SERIES: Questions, Answers And Mysteries Revealed (Part 1)
AUTHOR: Kylia (kylia_bug@yahoo.com)
DISCLAIMER: Nobody belongs to me, unfortunately. They belong to Pet Fly, and a few other people I don't know.
ARCHIVE: Yes. My site, List archives, anywhere else, let me know where, and it's yours.
RATING: R
PAIRING: Blair/?
CATEGORY: Romance; First time; Holiday;
SPOILERS: If you've watched the show, your set. :)
WARNINGS: None really.
SUMMARY: A Gift Blair receives causes Jim to question Blair's mystery admirer.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: This is a bit different. I've never written this pairing before.
AUTHOR'S NOTES 2: This takes place about a year after the end of the series, accept that that TSbBS never happened.
FEEDBACK: Please. My muses need to be fed, or I'll go find someone else to play with instead :)
DEDICATION: To Butterfly, because you pleaded so nicely. :)
**********
"Professor Sandburg, you really must get your priorities straight!" Blair Sandburg mimicked nastily as he ran a pick through his hair.
"Priorities!" He hissed under his breath. "I'll show her priorities!"
Continuing to snarl and mumble to himself, the professor of Anthropology finished dressing, stopping occasionally to look in the mirror and assess how he looked.
After nearly forty minutes and two clothes changes later, he seemed minutely satisfied. He was debating changing again when there was a knock on his French doors.
"Yeah." He called at barely above a whisper, knowing his Sentinel could hear him.
"You ready yet, Romeo?" Jim asked as he opened the doors.
"Very funny." Blair turned to face his roommate. "I look ridiculous. Don't they make suits in flannel?" He asked with a pitiful whine.
Jim laughed. "No, and thank god for small favors." Jim stepped inside the room and helped his partner adjust his tie. "You look good. You'll knock 'em dead tonight."
Blair smiled as he stepped away from Jim after the offensive method of strangulation was firmly tied around his neck. Turning back to the mirror he took another long look. Jim was right. He did look good. Now if he could only survive the evening in one piece.
"Jim, I've been thinking"
"Never a good sign, Darwin."
"Ha. Ha." Blair smile disappeared as he struggled to say what he had to say without Jim getting upset. "Maybe you shouldn't come tonight. You don't have to, you know."
Jim frowned. "What's this about, Sandburg?"
Blair shrugged. "Nothing. It's just you have your own things to do. The Christmas party is tonight. If you come with me, you'll be late to that." He offered weakly, knowing it was pretty much inevitable that he *would* be telling Jim the truth.
Jim nodded. "Yes, but we're going after your University thing. I thought we discussed this already. I want to be there, hear your speech."
Blair laughed. "Like you don't hear enough from me."
"Is that what this is about? You think that I don't really want to go, and are trying to give me an easy way out?"
"No, man, no. I just"
"Is this about your admirer?" His voice caught on the last word. "Because I thought we settled it. We need to find out who it is."
"No, it isn't that." He sighed, knowing that there was no way he could get out of telling Jim the truth especially with these weird gifts he'd been getting for the past three weeks.
"Blair? Does this have anything to do with why you've been in such a snit since you got home?" Jim asked quietly.
Blair froze. Silently cursing himself for not being more careful. He really didn't want to discuss his University problems with Jim. On the other hand, he didn't want Jim to get stuck in an odd situation at the awards tonight either, and it was apparent he couldn't talk the older man out of it.
"It is, isn't it?" Jim realized as he listened to his friends heart rate pick up.
"Yeah, Jim." He sighed again. "The chancellor is pushing me to sever my ties to the PD." Well that wasn't entirely accurate, but close enough. He waited for the explosion. He wasn't disappointed.
"What?" Jim hissed. Jim waited for an explanation. When one wasn't forthcoming, he spoke, trying to remain calm. "Care to explain that?"
Blair sighed. "I had a meeting with Chancellor Worth this morning. A new teaching position has opened up in the Anthropology department. Full Time. Tenure track. They want to offer it to me."
"That's great!" Jim smiled, forgetting about his earlier irritation. When Blair's expression remained solemn, he frowned. "That's not great?"
Blair shook his head slightly. "No, it's great, but"
"But?" Jim prompted growing more and more confused.
Blair moved away from his friend and into the living room. "Do you remember when Chancellor Worth took over after that scandal?"
Jim followed Blair out of the bedroom. How could he forget? The previous chancellor, had been caught in a *compromising* position with several of the universities undergrad students. Actually, she'd only been *caught* with one student, but once the news came out, other students came out of the woodwork. Nearly all of them admitting that they had basically been bullied into an unwanted relationship with Rainier's Chancellor and two other administration members.
"Well, Chancellor Worth instituted several new administration policies regarding the faculty. Most of the changes only effect full time professors, department heads, and other administration." Blair explained.
"How does this effect us?" Jim asked, trying to understand what it was Blair was alluding to.
"Basically, it doesn't. Except that, they can't offer me this teaching position, *unless* , my work for the PD is in an official capacity."
"Official?" Jim repeated, feeling a dread fill him.
Blair nodded sadly and went back into his bedroom to putt his shoes on. "I tried to explain that that wasn't likely to happen, but there isn't really anything she can do. She suggests I 'get my priorities straight'" Blair mimicked again, this time with less irritation. ""It really isn't her fault. She's very nice." He looked up at his partner and spoke quietly. "Jim, you knew this would happen. Simon has been having trouble keeping my observer status. My only legal reason for riding along was my diss, which I defended over *nine* months ago. We knew that we couldn't keep this up forever."
"I know." Jim agreed grabbing his jacket. "Come on. We're going to be late."
Blair put on his own jacket and followed his roommate to the door, only to be stopped before he actually made it outside. "What is it?" Blair asked softly, dreading the answer.
Jim bent down to pick something up off of the ground. When he stood back up, he was holding a medium-sized box.
"It's from him, isn't it?" Blair asked quietly.
"I think so." Jim told him. "You want to open it?"
Blair took the box and carefully opened it up. He took a deep breath to calm his nerves after he pulled back the tissue paper and saw what was inside.
"A mask?" Jim asked in confusion.
"A fertility mask. From an extinct tribe in South Africa. I went on an expedition to their ruins shortly after coming to Rainier." He looked up at Jim, the slightest traces of fear in his eyes. "Jim, when I went on that expedition, I wasn't on any on the paperwork. There is no way, ANYONE could have found out about it."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes." Blair told him. Before he could think anymore about what this latest gift meant, he pushed his way past Jim and into the hall. "Come on. I can't be late."
Jim followed his partner out and hoped that they figured out who was sending these gifts, and soon. He didn't know how much more Blair could take.
****
As Blair Sandburg gave his speech to a room full of academics, about something his partner didn't quite understand, Jim Ellison put his powers of observation to use.
He believed that the sender of Blair's bizarre gifts was someone he knew from the university and not the police department. Or at the very least someone who had more contact with the professor than anyone outside of Major Crimes could claim.
Each gift held some sort of personal meaning to Blair. Often they were items associated to his anthropological studies, or some place he had visited with Naomi while he was growing up. Whoever was sending them had obviously done their homework. And that worried the detective.
Despite the lack of malicious intent, each gift seemed to upset Blair. From the very beginning, Blair had been agitated about them. He had never believed they were just simple gifts from a harmless secret admirer. And the fact that Blair was worried, was an even bigger sign of concern.
Judging from the gifts themselves, and the messages received with them, whoever sent them had some sort of secret knowledge into the life of his Guide. And that was disconcerting, at the very least.
Jim scanned the crowd, gathered at the awards ceremony, searching for anyone who seemed to be more interested in Blair's speech than in the rest of the proceedings. Unfortunately, Blair was so completely entertaining, the entire room was enthralled.
"Excuse me? Are you Detective Ellison?" A crisp, clear voice interrupted Jim's concentration on the crowd.
He turned around, ready to face whoever had spoken. "Yes, ma'am." He smiled as charmingly as he could.
The woman who had spoken to him looked to be in her early forties. Her smile seemed genuine as she shook his hand, and her dark, almond-shaped eyes sparkled.
"I'm Chancellor Worth. I don't believe we've met."
Jim winced inwardly at the memory of what Blair had told him earlier in the evening. "No, I don't think so."
Chancellor Worth sat down in the empty chair to Jim's left and turned her attention briefly to Blair, who was winding down his speech.
"He's something else, isn't he?"
Her words caused Jim to monitor her a bit more closely. She had only been at Rainier for five weeks, and the first 'gift' had arrived three weeks ago.
"You know, detective, I'm really sorry about Professor Sandburg's teaching position."
"Are you?" Jim asked curiously.
"Yes." She told him honestly. "I really like him. When I discovered there would be a new position available, he was the first person I thought of."
"Really?" Jim asked incredulously. She seemed to be sincere, the complete opposite of the woman who had previously held her position.
"Yes." She turned her attention back to Blair for a moment before pinning her dark eyes on Jim. "Isn't there some way his position with the Department could be made permanent? Official?" When Jim didn't answer right away, she continued. "I fear that if made to choose, Professor Sandburg will choose his work with your department, which I admit I don't fully understand." She paused once more as if weighing her words. "Unfortunately, there isn't anything I can do, from my end. The new rules and regulations are quite clear."
"I understand." Jim told her. The rest of his response was drowned out by the applause as Blair finished his speech and introduced the head of the Archeology department, who was due to begin handing out the evening's awards.
Before Blair could make it back to their table, Jim turned to her. "I'll see what I can do, Chancellor."
Chancellor Worth stood up. "That would be wonderful. I really don't want to lose such a find."
The chancellor disappeared before Blair could arrive at the table and ask what was going on.
*****
The rest of the evening passed rather quickly, and the partners left to attend the annual Major Crimes Christmas party. This was the first year they had decided to attend, and participate in the gift exchange.
Jim had pulled Rhonda's name and Blair had gotten Joel Taggert's. And despite Jim's 'edge', Blair had made him promise not to use it to his advantage and find out who had pulled their names. So they were just as clueless as everyone else.
"Hairboy?" H whistled appreciatively as he got a good look at Blair.
Blair blushed slightly. He didn't have time to change after his speech, so he had to go to the PD party still dressed in his suit.
"Wow. You clean up pretty good." Rafe admired, eyeing Blair seductively.
Several more compliments greeting Blair's ears before he made it to Jim's desk. Almost every person in the bullpen had a positive observation to make, including Joel Taggert and Simon Banks.
Some of the comments were friendly, others were downright flirtatious.
"Sandburg. My office." Simon spoke from the doorway to his office where he had been standing when Jim and Blair had entered.
Blair handed Jim the gifts they brought and made his way towards the captain.
"What's up, Simon?" Blair asked after the door had been closed behind him and the captain walked over to pour some coffee.
"I have a little something for you." Simon handed Blair a packet of paperwork.
Blair looked it over carefully. It looked suspiciously like the forms he had had to fill out when he first came to work with Jim. "What's this?"
"Paperwork, paperwork and more paperwork." Simon handed a cup of coffee to the observer.
"And this is different how?" Blair grinned.
Simon attempted to scowl but the effect was ruined by his good mood. "The difference is, once that's processed, you actually get paid."
"What?" Blair asked and took another look at the paperwork. "What is this?" He began reading in earnest. "Official police consultant" He flipped a page. "Paid salary" He glanced up at Simon when another paragraph caught his attention. "Completion of specified training?"
Simon sighed. "Yeah. The position depends on you taking some classes."
"What sort of classes?" Blair asked warily.
"Self-defense, Departmental procedures, and weapons training." He held up a hand to still any protest. "You just have to have the training. Once it's complete, you don't have to carry a weapon."
Blair looked back down at the paperwork then up at the captain. "Wow. I don't know what to say." He felt as if his world had suddenly become clearer somehow. Like some part of his existence had lost its blurriness, even though he hadn't been aware anything *had* been blurry. "You went to a lot of trouble here, Simon. Thank you."
Simon smiled at his observer. "Happy Hanukkah, Sandburg."
*****
Blair picked up the wrapped gift and eyed it warily. He knew it was silly. I mean these were his friends. Cops. They had nothing to do with his creepy admirer. Still, unwrapping a gift took on an entirely new meaning these days. Especially considering he had no way of knowing who had pulled his name for the gift exchange.
"Aren't you going to open it, Hairboy?" H asked with a grin.
"Yeah." Blair nodded and began to remove the festive paper. "Books?" He grinned as he felt the telltale spines. "Old books." He whispered, as the spines became visible.
"Oh my god." He whispered in awe. "Sir Richard Burton's Complete works." He looked around the room until his eyes landed on Jim's. "Autographed." His eyes moved around the room once more, searching for some sign as to whom had been his secret Santa. "How is this possible?" He asked, more to himself than anyone else.
"Looks like whoever pulled your name has been paying attention." Rhonda grinned at the pleased and astonished face of their police observer.
Jim took the boxed set of books and looked them over closely. He didn't think they were from their mysterious admirer, but he wanted to make sure. The box the books were housed in was actually hand made from what looked and felt to be old wood. The books themselves had been kept in close to mint condition before whoever it was had bought them.
Jim was positive the pricetag for this gift far exceeded the $25-$50 put on the gift exchange.
Running his fingers across the spines, Jim took in the gift with his senses, trying to detect anything that would tell him if this were from someone other than one of their friends. That's when he smelled it.
The unmistakable scent. One he had become quite familiar with over the past few years. He lifted the books up and inhaled deeply. Yep. The scent saturated the gift.
Cigar smoke.
Simon's Cigar smoke.
Jim's eyes met his captain's unreadable expression across the room as he tried to decipher exactly what this meant.
****
The End