Jim sat on the edge of the bed. “Blair, I don’t care how you got here. I’m just glad you are.” He dropped his hand on Blair’s leg and squeezed lightly. “And do you really believe I wasn’t produced and programmed the same as you? My father and brother were not cops, were not military. That was not in my background but somehow I gravitated toward it. Because I needed to. Because it would make me a better Sentinel. We are what we are, Chief. Nothing can change that.”

  “I’m not so sure,” he whispered. “Jim, when you were shot, I began to wonder if I was really what you needed...as a Guide.”

  “Blair--”

  “Let me finish,” he said, holding up a hand. “That night, I dreamed about Incacha. He told me that I couldn’t turn my back on being a Guide because of the choice I’d made. I didn’t know what he was talking about. I told him I hadn’t made any choice and then suddenly, I was back in the fountain at Rainier. I was drowning again. But this time, it went beyond the drowning. I think...” He hesitated. His heart beat an irregular rhythm in his ears. His breath came in short gasps. He realized for the first time that for all their talking over the last few months, he and Jim had never discussed that moment. The moment when Jim found him. “Jim, I think I died that day,” he finished softly.

  “You weren’t breathing when we found you, Chief,” Jim said, his voice barely audible in the quiet of the room. “You weren’t breathing for several minutes. Everyone thought...” He shook his head as his words choked off.

  “Something happened in that time when I was....gone.” Blair let the memories come this time, needing to remember every moment, every detail. “I was alone, in total darkness and I called to you. I knew you weren’t there. That you weren’t coming but I called for you anyway. Then I saw a light and I felt this presence. I knew I wasn’t alone anymore. But I knew it wasn’t you either.” He hugged himself as a sudden chill passed through him. “It was a man. I couldn’t really see him but he felt...familiar somehow. He came toward me and he said, ‘hello, my son’.”

  “You think it’s the man Naomi told you about? You think it’s your father?”

  “I don’t know. I’ve never gotten past that moment.” His gaze shifted to the window. Outside, the morning sun shone brightly. But inside this room, inside himself, Blair felt cold and dark.

  “You have to finish that dream, Blair.”

  “What if I don’t want to?” he said softly. He looked back at Jim. “What if he told me that I’m not supposed to be here. That I should be studying with the monks of Tibet. That I have to leave. Maybe that’s why I didn’t remember it in the first place.”

  “That’s not going to happen, Chief. Not now. Not ever.” Jim said the words with a certainty that Blair did not feel.

  “How can you be so sure?” he asked, unable to keep the fear from his voice.

  “Blair, I felt alone my entire life...until I met you. You were the first person I ever felt truly connected to and nothing and no one is going to take that from me.” His hand tightened where it rested on his leg. “But you need to remember. You need to find out what your father is trying to tell you because you can’t move forward until you do.” He held Blair’s gaze, determination burning behind his eyes. “Besides, this dream you’re having....it isn’t a dream at all. It’s a memory. Whatever choice you made that day, whatever it is your father told you, already happened. You just need to remember it now.” He smiled reassuringly. “Don’t worry, partner. I’ll be here right here with you the entire time.”

  Darkness engulfed him. Then the tunnel of light appeared. And the man. “Hello, my son.”

  Blair stepped forward, toward the man before him. He was familiar somehow. Comforting. He wasn’t quite as tall as Jim, his blue eyes sparkling with wisdom, love.

  “You call me ‘son’. Why?” Blair asked.

  “Because you are my son.” He reached out and touched Blair’s face, running his hand along his cheek with a deep tenderness. “And I’m proud of you.”

  Blair stared up into this man’s eyes. Eyes as blue as his own. And he knew the truth. This was his father. “Why am I here?” he breathed.

  “You have come to us too soon and there is very little time before your return to your world is no longer possible. But you must decide, my son. Do you wish to stay here or return to your Sentinel?”

  Blair dropped his gaze, shame coloring his cheeks. “I have no place with my Sentinel. He no longer wants me.”

  “Are you so sure, young shaman.” Incacha stepped out of the darkness, taking his place beside Blair’s father. He gestured behind him. “Your Sentinel calls to you even now.” Suddenly, Blair could see the scene at the fountain. Jim leaning over his body, breathing life into his lungs, calling to him, begging him to come back.

  A hand touched his shoulder. He looked up into the kind eyes of his father. “The Guide is what makes the Sentinel. Without you, he would never know what he is or be able to control his senses. You are essential to him. He is lost and only you can show him the way back.” The hand tightened and his father smiled. “You have found your way to your Sentinel. Help him find his way back to you.”

  Jim sat on the bed staring at Blair’s sleeping form wishing he’d wake. Jim believed what he had told Blair. That there was nothing that would come between them. But there was a small part of him that was afraid of what his Guide might learn.

  Would Incacha tell him he needed to go to Peru? To study with the Shaman of the village? Was the man he was seeing really his father? If so, had he intended a different future for his son?

  Jim reached out and moved a stray piece of hair from Blair’s forehead. None of that mattered. If Blair had to go to Peru to study then Jim would go with him. No matter what, he would not lose Blair. Because they were supposed to stay together. Jim felt that stronger and deeper than anything he had ever felt in his life.

  A sigh escaped Blair’s lips. Slowly, his eyes opened. His gaze focused on Jim. “I chose to come back,” he whispered.

  Jim shook his head. “I don’t understand.”

  “That’s the choice Incacha was talking about.” He sat up, shifting his pillows behind him. “I died, Jim,” he said softy, the words making the hairs on the back of Jim’s neck stand on end. “But then my father was there and Incacha. They told me I had come too soon and had a choice to make. I could go on with them or come back to you. I didn’t think you wanted me so I was going to stay with them.”

  Jim closed his eyes against the words, hating the memories they brought back to him, the pain he had caused his Guide. “God, Blair. I wish--”

  “It’s okay, Jim.” Reaching out, he took Jim’s hand and held it tightly in his own. “I saw you at the fountain that day. They showed me. That’s what brought me back. I saw how you really felt, knew you still needed me and I chose to come back.” His hand tightened around Jim’s. “I wish I had remembered sooner. I was so angry when I woke in the hospital. If I had remembered then...” His voice trailed off. “I’m sorry, Jim. Sorry I treated you that way.”

  Jim covered Blair’s hand with his own. “It was for the best, Chief. Like I said before, we had a lot of things to work out between us. We wouldn’t have done that if you had forgiven me right away. We would have just fallen into our same pattern. Things have been so much better between us since then.”

  Blair nodded. “Yeah. I guess you’re right.” His gaze shifted to the table beside his bed. To the letter his mother had given him. Reaching out, he lifted it up. Jim watched as Blair traced the writing on the front, his fingers shaking as he reached the last word. “I guess it’s time to read my letter.” He licked his lips as his fingers slipped under the flap and tore the top of the envelope. He pulled out the folded paper inside but did not open it. His gaze shifted to Jim. “Would you read it to me?”

  Jim stared into his partner’s eyes. Eyes filled with both hope and fear. “Are you sure you don’t want to read it yourself first? He’s your father and--”

  “You’re supposed to read it to me, Jim,” Blair said, his voice calm, certain.

  Jim hesitated only a moment longer before taking the letter. Slowly, he unfolded the paper and began to read...

  My Son,

  If you are reading this letter then you are now facing a crisis in faith. You doubt who and what you are. My hope is that this letter will help to restore that faith.

  Destiny is a word used when things are meant to be and you are meant to be. Whenever a Sentinel is born, a Guide is also needed. That Guide must be true of faith, true of character. I searched eleven years to find a soul that I could mate with to produce such a Guide. Your mother was that soul. I knew when I met her that she would give you the freedom to find your destiny and fulfill it. That she would love you with an open and honest heart. That you would thrive under her gentle upbringing.

  Be happy in this life, my son. It is a noble destiny you fulfill. Trust in yourself and in your Sentinel. Stay near to him for your two souls are forever intertwined and meant to be as one.

  My only regret is that I can’t be there to show you the way. But you will find the way with your sentinel.

  Stay safe,

  Daniel

  Jim refolded the piece of paper and looked at Blair. His Guide stared past him, his eyes wide, unblinking

  “Blair?”

  “I’m where I’m supposed to be,” he whispered. His lips trembled as a single tear escaped his eye and slid down his cheek. He dropped his gaze, wiping at his face. “I belong here. With you.”

  Jim smiled and reaching out, laid a hand on Blair’s shoulder, squeezing gently. “I never doubted it for a second.”

  Blair pushed the wheelchair down the hall toward the exit. Jim sat, his left arm still in a sling, scowling.

  “I can walk,” he grumbled.

  “Policy,” Blair explained, unable to keep the smile from his face. He’d complained the same way yesterday when Ruthie wheeled him to the exit. The only thing that made it tolerable was knowing he’d get to do the same thing to Jim this morning.

  It had been two days since Jim read Daniel’s letter to him. Blair had read and reread it countless times since then. Knew most of it by heart.

  Trust in yourself and in your Sentinel. Stay near to him for your two souls are forever intertwined and meant to be as one.

  Those words more than any others had brought a peace to Blair that seemed to go deep into his soul. He’d had no more dreams about Incacha or the fountain. Or his father.

  Will I ever meet him again?

  The question rolled through his mind not for the first time. He still didn’t completely understand who or what his father was. But he was grateful to him for the life he had given him. For his place with Jim.

  Reaching the front doors of the hospital, Jim practically jumped out of the wheelchair. “Fun’s over, Chief.”

  “I’m just trying to look out for your welfare,” he said putting on his most innocent expression.

  “Sure you are.”

  They crossed the parking together. Contrary to the weatherman’s predications, the sun shone brightly overhead. As they drew closer to the truck, Blair moved toward the driver’s side. Jim grabbed his arm, stopping him. “Where do you think you’re going?”

  Blair eyed the sling Jim still wore. “I’m driving, Jim.”

  “Not my truck you’re not.”

  “Your shoulder--”

  “Is fine,” Jim cut in.

  “That’s why you still have the sling on.”

  “I want to drive my truck.”

  “Don’t make me get rough with you.”

  Kenny Reese stepped from behind the truck, gun pointed out before him. Jim reached automatically for his own weapon. The Sentinel’s jaw clenched with frustration as he realized what Blair already knew -- he didn’t have his weapon holstered at his back. Blair had stuffed it, along with the rest of Jim’s things, into his backpack this morning. Now the bag hung heavily against his right shoulder.

  Blair shifted the pack and dropped it to the pavement. “No one wants to get hurt here.” He held his hands up in a gesture of surrender

  Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Jim’s gaze dart down to the bag and then up again.

  Reese licked his dry lips. “I didn’t mean to do it.” He stepped closer. His hands shook. His face was slick with sweat. “The gun...it just went off. I didn’t mean to. You’ve got to believe me.”

  “We do,” Blair said, stepping in front of Jim. Moving closer to Reese.

  “Sandburg,” Jim said, his voice edged with panic.

  “It’s okay, Jim,” Blair said, taking another step toward the scared kid before him. “Kenny’s not going to hurt me. He never really wanted to hurt anyone. Isn’t that right?”

  Reese nodded, his eyes wide with fear. “But now the cops are looking for me. And when they find me, they’ll send me to jail. I can’t go to jail. My brother told me about jail and I can’t go there!” He shifted the barrel of the gun to his own head.

  “No!” Blair screamed and launched himself at the young man. Behind him, he heard Jim yell his name. But the sound was lost to the blast of the gun. He felt a searing pain on his left arm as he and Reese hit the ground. The next few moments happened in a flash of time, a blur of movement. He managed to wrestle the gun from the kid’s hand, then Jim was there pulling Reese away and Blair was alone.

  He sat on the ground, the gun in his hand. Something warm trickled down his left arm. He glanced at it. Could see the tear in his shirt. Realized he’d been shot. “Oh, man.” The gun slipped from his fingers and clattered on the pavement.

  Jim knelt down in front of him. “Hey, Chief. How you doing?”

  “I knew he didn’t mean to shoot you, Jim. I just knew it.”

  “Yeah, you were right all along.” Jim tore at Blair’s shirt sleeve, checking the wound on his arm, wincing as the sling he wore pulled at his own injury. “Doesn’t look too bad. Just grazed you.”

  Blair looked down at his ruined shirt. “I lose more clothes this way.” He looked toward Reese. The kid sat a few feet away, rocking back and forth, hugging himself, crying. “How’s he?”

  “Alive, thanks to you.”

  “He needs help, Jim. Counseling. I-“

  “We’ll take care of it, Chief.”

  An orderly rushed toward them. “What happened? Can I help?”

  Jim nodded at Reese. “Bring him inside and don’t let him out of your sight,” he said before turning his attention back to Blair. “You ready to stand up.”

  Blair nodded. “We’re still going home, right?”

  Jim pulled Blair to his feet. “As soon as someone looks at your arm.”

  “Jim, it was just grazed. You said so yourself.” He swayed slightly where he stood.

  Jim put his good arm around Blair and began leading him back toward the hospital. “I want to hear the doctor say that.”

  As Blair stumbled along beside his partner, movement caught his eye. He turned to his left. A man stood on the other side of the parking lot, watching them. Blair squinted trying to see him better because there was something about him. Something...familiar. Daniel. The name drifted through his mind as recognition flooded through him. The man smiled at him.

  I’m proud of you.

  “Blair, you okay?”

  He shifted his gaze to Jim. “What?” In that single instant of time, less time than it took to exhale a breath, the man on the other side of the parking lot was gone.

  “You kind of drifted off there for a minute.” Jim tightened his grip around Blair. “You with me again?”

  Blair smiled up at him. “Always, man. Always.”

  The end.

 

 

  Beth Manz, Inevitable Series 05 The Undeniable

 

 

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