitter down. Still, he wasn't prepared for the sight. A cougar was climbing down. Not tawny, this cougar was russet, without the white and dark markings generally associated with the big cat. Something odd was going on. Unwounded, Mack shouldn't be attracting such active interest.
Then the cat jumped, straight at Mack.
Blair finished his preparations. Tomorrow, both Jim and he had off. Soon, Jim would return from a day of paperwork. As he looked at his watch, he heard the click of the lock. "Hello."
Jim took in the loft. Candles, a CD playing on low, a nice dinner in the final minutes of cooking. Blair in a very thin shirt and well-fitting jeans. "Sentinel seduction?"
"Is it working?" Blair went into the kitchen to serve dinner.
"Definitely shows promise."
Jim looked up from his slow removal of Blair's clothes. "What's that? He pointed to the draped object propped up along two chairs.
"One present at a time." Blair started working on Jim's buttons.
Undressed, they melted onto the bed, exploring one another. As things got more heated, Blair gentled Jim. "Time for the other present." He slipped out of bed to pull off the cloth, revealing a mirror.
Slowly, Jim realized his lover was not in his arms. *What are you doing over there?* Standing next to a mirror. *Mirror?* Pointed at the bed.
Blair swayed towards the bed. "Jim, I want you to make love to me. Watch me in the mirror." He sat on the edge of the bed, hands palms down.
"I stop if I'm hurting you." He breathed by one ear and then the other. Jim pulled Blair onto bed, lips melding over the full mouth of his guide. He ignored the mirror as he nipped and nuzzled, kissed and caressed Blair to full arousal. Arranging the younger man facing away from him, he was surprised to be handed a tube from under the pillow.
"Love you." Blair sighed at the slow slick finger stroking over his opening.
Jim wrapped his left hand in Blair's locks, kissing ear, jaw, neck and shoulder. He glanced at the mirror as his finger popped into Blair. As he smoothed the passage, he breathed to his partner. "You like this."
"Don't make me wait." Blair arched, pushing further down on the digit. He released his breath as first he lost the sensation, and then two fingers probed him. "Please... please Jim, please..." Blair was half lost before the third finger began to stretch him.
Jim was swimming in the rush of perception. With some difficulty, he unwrapped himself from Blair to squeeze out more lube. Coating his cock, Jim stilled a breadth outside his love's center. Pressing in, he drew Blair ever closer, left arm snaking under and around the more compact man.
"Yeeeessss." Ever so gently, Blair was filled, completed. Jim was wrapped around him, wedged deep inside him. Heat of balls against his own. He adjusted, and still Jim didn't move. "Jim."
Heat. Silky, smooth and so mind-numbingly tight. He drifted aware to gentling hands along his thighs.
"Jim. I want you to move. Your hands, whatever. Talk to me."
Following the voice, Jim slid his hands along the hair dusted flesh, pulling back slightly and pushing back in. Fingers grew more insistent as his hips sped up. "You're. So beautiful. Fucking beautiful." As to underline the point, Jim traced a single finger along the rigid cock. Up the darker arrow of hair on the furred stomach. As his thighs gripped tighter around Blair, feet pushing lean calves apart, Jim teased the camouflaged nipples.
Blair shook as he watched Jim rake over him in the mirror. One arm arching behind his head, Blair captured Jim by the nape. "Touch me." One hand snaked down to his belly, while the other's fingers worked up to his face. He snagged those with his teeth, pulling them into his mouth. Releasing them damp, he moaned as the other hand feinted away from his hardness.
Jim circled a nipple with the wetted fingers. Blair was impossibly taut, his length jutting out from the arched bow of his body. "Not ready to let you fly." Feeling Blair's arms retracting, he grasped the hands, tickling the palms. Jim thrust harder. Faster. Latching one of his lover's hands onto his ass, he stroked the firm chest.
"Yess. Now. Now." Blair encouraged the increasing speed, the fuller strokes, pushing the cheek under his hand. "Touch me."
Jim changed the angle of his thrusts, and then long pulses streamed from Blair. Jim rode out the spasms around his cock as his pleasure was milked from him.
Blair came aware as Jim slid from his passage. "Wow." He tilted his head back, bestowing an awkward kiss. Then he was rolled around, kissed and found himself under Jim. "Liked it?"
"You. _Love_ you." He moved to get off. "Thought you might, um,"
"Sore? Only the good kind." Blair pulled him back down. "Just don't make me wait so long again."
Mack looked around. Sort of looked like Virginia; something like that, like wherever they always shot Civil War documentaries, anyway. A desolate lushness, with a foreboding sense that something was about to happen, or already had.
*Try both.* He'd had the dream enough times to know that's what it was. By now he should be able to smell the cat before it attacked. *Except puss doesn't have a scent.* Or a heartbeat for that matter. As he waited for the inevitable, he wondered if that should mean something, or was just the limitation of dreams.
"Are you sure?" Jim watched Blair nod before pressing his finger between the waiting cheeks. Each time they did this, it amazed him that Blair could be prepared in this way. One finger made way for two, two for three, three for....
"Sit up. G-d I want you inside me." Jim upright as well as erect, Blair threw a leg over Jim's, bringing their cocks into contact. "Ready?"
*Is this what you want?* Jim slicked himself, knowing that he'd always do what Blair asked. And Blair had asked. Convinced it was as safe as it could be, he fingered the opening one last time before guiding himself against it.
Blair moaned, Jim's belly burning against his dick, as Jim's filled him. "Love you." Blair closed his hands on either side of Jim's head, kissing deeply, slowly rocking as hungry hands hands caressed his back. "Good. Oh!" He made the most of facing Jim, mouth partaking in flesh normally denied, hands inflaming them both as they ran over Jim.
Jim savored Blair's mouth and neck, pumping, thrusting deeper, faster, harder into him, pushing them higher and further. Blair's hands were maddening as they skimmed, prodded and teased over him. Lost in sensation, his orgasm tore straight through him. Ripping into Blair. They fell back to the bed in completion.
Blair picked up the ringing phone. "Trish. How are you? Good, do you have results... No, there were two samples. I'm not saying you mixed them together... Yes, I'll check on my end. Trish, thank you. I'll pick up the sequence report. Both of them. I know. Humor me. Bye, Trish."
He walked around to the couch and dropped onto the cushions. There were two samples. From Mack and Jim. *The same. Identical.* Statistically, there was only one conclusion. *How can they be twins?*
Jim would know that he had a twin. Right? It wasn't like Jim was adopted, or his parents went through an early divorce. According to what Blair knew, Joseph Ellison had came from a fair amount of money, though he had worked hard to increase it. So why were the twins split up?
"Shit." Jim was so not going to handle this. Blair took a deep breath and pushed off the couch. "Brothers."
Maybe he could just not tell him. Them. As quickly as he had it, Blair dismissed the thought. He wasn't going to lie to Jim. The big man had had enough of that in his life. *And Mack?*
"Oh, g-d." Blair fell back onto the couch. If Jim hadn't been adopted, then Mack had been given up. *And I left.* Cheated, then departed with his brother. How easily could Mack have been Jim? How different would Jim have been raised with his twin?
Enough. Blair hadn't been there. *Hell, Naomi was still playing with dolls.* There hadn't been any question that he'd come back to Cascade; he'd fallen for Jim, even if Mack had caught him. It was unfortunate that Blair hadn't been more firm about waiting; for Jim to recover his memories, for Mack to get back, for them getting home.
How was he going to tell Jim? *And Mack?*
*Back here again.* The dream went the same every time. He'd walk, be followed, halt, see the cougar and it would pounce. Woke up sweating, looking for the claw marks. Enough was enough.
Mack searched for the cat. Finally, he found the tell tale signs. So, he'd gone to the library to learn what those would be; how kind of his mind to add those details, now. Tracking the animal, he picked his time. Waited until it was resting in a sunny patch. Mack walked forward, keeping his eyes locked on the cat's. When he was almost upon the animal, it started to change. Taking the form of a man.
"Jim." So this was what the dream was about.
"Not Jim."
"Right. I'm not Jim."
The cougar man looked away, as if thinking. He then turned back. "Who are you?"
"Mack Wolfe."
"Who are you?"
Mack just smiled. He really had a twisted mind.
"What are you?" The cougar man looked at his human image.
"A cop."
"What are you?"
"A detective."
The cougar man changed shape, transforming back into the red cat. Turning its back on the human, it disappeared into the landscape.
"Why do I think that wasn't the 'right' answer?"
Blair ran over it in his mind again. He knew that he didn't have a choice; having found out, Blair was responsible for telling Jim and Mack the truth. "Jim."
Jim turned around, looking up from his paper. "What is it, Chief?" He could hear his lover's heart speed up. "Blair, is something wrong?" The anxiety at that possibilty was clear on Jim's face.
Blair stroked the strong face and moved around the couch. "Not exactly. Remember those tests I decided to run?"
"Yeah...."
"Well, I asked Mack some of them, one of them rather."
"And?"
"They matched. Absolutely matched."
"Oh." For a brief second Jim thought Blair had learned something shattering. "So...?"
"You're twins." Blair watched as Jim blinked a little.
Jim shot out of the chair. "We're what? That's preposterous. Blair...."
"The separations matched. You know the statistics. These were well preserved samples, unlike some that make it to trial. They matched. Not just close, they matched. Mack's your twin."
"It's not possible." How could he have a twin? How could Mack be his twin? "Somebody's made a mistake. I have one brother. Just one, Blair. Not Mack. Not Mack."
"How about asking your dad?" Blair blanched as he saw the words effect on Jim. The steel poker face that didn't admit to Jim having emotions was locked on full strength.
"I'm not speaking to him."
"Okay, so you don't have to ask him." Blair looked around, unable to face Jim at this painful moment.
"I'm not speaking to him." The last time he'd seen his father was at graduation. With his army papers in hand, and his few personal belongings strapped to a bike he'd bought and paid for himself, he'd been free. So he just walked away, without saying a word.
"Mack?" Holli looked at the way the detective was rubbing his eyes. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing, Doc. Just not sleeping well. Having these weird dreams."
"About?"
"Nothing. They're about nothing." He got out of his chair, and stalked away for some coffee. Turning he saw the way Holli was looking at him. Realizing that she was imitating him, he walked back before she could say 'Riight.' "Okay." He guided her by the elbow back to her office.
Holli sat down, and waited for Mack to do the same. Instead, he started talking.
"Remember how I had amnesia there for awhile?" He smiled at the humor in her eyes. "Long story short, for a time I was somebody else. I fell in love. It was good, and it was doomed and they went back to their lives."
"They?"
"My lover and my duplicate. Meant for each other, traveling together, whole bit. They just didn't know it."
"Mack..." Somebody else that looked like Mack? Somebody whom Mack, out of it, could be mistaken for? Someone that, out of it, might be a little like Mack? *And had never made a move.*
"So now I'm working my way through stranger and stranger dreams and I'm just tired of it. Waking up and missing him was bad enough, but now his lover is mocking me."
"Him? His? He?" Holli stared wide-eyed at Mack. "I mean..." Mack just looked back at her. "I'm.... Mack, you are a card carrying womanizer. Mack?"
"Yeah, well. He was rather taken aback by it all, too. Hell, they both were. But they got it all straightened out, if you'll pardon the pun. Happily ever after."
"So you're....?"
"Off the market? Hell if I know. Playing for the other team?..."
"Mack." Trust him to crack jokes. "Okay, I'm surprised and maybe I'm not taking this in stride like I should. Just.... You haven't done anything dumb, have you?"
"Define dumb." Smart certainly wouldn't be the first word to describe a lot of his actions. "If you mean picking up sailors, no."
"Jim." Blair reached out his fingertips to the hard back. His sentinel and lover was looking out over the city, alone in his own mind.
"It's not possible." Jim halted Blair's explaination. "I believe you. But it is just not possible. I know what my birth certificate says. Why would they do it? I can't believe my mother would do something like this."
"And your dad?" Blair had to admit that it wasn't impossible Jim's mother didn't know. Between the drugs and the lack of a lot of techniques now common, she might not have know she was carrying and had delivered twins.
"I don't know. He wasn't a monster, not really. I don't agree with him. I just don't know if I can see him stopping being so possessive as to part with any of his property."
Blair leaned against the strong back, wrapping his arms across the firm chest. Slowly, Jim turned in his arms, pulling him into an embrace. He could feel Jim rubbing a cheek against his hair. It was going to be a snuggling kind of night.
"Who are you?" Mack questioned the cougar. The cougar just kept circling, the spiral winding tighter and tighter. "Who are you? Why are you the only one that gets to ask questions?" Mack watched as the ruddy feline grew more agitated. "What are you?" As the cat lauched at him, he thought he could hear the words, 'who are you?'
"I need you to tell Mack." Blair sat at the far end of the couch. He'd waited a few days, to let Jim get used to the idea.
Jim pushed himself off the couch. "What's to say? 'By the way, we're brothers.' Damn it, this just gets worse and worse."
Blair closed his eyes. This was his fault.
"No, it's not." Jim took in the questioning look. "I can hear the change in your breathing when you start blaming yourself."
"But if I hadn't been so curious. If I hadn't been so eager, and waited..."
"If I hadn't seduced you. If I hadn't lost sight of you, if I hadn't found you.... 'If' is a dangerous word." Jim placed a hand on Blair's shoulder. "You wanted answers, and you got them. You'd found love and you went with it. That's who you are."
"And you know you have to tell him. That's it the right thing; that's who you are."
So, how was he going to do this? Jim looked down at Blair's laptop. He'd have to write it out by hand, but figured there was no reason to waste a bunch of paper in the process. "Dear Mack, about those senses...." Nah. He started typing, making much use of the delete key.
Jim sealed the envelope, setting it on the desk. He looked around Blair's small office, the bed covered in books. Once, it would have annoyed him. Now, it reminded him that Blair slept elsewhere. *With me.*
He got up from the chair. Would he have been like Mack, if Mack had gotten Jim's life? Jim couldn't quite imagine that, though he expected that Mack would have survived Peru just fine. So 'fine' wasn't quite the right word; after enduring his father, anything else was direct.
Jim dropped onto the bed, bouncing a couple of books to the floor. Checking them for bent pages, he placed them on another part of the pile. Same father. They had the same father. Yet Mack hadn't had to live with the man. "'Course, before mom died, neither did I." Jim went to his father's office a few times, once he 'was old enough.' Sometimes, it was hard to remember there was a time he'd looked forward to seeing his father. Not because he brought things, though of course he did.
That was a long time ago. Since then... J.W. Ellison made his dissatisfaction with anything known. "Message received, loud and clear."
"This is getting old." Mack faced off the red cougar yet again in his dreams. He watched as the cat transformed again into Jim. "So, what is it tonight? Going to attack or turn tail on me?"
"Have you made a choice?"
"Huh?" Mack was confused; this was not one of the standard questions. It didn't even make sense. "What choice?"
"Will you be what you are, or go back to what you were?"
"What is that supposed to mean? Look, ultimately, you're my subconscious, but.... Why the hell is it any of your business?"
"Will you be what you are?"
"I don't have much choice, now do I?"
"You've always got choices." With those words the man shifted back into the cougar, and butting into Mack's legs, disappeared.
"Jim." Blair arched into the mouth on his chest. "Yeah...." He'd missed this since he had learned and shared the truth. Jim hadn't ignored him, exactly. As good as sleeping with Jim curled behind and around him was, he had missed the sex. "OH!"
Jim's eyes burned as he looked up, lips stretched by the filling length. Blair writhed as he was savagely worked in and out of the wet heat. Jim's hands scorched over sweating skin until Blair was on the point of coming.
*What?* Blair forced his eyes open. "J...."
"Do you...? Would..." Jim rubbed his finger over the exit of Blair's body, incapable of finding the words. Slowly he was accepting this, that his lover needed it, and it was okay that he enjoy giving it. Jim dug out the lube while he waited.
"Yes. Yes. YES!" The third was exclaimed as the finger shoved in. Loose, the second and third quickly followed, leaving him utterly speechless as Jim slid into him. The thrusts pushed him over, wringing Jim's completion as well.
Mack looked through his mail, after locking the door. Most of it was bills; occasionally, he even got a thank you note for timely payment. He tossed the junkmail into the wastebasket. The rag envelope surprised him. For a moment he just held it, appreciating its weight. Going into the kitchen, he pulled out a butter knife to open the letter. Dropping the knife back in and butting the drawer shut he unfolded the page.
Dear Mack,
Blair got some rather unexpected results back from the tests. I can't say how this happened, but they show that we are twins. No, laboratory error isn't a possibility. Maybe your parents can explain it.
We have a brother, Stephen. He's a businessman, following in dad's footsteps. He's a good man for all that, though it's taken me long enough to figure that out.
Blair's doing well. Figured you'd want to know that; more than the rest of this, certainly.
Sincerely,
James J. Ellison
P.S. The shirt was nice.
"This isn't possible." Mack swung the hand still holding the letter. As he denied it, he knew that it was true. As much as they said everybody has somebody that looks just like them, this was simpler. He sat the letter down. Maybe he had known; this was what the dreams were really about.
"Jim?" Blair looked over confused at his lover, who had just flopped onto his stomach in the middle of foreplay. As he watched, Blair could see the faint twitches playing along muscular thighs and ass.
"I... You should take me." Jim waited for touches that didn't come.
*What?!* "I should take you. Where? Jim, this isn't about shoulds. I'm not going to 'take' you." *I love you.*
"And Mack?" The words out, he tried recalling them. "You like it when I'm doing you."
"This isn't a competition, not with Mack, not with me."
"I need to know..." Jim paused, cheek lying on the pillow. "How you feel hard inside me, how you feel when I'm thrusting into you. I need to know how you feel coming in my ass. I... just don't think I can offer myself like Mack." Jim bit down on the last words, the strain from his speech evident.
Blair traced a line slowly from between the big man's shoulder blades to the top of the valley between his cheeks. He saw the tension as he approached and the shudder when he didn't continue the touch further. "Do you really want this?" The head nodded slowly, determinedly. "Roll over. I want to look at you."
Jim slowly rolled over, to have Blair sink onto him, gently plundering his mouth. Steadily, Blair kissed, soothed and inflamed Jim. Nipples hard and aching, cock even harder, Jim was urged to roll back over. Fingers teased over sculpted muscles, confounding him until one pushed slickly inside.
The first was followed by a second when Jim started bucking. Blair leaned his weight onto a cheek with one arm, holding the hips still. Finally a third finger joined the others, plunging deeper, faster, until Blair would have sweared Jim was mewling. Fingers slipping free, he quickly coated his cock and slid in with a slow stroke.
*Oh, G-d!* Nothing was this tight. Or hot. He gently pulled back and slid home again even more slowly. Innn. Ouuut. Innn. Oouut.
Jim moaned at the infinite slowness. As each ridge of skin dragged along his internal heat. As Blair's blood reverberated through him. Jim tried to speed up his guide, pushing up on the downstroke and pulling away on the outstroke. In... Out... In... Out...
Blair pumped harder, trying to maintain the same speed. The outstrokes became quicker. In... out. In... out. As he slid in with increasing force, Jim arched and moaned. Blair tried to repeat it, finding the right approach. Jim pushed back during the retreat and pressed into the bed for the thrust. Blair targeted the prostate, over and over and over.
Jim arched up into Blair's thrusts hard and had to be pushed down onto the mattress for the withdrawls. Encouraging the smaller man to pound into him rapidly, his muscles started the cascading spasms of orgasm, milking Blair completely.
Blair limply blanketed Jim's back. "Jim?" Concerned he slowed eased out and moved to look at the large man's face. Blair was grabbed tightly into an embrace as Jim fell back down on the bed. He looked up from the man's chest into the slack face. "Jim, are you alright?"
Jim kissed his armful deeply, passionately, hungrily, then gently after they they caught their breath. He smoothed down Blair's locks as Jim drifted into sleep.
"Have you made a choice?" The cougar reformed as a man before Mack. "Will you be as you are, or return to what you were?"
"Not much chance of that, is there?" Mack laughed, without much mirth. "After all, I'm mooning over a man that came and left with a brother I never knew I had." He sat on one of the rocks in his dream.
"Do you want to go back?"
Mack looked up and regarded his twin warily.
"Forget everything. Resume the path you were on. No memories, no senses. Just Mack Wolfe."
"And you'd be the only Sentinel. Blair all to yourself. Sorry, not that easy."
"I'm not the Sentinel." Man became cougar, and paced before Mack.
Mack awoke, still feeling the big cat's eyes on him. What the hell did that mean?
"Mack." Holli gave him a once over with a medical eye. "I work with better looking people than you."
"Thanks, I've already been warmed over." Mack headed into the locker room. "What part of 'MEN' don't you get?"
"No innuendo? Mack, I'd say you're depressed. Acting out of..."
"Last time I checked, you were a coroner. Don't you have any stiffs to look after?" As he heard the door open, he called out. "Maybe I'll come round after my work out." She probably was right, that he needed to talk. *Like I really even want to admit this is happening.* Other than his feelings for Blair, this was right out of Jerry Springer. That, and the Sentinel thing. Changed, he squeezed the lock shut and headed to burn off some steam.
"Jim?" Blair looked over at the larger man in concern. He hoped last night hadn't been some post-identity crisis induced euphoria.
"Morning, Angel." Jim scooted over closer for a snuggle and feel.
"Not an angel. Are you okay?"
"Are mine. Is today a university day?" Holding onto peaceful muzziness, he traced fingers along Blair.
"Mostly. Jim..."
Jim sat up, twitching his cheek for a moment. "I'm fine. More than fine, really. That such a surprise?" He watched the obvious answer play over his lover's face. "I'll be a bear again soon enough."
"You sure?"
"Real soon if you don't stop asking. Going to join me for lunch?" Jim got out of bed and headed downstairs.
"Yeah. So, you're okay?"
"Freud, I think you have a back to wash." Jim smiled as he heard the scurrying sounds of Blair.
"I'm fine." Jim spit the words out to Blair's questioning expression before sliding into the diner booth. He winced slightly. "Not a word."
Blair let out a chuckle. "Been much of a problem?" He ducked back after the whisper.
"How about you kiss it and make it better?" Jim waved over to waitress and placed their orders. "Don't suppose I could get you to come and do paperwork?"
"Got enough of my own. Grants. Sorry about this morning."
"Worked for me. Make a good shower gel." Jim almost lost it while sipping water as Blair spit back into his glass. Jim lost himself momentarily to a memory of that mouth earlier in the day. "I sent the letter."
"When will he know?"
"If he didn't toss it unopened, he knows." Jim paused while the order was set down, and the waitress made sure they had everything.
"Take a seat." Mack had pretty well sagged into one before her words were out. "Long work out?" She hadn't really expected to see him later that day. It was somewhat surprising to see him this soon.
"Funny. You really want to hear this?" *That's what I feared.* She just waited for him to speak. "Got a letter. From him; my lover's lover. Turns out he's my brother."
Holli's eyes widened. "You didn't know that?!"
"Best I knew, I had a sister. Guess I was wrong." Not that he'd bothered to talk to his family yet. It seemed pretty simple, after all Mack had been an only until he was ten. Only question was how they got him.
"So you're..."
"A twin. Or adopted. Both actually."
"Mack." Holli went around the desk to sit on the edge. "They didn't know either?"
"Just found out. I've got another brother too; a businessman. Isn't that a hoot?" Mack pushed at the chair's arms, making ready to leave.
"You're still not picking up sailors, right?"
Mack leaned back into his seat. "Picked a fine time to start listening to me. No, I'm being good. Even gave up the nurses."
"You..." She made a cutting motion with her hand. "Since when? Sorry. Just.... Really?"
"Yeah, really. Think I see why you work with the dead. I know, you're concerned. I appreciate it, but I didn't come to talk about my sex life." *Such as it isn't.*
"You're sure you're okay?"
"No. Between wanting him and being confronted by my brother, I don't sleep well. I'm lonely and every beautiful woman just saddens me. Do you know just how many beautiful women there are in Hawaii?"
"Hey, Chief." Jim called from the couch, punching the tv remote off. "Wondered if you'd come home." He dug his hand into Blair's curls as the younger man leaned in for a kiss.
Blair eased into Jim's lap, legs resting to either side on the couch. "When I've got you waiting here?" He paused for a moment, smoothing his hands over the broad chest. "Office hours. When did they get so young?"
"Watch it. I just might get sensitive about my age."
"Hate to burst your bubble, but we're both old. At least until I deal with the alumni weekend. Think the theme this year is WWII."
"I'll have to guard you. Those Rosies are a tough bunch." Jim smiled along with Blair, and smoothed over the firm body beneath the loose clothes. "What did your students do this time?"
"What didn't they? I see more bellybuttons a day than an obstetrician. Haven't they noticed it's cold? Preppy kids with pierced eyebrows and tongues. Bellybuttons for that matter."
"Sure you're not an orange inspector?" He continued after Blair caught the joke. "And this is different, how?" Jim rubbed a thumb over the decorated nub under multiple shirts.
"I thought about it. They don't know a world before video games. Most of them have only seen a record for scratching, if then. Okay, or in resale shops."
"Welcome to my world. I'll dig up an eight-track for you. That couldn't have been it."
"I can't really define it. It's not like they are any more inane than students a few years ago." Switching gears, he appreciated his position. "How about you make me feel young again?"
Something was wrong. Mack looked around the trees, limbs high in the air. The noise was intense, like too many engines idling in one place. The heat was closer to Florida or Louisiana, but the trees were just as much not cypress as they weren't summac.
"What the?" Mack looked down to see what had knocked into him, to find the red cougar at his side. "Decided to travel?" The cougar looked up and swung its head back forward and started off in a lope. Deciding that even in a dream it wasn't good to be left behind in the forest, Mack broke into a slow run.
Mack found the cat crouched, only to realize on stopping that it was right on the edge of a long drop. Cat glaring at him, he got down onto his belly.
Below there was another large cat, this one black, heavier built than the one at his side. It paced about a strange ruin, vaguely like those he'd seen in Mexico, but heavily covered by the jungle.
Mack slapped the alarm clock hard. "What the hell?" He got out of bed and stepped to the bathroom. Once in the shower, he started muttering to himself. "First wet dreams, now weird dreams."
Strange that they didn't overlap. *For that matter, think they started after I stopped trying to fuck myself over him.* "Bet Blair knows some psycho-babble for that."
Finis