Mercury In Retrograde
by Silk
Part 1
That wasn't a siren. It
was the alarm clock. Jim woke up with a crick in his
neck and an armful of
warm, willing Guide. He almost smiled. This nearly
made up for getting a
mere two hours sleep.
His head ached, his
groin was a sticky mess, and even his hair, what little
there was, hurt. Add to
this the fact that he and Blair, two heretofore
resolutely straight men,
were now lovers. Then there was the little matter of
being expected at work
in...oh, about an hour.
An hour? Shit. Jim threw
back the covers, determined to go about his
business with his usual
alacrity. After getting a faceful of blanket, Blair
woke up sputtering. Jim
stood by the side of the bed, savoring the sight of
a naked Sandburg in his
bed at last.
"Morning,
Chief," he said softly, waiting for Blair to really open his eyes,
wondering how he would
react to the morning after and his first glimpse of a
naked
Ellison-in-the-morning.
Blair came awake slowly,
which didn't surprise Jim, but when his blue-eyed
gaze lit upon Jim, it
brightened, flaring with considerable intensity before
it faded into a
companionable glow. Jim couldn't help but react. It was aimed
at him. All that love
and affection--*his* for the taking.
"Hey, Jim."
"Hey, Chief,"
he answered, feeling his early morning erection twitch. God,
he hoped Blair didn't
notice that. It was going to make Jim look *so
shallow*. So *sexually
preoccupied*. Well, hell, he *was*. Here he was,
pushing forty from the
other side now, and his cock seemed to be undergoing
some kind of fucking
rebirth.
He knew he was grinning
ear-to-ear. He just knew it. But Blair didn't seem
to mind. Blair turned
onto his side, the better to peer up at Jim through
that silky mass of brown
curls.
"We should be
getting ready for work."
"Yeah," agreed
Blair. But he never moved.
"Don't make me come
over there, Chief."
Blair chuckled. "I
hope the Cascade PD appreciates your zealous commitment
to the job, man."
Jim leaned over Blair,
his heart in his eyes, for once completely and
utterly readable.
"There's only one person I hope appreciates me, Chief."
"Me?" Blair
squeaked.
"You," Jim
smiled his assent. Taking the initiative before his nerve
deserted him, Jim bent
his head and kissed Blair, murmuring "I love you."
Blair grinned, looking
for all the world like a sleepy, rumpled teddybear.
"Love you right
back, man." Bouncing on the edge of the bed, Blair
exclaimed, "Let's
call in and stay in bed all day!"
Jim rolled his eyes. As
if. "I hate to sound like grumpy old Mr.
Responsibility here,
Chief, but we've got a shitload of cases right now.
That's the
reality."
"Reality bites,
man," Blair declared with a sigh. His face fell, and Jim
resisted the urge to
hold him, already seeing how much their lives had
changed now that they
were joined.
"I've got dibs on
the shower, Chief," he called over his shoulder, padding
down the stairs on cats'
feet before he found ten more reasons to stay home
and play with Blair. Literally.
After a hot albeit quick
shower, Jim felt more like facing the day ahead.
Yet he still had a
nagging feeling that he should be concentrating on
strengthening the new
bond between him and Blair. Hell, he thought, I can
always work. I've got
more vacation time and personal days owed me than
anyone else in MC. What
the hell am I saving it for, now that I finally
found someone to spend
my days, and nights, his cock reminded him, with?
Breakfast was a slapdash
affair. He might wish he could sit at the table,
mooning over Blair's
eyes, but he was long on love and short on time. He
managed to choke down a
couple of slices of over-buttered toast to go with
his mug of too hot but
flavorless coffee. Blair looked vaguely bereft, as if
he thought he should be
following Jim to the station rather than teaching an
early morning Anthro
class.
Jim suddenly stopped at
the door, and Blair nearly collided with him.
"Hey....
Jim turned to see the
owner of the shout. "I just thought of something,
Chief."
"What?""
Blair sounded more down by the moment.
"I'm going to miss
you."
"Well, I ought to
be there by 2, Jim. I've got a few errands to run after my
class."
"The morning's
going to be endless, Chief," Jim said, sounding like a man
desperately in love. In
truth, he was all too aware of how quickly things
could change. He could
take a bullet, and it would all be over but the
shouting. That had never
particularly bothered him before. But now...dammit,
he had the best reason
of all to stay alive.
"You've been
without me lots of times, Jim. You'll be fine till I get
there."
"I may have been
without you before, Chief, but I won't be fine. I'm never
*fine* when you're not
there." Jim looked conflicted. "I thought it
was because of the Guide
thing, but after last night--I know it's not. You're
the other half of me,
Blair."
"Jim...."
Blair said his name like something painful was being drawn from
his soul.
"I know. I'm not
the fucking poetic type, and I'll probably never let you
know how much I really
care. But I do."
Blair swayed closer to
the mouth he wanted to kiss. "Shit, Jim, how am I
going to get through my
morning now? Everybody's going to take one look at
me and they'll
know."
"Know what?"
Blair smiled as he came
within a half-inch of his goal. "That I'm in love."