End of An Era
Gremlin
Blair tried to concentrate as he typed Jim's overdue reports, using the work to distract his grumbling stomach. Jim had left on a lunch run not long before, promising to feed his guide, leaving with a grin before Blair could state his preferences. Blair knew they would end up with Wonder Burger, but at this moment Blair was just too hungry to care, the break room coffee he had been drinking since early morning was eating its way through his stomach lining.
Hearing the doors behind him open, Blair turned around and was on his feet before being consciously aware that he was moving, catching at Jim, who had staggered into the bullpen looking ready to collapse. Jim was shaking and white with shock, mumbling incoherently. Rafe had also seen Jim and joined Blair in supporting him to a nearby chair.
"Jim, hey Jim." Blair tipped Jim's face towards him his concern growing at the glazed look in Jim's eyes. "What's wrong? Are you hurt anywhere?" Running his hands over Jim, Blair could find no injury or obvious cause for this sort of reaction.
"Rafe can you ring down to the desk, maybe they saw something when he came in?" Blair asked. Rafe nodded and turned to the phone, keeping worried eyes on Ellison.
Blair managed to pry the Wonder Burger bag from Jim's death grip and threw it onto a nearby desk, not caring about food any longer. Jim sat slumped in the chair, trembling, shaking his head occasionally and muttering. Looking around, Blair realized that the other people currently in the bullpen were also gathered round, looking as worried as Blair.
Someone must have told Banks; he marched out of his office, cigar clenched between his fingers. "What's going on? Don't you have any work to do, people?" Banks bellowed, elbowing his way through the milling group of personnel and officers. Most scattered back to their duties, but a few like Rafe and Taggart stayed close, their concerns out weighing their captain's presence.
Coming to a stop, Simon looked Jim over in concern before turning to face Blair. "Sandburg, what's wrong with Ellison?" Simon demanded, he had lowered his voice, but his disquiet was very real. With Jim being a Sentinel, small situations could rapidly develop into crises, causing emotional and physical distress.
"I don't know Simon, it's not a zone, that, I'm pretty sure of. He came in like this after picking up lunch for the two of us, now he's just sitting there mumbling no, over and over, well you can see what he's like." Blair waved a hand at Jim his worried eyes never leaving Jim's trembling form, then crouched down and gently ran his hand over Jim's arm, talking softly under his breath. While this was no zone, calming him would be a great start and Jim might be able to offer a coherent explanation if Blair could reach him.
"Blair, I think you'd better have a look at this." Joel's voice surprised Blair; he hadn't been paying attention to their colleagues while concentrating on Jim. Willing to listen if they could find out what the problem was, he rose and joined a grinning Taggart by the desk holding the take out.
Joel was reading a leaflet that he vaguely remembered being attached to the bag of food. Handing the paper to Blair, Taggart stepped back to speak to Banks, voice too low for Blair to hear what he was saying.
Banks couldn't understand anything he was being told; Taggart's whispers were too interspersed with chuckles and gasps for breath. Waving aside his fellow captain, Banks pinched the bridge of his nose as he tried to think, trying to stem the incipient headache.
Confused, Blair glanced down, and then looked again more sharply. As awareness of what he was reading sank in, Blair grinned then chuckled. Blair began to laugh so hard he bent over, his arms wrapped around his stomach, tears rolling down his red face. Falling to his knees, Blair kept laughing. Yeah he now knew why Jim was in shock, and he felt sorry for the guy, but man, it was hysterical.
"Sandburg, what the hell's wrong with you?" Banks hadn't understood what Joel had tried to tell him between chuckles, Blair tried to speak, but Banks grew impatient at the student's attempts to talk through the howls and gasps. Blair falling to the floor laughing his fool ass off didn't help matters, so he stepped over and grabbed the paper from where it had fallen from Blair's fingers.
Reading the leaflet, Banks began to chuckle. Placing the leaflet back on the desk next to the cold bag of food, Banks turned his back on the spectacle of his best detective almost comatose and his observer laughing hysterically on the floor. Avoiding looking at anyone and not saying a word, Banks walked back to his office, still chuckling, and closed the door carefully behind him. His belly laugh grew to the point it could be heard clearly out in the bullpen and down the hall. Taggart had collapsed into a chair and was laughing too hard to talk.
Jim whimpered and kept repeating the word, no, no, no, rocking his body as he hugged himself, over and over. Rafe looked around confused, and couldn't figure out what the problem was with everyone, so he went and picked up the leaflet. Letting out a snort of disbelief, he shook his head at the insanity going on. Honestly, so what if Burger King had bought out Wonder Burger, and was converting the menu? One burger chain was the same as the next, right?