Home Sweet Home?

Blair sat back with a tired sigh and rubbed his head.

Man he had been going like stink ever since he woke up this morning. First thing when he woke up he realized that he'd overslept because he'd forgotten to set his alarm the night before. Then he'd had to scramble to get to the University with Larry and all his gear, before his first class was over.

Thank god he was only attending that class and not teaching it, he could easily get caught up with some notes. The day hadn't gotten any better from there in though. It seemed one thing after another was dooming him to run perpetually late, and no matter how hard he tried he couldn't quite get caught up.

But finally the day was done. His work was all complete, well everything he had wanted to absolutely do today anyway and he could head home and to his much missed bed. Ruefully he thought of the other things he had wanted to start on today - the main one being the research into controlling the senses better and the possible replacement companion - as he walked out of his office. But he supposed that wasn't exactly urgent yet, just something close to the top of his 'to do' pile.

Turning onto his street, he slammed on his breaks at the sound of a vicious growl from his spirit guides. He glanced around for signs of trouble and was nearly blinded as a flash boom erupted from the buildings before him. The flames flickered across his retinas and he watched in disbelief as his home went up in the explosion.

o-O-o

Jim’s truck came to a halt just outside of the yellow police tape that surrounded a large burnt out warehouse. His eyes widened a bit as he took in the scene and noticed a grey-green Corvair off to the side, the curly haired anthropologist that he called partner sitting on the hood with his head between his knees. Jim glanced at the warehouse again, noticed his captain, and moved to meet up with the big man.

“Hey Captain, you called?”

Simon turned from Joel Taggart to speak with Jim, his eyes straying to the young man sitting off to the side. “Glad you could make it, Jim. I got the call from Taggart and came over as soon as I heard.”

“Heard what? And what’s Sandburg doing here, did you call him first?” Jim frowned. Simon shook his head in disbelief.

“Didn’t you know, Jim? This was the kid’s home. Said so on his application.” Simon glanced back at Sandburg, and then turned back to Jim. “It was a good thing he wasn’t home when it happened. He was just coming back from the University.”

Jim gazed across the open space to the car and the grad student. He nodded once to Simon to show he had heard the man, and then began the slow stroll over to the car. His hands in his pockets, he leaned against the fender, shoulder touching shoulder with Blair. Blair leaned over just a bit, using the bulk of his partner as a shield against the reality surrounding him.

“I had so many things to do today. Classes to teach, classes to be in, I had to drop Larry back off at the lab…” Jim stiffened as if to ask a question, but Blair overrode him and continued on. “I haven’t been home all day and then this happens. I didn’t even know anyone was in the other half of the place.”

“You didn’t hear anything?” clarified Jim. Blair shook his head.

“Nah, man. I heard some sounds late at night… thought they were rats.” At Jim’s curious glance, Blair supplied, “Rats, man… big ones… with teeth… You ever saw The Princess Bride?”

“Fire swamp and the ROUSes?” Jim snickered. Blair joined him halfheartedly.

“Close cousins, these. So I just thought it was my unwanted roommates shuffling around. Guess not, eh?” Blair sighed as he watched one of the firemen come out of what was once his home, and come to join them.

“Mr. Sandburg, you can go in now. But I wouldn’t suggest staying here. From what I can see of the structural damage, your landlord is going to have to claim this one as condemned.”

Blair sighed and nodded his understanding before sliding off the car and away from Jim’s warmth. “Yeah, I figured. Dunno where I can get the same space for 850 a month, but it’s not like I need the solitude anymore. My project with Larry is done now, so the space is unnecessary.”

Jim watched the grad student head into the remnants of his home, to find things that could be salvaged. When he was out of sight, the detective in Jim took over and headed back to the main site of the blast, to see if he could help in the investigation.

o-O-o

Blair walked in to what had formerly been his home and looked around himself in shock. 10,000 square feet of wide open space, made livable by the basic amenities, was now so much rubble and ruins with little bits of his life evident here and there. He wanted to cry.

What had he done in this life, or hell, any of his past lives to get this kind of karmic debt against him? He wasn’t a saint, but he didn’t think anything he ever did was worthy of something of this magnitude, was it?

Dazed, his eyes tracked around the devastation until they caught on something moving in the shadows. Frowning he focused to see what it was, thinking it would be ironic if the blast hadn’t managed to take out all the rats he had been rooming with when it would have taken him out for sure had he been home.

Then he saw the long line of tail where it melded into the powerful haunches clearly as a stray beam of early morning light shone down and realized it was Panther. Over a few feet more a flash of grey alerted him to Wolf, and he felt an odd sense of relief at the familiar sight. Wolf leaned against a stack of loose pallets, knocking them away from Blair and revealing some of his practically unharmed stuff.

“Better than nothing, I guess…” Blair muttered as he shambled across the broken glass and wood to collect a blanket and some dirty clothes. His laundry… he hadn’t taken any of it to the Laundromat yet and so it all still needed to be washed. “At least I’m not wasting water and money re-washing stuff…”

Panther growled from his left and he glanced over in time to see another stack of boxes and wood being shoved over to reveal his laptop, scorched on the case but looking like it was relatively unharmed. “Gods, I hope it works. I still have some notes on it that I need to transcribe to hard copy… although it is becoming safer to keep things on disk, I guess, in case of… :fire: …”

Blair lifted the laptop and placed it in a box that he found to be suitable to the task, piling his clothes on top along with the blanket for cushion. Wolf rubbed against his leg as it headed towards where his bed had been. It was still there, but charred badly. Especially the Peruvian blanket that he had once used as a comforter. He sighed as he tramped along in Wolf’s wake. “I guess I should be grateful for the fact that I wasn’t here when the :idiots turned this place into so much firewood:…”

“:My home… I almost died… damned idiots… my home:” Blair appeared to collapse in on himself, gazing at what had been his home, now starkly revealed by the early morning light for the hapless ruins it truly was. The animals, who had appeared firmly fixed in the present plane, soon faded and eventually winked out all together. Blair was pulled out of his despair by a voice from behind.

“What language is that Chief? Sounded a bit like Quechua…” Blair jumped as Jim came up to stand beside him, his eyes taking in the destruction just as Blair had some time before. He didn’t know how long the man had been standing behind him… he wasn’t even sure how long he had been standing there himself, for that matter. He was quick to answer though, lest Jim become suspicious.

“Wha? Oh! Umm… Yeah, one of the many dialects of the language you could say. Anyway, what's the report? How are things looking?"

Jim glared sidelong at the young man, and eventually let the slip slide away as he told Blair about the drug lab that had been set up behind his home, and the arson done to take out the lab. Blair snarled at the information.

“There is one thing I could never understand… illegal drugs… what’s the point? And now I have to deal with losing my home cause someone thought this would be the perfect place to set up their operation. And here just because I was trying to get out of people’s way with Larry, I land smack dab in the middle of it.”

Jim shrugged as he lifted a box full of papers and pictures that Blair had managed to salvage, carrying it out to the Corvair while Blair drug a bag of clothes. “Yeah well, what are ya gonna do? You have no place now, where can you go? A friend? Fellow TA’s place?”

Blair ducked his head. “I think I have enough for a hotel room. I can last a couple of nights there until I have to find another place. I don’t have much here; most of it is in storage. I never planned to be here more than a month. I can probably hole up at my office until the next check comes in, that’s only about a week away…”

Jim’s face took on a pained expression as he listened to the younger man toss out his ideas – he’s probably not sure why, but it seems he doesn’t care for the idea. Maybe because Blair would be too far away, or just plain not safe, but whatever it is it prompts him into saying, “You going to be able to handle being at a hotel? I mean after having all this space?”

Blair throws the older man a sardonic look, "Jim I already said I wasn't renting here for the ambiance - remember the ROUS’s?"

Jim made a disgusted face and Blair laughed.

“Yeah, they weren’t exactly the type of roommates you want for the faint of heart are they? But anyway the main reason I had been renting here was Larry and now that I don’t have Larry I will be able to find something much easier once I have the cash and time to do it – I just need a little wiggle room. No biggie.”

Jim just stared at him, thinking, as Blair busied himself with throwing the last of his things into a couple of boxes. In short order everything was done and Blair stood up straight. He stretched, cracked his back and generally worked out the stiffness working stooped over in the damp had settled into his joints.

“I didn't have much here anyway, it's just temporary. I'll find someone to bunk down with, although this late at night, I dunno..." Blair said preoccupied yet again as he picked up as much as he could and headed for the gaping hole that was his door.

“I have a spare room you could use just until you get back on your feet, Chief.” Blair glanced at the broad back of the man he honestly hoped he could call friend from where he was stuffing the last box he had carried out into his Corvair. He chuckled. Jim’s voice had clearly resonated with the surprise he had felt when he made the offer.

“Thanks man, I’m going to take you up on that even though I know you don’t really mean it.” He said as he struggled, trying to get everything settled in his car somehow to his satisfaction. Jim sighed and Blair really wasn’t surprised when he came over and grabbed a bunch of stuff out of the car to dump into the truck.

“Yeah well maybe I don’t normally have houseguests over but I have been married and had the occasional girlfriend over. So it’s not like I can’t handle someone living with me for even as little as a week.” Jim smirked back at Blair. The younger man didn’t believe a word of it.

“Fine man, thanks really I appreciate it.” He climbed into the Corvair as Jim climbed into his truck, and they both drove for the loft.

o-O-o

The first thing that Blair noticed upon entering Jim’s loft was the curtain hanging over an open doorway, held to the side by a hook in the doorframe. There, just past the late morning shadows, sat a full sized futon, complete with covers and pillows. There were also a few shelves and a desk with chair and lamp. There were a few items of exercise equipment against one wall in the corner, but most of the space was clear. Blair remembered Jim saying that it had been extra storage, but it appeared that the storage facility had gotten an upgrade. Blair smiled secretively as he dragged his bags and boxes into the space.

When he returned to the main room he found Jim leaning against the wall next to the bathroom, sipping on a bottled juice and holding another out to his guest. Blair cocked his head to the side and eyed the cop suspiciously. “You had this set up?”

Jim shrugged. “Yeah well I had the stuff in there from when Carolyn and I lived here. She wanted to turn it into a guestroom and office. I just never got around to putting the last couple of boxes in the basement storage. So yesterday I did…”

Blair nodded, accepting Jim’s words graciously. Jim ducked his head and smiled gently. “Beside Chief. There might be other times when we get so busy we forget what time it is and you would have ended up sleeping on the couch again. And I for one know exactly how hard those couches can be.”

“Hey,” Blair snickered, “Not everyone is as sensitive as the Princess and the Pea.”

Jim snorted as if seriously affronted by the remark. “You saying I’m touchy?”

“Yep. Extra-touchy-feely even.” Blair snarked. Jim went to playfully swipe at Blair’s head and Blair ducked, protesting, “Hey, not the hair man!”

‘Ooops, Big mistake!’ Blair thought to himself as Jim’s eyes lit up, ‘You gave the man ammunition and a target all at once you silly…’ his internal scolding and Jim’s impromptu stalk was interrupted by the shrill ring of Jim’s cell phone. Blair breathed a sigh of relief. ‘Whew, talk about being saved by the bell!’

Jim chuckled as the phone rang. He walked over and answered it with a sharp, “Ellison. Oh hi Simon. What did you need?”

Blair ignored the man on the phone as he went back into the small room and organized his boxes as best he could. Sitting on the edge of the futon, he didn’t realize how tired he was, exhaustion tugging at him until he laid back on the spread. When Jim hung up the phone and went to check on his guest, it was to find Blair sacked out, dead to the world. He sighed, closed the curtain, and left the loft after locking the door behind him.

o-O-o

Wolf was sitting at the foot of the little futon bed when Blair finally dared to open his eyes yet again. It had been a rough night, ending in a pain in the assed morning and eventually wound down to a relaxed afternoon. Blair had slept as one dead until now and his body thanked him for it by reminding that him that he was not home. His brain registered the fact that he was in a much softer bed, there was no scuttling of rodents along the baseboards, and he smelled… Oh yeah, the fire, the ash, the soot. He needed a shower.

But first he needed clean everything. He had one change of clothes in his backpack that he kept with him for emergencies. That would do for a start. He climbed out of bed and cautiously made his way into the silent loft. Jim wasn’t there. Most likely had to go back to the station. Blair hoped that Jim took some time to rest. There was no telling how much sleep the Sentinel had gotten before he had been called in on the bombing.

Taking his time, Blair took a generous shower, cleaning top to bottom to reduce any irritants that clung to him from the warehouse. He would have to be sure that his laundry was complete, along with sorting out boxes and papers. He was not going to take up all of Jim’s precious space. He knew the man valued his privacy, he was not about to upset a perfectly good working relationship by alienating his friend.

Clean, dry and smelling ten times better, Blair went back into the little room and began the arduous task of separating and sorting his clothes, papers and books. It was a silent and lonely job, but it needed to be done. He was thankful once again that his work with Larry had been completed on time and he was not having to deal with the ape along with everything else. Once he had the papers and books put away, he turned to the clothes. He needed a washer and dryer.

Knowing that Jim was too busy to take his things to the Laundromat once a week Blair knew that the man had to have his own set somewhere. He picked up the phone and dialed the detective’s cell number from memory. It was answered on the second ring. #”Ellison.”#

“Hey, Jim. You wouldn’t happen to have a washer and dryer handy, would you?” Blair said quickly, knowing that the man would be busy and not wanting to distract him overly much.

#”Oh, Sandburg., you’re awake. Sleep all right on that little thing?”#

Blair blinked. “The futon? No big man, I’m small anyway. I fit right in there, no problem. So, I was working on laundry and was wondering—“

#”Yeah, sorry. It’s all downstairs in the basement…”# Jim faded away a moment and Blair figured he was talking to someone else off the line. He waited patiently. He was not kept waiting long. #”Ah, Chief, when you have the time Joel needs you down here to fill in the details to the report on the explosion… I know this is sorta… well it’s not the best of times but… If you have the time maybe…?”#

Blair nodded, even though Jim couldn’t see him do it. Aloud he replied, “Sure thing, man. I’ll be there as soon as I can. Tell Joel I’ll find him first thing.”

#”Good, be careful on your way here. Catch you later.”# and then he was gone. Blair smiled as he hung up the phone again. He gazed back at the large pile of clothes waiting for him and he counted up the hours it would take to get it all finished. But Joel needed that report done soon…

Coming to a swift decision, Blair grabbed his coat and his keys and left the loft. He would start his laundry as soon as the report was done and hopefully wouldn’t be too far behind. He slipped into the Corvair and drove to the station.