Midnight on Prospect

Part 6

Awareness returned slowly but painfully. Light flashed onto closed eyelids as harsh fingers pulled them up to flash the light into them. A shallow moan escaped his lips.

"Mr. Sandburg? Can you hear me? Please open your eyes." A voice spoke out of the darkness. A voice he didn’t recognize, a voice that, though soft, scared him.

Blair tried to turn his head away from the hands that held his head still but they were too strong, or he was too weak. Another tortured groan was ripped from his throat as the light flashed into the other eye.

"Mr. Sandburg?" The voice repeated but he refused to open his eyes and look at the nightmare he felt sure would be waiting for him. There were sounds of someone moving around, pressure on his hand where the IV was checked and more pain in his head when hands checked the dressing over his right temple.

The hands, the humming coming from whoever was with him, scared him. He felt his lungs freezing with fear, his breath coming in small gasps. If his eyes had been open, there might have been spots before them. The voice spoke again but this time from far away as finally blessed blackness took him again, leaving the fear and pain behind.

~*~*~*~

A cool wet cloth wiped across his chest bringing some degree of awareness again. The same hands as earlier, not hurtful but still unfamiliar. He didn’t want them on his body. He winced in pain as he tried to move away from the soft cloth. A gasp followed as the intense sharpness of his broken ribs caught him off guard.

"Easy, Mr. Sandburg. It’s okay, you’re safe now," a voice told him. The soft melodious tones made no dent in his fear fogged mind. He still needed to get away from the hands.

"Chief, relax. Blair, come on, Buddy. It’s okay, I’m here." There, another voice, one he knew as intimately as his own. A hand touched his forehead, gently smoothing over it with one finger as it rubbed across the lines of pain. Another hand took one of his own in it and squeezed it gently.

"’im?" His voice sounded harsh in his own ears. Blair tried to open his eyes but they felt like lead. It took several tried before they lifted and he saw the blurry but definite shape that was his Blessed Protector.

"Yeah, it’s me, Chief." A smile lit Jim’s face, a silly grin that he couldn’t have hidden if he’d wanted to.

"’urts."

"I know, Buddy, but you’re going to be just fine. Hang on, the nurse will be right back with your pain medication." Jim continued to stroke the soft skin of his forehead. The rhythmic sensation lulled him, drawing his attention away from the pain and to the pleasant, calming feeling of that hand on his face. He could barely keep his eyelids open but he didn’t want to lose contact with the ice blue eyes that gazed on him with concern and caring.

"Let yourself sleep, Chief. You need to heal. I’ll be here." Jim’s voice told him. He felt the pain meds beginning to do their job but still he fought it. Something hidden in his memory was trying to get out, trying to be heard. The call of the drug was too powerful in his weakened state and the last thing he felt as the darkness overtook him was the simple touch of warm lips to his forehead.

~*~*~*~

"Jim, how's he doing?" Simon inquired as he entered the hospital room.

"Better. He’s been drifting in and out for hours now. They are beginning to cut back on the medication so he should be more lucid each time he wakes. He’s still in a lot of pain though."

"That’s good. That he’s coming around, I mean." Simon hastened to add when Jim tossed him an amused glance.

"I know what you mean. He still hasn’t been awake long enough to give us any information. Have you heard anything?"

"Nothing yet. Feds have agreed to work closely with us on this. Agent Waterman will be here this afternoon and I thought you’d like to be in on the briefing." Simon held his hand up to offset any forthcoming argument. "I know you don’t want to leave him alone but I think you should do this. Daryl wants to come by this afternoon and I am sending Collins over with him. There will be someone here at all times."

It took a long moment before Jim was willing to answer. He was reluctant to leave Blair for too long, with the drugs still wreaking havoc on his system. He would wake in fear, unaware of his surroundings and not sure who was with him. He seemed to recognize Jim and calmed down a great deal when he knew Jim was close at hand. He would let Blair know that he would be leaving but that he would return as soon as he could and that Daryl would be there when he next woke. It should be okay. Finally he nodded his agreement.

"Good, I will call when he arrives. If he wakes give him my best." Simon squeezed his best Detective’s shoulder before taking his leave.

"Thanks." Jim returned his full attention back to his partner as a moan signalled his return to consciousness. Dark blue eyes, still slightly glazed from the pain medication slid open slowly.

"Hey, Buddy. How you feeling?" Jim smiled down at the face of his friend. The cuts were slowly healing, no longer red and angry looking. The bruising had started to fade and the swollen eye was beginning to go down little by little. It had only been a few days but already he looked better. Painful but better.

"Hey." Came the whisper soft reply. A smile started but the split lip forced it to stop halfway. "Water?"

"Sure, right here." Jim retrieved the small tumbler and lifting Blair's head gently, held it to the young man's lips. Three short sips later, Blair sank back onto Jim’s hand, exhausted.

"You feel any better?" Jim put the cup back on the side table and sat carefully on the edge of the bed.

"A little. Still hurts."

"What does?"

"Chest, head. I don’t know, everything feels numb. You found me?"

"Yeah, always. It’s in the contract."

"Contract?"

"The Blessed Protector Contract. I am required to find you as part of the contract's requirements. Though I must admit it was too close this time. I’m so sorry I didn’t get to you in time." The ice blue eyes turned suddenly solemn, pain lanced through them settling somewhere deep in Blair’s soul as they bore into his own darker ones.

"Not your fault." Blair reached up to touch the strong jaw of his Blessed Protector. He could manage little more than a touch as exhaustion forced the hand to drop to the bed. Jim caught it in his own before it hit, cradling it tenderly. "Please don’t blame yourself."

"But I promised to keep him away from you and I failed."

"No, he forced you to make an impossible choice. There was no other choice. You couldn’t let Simon die."

"So instead I almost let you die."

"Aww, man. Don’t do this. Not now. If you want to feel guilty wait until I can beat it out of you, okay?" The glib words were met with a warm heartfelt smile which did more to soothe Blair’s own troubled soul than any of the pain medications that the doctors had been shovelling into him.

"Promise. Listen, Simon wants me to go in to talk to Agent Waterman about this case. He’s going to send Collins and Daryl over to sit with you for a bit. Do you mind. I mean… I really don’t want to leave you and I…"

"Jim, relax. That’s fine. I’ll probably just sleep through their visit anyway." Blair yawned suddenly, emphasizing his extreme exhaustion. Tiny pinched lines began to form around his eyes and Jim recognized the signs of a headache coming on.

"Head hurts?" He asked softly as he reached out and began the same gentle strokes he had used earlier. It had seemed to soothe before, maybe it would again.

"Yeah." Blair agreed, leaning into the comforting touch. His eyes drooped shut as he turned his head more into the gentle caress. His breathing evened out and one last sigh escaped as sleep overtook him.

~*~*~*~

Daryl Banks arrived with Officer Jan Collins a little after two, bringing with them word that Jim could head back to the station and that Agent Waterman would be arriving in half an hour. Blair was still sleeping comfortably so Jim felt only a twinge of guilt at leaving the injured man.

By the time he arrived at the station, Waterman had already arrived and was securely ensconced in Simon’s office. Simon waved Jim in to join them. A brief appraisal of the tall Police Captain told Jim that while he was doing well at hiding it, he was still in a little discomfort with the arm in the sling.

"Hey, Jim. How’s the kid doing?"

"A little better. He was sleeping when I left." Jim took his seat.

"Glad to hear it. Jim, this is Agent Russell Waterman from the Seattle Branch of the FBI. Russell, this is Detective Jim Ellison. Blair Sandburg is his partner."

"Pleasure. Sandburg, the injured man, right."

"That’s right."

"I am sorry to hear that. Michaels is one cold bastard and we have been trying to shut him down for some time. He’s one smart punk who has managed to stay one step ahead of the law for nearly four years. He has changed his name so many times that I don’t think even he remembers his real name.

"His usual MO is to change locations every few months. He never stays in one location long enough for us to find out. He sends us letters to let us know where he was. You are the closest anyone has gotten to nailing this creep. Maybe together we can hammer the nails in to his coffin once and for all."

"What do you need us to do?" Simon asked. He had watched Ellison as the agent had given his little assessment of the situation but the normally stoic detective’s expression never changed. There was a glimmer of angry that simmered just below the surface, hidden in the ice blue eyes.

"I was hoping that we could compare notes and between us maybe we could come up with a game plan. First off, let me tell you Detective, I am not like most of my colleagues. I prefer to work with the local constabularies not bumping heads trying to prove my superiority. Things don’t get solved that way. I spent fifteen years on the force before joining the FBI and I know how hard it is to relinquish control and I also know what it is like when a partner goes down. Can we work together on this?"

The impassioned speech caught Ellison off guard. He caught no deception, only complete honesty and understanding from the agent. He had been expecting the man to tell Banks and himself that he was taking over the reins but instead he was offering a temporary partnership. A pleasant, though unexpected proposition.

"I think that could work." Jim said with a grin.

Simon breathed a sigh of relief.

~*~*~*~

Part 7

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