Once again, thanks to everyone who is reading this! As always, you are all awesome! And thanks for all the great reviews. You make my day!

This chapter contains spoilers for Siege, The Debt and Love and Guns.

Late November 1994

"What do you mean there's nothing wrong?"

Blair winced at his partner's loud tone. The two men were seated in plush red chairs in a large office. Directly in front of them stood a large mahogany desk, littered with stacks of fat file folders. A marble pen stand with an engraved gold plate on the front proclaimed the owner's identity as James Aaron, MD cardiology.

The man seated behind the desk shrugged his shoulders, watching the enraged detective warily. Blair returned his attention to him, sensing that the doctor was about to speak.

"Detective Ellison, please keep your voice down. There are other patients in this office, and I would prefer that you did not upset my cardiac patients. I allowed you to be in this conference as a courtesy to Mr. Sandburg, but if you cannot control yourself, I will have to ask you to leave."

Blair glanced back at his partner and saw that he had the grace to blush.

"I'm sorry. Go ahead."

The doctor cleared his throat, adjusting wire rimmed glasses on his face. "What I was saying is that there is nothing physically wrong with your heart, Mr. Sandburg. All of the tests show that the heart itself is in perfect condition. There are no murmurs and there are no abnormalities with any of the blood vessels."

Blair wished he could be like Jim and shout in frustration. He took a deep breath before speaking. "Are you saying I'm making all of this up? Because if you are, I have a big problem with that."

"No, I'm not saying that there is nothing wrong or that you are making it up. We have documented the episodes of tachycardia and rhythm disruptions with the EKGs we have done and also with the heart monitors that you've worn. What I am saying is that the symptoms you are having are caused by something else... maybe a chemical imbalance. I'm sorry I don't have anything definite to tell you." Doctor Aaron leaned back in his chair and removed his glasses, rubbing at the lenses with a soft cloth which he had removed from his coat pocket.

Blair got a sick feeling in his stomach. "So what do I do now? Man, I can hardly function this way. It took me a month to get in here to even see you, you've been doing tests for three weeks, and now you're telling me you can't help me? I'm always tired, I get out of breath, and I gotta say that this palpitation thing really sucks. It's really hard to concentrate when it feels like your heart is jumping out of your chest."

Jim placed a restraining hand on Blair's arm. "Take it easy, Chief. I'm sure that Doctor Aaron isn't saying he can't help you, right, Doc?"

"Well, yes, I can help to alleviate the symptoms. There are medications I can prescribe..."

Blair interrupted irritably. "I don't do medications. I prefer herbal remedies. I don't like to pollute my body with chemicals." He found himself shaking for no reason and realized that another attack was coming on.

"Mr. Sandburg, I believe that you may want to make an exception in this case." Doctor Aaron picked up a pen and began to write on a prescription pad. "I'm going to give you a prescription for a medication called Inderal. It should help to lower your heart rate and maybe even stop the palpitations. It will take a few weeks for it to build up in your system enough to be very effective, but I think it will really help."

Blair kept his eyes on the floor, fuming silently. This heart thing had changed his entire life. Ever since the day he had collapsed in the parking lot, he had experienced a whole new way of living. From the doctor's visits to not being able to handle exercise, he was fed up with it all.

The doctor had ordered several EKGs, he had had blood drawn at every visit, and he had been made to do a stress test. The worst of the tests, however, had been the heart monitors. The first one had been a 48 hour Holter monitor. This involved being hooked up to several wires leading into what looked like a Walkman. It had monitored his heart rate continually for 48 hours... which meant that he had been unable to remove it for 48 hours... which meant that he had been unable to shower for 48 hours.

The event monitor came next, and that one was worse. Although he was able to remove it long enough to shower, he had worn it for two and a half weeks. Any time his heart had done anything unusual or he had felt dizzy or out of breath, he had been instructed to push a button on the monitor so it would record. Unfortunately, this monitor was not silent, and anyone in his general vicinity had been able to listen to the high pitched beeps as he recorded. Then he had transmitted the recordings over the telephone to the lab, causing yet another bout of loud high pitched beeps.

To make matters worse, he discovered that he was allergic to the adhesive used on the patches attached to his chest, and he now sported several large open sores where the adhesive had rubbed his skin raw. He wondered if they would ever completely heal, or if he would be scarred for life.

He was constantly tired, he could feel his pulse beating all over his body, he was unable to do a simple thing like walking up a few stairs without getting dizzy and short of breath, and he had been unable to properly keep up with Jim since the onset of his symptoms. He was concerned about his partner's senses. Jim was still learning how to deal with them, and he didn't need this setback.

And now they wanted him to pollute his body with chemicals that had never been intended for human consumption. Well, thanks, but no thanks. He would find some herbal remedy that would help him and be good as new.

Jim leaned forward, breaking his chain of thought. "Come on, Blair. Give it a try. This isn't cold medicine we're talking about here. This is your heart we're talking about. You can't play around with it."

Blair studied the Sentinel's earnest face for a moment, then reluctantly nodded. "Okay, I'll try the drugs. I'll give it two weeks, and if I'm not feeling better by then, I'll stop it again. Deal?"

Jim smiled, looking relieved. "Deal."

*********

"We'll stop to get your prescription filled on the way home, okay?"

Blair nodded sullenly, still feeling sorry for himself. He was incredibly disappointed that he hadn't been given a definitive diagnosis and treated. He had expected the cardiologist to magically fix what was wrong, and now that he hadn't, Blair felt lost.

"I'm too young to have heart problems." He sighed. "I so don't have time for this. How am I supposed to be your backup if I don't feel up to doing anything? What if Simon can't extend my ride-along status? We're almost out of time, and half the time I don't feel good enough to do much to help you!"

"Come on, Sandburg. Don't give up on me here. You promised you'd try the medication for two weeks. I'll bet you a dinner at a restaurant of your choice that you'll be feeling back to your old self in no time!"

Blair perked up, unable to prevent a smile at this gallant gesture. Jim surely had to know by now that Blair had completely different tastes in food. If Blair won, Jim would certainly not be eating Wonder Burger!

"You're on!" He leaned back in his seat, his smile fading as he thought back over the past several weeks.

Shortly after the incident at the pawn shop, a drug lab on the other side of the warehouse he called home had exploded, effectively rendering him homeless. Blair suspected that Jim would not have given in so easily to his request for a place to stay had it not been for Blair's mysterious heart condition and Jim's grossly exaggerated protective instincts.

He had now been living with Jim for nearly a month, three weeks longer than the original week they had agreed on. He wondered if his partner was afraid to ask him to leave, hesitant to upset a sick man. He sighed again. Whatever the case, he hoped that Jim continued to extend his hospitality, as he didn't feel up to apartment hunting right now.

"Okay, we're here, Chief."

Blair looked up, torn from his thoughts as Jim opened the door and got out. "Yeah, let's get this over with."

*****

"Would you stop being so melodramatic?" Jim looked at Blair, exasperated. "It is not going to kill you to take a little pill once a day." He shook his head in disgust, walking away.

Blair felt his face heat with embarrassment and forced himself to swallow the pill. "There....you happy? I'm going to bed." He stalked into the living room and curled up under a blanket on the sofa. "Goodnight."

Out of the corner of his eye, he barely caught Jim's smug, triumphant smile. "Good night, Chief."

*****

Early March, 1995

Blair woke slowly, nearly overcome with a feeling of impending doom. What had happened? He lay completely still, taking stock of his situation as he tried to remember what had happened to cause this horrible feeling of dread. His head was aching; that was the first thing he was sure of. Although his whole head ached, the pain seemed to be worse in a few localized spots. His jaw ached, and his lower lip felt tight and swollen. His head hurt at the temple, and he decided it might not be a good idea to move any time soon.

He struggled to remember how he had come to be in this condition, and then groaned softly when he did. He had been helping Jim with a case, getting close to a girl at Rainier named Maya Carasco. Jim had suspected her father of being involved in illegal gun deals and murder, and he had asked Blair to see what he could find out from the daughter. Unfortunately, Blair had fallen head over heels in love with her.

He had struggled with his guilt in deceiving her and also with his growing feelings for a girl that he knew he should stay away from. Jim had watched him carefully throughout the whole case; Blair had caught him staring thoughtfully at him on several occasions. He knew that Jim was not only concerned about Blair's growing attraction to Maya and the danger that threatened him, but he had grown almost obsessively concerned about Blair's heart.

After three and a half months of failed attempts to control Blair's heart condition with various medications, Jim had become overly protective and far too focused on him. Blair often caught his partner monitoring his vital signs, and he noticed that Jim was less likely to give him a hard time about things. It was heartwarming and annoying at the same time. The only real good news during that time was that no further mention had been made of the ninety day time limit on Blair's observer status. He had now been riding with Jim for six months, and not one reference had been made to dissolving the partnership.

Which brought him back to his current situation. He had told Maya that Jim was a researcher that he was helping with a project, and when Maya saw Jim on a television interview she had put two and two together. Blair had gone out to her house to try to talk to her, and when the housekeeper wouldn't let him in, he had walked around to the back to see if he could find another way to attract her attention. While he was walking back toward her window he had overheard an incriminating conversation between her father and one of his men.

He had decided that he had better get back and tell Jim what had happened, but before he could take more than a few steps, he had felt a sharp pain in his jaw and had instantly passed out. He found out later that Carasco's personal assistant had caught him and punched him in the jaw... hence the aching jaw and swollen lip.

He had awoken in the green house, gagged and tied up. Carasco had been there and had told his man to kill Blair. Then Maya had gotten involved and before it was all over, Blair had been hit in the head with a machete and knocked out again... hence the throbbing pain at his temple.

All of this hurt, but it was not any of this that was causing the horrible ache in his heart. Maya had left him, going back to Chile to the rest of her family. Before she left, she had told him that she loved him, but that she also hated him. Blair didn't know how to handle this. The ache seemed to consume him, and he didn't want to wake up.

The sound of a slight cough caught his attention, and he finally forced eyelids swollen from falling tears open enough to see Jim sitting in a chair beside his bed. Jim straightened when he saw Blair looking at him.

"Hey, Chief. How ya feeling?"

Blair groaned again. "How do you think I'm feeling?"

Jim leaned back in his chair. "I think you probably have a sore jaw and a splitting headache... and you feel like your heart has been torn out. I think you're feeling like you'd rather sleep and forget what happened. Am I close?"

Blair stared at his partner for a moment, then looked away. "Lucky guess."

"Well, I hate to tell you this, but you're not the first person who lost someone they loved. It hurts, but you get past it. But you won't get past it until you decide to get on with your life." He apparently decided that this was enough of a heart to heart. Standing abruptly, he gently ruffled Blair's hair. "Drennan left. Are you sure you don't want some noodles? You didn't have anything to eat."

"I'm really not hungry." Blair looked at his partner, putting on his best pleading look. "I can eat later, 'kay, Jim?"

Ellison studied him carefully. "Yeah." He patted Blair's knee. "You just take it easy. I'll be out in the living room if you..."

Blair looked up sharply as his partner stopped in the middle of his sentence. "What?"

"It's your heart!" Jim's excitement was palpable.

"What about my heart?" Blair concentrated on how he felt, trying to figure out what had caused his partner's excitement. "Come on, Man, don't keep me in suspense, here!"

"It's beating normally! The medicine is finally working!" Jim grinned at Blair, relieved. "So . . . now how do you feel?"

Blair glared halfheartedly at his partner. "My jaw aches, my head is throbbing, and my heart hurts." Working hard, he managed a half hearted smile. "But I think I'm going to be okay."

Jim laughed. "You're going to be fine, Sandburg."

Blair looked at his partner, the excitement contagious. "Yeah... I am!"

After all these months, his heart was finally getting back to normal. As much as he hated to admit it, he really had needed the medication to cope. Herbs just wouldn't cut it this time. Now things were back to normal, at least as close to normal as they had been in a very long time, and he was glad that this whole mess was over. Now if he could just get over this fiasco with Maya….

To be continued . . .

Okay, so Blair is fixed...temporarily, at least. Chapter 6 is partially written, so I will get it out to you as soon as possible. Thanks again for reading, and please review and let me know what you think!