"Visit our showrooms and try out our newest line of comfort recliners." The commercial continued. A picture of a large leather recliner dominated the television. COMFORT RECLINERS INC., flashed in gaudy bright letters across the bottom of the screen. Blair sat for a fraction of a second amazed that the word he had come to associate with his partner was now being used to describe a piece of furniture. And then it hit him. Lurching from the chair, almost tipping it over in his haste he ran into his room and retrieved his date book. A smile lit face as he flipped haphazardly through the pages his finger lighting on February 23. Two weeks away, he had plenty of time.
"Oh, yeah, perfect!" He grabbed his coat and headed for the door.
***************
Two weeks later…
"It wasn't my fault."
"You could have warned me."
"But it wasn't my fault."
"You still could have warned me." The taller detective rounded on the younger man at his side, "You're supposed to be my back up!"
"What? You couldn't smell it? Jim, you're the Sentinel here. I could smell it. It wasn't my fault the guy ran into the fish plant, and it certainly wasn't my fault you tackled him into that pile of smelt!" his partner stood just inside the doorway glaring at him. "What happened to your sense of smell back there anyway?"
Softening Jim sighed, shaking his head. "I was so locked onto him with my sight, everything else was sorta blocked out. I don't know." He raised his hand quickly cutting off the excited flow of words he could see bubbling just below the surface in his Guides eyes, visions of tests sending shivers up his spine. "Forget it Sandburg, I am too tired for this tonight."
With that he walked into the loft and stopped short. Blair stood beside him, a mischievous smile on his face, bouncing slightly with excitement.
"Now there's a scent you should be able to identify pretty easily." Blair teased.
"Happy Birthday man. What did you think I'd forget?"
"You mean like last year?' Jim walked into the main room in the loft and ran his hands absently over the smooth soft leather back of a brand new recliner. Black, deep seated and large enough to accommodate his tall frame, comfortable enough to fall asleep in.
"So you like it?"
"Chief, how did you afford this?"
"So you like it?" Blair repeated avoiding the question. In actuality he had not been able to afford it. But the owner of Comfort Recliners had a daughter at Rainier that needed tutoring in a psychology class. So with a little persuasion and lots of charm he had convinced the Owner to take a small down payment and lessons in trade to get the chair into the house in time for Jim's birthday. The rest he would pay off in installments. At the time he wondered what he had gotten himself into, but the look on Jim's face had been worth it all.
"Thank you Blair." Jim replied, taking the upturned face of his partner in his hands to still the bouncing of the small excited body. "Thank you. Yes, I like it."
"Then, I think I'll leave you two alone. But ah, Jim, do us all a favor and shower before you sit in that thing will you?" Blair said with a smile ducking as Jim reached out to smack him. Jim turned back to touch the leather again. Blair had picked out what he thought was the softest feeling of the two black recliners available, knowing Jim wouldn't use it if it didn't feel "right". Pleased with himself he went into his room and began to grade papers for tomorrow's class.
Jim stood for a minute watching his roommate retreat to his solitude, wondering briefly how he had ever ended up finding someone who thought more of Jim himself, than his own well being. He knew, by instinct, that Blair had probably been very particular about picking out this chair, right smell, right feel and he had no doubt that Blair had drilled the company owner regarding the products the recliner had been made with. A smile graced his face as he stripped out of his clothes glad to finally be able to shower off the smell of fish.
*************
The shower had done the trick. He had used every last drop of hot water they had, hoping Blair was not planning on showering tonight.
When he entered the main room in the loft, the silence hit him. Extending his senses Jim was thrown off by the change in the sound level since he had last stood here. Blair was supposed to be grading papers. He usually kept up an unconscious steady stream of critiquing while he graded and Jim had always found it slightly entertaining. Jim walked towards Blair's room listening and realized by Blair's breathing and heartbeat that the student had fallen asleep. He pushed the windowed doors open and looked in on his partner. Blair had fallen asleep all right, sitting up in what could only be described as a very uncomfortable position. Graded papers scattered were all over him and all over his bed. His pen had rolled off onto the floor and his head was leaned back, mouth open breathing gently.
Jim walked in silently, picking the scattered papers up off the bed and pulled his young friend down into a more comfortable sleeping position. Cradling his head in order not to wake him. He grabbed a blanket off the floor and draped it over the still sleeping form. Blair sighed and turned in his sleep towards Jim, pulling the blanket more firmly around him.
"Thanks man." If not for his sentinel hearing Jim never would have understood, let alone heard the sleep mumbled words.
Jim walked back out into the loft and looked at the recliner for a few minutes. Well he might as well give the thing a try. Sitting back into the chair he pushed the footrest up and relaxed back in to the cushions. How did that commercial go? 'At the end of a hard day the Sentinel waits for you' or something like that. Leave to Blair to get a Sentinel for a Sentinel. And with those thoughts flitting through his mind the Sentinel, the human one, fell asleep.