Chapter 4
When Corey Fawkes, Maria's sister and guardian, entered Magnus' office the next morning, it was obvious to Blair that she had been crying recently. In fact, she looked very much like a woman whose heart was breaking.
"How is she?" Magnus asked, hurrying to her side.
Corey shook her head. "I can't even get a response from her anymore. She's in so much pain…"
"We'll bring her back to you," Helen promised, grasping her shoulder. "This is Blair Sandburg and Jim Ellison."
She smiled weakly at the two men. "Helen says you're experts on Maria's condition?"
"We have some experience with it," Blair confirmed.
"I used to be exactly where your sister is now," Jim confided. "Senses out of control; I thought I was going crazy. Don't know where I'd be today without Blair here."
"Then you can help her?" It was almost a plea.
"We'll do everything in our power," Blair assured her. "Can we see her now?"
Corey nodded and Magnus led them to the hastily-converted cell where Maria was staying. It was dark and padding had been secured to the walls. All the furniture had been removed.
Maria Fawkes was curled up in a corner of the room, hugging her knees to her chest. She had completely stripped. Her eyes were wide open, staring sightlessly, and her face was a mask of pain. Jim took a quick step backwards when he saw her, looking sick. Well, he had had bad spells like this in the past himself; he knew exactly what the poor girl was going through.
"How long has she been like this?" Blair asked.
"It happened overnight," Corey answered, looking stricken. "I fell asleep near dawn, woke up about twenty minutes ago and she was like this. I tried to get her dressed again but she just started screaming that it hurt too bad. Then she just… shut down."
"Her senses are out of control," Jim said. "Blair, you need to engage her, talk her back down."
"I don't think that's going to work," Blair answered. "She's in pain, probably panicking. No way she's going to be able to control herself. We need to remove as much stimulus as possible so she can settle down." He looked up at Magnus. "Helen, I don't suppose you have a sensory deprivation tank on-site?"
"As a matter of fact, I do. We'll have to get it out of storage, but it shouldn't take more than a few minutes to set it up. Detective Ellison, I could use your muscles, if you don't mind."
"Blair?" he asked.
"The three of you get the tank set up. Corey and I are going to try to calm her down a little bit in the meantime. Close the door on your way out."
"Wait a second," Will protested.
"Doctor Zimmerman," Blair answered, shaking his head at the psychiatrist. "Every extra person in this room creates about three extra pieces of stimulus for her. She's overwhelmed as it is. I can understand you wanting to stay with your patient, but it's not in her best interest right now. You have cameras in the room? You can keep an eye on her that way."
"Fair enough." He left Blair and Corey alone with the girl, closing the door and casting the room into darkness.
"Okay," Blair said, drawing a breath to calm himself. He could do this, had to. "She sit in your lap a lot?"
"Used to. All the time."
"Okay, good. I need her in your lap now."
"I… I can't. Touching her makes it hurt so bad."
"I need you to trust me," Blair told her. "Familiar stimulus should act like white noise to her right now, block out all those nasty externals."
"Are you sure?"
"Pretty sure," he told her.
"Okay, okay." He heard her fumbling in the dark, heard a whimper of protest from Maria. Then, "I have her."
"Good, great. Just hold her. Touch her face. Let her smell you. All that can make everything else disappear." Hopefully.
They both listened as the girl's ragged breathing slowed.
"She's relaxing," Corey announced finally. "I can feel her muscles relaxing."
"You're doing great, Corey," Blair told her. "Just think about how much you love her, how wonderful she is. Let all those good vibes just wash right over her."
"Are Sentinels psychic, too?"
"No more than you or I are. But they're still human. They know when they're being loved. You tell me if that's psychic or not."
They sat on the floor in silence, Blair trying to stay close enough to comfort Corey without agitating Maria.
"Sensory deprivation's just a stop-gap, isn't it?" Corey asked after a few minutes.
"It is," Blair agreed. "It's easier to control yourself if you're calm. It's not a solution, just a tool to help us achieve one."
"Helen told me you worked with two Sentinels in the past. She said one… didn't make it. Ended up in a mental hospital?"
"She was too far gone when I discovered her. She'd led her entire life without anyone to help her or guide her or even just tell her that she was normal. Maria's life won't be like that, Corey. She's got a sister who loves her, and you both have me and Helen and Doctor Zimmerman to help you."
"I'm so scared."
"You won't always be," he promised. "You'll grow to see the glory of it, too. Your sister, she stands to help a lot of people, to be a very real force for good."
"How did you learn all of this?"
"Mostly by the seat of my pants," he admitted, smiling at the memories. "But they were good times. I got to watch Jim grow into a whole new man. Just like you'll get to watch Maria grow into a healthy, happy woman."
The door of the cell opened and Magnus announced, "The tank's ready."
Maria buried her face in her sister's hair at the light, but let herself be carried into the elevator and transferred into the tank of warm salt-water.
In very short order, Magnus, watching Maria's progress on a monitor, announced, "She's asleep."
"Oh, thank God," Corey whispered, smiling weakly at Blair. "She hasn't slept properly in days. Thank you, Doctor Sandburg."
"It's Detective, not Doctor, and you can call me Blair," he told her, patting her shoulder. "When's the last time you had a decent night's sleep?"
"Don't know. Before this all started, I guess." She shrugged.
"Go get some sleep," Blair directed. "We'll keep an eye on Maria and come get you when she wakes up."
"Oh, I couldn't," she protested.
"You'd better," Jim advised, giving her a firm look. "Your sister needs you healthy. Don't worry. We'll look after her."
"We'll wake you as soon as anything changes," Will promised, nodding encouragingly. "Go ahead, Corey. You've earned it."
She hesitated, then seemed to almost crumple. She was clearly exhausted. She looked defeated and relieved at once. "Thank you all. I really can't thank any of you enough…"
"We've just got started," Blair answered. "Give us time, then you'll be really impressed. Now go get some rest."
"What do you think?" Jim asked Blair after Corey had left the lab.
"I think… we have our work cut out for us," Blair admitted.
Jim grasped his shoulder. "I've got faith in you, Chief."
"That makes one of us."
"I never would have thought of that strategy," Magnus told Blair. "I would have done everything in my power to minimize outside stimulus. Introducing her sister into the equation would never have occurred to me."
"It was pretty clever," Will agreed. "White noise. Nice."
"It was a calculated risk," Blair told them. "It could just as easily have backfired."
"But it didn't," Jim pointed out, slapping him on the back. "The sister was so familiar she just drowned everything else out, like you sometimes do for me when it gets bad." He grinned. "You've still got it, Chief."
It was like old times, giving advice on the basis of information that was limited, flawed, and sometimes downright wrong. Blair had forgotten quite how much guesswork was involved in coaching a Sentinel through their ups and downs. It was scary, especially with a child's sanity on the line.
"Well," Magnus announced. "There's not much more to be done here for now. Jim, I believe Will had some questions for you. Blair, if I might have a moment of your time?"
Jim looked more than a little reluctant to say anything at all to the psychiatrist. Blair sympathized; Jim disliked the police shrink, too. Being analyzed was just too close to being labeled for his comfort. Some things did not change, no matter how long you spent living with them. Poor Jim was still scared of being labeled a freak.
"I'm sure he just wants some insight so he can help Maria down the road," he murmured for Jim's ears alone.
The Sentinel seemed mollified by this suggestion. Although he still looked a little agitated, he followed Will from the lab.
"Ashley tells me that you're as accomplished at gunplay as you are at flirting," Magnus remarked to Blair once they were alone.
Blair winced. "Yeah, sorry about that. But you meet a pretty girl and you have to at least try. I was actually on my best behavior last night."
"I see," she answered, looking amused.
"Nothing happened," he assured her. "We mostly just talked about guns."
"Oh, don't misunderstand me," Magnus answered, shaking her head. "Ashley's a grown woman, entitled to any affair she sees fit. I can hardly complain about her taste in men when my last serious lover was Jack the Ripper."
Blair stared, but she went on as if she had said nothing odd.
"I merely assumed that your relationship with Jim must be monogamous."
Here we go again.
He sighed. "I'm not Jim's lover. The man has better taste than that."
"You aren't involved? I apologize."
"Doesn't matter. You're not the first person to jump to that particular conclusion, and you won't be the last. It doesn't help that we do actually appear to be soul-mates. And I love the man, I do. I'm pretty sure he loves me, too. But none of that makes us lovers."
She frowned. "Why ever not?"
He shrugged. "Personally, it's just never mattered to me. We have a great relationship; we're everything to each other. Not a lot else matters. Besides, I suck at relationships. Never seemed worth risking what I do have with Jim."
"Then there is an attraction?"
"A physical one? Never really thought about it before. He's a good-looking man, sure. But his soul's what kept me coming back for more all these years." He regarded her thoughtfully. "I'm assuming these questions have a point?"
"I'm merely considering the nature of the connection between a Sentinel and Guide."
"As in, if they're supposed to be lovers, Maria's age poses a problem?"
"Among other considerations," she agreed.
"I think the sister has the potential. She's certainly the logical choice."
She nodded thoughtfully. "From everything I've seen, the two exhibit a more-than-human level of empathy with each other."
"That's really all it takes," Blair told her. "The fact that she's familiar will help, too."
"Yes," she agreed. "It certainly solves many of the problems." With clearly-forced nonchalance, she began, "I know you've said that Jim will resist any attempts I might make to examine him, however…"
"No way." Blair shook his head. "Ask if you want, but he's not likely to agree, not unless there's some emergency with Maria. And if I catch you manufacturing one…"
"My methods are not so heavy-handed," she assured him. "I was actually hoping or permission to do a few tests on you."
"Me? I've told you, I'm nothing special."
"I would beg to differ, Blair. You are as remarkable as Jim in your own way. Would you object to a few brain scans?"
He shrugged. "Guess it couldn't hurt anything. But, obviously, Maria's going to take precedence with me. I can't sit on my ass while she's still struggling to bring her senses under control."
"No, of course not. But afterwards?"
"Sure, but I don't know what you expect to find."
"You appear to be an extreme empath. I'd be surprised if your brain's structure and function were perfectly normal. Empaths I've studied in the past have a completely different baseline profile of their brainwaves."
"Don't know that I actually do qualify as an empath," he answered. "I mean, sure, I'm attuned to Jim's moods, but I've never noticed anything similar with anyone else."
"That bears examination in and of itself. Are Guides born or made? Does your brain work differently when you're around Jim or does he merely broadcast on a wavelength that you're predisposed to receive?"
"Never thought about it," he admitted with a shrug. "But I love the way your mind works."
"It could be an important distinction, one that ultimately allows me to help Corey guide Maria through her life as a Sentinel."
"If you think it'll help Corey and Maria, I'm in. That kid deserves not to have to go through what Jim did."
"This job is always more difficult where children are concerned," she sighed, glancing at the computer screen. "It becomes too easy to lose objectivity."
"There's nothing wrong with being a little subjective at times," Blair told her. "We're dealing with human beings here, Helen. They have needs that can't be met if you maintain a strictly scientific stance on their treatment. They're patients: human beings, not bundles of symptoms."
"I know. In many ways, they would be easier to treat if the human condition were not a factor." She shrugged, seeming to shake off her gloom. "At all events, that's why Will is here. He helps me keep a human perspective."
"You really need help with that?"
"At times. I've been doing this for longer than you could imagine."
"You're not that old, grownup daughter aside," he answered. "Try me."
"I'd rather not. A woman's entitled to some secrets, after all. Isn't age traditionally one such secret in this country?"
"And that's my cue to change the subject." He gave her an apologetic smile. "So, those brain scans showing you anything useful about Maria?"
"Nothing particularly unexpected." She typed quickly and the waveforms on the screen were replaced by a series of imaging scans of the brain. "You can see from these lit areas that she displays hyperactivity in all the sectors of the brain generally associated with sensory perception. I'm forced to conclude that her senses themselves are nothing extraordinary. Where she differs is in her ability to perceive stimulus present at subaverage strength. With the proper drugs, I believe I could replicate this condition precisely in anyone."
"You're saying everyone has the potential to become a Sentinel?"
"Not without serious intervention. Maria, and no doubt Jim, have a genetic predisposition to greater brain activity in certain regions. Including this one here," she added, pulling up another image and pointing to the screen.
Blair stared at it for a few minutes, trying to dredge up memories of an undergraduate Neuroanatomy class he had only taken because it satisfied two General Studies requirements instead of just one. He remembered a lot of it, knew precisely what sense each of the lit-up areas controlled. But the one she was pointing at eluded him.
"I don't know what that area is for," he admitted finally.
"That's because medical science fails to acknowledge the existence of the sense this area regulates," she told him, giving him a mysterious smile.
"The sixth sense," he realized, amazed.
"Precisely," she agreed, nodding. "It's almost inactive in normal humans. But almost every time you've ever had a 'gut instinct', this region has been active."
"That might explain Jim's built-in lie detector…"
"Quite possibly, it also explains his initial affinity for you. He would have been aware from the beginning, if only on a subconscious level, that your intentions were good."
"I'm not sure I'd describe what happened in our first few meetings as 'initial affinity'. The man slammed me into a wall the second time we met."
"So I read," she answered, raising an eyebrow. "But the point is, with nothing to prove that you were anything other than crazy, with no evidence whatsoever of your good intentions, he came to see you again after a rather disastrous first meeting."
"He thought he was going to see someone else."
"Did he?" she asked, smiling. "You think a Detective of Jim's ability failed to recognize that he was walking into what was, for all intents and purposes, a set-up?"
"Damn. That's… a pretty fair point, actually."
"I know you believe that fate and chance played equal roles in bringing the two of you together, but I stopped believing in coincidence many years ago."
Blair considered her words. "I may have to rethink my own stance on the subject," he admitted finally.