Author's note: A big thank you to my reviewers. I'm sorry I haven't updated sooner, but real life doesn't understand about the need to write.
***
Jim stood with Blair by the man's bed in the hospital. The tests run hadn't found anything wrong with him, though not all of the test results had come back yet. Jim was just wondering how he could have known he was a sentinel. Only Blair and Simon knew, and neither of them would have told anyone.
Soon the man began to come round. With a barely audible groan, he curled up into a ball, jamming his hands over his ears and screwing his eyes shut, an expression of pain on his face. Blair was looking at Jim, but Jim just kept staring at Dr Jackson. It was as though he found the hospital room to bright and too noisy.
He could understand why. The stench of antiseptic was terrible for his heightened sense of smell, and the beepings of all the machines were beginning to drive him mad. It seemed as though this man was feeling the same thing he was, only worse.
Because he hadn't learned to dial down his senses.
Was it possible? Was this man lying in a hospital bed another sentinel?
"Dr Jackson?" Jim asked, "Can you hear me?"
"'Course," the man replied so quietly Jim had to turn up his hearing, "you're yelling."
"I'm not yelling," Jim said as quietly as he could, "your hearing's too sensitive. I need you to picture a dial in your mind. That's your sense of hearing. It's way too high at the moment, so you need to turn the dial down. Can you do that?" The man nodded, and in a few moments the expression of pain faded.
"Now do the same for sight. Turn that dial down." They ran through the process for each of his senses until the doctor was able to open his eyes and look round in a confused manner.
"I'm trying to find a way to say this that isn't too corny, but I can't. So, where am I?" Jim grinned at Dr Jackson's attempt at humour.
"Cascade General Hospital."
"Cascade? As in Washington State? How the hell did I get here?"
"You walked into the police station and collapsed. I'm Detective James Ellison. You know Blair Sandburg."
"Hamburger, of course," Dr Jackson grinned. Jim looked questioningly at Blair, who was staring at his feet in an embarrassed manner.
"Hamburger?"
"Don't ask," Blair said, "please, don't ask." Jim decided to leave it be for now, he'd find some way to get the truth out of Blair later.
"You don't remember coming to Cascade?" Jim asked.
Dr Jackson shook his head. "I was at work, translating this tablet that we'd found. Then I started going dizzy and feeling. . . weird. Janet, she's my doctor, said that I should take a few days of work. Jack took me home and. . ." He swore.
"What?"
"I kissed him."
"I take it that's not good."
"He's my best friend, my straight best friend. That was probably the stupidest thing I've ever, probably even more stupid than that damn lecture."
"What damn lecture?" Jim had to ask.
"The one where Daniel here decided to tell the world that aliens built the pyramids."
"I never said aliens," Dr Jackson protested, "all I said was that they were built far earlier than we thought, before the Egyptian culture was firmly established enough for them to have built them and with technology far in advance of what the Egyptians had for a considerable time." Dr Jackson began to go on, but Jim already getting lost and cultural cross-pollination wasn't as fascinating for him as it was for Blair.
"Can we get back to the subject in hand?" Jim asked, "What happened after the kiss?"
Dr Jackson's forehead creased with concentration as he strove to remember, "Jack freaked out and left, then I. . . I remember feeling I needed to go somewhere, but that's it. Everything else is blank until I woke up here."
"You came into the police station and said something to me in the language of the Chopec Indians," Jim said, "Do you remember that?"
Dr Jackson looked, if possible, even more confused. "I don't speak Amazonian dialects."
"Well you did."
"What did I say?"
"'Sentinel, help me.'"
"Sentinel?" Dr Jackson thought for a bit. "A sentinel would be a tribal protector with heightened senses, right?" Jim nodded. "I take it you are one?" Jim nodded again. "Sweet."
"And so it would appear are you," Jim said. Dr Jackson looked at him in a puzzled manner, and then nodded.
"So it would appear."
"Have you had any experience with heightened sense in the past?" Jim asked.
"No," Dr Jackson replied, "never. The first time was when I was translating that tablet."
"What tablet?" Blair asked.
"It was something found in a temple in a jungle, that said something about sentinels. I can't tell you what exactly, because I never got to finish the translation. But I don't think my senses going haywire at the same time as reading this tablet can be a coincidence. Maybe the tablet somehow did this to me." Jim noted that he didn't mention which jungle the temple was in, but he let that pass for now.
"Someone can't be made a sentinel," Blair explained, "you either are one, or you're not. It's in the genes, so unless this tablet of yours can alter DNA, you're a sentinel." Dr Jackson didn't say anything in answer to that, but Jim got the distinct feeling he was hiding something.
"Well, I can't say I object to having super powers," Dr Jackson said with a grin, "I just hope my friends won't be too jealous."
"You can't tell anyone!" Jim said quickly and firmly. The man in the hospital bed looked a little startled at his abruptness.
"Don't worry, I wasn't planning on announcing it to the world. But there are some people who have to know. Janet for instance, my doctor, she'll need to be told that she has to take care about my senses. And my team, we trust each other about everything." Jim assumed he meant an archaeological team.
"You'd trust your team with your life?"
"I already have done. And we all know the importance of keeping a secret."
"I think Jim's right," Blair said, "it's better that they don't know unless absolutely necessary. We trust the people at the precinct, but we haven't told them."
"I can't just hide things from my friends, not something this important anyway."
"Remember, Daniel," Blair said, "it's not just your life at stake. If the government found out about sentinels you and Jim, and possibly me as well, would end up being taken off by the NID or some other alphabet soup organisation."
"Trust me, my friends have no love for the NID." Jim frowned in confusion at that one, and shot Blair a questioning glance, but Blair seemed as ignorant of the meaning as he was.
Blair was the one who eventually broke the awkward silence following Dr Jackson's declaration. "It'll probably take you a while to get the hang of your abilities, so you should probably stay with us for a few days. That's all right, isn't it, Jim?"
"Sure, Chief," Jim responded, "You sort out the arrangements for his discharge while I make a phone call." He went outside the hospital. Dr Jackson might not be able to control his senses very well yet, but he didn't want to risk being overheard. He needed to talk to Simon.
He felt a little guilty that he'd pretty much forbidden Dr Jackson from telling anyone, when they'd let someone in on the secret. It wasn't quite the same, since Simon had found out on his own, but it still made the situation a bit awkward.
"Banks," Simon said as he answered the phone.
"It's Ellison, have you found out anything about Dr Jackson yet?"
"I've had a few searches run but I've got very little. Almost everything about his life falls under the category of Top Secret. It seems he works for the government." Jim felt dread seize him. He'd just told someone working for the government about his abilities. What if Dr Jackson's sentinel powers were an act? What if even now government agents were on their way to take him and Blair into custody?
***
Jim stood with Blair by the man's bed in the hospital. The tests run hadn't found anything wrong with him, though not all of the test results had come back yet. Jim was just wondering how he could have known he was a sentinel. Only Blair and Simon knew, and neither of them would have told anyone.
Soon the man began to come round. With a barely audible groan, he curled up into a ball, jamming his hands over his ears and screwing his eyes shut, an expression of pain on his face. Blair was looking at Jim, but Jim just kept staring at Dr Jackson. It was as though he found the hospital room to bright and too noisy.
He could understand why. The stench of antiseptic was terrible for his heightened sense of smell, and the beepings of all the machines were beginning to drive him mad. It seemed as though this man was feeling the same thing he was, only worse.
Because he hadn't learned to dial down his senses.
Was it possible? Was this man lying in a hospital bed another sentinel?
"Dr Jackson?" Jim asked, "Can you hear me?"
"'Course," the man replied so quietly Jim had to turn up his hearing, "you're yelling."
"I'm not yelling," Jim said as quietly as he could, "your hearing's too sensitive. I need you to picture a dial in your mind. That's your sense of hearing. It's way too high at the moment, so you need to turn the dial down. Can you do that?" The man nodded, and in a few moments the expression of pain faded.
"Now do the same for sight. Turn that dial down." They ran through the process for each of his senses until the doctor was able to open his eyes and look round in a confused manner.
"I'm trying to find a way to say this that isn't too corny, but I can't. So, where am I?" Jim grinned at Dr Jackson's attempt at humour.
"Cascade General Hospital."
"Cascade? As in Washington State? How the hell did I get here?"
"You walked into the police station and collapsed. I'm Detective James Ellison. You know Blair Sandburg."
"Hamburger, of course," Dr Jackson grinned. Jim looked questioningly at Blair, who was staring at his feet in an embarrassed manner.
"Hamburger?"
"Don't ask," Blair said, "please, don't ask." Jim decided to leave it be for now, he'd find some way to get the truth out of Blair later.
"You don't remember coming to Cascade?" Jim asked.
Dr Jackson shook his head. "I was at work, translating this tablet that we'd found. Then I started going dizzy and feeling. . . weird. Janet, she's my doctor, said that I should take a few days of work. Jack took me home and. . ." He swore.
"What?"
"I kissed him."
"I take it that's not good."
"He's my best friend, my straight best friend. That was probably the stupidest thing I've ever, probably even more stupid than that damn lecture."
"What damn lecture?" Jim had to ask.
"The one where Daniel here decided to tell the world that aliens built the pyramids."
"I never said aliens," Dr Jackson protested, "all I said was that they were built far earlier than we thought, before the Egyptian culture was firmly established enough for them to have built them and with technology far in advance of what the Egyptians had for a considerable time." Dr Jackson began to go on, but Jim already getting lost and cultural cross-pollination wasn't as fascinating for him as it was for Blair.
"Can we get back to the subject in hand?" Jim asked, "What happened after the kiss?"
Dr Jackson's forehead creased with concentration as he strove to remember, "Jack freaked out and left, then I. . . I remember feeling I needed to go somewhere, but that's it. Everything else is blank until I woke up here."
"You came into the police station and said something to me in the language of the Chopec Indians," Jim said, "Do you remember that?"
Dr Jackson looked, if possible, even more confused. "I don't speak Amazonian dialects."
"Well you did."
"What did I say?"
"'Sentinel, help me.'"
"Sentinel?" Dr Jackson thought for a bit. "A sentinel would be a tribal protector with heightened senses, right?" Jim nodded. "I take it you are one?" Jim nodded again. "Sweet."
"And so it would appear are you," Jim said. Dr Jackson looked at him in a puzzled manner, and then nodded.
"So it would appear."
"Have you had any experience with heightened sense in the past?" Jim asked.
"No," Dr Jackson replied, "never. The first time was when I was translating that tablet."
"What tablet?" Blair asked.
"It was something found in a temple in a jungle, that said something about sentinels. I can't tell you what exactly, because I never got to finish the translation. But I don't think my senses going haywire at the same time as reading this tablet can be a coincidence. Maybe the tablet somehow did this to me." Jim noted that he didn't mention which jungle the temple was in, but he let that pass for now.
"Someone can't be made a sentinel," Blair explained, "you either are one, or you're not. It's in the genes, so unless this tablet of yours can alter DNA, you're a sentinel." Dr Jackson didn't say anything in answer to that, but Jim got the distinct feeling he was hiding something.
"Well, I can't say I object to having super powers," Dr Jackson said with a grin, "I just hope my friends won't be too jealous."
"You can't tell anyone!" Jim said quickly and firmly. The man in the hospital bed looked a little startled at his abruptness.
"Don't worry, I wasn't planning on announcing it to the world. But there are some people who have to know. Janet for instance, my doctor, she'll need to be told that she has to take care about my senses. And my team, we trust each other about everything." Jim assumed he meant an archaeological team.
"You'd trust your team with your life?"
"I already have done. And we all know the importance of keeping a secret."
"I think Jim's right," Blair said, "it's better that they don't know unless absolutely necessary. We trust the people at the precinct, but we haven't told them."
"I can't just hide things from my friends, not something this important anyway."
"Remember, Daniel," Blair said, "it's not just your life at stake. If the government found out about sentinels you and Jim, and possibly me as well, would end up being taken off by the NID or some other alphabet soup organisation."
"Trust me, my friends have no love for the NID." Jim frowned in confusion at that one, and shot Blair a questioning glance, but Blair seemed as ignorant of the meaning as he was.
Blair was the one who eventually broke the awkward silence following Dr Jackson's declaration. "It'll probably take you a while to get the hang of your abilities, so you should probably stay with us for a few days. That's all right, isn't it, Jim?"
"Sure, Chief," Jim responded, "You sort out the arrangements for his discharge while I make a phone call." He went outside the hospital. Dr Jackson might not be able to control his senses very well yet, but he didn't want to risk being overheard. He needed to talk to Simon.
He felt a little guilty that he'd pretty much forbidden Dr Jackson from telling anyone, when they'd let someone in on the secret. It wasn't quite the same, since Simon had found out on his own, but it still made the situation a bit awkward.
"Banks," Simon said as he answered the phone.
"It's Ellison, have you found out anything about Dr Jackson yet?"
"I've had a few searches run but I've got very little. Almost everything about his life falls under the category of Top Secret. It seems he works for the government." Jim felt dread seize him. He'd just told someone working for the government about his abilities. What if Dr Jackson's sentinel powers were an act? What if even now government agents were on their way to take him and Blair into custody?
