I'm back with my new Sentinel fanficton, this time it will be in parts. Please be gentle, but I'll be thankful for any ideas and, of course, constructive critic. English isn't my first language.
The next part will be very soon.

Sorry for any mistakes which I made, although it was beta read by Brynn87 who I thank from the bottom of the heart for amazing beta job.

I don't own the main characters, just the storyline, it's written only for entertainment

Hope you enjoy it,

A MATTER OF TIME

by miafka

He opened his eyes abruptly and screamed. After a while, he calmed himself down and slowly took a few deep breaths while he sat up. He found himself lying on a tiny bed, in an absolutely unfamiliar place which seemed to be a small, quiet, and dim motel room in the middle of nowhere. His head hurt, like almost every other part of his body, and he was disoriented. He couldn't remember why he was totally alone in this room; he couldn't even remember his own name.

Suddenly, he heard a piercing sound coming from the bedside table. He looked in the direction of the sound and saw a small cell phone flashing the name "Jim" on the screen. He figured it was probably his own cell phone, so any conversation he had with this "Jim" would probably bring some much needed information, but he still hesitated a moment before picking up the noisy object. When he finally answered the phone, he heard a male voice that sounded very anxious and angry, but it also sounded strangely familiar.

"Sandburg, how many times do I have to call you? Where are you?" The voiced hissed and then, after a few seconds of silence, became friendlier. "What's wrong, buddy? Why are you so quiet, Chief?" After even more silence, just a bit of panic crept into Jim's voice. "Are you there? Blair? Talk to me, for God's sake!"

"I'm sorry…um…yes…I'm here," the young man said in a very small voice. If it hadn't been for Jim's special abilities, he probably wouldn't have heard it. "Sorry," Blair repeated, slightly louder, but in that same small, scared voice. Jim was able to hear his friend's heartbeat and breathing as they accelerated dangerously, but even without his heightened senses, he would have known there was something wrong. This just wasn't like Blair.

"I don't remember…" Sandburg stated strangely after a few seconds. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay, Chief. I'm not angry with you at all. Calm down." Jim said soothingly. "Just breathe slowly, Chief." Jim listened for a decrease in his friend's respiration rate. "Alright, that's right. Keep breathing just like that." Once the young man seemed calmer, the sentinel asked some important questions. "What can't you remember, Chief? Are you hurt?"

"I don't know…Everything hurts…especially my head, I guess." Blair replied, and then a long silence fell. All Jim heard was a few slow footsteps and then a muffled scream of horror and barely audible words that increased his own anxiety. "Oh God! What have I done? No, NO!"

"Hey! What happened?! Sandburg, talk to me! What is it?"

"I-I think I killed someone… a man," Blair stuttered. "A man in a police uniform…he's lying on the floor. There's so much blood…so much blood!" Blair's heartbeat and breathing were racing now, and he was about to start hyperventilating. "Oh God! I'm so sorry! I must have killed him!" Blair was nearly hysterical now. "I don't remember… I don't remember!" Jim heard him repeating those words over and over, like a mantra, despite the sentinel's best efforts to calm the younger man down.

"Sandburg, you listen to me. Don't you even say that, Chief! You can't possibly be the one who did this. I know you. This can't be your fault." Jim listened for any sign that his friend was calming down, but heard none. Sandburg was still nearly panic-stricken. "You've got to believe me, Chief. I'm begging you. Try to calm down" Jim knew how Blair reacted to the side of a dead body at the best of times, and judging by the confusion in Blair's voice, and the admitted gap in his memory, this couldn't possibly even come close to be being the best of times. "I know it's hard, buddy. Don't look at the body, okay?" Jim had to get Blair's mind off the body as much as possible. "Try to think back, Chief. What's the last thing you remember? Help me out here."

Knowing his friend, Jim was sure Sandburg hadn't killed anyone in cold blood…least of all a cop. So, the whole situation must have been set up by someone who wanted to get back at the young police observer for some reason. Sandburg had a lot of friends, but also, quite possibly, a lot of unknown enemies, especially in the criminal underworld. Or, given the kid's association with Jim, this could be someone's attempt to get back at the detective by setting Blair up like this. The first suspect that popped into the sentinel's mind was the current serial killer case that he and Blair were investigating. The more he thought about it, the more convinced he became that this was an attempt to keep them from solving that case.

"I think I'm going to need help here, man." Blair seemed to sound even more nervous than before, if that was possible.

"What do you mean, Chief? What kind of help?"

"You said I didn't kill this guy, right? Well, someone is knocking on the door, and I don't know if they'll believe that. I don't know what to do…"

"No way you could have done this, Chief. Not unless it was self defense, and even then you would have just hit him with a lamp or something…I can't see any way you could have caused all that blood." Jim tried to sound calm and certain. "Don't panic, Chief. Nothing bad is going to happen." That part, Jim wasn't so certain about. He didn't even want to think about what the police would think if they entered that room and found a body they thought was one of their own, especially with Sandburg sitting there with no memory and no alibi. "Don't worry, Chief. We'll get through this mess together, okay buddy?" Jim reassured his friend.