Title: A Knowing Touch
Author: Angelee
Fandom: The Sentinel
Rating: Adult
Summary: Sometimes all it takes is a knowing touch.
Beta: By Bobbie. With much thanks. All remaining errors are my-with apologies
A Knowing Touch
“How long has he been like that?”
Simon turned to Blair, the world’s most renowned expert on Sentinels. Truth be told, the world’s only expert on Sentinels.
“Since going on line a week ago.”
Blair winced when he saw the Sentinel hurl himself against the observation glass. “Ow! That had to hurt.”
Simon bit down on his cigar viciously. “Yeah. He should be black and blue all over by now.”
“He hears every word we’re saying and it’s driving him nuts. Hell, I wouldn’t doubt it if he was hearing everything for miles around. I’m surprised the backlash hasn’t made him deaf yet,” Blair said, placing a hand against the glass, where the Sentinel rested his head, panting violently. “Why did you wait so long to call me in?” He smiled gently as Jim Ellison, newly turned Sentinel, seemed to move his face as if seeking the warmth of his hand. Blair didn’t doubt he could feel even the heat through a thick pane of glass.
“We wanted to see if he would bond with any of the Guides in the registry.”
“And?”
“No go. All Jim does is growl at them.” Simon sighed as he watched the strange behavior of the Sentinel, who was now calmer than he’d been since they’d brought him to the center. “It’s as if he’s waiting for something, or someone.”
“More than likely he is. How long has it been since he’s eaten and showered?”
“Not since he’s been here. We’ve tried encouraging him to eat and drink, but he’ll only take a little water. Nothing else. Showering is out of the question, unless we hose him down.”
“Not to a Sentinel.”
“Not ever to a Sentinel. If we could get him to bond….”
Blair moved his hand across the glass, watching as Jim followed. Sentinels were rare accounting for only one in two billion people. So rare were they that once it was realized that a Sentinel was coming on line, they were rushed to the Sentinel/Guide center and bonded before their sensitized senses could drive them mad with the overload.
It didn’t matter where on the planet they were. There were planes and people ready and waiting to go to their aid, able to get into the remotest places with a skill honed by years of training. The entire planet’s people were implanted with a device just under their skin at birth. It was activated by a spike in hormones set off when a Sentinel’s senses came on line. Most time the teams reached them within hours.
Jim had been different.
He was in the jungles of
They’d brought him into the center unconscious. It took the doctors trained in Sentinel medicine two hours to stabilize him. Many times during that time they’d thought they were going to lose one of humanities greatest and rarest treasures.
Blair had read the file on Jim Ellison on his way in from
deep in
Now he watched the worn, disheveled Sentinel as he continued to follow his hand across the glass; watched as Jim lifted his head and he got his first glimpse of sky blue eyes filled with pain and overwhelming need.
“He needs to bond,” Blair said softly.
“We’ve tried. He refuses every Guide we offer, almost to the point of becoming violent. He hasn’t hurt any of the Guides yet, but it’s been close.”
“He won’t make it, if this keeps up.”
Simon sighed again. “I know. We’ve tried everything. I don’t know what else to do.”
Blair met the quietly watching blue eyes with his own, unsure if Jim saw him or not. “We need to get you straightened out, big guy, or you’re going to die.”
The Sentinel’s head tilted to the side as if listening, startling both Blair and Simon by placing one of his hands in the same exact spot where Blair had placed his on the other side of the window.
“Blair…”
The curly haired man spread his fingers, watching in fascination as the Sentinel did the same.
“I know, Simon. I know. I never thought…”
“What’s going on, Blair?”
“Something I never thought would happen to me. A dream come true.”
Before Simon could ask anything else, Blair was out of the observation room and heading toward the room that contained Jim. Flinging the door open, he went in.
“Jim?” The Sentinel was waiting for him just off to the side of the door. “Am I for you?” Blair asked softly. “Is that why you waited? Were you waiting for me?”
The Sentinel didn’t answer. Instead he went to where Blair stood and carefully laid his head against the curly haired man’s chest. Right over his heart.
Blair raised his hand and gently caressed Jim’s head, not caring that the Sentinel’s hair was matted and oily. He chuckled quietly. “I guess so.”
For long, silent moments, nothing was said. The room was quiet as the Sentinel righted his world by listening to the steady beating of his Guide’s heart.
Blair continued to stroke his Sentinel’s head, adding his free hand as he rubbed Jim’s back, soothingly.
“I never thought to ever have a Sentinel. Wishful fantasy was all I thought I was doomed to ever have,” Blair’s voice broke. “Sentinel’s were for other people, not for someone like me. A bookworm, a scholar, a new age, hippy neo punk. People like me don’t get fantasies made real. Not ever.”
Jim looked up at him, staring into his eyes intently as if questioning the rightness of Blair’s mind, before his head went back toward its resting place.
Blair chuckled at the look. “I guess I was wrong. Even people like me get dreams made real.” He took a deep, fortifying breath. “Okay, now on to reality. We need to get some food in you and you need a bath really bad.” Jim growled softly. “I know, but you’re ripe, my friend. I hate to tell you, but you’re making my eyes water. Let’s order you some food and while we wait for it to come, we give you a bath. What do you say?” That earned him another growl. “I know, you don’t want one. You’d rather listen to my heart. I’ll let you, but right now, you seriously reek. Let’s go get you a nice warm bath, okay?”
Blair pulled away slightly, gauging how his Sentinel would react to it. Jim didn’t like it, not one little bit. His eyebrows drew together in annoyance and his growls were gaining strength.
“I know. I know,” Blair soothed as lead the agitated Sentinel toward one of the many chambers that contained a bed, a bathroom and a small table. They could be considered small apartments - if you were an ant, Blair thought to himself, as he opened the first free one he came across.
Simon peeked his head out from the observation room. “Blair, what the hell is going on?”
“I have me a Sentinel, Simon. That’s what’s going on.”
Simon’s eyebrows went up. “He was waiting for you?”
“Apparently so.”
“That explains a lot.”
A gentle touch to Jim’s face soothed his agitation at this new intrusion keeping him from his Guide. “Shh, it’s all right. Simon’s not going to take me from you. Everything is going to be alright. Can you get Jim something to eat and drink? I’m going to give him a bath while we wait.”
Simon stayed at the observation door, knowing better than to approach a Sentinel who could easily become frantic and into shock, if threatened with losing their Guide. “Sure. Would you like something too, Blair?”
“That’d be nice.”
“I’ll get right on it.”
Blair tugged gently on the hand he held in his, leading the Sentinel toward the bathroom. “Come on, big guy. Let’s go into the bathroom, give you a bath, get some food in you and then we’ll lie on the bed and you can listen to my heart all you want.”
Jim watched Blair silently as the Guide began filling the bathtub with warm water. He watched without uttering a word as his stained and tattered uniform was removed and tossed on a chair.
A gentle hand urged him into the soothing water. He could only purr his contentment as the warmth from the water eased the ache in his body.
The same hand that had urged him into the tub cupped his cheek, gently stroking despite the beard stubble. “I want you to listen to me, big guy. Can you do that? Concentrate on my voice. Listen to nothing else, not even my heartbeat until I tell you its okay. Can you do that?” Jim nodded, earning a smile and a thumb across his lower lip. “Good. We need to get your senses under control, before we do anything else. The water from the tub will help to ease some of the strain your body’s been under. Help you concentrate. Ready? Okay, see a dial in your mind’s eye, or something that has an up and down button. See it? Good. Now let’s start with hearing. Right now it’s gotta be just about off the charts.”
Press or turn the dial the down, slowly. Listen to my voice, nothing else. Okay, keep pressing the dial, ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five. Stop there. Don’t go down further than five. You go any lower than that and it’ll send you into a coma. Besides you need to feel something, even though right now you probably don’t want to. Is it better? Waiting for Jim’s nod before continuing, he began again, “Now sight. Let’s do the same thing. Ready?” Another nod. “Okay. Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five and stop. That’s probably better than seeing how amebas mate, huh?” That earned him a tiny chuckle. “Now let’s go for smell. Ready? Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five and stop. Better? Now taste. Ready? Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five and stop. You’ll be able to eat now without wanting to cut out your taste buds with a sharp tool. One more. Touch. Ready? Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five and stop. Now I can bath that beautiful body of yours without you freaking on me.”
The Sentinel went totally limp in the warm water as everything snapped back to normal. Closing his eyes, he sighed heavily in relief. After a long, calming moment, he opened his eyes and stared at Blair in awe.
The curly haired man smiled at him. “Better?”
Jim nodded. “Yes.”
“Cool.”
“H…how did you know to do that?”
Blair picked up a washcloth conveniently laid out by the side of the bathtub and a bar of soap made just for sensitive Sentinel’s skin.
“Sometimes all it takes is a knowing touch. A Guide’s touch.”
Jim watched as Blair soaped up the wash cloth and began to gently rub his body clean. “You’re my Guide?”
“Seems so.”
“I guess that’s okay.”
Blair chuckled softly, rubbing the washcloth between Jim’s fingers. “You don’t sound too enthusiastic.”
“Oh, I am. Believe me, I am,” Jim replied fervently. “Especially after what you just did for me.”
“There’s still one more thing we need to do.”
“What?” Jim asked, as Blair soaped his arm.
Blair laid the soapy towel down. “One more thing we need to get back on line, and that’s here.” He replied, placing his hands in the middle of the Sentinel’s chest.
Jim looked at Blair’s hand curiously. “What’s there?”
“What makes a Sentinel a Sentinel. His heart and soul. What binds a Sentinel to his Guide. Feel it?”
Jim closed his eyes again, breathing calmly, gently, carefully, all his thoughts on the warm hand on his chest. It was as though he was feeling something there, asking for permission to enter. “Yes.”
“Open yourself to it. Allow me in.”
Jim sighed softly as he opened himself to the tender touch, feeling Blair sinking into him gently. Something in him sought it out happily, twining the two of them together for all time. Jim didn’t fight the binding. It was meant to be. He knew it with everything in him. It went on for some time, until Blair was so much a part of him that he could feel every breath, feel every beat of his heart, as if it were his own. He knew instinctively that Blair was feeling the same thing.
When he reopened his eyes, he looked at his new Guide in wonder. “Blair?”
The curly haired man reached out and gently caressed his cheek. “Yeah,” he replied softly.
“H…how?”
Blair smiled at his Sentinel, loving the way Jim pushed his face into his hands like a big cat. “Something I picked up while I was exploring the Cave of the Sentinels.” He wiggled his eyebrows. “Imagine what I could pick up if we ever find the Cave of the Guides.”
Jim gave him a brilliant smile, stunning Blair for a moment with its beauty. No one had ever smiled at him like that before. He sighed happily. He was home. At last he was home.
“I can just imagine.”
Blair returned the smile. “Hmm. Wanna finish your bath? Then we’ll get some food in you and then sleep.”
Jim nodded as his Guide reached for the Sentinel safe shampoo. Breathing deeply, he found himself enjoying the smell of fresh strawberries as Blair worked it into his hair.
“Sounds good. Blair?” The Guide looked at him curiously. “I….I….hmm, thank you.” Somehow it didn’t sound like it would be enough. Not for everything Blair had done for him, for everything he was going to do and be for him.
“My pleasure.”
“Really?”
Blair nodded. “Really. You made all my dreams come true. All of them.”
“I did?” Jim asked, murmuring softly as gentle fingers massaged his scalp.
“Yeah.”
The Sentinel met his Guides eyes. “Then I guess we both did good then, huh?”
“That we did, big guy. That we did.”