A sort of missing scene for Sentinel, Too -- parts one and two.
Audrey Lynne
Damn pup.
I swear, I turn my back on him for ONE MINUTE...
Okay. I'm all right now. Really. I just find it hard to believe some (okay, most) of the scrapes he manages to get himself into. Fortunately, that time it wasn't too horrible. Well, at the time, it was, but we've gotten past that. He's all right now.
Dammit, he died and it was my fault. I was the one who told him to go.
But I guess he didn't really die, if you thought about it. I mean, sure, he died in Surreal Blue Jungle Dreamworld Land, but not in our realm. He'll never die in our realm.
Still, watching it was painful. I've grown attached to my partner over the years, though I wouldn't have thought it possible when we first met. When we first met, I considered him to be a hyperactive screwball, young and headstrong, and more of a nuisance than anything.
Boy, did that ever change.
He's still a hyperactive screwball; he's still young and headstrong... but now, I find those qualities in him endearing.
I must have lost some of my mind along the way.
They do say that heightened senses are a sign of mental instability.
However, heightened senses (beyond what humans would consider normal) are a way of life for me. It's a part of who I am.
I could be in some serious trouble here.
I heard him coming back, muttering to himself about something or other. He was bouncing again.
He's got to be the only grown wolf who bounces.
I tried to pretend that it was an accident that my tail smacked him in the face when I stood up. "What is it?"
He started pacing, and turning circles. If he were a normal wolf, I'd have said he was getting ready to lie down. But he's not normal. Then again, I'm no normal jaguar.
I wouldn't put up with him if I were.
"Thor, c'mon!" Geez, he was whining again. I hate it when he whines. "They're getting into some serious trouble now. I mean, that whole dream thing where I got to guest star? HE SHOT ME!"
"It's called symbolism, Nanook," I muttered, not wanting to remember that. 'Thor' is a private (at least he thinks its private) nickname that James Ellison (the human I ended up as spiritual guide to) has come up with for me. The god of thunder. I can handle that. Still, the pup takes great pleasure in calling me that whenever he gets a chance. I haven't had the heart to tell him that Nanook (his human's nickname for him) is actually the name of a stuffed Siberian Husky. He'll find out soon enough, and I'll have to deal with him then.
We're quite a pair, and so are the humans we watch over. Blair Sandburg is just like my partner -- and his partner's personality is a close match to mine. Blair and Jim had been having problems recently, though, and I was beginning to wonder if it's a bit much for even a somewhat supernatural jaguar and wolf to handle. "I think we're gonna need Incacha's help on this one, kid."
I don't think he heard me, or if he did, he hadn't shown any sign of it. "Admit it, pal. The morphing thing -- THAT was cool!"
If I could roll my eyes at him sometimes, I would. "You know, sometimes I REALLY wish you'd just stick to the script. You were supposed to visit Dreamland, interact with Jim, let him do his thing--"
"HE SHOT ME!"
"And then get out," I finished, not acknowledging his protest. He was going to obsess on that for awhile. "That whole morphing into Blair thing, Nan..."
"Forgive me, Thor--" I could have sworn he was smiling, "but Jim was SO not getting it. I mean, he kills me -- symbolic of him endangering Blair's life if he continues on his current path, yada, yada, yada. But he was just looking at me, right? With this total 'What the hell?' look on his face. So... I morphed into Blair!"
"And scared the shit out of him."
Nanook sniffed audibly. "Well, someone had to. Look how he's been treating Blair lately."
He has a definite protective streak in him (then, being someone's sworn spirit guide will tend to do that). "Well, Blair hasn't been totally honest with Jim lately either," I argued. I've got a protective streak of my own, thanks.
"And look what Jim did when Blair found about that Sentinel chick! I think Blair had a reason for his secrets!"
"Let's not fight," I insisted. "They BOTH screwed up, okay? Now we have to help them fix it. Not that I'm sure how we're going to do this. They've both got their heads pretty far--"
"Save me the graphics." Nanook began doing that pacing-circling thing of his again. "Sentinel and Guide... they belong together... were fine until We Won't Mention Her Name came along..."
Yes, we have a special pair on our hands... the reason we work as partners. Not many other spirit animals do. We have a Sentinel cop, Jim. He's got five heightened senses. His Guide is Blair, an anthropologist with a penchant for finding trouble (as I said, he and Nanook were made for each other). Jim watches out for his city, Blair watches out for Jim. However, as of late, the two had been fighting. Nanook had been gone when Jim threw Blair out of the apartment they share, but I'm sure he still saw from wherever he was. Probably the reason for the frenzy he's in. Me, I was hoping it would blow over like the fights our guys have had before. I mean, it wasn't so long ago that Jim seemed to think Blair existed only to be slammed into walls.
Then again, maybe we DID have to help. After all, I was the one who had to grab Jim's jacket with my teeth and pull him into Blair's office that day they met. No wonder he said later that he'd felt "drawn" to it.
"Thor?"
"Yeah?" I asked.
"I think I've got it. You remember when you had to pull Jim to Blair's office?"
I swear he can read my mind some -- well, of course he can read my mind, that's how we communicate in the first place. I just think sometimes that he must be listening in on my inner musings. "Yes?"
"Well... I'll do it this time!" He rose up onto his haunches, laying one of his front paws on the tree next to me. "I mean, you need Jim to be lead back to Blair, so who better than the Guide's guide? I'll grab him and drag him over to Blair. You can get Blair and meet me. Jim and Blair are back together!"
He really thought it would be that easy. I love his naivete sometimes, and sometimes it just makes me shake my head. That was one of those times. "I've got an even better idea," I replied, the sarcasm faint. "Don't do the invisible drag. I'll show up in their world, plain as day to Jim, right? He'll follow me because there aren't jags in Cascade -- OTHER than the basketball team, Nanook. Then YOU go get Blair. We'll meet at the Rainier fountain!"
His eyes lit up, and he started to trot off. I wanted to smack myself, but my paws made that a bit impossible to do without causing myself serious injury. I settled for roping him by the neck with my tail. "I was KIDDING! Get back here. You know we can't appear to them in their world."
"'Unless they're so off course there is no other way'," he insisted, quoting one of the rules I often threw at him. "This qualifies, I'd say!"
"WE don't say."
He was muttering to himself for a few moments about 'damn know it all felines', and I let him. Then he suddenly went into a frenzy. "C'mon, we gotta go! This is, like, serious! Blair's dying!"
"The Guide doesn't survive without the Sentinel dying?" I asked, not sure I wanted the answer. I could feel Jim's panic creeping up on me, and I'd only felt that in the direst of situations.
"No, like water-filled lungs dying! Like that crazy Sentinel woman held his head under water dying! I KNEW this would happen!" He was pacing, and next thing I knew, we were silent and unseen observers at the fountain at Rainier University. Jim and his captain were doing CPR. Blair was on the receiving end.
This was not good.
The EMTs came, then gave up. What the heck were they thinking? I knew they could do more! Didn't they realize how important Blair was to the scheme of things? And, Jim! I did NOT want to handle his lifetime guilt trip if Blair died.
Okay, I'd promised I'd stay out of it, but I gave him that little nudge when he went back to Blair to resume CPR. He wanted to anyway. Nanook was nudging Blair, trying to get him to respond. He couldn't have prevented this, but I knew I was going to have to spend some serious time comforting him. We spirit animals do not take it well when our human goes before their time.
Simon and Brown pulled Jim off Blair a moment later. I knew what they were thinking, in their world. My ears are sensitive, true, but that wasn't the reason it hurt to hear Jim scream once they told him Blair was gone.
This was really not good.
With a mournful whimper, Nanook turned to head back into the woods. I knew he wanted some time alone, to handle this. In a flash, Jim could see him (albeit, he thought it was Blue Jungle Dreamland).
Then I saw Incacha -- and I KNEW everything was going to be all right. I wanted to call out for Nanook... but, then, if he were needed, Incacha would know how to reach him. Even if a shaman dies, they can still hang out in our spirit realm, and the Chopec shaman has been doing just that, at least until Blair gets a little more training in the way of the shaman and can handle it on his own.
"Use the power of your animal spirit." He was talking to Jim.
Music to my ears! I leapt up at Jim's agreement, and came running. Out of freaking nowhere, Nanook came running at me. We were going to collide. This was going to -- well, it wouldn't hurt, but it wouldn't feel terribly good either. I had to admit, in those split seconds, I wondered what Incacha had in mind, but, hey, I don't argue with the shaman.
We did collide, but it was nothing like I'd expected. In the instant before, I felt completely possessed and yet blended with Jim's own life force. For one second, the wolf and I were one -- we were wolf and jaguar, Jim and Blair... all in one, all at the same time. The feeling was indescribable. Then my paws hit the ground, and I was myself once more. I turned to look back at Jim, to see how he had reacted -- and saw one of his most beautiful smiles as Blair started to cough up water. I glanced around for Nanook, and found him happily observing the scene as well. He turned to look at me as I stole up beside him.
I wasn't sure what to say, after that mystical (even for us!) experience.
He said it for me, as he has such a knack for doing. "Might I just state for the record... WHAT A RUSH!"
I nudged him affectionately with one paw. "See? I told you it would work out."
"So you did." His tail was wagging as he stood. "Damn know it all cat."
"Silly pup," I chided, teasingly. "C'mon, buddy." Knowing he would follow, I turned to leave the world our humans inhabited, and return to our own. The realm that they would one day share with us, though hopefully not for many years to come. "I think these two are going to be all right now. Let's go home."
The End
Many thanks to ranlynn, for writing that adorable snippet that was post TSbyBS, which got me wondering what the animals would think of S2. My laptop's desktop is that famous leap :-) It was in my head ALL DAY (inconvenient during my 9 am Psych class!), so I finally had to write it down. Besides, I'm afraid that if I ignore the muse, she'll go away. So far she's only seen fit to give me snippets. I'd love a longer story, but if she says snippets, I'll write snippets, I s'pose. Better than nothing! Jim, Blair, Simon, anyone else you recognize including the animals... they're not mine, much as I wish they were! I don't have much, just my very own stuffed Nanook and a few other trinkets. Please don't sue, I can't even afford the court fees. *G*