Title: Dark Approach
Author/pseudonym: Silk
Email address: silkn1@worldnet.att.net
Fandom: The Sentinel
Rating: NC-17
Pairing: Jim/Blair
Status: Complete
Date: 10/00
Category: First Times, Crossover with LFN, Drama
Disclaimer: All things LFN belong to WB, USA, Fireworks, and LFN Productions.
All things Sentinel belong to Paramount and Pet Fly. I don't own 'em. Wish I
did. I don't get paid for this either. Ditto.
Notes: Technically, this is a crossover with La Femme Nikita, but barely.
Michael Samuelle makes an appearance, but the story is 99 percent TS, and the
only pairing here is Jim and Blair.
Summary: Jim takes a secret meeting. Blair follows. What he discovers changes
everything between them.
Warnings: m/m, crossovers, angst
*****
Dark Approach
By ~Silk
Part 1
"Do you mean
it?"
"Do you mean
it?"
"Do you mean
it?"
"Why don't you mean
it?"
"Why do I follow
you and
Where do you go?"
--March of the Black
Queen by Queen
He'd been following him for
over an hour now. Jim showed no signs of tiring yet. He wanted to know where
Jim was headed. Just yesterday, Jim swore that he wasn't holding back anything.
Ha!
Then, this morning, he
took off for parts unknown. Alone. Without back-up. That would be him.
**Blair**. AKA: the Guide, the partner,
the best friend, the man hopelessly, desperately, and, lest he forget,
unrequitedly, in love with Jim.
Blair stopped for a
moment to catch his breath, noting Jim's superior staying power. God, what stamina.
Just like his animal spirit, the black jaguar. In fact, if Blair weren't
already so damn preoccupied with where Jim was going and why, he would be
happily trotting after him, admiring the view from the back. All those sinuous
muscles moving up and down in splendid unison. His back, his ass, his thighs.
Fuck, for a second
there, he was getting dangerously distracted. He needed to stay focused. If he
lost Jim, he might never get to the bottom of this.
The weird thing was, Jim
never out and out lied to him. He might omit certain details, ostensibly for
Blair's protection; he might even refuse to tell him something when directly
questioned. But he didn't lie.
Sigh. Was it only
yesterday that Jim said, "What? Chief? You think I'm not telling you something
here? We don't have any secrets, you and me."
Oh, yes, we do, Jim. The
biggest one is what's driving me to stalk you like a perp in search of a
victim. I love you. But if there's one thing I know you don't need to hear
right now, it's that.
Otherwise, we'd be on
the same side. Otherwise, you wouldn't be running away from me just as fast as
your feet can carry you.
Be careful not to stand
too long in one place, Jim. You might enter the Sandburg Zone. Blair huffed,
the gentle puff of air he exhaled catching an errant curl of dark auburn hair.
Christ, Jim, there are
easily three hundred thousand people living in this city, more than half of
them women. Some of them think I'm cute. Some of them even think I'm beautiful.
Why can't you look at me
that way, man? I'm not asking you to change your life drastically. I know you
love me like a friend, like a brother, like a partner. That's already a helluva
lot closer than some married couples. So why, Jim?
Blair's attention was
drawn by a tall, dark, charismatic man across the street. He seemed to be
waiting for something or someone. Dressed all in black, he blended perfectly
with the gathering afternoon shadows. His eyes covered by dark glass, it was
impossible to tell what color they were or to read the expression in them.
Perhaps that was for the
best.
Because Jim was headed
his way.
And the man inclined his
head in Jim's direction. A nod so nearly imperceptible that had Blair not been
looking for it, he would have missed it.
His heart in his mouth,
Blair watched as the scene played out, seemingly in slow motion. Jim and the
enigmatic stranger were on a collision course. Suddenly the man smiled, and the
way he wore that smile told Blair that smiles were a rare and precious
commodity in his world.
Jim greeted the man like
a long lost lover. All at once Blair couldn't catch his breath. He felt like
he'd been sucker-punched in the chest. So...when push came to shove, it wasn't
that Jim couldn't love him because he wasn't attracted to men.
It was worse. Jim wasn't
attracted to **Blair**.
Because the way he was
greeting the mysterious man left no doubt in Blair's mind. Jim had run away to
meet someone. But it wasn't a female someone.
Suddenly Blair saw his
future. Saw himself standing on another street corner, impatiently waiting for
Jim and someone else. And he knew, right then and there, that someone else was
never going to be him.
He closed his eyes, the
smoky heat of his blue eyes dampened by incipient tears.
And so it was that he
missed the grateful but platonic hug that the man gave Jim, opening his eyes
just as Jim flashed a beatific smile back at the cryptic stranger.
Oh, fuck, that hurt. He
didn't know it was going to hurt this much. Blair leaned over, trying to quell
the burgeoning nausea roiling within, his hands spread wide across muscular
thighs.
There was something else
that Blair didn't know. That his distress was so intense, it telegraphed itself
across the street, homing in on the one man who could decipher its signal.
Chief. Blair blinked. He
didn't hear that. He couldn't have.
Nevertheless, he felt the word form itself inside his head.
Jim's head swung around.
Their eyes met. Blair flushed. Jim gave him a look that Blair interpreted as a
series of emotions in quick succession: surprise, fear, angst, and rage.
Wait a minute! What was
that again? Fear? Angst? Jim was afraid? Dismayed by Blair's presence? Then
what he was doing **was** dangerous, and all of this backtracking was for
Blair's benefit. To keep him from discovering who he was meeting, yes.
But to protect him
from...
...what?