Jim Ellison was on his way back to the loft from leaving his friend's Bobby place. Today was the service for his wife, Amy who had been hit by a drunk driver on a rare day out. He sat in the truck as he watched his friend at the graveside with his two teenage children. He had had known Bobby since they went through the academy together. The kids were just starting school and Amy had gone back to work as a school teacher.
As he watched the grieving family, he knew that Amy had been Bobby's only love and at one time, he thought he'd found the same when he'd married Carolyn. While his own marriage had failed, Bobby and Amy's marriage had only gotten stronger. It didn't seem fair that in an instant, his friend's life and family were torn apart. Even in his own grief, Bobby still offered Jim one piece of advice.
" Life in a fragile thing, Jim. Don't let something as stupid as other people's opinions stop you from having the love of your life. People had things to say because I'm white and Amy was black." Bobby had looked up at Jim with tears in his eyes. " I wouldn't have given this up for anything in the world."
As Jim pulled away and was heading back to the loft, he couldn't help but think about what his friend had said. Even though things hadn't worked out with Carolyn and he had thought he'd never find love again, somehow, a neo-hippy witchdoctor punk had wormed his way into his heart with talks of Sentinels and the gentle ways he had helped Jim bring his out of control senses under control. Somewhere along the line, what started out as an unlikely friendship had grown into something more. He knew that Blair felt the same and he knew that the only thing stopping them was Jim himself.
Jim knew what could happen if anyone found out about him and Blair if they were to take their relationship to the next level. Jim was cop. Just like in the military, even though the force wasn't supposed to be worried about what their officers were doing in their bedrooms, all too often, prejudice tended to rear it's ugly head.
Jim pulled up to a red light. His thoughts strayed to his partner and all the things they have done together. As he thought about it, he realized that Blair was more than just his partner at the station or even just his Guide in all this crazy Sentinel business. Somewhere along the line, Blair had become a part of every facet of his life. And yes, he had even managed to find a place in his heart.
A honk from behind him, brought Jim out of his thoughts and only helped to bring about enlightenment. As the horn sounded again, Jim hung an illegal u-turn and headed in the opposite direction to where he knew he needed to be.
Jim pulled up in front of Hargrove Hall and made his way inside. Even as he headed down the hall to where he knew Blair was teaching Anthro 101, he couldn't believe he as really doing this. He wasn't a man of impulse, but somehow this felt right and that only urged him on.
Blair was just explaining the significance of the coming of age rituals of some tribe of Ethiopa when the door to the auditorium came open. Blair and all the students turned to see who had entered and Blair was more than surprised to see Jim standing there.
" Jim?" Blair asked, concerned.
Jim made his way down the steps toward Blair.
" IS everything alright?" Blair asked as he went to meet him at the bottom of the stairs as he tried to ignore the sudden interest of his students.
" Well, I've just come from Bobby's house. The funeral was today." Jim began his explanation. " As I was driving away, I began thinking about how fragile life is."
Blair started to say something, but Jim held up a hand.
" Just-just let me get this out, okay?" Jim pleaded.
Blair nodded, encouragingly.
" You see, Amy was his only love and then in an instant, she as gone. One minute, she was there and the next she was gone. Because some idiot decided to drive drunk, Amy is gone forever and Bobby had to buried his only love today. When you think about it, it could have easily been you or me. So, I've decided that there's no more time to waste." Jim paused, almost begging Blair to understand where he was going with this.
Now that he had begun this, he wasn't sure he could finish. And he couldn't believe that he was doing this in front of Blair's class, who were sitting on the edge of their seats. He also didn't miss the look of hope in Blair's eyes and the slight blush that had appeared on his face.
" I mean, most of the time, I drive off before the sun comes up and I get home after the sun's gone down. There's so much I wanna do with you and I can't always be around. That was Carolyn's biggest complaint."
" You're a cop, Jim. I knew what I was getting into when I started riding with you. You've always been there when I've needed you." Blair argued.
" But how many times have I not been there? Time's stolen too much away from and when it's gone we can't get it back." Jim pleased as he stepped closer to Blair and slowly brought his hands up to cup his face, gently.
Even as the tension grew, he was aware that the students were encouraging him.
" What are you saying, Jim?"
" What I'm saying, Blair, is that if you'll let me, I wanna take you home, open a bottle of wine, turn the lights down and maybe turn on a little music." Jim whispered.
" I'm gonna wrap my arms around you and rock you all through the night. But most of all, I'm gonna love you like it's the last day of our lives."
Blair couldn't stop the tears of happiness that filled his eyes.
" I've waited forever to hear those words from you forever."
With that, Jim pulled Blair in for a passionate kiss as the class erupted in cheers for their teacher, who all had seen the chemistry between the teacher and the police detective.
" Class dismissed. We've got some time to recover." Blair smiled without ever taking his eyes off his partner.
As the class left, the students each offered their congratulations.
" So, what now?" Blair asked.
" Well, like you said, it's time to regain some lost time. I talked to Simon and I have the weekend off. What say you get someone to cover for you and we take a long weekend?" Jim suggested.
" That's the best idea you've had in a long time." Blair agreed as he took the liberty of stealing another kiss.