You Can find Anything 12/?

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Once all four had finished their dinner, Peter seemed to have regained most of his energy, but Jim and Blair weren't fooled. They knew it wouldn't last more than another hour or so if he tried to do anything even faintly active.

"So? What was it you guys wanted to talk to us about?" Peter asked, sipping on a plastic cup of soda.

"Coming up to live in Cascade for a while." Jim answered directly.

"Washington? Yeah, I guess I could get take a leave of absence."

"That's not exactly what we're saying, Pete." Blair continued. "Jim talked to our captain, Simon Banks, and he's working out a transfer with your captain. Only if you agree of course."

"What? No way! I found my pop barely a year ago.... I like the people I work with here.... Forget it. I can't."

"No, what you can't do is handle all this on your own. You both need training and time to get to really know each other... to strengthen your bond. We've been through the start-up pains and we know how dangerous it could be to leave the two of you alone right now. Please.... think before you just refuse the offer out of hand."

"And if I think and I still decide I can't just pick up and leave?"

"Then I guess the only other option is for Jim and I to transfer down here for six months."

"Six.... This training could take that long?!"

"Maybe longer. It depends how attentive you are and how well you absorb what we try and teach you."

"If today is any indication, we may be here for the next two years." Jim grumbled under his breath. Blair, well accustomed to picking up his barely voiced complaints, half turned and responded.

"Please! Like you weren't the most stubborn, proud, cynical male on the planet when I found you..."

"You found me? That's rich! Remind me, junior; whose little half-way to condemned warehouse blew up 'cause he had no idea a street gang was running a drug lab in the building right next door?"

"I had my own life! What they did was their business!"

"Until their business went boom and took your so-called home with it." Jim smirked.

"That wasn't my fault, and you're damned right I found you!"

"Yeah? Who picked who out of a pile of rubble that used to be his life?"

"That would be me." Blair replied quietly and solemnly, his expression one of absolute conviction. Stunned, Jim's smile faded rapidly as the truth of Blair's statement struck home. " 'Course it's you too. We were always meant to be Sentinel and Guide, Jim. We would have found each other eventually, no matter what got in the way. Who gives a damn if I got peanut butter on your chocolate or you got chocolate in my peanut butter?"

Slowly recovering his composure, Jim reached out and tousled Blair's curls roughly.

"You're right, kid. I'm sorry. It's just...."

".... been a tough few days. I know. I'm sorry too."

Peter and Naomi watched the interaction surreptitiously, while pretending to be engrossed in other things, then turned to each other.

"Look, ma'mm..."

"Lord, I'm not a hundred years old yet! My name is Naomi."

"Okay. Naomi... I don't know if I can ever get that close to anyone.... even somebody's who's supposed to be... whatever it is you're supposed to be. I was only twelve when I lost everything. My home was burned to the ground, I thought my father was dead. Since then I don't do real well at... committing to stuff. I have this bad habit of running before I start to care too much."

"But your job... and Kwai-Chang...."

"Exceptions to the rule, at least so far. I've been gettin' this bad feeling lately.... like it was time to let go before fate or whatever took it all away from me again...."

"If you're going to make a change, don't let your fear be the reason. Do it because it's the right choice to make and the right moment to make it. Listen to your heart, darling. Pay attention to what it's really telling you."

"I... I don't know how anymore...."

"Yes you do. Karma doesn't send anything back to us that we haven't earned, Peter. You were an innocent child, cruelly robbed of the only life you knew. That was a horrible thing, but you weren't left alone afterwards, were you?"

"No. I had a friend of my father's... another priest. I was only with him for about a year before he died, but he was really good to me."

"And after that?"

"I found a.... a great foster family." Peter told her, revelation slowly dawning n his face.

"You see? The universe keeps giving you gifts, sweetheart. Discovering your Sentinel abilities.... that's just one more. If your heart is saying it's time to move on, you need to look deeper than your fear and find the real reason."

"You mean.... just because one thing was stolen from me.... I let myself turn into this person who's so afraid of losing everything else I love.... that the risk got to be too much and... and I stopped caring."

Naomi nodded and took Peter's hands in hers.

"You let yourself be overwhelmed by fear of loss and you'll stay overwhelmed until you figure out the truth."

"What truth?"

"That you never really lost anything you weren't compensated for. Your home was taken, but you had one more year with a beloved teacher. You lost your teacher, but you were accepted and loved by a wonderful family. Because of that family, you were led into a job you obviously enjoy and excel at. The universe even saw fit to bring your father back into your life."

"Karma.... I don't believe in all that mumbo-jumbo, but... to hear you tell it.... I can't believe I'm sayin' this, but it makes some kinda weird sense."

Abruptly, Pete felt the eyes of the other two men boring holes in his neck. He turned and found both Jim and Blair staring at him intently, their jaws hanging slightly open as if a major revelation had just swept over them.

"What? What is it?"

Blair swallowed hard and looked at Jim briefly before replying.

"I... I never knew my dad. Mom wouldn't talk about him. She still doesn't."

"My mom left when I was a kid. It ended up the same way.... we acted like she never existed in the first place."

Naomi's own jaw dropped a little when she realized where the conversation was going. After a moment to regain her composure, she added her own contribution.

"My parents and I are... I suppose the kindest word is estranged. They were well-positioned in our community.... they never approved of my life and the way I felt I needed to live it. Once he was old enough, I encouraged Blair to write to his grandparents and to my brother and sister. The two of them and all his cousins still keep in close touch, but Mother and Father chose not to make the effort." Naomi admitted, swiping away an escaped tear.

"Hey, don't do this to yourself, mom. It was their loss. I'm okay with it and I have been for a long time."

"I know, sweetie. I'm not crying over their ignorance. I think I'm starting to see a paisley here, that's all. You know I always get emotional when one of those comes along...."

"Yeah. I'm seeing it too, mom." Blair replied, grinning.

"A paisley? I just know I'm gonna regret asking, Sandburg, but what, besides the world's ugliest fabric, is a paisley?"

"It's just Naomi's word for a pattern in the universe or the natural world that you never noticed before. It hits like a flash, and all of a sudden you see how things fit together that you thought didn't, or you realize that something in your life that seemed to be a negative was really just ordained and meant to be and WHAM! in, like, a flat second you accept whatever it is you've been fighting against for so long and you incorporate it into your being, no muss, no fuss. It's not that unusual a concept, actually. Almost every culture in history has developed a word or a pictogragh that kinda means the same thing...."

At this point Jim reached out and gently placed both hands over Blair's mouth. The younger man smiled sheepishly behind the flesh gag as the lecture he was warming up to cooled off again.

"You done?"

"Yesh, Jmm."

"Good."

As Jim retrieved his hands, Peter gazed at Naomi in wonder.

"If Ellison hadn't done that.... how long would the kid have kept on?"

"No telling. There was a night... we were spending the summer in Tibet, if I recall.... Blair spoke for an hour straight, barely giving himself space to breathe. The monks wanted him to stay and show them his method of breath control. They thought it would improve their singing, I think. They were stunned when he said he didn't really have a technique. Noone had ever let him talk as long as he wanted to before and it just happened. Of course, they wanted him to stay even more once they heard that it was a natural quality, but I convinced them we had to go. I'd promised a friend we'd meet him in Bombay three weeks from the previous Tuesday and, I have to tell you, we barely made it on time..."

After receiving a curt nod of approval from Jim, Peter swiftly applied the older cop's method of gaining much-needed silence. Naomi quieted, then gazed at her Sentinel curiously. After a moment, she smiled and spoke as well as she could behind the fingers covering her mouth.

"Yesh, Peter."

Jim chuckled as Peter retreated.

"You learn fast, Pete."

"That's not what you thought a minute ago."

Jim's eyebrows went up.

"Practicing?"

"No need. I heard you loud and clear without using this... weird thing I've suddenly got. I'm a cop, remember? Observant?"

"Granted, but how's your memory? You made a decision yet?"

"Almost. I need to talk to my father and The Ancient.... straighten stuff out at work. God, sayin' goodbye's gonna be a bitch..."

"Your father will understand, Peter." Naomi assured him. "I think somehow that he knew this was coming."

"I wouldn't be surprised, but... it's not him. There's somebody at work I'm just startin' to.... get to know. I'm gonna have to do this goodbye in private, 'cause man.... they're guaranteed to send up a mushroom cloud when they explode."

Blair smiled.

"The dark haired one? With the great legs and the wicked hand to hand technique?"

Peter hesitated, but in the end he chose to lie, fearing the others wouldn't understand.

"Yeah, her. I've had people tell me I'm a pistol before, but her.... she's a 44. Magnum."

"No argument here." Jim said, rising and gathering the takeout containers, soda cans and plastic cups.

"We'll be here through late afternoon tomorrow." Blair informed Peter. "I know it'll take a couple weeks to get everything for the move taken care of, but.... if you at least make your choice...."

"I promise to....yahhhh.... to let you know." the young man confirmed, smothering an enormous yawn and forcing his eyes open a little wider.

Coming back from dumping the trash, Jim shook his head.

"Sorry, Pete. Looks we wore you out. Time to get you home."

"I keep tellin' you... arrrhnn... I'm fine...."

"Right. That dentist's-eye view of your back teeth just said different. I'll call a cab." Jim insisted, turning to pull the local phone book from the night-stand drawer. By the time he'd found the taxi listings, however, Blair was speaking softly to him.

"Jim... Jim, don't bother. Look...."

Ellison did and discovered Peter had toppled sideways on the bed and was snoring gently.

"Damn..." Jim swore quietly.

"Aww, he's cute. Let him sleep. I'm macho enough to share a bed if you are."

Jim grimaced and looked like he wanted to vent one or two much more colorful curses, but he gave in.

Half an hour after Naomi had been taxied back to the dojo and Jim and Blair had showered and climbed into bed, Peter cracked one eye open and lay perfectly still, allowing his eyes to adjust. Once he was sure the other men were soundly asleep, he slid off the bed, moved silently to the door and slipped out of the room. As he moved down the stairs to ground level, he pulled out his cell phone and dialed the number for his favorite taxi company from memory. When it arrived he directed the driver to get him back to the 101st precinct, where he retrieved his car and headed off to the stakeout site, noting gleefully, as he glanced at his watch, that he'd only be late by a few minutes at most.

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TBC....