Dr. Sandburg

[lit_gal]

More of Christine's Moonridge story.  You guys' nagging worked.

Dr. Sandburg Visits Cascade
Sequel to Dr. Sandburg Finds a Sentinel.

Dr. Sandburg has headed off to Cascade so Captain Ellison can say goodbye to his old life before becoming part of the Stargate program.  Things don't work out as planned.

Warnings: AU
Pairing:  pre-slash Jim/Blair
Rating: Teen


Part One




"So, what happened?" O'Neill demanded as soon as they were settled around a tiny table in a room that looked more like a closet than anything else. Blair waited for Banks to answer, but O'Neill reached out and caught Blair's wrist. Starting, he sat up and looked at the colonel. "Blair, what happened?" That was O'Neill's 'Daniel tone,' the one he used when Daniel was hurting. Blair has sure never heard it, and the fact that O'Neill was offering some support made Blair ache. He didn't want O'Neill's support--he wanted Jim's. Actually, O’Neill being supportive felt a little creepy, like the world was ending or something.

"Um, Jim and I headed to the station to talk to his old boss, to make sure that Banks knew that he had chosen to take the job. He didn't want Banks worrying about him." Blair glanced over, and he could see the strain in every tight line of Banks' body. The man did know how much Jim respected him.

"And?" O'Neill prompted him.

"I wasn't particularly impressed with Jim's new job," Banks offered with a derisive snort. "I even tried to get him to come back to Major Crime."

"He wouldn't," Blair said softly. Sentinels walked boundaries, and the Stargate was the largest boundary on the planet... and the biggest danger. That was the war that attracted Jim's need to protect his people.

"Okay, what happened? Focus on the facts, Blair."




The radio call had come through ordering every available unit to a location on the edge of the city.

"Simon? What the hell?" Jim had demanded as he sat on the edge of Rhonda's desk. "What is going on?"

Simon rolled his eyes. "The damn mayor and his drills. He did this when you were gone, Jim. He wants evidence that the rank and file follow orders, but I should have gotten notice of this."

"Simon, do you want us to..." Henri Brown let his words trail off.

"I need you working your cases," Simon said firmly. "If the mayor doesn't like how I run my unit, he can talk to me about it, but I'm not having you off on some damn fire drill."

"And you want me to come back to this?" Jim asked with a touch of humor and a whole cupful of disgust. "Simon, I'd shoot the mayor inside a month."

Banks rolled his eyes. "After several dozen patrol calls don't get answered, you won't have to kill him. People are going to start complaining, and you know how he feels about the voters liking him."

"Man, local politics suck," Blair muttered. Give him a village under the goa'uld threat any day of the week. People who had the security to get fat and happy always ended up sucking. It was like the old Lincoln quote--anyone can survive adversity but if you wanted to judge a man's character, give him power.

Banks spared him one dirty look before basically turning his back. Blair suspected he was not on Banks' Christmas card list. "Jim, we both know the military has more drills than the mayor could dream up on his best day."

"I'm on a protection detail, Simon." Jim gave Blair another fond look. "I don't think I'm going to hang around base much, and given how much trouble Blair can get in, I don't think I'll have time to drill."

"Har, har, man. You're the one who took me hostage." Blair's words made everyone's gazes fly to Jim. Okay, maybe he'd said that a little too loud.

"I'm blaming you for that." Jim gave his hair a tug. "When I'm trying to avoid the authorities, I don't appreciate finding out that someone has the ability to track me through the forest without even so much as a map. It damages my ego, and you don't want to know the lengths I'll go to restore my sense of manliness." The edges of Jim's lips twitched. And before Blair could defend himself, Jim had caught him in a one-armed hold and was giving him a noogie.

“Hey!” Blair shoved at Jim, trying to defend his own manliness while all Jim’s friends laughed. After a second, Jim laid off the noogie, and just pulled Blair close enough to drape a friendly arm over his shoulder. A comfortable and at-home Jim was definitely happier than and touchier than an on-the run Jim. Blair thought about that, about all the times Jim seemed to find an excuse to leave a hand resting against Blair’s arm, even when Blair was tied up. Touchier might be debatable, but Jim was definitely friendlier.

"That is not what I said. Totally not," Blair muttered.

"Seriously?" Henri Brown demanded. "You took a hostage? When you decide to go desperado, you really go whole hog." The man gave a big belly laugh, but Simon's expression had turned a good deal darker. The second Henri caught sight of Banks’ scowl, he covered his last few guffaws with a cough.

Blair focused on Henri and his teasing energy. "Yeah, except he kept checking if I was too cold and giving me a sleeping bag so I could catch some sleep. Trust me, it was not like any kidnapping I've ever gone through."

"And I was so good at kidnapping you, they offered me a job." Clearly Jim was enjoying the teasing, even if Banks wasn't.

"So, are you moving over the military permanently?" Henri Brown asked.

"Yep, I am. You're going to have to solve your own cases, Brown," Jim teased.

Brown grabbed his chest as if he'd been shot in the heart. "You wound," he said dramatically.

Joel Taggart laughed as he crossed the room. Blair didn't believe in aura's like his mother did, but he did get the sense that Joel liked people and he liked to laugh. Blair found himself smiling at the captain of the bomb squad. "I guess Jim has moved on to bigger and better things," Joel said.

"Why do you say that?" Jim crossed his arms and gave every sign of being aggravated, but Blair could tell this was a game. Joel smiled wider.

"Because you wouldn't give this up for anything less. For one, I'm just happy you aren't planning a career in public relations."

The shiver of horror out of Jim made his opinion clear.

Joel turned to Banks. "Simon, are you sending your guys out on this drill?"

"If the mayor or commissioner want me to send my guys out on a fool's errand, they need to give me a direct order. Did you send your guys out?"

"I was saved by a live fire test for the Christmas display. I have my guys over there making sure the company doesn't blow up the city."

"I thought that was the fire department's job."

Joel shrugged. "It is, but they have a conference that has them down to a skeleton crew. We agreed to help cover for them, so I sent my guys out."

The two captains chatted, but Blair could feel Jim stiffen beside him. The man nearly vibrated from the tension and his eyes scanned the room suspiciously, which didn't make sense. This was his home territory. Well, unless by leaving he was emotionally severing himself from his home and his senses were reacting. Honestly, Burton had not included enough information in his manuscript for Blair to understand the instincts of an honest-to-God Sentinel. Blair leaned closer. "Jim?"

Jim offered a sharp shake of his head, a dismissive gesture clearly intended to put Blair off, but clearly Ellison had mistaken him for someone who could be put off.

"What is it?" Blair barely whispered the words, trusting Jim's Sentinel hearing to catch them.

"Nothing," Jim said sharply enough that both captains looked at them, but Jim's body still trembled with emotion. Blair offered the others his best 'please don't stab me with your big-old spears look' and shoved at Jim's side.

"Problem?" Banks asked.

Jim gave another shake of his head. "It's nothing."

"But we'll be right back," Blair added, and he stopped even trying to hide the fact that he was shoving Jim back away from the group. With an eye roll and an affectionate look, Jim let himself be maneuvered to the far wall. Banks really was glaring murder at that point, but Blair didn't really care what a cop thought about his lack of manly manners.

"What, Sandburg?" Jim demanded.

"What? You're asking me what?"

"It's a word people use when they're demanding information, like why their partner is shoving them into a corner. And here I thought you were the linguist." Jim gave him that world-weary look that he clearly intended as a way to verbally push Blair away. The new, suddenly-friendly Jim had officially left the building.

"You thought wrong. I'm an anthropologist. I study cultures, not verbs,” Blair shot back. “However, you are about to jump out of your skin, so I'm the one asking for information here."

"It's nothing." The mulish expression was not a good sign, and neither was the tight line of Jim's jaw or the way his arms were corded with muscle he was so tense.

"If that's nothing, I do not want to see something. Seriously, what has you wound up?"

For a second, Blair thought Jim was going to freeze him out, but then that ice seemed to crack a little. "I don't know. I just feel..." Jim clenched his jaw and tilted his head to the side as though struggling to hear something. From someone else, that line would have gotten a laugh and potentially a history lesson on the long tradition of belief in a sixth sense. But Jim wasn’t just anyone. He was a Sentinel.

"Okay." Blair chewed his lip. "This could be something to do with you being a Sentinel."

Jim gave him a dirty glare.

"No, seriously. Maybe something is on the edge of your awareness. Or maybe you're picking up on some danger."

"We're in the middle of a police station, Chief. Exactly what danger would I be picking up on?"

Blair shrugged. "Earthquake? Alien invasion? Tsunami? I don't know. You're the Sentinel."



Blair's story was cut off by O'Neill catching his wrist in his hand. Blair sucked in a breath as he realized he’d fallen into his own story, into this moment when he should have pushed, should have helped his Sentinel identify the sounds of the coming terrorist attack. Instead Blair had stood there and annoyed Jim, and now Jim had a bullet in his gut. Or several bullets, maybe.

O’Neill’s fingers tightened around his wrist. "So, he was hearing something, sensing something wrong before the attack?"

Simon Banks' hands tightened into fists. "So you know about Jim's senses." He made it pretty clear that he disliked the very idea. Personally, Blair couldn’t get himself to care about anything… nothing. All he wanted was Jim back whole and safe. He’d never felt this sort of all-consuming fear before.

"He's one of my men. I make sure I understand anything that could affect their performance in the field," O'Neill said coldly. "And if Ellison sensed something before the attack, that suggests that his senses are a factor in the field."

Banks leaned back and gave Blair the hairy eyeball. "So, you think Jim is supposed to be able to magically sense earthquakes and alien invasions?" The dismissive tone of voice didn't bother Blair nearly as much as the sudden realization that he'd slipped on the whole alien invasion front. From the look O'Neill was giving him, the colonel hadn't missed it. Heat gathered in Blair's face as he tried to ignore that hard little lump in the pit of his stomach that he got when he really messed up.

"I wouldn't call it mystical as much as a set of skills that makes Ellison particularly good at his job." O'Neill's voice had turned absolutely arctic. "And your presence here is a courtesy that I don't mind rescinding."

The room went utterly still as O'Neill and Banks eyed each other, and Blair tried to shrink into the smallest possible space. This was not the sort of conflict he was good at. He definitely wished Daniel was here because the man had a talent when it came to getting O'Neill to calm the fuck down.

"It's your show, colonel," Banks said with a poor grace.

"Considering how you guys run your show, that's a good thing." Oh yeah, the not-nice colonel was out to play. Usually he saved these kinds of manners for Goa'uld and visiting Russians. Despite the fact that Blair didn’t have the emotional energy to care if these two killed each other, he felt a moral responsibility to play peace keeper, especially since he was the only one in the room who didn’t worship at the altar of testosterone.

"But man, Jim really takes the whole protection thing seriously," Blair interrupted the heavy silence. "I mean, he told me he was having an urge to shove me in a box and sit on it. Colonel Reynolds threatened to shove me in a ration box all the time. All the time. But with Jim, I had the feeling that he was on the verge of actually doing it."

Colonel O'Neill slowly turned his scary look toward Blair. "So instead he leaves you unprotected as he wandered off in the middle of a terrorist attack." And that was O’Neill’s unhappy face. It looked frightening close to his ‘time to blow shit up’ face.

Banks gave a dark laugh. "Oh, I think Jim is going to come back to Cascade sooner rather than later, especially if you plan to blame him for this. He didn't do anything except rescue Sandburg and get himself shot in the process."

"I accept that soldiers get themselves shot, and I have a lot of respect for a man who takes his job seriously enough to put his life on the line for his geek, but leaving Sandburg alone was an operational error. When men in my command make operational errors that leave their team at risk, they answer for that." O'Neill gave Banks the sort of look that even Blair could interpret.

Banks’ eyes narrowed. "My men followed orders."

"Your patrolmen followed stupid orders. That's not a good trait in any subordinate."

"Hey, whoa. We're all on the same side in here, remember?" Blair asked. He physically put his hands between the two men, and after the fact, he considered that he might have made a tactical mistake because he earned matching sets of glares. Blair slowly shrank back into his chair.

"I'm not so sure about that," Banks answered as he glared at O'Neill.

"Sandburg," O'Neill said slowly, "why don't you give me a chance to speak to Captain Banks alone?"

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe because I'm scared that you're going to verbally burn more bridges than I know how to rebuild," Blair answered with a snort.

O'Neill glared at Blair.

"Okay, fine. I'm leaving. No bloodshed," Blair groused as he got up. He'd go harass some nurse about Jim's condition. Let stupid military-type people be stupid with each other. He had a partner to worry about.

Comments

[opsgirl.livejournal.com]

Yeah!! Poor Blair, caught between two alpha males determined to one up each other. I can't wait to see how the altercation between Banks and O'Neill plays out!
If you need more nagging, let me know! I am also eager to see when your latest original fiction is published - what a teasing and intriguing start!

[skeptic7.livejournal.com]

Wonderful! Its lovely that Banks wants to protect Jim from the evil military. Jim must be fairly relaxed with major crimes since no one is surprised that he is horsing around with Blair. Does Jim leave Blair alone? He could have entrusted Joel with Blair and done a quick recon. Not according to Stargate generally accepted procedures but what trouble could Blair get into in the break room with a cup of coffee, a donut and the head of the Bomb Squad if Jim is taking a look at the garage and the entrances.?

[muffiewrites.livejournal.com]

Now there's a throwdown I never thought about before, but it really rocks. It's always been a what-happens-when-Jim-and-Jack-meet kind of a thing, but who'da thunk about Jack and Simon?

[finlaure.livejournal.com]

Very Very Happy to see more!! Now just to see if Jack and Simon can come to an argeement without bloodshed and the need for a Real call out for the department. Did I mention SOO Happy to see more!!

[grachonok.livejournal.com]

Yay, new chapter! Banks and O'Neil toe to toe, that will be a sight:)

[zazreil.livejournal.com]

This was tense and interesting. The gentle humor between Jim and his colleagues was amusing sweet. The structure works for me because I saw the episode in question but i am not sure it really flows well from part one if you are not really familiar with the show

Zaz

Dr. Sandburg Visits Cascade 2

[slashpuppy.livejournal.com]

Hi,

Loving it! :-)

I'm glad that O'Neill recognised that Blair needed the 'Daniel tone'! Awwwww!

Wee fixes:
- 'Daniel tone,' ['Daniel tone',]
- Blair has sure never heard it [had]
- Jim gave his hair a tug. [Jim gave Blair's hair a tug.]
- than an on-the run Jim [on-the-run]
- Blair didn't believe in aura's like his mother did [auras]
- "I thought that was the fire department's job." [job?"]
- Usually he saved these kinds of manners for Goa'uld [those] and [goa'uld]
- a moral responsibility to play peace keeper [peacekeeper]
- So instead he leaves you unprotected as he wandered off in the middle of a terrorist attack. [he left you] and [attack?]

[sallymn.livejournal.com]

Eeeeee.... Jack and Simon are perfect! And poor Blair, stuck in the middle and only wanting to be left alone to worry himself sick...

[gail19.livejournal.com]

Oh boy. The snark is thick enough to cut. Perfectly delicious.