Flesh and Blood and Heart

[lit_gal]

 

Flesh and Blood and Heart
Sentinel x Mag 7 (Tucson 7 AU)
Jim/Blair (established relationship)
2010 Moonridge story


A call reveals a truth about Jim's past that he's not ready for. Blair is enough family for him, so the thought that he's related to a con artist in Tuscon does not please him. Unfortunately for Jim, once you poke the Tucson 7, they're likely to poke back.

Curious about these Tucson guys?  Check out Sunstroke, Insanity, and Faith (which introduces a very odd group of law enforcement officers/con men/vigilantes).

( Chapters One and Two )

( Chapters Three and Four )

( Chapters Five and Six )

( Chapters Seven and Eight ) 

(Chapter Nine and Ten)



Chapter 11


"This is idiotic," Ezra complained, but then he hadn't been doing much else since showing up outside the small house with peeling paint and bare spots on the roof where the shingles had fallen off in some storm. "Why don't you simply have J.D. out here if backup is so necessary?"

"He's doing that firearms class to get his official P.I. license." Buck sat on the edge of the crumbling concrete porch and looked around with a wide smile as if he was just out to enjoy an evening. It was cooling off more than Jim expected, but it was still hot enough that he'd be inside if he had a choice.

Jim thought Blair would get antsy sitting and just watching—god knows he did on stakeout, but he was sitting behind the world's thorniest flower bushes scribbling away in his little notebook. You could take the researcher away from the Sentinel dissertation, but you couldn't take the obsession with Sentinels away from the researcher.

"And Vin?" Ezra asked. He looked a good deal more uncomfortable than Buck.

Buck shrugged. "Don't know. He just said he couldn't make it."

"So I am stuck out here wasting my time. I am a business owner, you know. I have responsibilities."

"Funny thing, I'm pretty sure I do too."

"Yes, well your business is to wander the streets at night."

Buck laughed. "You make it sound like I'm out walking the streets. Most times, I sit behind a desk and fill out paperwork, Ezra."

Ezra just gave Buck an unhappy look that made it clear he considered owning a bar a step up from owning a bail bonds company. Jim still didn't know why Vin insisted that he listen in on this… so far he'd collected evidence that his brother was a snob, an asshole, and really short on patience.

"Are you sure he's coming tonight?" Ezra asked for the third time. Jim was starting to think the man was related to Sandburg instead of him.

"Yep," Buck answered. Jim still didn't know who "him" was, but Buck seemed pretty convinced he was going to show. If Jim was going to guess, he'd say that someone jumped bail and Buck was looking to pick him up. Hopefully this wasn't a case of him doing creative collections on some loan.

For a time, Buck was quiet, but Jim had noticed the man did like to talk. He seemed to consider silence a challenge. "So, that's really interesting, you having a brother."

Jim sat up. Now this was a conversation he wanted to hear.

"Interesting is not the word." Ezra's face twisted with disgust. "He's a police officer."

Buck grinned. "Oh, I have it on good authority that not all officers of the law are bad." From the wink he gave Ezra, he was well aware of the fact that his little gang of seven had a couple of officers in it.

Ezra sighed. "No wonder Mother worries if I've taken leave of my senses. Sometimes, I think she's right."

"How's she taking this?"

"That is a private concern," Ezra said, the starch back in his voice.

"I just figured that she had to be struggling, is all. It can't be easy to get forced away from her kids like that."

"I doubt William Ellison gave much thought to her feelings in the matter."

"Probably not," Buck agreed. "Still, seems like there are a whole lot of people trying to do right and screwing up along the way. I suppose we both know a thing or two about screwing up."

"If you're attempting to get me to feel sympathy for either William Ellison or his manipulative, back-stabbing son, you can stop. I assure you that I will not be changing my mind about either of them in the near future."

Jim frowned, not liking the tone he was hearing. Blair looked over at him and mouthed the word "whoa," his eyes huge.

"And I will not soon forget that the rest of you conspired to conceal his identity," Ezra said, his voice cold.

Buck held up a hand as if trying to protect himself from Ezra's glare. "Hey, I'm the one who told you."

"You're the one who was so besotted by Maria and half-drunk that he let slip the truth. That does not absolve you in this deception."

"Ez, no one wanted to deceive you—maybe just keep you from going off at the mouth. If you'd known who he was, you would have thrown him out before he got a foot in the door."

"Yes, I certainly would have. And I would not have pulled Mother into the middle of this."

"At least this way, you got to know your brother."

"Yes, what a wonderful experience. He illegally accessed my medical records—records created because I was attempting to help a child with bone cancer—he used his position to search my past, he showed up with no warning without the courtesy to identify himself, and he made assumptions about my character without ever meeting me. I am thrilled to have such a brother. Were I any more blessed, I would have Charles Manson for a brother."

Jim could feel hot fury start to rise in him. He stiffened, on the verge of standing up and coming out from behind the bushes, but Blair's hand fell on his arm.

"Man, he has a point."

Jim turned his fury on Blair, glaring coldly at his partner.

"Dial down the testosterone, Jim," Blair whispered. "The Manson thing is over the line, but the rest—we kinda did that. Cut him some slack, because he is just calling a spade a spade. You've been known to do it once or twice."

"I never—" Jim stopped. He was too angry, and if started saying something now, he was going to end up yelling. The last thing he wanted was one more ugly scene, and Ezra would probably accuse him of stalking or some shit like that. "You get whatever notes you need and we are never coming back here," Jim said, his voice feeling rough as he tried to whisper when he really wanted to bellow.

"I hear ya," Blair agreed, ducking his head so that Jim couldn't read his expression. Jim sighed as he realized he would not be getting unconditional support from Blair tonight.

"Chris says he's a good guy," Buck was saying.

"Chris is a drunk."

"Chris is a good man, Ezra, and he's fished your ass out of more trouble than the rest of us put together."

"I never meant to imply he didn't. I am just suggesting that his judgment—"

"Is as good as ever. If he's still feeling the sting of having his whole family taken from him, he has that right. I trust him with my life, and I've never seen him get so drunk that he—"

"Accidentally blurted out the secret identity of someone's brother?" Ezra finished for him with a nasty smirk. Most men would have taken offense, but Buck just shook his head.

"That wasn't whiskey, that was the beauty of Maria distracting me from my better judgment."

"Is there any woman whose beauty doesn't distract you?"

"Can I help it if I find the fairer sex charming? They are more charitable, warmer, and they have such lovely curves."

Ezra shook his head. "And they turn you down with such regularity that one starts to wonder if you have a masochistic streak."

With a laugh, Buck gave Ezra a wink. "Oh, I don't get turned down near as much as you might think. Some people just prefer to be a little more discrete."

"I didn't think you were acquainted with that word." Ezra looked almost amused.

"I can be, under the right circumstances."

Jim had no idea what to think of the easy banter. Buck was the sort of man Jim had spent most of his life around—he reminded Jim of Henri Brown so much that Jim almost felt homesick for the practical joker with his horrible taste in shirts. They both joked a little too much, but they had a way of carrying themselves that suggested that they also knew who to take care of business. Watching Ezra so comfortable with someone Jim might like… it was weird.

"You're going to crack a tooth," Blair said softly. Until that moment, Jim hadn't realized just how hard he was clenching his jaw. Forcing himself to relax, he could feel the muscles in his face ache. He really was going to crack a tooth at this rate. Blair put his notebook on the ground, resting it on a pile of pink, papery petals from the thorny bush. Leaning closer, he slipped his hand around Jim's back and rested his weight against Jim's side. "Hey, worst case, we just go home. It doesn't matter. It totally doesn't matter. Blair rested his head against Jim's shoulder, and Jim reached around, hugging Blair with one arm. It did matter, but then Jim had learned to live with disappointment when it came to family.

"See that?" Ezra asked. Jim's head came up at the tone in his voice. That was a worried man. Jim looked around, and Blair, sensing the change in mood, scooted to the side and retrieved his notebook.

"I saw it the first time he drove by," Buck agreed. He didn't sound half as worried, but there was an edge to his voice Jim hadn't heard before, and his hand was resting on his thigh near where Jim suspected he kept his gun. "You're going blind in your old age, Ezra," he teased.

"As long as I'm not as ugly as others."

"Now I know you're not talking about me because I have it on good authority that I am a cute man, nearly as cute as Vin," Buck shot back, but his eyes were sweeping the street, and Jim changed his focus. He'd chosen this spot because the bushes blocked anyone from seeing them easily, and they could get to the alley behind where the rental was parked, but it wasn't as easy to see the street as Jim would like, and the bushes were a poor cover if any real trouble showed up.

Buck and Ezra both stiffened as an old blue car pulled up. It had driven past before, and now Buck and Ezra shifted so they were farther apart and had a better line of fire. Jim put a hand on Blair's shoulder, urging him toward the block wall where they'd left the car. Blair was unarmed, so if this got ugly, Jim wanted him out of the way. Of course, just because Jim wanted it, that didn't mean Blair was going to go along. Even now, Blair was digging in his heels and refusing to get pushed back. Jim spared his partner one unhappy look before he focused on the scene in front of the old house.

The man who got out of the car had his hair slicked back. He closed the car door and leaned back against it in a exaggerated sprawl. "Hey, vatos. I heard that cunt of mine hired some dudes who called themselves badasses." The man made a point of raising his shirt to show the butt of a gun. Jim could feel his guts tighten as the situation turned dangerous.

"And I heard you had an ounce of good manners, clearly we are both sorely uninformed," Ezra said. Jim could feel a smile tug at the edges of his mouth. That had been good. A flash of confusion crossed the man's face, but then he pushed away from the car and swaggered up the path. This kid couldn't be more than twenty, and he had all the stupidity that went with youth.

"So, are you some sort of bodyguards? How much would it cost to hire you? Then again, maybe she's paying you in something more interesting than money. What? Do you share her? She's a good fuck." The guy got a nasty smirk on his face.

"Now, I'm starting to think we're going to have a problem," Buck said. "I know I'm idealistic, but I like to think of women as being just a little better than us, a little purer…."

The man gave a nasty laugh at that announcement, but Buck kept right on going. "And you're offending my sense of gentlemanly duty. And to answer your question, she's not paying us at all. I volunteered to teach a young man how to show some manner. First, you never use the word 'cunt' for a woman. They are ladies or women or sometimes even beauties, but not ever 'cunts.' Now Ezra here will tell you that 'bitches' is equally off limits."

"I will," Ezra agreed. "A gentleman would never use such a word."

"Now I tend to be a little more modern. I believe that you can call a woman a bitch if you use a respectful tone and if you're describing her impressive ability to verbally shred some idiot of a man. In fact, I find some women even appreciate having a man notice their talent at being a bitch."

"Do you need to take notes?" Ezra asked. "I fear you're not getting all this, and there will be a quiz."

The man looked from one to the other. "You're fucking nuts."

"You know, more than one person has suggested that very thing," Ezra said with a mock seriousness as he looked over at Buck. "Does it concern you that so many people seem to question our mental acumen and stability?"

Buck shrugged. "Nope. I do get a little worried when I consider that the state of Arizona lets us carry big fucking guns, though." Buck pulled the last button of his shirt open and pushed the edge aside to reveal the butt of a rather large gun in a belt holster. "You'd think guys as crazy as the two of us would be on some sort of list."

"You would think," Ezra agreed seriously. He had his own weapon out and he was running a finger up and down it lovingly.

The man was backing away now. "Before you leave, you need to understand something," Buck said as strolled toward the retreating man. "You need to ask around, ask people what they think of the Tucson seven. You tell them that you managed to make them very unhappy by verbally and physically harassing a woman who is trying to start a new life. You see what they think about your life expectancy."

"I dare say most people would question his sanity for going up against us," Ezra said sadly. "The Juarez cartel would definitely advise you to find another place to make trouble."

"They were pains in the ass to get rid of," Buck said.

"Quite," Ezra agreed. "And I am still aggravated that they had the audacity to call the police. You know, my police record actually has in it that I was charged with stalking a drug lord. Do you have any idea what that does to your credit rating? I am paying inflated interest rates on my business loans because of that man. If they want to shoot at me, fine. But attacking my credit rating and involving the police is really quite beyond the pale."

Ezra hadn't quite finished his speech before the man had gotten into the car. He started the engine with a roar and hit the accelerator so hard that the tires screamed against the pavement and the car jerked into the road and nearly hit a mailbox before straightening out and disappearing into the night.

"We didn't get to shoot him," Ezra said sadly.

"Chris and Vin will be just as happy." Buck started toward the house. "I'm going to tell Margarite that he's gone."

"Do you think he'll stay gone?"

Buck stared off down the street. "I think so. J.D. and I can swing by a few times and make sure he keeps his distance."

"Next time, I'm shooting him. Anyone who can beat up a woman like that deserves to get shot." Ezra sounded firm on that point.

"I'm not disagreeing with you there. Just, don't let Vin and Chris catch you. I mean, I'd visit you in prison, but I’m not sure the others would. You know how Josiah is about leaving that church of his. And you'd miss all his Sunday sermons."

Ezra rolled his eyes. "The last time I went to Sunday sermon, it consisted of a bus and Josiah saying that anyone who didn't get tested as a potential bone marrow donor for a dying child was risking eternal damnation. I still haven't thanked you for insisting I come along that day."

"She found a match," Buck said without apology.

"You know, I'm not entirely sure we're bluffing when we call our own sanity into question." Ezra headed off down the street, away from the bushes where Jim and Blair were watching.

Buck watched until Ezra reached a dark car parked nearly at the corner. "Oh, I know we aren't," he said to himself softly. Then he turned and knocked at the door of the house.

Jim pushed at Blair again, urging him back toward the alley.

"Oh man. Shit. Whoa. I mean… whoa." Blair blurted the words out when they hit the alley. "That was…."

"Unbelievable?" Jim said. He'd think it was a set up, but the smell of fear from the young man, the aggravation from Ezra, the testosterone from Buck and Ezra as they drove the kid off… these were not smells that a person could fake.

"Fucking amazing," Blair corrected him. "I mean, talk about thinking outside the box. Talk about unconventional power sources and the use of bluffing in status fights. Although…. Were they…. Would they have shot him?"

Jim thought about that. The aggression had been enough to make his nose itch. "Maybe," Jim finally concluded. He wasn't comfortable with the thought of civilians taking on the power of police, but considering that Vin was a detective and he gave his tacit approval to this little operation, Jim wasn't going to tell anyone, either.

"Seriously, I want to go home and write about five articles over the interactions I just saw. I would, only no one would believe me. I mean… wow. Just wow. I know your brother is an asshole, but he's kind of a cool asshole."

Jim didn't answer. He wasn't sure how he felt about his brother anymore. He wasn't even sure how his brother should feel about him. It was uncomfortable having reality bent and twisted around you. Maybe Blair understood that because he fell silent, jotting things in his notebook as Jim drove them back to the hotel. His brother was certainly… unexpected.





Chapter 12


"So," Blair said. He sat on the edge of the bed and looked at Jim. Jim knew exactly what Blair was asking, but he didn't have an answer. What the hell was he supposed to say to Ezra? After spying, he thought he should probably apologize for crashing into the man's life and making a whole lot of assumptions. Part of him just wanted to go back to Cascade and mark this up as one more family relationship that wasn't going to work.

"Are you going to tell your dad?"

Leaning against the wall, Jim turned his head so he could see out the hotel window. The sidewalk shimmered in the heat and the sun’s glare made him miss the cooler and cloudier climate up north. "Chief, I don't even really talk to my dad. Why would I inflict him on someone else?"

Blair made a face. "He has issues."

"To say the least," Jim agreed. He wondered what his father had been like as a young man—falling in love with a known con woman with a personality as large as his mother's. For decades, Jim had blamed his father for their marriage falling apart, although he had blamed his mother for walking out. Now, he was starting the think the divorce had been a mutual effort. And Ezra… William Ellison would have a fit if he knew what his son had become. Steven was the golden boy—the one who had gone into the nice respectable business world. Jim with his “cop” friends and gun and history of violence—well, most days Jim knew that some part of his father respected him, but it seemed to be a pretty damn small part. Jim wouldn’t be talking to the man at all if it weren’t for Blair. But if his father knew about Ezra with his criminal background and vigilante friends, the old man would have a heart attack.

“I’m starting to appreciate being an only child,” Blair said softly. Considering that Steven couldn’t deal with Jim’s sexuality and Ezra just couldn’t deal with Jim at all, Jim was starting to feel like an only child himself. And if that’s the way his brothers wanted it, that was fine. Jim didn’t need them. Steven was a big boy, and Ezra…. Jim sighed. If he were honest with himself, he liked Ezra more. It took guts to stand up for a battered woman. Guts and a little stupidity, but he had partners to keep him from getting in too much trouble. Steven sure as hell wouldn’t have been out there.

Jim pulled out his cell phone and started dialing. Blair stood up and walked to Jim’s side, silently resting a hand against Jim’s back. Honestly, Jim really didn’t need his brothers—he had the love he needed. The phone on the other end rang several times before someone picked up.

“What?” Ezra asked, none of his usual charm in place. Jim sighed. He wished he knew the Ezra he’d seen last night—the one with the sharp sense of humor and unshakable courage. All Jim knew was that when people pushed him, he set his heels in and got stupid. The only reason his relationship with Blair worked was because the man had mastered the art of dodging around issues instead of trying to plow his way through. If Jim insisted he wanted to three kinds of meat at every meal, Blair would nod and agree and make sure that two forms were so disgusting that Jim didn’t touch them. It was just how he dealt with conflict—from the side. Jim didn’t even try to pretend that he controlled the relationship. He put his foot down and Blair went right around him and did what he wanted.

“If you’re going to say something, I suggest you do so before I hang up on you,” Ezra snapped.

“You have caller ID,” Jim commented. Obviously the man did because he didn’t strike Jim as the sort to be this rude to just anyone.

“What do you want? I am trying to run a business here.”

“I’m leaving town,” Jim said. Blair’s fingers pressed a little deeper into his back.

“Good. Don’t let the car door hit you on the ass on your way out of town.” Ezra sounded almost satisfied. Jim could respect that. If the situation had been reversed, he would have paid good money to get Ezra out of his hair.

“Fair enough,” Jim answered. He could hear the slight suck of air on the other end that suggested he’d caught Ezra off guard. “You know, I suspect the woman who broke confidentiality on both our bone marrow tests thought the same thing I did—that I had a son—that I had an obligation to my son. If I’d known you were a grown man with your own life, I wouldn’t have started this whole process.”

“You could have simply stayed out of Tucson,” Ezra said, still looking for a reason to fight. Jim smiled at Blair while taking a play out of his lover’s playbook. It was time to go around the side instead of picking a fight head-on.

“You’re right. I could have. Curiosity got the best of me. But I’m heading back up to Cascade today, and before I left, I wanted to apologize for not being up front with you.” Jim gave a grim laugh. “Actually, you’re the only family that doesn’t disapprove of Blair or my relationship with him, even if you do hate me. That means something. Steven, the brother in the middle, doesn’t even want to think about it, and dad….” Jim let his voice trail off. From the silence on the other end, Ezra was hungry for information, but Jim was guessing he’d chew off an arm before asking any questions.

“Dad feels guilty about a lot of the shit he did when we were kids, so now he bends over backwards to try and make things right.” Jim was giving a con man the keys to their father’s guilt, but hopefully Jim had judged Ezra right, and the man wouldn’t take advantage of it. If he did… well, Jim would cross that bridge when he came to it. “But he can’t hide his disapproval. He wanted boys who would be clones of himself, and I never did fit that mold.”

Blair’s arms slipped around Jim’s waist—his head resting against Jim’s back. Despite the comfort that offered, Jim almost wished Blair would give him some space because baring himself like this was hard, and Blair’s comfort was making too many emotions rise up at once. He’d hang up now, only he figured he had once chance of showing Ezra he wasn’t a chip off the old Ellison block.

“I fail to see any reason why I should care.” Ezra sounded almost confused.

“Good. If you decide to ever meet him, you’ll need that attitude, because Dad is going to disapprove of you as much as he does me. We aren’t good little corporate lawyers and managers. That’s more Steven’s thing. He never could stop caring about what Dad thought.”

“Will you tell them?” Most of the hostility had left Ezra’s voice.

“No. That’s for you to decide. If you want to get to know them, they’re both still in Cascade. You’re welcome to come up and tell them, or if you want, you can just come along as a friend during one of the rare family dinners where my father and Blair conspire to try and make us all forgive each other. It hasn’t worked so far, but those two are determined. Just bring lots of antacid.”

Jim leaned forward and rested his head against the window sill. There wasn’t anything else he could do to offer an olive branch, and he felt so damn vulnerable with all his offers out there between them. He probably would have hung up by now except he could smell that special salt and sweet scent Blair got whenever he was really, really happy. Jim would risk a little of his own pride for that.

“Trust me, I have no interest in socializing with the man who drove Mother out of the state. His heavy-handed and unethical actions prove his is a bully.”

With a sigh, Jim nodded. “He was. Now he’s a sad old man who can’t figure out why his sons don’t like him.”

That made Ezra paused. If Jim had to guess, he would say Ezra expected Jim to defend their father. Hell, the man probably thought Jim was a chip off the old block considering the way Jim had bent the truth. Ezra finally answered. “That proves only that he is an intellectually and socially challenged bully, not that he has, in any way, reformed.”

Jim didn’t say anything. There wasn’t anything he could say. His father wasn’t the bully he had been when Jim was young, but defending William Ellison wasn’t going to help in this situation. Besides, their father had made this mess, or at least fifty percent of this mess. There was a long silence. In the background, Jim could hear voices whispering: it sounded like Buck and J.D. Jim wondered if these men were ever alone, or if, like some sort of bizarre military unit, they always travelled with backup. If they were out there challenging the drug cartels, hopefully they always had backup.

“Mother is convinced that you need some sort of guidance after years of William Ellison’s influence. I should probably warn you that she intends to make you a priority in the near future.”

“Thanks for the warning,” Jim answered. The last thing he wanted was another round of Maude Standish in his life, but he’d take that up with his mother. Ezra certainly couldn’t control her. There was another of those pregnant pauses.

Ezra sighed. “She can sometimes be a little….” He stopped. Jim could almost feel the distress through the phone. “Oh for God’s sake,” he finally said in the same tone another man might say ‘fuck it.’ “She is utterly insufferable at times, both in her unshakable belief that she is always right and in her very annoying penchant for actually being right. Lord knows she’s done her best to get me to give up the Players Only. She says that owning property makes one less mobile and sluggish, and her forms of persuasion have gone past the simple heart-to-heart talk.”

Jim wondered exactly what that meant. From the tight tone and carefully controlled emotions that still slipped through well enough for Jim’s Sentinel ears to pick them up, Ezra and Maude had a major conflict sometime in the near past. Even more surprisingly, Jim felt a flash of aggravation that someone would bother his brother. He hadn’t felt that since Steven was seven and got beat up.

“I’ll keep the deed to the loft in the lockbox,” Jim joked, ignoring his own tangled feelings.

“That might be a good plan. A bank’s safe deposit box would be even better,” Ezra said. Jim’s eyes flew open at that bit of advice. So, his mother would screw him over if she thought she was doing it in his best interest. Yeah, Jim figured his father had at least some cause to complain in the marriage.

“Well, please do not drop in uninvited again, and if I am ever in Cascade, I shall look you up,” Ezra suddenly said in a tone that made it clear the conversation was over. Before Jim could say anything, the line went dead. Jim closed his cell phone and reached over to put it on the dresser.

Blair’s arms tightened around him. “Man that was… that was fucking amazing. When we get home, I’m signing you up for the negotiating team because that… that was a masterpiece of negotiation and compromise. A fucking masterpiece.”

“I just channeled you, Chief,” Jim pointed out.

Unexpectedly, Blair started laughing. “Me? You have your wires crossed. I’m the one who can’t see that he’s stepping all over other people’s hopes and fears without someone shoving a big sign in my face. Trust me, if I had tried to negotiate that, Ezra probably would have shot you.” Blair walked over and sat on the bed. “So, what now?”

“Now we pack and get our tickets changed for a late afternoon flight,” Jim said.

Nodding, Blair got up and headed for the suitcase in the closet. “I can do that.”

“No, you can’t,” Jim said, stepping in front of him so that Blair nearly crashed into him. Grabbing the phone off the dresser, Jim shoved it at him. “You make the calls; I’ll pack the bags.”

“What? You don’t trust me to pack? What do you think I’d do? Steal the towels?”

“I think that last time you packed my wrinkles had wrinkles, Chief. You don’t know how to fold a shirt any more than I know how to shake one of your ceremonial spears. So you change the tickets, and I will pack the bags.”

“Has anyone ever accused you of being anal retentive?”

“Only you, Chief. The rest of the world thinks I’m normal. If you ever tried to pack Rafe’s bag, the man would be forced to shoot you in defense of innocent suits, so I’m not the odd one here.”

“Yeah, yeah. You just keep on telling yourself that, Ellison,” Blair said with a healthy eye roll as he started dialing the phone. Jim smiled as he pulled shirts off hangers and carefully laid them out on the bed to fold them. Blair had changed the tickets, and Jim was working on the packing when a knock came at the door. Jim traded a look with Blair as he tried to figure out which of the seven were going to pay one last visit. It wouldn’t be Ezra, Jim knew that.

Going over to the door, Jim checked through the peep hole, shocked to find his mother in the hall. He swung the door open.

“Mom?”

Maude Standish, the woman who had once upon a time been Grace Ellison, swept into the room before turning to catch Jim’s face between her palms and pulling his head down so she could kiss his forehead. “You always were my favorite, James. Even before I knew you had the touch, you were the one who could always see what people needed. You hid it, but you had the ability to read people. I’m your mother. I could see it.” She smiled at him, and Jim could feel some cold spot in his heart thaw, even if he was still confused.

“Is this about Ezra?”

“Of course it’s about Ezra. Do keep up with the conversation.” She let him go and turned toward Blair, holding out her hand. Blair looked confused, but he went to shake it only to find Maude clasping her hands around his. “Blair, I am so glad we’re having a chance to say goodbye before you left. I know that you wouldn’t have let Jim sneak out of town without a call at least.”

“I would have suggested it,” Blair agreed. Maude smiled at him and sat on the end of the bed, pulling Blair down to sit next to her.

“I want you to know that you’ll always be family,” Maude said, patting Blair’s leg. Blair was looking almost amused.

“Mom, I would have called you,” Jim said as he closed the door.

“Of course, you would have, James. You know, I have collected every newspaper clipping about you. I always told your father that he was an idiot, and that his insane desire to make you into someone average was going to backfire. I told him that. But no, William Ellison didn’t want a son that was so unique—so willing to give his heart to everyone from a homeless man to a bird that had fallen from its nest.” She turned to Blair. “He couldn’t have been more than four, and we were going to one of William’s fancy parties in the city at one of those hotel ballrooms, and a homeless man came up to ask for change so he could buy food. William just ignored him. But halfway through dinner, James turned up missing. He had taken his plate right out the front door and gave it to that man.”

Jim blinked, surprised as the memory surfaced now that his mother was telling the story. He remembered the smell of the man, the look on his father’s face when he came out, the confusing laughter of adults.

“Young James charmed a state congressman with his altruism, but William was furious at having the dinner interrupted, first by a widespread search under the tablecloths to find a missing child and then by the amusement of all the guests that James had decided to take up a one-man crusade to feed the homeless in Cascade.”

Blair was looking up at Jim with a huge smile on his face. “Oh man, I would kill to have seen that.”

“I was never so proud of him in all my life.” Maude’s smile got a little teary. “But from the time he could walk, that boy of mine never could bear to see a wrong. If there was a bully, James would put him in his place. If there was someone hurt, he’d be right there offering comfort. William never understood what a beautiful child he had fathered. Never. And I hated him for not appreciating James or me… and for trying his best to make sure that Steven turned out more boring. The minute Steven was born, suddenly I wasn’t enough. Suddenly we had to have a live-in nanny, and he had to have me on his arm for all his boring business evenings, and god forbid we bring the children. He wanted to keep me away from my own sons, as if I was the bad influence.”

His mother’s expression slipped, and Jim could see the raw pain underneath.

“He meant well, but he was….” Jim stopped. He loved his father, even if he didn’t like him much.

“He was wrong,” his mother said firmly. “And I was equally wrong for not fighting harder. I should have. I should have found a way to blackmail him right back—or invented one as he did. I should have recognized that you had more than just a simple case of the touch. I should have…. I should have done so much more for you, James. Loving you from a distance was never a substitute for being there.”

Jim shook his head. “If you’d stayed, you two would have turned that house into a war zone, and Steven, Ezra and I all would have ended up in the middle.”

She looked up at him. “So, you forgive me?”

He thought about that. He wanted to. He wanted to feel forgiveness in his heart, but as much as he understood her more, he was having some trouble forgiving her for not doing something to let him know that she was out there somewhere, still loving him and missing him.

“I’m trying to,” he finally said.

She stood up and walked toward him, smiling with tears shining in her eyes. “That’s enough, James. It’s more than enough.” She opened her arms, and before Jim knew quite what was happening, he was hugging her, holding her against him. The last time he’d hugged her, he’d been a child, and now she felt so small next to him. She wasn’t this larger-than-life woman who had made every outing into an adventure. She was just a simple woman who had been through a divorce nastier than most.

Pulling back, she looked up at him. “I assume the invitation to come to Cascade is open for me as well as Ezra.”

“Of course it is,” Jim agreed.

Blair stood up. “You can have my old bed under the stairs.”

She frowned as she looked from one to the other. “Under the stairs. Why in the world would you be under the stairs?

Blair’s face broke into a big grin. “Oh man, you have got to hear the story about how I moved in on Jim. You see, I was staying at a warehouse with this Barbary ape…”

“A monkey?”

“No way. A Barbary ape. Totally different thing, although they do both have a habit of throwing their own shit as a form of self-defense, but that’s… anyway—”

“Chief, she doesn’t need to hear the story,” Jim warned.

“Oh, but I do,” his mother contradicted him.

“Yeah, Jim, she does. Beside, you have to pack,” Blair said with a wicked expression, but he was also watching Jim closely, probably looking for some sign that Jim was actually upset.

“Just remember, I have all the good stories on you, Blair. I think your mother even left me some of those naked baby pictures she seemed so fond of.” Jim mock-glared at Blair.

Before Blair could threaten Jim, the way he normally did when the subject of naked baby pictures came up, his mother took a step closer to Blair and slipped an arm under his arm. “So, you have this Barbary ape in the warehouse and then what happens?”

Blair focused on Maude. “Well, what I didn’t know what that a drug dealer had set up a drug lab next door….”

Jim went back to folding the clothes as he watched his mother and Blair migrate over to the small table where they sat down and talked with the sort of joyous abandon Jim couldn’t quite manage with his mother—not yet, anyway--maybe not ever.  However, even if this whole adventure to find his flesh and blood relative had been a little unusual, it was worth it. Watching his mom with Blair, he could see the woman he'd known... all her life and passion and idiocy.  

His mother looked up at him with such love in her face that Jim could see that no matter how much time had passed and how many mistakes she’d made, he was still in her heart. It was a start. Now if he could keep her out of Cascade, it’d be an even better start.