Title: What is Love?

Author: knoteach

Rating: NC-17

Feedback: of course knoteach102@yahoo.com

Warnings: none

Author's notes: Crossover with Highlander. Thanks to Yvonne and Mary for the beta job.

Disclaimer: Not mine, never will be, no money involved.

Challenges answered: Drawn Crossover Challenge #9: Highlander crossover. Blair finds out his father is Joe Dawson. Bonus points if you make Jim and Blair Immortal. 1st Wave Medium Challenge #1: Evil Naomi, William Ellison, or Carolyn Plummer.


What is Love?
knoteach

Blair looked at the note on the table in confusion. When Naomi had slipped out of the bullpen this afternoon, Blair had expected her to be at the loft when he and Jim returned. Instead, he found a tersely worded note that said she would be there to talk to him sometime the next afternoon.

Shrugging, Blair figured that she had gone to a hotel to start processing. Hopefully, she would be able to come to terms with it quickly, but he knew that it would take time. “Hey, Jim. What do you want for dinner?”

“What about ordering a pizza, Chief?” Jim grinned, letting Blair know that he knew what was coming.

“Jiiiim, what have I told you about the fat in those things…?” Blair launched into his customary lecture on cholesterol and saturated fat, glad that at least one thing would never change.

<~~~<<<<>>>~~~><~~~<<<<>>>~~~>

Duncan McLeod was looking forward to spending the evening in his lover’s arms. His trip had been successful, but far too long for his liking. Then again, if he had his way, he would never leave Methos at all, but they each had to maintain their covers.

Sighing, he pulled in to the parking lot of the dojo and was surprised not to feel Methos within the building. Looking at his watch, he figured Methos would probably be at Joe’s. Starting his car again, he headed towards the bar.

The first thing he noticed when he pulled into Joe’s parking lot was the ‘Closed’ sign hanging on the door. Mac’s concern grew as he felt the distinctive buzz of the presence of an Immortal within the building. Trying the door, he found it locked and went around to try the back door.

Finding that door open, he cautiously entered the building, but all he found was Methos sitting with Joe at the bar. Looking at Joe gave Mac a new feeling of dread. Joe sat on a bar stool with his head in his hands, an expression of extreme depression on his face.

Methos looked up as Mac entered the bar. “Hi, Mac. Sorry I wasn’t home but we have a bit of a problem.”

“I noticed. What’s wrong, Joe? Anything I can do ta help?”

“I don’t know, Mac,” Joe sighed as he dropped his hands to the bar and looked up at his friend. “I have no idea what to do.” Joe was silent for a few seconds, before continuing, “Have you seen the news the last few days?”

“No, I havna’ been paying attention ta it since I left,” Duncan said.

“Two days after you left, there was a big splash on the news about some kid’s dissertation about Sentinels,” Methos started.

“I thought they had all died out. I haven’t heard a confirmed report of one in over a hundred years,” Mac said.

“This kid supposedly found a Sentinel in Cascade, WA. A cop by the name of James Ellison. The media have been having a field day with it. I knew Joe was following the story, but when I got a here a little while ago, the place was closed up and Joe won’t tell me what’s wrong.”

“Joe?” Mac said as he sat down and wrapped an arm around his lover’s shoulders.

“This is what’s wrong,” Joe picked up the remote control to the VCR attached to the TV above the bar. Turning it on, he rewound the tape in it. Stopping it, he hit ‘Play’.

A young man appeared on the screen, fiddling with papers set on the lectern in front of him. Mac quickly cataloged the long curly brown hair, and bright blue eyes behind wire-framed glasses. The young man was on the short side with a wiry build. In a way he reminded him of Methos, dressing in loose baggy clothes that could hide a well-formed body.

When the man started speaking, Mac noted a quavering quality in his voice.

“Hi. Thank you all for coming. I just have a short speech prepared here. Um... In our media-informed culture, a scientist receives validation by having his or her work published and after years of research there is great personal satisfaction when that goal is reached. However, my desire to impress both my peers and the world at large drove me to an immoral and unethical act. My thesis 'The Sentinel' is a fraud."

"While my paper does quote ancient source material, the documentation proving that James Ellison...actually possesses hyper-senses is fraudulent. Looking back, I can say that it's a good piece of fiction. I apologize for this deception. My only hope is that I can be forgiven for the pain I've caused those that are close to me. Thank you."

Joe clicked it off almost before the last word was out of the man’s mouth.

“He lied? He really hasn’t found a Sentinel?” Mac asked, confused.

“No,” Joe bit out sharply. “He found one, all right. The only lie he told was the one at that press conference. I know him. He never could have done something like this.”

Mac looked at Methos, who just shrugged at him. Neither of them had any idea why Joe was so up in arms over this. Looking back at the watcher, Mac asked, “How can you be so sure?”

Joe looked at his two friends and decided that they should know. “He’s my son.”

Both immortals stared slack jawed at their friend. Finally Methos found his voice, “Son? You never said anything about having a son.”

Joe sighed as his eyes went unfocused, remembering. “I met his mother in late ’68 just before I shipped out to Vietnam. She was the most beautiful woman I had ever known. I loved her and wanted to marry her, but she despised all forms of authority, especially the army and police. She absolutely hated me when she found out I was going into the army. I ran into her after I got back to the states. It had been about two years, and she had the most adorable toddler with her. He was all brown curls and big blue eyes. I found out then how vindictive she could be. She made sure I knew that he was my son, and in the same breath guaranteed me that I would never be able to be with him. She didn’t even put my name on his birth certificate. Said she would make sure that he didn’t grow up to be a stormtrooper like me.”

“I kept track of them as best I could through the Watcher network. Whenever I was close to them, I would watch him myself. She would frequently leave him to live with friends and acquaintances, some of which weren’t too nice, but there was nothing I could do. All she would have had to do was deny I was his father, and without DNA testing, there was no way of proving anything. Even if I had been able to prove anything, there was a very real chance they would have taken him away from both of us and put him in the foster system.”

“Are you sure he’s your son? He doesn’t look anything like you,” Mac pointed out.

With a wry look, Joe replied, “Mac, after this long of thinking of him as my son, as far as I’m concerned, he is; whether by blood or not. That’s one reason I didn’t contact him after he was grown. There wasn’t anything he really needed me for, and I didn’t want to spoil the fantasy if he really isn’t my son. He is a loyal and honorable man, what more could I want in a son?”

Nodding, Methos and Mac agreed. If they could have children, that is what they would want them to be.

“So what do you think happened, Joe?” Mac steered the conversation back to the original topic.

“Naomi,” Joe spit out angrily. “I’ll bet you just about anything she had something to do with this. She may have leaked it to try to get Blair away from Ellison, if she thought he was having too much influence over Blair. She never cared who got hurt, as long as she got what she wanted. Blair is just trying to protect his friend.”

“There may be more to it than that, Joe,” Methos warned, remembering what he knew about tribal guardians and their partners.

“What do you mean?”

“If Blair has found a Sentinel, and has gotten close enough to him to write about him, Blair is probably his Guide,” Methos explained.

“So? What difference does that make?” Joe asked.

“Joe, Sentinels and Guides are soul bonded pairs. If either of them should die, so will the other. They either are lovers or will be very soon.”

Joe blanched when Methos spoke of them dying, but he trusted the Ancient One’s knowledge. The three men sat silently, Mac and Joe digesting what Methos had told them, while he waited.

Finally Mac broke the quiet. “So what are you going ta do, Joe?”

“I’m going to Cascade to see if there is anything I can do. I’ve been keeping track of him in Cascade, and if what Methos says is true, Ellison needs to start taking better care of him. Since Blair started working with him three and a half years ago, he has been severely hurt several times. Nearly killed twice! If he weren’t Naomi’s son, I’d start wondering if he was an Immortal,” Joe joked weakly.

Mac came to a decision and looked at Methos for confirmation; seeing agreement in his eyes, he spoke up. “I’ll go with you, Joe. I think you could use a friendly face if he dinna take it well.”

“Me, too,” Methos chimed in.

“Thanks, guys,” Joe smiled, thankful for friends. “We’ll head out tomorrow morning.”

<~~~<<<<>>>~~~><~~~<<<<>>>~~~>

Still confused, Blair got up the next morning, made breakfast for Jim, who had to go in for half a day, then sat back and waited for Naomi to arrive.

What happened when she did was anything but what he expected.

She stood in middle of the living room, ranting, “I can’t believe you threw it all away for that pig. For that jack booted thug. We could have had anything we wanted, but you had to go and ruin it. Then you go and join them. The enemy! What in hell do you think you were doing?!?”

Blair stared at his mother in horror, not wanting to believe the suspicion that was creeping into his mind. “What else was I supposed to do?”

“Take the money, of course!” Naomi shouted at him. Frowning mightily, Naomi turned on the young man, and stated, “I am very disappointed in you. You chose that…that pig over what I taught you to believe. You actually have become an enemy to everything you held dear.”

Blair stood in front of her and said, “You sent my diss to Syd on purpose, didn’t you? Why?”

Naomi looked at Blair as if he was the stupidest person she had ever seen. “To get you away from him, of course. And I had such plans for the money you would have made. We could have gone anywhere, baby.”

“Get out!” Blair interrupted her forcefully, having had enough. Seeing for the first time what she really was, no longer blinded by the love he felt for his mother.

“What?” Naomi gasped in shock. He had never been rude to her in his life, and she couldn’t understand the sudden change in his demeanor.

“GET OUT!!!!” Blair shouted, forcefully taking her arm and pushing her towards the door. “Get out of our home and never come back!” Blair shoved her out the door, careful that he didn’t hurt her, and then slammed the door. He could hear her shouting at him from outside the door, but he couldn’t bring himself to care as his mind whirled with the things she had done and said. Leaning back against the door, Blair slid to the floor and rested his head on his up-raised knees.

“Blair?” When he heard Jim’s voice outside the door, Blair jumped up and opened the door.

“Jim! She did it on purpose! I can’t believe it. My mother…”

“I heard her, Chief. I was coming up in the elevator when she started her little rampage.” Jim placed his hands on Blair’s shoulders and looked directly in his eyes. Taking note of the flushed face and rapid breathing, he asked, “Are you going to be all right?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah, but I just can’t believe it, Jim. She’s my mother, how can she do this?” Blair looked up at his Sentinel with wide, confused eyes. “I just don’t understand, Jim.”

“Neither do I, Chief, neither do I.” Jim gathered his guide to him for a hug. Standing still for a moment, he relished the feeling of holding him close. Jim had always loved the feel of Blair’s skin and hair, sneaking small touches whenever he could. Blair didn’t know he was bi, and Jim was afraid that if he ever found out, he would leave him. It felt so good just to hold him close. Perhaps a little too good, Jim realized, feeling himself growing aroused. Pulling back, he looked down at the shorter man, and asked, “Are you sure you want to do this? Being a cop is a long way from Hargrove Hall.”

“I can’t leave you, Jim, so this is the only thing I can do. Just like a Sentinel needs his Guide, a Guide needs his Sentinel. I had been hoping to get a position as a consultant or profiler when I got my doctorate, so this is not quite such a big jump. It’ll be difficult, people aren’t going to forget quickly, but I’ll manage.”

“You’re sure?” Jim pressed him. “We could go somewhere else. Start over again without all this hanging over our heads.”

Blair looked absolutely shocked. “You’d do that for me?” he whispered. Hope, fear, and…something else that Jim couldn’t readily identify…shone in his eyes.

“Yes, Chief,” Jim stated firmly. “In a heartbeat.”

“Thank you, Jim. I want to do this, to be your partner, here or anywhere.” Blair pulled back and smiled at the larger man. Grabbing Jim’s arm, Blair led him over to a couch and they sat down to discuss their options. Rubbing at his forehead, Blair idly hoped that the headache he was developing wouldn’t last long.

Their discussion was interrupted after a few minutes by a knock at the door. Blair and Jim both jumped in surprise. Jim had been so focused on Blair that he hadn’t heard anyone in the hall.

<~~~<<<<>>>~~~><~~~<<<<>>>~~~>

Mac drove the two hours from Seacouver to Cascade, leaving Joe free to think about what he wanted to say when he got there. Unfortunately, when they got there, he was no closer to figuring that out than he had been the night before.

Naomi was just storming out of the building when they pulled into the parking lot. Though he had not seen her for several years, Joe recognized her and pointed her out to the others before heading over to talk to her.

Mac and Methos heard her mumbling as they walked up, but Joe was too focused on Blair to pay much attention to what she was saying.

Naomi was fuming, out loud and at great length, “Ungrateful Bastard! I take the little brat in and this is how he repays me…” Both men that listened to her got a sinking feeling in their stomachs.

“Naomi.” Joe’s voice was low, not threatening, but certainly not happy to see her.

Naomi spun around to face the man that had walked up behind her. “Joe Dawson? What are you doing here?”

“I came to see if I could help Blair. He is my son.”

Naomi’s face filled with a combination of disgust and hatred. “The little brat? You can have him.” Getting into her car, Naomi slammed the door of the rented car and drove off, peeling rubber in her hurry to get away from them.

“Well, I’d say she wasn’t happy about something,” Joe stated rhetorically, before leading his friends into the building to the elevator and hitting the button for the third floor. Both Immortals stiffened in surprise when the doors opened, their hands automatically going to their weapons hidden in their clothing.

Methos explained to Joe quickly, “There’s an Immortal on this floor. Be careful.” Cautiously, the three men walked down the hall, Mac and Methos trying to locate the Immortal that they felt. To their surprise, they found him in the apartment that they had come to visit.

“He’s in there,” Mac said, staring at the door as if he could see through it and assess a danger. “Must be Ellison.”

“SHIT!” Methos hissed, keeping his voice down so as not to disturb anyone inside. Joe and Mac turned to stare at the Old Man in shock. “I’ll explain later.”

Shrugging, Joe reached out and knocked on the door. While he was still apprehensive, he wanted to get on with this.

<~~~<<<<>>>~~~><~~~<<<<>>>~~~>

Jim grabbed his cane, got up from the couch, and limped over to answer the door. Before opening it, he used his senses to scan the people behind it. He was feeling twitchy, but here was no real sign of a threat. Finding three people that he didn’t know, he opened it only a few inches.

“What do you want? If you’re reporters, there’s no story here,” Jim growled at the men he found there.

Since he was the one that started this, Joe answered him. “I wanted to talk to Blair Sandburg. I’m not a reporter, but I need to talk to him.”

Turning, Jim opened the door a little farther. “Hey, Chief, do you know this guy?”

Blair walked over and took a good look at Joe. Not recognizing the man he shook his head. “No.”

Jim looked back at their visitors. The gray-haired bearded man that had spoken was well into his fifties, maybe even lower sixties, walking with a cane. When he shifted, Jim’s ears caught the distinctive squeak of prosthetics. The two men with him were much younger, one around thirty-five and the other maybe twenty-five. The older of the two men had long dark brown hair and was tall with an impressive build. The younger had short brown hair and strange golden-green eyes. He was also tall, but very slender, almost gawkily skinny to Jim’s way of thinking. Both of the younger men held themselves tensely, as if on guard against some threat. And that sure wasn’t helping Jim’s nerves any.

“What did you want to talk to him about?” Jim demanded of the older man.

Joe took a good look at his son and liked what he saw. There had to be some way to fix this mess. “Blair, I know you have no idea who I am, but I really need to talk to you.”

Watching the byplay between the men, Blair decided to hear the man out. It couldn’t be any worse that what had happened with Naomi earlier. “It’ll be all right, Jim.” Blair placed one hand on Jim’s arm, knowing that Jim would was still in protective overdrive. Looking at his visitors, he waved with the other hand at the couches. “Come on in.”

Joe, Mac, and Methos entered the apartment slowly, careful not to make any threatening moves, and sat down on one of the couches that Blair had indicated. Mac and Methos especially watched Jim. But instead of reading an Immortal presence from the man, the presence remained ethereal and elusive. They could still feel it, but they couldn’t pinpoint where it was coming from. What was confusing them even more was that neither man was reacting to them at all. Jim was watching them carefully, but there was no recognition of their presence. New Immortals usually were overpowered by the buzz until they got used to it.

Jim quickly revised his opinions of the two young men as they moved into the loft. While the longhaired man was obviously strong and the way he moved reminded Jim of one of the big cats, a tiger maybe, the younger man was more than he appeared. The bulky clothes hid a well-formed body. As he moved, Jim could glimpse well-formed muscles where they shifted under the cloth. This man was dangerous, too, perhaps more so that the other. He was a leopard, even if he was doing his best to look like a housecat.

“These are Duncan McLeod and Adam Pierson; some friends of mine from Seacouver. You should probably sit down, because this is going to be a bit of a shock,” Joe told them. Jim and Blair looked at each other, before claiming seats on the other couch. After they were seated, Joe thought quickly about what he wanted to say, but came up completely blank.

Finally blowing out a sigh, he just plunged right in. “Aw, hell, I guess the only way to say this is just to say it. I’m your father, Blair.”

Blair’s jaw dropped and he blanched as he stared at the man sitting on the couch in front of him. Unconsciously he leaned closer to Jim, wanting the safety and security that his presence afforded. “What? How?”

Joe dropped his eyes to his clasped hands, “I didn’t even know that we had had a child until after you were over a year old. I was headed into the army when I met your mother. I loved her, Blair, and wanted to marry her, but I couldn’t back out of my duty, so she left me. When I got back to the states about two years later, I ran into her in California. She had you with her.” Raising wet eyes to the stunned young man, Joe continued, “She said that you were my son, but she forbid me to ever be with you, even refused to put my name on your birth certificate. She never forgave me for choosing to go into the army.”

“I watched over you as best I could, but sometimes she would lose me with all of her moving around. I frequently sent money to her anonymously. She always refused to let me pay for your support directly, but I figured if it was sent anonymously, she was too practical to throw it away. I’m so sorry, Blair. I wanted to be a father to you, but there was nothing I could do. I had no parental rights, and if I tried to take it to court, they would have been more likely to take you away from both of us and put you in foster care. I couldn’t do that to the both of you.”

Blair finally cleared his throat and asked, “But what about later? After I was at Ranier?”

“After all that time I had convinced myself that you really didn’t need me, but I kept tabs on you just in case anything came up.” Joe glanced over at Jim for a moment. “I decided to contact you now because I saw the news reports and the press conference.”

Seeing Blair pale even farther and Ellison tense at his side, Joe hastened on. “I know that the diss was true and you were only trying to protect Ellison here.”

Blair’s heart rate sped up as he shot a frightened glance at his Sentinel. “What do you mean? You saw the press conference, it was all a lie.”

“No, Blair, I don’t believe that. I do think I know what happened, though. I’ll tell you what I think and then you can tell me if I’m right, okay? Naomi sent that dissertation off, without your knowledge, perhaps encouraged Syd to release parts of it to create a big hubbub. But Jim couldn’t do his job and people started to get hurt because of all the fuss. You threw it all out the window because that’s the only thing you could think of to protect him and your other friends. How am I doing?”

Blair and Jim sat silent, trying to figure out how this man knew so much.

Joe nodded when Ellison and Blair remained silent. “I’ll take that to mean that I’m pretty close to the truth. I found out long ago how vindictive and selfish Naomi Sandburg can be.”

Methos and Mac had been silently watching the conversation, lending Joe their support by merely being present. Methos may have been silent, but his mind was going at full speed, sifting through memories, trying to place the peculiar feeling he was experiencing. When he finally got his answer, he sat up a little straighter, looking quickly from Ellison to Sandburg and back again. Dear God! Joe had been right, even if he hadn’t known it.

“Joe,” Methos leaned over and whispered. “We’ve got another problem.”

“What?” Joe kept his voice low also, knowing full well that Ellison would be able to hear them anyway.

“They’re both Immortals.”

Jim had had his senses on high alert ever since the knock on the door, so he heard them easily. However, what they meant, he had no clue, sounded like nonsense to him. Joe’s reaction to the younger man’s word garnered his attention though.

“What!?” Joe yelped. “But that’s impossible. That was supposed to be a joke, Adam.”

“I’m not kidding, Joe. I knew I had felt this before, but it took me a while to place it.”

“What the hell are you two talking about?” Jim demanded, tired of this. Blair had had enough shocks for one day and it looked there were more in the offing. He also figured that if Joe knew the truth so did the other two.

<~~~<<<<>>>~~~><~~~<<<<>>>~~~>

Taking control of the conversation, as well as giving Joe the chance to regain his equilibrium, Mac started what he knew could end up being a very difficult discussion. “Have either of you had what others call a ‘near death experience’?”

“Well, at the fountain maybe, but I didn’t… That is, Jim, I mean….” Blair trailed off, unsure if they would believe what had happened. Hell, he had trouble believing it had actually happened, and he had lived it.

“I called him back,” Jim stated firmly, daring them to contradict him. “And, no, I haven’t.”

“You must have sometime,” Methos pressed.

“Pierson…” Jim started, but Blair interrupted him, not realizing that Jim had started to speak.

“Peru.”

“What?” Mac asked at the seeming non sequitur.

Blair glanced up at his partner before saying simply, “Jim was involved in a helicopter crash in Peru. No one else survived.”

“What does this have to do with anything?” Jim demanded.

“Adam and I are what are known as Immortals,” Mac started.

“That’s ridiculous,” Jim burst out, considering calling Simon and having him send some of the men with little white coats.

“Any more than hyperactive senses, Ellison?” Mac shot back. “We do die, but we don’t stay dead. And we don’t age after our first death. You two are the same way.”

“You’re insane,” Jim returned, shifting a little to get his gun into a better position, should it be needed. Glancing over at Joe, Jim noted that he looked a little bit surprised, but apparently he had heard most of this before.

“He is most assuredly not insane. Here, look.” Methos pulled out his pocketknife, and, ignoring Ellison’s stiffened posture, flipped the blade out. Swiftly, he slashed through the palm of his hand and held it out to the two Cascade men.

“What are you doing?!?” Blair yelped as he stood, getting ready to run and get bandages.

Mac grabbed his arm lightly and pointed back at the wound. “Watch.” Small flashes of blue lightening zigzagged across the bleeding gash. Jim could actually see the skin regenerate itself and nearly zoned on the sight.

When the wound had completely healed, Methos walked out to the kitchen and washed his hands. Coming back, he held the previously bleeding appendage out for Blair and Jim to see. “For an Immortal, most wounds heal almost instantaneously. Haven’t you healed more quickly that you should?”

“Yes, Jim has always healed quickly,” Blair spoke up.

“And since the Fountain, Blair has too,” Jim muttered. “But this is bullshit.” Jim stood and gave Methos his best killer glare, which seemed to phase him about as much as it did Blair. “I don’t want to hear any more of this garbage. I don’t know how you did that trick with your hand, but this has gone far enough.”

“We can prove it ta you,” Mac said.

“How?” Jim challenged.

“Shoot him,” Joe entered the conversation again, having pulled his thoughts back into line. As much as he loved Blair as a son, he trusted Mac and Methos to be honest about this; besides it would be difficult to fake the Quickening when that part came up. “He’ll revive in less than a minute.”

Blair and Jim both looked at him as if he had lost his mind. “No way, man,” Blair said. emphatically shaking his head.

“Aw, hell, sorry, Mac,” Methos said as he pulled his gun and shot him straight through the heart. Mac was dead before he hit the floor.

At seeing the gun, Blair had shouted and dove for the man, managing to knock the gun away, but a second too late to stop the shot. Grabbing the gun off the floor, Blair handed it to Jim, who had pulled his weapon at the same moment that Blair jumped.

Kneeling at MacLeod’s side, Blair checked his pulse. “He’s dead. Why? He was your friend.”

Methos grandly ignored Jim and knelt beside Blair and MacLeod. “It’s alright. Just watch his chest,” Methos ordered.

Almost against his will, Jim’s eyes were drawn downward to see the same blue lightening weaving across the hole in MacLeod’s chest. His surprise was so great that he let his gun drop down and stared at the miracle in front of him.

About thirty-five seconds after he hit the floor, Mac sat up with a loud gasp. Looking down at his chest he muttered, “This shirt’s ruined. Glad it wasn’t one of the ones you gave me last Christmas.” Methos smiled at him and helped him stand. They turned to where Jim and Blair were standing side by side with matching expressions of bewilderment.

Jim swallowed twice before he could find his voice. “And Blair and I are like this?”

Methos nodded as Mac explained, “It still hurts like hell, but it won’t kill you permanently. There is one way to do that, but we’ll tell you about that later. Do you believe us now?”

Jim nodded as they moved back to their former positions on the couches. “How do you know that Blair and I are this way?”

Joe watched the proceedings with interest, wanting to know how Methos and MacLeod were going to handle this, but left the explanations to them. They knew far more about it than he did.

“Immortals have a sort of early warning system ta tell them when others of our kind are near. Did you feel a buzzing sensation in the back of you mind before we got here?”

As one Blair answered, “Yes,” as Jim answered, “No.”

Taking pity on Mac’s confusion, Methos leaned forward and held his arm out to Jim. “Jim, touch my arm.”

Jim was so confounded and turned around he was willing to try just about anything they told him. The instant he made contact with Methos’ skin, the tingle on his skin intensified and Jim felt as if he had received a low level electrical charge. Jerking back, Jim exclaimed, “You’re causing that?”

“Yes,” Methos affirmed. Turning to Mac and Joe, he explained, “Most Sentinels I have known described the Quickening as a physical sensation on their skin rather than the regular way.”

“What’s the Quickening?” Blair asked.

“I know that you have a lot of questions, and we’ll try to answer them all if we can, but let me lay the groundwork for you, okay? We’ll cover the specifics later,” Methos said. Receiving nods from both men, Methos, Mac, and Joe spent the next three hours explaining the limits of Immortals, the Game, and the Watchers. Jim didn’t look too thrilled with the idea of having someone follow him around all the time, but he seemed to take the rest in easily.

<~~~<<<<>>>~~~><~~~<<<<>>>~~~>

When Methos finished his explanation, Blair burst out, “So that means that Jim can’t be killed except by decapitation, right?”

“Yes,” Mac assured him. “That goes for both of you.”

“That’s great, man,” Blair exclaimed. In his joy, Blair turned to Jim and grabbed his head and pulled him down for a kiss. Jim’s arms automatically went around the smaller man. Realizing what he was doing, Blair pulled back, and started to stutter an apology, “Omigod, I’m sorry, Jim. I…I…”

Jim didn’t say a word; he just grabbed Blair and kissed him right back. “Don’t be sorry, Blair. I’ve wanted this for so long. Please, don’t be sorry.” The kissing only broke for them to heave a deep breath before Blair dived in for more.

Methos smiled at the two men, catching Mac’s eye and motioning for them to leave. Speaking as he, Mac, and Joe moved toward the door, he said, “We’ll be back tomorrow to talk some more.” His last glance back before closing the door, he saw Jim waving a little to signal he heard, before he started working on Blair’s shirt. Methos smiled one last time before closing the door and leading his lover and friend back to their car. They decided to check into one of the local motels and return the next day.

<~~~<<<<>>>~~~><~~~<<<<>>>~~~>

Jim quickly dealt with the buttons to Blair’s shirt and slipped his hands inside. Feeling the t-shirt underneath, Jim broke the kiss off with a growl. Grabbing the neck of the shirt, Jim tore it, revealing the furred chest beneath. Jim immediately started kneading Blair’s nipples, rolling them between his fingers as he used his mouth to kiss Blair’s throat and down his chest.

“Hey, watch it, man,” Blair said as his head rolled back on his shoulders. “My wardrobe won’t take much of that.” Blair’s hands had pulled Jim’s shirt out of his pants and slipped up to caress his back and shoulders, which were about all Blair could reach as Jim pressed him back into the cushions.

“Don’t care,” Jim mumbled as he continued his exploration. “I’ll buy you a new shirt. Wasted so much time,” Jim mumbled as he finally latched onto one of Blair’s nipples.

Blair yelped when he felt the moist heat of Jim’s mouth on his right nipple while his fingers played with the ring in his left. “Jim!” Blair was so hard, he felt like he might come right there in his jeans. Unable to reach lower on Jim, Blair maneuvered his hand under Jim’s arms and caressed his chest, finally finding and starting to tease Jim’s nipples.

Jim groaned as he pulled back from his place on Blair’s chest, giving each nipple a couple more licks and tugging on the nipple ring with his teeth once more. Blair lay panting beneath him, looking perfect with his hair going every direction under the sun and his lips swollen from their earlier kissing. Slipping one hand behind Blair’s neck, Jim helped him sit up and pulled his shirts off, tossing them away, for once not caring where they landed.

Quickly divesting himself of his shirt also, Jim then pulled Blair up into a searing kiss, but instead of pushing Blair back into the couch cushions, Jim leaned backward, pulling Blair up on top of his chest. Both men still wore their pants, but they couldn’t stand to be parted long enough to get rid of them yet.

After several more minutes of kissing, licking, nipping, and sucking, Blair wiggled his hips experimentally, grinding his raging erection against Jim’s.

Both men shouted as they came almost simultaneously. Gasping for breath, Blair and Jim lay together in their post-orgasmic glow.

After a few minutes, Blair murmured, “Jim, next time, let’s do this upstairs without the jeans. I think I’m bruised and these jeans will never be the same.” Jim chuckled quietly, nodding his head in agreement.

When Blair’s brain started firing on all cylinders again, he remembered something Jim had said, and asked, ”What did you mean wasted time?”

Jim lifted his head and looked at his new lover, he eyes shining with emotion. As he stroked Blair’s tumbled hair, he said, “I’ve been hiding from you for a long time. I didn’t think you were into men.”

Blair smiled sweetly, patting Jim’s chest. “Jim, I’ll let you in on a little secret. You remember Chris, during the Lash case?” When Jim nodded, Blair continued, “She would have been my first woman, Jim, if we’d ever gotten that far. I still haven’t ever had a woman. I have never been interested in women, but after a fiasco with my boyfriend, I wanted to try something different. Why do you think I had to get you to tell me what that girl was saying that first day we met? I have never been able to read women very well.” Blair smiled at the stunned expression on Jim’s face, then sobered. “After I moved in here, I thought you’d toss me out if you found out, so I kept up the ‘God’s gift to women’ act.”

“So you haven’t had anyone since you moved in here?” Jim gaped.

Blair looked down at Jim’s chest for a moment, then flashed his eyes up and answered honestly, “I haven’t wanted anyone since the Lash case. I realized I loved you when you stormed into the warehouse. I would have given anything for you to have been safe, even if it had meant he killed me. I was more scared that he would kill you, than that he would kill me.”

Jim sat up suddenly and crushed Blair to his chest as he kissed him. Breaking the kiss, Jim pressed him against his chest, rocking him as he spoke. “Never say that, Blair. Please, I couldn’t survive without you.”

“Yes, you would, Jim. You’re too strong for that to stop you,” Blair assured him. Jim wasn’t so sure, but he didn’t argue. “You know, Jim, when I was growing up I wanted to be loved. I thought Naomi loved me in her way, but I wanted the type of love I saw in other families. I finally got that today.”

Jim kissed the top of Blair’s head. “Pierson said they would be back tomorrow to talk some more.”

“Good.” Blair pulled back and kissed Jim again, opening his mouth and running his tongue along Jim’s lips. “Jim, I have also always wanted a forever type of love.” Pulling back and resting his hands on Jim’s shoulders, he looked closely at Jim. “I’ve found that, too.”

“You have, and so have I,” Jim whispered, then gently pulled Blair in for a tender kiss.



END