You Can Find Anything.... 11/?

------------------------------------

THE NEXT MORNING:

"I need you here. Both of you."

"I get that, Simon, but what am I supposed to do? I can't just ask Sandburg to leave Naomi here alone."

"She won't come back with him?"

"I explained this, Simon. Peter and Naomi are bonded as Sentinel and Guide, but it's a brand new connection, which means it's fragile. They can't be separated right now and we can't just leave them to figure all this out on their own. I know it's a hell of a request, but.... if anyone can manage it you can."

"Yeah, yeah. any more butter from you and I'll have to go find some popcorn. I'm not guaranteeing anything..."

"I know."

"It'll take at least a week to get everything pushed through. Maybe longer."

"The two of them will need time to settle in and start training anyway. Thanks, Simon."

"Don't thank me. I haven't accomplished this bureaucratic miracle yet."

"You will."

"You pray. Go pack your bags and get ready to come home."

"See you in a couple days." Jim replied, punching the off key on his cell phone and grinning wildly.

"What's that smile for?" Blair asked as he strolled out of the bathroom freshly showered and shaved, but still buttoning his shirt.

"It's hopeful, Chief. That's all."

"No it isn't all. I can see that much in your eyes."

"I just got the ball rolling on something with Simon. Let's go have breakfast, come back an' get packed and then find Pete and Naomi. We have things to discuss and plans to make."

--------------------------------------

LUNCH TIME: THE STATION:

"Can I help you?"

"Yeah. We're looking for Detective Caine. I'm Jim Ellison, this is my partner Blair Sandburg."

"Detective Skelany, nice to meet you. Pete's over at his desk bitching and licking his wounds." Skelany informed them, pointing behind her.

"Oh, no. What'd he do?" Blair chuckled

"Not him, me. I warned him if he got himself in trouble in that warehouse I'd wipe the floor with his ass. Maybe now he'll believe I keep my promises."

Blair now gave her a full grin.

"Ohhhh. So.. what'd *you* do?"

"Took him into the department gym first thing this morning and knocked his block off in hand to hand practice."

The two men both smothered their delighted responses when they saw Peter glaring at them. Jim thanked Skelany and the pair moved off toward Peter's desk.

"We better talk to him an' get him outta here for a while, Chief."

"Yeah. By the looks of the shiner on his right eye, he could be planning a nasty bit of revenge. Peter. Hey, what's up, man?"

"Half my face." He responded bitterly.

Blair smiled sympathetically.

"I can see that. Your friend told us about the gym. You feel like gettin' outta here and drowning your sorrows?"

"Depends. In what?"

"I don't know.... how about a double cheeseburger and a triple thick chocolate shake? My treat."

Peter glanced at his watch then looked back up, a pleased grin gracing the un-bruised side of his face. Jim stared at his partner in shock and confusion. "What?"

"I cannot believe you just suggested that, Sandburg."

"C'mon, Jim, since when have I been against occasional comfort food? Don't I make you my Mexican mac and cheese casserole when you're sick?"

"Only when it's a cold and only because I can't take medicine and the hot salsa helps clear my sinuses...."

"Wait a minute, not two months ago I went out and bought you a whole pint of Chubby Hubby because you had a headache...."

"You said that was to stop me from whining, which I wasn't doing by the way..."

Sensing the argument could go on for hours if he let it, Pete sighed, stood and moved around the desk, stepping between the other two men.

"Guys, guys... enough, okay? Man this is not looking good for my future relationship with grease and salt." He chuckled, though there was a dejected undertone to the sound. Jim slapped him gently on the back and confirmed his fears as they headed out to lunch.

"No... no it doesn't. Just don't let her take over the cooking. If you make that mistake you'll be drinking algae and eating boiled bulgar wheat and tofu for the rest of your life...."

"Algae? The stuff they clean off pools and fish tanks? You have *got* to be kidding me."

"Wish I was, bud, wish I was...."

---------------------------------

After picking up Naomi and deciding on a restaurant where everyone could satisfy their lifestyle of choice, the group finally sat down and began to peruse menus. His taste-buds set for a hamburger, Peter quickly chose one from the brief list and laid the folder aside. When the waiter approached, he ordered his usual, but hesitated in the middle at a dark look from Blair.

"Double cheese burger. Make it pepper jack and smother it in chipotle barbe.... cue. What?"

Blair shook his head imperceptibly. Peter got the message, but wasn't happy about it. "Spicy fries?"

Another head shake. The younger man scowled blackly and changed his order.

"On second thought... just the cheeseburger, but salt it well. And plain fries. One of your extra thick shakes, too."

"Nothing on your burger, sir?"

"No." he replied sourly.

Once the others had ordered and the waiter left, Pete confronted Blair, but quietly to keep the other patrons unaware. "Okay, what was that about?"

"Taste is a sense, Pete. Until you start learning control, anything can overwhelm you; bright light, loud noise, intense flavor.... you just have to be careful for a while. After you've been working on it a few weeks, you can start slowly introducing things back into your diet, but there may always be one or two that are too much. Those you'll have to let go of permanently."

The others made light conversation until the waiter brought their drinks, but Peter slumped a bit in his chair and sulked, constructing a depressing mental list of all the beloved foods he would have to do without until he had some training under his belt. When his shake was placed before him, he straightened and reached for it eagerly, his mood improving at the sight of something he *could* still have. Before Blair could speak, the other had drawn a considerable amount up the straw and into his mouth; in fact it was too much too fast. Simultaneously, the cold fluid ignited an ice cream headache and the chocolate blasted across his tongue and over his palate. In seconds he was submerged deep within the duel sensations. The room around him dissolved into a haze of intense brightness and flickering shadows and Peter slipped away.

"Pete? Damn, we told him about this last night...." Jim growled.

"He had way too much to absorb. We knew he wouldn't be able to hold onto everything. He's also as stubborn and impulsive as you are. Must be a Sentinel thing...." Blair mumbled back, reaching over to pull the straw from Peter's mouth and fingers.

"Can you get him back?"

"No. It isn't my job." He said, turning to his mother with a piercing gaze.

Naomi blanched and pulled back in her seat.

"No... I haven't.... I don't know how...."

"You do know. You're his Guide, Naomi. Noone can tell you how to do this.... and noone needs to. Do what feels right."

"Blair...."

"I believe in you. Go on.... use your connection. Reach him through the bond, mom. You can do it..."

Her expression filled with terror and uncertainty, Naomi moved her chair closer to Peter's and grasped his still hands with her trembling ones. When the waiter approached, concerned about the suddenly silent young man, Jim explained the situation away as a mild epileptic seizure and the other retreated.

"Peter.... come back. It's alright now, darling. It's safe. Everything's just fine...."

"That's it, mom. Good.... keep going."

---------------------------------

Trapped inside his own mind, seeing only shifting columns of fog and smoke, Peter flailed at the insubstantial walls of mist around him, frantic to find a way out. Once he'd worn himself out trying to escape on his own, he finally remembered the lessons he'd re-learned while moving through the forest of his childhood.

% be at peace, my son..... quiet your mind..... open yourself completely.... knowledge, wisdom, direction; all will flow to you as easily as water if you are at peace....%

Gradually, Peter calmed his anxiety. Spreading his feet a little and dropping his chin to his chest, he worked to slow his racing heart and began to listen for the voice that would lead him back to the world. As his pulse dropped closer to normal, no longer pounding and roaring, the sound he was searching for reached his ears.

{Peter... Peter, don't do this, please. Come back to me. Focus on my voice and follow it, just like you did before. You can do this. Try, Peter..... I told you I'm not giving up on you and I meant it, but you have to try!}

Grudgingly, Peter's eyes finally shifted beneath his lids and his hands curled and uncurled against the tablecloth.

"Peter? Oh, thank God... you're alright."

"Wha... what happened?"

"You zoned."

"You mean... that thing you were talkin' about last night... actually happened?"

"Yeah. You were out for almost an hour. I told the waiter to make our orders take-out." Jim explained.

"God, my head hurts.... an' I'm so tired I can hardly move."

"Hit me that way the first time, too. You shouldn't go back to work."

"I have to. The warehouse stake-out's been reset for tonight....."

Naomi caressed his hand tenderly, but the look in her eyes was stern.

"No arguments. If Jim says you need to go home, you go home."

"Actually.... why don't we all take our meals back to the hotel?" Blair suggested. "Jim and I have some things we wanted to talk over with both of you."

"You don't get it! I've worked my ass off to get on this stake-out team. That stupid panda ruined it last time, I'm not blowin' it off again."

Standing, Blair rolled his eyes and sighed.

"Cops.... inflexible, infuriating .... Neanderthals! How have I lived with you for over two years without killing you?" he asked Jim just before stalking out of the restaurant.

Jim sat back on his chair and released a sigh of his own.

"Pete.... how do you really feel right now?"

"I'm tired... okay, I'm dead weight, but I'll get better...."

"Trust me, you won't. Not right away, anyhow. After my first zone, it took three full days before I was back to a hundred percent again. Call your Captain and beg off."

"All I have to do is sit in a car!"

"And if the perps show up and you can barely stumble, never mind run? If your arm feels so heavy you can't lift it to point your weapon?"

"Damn it...."

"I know how hard it is to stay awake on stake-out when it's been a normal day. Right now, you're no good to anybody. Come back to the hotel, we'll eat, we'll talk.... then one of us will take you home."

Reluctantly, Peter nodded. One arm around Jim's shoulder he shuffled to the register where the other man collected and paid for four plastic take-out containers. Together the trio joined Blair at the curb and they all took a cab back to the hotel.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------

TBC.......