Title:  Chasing Blair

Author:  Angelee

Fandom:  The Sentinel

Pairing:  Jim/Blair

Rating:  Adult

Summary:  Blair runs, Jim gives chase.

Note:  This story came about when I was reading a book I wasn’t particularly thrilled with called The Tricon Rituals.  It had it good bits, but it was really hard to finish.  Well, anyway, there’s a part in it where two guys chase after their mate.  Two guys, one girl. Yup, I have unusual taste in books.  The muses decided they wanted to see what Blair’s reaction to a similar situation would be.  In this story only Jim would be chasing him. So, here you go…

 

Chasing Blair

 

“You can’t do this!”

 

“We can.  We will.  We have.”

 

The curly haired, blue eyed man standing on the other side of the desk stared at the three men sitting across from him, calmly looking back at him.

 

“Y…you can’t,” he whispered in horror.

 

“We just did.  The Sentinel you will be paired with is on his way here,” the man who’s name Blair had come to know as Simon Banks said.

 

“This is inhuman.  I’m not a fox on a hunt.  You can’t do this.  Please don’t do this,” Blair pleaded.  “I have a life.  I’m in college.  I’m going to be married in the spring to the girl of my dreams, Maya.  You can’t take my life and just shred it to pieces.”

 

“That was your life, before you hid the fact that you were a Guide.”

 

“I didn’t know.  I swear I didn’t know.”

 

The man next to Simon Banks spoke for the first time.  “How could you not know?  You’re twenty four.  The signs that you are a Guide manifested at six.”

 

“I was abroad at the time.  My mother and I were in Peru.”

 

“Are you blaming your mother,” the man said angrily, “for your blatant disregard for the law?” 

 

Simon broke in.  “Taggart, please.  That doesn’t matter.  The fact is that you are a Guide.  Guides are rare.  So rare, it overrules all else.  Your life before doesn’t matter.  Your college degree doesn’t matter.  The fact that you were to be married doesn’t matter.  All that matters is that you are a Guide to a Sentinel that has just gone online.  The tests done on you show that you are his Guide.  Without you, he will die.  Slowly, agonizingly slow.”

 

“Then why have him chase me all over the Cascade mountains?  I won’t fight the fact that I’m a Guide.  Or the fact that he needs me.  I’m not that heartless and cruel, unlike some people I know who will remain nameless, but are sitting in front of me.  Seems I don’t really have much choice in the matter, in any case,” Blair said, resigned to what was now his fate

 

The man to Simon Banks left spoke.  “It’s part of the bonding ritual.  The longer you have him chase you, the deeper the bond.  The stronger it is.  All his senses are honed on finding you and only you, till he could find you in a crowd of millions.  It will stabilize him, as well.”

 

Simon nodded.  “What Rafe says is true.  This is going to be your life from now on.  We’re sorry about all that you’ve lost, but it can’t be helped.  Jim is the last of the Sentinel race.  There are no more.  At least until the next generation is born.  It’ll take years before they’re ready to take their place as the Watchmen and women in our society.  It is crucial that Jim survive and have a strong bond with his Guide.”

 

Blair sighed softly, his blue eyes filling with tears as he thought of Maya and his life before.  No picket fences or 2.1 kids for him.  Maybe not even a dog, or a hamster.  Not even a tiny little goldfish…

 

He started out of his thoughts as the door to the room opened.  His eyes widened as he got his first look at the man who was to be his Sentinel.    ‘I’m so dead.  He could break me in half if he wanted to.  But ‘wow’ he sure is pretty.’ 

 

He was tall, really tall and broad shouldered and so well muscled the black and white flannel shirt he wore did nothing to conceal it. It was his eyes, though, that drew Blair’s attention.  Blue as sapphires and cold as ice.  Yet…Blaire frowned.  Behind the coldness of the eyes lay something Blair couldn’t quite put his finger on.

 

When those eyes looked over at him, Blair watched as they dilated until they were almost totally black, with only a slight ring of blue around them.  Was it his imagination, or was the Sentinel sniffing the air?

 

“Jim, this is Blair Sandburg.  He’s your Guide,” Simon told him softly.

 

“I know,” The Sentinel replied, huskily, as if he hadn’t used his voice in some time.

 

Blair’s eyes widened in fear as Jim stalked toward him like a hungry panther.  He backed away slowly.

 

It didn’t seem to do any good, as the Sentinel just continued to follow until he had him pinned against the far wall.

 

Blair swallowed heavily as a big, very big body pushed up against him. He cringed.  “Don’t hurt me.  I’m just a college student who wouldn’t hurt a fly,” he whispered as Jim stared down at him curiously.  “I’m a good boy.  My mommy always said.  I am so a good boy.”

 

Jim gave a small chuckle, moving his body closer to the smaller one.  “I’m not going to hurt you, Blair,” he replied. “Look at me.” Blair did as the Sentinel requested, meeting the heavily dilated eyes.  “I need you.  I need you to be my Guide,” he whispered softly. “Can you?  More to the point, will you?  I won’t have someone that important in my life who’s reluctant.” 

 

Blair felt the tremors that wracked the big body next to him.  Unable to stop himself, his hands lifted and he pulled Jim closer, running his hands up and down a broad back, feeling how the muscles rippled.

 

“I’m not reluctant.  At least not ‘too’ reluctant,” he amended at Jim’s soft snort of disbelief.  “I don’t want you to die.  I could never be that cruel.”

 

“That’s not a good enough reason to give up your life, everything you know for a complete stranger.”

 

Blair smiled up at him gently.  “It doesn’t feel like you’re a stranger.  For some reason it feels like I’ve know you for a long, long time.”

 

“Oh?”

 

“Yup, maybe we knew each other in another life,” Blair shrugged.  “All I know is that neither of us has much choice in this.  And to be truthful, I don’t really mind.”

 

“Why is that?”

 

Blair smile grew mischievous.  “Because you’re hot.”  He watched in fascination as the Sentinel blushed a bright red.  “Really hot.”  He added, watching the tint of color deepen.

 

“T…thank you, I guess.  Are you sure about this?  Be sure, Blair.  Once you’re committed to me, I don’t think I’ll be able to let you go.”

 

Blair ran his hands over Jim’s back, feeling the tremors that shook the very large frame.  “I don’t want to be let go.  I’m fine.  Really.”

 

“You’re life…”

 

“It would have been nice, but I think it wouldn’t compare to what I could have with you.  I love Maya.  I probably always will.  You need me in a way she never could.  I can’t, won’t turn my back on that.”

 

Blair watched as the dilated eyes filled with tears.  “Thank you, Blair,” Jim managed to get out, around the big lump in his throat.  “You’ll never know how much this means to me.”

 

“Don’t thank me yet, big guy.  You still gotta catch me and I don’t intend to make it easy,” Blair told him cheekily.

 

Jim gently pushed locks of soft curly hair away from Blair’s pale face.”  Oh?”

 

Blair sighed softly, liking the way those big hands felt on his skin.  Warm and slightly callused.  “Hmm, hmm.  I’m going to do a Rambo on you of the likes no one has seen before.”

 

“You’re going to go Rambo on me?”

 

“Yup.  I’m going to out Rambo, Rambo.”

 

“I’m a Sentinel.  I can track you through, rain, sleet, snow.”

 

Blair smiled up at him.  “You sound like the Post Office motto.”

 

“That may be, but there’s no way you can hide from me,”  Jim replied, burying his face in Blair’s curly hair, making sure his clean, fresh scent was so deep in his subconscious, he’d be able to track his Guide in is sleep. “Not now.”

 

“Hmm, that feels nice.  You do know that I’m straight, right?”

 

Jim sniffed again.  “You were straight.  Not anymore.”

 

“Oh?  You think I’ll fall before you many manly charms, do you?”

 

“I know so.”

 

Blair pulled away slightly, looking up at the Sentinel.  “That’s just so wrong.”  He said in annoyance.

 

Jim pulled him back.  Blair smelled so good.  “What?”  he asked distractedly, nuzzling a soft neck.

 

Blair closed his eyes.  “Oooh, that feels so good.  T…that.  That….What was the question?”

 

Jim chuckled softly, sending a wave of warm, moist air across Blair’s sensitive skin.  “Something about something being wrong.”

 

“Oh, yeah.  I was going to be married, you know.  So I’m immune to your manly charms.  As beautiful as you may be.”

 

Jim pulled away slightly, cupping Blair’s face in his hands.  “I’m sorry, Blair.”

 

“For what?”  the curly haired man asked, softly.

 

“For ruining your life.”

 

Blair’s hands came up to gently stroke Jim’s face.  “Don’t be.  That was BJ and this is WJ.”

 

Blair’s hand was so soft.  It felt so good against his heated flesh.  “BJ?  WJ?”

 

“Before Jim.  With Jim.”

 

“Oh.”

 

“I can’t say that I won’t miss it.  At least for awhile.  But we-you and I-have the potential of being so much more.  A hell of a lot more.  Who needs a white picket fence anyway?  I don’t.  But you know what?”

 

Jim was just about to bury his face in Blair’s hair once again.  He stopped to look at his Guide.  “What?”  he asked curiously.

 

Blair gave him a brilliant smile, shoving him away as he did so.  “You gotta catch me first.”  What that, he lit out of the small room as if the very devil himself was after him, waving to the three men avidly watching them, and one very stunned Sentinel, grabbing his backpack and the survival kit conveniently placed there.

 

“Jim?”

 

The Sentinel continued to look out the open door his Guide has just run through. 

 

“Yeah?”

 

“Aren’t you going to go after him?”

 

The Sentinel shook his head as if trying to clear it.  “I probably should, huh?”

 

“I think that would be a very good idea,” Simon told him, reaching in his pocket for a cigar.

 

Jim tool off after his Guide, moving really well for someone so big, grabbing his survival kit as well. Simon turned to Taggart, then Rafe.  “This is going to be really interesting,” he said, biting into the end of the cigar.

 

The other two nodded silently.

 

***

 

“Okay, this is day four that Jim hasn’t caught me.  Oooh, aren’t I smart?”  Blair told himself with no small amount of pride.

 

He’d done it all. Out Rambo’d Rambo. He’d rubbed mud all over himself to hide his scent.  Hid in a mountain stream.  Good thing it was the middle of summer or he would have frozen his gonads. Eaten from the land.  He drew the line at eating raw fish or wild boar. He grimaced in distaste.  Vegetarian was the way to go, at least for right now.  He wouldn’t say no to a pepperoni pizza, through.  But he didn’t think Dominos or Pizza Hut would make deliveries into the Cascade Mountains, no matter how much he promised to tip them. 

 

He’d found himself a nice little cave in back of a waterfall, knowing Jim would never be able to track him in here.  Not with all the musty, earthy smells, not to mention the waterfall.  He had stayed inside, only going out to replenish his food stock of nuts, berries and legumes.  He could live out here indefinitely. 

 

Well, until it got cold, he amended.  He hated the cold.

 

The cave had running water, so Blair hadn’t gone thirsty, or smelly, as he was bathing every day after a nice breakfast of blueberries and pine nuts.  Bathroom was toward the back of the cave where the water went out to be filtered by the rocks and sand.

 

Nights got kind of lonely for Blair and he’d taken to talking to Jim, telling him his life story.  All about his travels with his new age mother.  Everything he’d seen and done.  What he liked and disliked.  Everything from what toothpaste he preferred, to what books he’d read.

 

He wasn’t sure that Jim had heard him.  He hoped so, but also hoped that his voice didn’t lead his Sentinel too quickly to him.  Blair wanted a nice strong bond.  The strongest there could be, if that was possible.

 

Blair’s eyes would slowly close as he talked to his absent Sentinel, faintly wishing him a good night as he drifted off to sleep, never knowing that his Sentinel was avidly listening as he sat on a rock under a starlit sky, face tilted to the side as he listened to his Guide’s muffled voice.  He could hear Blair, but not clearly enough to find him. 

 

For now it was enough.  It eased the pain the Sentinel was in, though the need and hunger to be with his Guide was growing.   It would be unbearable soon. Yet, with each softly whispered word, Jim felt the bond growing stronger, increasing with each passing day and each passing night as Blair’s voice echoed softly through the trees, for him and him alone.  He’d get off the rock and head toward his sleeping bag.  As he made himself comfortable, he’d look up into the night sky, wishing his beautiful, feisty, inventive Guide a good night, before closing his own eyes, thoughts of holding Blair in his arms comforting him in the loneliness of his sleeping bag.

 

Two weeks later…

 

“I wish I had my rubber ducky,” Blair said as he bathed in the warm water in his cave.  “If I had known I was going to be playing hide and seek with the most beautiful Sentinel in the world, I would have packed it.”

 

“You truly think I’m beautiful?”

 

Blair turned so fast he splashed water all over the hovering Sentinel.  “J…Jim?”

 

“In the flesh.  You gave me a merry chase, Blair.”

 

“H…how did you find me?” 

 

Jim knelt by the small body of water.  “I tried using my senses, but they got me squat.”  He ran his fingers through the warm water, raising an appreciative eyebrow.  “Hmm, nice.  I was starting to get frustrated and angry that I couldn’t find you.  Then I thought to myself.  what would Blair do?’  being as he’s a resourceful fellow.  How would Blair hide?  Well, in plain sight, of course.”

 

“Of course,” Blair replied, nervously.  “You mad?”

 

“Why would I be mad?”

 

“Because it took you two weeks to find me.”

 

“No, Blair.  I’m not mad.”

 

The curly haired man watched, blue eyes widening in amazement as Jim rose and began removing his clothing.  “W…what are you doing?”

 

“I’m going to share your bathtub.  What does it look like?”

 

Blair blinked.  Oh, Goddess, but Jim was gorgeous.  His body was something out of a magazine, or maybe off the cover of an erotic novella.

“S…should you be doing that?”

 

Jim joined Blair in the warm water, watching as his Guide moved nervously.  “Why not?”

 

“I…um, I don’t really know.  Cause we don’t really know each other and we’re sharing a bath.”

 

Jim approached Blair carefully, noticing how skittish the curly haired man was.  “I know most everything there is to know about you, Chief.”

 

“H…How?”

 

Jim reached up and gently tugged on a wet curl.  “You told me silly.”

 

Blair frowned.  “I did?”

 

Jim nodded.  “Yeah, every night before you went to sleep.  You told me all about yourself.  I think I know things about you that your Mom doesn’t know.”

 

Blair tucked his chin into his chest, blushing.  “I didn’t think you’d hear me.”

 

“I heard you.  I heard you wishing me a ‘good night’ as well.  That meant a lot.  Especially since I couldn’t hold you the way I wanted.  The way I was meant too.”  Jim gathered the unresisting Guide into his arms.  “I’m sorry, Blair.” he said softly, sadly.  “So sorry.”

 

Blair looked up at him.  “Bout what?”  he asked curiously, absentmindedly.  Jim was naked in the water with him.  And Jim was really big, really warm and did Blair mention really big?

 

“Everything you had to give up.  Everything you lost because of me.”

 

Blair tentatively reached around Jim and pulled him close.  “I told you already, I don’t mind.  What I’m gaining is so much more.  So much better.  Did you really hear everything I said?”

 

Jim nodded.  “Every word.”

 

“That leaves me at a disadvantage.”

 

The Sentinel buried his face in Blair’s hair, sniffing deep.  “Hmm?”  It felt so good to finally have his Guide back in his arms again.  So good.  The ache had finally gone.  He felt whole, energized.  It was a feeling he’d never had in his whole life.  One he hoped to never have to do without, ever again.

 

“When do we have to report back to Sentinel headquarters?”

 

“When ever we show up.  Why?”

 

Blair rubbed his nose against pale soft skin.  “I want to know everything there is to know about my Sentinel.  And I mean everything.”

 

Jim pulled away slightly.  “Alright.”

 

Blair gave him a brilliant smile.  “Really?”

 

“You betcha.”

 

“Cool.”

 

Jim returned the smile.  “Yeah. Want to start now?”  he asked, pulling his Guide close one again.

 

“Sure.”

 

“Nice.  Here goes.  ‘Rubber Duckie, you're the one,
You make bath time lots of fun,
Rubber Duckie, I'm awfully fond of you; …”

 
Note:  Lyrics to Rubber Duckie courtesy of Ernie.