Spirit Animal Tales V
By PaBurke
Summary: Dean is a Sentinel and it's not all that easy.
Spoilers: All of Sentinel, Season 4 of Supernatural
Disclaimer: None of the characters belong to me.
~sntl~spn~sntl~spn~
"Chief?" Jim called when he entered the loft. No answer. He extended his hearing and could not hear his guide's heartbeat. He glanced around and saw the note on the coffee table. He could read it from the entrance but walked closer because surely that was wrong: gone to library. Jim grumbled as he took off his shoes, lined the heels up against the wall and hung his coat on the hook. His keys were placed in their basket and his gun was placed in a drawer. He went into the kitchen to start dinner. It was supposed to be Blair's turn, as he hadn't been called into court and into meetings with the DA until dark. Then when Jim had stepped out of the police station into the rain, he had heard some woman being mugged. Seriously, what idiot mugged someone that close to a police station? Jim had chased down the mugger and dragged his ass back to the police station and then had to fill out the paperwork.
He was wet and tired and had been looking forward to a hot meal. Blair had better have a good reason for running off to his favorite spot on campus while Jim had suffered all day. The librarians had never shunned Blair, leaving the Sentinel with the uncomfortable thought that they too believed that the dissertation had been truth. Jim tried not to think about it. Instead he looked into the refrigerator for something that would take too long to make. There was beef broth leftover from some big batch Blair had made last weekend. Good enough. Jim poured it into a pot to heat up and then clean up plenty of vegetables and cut up a lot more meat than Blair would have added. He dumped it all into the pot, adjusted the heat, grabbed a beer and headed for the couch.
He picked up the note again and this time sniffed it. He smelled… Blair, happy, excited, determined. Blair was on some sort of mission, probably sentinel related since he should have called if it was related to the most recent case Simon had assigned to them. Blair shouldn't be in trouble.
Then again, this was Blair.
Jim knew that if Blair was truly in the library than he would have turned off his phone, as to not annoy the librarians. The librarians controlled too much information for Blair to causally annoy them. And there was aforementioned reason. There was another way Jim could check on his guide, but he hated doing it.
And if Blair ever found out how easy this was for Jim he would flip.
Jim closed his eyes, breathed in - breathed out, held his breath for a moment and repeated the procedure. Then he opened his eyes and looked around.
His panther was lying by the doors to the balcony, awake and unconcerned. So Blair was fine. For the first time, Jim felt a twinge of guilt that he hadn't told Blair that he could go looking for his spirit guide at any time. Jim always grumbled when the panther showed up as part of premonition or a warning. Why would he go looking for the damn furball? Jim's first instinct was to investigate whatever himself. He would go looking to a mute animal for help only as a last resort. Blair would cheer that he was 'embracing his spirituality' and then he would e-mail the Guide-Sentinel brothers. It was that other Sentinel that made Jim wince. It would have been nice if someone had explained the pros and cons of spirit guides long ago. And if the other Sentinel figured out something about the senses, Jim would appreciate an e-mail in return. Jim was the first to admit that he didn't know everything about being a Sentinel. There was a huge chance that the other Sentinel would be able to figure out some shortcut that Jim could use. Jim wanted the other Sentinel to e-mail him when that happened.
A steady, familiar thrum echoed in Jim's head. He let himself smile for a moment before hiding it behind stern frown. Blair was talking to himself during his climb up all the flights of stairs. He was still pretty excited and determined. He was muttering about translators and being complacent in his own education. Jim always worried when Blair started talking like that. Jim worried that Blair would want to give up being a cop and start his education over at a different school.
Blair bustled into the loft like a hurricane. He was talking to Jim way too fast. Jim caught an apology for the lateness and an exclamation of dinner being ready. Blair talked about new data and resources as he pulled two bowls out of the cupboard and ladled the soup into both. Jim sat up a bit to accept the soup and spoon that Blair brought out to him.
It wasn't until Blair took a sip of the broth that Jim could get a word in edgewise. "So Chief, you wanna tell me what you're so excited about?"
Blair bounced and sloshed hot soup onto his shirt and pants. He immediately had to set down the bowl and go rinse of his clothes. He talked to Jim the whole time. Jim caught a couple more words then before. Mostly names: Sam, Dean and someone named Bobby.
Blair bounced back into the living room, still flying high.
Jim held out a hand on Blair's soup to forestall him. "Darwin, slow down. Before you spill dinner over you again. What's got you in a dander?"
"Sam e-mailed me. They've done practice and he recorded it and they told a friend of theirs that they trust. They didn't give him our names, but they didn't need to because of the dissertation. Turns out their friend, Bobby, had done a tiny bit of research about Sentinels 'cause he can read Japanese and in Sentinels are mentioned in their culture too."
"Darwin, breathe," Jim ordered.
Blair glared a bit, but obeyed the command. And he was off again. "So Sam and Bobby found some books about Sentinels in several oriental cultures but all of the references are in those languages because they are primary sources. They e-mailed me a list, but I need to find someone I trust to translate everything, or I have to trust Bobby's translation because I really don't want anyone at the university connecting you, me and Sentinels together and believe you me, they will if I start asking for translators under the table. 'Course I have to get a hold of those books, but can you imagine?"
Jim nodded once since Blair looked so enthusiastic and was waiting for his reaction. "Sounds interesting."
Blair waited a beat and burst out, "Interesting! Interesting? Is that all you can say about research that can make your life better, that might have more information about how to live and more information on how I might be a shaman?"
Jim moved his hand, so that he lifted up the bowl and handed it to his guide. "It's dinner time," he told Blair. "Obviously, you can't get any further on your research tonight. You should eat and then try to tackle the problem more later."
Blair mutinously glared at Jim and the soup. "I should be online trying to buy the books and having them shipped here."
"Eat first," Jim told him. "You don't want to spill soup on your computer, as well. And it's not as if someone is going to buy up the books you need in the twenty minutes it'll take you to eat dinner."
Blair didn't look convinced. Jim was sure to pay for his disinterest later, even if (or especially because) he was yanking Blair's chain now.
Jim used his spoon to point at the soup. "Eat. The research can wait."
*sntl*spn*