Close But No Cigar!
Simon Banks, Captain of the Major Crimes Squad of the Cascade PD of Cascade,
Washington, was pacing the waiting room floor of Cascade General Hospital. Not
something Captain Banks had thoughts of doing on Christmas Eve. But since his
best team of detectives decided to get themselves injured, it was the least
Simon could do. No, it wasn’t. Simon had to be there as did many of the Major
Crimes unit. They were all huddled in the waiting room, waiting for news.
*****
Like most holidays, the team of Ellison and Sandburg volunteered to work,
letting their fellow officers who had family, be with their families. This
Christmas was no different. Whether it was in keeping with the holiday spirit or
the weather was just too foul, the local baddies appeared to have taken time
off. Jim and Blair were on their way home to salvage the remainder of the
evening and do a little celebrating of their own. They were almost home when...
“Chief, do you hear that?” Jim asked as they were stopped at a red light. The
street lights and holiday lights were reflecting and bouncing off the thin sheen
of ice on the road.
“Jim, there is only one Sentinel in this truck and it isn’t me,” Blair grumbled
from beneath his scarf. The scarf was so long and thick that Blair had it looped
around his neck several times and had enough to tie his woolen hat down on his
head.
“Shhh,” Jim hissed as he pulled the truck over and cut the engine. “Sounds like
a baby crying,” he said angrily.
“Who would take a baby out on a night like this?” Blair asked. Jim inched the
window down to listen better. “Block out all the street noises, concentrate. You
know the drill,” Blair said as he placed one hand on Jim’s leg. Jim cocked his
head as he focused on the sounds.
“Not crying, more like whimpering, and Chief...”
“Yeah?”
“I smell blood,” Jim said ominously. The partners carefully got out of the
truck. Fortunately for them, there wasn’t too much traffic on the road.
Blair kept an eye out while Jim sniffed the frigid air and searched the icy
ground. “Here,” he said as he gently pawed the ground. Jim lifted his hand to
just under his nose. “Not human,” he muttered.
Jim had way too much experience as a police officer and as an Army Ranger. He
didn’t need his “special” abilities to know the smell of human blood.
“Canine,” Jim said then seemed to focus on a trail that only he could see. Blair
followed close to make sure his Sentinel didn’t get hit by a car. It was a
downside to a Sentinel’s abilities, they could become so focused on one task
almost to the exclusion of all others. It was the job of the Guide to keep the
Sentinel out of trouble. To Jim and Blair, it was their unique partnership, to
keep each other out of trouble, but sometimes it didn’t work.
“Here,” Jim pointed to the storm drain. An icy trickle of water was steadily
flowing into it. “Down there, I can see them, a mom and her pups. Looks like one
of them cut its paw and may have tumbled down.”
“It’s very slick, he may have crashed into the others when he fell and they all
went in,” Blair surmised.
“And then mom went in after them,” Jim added.
“She didn’t want to leave her babies,” Blair said with emotion, getting a
pointed look from Jim. “Right, rescue now, sentimental wishy wash later. So what
do we do, O Great Sentinel of Mine. No city crew is going to come out here on
Christmas Eve to crawl around a sewer to rescue strays.”
“Yeah, I know,” Jim agreed as he searched the surrounding area. “Call it in
anyway, maybe we’ll get lucky and a dog lover will answer the phone. Then let’s
move the truck. We can put on the flashers and used the headlights to see
better,” Jim explained although Blair knew Jim didn’t need the lights. But it
was safer to position the truck with the police lights flashing.
The partners made quick work of moving the truck and of making a little nest of
old towels in the bed of the truck to receive the injured and possibly
hypothermic puppies.
“I still don’t know how we’re supposed to get the dogs out of the sewer,” Blair
said as he contemplated the space between the curb and the sewer grate. Jim
stared at Blair. “Oh no! I am not crawling down a smelly frozen sewer. I might
catch something!”
“What’s there to catch besides puppies? It’s too frozen for germs,” Jim
explained. “And besides, listen to that.” Sensing that rescue may be at hand,
the puppies whimpered louder and momma dog yapped up at the humans. The clincher
was the puppy dogs eyes one James Joseph Ellison turned onto Blair.
“Shit! But I swear, Jim, you owe me a weekend in a nice hot spa somewhere, and a
massage with hot rocks, hot oils and lots of hot...”
“Men?”
“Towels,” Blair growled as he took off his scarf and a few layers so that he
could fit better into the storm drain. He slithered through feet first then
dropped to the bottom, landing with a splash in the icy water.
“Yuck, it stinks! You can’t smell that?” came the disembodied voice.
“I dialed down smell a long time ago, Chief,” Jim snickered.
“Yeah, very funny. Ha. Ha. Keep your day job, Shecky. I wish I had more light,”
Blair mumbled.
“Heads up,” Jim called out as he tossed down a small flashlight.
“Got it,” Blair called back. “Hey, girl,” Blair said gently to the feral dog.
“It’s okay, I’m not gonna hurt you. You gonna let me see your babies? They’re
very pretty,” Blair cooed at the dogs. “They’re okay but they won’t be for long
if we don’t get them out of here. And it sounds like a train’s coming.”
“Maybe there’s an obstruction up higher in the line that’s breaking through. We
gotta work fast,” Jim said as he focused his hearing on the noise. He could hear
the sound of rushing water getting closer. “Blair, we gotta get them outta there
now.”
“How? I can’t reach...you,” Blair trailed off when he saw the end of his scarf
waggle in front of him. “My scarf. You’re making a rescue sling out of my
scarf?”
“Rescue now, yell at me later. The water’s getting close.”
Blair had little trouble with the puppies. The injured one yipped a few times as
Blair secured his ‘scarf’ around the little guy and then told Jim to haul the
pup up. Momma dog was reluctant even though she was very cold. She was more
frightened of the humans than anything else. But as soon she heard her babies
whimper and whine, she allowed Blair to wrap the scarf around her and up she
went. Once Jim got the dogs situated in the bed of his truck, he turned his
attentions on Blair.
“Come on, buddy, grab the end,” Jim commanded.
“It won’t hold me.”
“Sure it will.” Jim had tied one end to the truck’s bumper just in case. “Tie it
around you now, hurry, chief,” Jim said fretfully. Blair almost had it tied but
his frozen hands wouldn’t let him tighten the knot.
“Jim!” Blair screamed as a wave of icy water and debris took him.
“Blair!” Jim shouted.
With almost superhuman speed and strength, Jim grabbed the sewer grate and
yanked it up. He jumped down fast enough to see the wave drag Blair along. Jim
felt the frozen wave carry him toward Blair. He reached out to grab his partner
in all things to him, as they both were slammed into the wall of the tunnel.
“Blair,” Jim whispered as Jim heard Blair’s heartbeat fade away.
*****
“Any news?” Joel Taggert, ex-Captain of the bomb squad and now a detective in
Major Crimes, asked his friend and boss.
“No,” Simon said as he shook his head. “It was only luck that anyone knew where
to look for them. Thank God they had the sense to radio in their position before
attempting their foolhardy stunt. I swear, Joel, if they pull through...”
“When they pull through. They’ve gotten out of worse. As long as they’re
together, they’ll pull through,” Joel said reassuring Simon as well as himself.
The rest of Major Crimes nodded and murmured their agreement.
“I just wish someone would tell us something,” Simon growled as he chopped on
the end of his unlit cigar.
“Captain Banks?” A tired looking doctor in scrubs came out of the emergency ward
and into the waiting room.
“Yes,” Simon's deep baritone voice boomed through the room. “I’m Captain Banks.”
Simon loomed his 6 foot 4" frame over the doctor who had to step back to see
Simon’s face.
“Sir, do they have family?” the doctor asked. All of Major Crimes gasped.
“No! No, I didn’t mean it that way.” Everyone let out a
breath as the doctor scrubbed his weary eyes. “I meant, whom should we notify
about their condition?”
“Us,” Simon said. “We’re their family. Detective Ellison does have a father and
brother but they’re both out of the country and won’t be back until after the
holidays. We’ve already called their hotels and we’re waiting for a response.
Sandburg’s mother... Does anyone know where Naomi is?” Simon asked the room.
“India, on some retreat,” Rafe said.
“We’re calling all her usual contacts but who knows when she’ll get the
messages,” H Brown told his captain.
“It’s us,” Simon informed the doctor. “What’s wrong with them? Will they
recover?” Simon choked out.
“Frankly, I don’t know. We have them stable. Detective Sandburg may have a minor
concussion and a little frost nip. Detective Ellison, physically he’s fine, but
he doesn’t seem to want to come around. We have them hooked up to a plain saline
drip for now. From what was reported to us, they were found almost immediately
so their exposure to anything in the sewer was minimal. We’ll check for any
possible infection. We’ve removed their soaked clothes and have them wrapped up
in warmed blankets. We’re about to send them both to CT Scan but before we do,
is there something more about them that I should know about?”
“You have their records,” Joel said.
“Yes but sometimes what I’m looking for can’t be found in an official record.”
The doctor gave the detectives of Major Crimes a poignant look.
“Can we see them?” Joel asked.
“Sure, but only for a few minutes. Maybe your presence will help. Oh, and one
last question before I bring you in.”
“What is it, doctor?” Simon growled with impatience. He wanted, needed to see
his men - and now.
“Do you know what would make them twitch?”
“Twitch?” H asked. The doctor turned toward the man.
“Yes. Twitch; their hands appear to twitch periodically. We can’t account for
it. Their blood tests came back clean, no drugs, therapeutic or otherwise.” The
detectives all shook their heads except for Joel. He and Simon followed the
doctor into the exam room.
“Jim, come on buddy, talk to me,” Simon pleaded as he looked down on his still
friend.
“Blair, son, open your eyes,” Joel begged as he stood at the side of Blair’s
stretcher.
The doctor stood out of the way to observe.
“Look, there it is again!” Joel and Simon looked down to see Blair’s right hand
slowly flex open and closed while Jim’s left hand did the same. A couple of
time, Jim seemed to reach out for something. “Maybe he’s reliving the accident,”
the doctor pondered.
“Or, maybe...” Joel began then looked at Simon. He and Simon nodded then
simultaneously unlocked the wheel brakes on each stretcher and pushed the
stretchers together.
“What are you...?” the doctor started to complain but stopped when he saw that
as soon as Jim and Blair were close enough to touch, their hands found each
other and laced together. Both men relaxed into a more natural sleep, the
pinging of their regular heartbeats as evidence.
“Well I’ll be damned,” the doctor murmured.
“They’re partners, doctor, more than that, they are very special men who have
been to hell and back for each other. They need each other and should never be
separated,” Simon explained gently.
“We’ll keep them together,” the doctor assured them as he adjusted the IV poles
and monitors. “I’ll make sure they’re not disturbed for a while. The CT scan and
other tests can wait. Why don’t we let them rest,” the doctor suggested. Joel
and Simon took the hint.
“We’ll be back in the morning,” Simon said to Jim.
“Sleep well, son,” Joel said to Blair as he gently pushed a lock of curls off of
Blair’s face.
Satisfied that their men were on the road to recovery, Simon and Joel turned to
leave. A sudden flash of light had all three men scurry back to Jim and Blair’s
side.
“What was that?” the doctor asked, as he checked all the electrical equipment
looking for a possible short that could harm his patients.
*****
“Where are we?” Blair asked as he looked around. Jim groaned.
“Blue tinted world,” Jim whined.
“Really?! Cool!” Blair said with glee. “Uh, Jim, is this where, we, um, merged,
for lack of a better term?”
“Yes,” Jim said as he looked around. The blue tinted world reminded Jim of the
jungles of Peru except everything was...blue. Their spirit guides, the wolf and
panther had merged together when Jim brought Blair back from the dead.
“Are we dead?” Blair asked in a whisper, suddenly worried.
“I don’t think so, I think I can hear Joel and Simon talking, and I feel warm. I
don’t think I’d feel anything if I was dead,” Jim said with a shrug.
“Sounds good to me. So why are we here?”
“Beats the hell outta me, Chief. The last thing I knew was... I saw you swept
away by the water, I jumped in after you and...”
“You saved me,” Blair said gently. “Like the last time,” he said as he turned
toward his lover and gently caressed Jim’s face. “If this is eternity then I can
stand it as long as I’m with you,” Blair said as he reached up to kiss Jim’s
lips.
Jim drew the smaller man to him as their kiss deepened and in a flash they were
back to the real world.
“Blair,” Jim whispered.
“Jim,” Blair coughed.
“They’re waking up,” Simon cried out. Joel wiped his eyes and then mumbled
something about letting everyone know as he slipped out of the exam room.
“Captain, let us help them now,” the doctor said as nurses and other techs
descended upon the small room. Simon nodded, took one last look at his men then
went out to the waiting room.
*****
“Mmmm,” Blair mewled with delight as a masseuse with strong hands massaged his
back. “Oh yeah,” he groaned as all the kinks in his back were pounded away.
The partners spent most of the holidays in the hospital and recuperating at
home. When they were cleared by the doctor, Simon insisted they use up some of
their long overdue vacation time. Jim took Blair away to that spa.
Momma dog and her pups recovered and when they were ready, were adopted by
several police officers.
“You okay over there, chief?” Jim asked with amusement as his own masseuse
languidly massaged the hard muscles of Jim’s back. Jim relished in the tactile
sensation. He felt himself begin to float away to a zone-out.
“Stay with me, big guy,” Blair said using his Guide voice to bring Jim back to
the here and now. He reached out from his table to take Jim’s hand. They laced
their fingers together; Jim’s head immediately began to clear.
“Always, Chief,” Jim said as he gave Blair’s hand a little squeeze. “Always.”
-end-
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