Title: Once upon a time....

By PEJA

Fandom: the Sentinel

Pairing: Blair/OMC

Rating:

Summary: The end of a child sexual abuse case reveals a secret past

Disclaimer: Not mine. Petfly didn’t give them the tender loving they deserved so I brought them home when they got the boot.

Warning: this deals with sexual perversion but doesn’t go graphic, just a glimpse into the hell

Feedback: well, I should think so

Archive: The WWOMB

The end of a bad day that had been born out of a week from hell on campus, Blair sprawled out on the sofa, his head lolling on the back, drifting between healing slumber and the desire to stay awake long enough to see Jim made it home safe from the raid on a case. He always slept better just knowing that Jim was upstairs, safe after another day of being on the frontlines and he really needed to know that all was well at home with the University coming at him from all directions

The soft click of the door closing, followed by locks being set brought a gentle curve to his lips and he snuggled down, settling deeper into the void that was approaching sleep.

"Blair?" Jim’s tired voice beckoned him back.

He opened an eye a slit. "Sleepin’...."

"Blair, need to talk here." Jim pressed sitting on the low table before his roommate and friend.

The distressed tones drew Blair fully awake and he straightened himself, running a worried glance over Jim’s troubled face. "What’s wrong? Is it one of the guys? Was someone hurt in the arrest?"

Jim’s lips curled in a grim smile. "No. Nothing like that." He paused, tapping at a book in his lap. A photo album. "Blair, do you know a man by the name of Robert Judson?"

Blair shook his head, responding with certainty. "Nah, never heard of ..."

"It would have been a long time ago, Chief. Think hard. Back when you were around nine, ten?"

A nervous shudder traced down Blair’s spine. "Jeeze, Jim, that was a long time ago. Mom and .....we traveled around a lot. Met a lot of people then pushed on. You know how Naomi is."

"Come on, Blair, think about it a second. Robert Judson, You might have called him Bob or Bobby?"

Blair shrugged, shaking his head. "No, Jim. I don’t remember, okay? What’s this all about anyway?"

Sighing, Jim’s eyes dropped to the photo album he held in his hands. "Blair, I want you to look at something."

Blair’s gaze traced the path Jim’s had taken and a sudden, stronger chill took him. He wrapped his arms around his waist, forcing a laugh. "Isn’t it a little late to be going over the family photo clips, Jim?"

"Blair, please...."

Blair shook his head, staring at the album with a growing sense of dread. "Look, why don’t we make a plan to get together tomorrow night and I’ll look at baby Ellison all night long if you want, okay."

"Need to look now, Blair." Jim insisted, flopping the album open to the first page and slipping it into Blair’s trembling hands. "Just look at this, would you?"

Blair stared ahead, into Jim’s eyes, more afraid of anything he’d ever had to face before in his life. Terrified and confused by the eerie sensation of doom that was closing around him. "Jim.....What....?"

"Blair, it’s important. Look at the pictures."

Swallowing hard, Blair cast his gaze into the book on his lap.

The first was a headshot of a boy who had to have been around nine or ten. His huge blue eyes reflected fear and confusion. The second picture angled out, showing him in the act of slipping out of his shirt. His long russet curls a dark halo around his face and shoulders. The third picture included another. A man in his early twenties....With his hands on the snap holding the boy’s jeans up.

Blair flung the book away unable to look past that picture.

He lifted his head, staring accusingly at Jim. "Why are you showing me that...." His hands waved frantically. "That ....Jeeze, Jim, how could anyone do something like that to a kid?" He shoved his fingers through his curls, raking them back harshly. "That poor kid. Jim, can you imagine what that sort of thing can do to a kid?"

Jim nodded, staring hard at his quaking roommate. "Yes, Blair. Yes, I can." He laid a hand on Blair’s arm. "Want to talk about Judson, now?"

Blair’s mouth dropped open for a long moment while he processed the question. "What? I don’t know any Judson. Why should I....?" Realization flooded him than and he shook his head. "You think that kid was me? You think...? My God, man, I admit there is a passing resemblance, but...."

Jim grabbed up the album from where it had fallen and flipped it over to the front cover.

Blair’s words ran out as he stared at the name emblazoned in gold. His name.

"No."

"Blair, I understand you not wanting to talk about this, but..."

"It wasn’t me." Blair bolted from his seat, arms waving, back-peddling away. "It wasn’t me, Jim."

"Blair..."

"Shut up." Blair raged, pointing at Jim with a shaking hand. "Don’t say it, damn you. Don’t. That kid was not me. Do you hear me? It wasn’t me." He bolted, then, slamming himself into the small room he called his own.

Stunned, Jim stared by the other man’s reaction. It was almost like....

Ah Jesus, Blair was acting like he had no memory of the molestation. He’d blocked out the traumatic event. Throwing the album up in is face had to have come as quite a shock.

End chapter 1