by heidi
 

Jim woke with a felling of contentment, like all was right with the world. Even though he felt disoriented because he was on the sofa, and not in his bed. Memories of the night before began to filter into his waking mind. Last night had been nice. He and Blair had been invited to attend the wedding of the governor's daughter, with the stipulation of keeping their eyes and ears open.

They had a pleasant evening, and in Jim's mind, it had been their first date. He knew Blair considered the Symphony their first, but to Jim, it had not been. When they had left, Jim was just going out with a friend. Although he figured out Blair's intentions by the end of the evening, he had not come to terms with the idea. Last night was different. He still had not come to full terms yet, but he was beginning to feel comfortable with Blair being his . . . what? Boyfriend? Mate? Significant other? No . . . his partner!

Blair was his partner, but now the word meant so much more. Now he was content. He was startled to realize that he felt complete. It was as if Blair was what had been missing from his life. He wrapped his arms more firmly around the man who was snuggled at his side, releasing a sigh at his contentment.

The younger man lay wedged between himself and the sofa back, with his head resting on Jim's chest. He enjoyed the multiple sensations created by Blair being there: the weight of the man himself, the feel of silk hair on his neck and bare arms, and the rhythmic stream of air from Blair's open mouth, felt through his shirt.

Jim could no longer contain the temptation to further touch Blair, so he gingerly raised his hand to move the cascade of hair surrounding the still sleeping face.

Blair slowly awakened and smiled at Jim. "Morning sunshine. Sleep well?"

"Never better. And you?" Blair looked nervous, as if he was afraid of the answer.

"Like a rock." Jim smiled, to reassure the younger man that everything was fine.

Encouraged, Blair carefully moved up Jim's body, so that he was draped over him. They were now lying face to face. Jim knew Blair wanted to kiss him, but was hesitating to see if Jim objected. He didn't. Blair lowered his head until their lips met, giving Jim a chaste kiss. He pulled back, and they looked into each other's eyes. Blair's asking, Jim's inviting. Blair again lowered his head, and Jim parted his lips, giving his guide full access to his mouth.

Blair slowly ran his tongue over Jim's lips, gently caressing them before plunging in the depths of his mouth. Jim was losing himself to the feel and taste of Blair, giving himself over completely to the experience, and giving Blair the control of the kiss. It was almost more than he could stand, when the spell of the kiss was interrupted by the ringing of the phone.

Both men groaned, while they separated. Jim got up and answered the phone. As suspected, it was Simon.

Jim listened to Simon, but slowly became distracted as Blair came up behind him. He rested his head on the back of Jim's shoulders while wrapping his arms around the bigger man. Nimble fingers began to caress Jim's chest, and play with his nipples. It was too much of a sensation and he gasped, responding by grabbing Blair's hands, stilling them, which elicited a chuckle from the smaller man.

With Blair somewhat under control, Jim returned his attention to Simon, only to realize that the captain was no longer speaking. Jim Frantically tried to remember what had been said, and was failing miserably.

"Okay Simon, we'll be in as soon as possible."

"You weren't listening to a thing I said, were you Jim?"

"Ah . . . sorry Simon, I guess not."

"You and Sandburg meet me at Rainer Mountain Reserve ASAP."

"Is there another body?"

"You really werenít listening. Yes, there is. That makes 5 in 3 week. This time itís Brenda Brandon, and the press is going to have a field day. So, get your asses there as soon as possible."

"Yes, sir."

Once the phone was returned, Jim's full attention was directed to Blair. He held Blair's hands in his own, and he could feel the heat pressed to his back. He could also tell that the younger was fully aroused, and he was not sure how to respond, or how he felt.

"We got another body."

"The Reserve murders?"

"Yeah."

"I thought homicide was dealing with them."

"Yeah, well, that's before Brenda Brandon got herself targeted."

"As in Miss Super Model Brenda Brandon?"

"The one and only. So, we better get a move on. I'll grab us something to eat, and you go take your shower, and by the feel of things, it better be cold."

Blair sauntered off, throwing a mischievous grin over his shoulder.

"Tease."

"Believe me, with you, I plan on keeping my promises."

//Oh Gawd, what have I gotten myself into?// And quite honestly, he was looking forward to finding out.

His body moved into auto pilot, preparing a quick breakfast, and grabbing some clean clothes. It was a good thing his subconscious knew what to do, because his conscious mind could not move past Blair.

He was amazed at the effect he had on Blair, that the younger man was aroused by him. He thought about how good it felt to have those wonderful hands running over his body, stroking, and caressing. He found himself becoming slightly excited by the memory, wishing to experience it again. Knowing that he would feel it again. And the kiss. It was their first true kiss, and it was full of want and desire. So full of passion. So full of promises. And Blair said he was going to keep his promises!

By the time Blair exited the bathroom, Jim had worked himself into being partially aroused, much to his dismay. He dashed by his partner in hopes of hiding his situation. Unfortunately, Blair missed nothing.

"Looks like I'm not the only one in need of a cold shower." Jim could practically hear the satisfied grin on Blairís face.

His shower was quick, and it cleared his head, allowing him to concentrate on the case. Brenda Brandon was one of the most sought after and highest paid models in the world. The fact that she was the fifth murder victim three weeks to be found in the Rainer Mountain Reserve would cause national attention and excess pressure on the Cascade Police Department, hence the involvement of Major Crimes. Jim wouldnít even be surprised if Simon had already received calls from the Governor, the Mayor, and probably even Senator Neal, which sent shivers down Jim's spine.

As soon as Jim was dressed, the two men left for the crime scene. Jim explained the full extent of the situation to Blair, who simply nodded, and asked a few questions.

During the drive, they discussed what facts they knew, which were limited. Neither man had seen the case files, but they were aware of a few things. All five victims had been female, fairly attractive, and been stabbed in the heart. All five had also been found at the RMR, and the first four had been found by hikers. Both men also knew that there had been additional clues at the crime scenes to indicate that it was a single murderer, but these things had not been made public.

The final ten minutes of the drive were made in silence. Each man was acutely aware of the other's presence in the vehicle. Eventually Blair reached over and put his hand on Jim's thigh, bringing a smile to both of their faces.

When they arrived at RMR, they were directed where to go, and were soon met by Simon. They were told how each body had been found lying in her own blood, indicating that RMR had been the site for each murder. The bodies had also been laid out in what appeared to be a ritualistic pose, and Simon was eager to hear Blair's opinions on this.

When they approached the body, Jim sensed something odd about the situation. Simon had Blair's full attention, so Jim proceeded to work through each sense, trying to find the one with the incongruity. Concluding that it was his tactile sense that was registering a difference, he slowly worked at turning his other senses down. Suddenly there was warmth on his back, and a touch to his arm. Blair was touching him, and because he was concentrating on touch, he quickly zoned.

"Jim, listen to my voice, itís bringing you back." There was a hint of panic to Blair's voice. When Jim blinked and turned to look at Blair, he could see both Blair and Simon studying him.

"Man, that was wild."

"What set you off?"

"Thereís something odd happening here, and I was trying to figure out what it is."

"Odd?"

"Yeah, my skin is sensing something, and . . ."

"Then I touched you. Jim, you should have waited until WE could have worked through it."

"Well, you were talking with Simon. Did you come up with anything?"

"No, I'm not familiar with any rituals that this would fall under. What about you, did you figure out whatís out of place?"

"It's her body temperature. It's too cold. But the blood on the ground isn't. I don't think she was murdered here Simon. I think she was killed elsewhere, and then brought here to look like the others."

"A copy-cat?"

"I donít know Simon. What about the other clues that werenít released?"

"They're all here, indicating the same murderer. Can you tell if the blood on the ground is hers?"

Jim hunched down, and turned up his smelling and concentrated, anchored by the gentle touch of his guide. "The blood on the body smells the same as the blood on the ground, so my guess is that it is the same blood."

Simon provided them with the necessary background information. They then returned to Cascade, heading first to the modeling agency that booked Brenda. There they discovered that she had been dating a photographer that the agency often used, and the names of a few of her friends. They also learned that the agency had not been able to reach her for the previous two weeks.

As they were leaving, Blair stopped with one final question. "Do you know if Brenda donated blood recently?"

"Yes, she did about two months ago. We required it of everyone working for us, in case of an accident, or whatever, then their own blood can be used. The only thing is, there was a robbery about a week ago, and her blood was among those taken. We chalked it up to Halloween, but there are some sick people out there." The two men looked at each other, both thinking that this at least explained one part of the problem.

"You said that you have not been able to reach her for 2 weeks, what about the 2 weeks prior?"

"She had told us that she was going on vacation, so there was no need to try detective. Our last contact with her was about a month ago."

"And you didnít report her missing?"

"Let me explain something detective, high priced models are very temperamental, especially this one. It's not the first time that we have been unable to reach her. I was giving her one more week before I started to seriously worry."

"Still, I would have thought . . ."

"Yes, detective, she cost us a lot of money, but we usually would be able to supply other models. She was also our highest priced model, and able to bring in more money than any of the other models, so we allowed her vanishing acts to slide from time to time. We just figured she was enjoying her vacation. Do you have any other questions because I would like to get back to work."
 

______________________________________________________

After leaving the agency, they returned to the station. They filled Simon in on what they discovered and Simon filled them in on what forensic had been able to supply so far."

"You were right about the temperature of the body. It was too cold for the conditions it was found in, and most likely had been frozen. So, the time of death could be anywhere between last night and the last time anyone saw her. The stolen blood would explain the blood found around the body. I want you two to go talk to her friends and see when they last saw her."

They spent the rest of the day interviewing Brenda's friends, all of whom seemed to be models.

Jim found himself needing to control his jealousy as two of the models showed interest in Sandburg, but Blair smoothly turned them both down, thanking them, but he was already involved with somebody, and yes he would keep them in mind if this relationship didn't work out, but he doubted that would be the case. That he felt this person was the one. Jim felt that Blair had included this last bit of information more for his benefit than the models.

With their last interview, Jim noticed that Blair was becoming increasingly agitated. He rushed the interview to bring it to an end so that he could find out what was wrong.

"Man, I don't believe you."

"What are you talking about?"

"She was all over you, and you were loving it. You know how I feel about you Jim, and there you sat, in front of me, practically glowing from her attention. I'm surprised you didn't just take her right there. And don't think I didn't notice the way you were rushing things in there, leaving out questions you asked everyone else. No doubt you were thinking up a plan to get rid of me so you could come back and 'interview' her some more."

Jim grabbed Blair by the arm and dragged him behind some trees, out of the view of anyone else. "Look Sherlock, I haven't a clue to what you're talking about. If she was sending signals my way, they totally missed their target. If it seemed like I was glowing, it was because of the way you turned down the last two models. It made me feel good, and I was looking forward to getting home tonight. As for rushing things back there, it was because all of my attention was focused on you, and you were freaking out on me. I wanted to know why. Believe me, Blair, three days ago I might have been interested in her, but today, I have you, and I don't want anybody else. Got it?" To punctuate his statement, Jim leaned down for a bruisingly thorough kiss, that made Blair weak in the knees. When Jim finished, he moved his mouth to Blair's ear. "Now, letís find the boyfriend and interview him. Then maybe we can take this home that much sooner."

Blair was dazed by the intensity of Jim's words, and his eyes were slightly clouded over from the kiss. "Wow, works for me."

Once his head cleared, he followed Jim to the truck. "Jim, I'm sorry for accusing . . ."

"It's okay Chief, I understand, but don't let it happen again." Jim was teasing the younger man, unwilling to admit to either of them that he loved the idea of Blair being jealous.

After some effort, they were able to find the boyfriend out on a shoot. He informed them that he and Brenda had stopped seeing each other approximately a month ago, and that he had not seen her since. He actually thought she had gone out of state. Last he heard, she would be gone for 2 weeks on vacation, and just figured she had 'flaked' out and stayed away.

Once they were back in the truck, they began reviewing what they had.

"Hey Chief, didn't one of Brenda's friends say that Brenda was excited because she was going on vacation with shutter boy?"

"Yeah, but he gave no indication that he was part of the plans."

"Something about him doesn't add up. There was a poster at his studio advertising a gallery showing. Let's go check it out."

They arrived at the gallery shortly before closing. The place was nearly empty, so they were able to take their time. While there, Jim got a call from Simon on his cell phone.

"Hello Simon."

"Jim where are you guys?"

"Weíre at the Von Gerber Gallery. Daniel Blake, the photographer, is being shown here, or at least some of his work. The guy's not a bad photographer. Did some nice nature work."

"Are you suspicious of this Blake?"

"I donít know Simon. Thereís something about him that doesnít feel right."

Jim as watching Blair while talking, and noticed him becoming stiffer as he approached a series of photos.

"Hold on Simon, Blair may have found something."

Jim followed Blair, and noticed what Blair saw; a series of photos shot in the RMR.

"Ah, Simon, Blake was familiar with the RMR."

"How familiar?"

"There's a series of pictures here. They were taken at the locations of each murder. Some of them look almost exactly like the crime scene photos our people took, just without the bodies."

"Do you have anything else on him?"

"His story isn't exactly consistent with that of her friends. Brenda told them that she and Blake were going on vacation together; he claims that she was going on a vacation, but not with him. He also didn't seem too surprised or too upset by her death. If you want my opinion Captain, Blake did it; we just donít have proof, yet."

"Okay, I'll see if what we have is enough for a search warrant. Why don't you head back in. Grab something to eat, if you haven't already. Tonight may be a long night."

"All right sir. We'll see you in a while." Jim put his phone away and turned to Blair.

"I take it we're not heading home."

"Sorry Chief. Simon is working on a search warrant. But if we're lucky, we'll be able to put a close on this case tonight."

They ate at a Thai restaurant that Blair liked, and discussed the case some more. Eventually they stopped taking, and started to just look each at each other, as if studying one another for the first time.

Jim was amazed by the sheer beauty of the man, from the softness of his hair, the deepness of the eyes, the fullness of the lips. Those lips. He could not believe how addicted he had become to those lips in the last fifteen hours. He spent the entire day trying not to think about them. The texture and the taste. He wanted to claim them now, but was unable to, which only made them that much more desirable.

Jim had also found himself watching Blair in so many other ways. He loved to watch the man move, in that overly energetic sultry sway. The man oozed seduction, and he wondered how he had missed it before. He suddenly felt overwhelmed to think that Blair had practically pledged himself to him today.

"Jim, you okay man? You looked like your were going to zone there."

"No, Iím fine. Just thinking."

"About . . .?"

"You, me, the last several days."

"Are you all right with all of this?" He was so cute, the way his face betrayed everything, both concern and worry. Jim reached across the table and took Blair's hand.

"I'm fine Chief. I just didnít know what to expect, and I'm a little surprised by how hard I've fallen." The look on Blair's face was priceless. The pure joy displayed was breathtaking. "Chief, Blair, have you ever done this before?"

"What?"

"Been with a man?"

"No. I've been attracted, enough so that I knew I was bisexual, but I've never acted before. So this is just as new to me as you. I've just have had more time to adjust to it. I have done some reading though."

"Reading?"

"Yeah, well, you know, on . . ."

"I get the picture Sandburg. We'll talk about it later. I'm not ready for anything remotely like that yet."

"Oh, okay. I just thought you would like to know."

"Fine. But not now."

Simon was waiting for them when they returned to the station. He had been able to find a judge who felt they had enough to issue a search warrant, and he had a team in the process of being prepared.

When the search of Blake's studio was completed, they had found pictures of each victim at the location they were found, with the exception of Brenda. They found a knife which Jim established as having traces of blood on it, at the bottom of a camera bag. They also found a nearly empty, operating freezer, that had hair in it that matched the general color and length of Brendaís.

Blake was booked, and after 2 hours of being interrogated, confessed to all the murders. Brenda, he had killed in a fit of passion. He then froze her body. Over the following 3 weeks time, he would find attractive women, introduce himself and provide credentials, and then offer to take pictures of them. Their 'vanity' led them to believe what he told them, allowing him to convince them to meet him out at the Reserve, where he would kill them. They had all been murdered to set a pattern that Brenda would be hidden.

Simon had been relieved by the case being solved so quickly, and getting everyone off of his back, that he gave Jim and Blair the next several days off.

It was close to midnight when they were finally able to leave the police station. Jim and Blair were both dead on their feet, but as they got closer to the loft, the anticipation of being alone seemed to rejuvenate them.

Blair was first through the door. When Jim turned from locking the door, he found himself pinned against the wall, and Blair attached to his mouth. Once the surprise of the move wore off, Jim became a greedy participant in the kiss, while allowing Blair the control he demanded. Jim felt Blair's hands on his waist as Blair was pulling him away from the wall and leading him to the sofa, all done while maintaining the kiss.

When Blair pulled away from the kiss, Jim saw a feral gleam in his eyes. A thought fluttered through his mind. //I'm the submissive in this relationship.// It was a first for Jim, and he liked it. He liked giving control of yet another aspect of his life to Blair. It felt natural. He knew instinctively that Blair would allow Jim to determine how fast they moved into each new level of their intimacy, but once there, Blair would have control.

Blair maneuvered Jim to lie down on the sofa, and carefully draped himself over him. The weight on him felt good, as he anticipated that mouth. He lifted he head to find Blair's mouth, only to find the younger man pulling away. Jim groaned. Blair chuckled, but then became serious.

"I need to know you're comfortable with this," with his head, he gestured in a way that Jim knew he meant the two of them being together, lying on the sofa.

Jim lifted a hand and began running his fingers through Blair's hair. He closed his eyes, swimming in the sensation, and imagined how that hair would feel on other parts of his body. He opened his eyes, only to see that Blair had his closed, enjoying the moment just as much as he.

"I'm more than comfortable."

Blair opened his eyes and smiled at Jim, then reclaimed Jim's mouth. The two men kissed for a while longer before drifting into a peaceful sleep.

The End (for now)

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