Screen cap courtesy of Starfox
Author's Note: This story is a missing scene from "The Sentinel" episode "Blind Man's Bluff". I stake no claim to these characters, and am definitely not profitting with this little tale. Comments are always welcome!
Ellison picked up the faint odor of cigar smoke and immediately knew it was his captain approaching.
“Well?” he asked, pushing back his chair and rising.
“They can’t get arraigned until morning,” Banks told him, a hint of satisfaction in his voice. “So our friends will at least be spending the night in holding.”
“Do you think they’ll make bail?”
“That’s up to the judge. Probably not if he gives the DA what she’s asking for. Sandburg’s not a cop, but the attack was directed at the police force, so she’s going to demand full weight on this one. And there’s a good chance she’ll get it.”
“Good,” Ellison sighed, tossing the pencil he’s idly been rolling between his fingers down to his desk and rubbing a hand along the back of his neck wearily. The anger boiled up inside of him every time he thought of what those sick bastards had done, and how close a call it had been for his unsuspecting partner. So it was at least some gratification to learn that they were probably going to jail for a very long time, and wouldn’t be able to peddle their poison to anyone else.
“Come on, Jim,” Banks said, putting a hand on his detective’s shoulder. “I’ll drive you home.”
“Actually, would you mind dropping me off at the hospital?”
“You should get some sleep,” the captain chastised him. “You know the doctors are taking good care of Sandburg.”
“I know, but I just feel like I should be there. In case he wakes up and starts freaking out again. I mean, I know the hospital can handle it, but...”
“You think you’ll be able to calm him down, like you did in the garage,” Banks finished for him.
“Something like that,” Ellison murmured. “I just can’t get his voice out of my head, Simon. He just sounded so... lost and scared. I don’t want him waking up to that again and not having anyone he trusts there to help him.”
“I understand what you’re saying.” For the first time since the whole mess started, Captain Banks was suddenly glad that his detective had been ocularly compromised. Seeing the terror and the helplessness on the young observer’s face as he’d perched on the police car wielding the gun was a sight the hardened captain wouldn’t be forgetting anytime soon. At least Jim had been spared the visual, as well as the image of Sandburg lying unconscious in the hospital bed. “Come on, the hospital it is.”
The two men were silent during the short ride to Cascade General, each lost in their own thoughts. Banks parked the car and led Ellison inside, up to the third floor where Sandburg had been admitted.
“Detective Ellison.”
Banks nudged him toward the reception desk as they got off the elevator, to where one of the nurses was waiting.
“I just tried to call you,” she explained, smiling winningly up at the handsome detective, unaware, as were most, that he had been rendered sightless. “Mr. Sandburg is awake.”
“Awake?” Ellison repeated. “How is he? Is he all right?”
“The doctor is in with him now. Just have a seat, and he’ll be out to speak with you in a few minutes.”
“Well, he’s awake. That’s a good sign,” Banks said optimistically, steering Ellison to the well worn couches in the waiting area.
“If he’s coherent,” Jim muttered. “Awake and raving would be a different story. What about the nurse? Could you tell from her face if she thought it was good news?”
“Well, she was trying her damnedest to flirt with you,” Simon replied with a hint of amusement. “So I’d say it probably isn’t bad news.”
But Ellison remained tense and uneasy until the doctor appeared fifteen minutes later.
“How is he?” the detective blurted, jumping up as he sensed someone approach.
“He’ll be fine,” came the welcomed answer. “He’s showing a few residual effects from the drug, but it appears to have worked its way out of his system. We’re going to keep him here overnight for observation, but I think he’ll be able to go home in the morning.”
“Can we see him?”
“Just you, detective,” the doctor answered. “Mr. Sandburg’s been asking for you.” He turned to the captain with an apologetic smile. “He’s still a little disoriented and its best that he rest for now.”
“I understand,” Banks told him, shaking his hand. “Thank you, doctor.”
“Simon, why don’t you go on home,” Ellison suggested. “I’m going to stay for a little while and make sure he’s ok, then I’ll just grab a taxi back to the loft.”
“Yeah, sure,” the captain said dryly, knowing that his detective most likely wouldn’t be leaving the hospital that night. “Give me a call in the morning when Sandburg’s ready to be released and I’ll come pick you both up.”
“Thanks, Captain,” Ellison grinned.
“Can you make it to his room all right?”
“Yes, I remember where it is.”
“Well, I’m out of here then.”
“Night, Simon.”
“Tell Sandburg... Well, you know.”
“Will do.”
As Banks headed back to the elevator, Ellison carefully made his way down the hallway, stopping at the fourth door on the right. He knocked softly and let himself in.
“Hey, Jim.”
The voice was tired and weak, a bit raspy from the intubation tube, but it was warm and full of the usual enthusiasm that his partner always radiated. Ellison heaved a sigh of relief, the worry leaving him as he finally knew for himself that his friend was going to be all right.
“Hey, Chief,” he greeted. “How are you feeling?”
“I’m doing ok,” Sandburg replied. “You want to sit down, man? There’s a chair right in front of you...”
“I know,” the detective interrupted, moving forward and easing himself down into the chair. “We’re old friends.”
“Eyes aren’t any better?”
“Maybe a little,” Ellison hedged. “But don’t worry about that now. We’ve got to take care of you first.”
“Really, I’m all right,” Sandburg insisted. “I just feel like I could sleep for about a week.”
“I don’t doubt it,” the detective told him. “That was a pretty big hit of golden that you took.”
“Yeah, that’s what the doctor told me. What the hell happened, Jim? The last thing I remember, I was in the bullpen... Oh, man. It was that pizza, wasn’t it? Did anyone else eat it?”
“No, only you had the luck to get into it,” Ellison reassured him. “We found it before anyone else did.”
“See, I tried to tell you that crap was hazardous to your health,” Sandburg sighed, rubbing his hands over his face.
“Golden is hazardous to your health,” Ellison chuckled. “I’ve never heard of a pizza causing anyone to see fire people coming through the floor.”
The detective couldn’t see the look of horror that came over his friend’s face, but he felt him stiffen and immediately sobered.
“What is it, Chief?” he asked, growing alarmed as he reached out to clasp his partner’s arm, feeling how he was shaking.
“Oh my God,” Sandburg whispered, putting a hand up to his mouth. “Oh, God.”
“Blair, what’s the matter?” Ellison demanded, fear rising up in him as he got to his feet. “Do you want me to get the doctor?”
“Jim, I remember,” Sandburg said quietly, turning haunted eyes toward his sightless friend as he struggled to sit up. “I remember everything now. The golden fire people....”
“They weren’t real, Chief,” Ellison told him, his fear quickly becoming confusion.
“But I thought they were,” Blair argued, growing more agitated. “I could see them, as plain as I can see you now. I thought they were real... Jim, all I knew was that I had to get rid of them. It made sense to me then, but now... Oh my God, I had your gun! I was shooting your gun down there in the garage!”
“Take it easy, Chief,” Ellison said calmly, moving to sit on the edge of the bed. He reached out and found his partner’s shoulder, squeezing it gently. “It’s ok. You didn’t hit anybody.”
“What did Simon say?” Sandburg asked in anguish. “He popped a gasket, didn’t he?”
“No, he didn’t. In fact, he was here to see you tonight, but the doctor wouldn’t let him come in. But he’s coming back in the morning...”
“For what? To pull my credentials?”
“No! Would you just stop for a second and listen to me?” Ellison took a deep breath, his outburst having the effect of pulling off the near impossible - getting his partner to shut up for two seconds. “Simon is not upset with you, Chief. Nobody is. You were drugged, and you didn’t know what you were doing. Everybody understands that, and nobody holds it against you.”
“They don’t hate me?”
“No,” Ellison said firmly, shaking his head. “Everybody is just glad that you were all right. You might not be a cop, Sandburg, but you are still one of the team, and they all took this personally. Everyone worked really hard to bring in the guys that did this to you. So just relax, ok? None of this was your fault.”
“But, I could have shot you,” Blair continued, calmer, but still shaken up.
“I knew you wouldn’t,” the detective told him confidently. “So, don’t worry about it anymore. It’s all over now, and if you get all riled up and excited about it, the nurses are going to throw me out on my ear.”
“Thanks, Jim.” Impulsively, Sandburg leaned forward and hugged his partner, a bit surprised when Ellison returned the hug.
“I’m glad you’re all right, Chief,” he whispered into his friend’s ear. Blair let go and lay back down against his pillows, emitting a blinding smile that his partner couldn’t see. “Now try and get some sleep, ok? They’re going to let you out of here in the morning if you’re up to it.”
“Are you staying?” Sandburg asked, watching the detective slide off the edge of his bed and settle back down into the chair next to it.
“I thought I’d stick around for a little while,” Ellison told him. “Just in case there’s still one or two of those fire people hanging around.”
Blair smiled again, and even though Jim couldn’t see it, he sensed it and everything it meant. Exhausted, but freed from the burden of guilt and shame he’d put upon himself, the younger man did his best to make himself comfortable in the unfamiliar bed. The memories of the living nightmare he’d been through were still vividly imprinted in his mind. All of the horrible images and the stark terror he’d felt seeing them... being so scared and so confused and lost in the darkness of the drug. But then Jim had come to him, a light through the dark world, shining with the power of trust and love and friendship. Blair was lost, but the moment he took his partner’s hand, he knew he’d been found. Jim had pulled him out of that hell and into the warmth and safety of his arms.
Sandburg glanced over at his friend, who was sitting quietly in the chair, staring blindly at the magazine in his lap. He closed his eyes, relaxing and letting himself drift off to sleep, not fearing the memories of what had happened. For with his Blessed Protector keeping watch over him, the golden fire people didn’t stand a chance.
Finis
The Sandburg Zone
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