KABOOOMMM!!!

Oh God, NO!!!

Ellison froze in horror at the sound of the bomb detonating. Blair was dead. His friend, his Guide, his partner. My love, he thought. He never told him. He had never gotten the courage up to tell the kid how he felt about him. Now it was too late. Jim stared into the evil eyes of the man who had killed his other half with cold hatred. What happened next, Jim would never be able to say for sure. He remembered shouting something about falling at the murderer. Then the open window...YES! 37 stories up...an accident during the fight...YES!

AAAUUUUUUGH!!!!!!!

Jim turned away as the scream of terror faded. He tried to tune out the thud that met his Sentinel ears, but he couldn't quite escape the sound of crunching bones as the killers body struck the pavement. Jim looked around numbly, his mind far away. What would he do with out Sandburg? The kid had changed his life. Hell, the kid WAS his life. Now his life was gone...over. Jim took a glance at the body of the killers brother, cold and lifeless now form the gunshot wound. Dead people don't feel... Jim's mind was telling him, urging him onward. Jim stepped to the broken window, looking down at the ground far below, and the crowd gathering around that bastard's body. He leaned out into space, letting gravity take hold of him. It would be fast and painless, he reassured himself.

Jim came out of his trance with a start. Alarmed, he looked down, and quickly stepped back form the void. He couldn't do it. He couldn't take the coward's way out. Blair wouldn't have wanted it that way. With a sigh, the detective slowly turned and made his way down the stairs.

"Jim!!"

Ellison looked up blankly as Simon called to him. Jim had just emerged from the stairwell, and was steeling himself up to hear the Captain tell him what he already knew. His friend was gone. As Jim came toward Simon, he opened his mouth to speak...then froze. On the floor beside the elevator doors sat...a woman. A woman in green...the woman from the elevator. Jim stared. She was alive! If she was then that meant...

"Hey Jim! Is it too late to make those lunch plans?" a shaky, but jovial voice reached Jim's ears like music. He turned, holding his breath, to see...

"Blair..." it was barely more than air that passed through Jim's lips. Blair was alive, right there in front of him. Alive.

Blair walked shakily up to Jim. The detective was staring at him like he'd seen a ghost. "Jim...you OK?" he asked. He was shocked...albeit in a good way, when Jim suddenly threw his arms around him in a massive, bone grinding hug. "Jim?" Blair gasped, both elated and worried by the embrace. Elated because he'd been waiting for this moment since he'd met the big man; worried at the tears he could feel falling from Jim's eyes onto his dark curls. Helplessly, Blair patted Jim's back as he saw Simon smiling at them, turning to guide the other officers away. "Jim...please...are you all right?"

A small sob, then..."I am now..." Jim continued to hold Blair, afraid to let go. Afraid if he did, he'd lose him again, as he thought he just had. After a long moment Jim pulled back to gaze tearfully down at his little Guide, just looking at him, memorizing every curl, every pore, every tiny detail of that exquisite face. "I thought I'd lost you...", he whispered. "I thought I'd lost you without ever telling you...how much I love you." With that, Jim cupped Blair's face in his hands and tenderly kissed him.

Blair returned the kiss in earnest, feeling his own tears welling up. "No, Jim...You didn't lose me. I think maybe...you just found me...."

Jim wrapped a protective, possessive arm around his love's shoulders. Blair leaned against Jim in an equally loving move, and together they left the building, Simon watching them with a knowing smile on his face.

"Well it's about time!" muttered the Captain.

THE END