TWO HOURS LATER:

Jim slipped quietly into Rafe' hospital room, determined he would only look and make sure the young man was alright, but leave him undisturbed. When he entered, however, Rafe's head turned slowly in his direction, their eyes met and a wan smile lit up the other's face.

"Jimmy... hey."

Smiling as well, Jim approached and dropped into the plastic chair by the bed.

"Hey, yourself, you idiot." He responded gently.

"I know, I know. Blair okay? He must be if you're here, but nobody'll tell me anything."

"They don't want you stressing out, that's why. You've got enough to worry about."

"For God's sake, I wouldn't stress if you'd just talk to me!"

"Calm down, Bri. You hear me? Calm down. Blair's fine. He's relaxed and he's talking. I'm hoping they'll let him go home later today."

"Yeah? Thank God... thank God. What I heard they did to him... how does anybody get over that?"

"It wasn't as bad as it could've been. We got there in time to keep him from the worst of it and they won't ever touch him again."

"Damn right..." Rafe slurred faintly, his eyes inexorably sliding shut. "... bastards. Y'll p'rtect Blair. Always do..."

Jim grinned, waited a few more moments to be sure Rafe was genuinely asleep and made his way back out into the corridor. Not long afterward, he was settling on the edge of Blair's bed once again and pulling the anxious young man into his arms.

"I'm here. Shhh... I'm here."

"Missed you. I was getting worried."

"I stopped in for a minute to see Rafe. The head injury he got that night and the guilt he's piled on himself since then put him down for the count for a few days, but he'll be fine once he's gotten some rest."

"I should go see him, too..."

"On our way home, okay? You need to recoup just as much as he does."

Blair pulled back, his face suffused with joy and excitement.

"Home?"

"Soon as the doctor says so. He hasn't been here, yet, hmmm?'

"No, and he's ticking me off."

Jim laughed and rocked Blair back and forth.

"Give him a little more time before you decide to sic Lobo and Midnight on him."

"They'd chew his butt for me..." Blair grumped.

"Nah. Growl and scare him, maybe, but no chewing allowed unless your life's actually in danger.

"My emotional life doesn't count?" the young man asked plaintively, drawing more laughter from Jim.

"Nope. Not even close."

"Hey, did you get the book?"

"I did. It's right here." Jim confirmed, reaching into the messenger bag slung around his neck and retrieving the thick volume. He wouldn't immediately hand the item over, though.

"Jim?"

"I want you to know something first. No matter what this says... I believe, with everything I am, that it would've happened eventually."

Jim followed up this shocking statement with an equally surprising, though brief, kiss dropped onto the bridge of Blair's nose. The younger man gazed wonderingly into Jim's eyes.

"You do?"

Jim nodded and finally surrendered the book.

"When you were gone, Blair... there was a long stretch where you were really *gone*. I couldn't feel you close to me, sense your spirit... and somehow I knew you'd done it to yourself. You'd sent your mind somewhere it didn't have to deal with what was happening and my connection to you went along for the ride. I felt like I'd curl up and die before you finally came back around. It made me come to terms with how tight our bond is and what it means to be who and what we are. Call it whatever you want... you and I were meant to find each other. I still don't think we need to be in such a damn rush about the intimate stuff..."

"You weren't there, you didn't see how... you just have to believe me, Jim. Time isn't on our side."

"You... neither of us is ready. After what we've been through, we may never be. Seeing you like that..."

Choking, Jim abandoned words and settled for pulling Blair close and rocking him slowly back and forth.

"You saw that... saw everything..." Blair murmured, shame reddening his face and neck.

"I'm sorry, Chief... so, so sorry..."

"It... I didn't want to... they had a gun..."

"It's okay. I'm here now. It's okay, Chief..."

"He said they weren't trying to hurt me... but they kept talking about taking me away from you... I never knew anything could hurt that much..."

Moments later, both men were silently crying, clinging to each other in the vain hope that simply being together and knowing the threat of separation was behind them would erase the memories as well.

THIRTY MINUTES LATER: MC

Rubbing his eyes, Simon struggled to focus on paperwork when his office was the last place he wanted to be. The city of Cascade itself wasn't too high on the list just then, either, but he had people depending on him and tasks that needed his full attention. The trouble was that the fantasy of a week of uninterrupted fishing and camping by a crystal stream kept appearing in his head and stealing his thoughts away, and he had little energy or incentive to prevent the theft.

Sitting back, he sighed heavily, conceded the battle for a while and let his gaze drift to the window. For a short time, the view actually began to relax his tight shoulders and neck, but soon a shrill cry from the direction of his desk had him wound up again. Fearfully, he turned his head just enough to see out of the corner of his eye. Sure enough, the falcon was there and Simon slammed his eyes shut.

"No... no, no, no. This is *not* happening again, damn it! I'm stressed out, *you're* a hallucination and I can *make* you go way if I want to!"

A sharp pain in the knuckle of his right index finger soon had him changing his mind. "You... you bit me you little son of a... okay, okay. What the hell do you want?"

The bird pecked twice at a particular paper on the desk then moved away so Simon could see. There was now a neat hole at the start and end of one particular word, bracketing it and clearly showing Simon what he was supposed to notice. "The hospital... what about it? You sayin' something's wrong at the hospital? God, I'm in the middle of a Lassie episode..."

The bird cried once more and, although he was ready to head for a mental ward and check himself in, Simon swore the tone was becoming more impatient. Reluctantly, he rose and grabbed his coat, mumbling angrily under his breath. "This time you're talking to me, Ellison, if I have to knock you on your ass and sit on you!"

When he whirled around, prepared to storm out of the office, the falcon was gone. Again he questioned his mental status, but after a few minutes and some deep breaths, he decided that finding a competent psychologist could wait.

TBC.....