Chapter 2

"I'm afraid it's going to be a bumpy flight," Magnus observed as they waited for boarding to start. A thunderstorm was raging outside the airport, promising turbulence.

"Hey, as long as this doesn't end with me in a parachute, it's an improvement over some of the flights I've been on with Jim," Blair answered, grinning at her.

Jim leaned over and smacked him on the back of the head. From the look of amused tolerance on Blair's face, it was a not-uncommon interaction between the two.

The two started arguing in a good-natured undertone and she watched, entranced. That there was a bond between the men was unquestionable. Its nature continued to elude her. Sometimes they acted very much like brothers, sometimes more like lovers. More often, it seemed beyond words, what the two of them shared.

Whatever it was, it troubled her. If this particular sort of connection was vital to the emotional well-being of a Sentinel, Maria Fawkes could be in serious trouble. A Guide would have to be found for the girl, one who could connect to her on the same deeply emotional level. But where?

"Helen?" Will murmured, no doubt picking up on her troubled state of mind.

"Nothing," she answered, shaking her head. "I think I'm going to go call Ashley."

He nodded at this, although she knew he was consciously allowing himself to be sidetracked. "Tell her I said 'hi'."

"I will," she promised, rising and pulling out her phone.

0101010

"Nice digs," Jim remarked as they pulled up to the converted Cathedral that housed the public portions of the Sanctuary. "Bet it's a bitch to heat in the winter."

Magnus grinned. "You don't know that half of it."

"Where do you guys get your funding?"

"I always find it easier not to ask," Will told Jim, giving him a conspiratorial grin.

"You should be warned," she told him, "not all of our residents appear entirely… human. Please be aware that they should still be regarded as such and afforded all the same basic respect and consideration."

"Beats how she introduced me to this world," Will noted.

She was a little worried how Jim might react, especially to Bigfoot, but he took one look, smiled, and shook hands with the 'monster'. Blair stared for a little longer, then went off on a tangent about 'wild men' in the folklore of various cultures. From the look on Jim's face, such tangents were nothing new.

Jim's reaction to Henry was entirely different. The young man was walking down the hall with his nose buried in a technical manual when their paths crossed. What might have been a nonevent suddenly became a faceoff. Before Henry had completely rounded the corner, Jim forced Blair behind his back and drew his gun on the startled-looking young man.

"Whoa!" Henry protested, holding up both hands. "Easy, man…"

Jim stared at him for a long moment before holstering his gun, looking equal parts unsettled and confused.

"Sorry. I, uh…"

"Jim?" Blair asked, touching his arm. "What is it, man?"

Jim drew a deep breath, leaning into Blair's touch. "Sorry. I could have sworn I smelled… well, a wolf. Sorry. Crazy, I know."

She stared at Jim as hard as Henry was. "Uh, this is Henry Foss, our technical support man."

"You're that Sentinel dude?" Henry asked, carefully lowering his hands. "I smell like a wolf?" He grinned, shaking his head. "Sweet."

"Henry's a werewolf," Magnus explained to Jim as the young man wandered off, admirably feigning nonchalance. She knew better; the poor boy was probably on his way to help himself to a few valium. "Quite harmless, I assure you," she added at Jim's look. "I found him in Britain as a child. He's proved an invaluable ally."

Jim considered this, looking for all the world like a man faced with a complete lunatic. Under the circumstances, she could hardly blame him. Different people accepted the truth at different rates.

"There really is more in Heaven and Earth than is dreamed of in your philosophy," she told him.

Jim gave a slow nod. "So it would appear."

"A real werewolf?" Blair wanted to know as they resumed walking to her office. "Full moon transformations and everything?"

He sounded like a child who had discovered that Christmas had arrived early. She smiled and shook her head, assuring him that she would tell him all about Henry another time. Jim told him not to wet himself. Blair did not seem to have a response to this, although he clearly spent some moments searching for one.

Magnus led them into her office and bade them sit.

"I know it sounds weird, but would it be possible for us to get rooms adjoining each other?" Jim asked as she issued orders to Bigfoot. "Helps keep me grounded."

"Of course," she agreed, nodding to Bigfoot.

"I'll see to it," he murmured, leaving the room.

"We'll have your rooms ready in a few minutes," she assured the two men, dropping into her seat. "Maria will be asleep by now. You can meet her in the morning."

0101010

Jim opened his eyes at the sound of his door opening. It took him less than a second to recognize the individual who had intruded on him.

"Blair."

"Yeah, man. What do you think?" Blair asked, sitting on the edge of his bed.

"I think this whole thing is crazy," he answered honestly. "Don't know what you were thinking, talking me into this."

"I was thinking that a kid needed our help. You think it was a bad idea?"

"Chief, there's a werewolf sleeping two doors down from me. You think it was a good one?"

"It's a crazy world, I'll admit. But it's also a world we've belonged to for years now. We just never knew it before this."

Jim sighed and shrugged, focusing on Blair's heartbeat. It was slow and methodical, the heartbeat of a man at peace.

Well, as much as Blair was ever at peace since Naomi's idiocy over the dissertation had forced him out of his world and into the almost totally foreign world of law enforcement. He managed, but it was not easy, not when many still saw him as an interloper and a fraud. He did his best, but Jim knew it was never easy for the younger man.

He did what he could to smooth Blair's way, but there were obstacles there, too.

At first, people had assumed that he was complicate in Blair's 'fraud'. Later, the dissertation fiasco was largely forgotten and Jim could get on with his life, but people seemed less willing to forget that Blair was an outsider, an interloper, and one who had an unnatural amount of sway over Jim.

Rumors about the cause of that abounded: many amusing, some just plain insulting. Both men did their best to ignore the chatter and get on with their jobs. It helped that Blair was a damned fine Detective and the two had some of the highest clearance rates in the entire PD, all that really counted with the brass.

"Jim?" the younger man asked at his continued silence, sounding concerned.

"I'm fine, Blair. Go and get some sleep," he suggested.

"Don't think so." Blair flopped back on the bed instead, rolling to face Jim. "This is huge, Jim, you do know that, don't you?"

"Yeah. Another Sentinel. Validation for you."

"Screw me. This means something for you, too. You aren't alone, man."

"I haven't been alone in a long time now," Jim answered honestly. "Go back to bed, Blair."

"Later. I know this isn't easy for you, Jim. I figured you might need to talk."

"Not a lot to talk about, Chief. There's a kid here who needs our help to grow up normal. Period."

"There's more to it than that and you know it."

"Not tonight, Chief," he sighed. "I don't need this crap right now. I agreed to do this for your sake. That doesn't mean I'm onboard with this freak-show or its staff."

"These people aren't freaks. Not any more than you are."

"Did you miss the guy with an extra face sprouting out the back of his head?" Jim demanded. "This isn't our world, Sandburg. Not by a long shot."

Blair rested his hand on Jim's forehead, and the Sentinel found himself relaxing in spite of himself. In recent years, the effect of Blair's touch had become more intense instead of less so. Maybe for no other reason than because, as time passed, they got to understand each other better and better.

"Just relax, Jim," Blair soothed. "Try to get some sleep."

It was hard not to be calm with Sandburg there and doing his Guide thing, so Jim closed his eyes and drifted into a restful sleep, secure in the knowledge that Blair would be there if he was needed.