Title: Bound
Author/pseudonym: Kata Avalon
Pairing: Jim/Blair
Rating: PG-13, just to make sure
E-mail address for feedback:
catya0@yahoo.comSeries/Sequel: sequel to Together, part 2 of a snippet series
Other websites:
Disclaimers: They are not my invention, but I'm sure having fun with them
Notes: Second part of a snippet series in an AU universe. And it will stay a *snippet* series (now,
listen, bunny, who's writing this?! Don't even try it, Roger Rabbit, or I'll snip your ears!)
Summary: Life goes on
Warnings: Ummm.. AU, hints of rape?
Together 2: Bound
by Kata Avalon
Jim was lying on a soft towel, basking in the warm afternoon sun. He had his smell down because of the chlorine in the pool and the smoke from Maria's YSL cigarettes. Her only concession to the fashion conglomerates, or so she claimed. She was Blair's father's ´official` girlfriend and their partnership went a lot more smoothly than many marriages Jim had known. She wanted to be able to read and write all day without having to worry about such mundane matters as earning your paycheque and paying your bills. Blair's father wanted someone he could actually talk with and preferred to pay bookstore bills and donations to women's art centre. It did not hurt that she got along
fine with Blair.
Jim turned his hearing back to the meeting inside the villa. It was routine by now. Blair always told him to listen in when anything bigger was going on. Jim used Blair's voice to anchor him. He desperately needed it nowadays. His senses were more acute than ever, sometimes it felt like they were trying to take over. It was as if he was drowning and Blair was his only chance of staying above water.
Water. Sometimes he felt like water himself. Or some similar reflecting material. He was reflecting Blair's wants. It was as if his guide was reshaping him, only he would not stay in one shape. He would change as needed. Sometimes he panicked over what would become of his self, his essence. Would that vanish or stay? That's usually when he would start shaking. Most of the people here had decided that he was nuts, Maria said he had the seeds of a poet. Maybe it would help if he tried to write something, put it in words and thus make it more real. Make himself more real.
The meeting was breaking up. Jim got up and walked over to a wooden table under an ancient eucalyptus tree. There was a laptop on the table. Blair had given it to him a month after the monastery. Jim toyed with the idea of contacting some of his friends from his old life every time he powered it up. He never did.
Jim surfed the Cascade sites he had bookmarked. The first time he had done it, he found articles of his and Blair's murders. And of a gas explosion at the retreat Naomi had stayed at. 10 people had died in it. Blair had called it covering her tracks and redirecting attention. He thought of Naomi's actions as acceptable. Jim had shouted at his guide. He would never do it again.
´Police Captain Dead in Blaze of Glory`
*What?!*
Simon was dead. According to the article, there had been a raid to a drug lab and the chemicals had exploded. Three police officers were dead and 10 injured. Simon was one of the dead.
Jim felt . empty. It had been three months since his new life had begun and the loss of Simon felt like the death of his old life.
Blair. Jim looked up at the slim young man in linen slacks and a clean Save the rainforests t-shirt walking toward him. Blair had cut his hair short. With the haircut, a new wardrobe and a more arrogant attitude no-one from Cascade would have recognised him. Which was probably the point. And still he was Blair. His guide. Blair looked after him, Blair *noticed* him. And his guide could still talk for an hour about some obscure cultural tradition.
"What is it, Jim?"
Jim pointed at the screen. Blair sat down on the bench beside him and read the headline.
"The others will move on." Blair stated quietly.
Jim nodded. Blair was right. He had never acknowledged it consciously, but Major Crimes was Simon's department. Now that he was gone the others would get a promotion, transfer, move away. It was an end. End of a group of friends, end of Jim's hopes of something outside of Blair.
"Would you like to send flowers to the funeral?"
Jim looked at Blair, surprised at the suggestion.
Blair smiled gently at his sentinel. "We can send them anonymously. Simon was pretty well known and liked. No-one will think twice of it."
Jim nodded. He liked the thought.
**
Blair watched his sentinel swimming in the pool. The sun was setting. He liked this time of day. The harsh warmth of day had softened and calmness seemed to envelop everything.
He stretched, still watching Jim. His sentinel was calmer nowadays. Everything had settled down, including the two of them. They were content in their roles.
He looked at the graceful way Jim moved. Jim spent a lot of time in the gym and pool, and it showed. He had even agreed to yoga lessons to improve his flexibility.
Everyone thought they were lovers. In a way they were, but it was more than that. Though only a couple people
besides Naomi knew about the sentinel side of it. Not even his father was aware of Jim's abilities. Blair was determined to keep it that way. It gave him an edge, and kept Jim safer.
His sentinel's senses were sharper than ever, more highly tuned. Blair had been right. This was how it was supposed to be.
Blair thought of a message from Kelso that he had received yesterday. A potential female sentinel had showed up in Cascade. To take over Jim's old territory? Blair had sent Naomi to catch her.
*Sentinels are too wondrous to let them run wild. Or die out.*
"Blair? You okay?"
"Hmm? Sure, just thinking. How about we check the satellite channels for some basketball? I feel like snuggling in front of TV for a while."
"Sounds good."
***
END PART 2
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