I don't own the Sentinel.

Edited: 10 April 19

Chapter 14

Jim ensured the door was locked when he left, not that there was much point now, but long standing habit and the principle of the matter ensured the lock was turned and the door firmly shut. Plus, he didn't want anyone wandering in while Blair was still unconscious and vulnerable. True, Hedrick hadn't gotten his call out so there was no reason to expect anyone else, but it was always better to be safe than sorry. He turned from the door to make his way back to the truck, but couldn't move forward due to the large panther sitting in the way of the stairwell.

Jim felt his blood chill as the panther stared at him. It did not look happy, in fact, it looked angry and disappointed.

"It's not going to work out," Jim said almost too low to hear, "This is the best option at this moment."

The panther growled.

"It's not that I don't like him, I do, but I don't know him enough to risk spending the rest of my life in a home or on a leash. Besides this will be safer for him anyway, now they can't accuse him of helping me."

The panther snorted and continued its accusing stare.

Jim opened his mouth again when he realized that he was wasting time arguing with the cat, when he had very little time to spare in the first place. "If you don't like it, you can stay here," Jim said, stepping over the cat with caution and hurrying down the stair case.

Jim took the stairs two at a time, gauging how far he could get before Blair would probably wake up. He hadn't hit Blair nearly as hard as he hit the doctor so Blair could be coming round at any moment. What Blair did after he woke was another matter, but Jim was willing to bet that the Guide wouldn't call the authorities in on him. He might follow, him, though, if Blair knew where to go. Jim grunted to himself as the echo of his steps followed him down the stairs. Blair would definitely follow him. Luckily, Blair didn't have a car.

Hedrick, on the other hand, would definitely call in reinforcements from the GSC which, while problematic, was not as bad as having the police called on him. Jim trusted Blair would be able to prevent any immediate police involvement with a counter story to any possible claim of assault Hedrick reported. It was a shitty situation to leave Blair and Jim regretted having to, but better than the Guide trashing his life with Jim's.

Before leaving, Jim gave serious consideration to tying Hedrick up, but ultimately decided against it. Tying up Hedrick would just make explaining more difficult for Blair. Plus, right now, the only charges Hedrick could legally bring against Jim was that possible assault charge. With the attack coming from behind and the only witness being Blair, there was wiggle room Jim could use if necessary. Restraining the doctor would be more difficult to explain and probably get his fellow officers of the law involved that much more quickly. Jim never planned on being around to face any charges one way or another. He planned on a clean get away, but this kept his options open for plans C, D, E, and however many plans he needed after that if he didn't get away. It was a calculated risk and hopefully one that would give him more options than not later on if things got worse.

Jim ripped the outer door opened and stormed across the parking lot to his truck, angry at himself, Blair, Hedrick, and the whole situation. The doctor was in the wrong. Jim knew he hadn't broken any written laws. Jim was perfectly within his legal rights to withhold his abilities from the public if not the police force for safety purposes, but sometimes it wasn't just about written laws. Jim knew this from years of working in the legal system and his time in the military. People got away with things they legally couldn't do all the time and Jim could tell when the cards were stacked against him even if the law was technically on his side. He wrenched open the door to his truck and threw in his bags. He climbed in the driver's seat and slammed the door behind him.

Jim turned on the truck but hesitated at putting it into gear. Blair was right about at least one thing, leaving now would be throwing away all of his hard work, not just his career but his home as well. Everything he'd done and been through would be in vain. His frustration boiled up until he couldn't contain it anymore. He hit the steering wheel, yelling a curse.

Like Blair said, it wasn't fair that Jim was the one running. Hedrick was the one who should be in trouble. Jim was sure he could think up half a dozen charges to file against the doctor, starting with unlawful entry into Jim's home. In theory the law should have been on Jim's side but the doctor was right that it was teetering. The GSC had a lot of connections and resources behind it and managed to bend the rules in their favor a little more with each new incident. Jim wasn't sure if this push would make everything better or that much worse and he wasn't ready to take that risk. There were too many other people out there in his exact same situation, Sentinels in hiding and living their own lives without the restrictive grip of the GSC around their throats. If Jim went to the authorities, reported what was happening, revealed what he was, he could very well open other Sentinels to the danger of exposure. If the GSC pressed the matter and won public opinion and started a witch hunt then it wouldn't be just him losing his freedom, but every other Sentinel that was found as a result, not that there was any difference to that than what would happen now if discovered.

Jim huffed a sigh. He was damned no matter what he did.

Blair would probably say something about Jim protecting his tribe through his actions. Jim couldn't deny that he did feel protective toward the other Sentinels out there, but because he knew what they were going through, not because of some biological imperative.

Shaking his head, Jim threw the truck into gear only to stop yet again as he spotted the wolf sitting behind his truck in the middle of the parking lot. Turning back to the steering wheel, Jim steeled himself and backed the truck up and pulled out into the street. He barely left the lot when he caught a gray colored movement in the passenger seat by the corner of his eye. Jim didn't need to look to know the wolf was sitting casually in the seat staring at his every move. Clenching his jaw, he rolled his eyes and put all his attention on getting out of the city as quickly as possible.

Jim pulled out onto the highway, eyes focused on the road ahead of him and not at the unwanted passenger whining in the seat next to him. He hoped, despite his previous experiences, that if he ignored the wolf the thing would just give up and leave him alone. If it was anything like the house cat, though, he was going to be stuck with his stowaway for the foreseeable future.

A few moments of silence came and Jim couldn't help letting his eyes slide over to check if the mutt had left. It hadn't. The wolf noticed, ears perking up from their relaxed position and a high pitched whine renewed in vigor. Jim snapped back to the road even as the mutt shifted around and rested its snout on Jim's arm, staring up at him with pleading eyes. Jim couldn't decide if this was worse or better than the cat. The panther was quiet but intense and infinitely patient. It fixed its penetrating gaze and stared, unwavering and unblinking until it felt its message had been received. This mutt, however, was insistent. It didn't have the patience of the cat, seemed a little younger in all honesty, but the slightest move in indication you knew it was there set off the high pitched whine again. And it stared up at you with big blue eyes like you were the most horrible creature in the world for ignoring it.

Jim didn't know why the wolf was here and not the cat. He understood lees about spirit guides than he did about normal Guides. However he did know this tag-teaming bullshit was not playing fair. He knew how to handle the cat, mostly, but the wolf was working off a whole different set of rules.

"Dogs man's best friend my ass," Jim grumbled, unthinkingly glaring down at the wolf. He grimaced as the action set off a whole new round of pitiful whining.

"Oh shut up," Jim finally said, rolling his eyes, "It's not like you're being murdered. You didn't have to be here. You wanted to come along. You can poof yourself away whenever you want."

The wolf sat up straighter in the seat and looked pointedly behind them before turning to stare at Jim. They left the city limits miles back and the suburbs fell away in favor of fields and ever denser forests.

"We're not going back," Jim said in a firm voice, "You can if you want, teleport or whatever it is you do, but I'm done. I can't go back even if I wanted to. Hedrick and the GSC'll put me in a glass cage."

The wolf snorted and shook his head in a quick motion.

Jim shook his own head in return. "Blair'll be having his own troubles keeping his Guide certification if they figure out he's been covering for me. That's not even considering the shit storm I just left him with Hedrick unconscious on the floor. He's smart. He'll figure out something to explain it…Hopefully, he'll have enough sense to keep his mouth shut about the whole Sentinels hiding thing. They'd claim mal-practice or whatever they call it on him if they find out… I don't know." Jim glanced in the rearview mirror, then back to the road. "Like I said, Blair's good at the obfuscation thing. He'll figure out something to tell them and then he'll be free to go on his personal crusade for the rights of all hidden Sentinels." Jim wondered if he was trying to convince the wolf or himself.

In truth, if Jim had to have a Guide he would have picked Sandburg. The man was competent and knew what he was doing and he wasn't completely annoying to be around even if he did have his moments. They worked well together when all was said and done, but it all was a moot point when taking in the fact that Jim did not want a Guide. Besides, with his luck the GSC would assign him a different Guide, one that was supposed to keep him in line and keep him and Sandburg completely separated. That was the way the GSC worked, after all.

The mutt whined again. Then, it shoved a cold, wet nose into Jim's ear.

"Mmf!" Jim grunted in surprise, jerking the wheel at the unpleasant feeling. "That's enough!" he said, pushing the muzzle out of his ear and away from him. "I don't care if you don't like it! Neither do I! But there are some things that you can't change in life."

The dog let out a half hearted growl before whining again and looking up at him with huge eyes. Jim sighed, feeling more depressed than anything at the moment. The gas light suddenly blinked on, distracting his gaze with the bright red light. Next to it, the gauge read empty almost completely down to the capitol E. He couldn't remember if he had filled up recently, but he didn't usually let it get so far down. He threw a sidelong glance at the wolf sitting next to him. Up ahead, there was a sign for a gas station coming up on the next right. Jim frowned at the coincidence but threw his signal on and moved over to the right.

"If you've had anything to do with this you're staying here," Jim growled as he pulled into the sparsely populated gas station. Could spirit guides do something like this? Jim hoped not but wasn't sure. No matter how much he tried to reassure himself he couldn't throw off the feeling that the wolf had something to do with it, and probably that blasted panther as well. They were spirits, but they seemed real enough when they wanted to be. He knew he was probably being paranoid, but something told him things weren't going to work out the way he'd planned. Either way, he needed gas. He'd fill up and then be on the road again in no time.

XXXXX

Blair woke up to a twelve piece band playing in his head and the strange sensation that someone was licking his face. He groaned and pried his eyes open to find an ice blue gaze staring back at him. For a moment, he couldn't decide whether he was dreaming or not as he stared at the black panther crouched down in front of his face. Besides that, he could tell that he was lying on the floor. The hard wood flooring stuck to his cheek and behind the large cat the door to Jim's room framed his view. Blair frowned as he failed to come up with any reason why he would be on the ground. The panther licked his face again and events suddenly came back in a rush.

Hedrick at the apartment, Jim attacking Hedrick, Jim leaving…

With a curse, Blair pushed himself to a sitting position despite his spinning head and refocused on the Panther sitting in front of him. It stared at him with those blue eyes, Jim's eyes, he recognized suddenly. With a gasp Blair realized the cat was no remnant delusion from a head injury.

"You're Jim's spirit guide," Blair breathed, hardly daring to speak above a whisper incase the panther disappeared.

Staring at the cat, Blair thought of all the times he'd seen Jim glancing under his desk or muttering under his breath. He'd had his suspicions before but he'd never expected to come face to face with the reality this way.

Spirit guides were highly controversial among Sentinel studies experts. There was next to no documentation of them in modern time. Most of the references to spirit guides in general came from earlier accounts on Sentinels in early tribal societies. Most Sentinels questioned today either agreed it was simply an old wives' tale or refused to talk about the subject on a whole. Coming face to face with one himself, Blair still wasn't sure if this was real or just his scrambled brains projecting delusions.

"But…Jim's gone," Blair said, confused why the panther would still be there if it was real, "Shouldn't you be with him?"

The cat pushed itself to sitting upright staring intently into Blair's eyes.

"Unless…you want me to find him," Blair said, starting to feel hope again.

If he had Jim's spirit guide on his side then there wasn't much the Sentinel could do about it.

Blair gingerly pushed himself up to his feet, taking a moment to steady himself against the door frame. He cautiously felt the back of his head, surprised to find a much smaller goose egg than he was expecting. From the head ache he currently had, it felt like it should have been much bigger. The panther waited halfway down the stairs, looking back at him with expectation. Blair slowly followed down, hand on the railing to keep from toppling over. He couldn't do anything if he got himself killed falling down the stairs.

A quick scan of the room showed what he already knew, Jim was gone. The clock showed maybe ten minutes had passed since their argument. Dr. Hedrick was still unconscious on the floor. Clearly, Jim had hit him much harder than he had hit Blair. At least Hedrick was breathing just fine, so that was something.

Blair sunk down to the couch unsure what to do. The panther was hovering near the door, its tail twitching with impatience. Blair looked over. He knew what the cat wanted. It wanted him to go after Jim, talk some sense into the man, and go with him if that failed, but he couldn't think of a way to feasibly do that. He didn't have a car. By now Jim and his truck would be on the highway heading to Heaven knew where. There was no way he could catch up short of stealing a car.

Suddenly, the cat was right in his face, blue eyes staring unblinkingly. Blair jerked back his heart stuttering in his chest. He hadn't heard the cat move. Of course, it was a spirit and a panther to boot, didn't get much stealthier than that. The cat was obviously trying to tell him something, but Blair was new to this whole world of spirits and spirit animals. Jim might have been able to tell what the cat wanted and thinking of how he'd seen the Sentinel holding muted conversations with the underside of his desk that was more than likely, but he had more experience. He knew what the cues were. Blair was still trying to get over the shock of…everything, not just waking to a spirit licking his face.

The cat growled low in its throat, pulling Blair's eyes down to it.

"What?" he asked, frustration getting the better of him, "I know I need to get to Jim, but how? I'm not going to catch him walking!" Maybe sassing the spirit of a large and dangerous predator wasn't smart but Blair was at his wit's end and really didn't care.

The cat snorted then padded across to the still unconscious doctor, pawing at the man's jacket until a set of keys fell out.

Blair was fairly certain he didn't need a translator for that. He got up, still a little unsteady on his feet and followed over to Hedrick. It occurred to him that this could well end his career. Helping a Sentinel hide would be enough but now he could be linked to assaulting Dr. Hedrick, even if he didn't actually do anything. Maybe he'd be able to talk his way out of it, he probably could if he stayed and helped the doctor. Jim had given him a way out if he wanted it. The bump on his head could prove he hadn't helped Jim get away. He could use that to tell the authorities all sorts of things.

The panther was sitting by the door now, looking smug and a little impatient. It obviously knew what Blair was going to do. Looking down at the keys, Blair knew, too. When he'd found out about Jim, Blair hadn't turned him in to the GSC. At first, it was only going to be a temporary thing until he could convince Jim to go in himself. Now he couldn't want that life for Jim. He wasn't entirely sure he wanted that life for any Sentinel. The system was more broken than he could have thought if Sentinels were actively hiding from them, if something like that could happen.

Jaw hardening, Blair bent down and took the keys. What the Hell, he thought, he'd always wanted to jack a car.

The panther spun and bounded through the door, Blair following close behind as purpose helped clear his head. Depending on when Hedrick woke up, he had maybe another half hour before the doctor reported his car as stolen and the cops started looking for it. Hopefully, he could find Jim before that. He really didn't fancy adding running from the cops to the list he was building. He had a job, though, and he wasn't going to let anyone stop him.

XXXXX

Blair was never going to steal another car in his life. Every police car he saw, every cop on the street he passed, every pedestrian that glanced at him seemed to know he was driving a stolen car. It was like he had a giant neon sign hanging on the door, though every time he checked he couldn't see it. He just waited for the blue lights to appear in his rearview mirror. He didn't know what he would do if that happened, probably slam down on the gas and die in a spectacular fiery crash after a short high-speed chase through the streets of Cascade. There were several tense moments when a cruiser followed him through three stop lights and two turns but they parted ways when Blair got on the highway.

Blair breathed a sigh of relief when he finally left the city. It was only then that he realized he had no idea where he was going. He'd been so worried about being caught he hadn't been paying attention to where he was going, just heading for the highway with the assumption that's where Jim would go. Now, suddenly, he found himself heading out of the city suburbs. Blair glanced over to see the panther still sitting calmly in the passenger seat. It was gazing intently through the windshield, like it was hunting its prey. Blair felt sorry for Jim all of a sudden.

The cat probably knew where it was going, at least Blair hoped so. He assumed the cat would let him know if he made a wrong turn, preferably without biting his head off.

Blair drove into the towering pines that stood past the suburbs and near the mountains. He drove on the highway with no indication that he was heading in the right direction, but more importantly with no indication he was going the wrong way. Until, that is, he passed a small gas station.

The panther snarled bearing its very long teeth and making a tiny lunge at Blair so suddenly Blair jerked, slamming on the brakes and burning the tires on the road. Thankfully there were no cars behind him otherwise he wasn't sure they would have survived. Well, he wasn't sure he would survive, Blair corrected himself as he dropped his forehead onto the steering wheel and attempted to get his breath under control. The cat would have probably survived just fine, damn it.

The growling brought Blair's head back up but this time the panther was looking behind them back at the gas station. Its eyes were fixed in that intense stare that reminded Blair a little of Jim. When he thought about it the panther and Jim were actually quite similar, but another growl brought his focus back on the task at hand.

"Right, gas station," Blair said, flicking on his signal and slowly turning in the road to head back. He vaguely wondered when his life had come to the point where he was taking directions from a spirit panther.

Blair pulled into the gas station moving at a crawl after his sudden and unpleasant stop in the road. He had a feeling the cat didn't like that very much, but if that was the case then it had to learn not to almost give him a heart attack and cause car wrecks. There weren't many cars at the station. Rush hour was over and the traffic had dwindled down to a trickle. However, pulling into the parking lot, Blair's eyes immediately fell on Jim's truck parked sitting at a one of the back gas pumps. Blair pulled around to a spot next to a large SUV in the side parking.

As soon as Blair stopped the car, the panther leapt out, dropping through the door and circling around to wait for him. Blair exited the car slower than the cat. Now that the moment was on him, he wasn't eager to just jump out from behind a building and confront the Sentinel. Jim had knocked him unconscious almost an hour ago. Plus, he had no idea what he was going to say to Jim, now that he thought of it. He needed to come up with something good enough to convince Jim to come back or take him too.

Blair hurried up to the back corner of the building, peering around to the truck where he would be able to see Jim cross from the store to the truck. There was no one inside the truck so Jim had to be in the store. The panther strolled out past the corner then turned to look at him. After seeing that Blair wasn't following this time, it seemed to shake its head before trotting around and out of sight. Blair waited a moment, running through different arguments for his cause, how he was going to approach the whole confrontation. There had to be something he could say or do. Perhaps he should be more forceful, put his foot down and refuse to let Jim just leave without him. He couldn't picture that turning out any different than it did in the apartment. Maybe he should just handcuff himself to Jim's truck, then swallow the key, if he had handcuffs. He could just hide in the bed of the truck and hope the man with the super hearing didn't notice him. Blair was still debating between these equally poor options when a voice behind him nearly sent Blair out of his skin.

"Bair, what the Hell are you doing here?"

XXXXXXX

Jim was so focused on the people in his immediate vicinity he almost missed it. He didn't recognize that telltale thumping that gradually grew louder until he saw the house cat stroll out from the side of the building and in through the door. The wolf yipped in delight and bounded to the panther, circling it before coming back to Jim.

Jim stopped and glared at the cat. He didn't like the smug look it had on its face at all. "Where have you been?" he asked, just barely remembering to step behind a rack of junk food and lower his voice. He still received a strange look from the cashier despite his efforts. "Probably up to no go-"

That was when Jim recognized it. Blair's heart beat right outside the door and around the corner. The damn cat had gone behind his back and ratted him out. Jim ground his teeth, glaring at the cat and then down at the mutt that was panting happily by his side. Both of them were in on it. Well two could play at that game, Jim thought. He didn't appreciate spirit animals trying to plan out his life any more than the faceless GSC. He couldn't run from them, but he could at least try and make Sandburg go away. Granted, knocking the man unconscious didn't work, but if at first you don't succeed, try different tactics.

Turning back around, Jim walked back to the counter and the increasingly suspicious looking clerk. "Do you have a back door to this place?"

The teen seemed to hesitate until Jim leveled a glare at him and he pointed to a white painted door with an "EMPLOYEES ONLY" sign hanging from it.

Jim was through the door before the teen could even comment. He hurried through a poorly furnished stock and break room. The chairs and table took up most of the free space not taken by boxes of chips and jerky. Jim had to consciously not push the chairs out of his way too hard for fear they would break apart from more abuse. The only other door in the room with a faded red exit sign was heavy but opened on well-oiled hinges. He followed the heartbeat around to the side.

Blair stood half peering around the corner. Probably waiting for Jim to come out from behind the building to ambush him, Jim thought.

"Blair, what the Hell are you doing here?" Jim asked, taking more pleasure than he should in the way Blair jumped and spun around in surprise.

For a moment, Blair floundered, guilt at being caught apparent on his face. Then he rallied and straightened his shoulders. His face grew hard and his jaw was set, stubbornness rising in every part of him. Jim raised his eyebrows, waiting for the shoe to drop. This wasn't going to be pretty.

"Jim," Blair said, then stalled.

"What are you doing here?" Jim asked again, jumping into the brief moment of hesitation while Blair tried to think of what else to say.

That seemed enough to prod Blair into continuing. "What do you think?" he asked, "Looking for you! What do you mean just leaving like that? You can't give up so easy!"

Jim shook his head and glanced over to the cat and mutt. The two spirits sitting nearby watching the growing argument like a tennis match did not help his temper. A car pulled up to the open gas pump, camping gear strapped to the roof. Jim jerked his head and led the way to the backside of the store. The woods stood at the edge of the cracked parking lot, a rusty and dirty dumpster the only other thing in the back lot. Jim moved so they were well concealed by the building and then turned to face Blair.

"We already went over this," Jim ground out when he was sure of their privacy.

"No," Blair said, growing more stubborn by the minute, "You went over it. You took one look at the situation, panicked, and left!"

"Panic had very little to do with. You don't fully understand the situation," Jim said, pacing away, trying to control his temper. This complication was costing him valuable lead time to get away from the city.

"He was in your home without your permission. He was in the wrong. You could charge breaking and entering and hold him accountable for that at least no matter what he did later on," Blair said, gesturing with his arms.

Jim scowled, forehead furrowed and eyebrows drawn together. "That sounds all well and good in theory, but it won't work. You have a key I gave you. You've been staying at my place for weeks. If you brought a friend over from the university, I could not claim he broke into my place if you let him in, just like making that claim stick in this situation will not work. I've seen enough domestic disputes to know how these things end up! Besides, as soon as he told everyone what I am all of that wouldn't have mattered."

"But the law-" Blair started to argue.

Jim cut him off before he got any farther. "The law doesn't matter!" he barely restrained his yell, "The rules are different for people like me. It's an unofficial double standard and the law will get changed to reflect that soon enough." The last part just came out defeated. Jim sighed, scrubbing both hands over his face. Several moments of silence followed. "How did you find me?" Jim asked in a heavy voice then frowned in confusion.

"Actually," Blair said, pride shining from every inch of him as he straightened his shoulders, "the panther showed me." He pointed to the cat sitting with a smug smile and staring pointedly at Jim.

For a moment, Jim could only stare, first at Blair, then at the spirits. "You...you can...you can see him?" he finally managed to push out.

"Well, there's two of them now," Blair said, eyeing the wolf with uncertainty, "Where did the wolf come from? He is with the panther, right? He's…not…you know, a real wolf…"

Jim continued to stare, unable to string a coherent sentence together. No one had ever seen the panther before, besides him. He didn't know much about the whole spirit…thing. He barely understood it, but from what he read on his own it seemed most people didn't even think spirit animals existed. Certainly, the "experts" didn't and the Sentinels just didn't seem to talk about it. Though, Sentinels didn't seem to write anything in the academic realm at all. Jim thought others might have spirit animals based on the few observations and limited interaction he'd had with others in hiding. Still, he'd never heard of another person seeing someone else's spirit guide. Jim didn't think he liked the idea, at all.

When Jim still failed to answer, Blair shifted from one foot to the other. "The panther is your spirit guide, right?"

Jim nodded almost by rote, still unsure what to say. If Blair could see the cat, what did that mean? He didn't know in the slightest, but he had a sneaky suspicion he wouldn't like the answer when it came to him. "You can see him?" Jim asked again, wanting to be sure, "Both of them?"

Blair nodded, "Yes, Jim. I can see him, a huge black panther that could probably rip your throat out if it wanted to and a wolf. Is the wolf yours, too? Can a person have more than one spirit guide?"

Jim didn't want to answer about the wolf. He had an idea whom it belonged to since he already had the house cat. That really only left one other candidate for the wolf. Considering that the wolf had shown up shortly after Blair and the two fur balls had conspired to help Blair find him so soon after his escape, Jim had a very strong bet on the whole issue. He wasn't going to admit it to Sandburg, though. Instead, he just stared at Blair, trying his best to find a way to tackle the situation. Despite all of his planning and preparation for every contingency possible, this was one he hadn't anticipated. There had to be a way to make Blair leave, to turn around, use whatever method he had of getting there, and go back to town and let Jim continue on by himself to carve out a new life somewhere else.

Jim blinked, how did Blair get out of town?

"How did you get here?" Jim asked, the non-sequitor came out before he could really stop it, but he didn't mind. It would put off the looming chat about spirit guides that he was not ready for anyway.

"I told you, the panther," Blair said, rolling his eyes, but Jim was already shaking his head.

"No, no. How did you physically get here? I know the house cat didn't give you a ride on his back."

"House cat?" Blair snorted, eyes going wide, "That's what you call him?"

Jim glared and gestured for Blair to hurry and answer. Blair grimaced and opened his mouth but another sound filtered in before he could answer. Jim held up his hand to stop the conversation, tilting his head and listening. It was the sound of a police radio and a cop reporting sighting a stolen car. Jim took a deep breath and prayed for patience. The report was coming from close by in the parking lot. He moved to the corner of the building and pressed his back against it. He could feel Blair move behind him.

There, around the corner was a police cruiser. It wasn't from Cascade. It was a state cruiser, but that didn't offer any reassurance. The officer was out of the car and taking down the license number of a car parked on the side of the building. Jim didn't need to ask, he thought he had seen the same car parked in their lot back at the apartment. Still, he opened his mouth and spoke in a hushed voice to Blair right behind him.

"You stole a car, didn't you?"

"Ah," Blair said, all the confirmation needed in that one sound.

"You stole the doctor's car," Jim continued, the final piece falling into place. Blair more than likely didn't know how to boost a car without a key.

"Well, how was I going to follow you?" Blair asked in a rush making Jim turn around to face him.

"You were going to stay there and pretend like you didn't know anything about this whole thing. If you had any sense, that is," Jim ground out. He silenced the outraged retort coming from Blair with a hard look. "Now, as it is, I'll have to take you with for a little bit, BUT," he added as Blair's eyes lit up. "Only until we're clear of the police and know they're not blaming you for the car. Have you ridden in the car before?" There would be no reason to take finger prints of the car, but Jim didn't want to leave anything to chance if he could help it.

Blair thought for a moment then nodded. "The doctor gave me a few rides, but that was before I started working with the police department."

Jim shook his head, "Alright…It didn't sound they mentioned your name at all over the radio. I have a police scanner in my truck. We'll track what they're saying until we know for sure."

"As we make our get away?" Blair asked, far more excited than he should be.

"As we make our get away," Jim agreed through clenched teeth.

Jim turned and headed around the building. He ignored Blair following so close he almost tripped over Jim's heels. Jim ignored the cat sauntering along him with a smug smile and deep purr running in his throat and he ignored the wolf trotting just behind the cat, tail wagging with whiplash speed and tongue lolling out one side of his mouth. He'd carry Blair as far as the next town or two and then he'd dump him. The Guide could catch a cab back to Cascade or go somewhere completely different for all he cared. As far as Jim was concerned, they had already parted ways.

TBC…