InsaneJournal

Together, they stood on the balcony, a beer in hand and the sun setting ahead of them across the sound. It was an incredible sight; one that Blair wouldn’t mind seeing again some time. Jim sipped his beer in silence. They had been that way, silent, since arriving at the loft some time before. Blair was allowing it, only because he needed the time to get his own thoughts in order. But now the sun was going down and they still had much to talk about.

“Tell me what’s going on in that head of yours Ellison.”

Jim glanced at him, caught the tight gaze tossed his direction. He sighed as he moved back into the loft, leaving the sunset behind him. Blair followed, wondering if he had miscalculated in asking that question, any question too soon. But when he sat on the couch across from the Sentinel, he was rewarded for his patience.

“Danny lost his dad when he was little. I was in college, needed to do something, be helpful. I became his Big Brother.” Jim shrugged.

Blair smiled. “I always loved that program,” he confessed. Jim smiled with him, although faintly, before going on.

“Yeah, he was a great kid.” Jim said with a sad smile. Then almost out of the blue he added, “I got him in the Police Academy, you know. He loved police work, that and sailing. The two things in this world that made him feel the most alive.” A great shuddering sigh worked its way up from deep inside the man to burst out with intensity. “I lost him Blair, I had him in my hands and I couldn’t save him.”

Blair leaned forward and laid a reassuring hand on Jim’s arm. “You saved him once. When he was a kid, you became his focal point. His rock. And you believed that you had to keep that up no matter what.” 

“And I failed!” Jim stood suddenly, anger leaching from every pore.

“Yes, but there was nothing you could have done differently. Neither of us could have done anything different in that situation. It was out of our hands, Jim.” Blair stood and tried to take Jim by the hand, tried to lead him back to the couch. But it seemed Jim still had demons to face.

“I know that, Sandburg. Don’t you think I know that already?” Jim snarled. Then his voice changed to despair, “God, I had him in my hands, Chief! And Juno came in and snatched him away – right out of these useless hands.”

Blair simply stood, unable to know when to touch, when to sooth, until Jim turned panic stricken eyes back to him. “My hands… Chief I can’t feel my hands!”

“Easy Jim, it’s ok. Deep breaths come on.” Blair coaxed, soothed and gently led the struggling Sentinel back to the couch, laid a reassuring hand on his chest and talked him into the deep, cleansing breaths to calm his heart rate.

Soon there was only the sound of deep breathing and even sighs as both men worked to calm down. Eventually Blair began to massage Jim’s hands, his voice dropping into a soft soothing caress on the sense of hearing as his eyes locked on to Jim’s. Finally, Jim took a deep, shuddering breath and relaxed totally.

Another minute and his eyes opened, electric blue orbs locking onto Blair’s bright blues. Both men breathed in synch for a while before Blair ventured to speak. “How’s the sense of touch now?”

Jim swallowed. “Better… I can feel my fingers again… What the hell was that?”

Blair sighed and leaned back. His eyes slitting to half mast as he regarded Jim thoughtfully. Should he? Yeah, probably wouldn't find a better time. 

“Jim, you would call yourself a man dedicated to the ideas of honor, duty, respect right? These things are all more than just words to you; they are living and breathing ideals to live by.”

Jim nodded, his eyes narrow. He was clearly wondering where Blair was going with this. Blair didn’t make him wait long.  

“Well they could also be called your watch words. It’s all down to control, you demand it. And if you don’t have it – you get frustrated.” Jim shrugged, he couldn’t argue against that. Blair smirked and continued, “But see, that’s where the other half of your personality comes in – your passion. You my friend are a very passionate man.”  

Now Jim did protest. “What? Sandburg-” 

Blair cut him off knowing Jim was about to spout some utterly macho bullshit that was totally irrelevant to what he was talking about. “Jim shut up and listen to me before you get your panties in a bunch.”

Jim spluttered. Blair continued. “Caring, understanding, complex… you are multi-faceted. You live a precarious balance of passion and control. And your emotions are connected to your passion. So when you lose control, your passion slips up to fill the gap.” 

Jim frowned slightly, but didn’t interrupt this time as Blair explained. “This case has you feeling like you’ve lost control in more than one way. You’ve lost someone close to you, close enough to have been family, and then even when you were able to arrest the person responsible – they managed to get out on bail. It’s no wonder your passion is flaring and your emotions are all out of whack. It sounds like you have something almost post traumatic going on…”

“Whoa, whoa, since when did you become my shrink?” snarled Jim.

“Since I minored in Psychology, and therefore I know whereof I speak, man.” Blair snarked back before plunging on. “Your head is being over ruled by the pain in your heart and the rest of your emotions are going to go from there. On top of all that you have to try and cope with all the extra stimulus that your senses bring in – it’s pretty easy to see why your control might slip and how.”

“My emotions are just fine, Sandburg. It’s these whacked out senses that are killing me here!” Jim growled. Blair sighed.

“Right, that’s why you nearly broke the law today with that illegal tap, and why you appear to be bucking for suspension – you could be self-destructing and not even realize it.” Blair sighed. “Now you tell me how all that is normal. Not out of character. Not over the top.”

Jim groused for a moment, not wanting to accept facts as they were laid out. Blair bit back a snicker as he tried to imagine Jim as a five year old being told he couldn’t have cookies before dinner because they would ruin his appetite. Finally the big man appeared to completely bypass the problem and aimed straight for the solution questions. “So, what is all this crap about? And how do I fix it?”

Blair smirked to himself before moving on. “Well, just now, tell me what happened when you lost feeling in your hands? Remember, I want to know what you were thinking right before your touch cut out.”

"Why are you asking? You were here! I was talking about how Juno had.... oooh" Jim sat up straighter in his seat. His eyes grew large as he connected with Blair.

"Yeah - ohhh. You were thinking about how you couldn't hold on to Danny and he slipped away anyway. And what does that get you? No touch in your hands.” Blair leaned forward. “Now take it back to the other day, you and your hearing. Tell me about that one again.”

Jim sat back, his memories shining in his eyes. “I was talking to Beverly… she commented on the view, Sunday afternoons watching the boats on the bay. And I was talking about… Danny.”

The shine in his eyes turned into a full sheen as tears slowly built and spilled over. Jim didn’t make a sound. Blair did. He bit back a guttural sound of pure empathy and moved from the couch he was sitting on to sit on the other couch beside Jim.  Stretching his arm over the back, Blair left the choice up to Jim if he wanted to take the simple physical comfort he was offering.

Jim took it. He sagged sideways and snugged his shoulder underneath Blair’s raised arm, letting his head fall backwards to rest on Blair’s broad shoulder. Then he stared blindly upwards and let the hot tears flow, not making any attempt to wipe them away before they soaked warmly into Blair’s shirt. Eerily silent the whole time, except for the occasional sub vocal whines from deep within his chest.  Blair, not able to do anything, took to petting the older man. Stroking his hair with short soothing strokes, hoping to impart the same peace he had gotten when his mother had done the same for him.

Finally, after a significant amount of time had passed, Blair muttered slightly under his breath, “Last time we were here in this position, you almost fell asleep, man. Think we should break this up a bit.”

Jim snorted as he leaned back to look Blair in the eye. “Thank you… for, you know…”

“No problem, Big guy. But I think my arm is falling asleep, so if you wouldn’t mind…” Blair stifled a gasp as Jim sat up. The other man turned to take Blair’s arm in his hands, massaging the circulation back to normal. He glanced out the window and grimaced.

“God, what time is it?” He glanced at his watch. “11:52…  I have to be in tomorrow to find another lead on Juno.”

Blair nodded and stood, his hand brushing his hair back off his forehead as he yawned hugely. “Geez, yeah… I got nothing tomorrow, it being Saturday and all, so I guess I can meet you there?”

Jim stood as well, one hand landing on Blair’s shoulder. “You sure you’re all right to drive this late at night, Sandburg?”

“Aw, come on man, I’m a college student. You know we live on caffeine, day old pizza and little sleep. I’ll be careful driving home… Promise.” Blair stuck up his left hand as he crossed his heart with the fingers of his right.

Jim grimaced again. "Well Chief, how about you humor me and stay, Just to make an old man rest easier." He moved over to a curtained area under the stairs and returned with a pillow and blanket.

Blair snorted. "Jim, man you are so not old. Pull another one."

Jim stood, pillow in one hand, blanket in the other and looked Blair straight in the eyes. "Will you stay?"

Blair rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah. Sheesh, you worry worse than a Jewish mother, and since I have one of those I know."

o-O-o

Blair sat up blinking the sleep from his eyes and tried to figure out what had woken him. Hunh, no rat traps going off... the surroundings weren't familiar... for a moment he was lost. Then he remembered he was at Jim's.

He pulled himself upright with a groan, and sat properly on the couch he had crashed on the night before. Looking around he found the loft silent, and it felt... peaceful. He could get used to this. Jim had good taste. And likely a hefty pocketbook, Blair could never afford anything like this.

His mind fuzzy still from sleep, Blair stood, the blanket he'd been using the night before falling to the ground at his feet. Dumbly he stared down at it while he wondered what he should do next.

One urge was making itself known, urgently. So Blair looked around for the bathroom and took care of the things he needed to do there and then when he was done, he came back out and another body part was making itself known.

His stomach was growling loudly. Well his mother had always told him that a good guest made himself at home, at least in the way that they picked up after themselves and contributed to the other chores. With that in mind, Blair tidied the couch he had used as a bed and then that done, moved to the kitchen to see what he could scrounge together into a meal.

By the time he finally heard sounds of returning consciousness from the upstairs bedroom, he had the coffee ready, eggs in the pan and toast popping up in the toaster.

"Hey Lazybones, come and get it! Eggs are almost done, I hope you like yours scrambled firm?" He yelled up to the upper level and was rewarded with a mussed head popping up over the rail that looked at him like he was some kind of alien. Blair laughed as the head disappeared and Jim shambled into the dining area still wearing his sleepwear. "Good morning. Have a seat, man."

Jim looked at him curiously, but was quick to take a plate of the eggs and a cup of coffee anyway. He sat down at the table and watched as Blair put his own plate together, and poured himself a coffee.

 Blair sat down across from him and forked up a healthy amount of the eggs before Jim managed, "So uh, Chief? What’s with this little courtship ritual here? Something I should be wary of that you are afraid to tell me?”

Blair almost choked on the eggs in his mouth, but then swallowed them. He knew those words. Or they were very close to words he'd heard before in a setting very similar to the one they were in. And that meant... his gaze snapped around until he spotted them. The two barely there blurs in the corner of his eyes.

He growled and put his fork down. "It’s too early for this, I'm too tired."

Blair stood up and walked back over to the couch where he unceremoniously flopped down face first onto the blanket he'd just finished folding.

Jim utterly mystified watched his young friend, then figuring he wasn't going to eat them, stole his eggs.

o-O-o

Simon glared at Jim and Blair as they walked into his office later that day. Blair had been as good as his word and slept another hour before rushing to his home to shower and change. Jim, in the meantime had followed a few dead ends before they finally had met up at the station again.

Now Simon was glaring at Jim as if he had beat him out of the last jelly donut on the cart. Blair glanced around to see if there was anything that could give him a heads up as to the trouble. A vision or sign… black tip of a tail slinking away.

Seeing none, he focused on Simon again. The big man was not happy.

“Motor pool said you signed out one of their unmarks yesterday, and the Tech lab said that you returned a recorder of theirs without a tape in it. Care to explain, Detective?”

Jim paused a step, glancing back at Blair and then sitting very carefully in one of the seats in front of Simon’s desk. Blair shrugged as he took the other seat, after pulling it back a bit to sit just behind and to Jim’s right. Simon raised an eyebrow slightly, waiting.

Jim got right to the point. “I was not in my right mind yesterday, Simon. I nearly made a big mistake.”

“Mistake?” Simon interrupted. “What do you mean you nearly made a mistake, Jim?”

Jim shrugged, “I was a little out of my head, I was going to tap Juno’s phone… Sandburg here talked me out of it.”

Simon went from annoyed to enraged in a matter of moments. “Are you serious? Detective you were willing to violate Juno’s civil rights? You know that would have made this a federal case and taken it out of our hands!”

Turning his thunderous gaze on Blair, he continued, “And you, I would expect this sort of thing from Ellison, but you are supposed to be the smart one in this team!”

Blair sat up suddenly. “Hey! I am the smart one, as you so eloquently put it! I talked him out of it! If the Tech department wants to get snippy over a ruined tape, I’ll pay for it.”

“No you won’t Chief. I will. You were just making sure I didn’t catch anything inadvertently while we were arguing before you walked away.” Jim turned back to Simon. “He had me crush the tape under the tire so I couldn’t pull anything off of it while his back was turned. Then we went back to the loft and talked.”

Simon sat back, first having been sideswiped by Blair’s venomous outburst and followed by Jim’s remarks on the events of the previous day. Blair settled down a bit in his chair, fidgeting like a Bantam hen covering her chicks in the nest. Simon swiveled his attention to Jim at this last comment. “You talked?”

Jim glared at Simon. “I can talk, sir.”

“Yes, but when do you?” snarked the big man as he moved back behind his desk. Jim rolled his eyes as Blair snickered from behind. Simon smiled lightly. “So, during this talk, did anything come to light?”

“Besides the fact that Sandburg snores?” Jim quipped equally as light hearted as his Captain. Blair glared at him with a shocked expression.

“Hey, I could have gone home, there was nothing saying I had to sleep on your couch.” Blair huffed. Jim glanced back and laid a hand on his knee, squeezing gently.

“Yeah, and do you really think I could have slept after you had left? It was late, you were tired, the couch was available.” Jim reminded. Blair sighed and squeezed Jim’s hand where it lay. Then he turned back to Simon.

“The truth is, Captain, we were having some trouble with Jim’s senses soon after Danny died. But I think we’ve gotten it straightened out and should have no trouble now. Right Jim?” Blair turned back to the Sentinel who was nodding along with the explanation.

“He’s right, Simon. I nearly screwed up, he held firm and made me get my head out of my ass long enough to see the real problem. I’ll go down to Tech and pay for the replacement of the tape. And Sandburg and I will search for another lead in this case that takes me away from Juno for now. We’ll look a different direction and hope it brings us back to him.” Jim stood and opened the office door, ushering Blair out before him. Simon followed and gestured for them both to take their leave.

“Good, and you will keep me posted, correct?” Simon asked.

Jim nodded once more. “If I don’t, Sandburg will.”

Blair nodded and assured, “Right, Captain.”

o-O-o

Jim and Blair walked out of the station, headed for the café down the street to sit and have lunch before looking for new leads. Seated at a booth in the back, they stared at each other for a moment, the discussion in Simon’s office replaying in both their minds. Jim leaned forward slightly.

“Thanks… for, you know… not saying it.” He said haltingly. Blair cocked his head to the side.

“Say what? That you were being an arrogant, self-destructive schmuck? If I said it to Simon about you, I would have had to say the same thing about me. I mean, I could have gone along with you. And very nearly would have.” Blair shrugged. “But you didn’t, and neither did I, so I don’t have to say it, now do I?”

Jim smiled, ducking his head in an embarrassed manner. Blair grinned devilishly back at him. He held off further comment as the waitress brought around their orders, then resumed as she left.

“You haven’t been experiencing anything else weird lately, have you?” He asked before taking a bite of his salad. Jim leaned back, his eyes drifting around before finally settling back on Blair.

“Well, now that you mention it, I have had these cravings.”

Blair leaned forward a bit. “Yeah?”

Jim nodded. “Last night I wanted o order pizza… pepperoni and 30-weight motor oil.”

Blair glared at the straight faced joker across the table. “You know, that schmuck comment still stands.”

Jim chuckled as Blair continued to munch on his greens. They ate in companionable silence for a time until Blair finished his salad and sat back in the booth.

“So, plan of attack, what’s next?”

Jim swallowed his mouthful of food and relaxed back into his side of the booth, deep in thought. “Well, tapping Juno is out. And we have no real reason to go talk to O’Toole… Before Danny died, he mentioned Ray Kaminski suddenly having a not so silent partner.”

Blair nodded, sipping his iced tea. “So, maybe we should go talk to Kaminski, see what he can tell us about why he caved.”

“Yeah, I think so.” Jim took another bite of his burger as the waitress came with the check. Jim fished out his wallet, paid the tab, and waved for them to leave. Blair smirked.

“No time like the present?” he asked.

“Yeah, we’re running out of time with this case. Let’s move now while things are still fresh.”

o-O-o

It was just getting dark as Jim parked next to a house in the suburbs. Blair slipped out of the truck and waited for Jim to come around beside him before heading to the open garage. “So this is the guy? What’s his name again?”

Jim nodded. “Ray Kaminski. Danny told me that Mickey O’Toole was using threats against Kaminski’s family in order to strong-arm him into making O’Toole a silent partner.”

Jim stopped speaking as the man in the garage spoke urgently to the little girl and she ran into the house. Blair stationed himself just behind and to the left of Jim, his usual comfort zone when Jim was in cop mode. The man stepped forward to meet them as Jim began the introductions.

“I’m Detective Jim Ellison and this is Blair Sandburg. We’d like to ask you a few questions about Mickey O’Toole.” Jim showed his badge and Blair smiled as non-threateningly as possible. The man didn’t smile back.

Blair took note of the man’s stance, his clenching and unclenching of fists as he debated on standing around the garage or turning back to the sanctuary of his home. Jim must have noticed the same fear and tension as he subtly pushed Blair forward as Kaminski said, “If you’re here about my silent partner, then you understand why I’m too busy to talk right now.”

Blair laid a soft hand on the big man’s elbow, preventing him from shrugging it off and speaking as kindly as he could. "Mr. Kaminski, we know you are scared. You have every reason to be, they are threatening the most precious things you have. Your daughter, your wife, your life, but that isn't going to end - ever. Unless you help us."

Kaminski stood wavering when Jim stepped in for the push. "You want to spend the rest of your life under the thumb of Mickey O'Toole? You co-operate with us and we can make sure he never threatens, or hurts, you and yours ever again."

The businessman stood between the cop and grad student, indecision flickering across his face as he looked from one to the other. “You have to understand my position here,” he admonished Blair. The young man nodded as he softly stroked the arm beneath his hand.

“I do understand, man. But you gotta understand that as long as Mickey O’Toole is running his deal through you and others like you, if no one stands up to be counted, he will just continue to grow stronger.”

Kaminski sighed, “This morning, O’Toole came to see me to get his… salary. He asked if I’d heard about the undercover cop being killed.”

Jim nodded as Blair relaxed his hold on the man’s arm. Kaminski continued. “Then he says I might read in the paper tomorrow about somebody else who got in his way and thought she could make trouble for me.”

Blair glanced at Jim, the mention of a female victim causing his brain to spin. Jim glared at Kaminski. “Did you say ‘she’?”

Kaminski shrugged his shoulders. “That’s what he said, yeah.”

Blair felt that suddenly lost feeling as his mind replayed the vision of the bullet, fixing on the woman in the window, phone in her hand. The window shattering, the woman screaming. He jerked back suddenly when he felt Jim’s hand on his shoulder and heard his name urgently called from the cop’s lips.

“Sandburg, come on! We have to get to Beverly before it’s too late!”

Blair struggled to pull himself from the vision, his eyes still unfocused as he stumbled for the truck. The forlorn howl of the wolf met his ears and he again had the feeling that they were racing towards disaster. Would they be able to pull off a miracle this time? Or would it be another Danny all over again?

Jim was driving erratically as they hurried towards their night with destiny. He had a cell phone held to his ear as he called the Assistant DA’s office and attempted to navigate the streets of Cascade with the other. He swerved to miss one car and another truck as he waited for an answer. Blair swallowed convulsively as he struggled to deepen his breathing.

Finally, after the third turn, cutting off traffic and running another red light, Blair reached over and took the phone away from the cop, gesturing for him to pay attention to the road as he spoke to the woman who had just picked up the phone.

*#“Beverly Sanchez’ office.”#*

“Hi yes, it Beverly in? This is Blair Sandburg, it’s about one of her cases!” He closed his eyes on the rushing traffic as he silently prayed the woman was still there. He didn't know what was scaring him more at the moment, Jim's driving or what they might be driving into.

*#”Sorry, she’s gone for the day.”#*

Blair sighed loudly. “I need to know where she was going, it’s an emergency. Detective Ellison is trying to get a hold of her!”

 There was a slight hesitation in the woman’s voice as she came back. *#”She said she was going home.”#*

Blair groaned, blinking his eyes against the intense feeling of being present and not. Too close, it was all running too close together. “I need an address,” he gritted out through clenched teeth. Jim glanced over to see Blair scribbling notes into his book before hanging up the phone and dialing another number. He turned his attention back to the road, for which Blair was eternally grateful as he punched in the last number to Beverly’s phone number.

When he got no answer to the phone, he cursed something under his breath, and tossed the phone back on the seat. With hand gestures, he guided Jim to the apartment building, bracing his feet on the dash as Jim slammed on the brakes.

They both exited the truck, Blair heading for the apartment building, and Jim scanning the area. Blair paused, turning back to his Sentinel and laying a hand on his arm. “Jim?”

Jim glanced towards the building across the way, and tilted his head to the side. Blair waited patiently, ignoring the stabbing pain behind his eyes that he knew to be the vision attempting to hijack his brain again. He already knew what was going wrong, he didn’t need to be told to hurry.

“He’s up there.” Jim pointed as he pushed Blair towards the other building. “Get Sanchez, I’ve got Juno.”

Blair nodded once and turned for the apartment building. He tossed off one instruction. “Keep your head together, Ellison and bring him down alive!”

Jim never acknowledged him, but then he wouldn’t have noticed it. He was already at a dead run, into the stairwell and up the stairs. He reached Beverly’s apartment and pounded on the door, the screaming of the cat loud in his ears.

o-O-o

Jim ran up the four flights of stairs, taking them three risers at a time. He paused to catch his breath at the landing, and then inched around the boxes that obscured his vision of the Irish assassin.

 Across the way, easily visible to both of them Beverly is drying her hair and reaching to pick up the phone that must have been ringing.

A click signals to Jim that Juno is committed, he is focused on his shot and isn't paying attention to anything behind him. Jim reaches for his gun and moves stealthily forward, face grim.  Juno was not going to get the chance to kill another law official in this city.

o-O-o

Blair pounded on the door to the apartment, his face set in a grim expression of concern and outright fear.

“Beverly, open the door!” There was no answer from the other side.

The panther’s call galvanized him into action as he slammed into the door, breaking it open and rushing inside. Beverly had just picked up the phone when he saw the laser sight. His arms wrapped around her quickly as he bore her down just before the shattered glass announced the arrival of the near fatal bullet.

“Stay Down!” he yelled as she shivered in fear.

o-O-o

Jim released a soundless sigh of relief as Blair managed to get Beverly clear in time, then he prepared to pounced. But apparently the soundless sigh wasn't soundless enough. Juno heard it, turned and raised a small handgun that had been previously concealed. Jim cursed and dove out of the way, dropping his own piece as he did.

Juno started to fire as soon as he'd had the gun leveled and he didn't stop until the clip clicked on empty. Jim hearing the telltale sound smiled fiercely, and burst out of hiding. Juno threw away the now useless gun and met him head on. Using all the hand to hand techniques the Rangers had trained him in and some that he had picked up from some less savory sources Jim still had to struggle a bit to subdue Juno, but finally he slammed the other man's head into the wall, dazing him and then when he fell, into the floor knocking him out cold.

Swaying a bit in the aftermath himself, Jim managed to cuff the unconscious assassin before he too sat down heavily and looked across the way to see first Blair, and then Beverly stand in the light and look at the mess that had been left behind.

Jim pulled out his cell phone and dialed Beverly’s phone, smiling as Blair picked up the phone.

*#”Jim, man, this better be you.”#* the grad student peered into the darkness, like he was trying to get a fix on Jim in the other building.

“Yeah Chief… I got him.” Jim smiled indulgently.

*#”Please tell me he’s alive.”#*

Jim sighed. “As ordered.” Was the reply before he stood, preparing to drag his suspect down the four flights of stairs to the ground.

o-O-o

Blair sat in the uncomfortable police visitor chair and babied his throbbing head. Oh man it was getting worse. It had been fairly mild when they were waiting for Juno to get picked up and Beverly thanked them, Blair had thought he had more than enough time, even with dealing with all the preliminary reports and other official crap to get something to deal with it before coming back to the station here. But then all that wild shit had gone down at the sushi bar he had asked Jim and the Captain to stop at for him and things just mushroomed.

This brought him to now as he sat in the break room, a cup of coffee in his hand and his head leaning on his arm as he closed his eyes against the harsh florescent lights overhead. He winced as the door opened, his eyes opening to mere slits to see Carolyn slip inside. Noting the look of concern, he tried to smile briefly.

“Hey Carolyn, what’s up?”

Carolyn smiled just as briefly before sitting next to him at the table. “You look like hell, what happened?”

Blair sighed as he dropped his head a bit lower. "Oh, I have got a headache that just isn't gonna quit going on. Then on top of that I got to watch your ex and the Captain get potshots taken at them by someone who looked like Juno, except we already caught Juno!"

Carolyn nodded once as she rested a hand on his shoulder. “Oh, well you know that is kinda what I am here about - the blood splatter on the street by the sushi bar, it was fresh so it must have been from the guy who Jim wounded.”

Blair sat up straight in his seat, waving at Carolyn to carry on. She smiled and did so. “So we ran a DNA test and ran it against the results from Tommy Juno.”

“And?” Blair asked unnecessarily.

“And,” Carolyn grinned at him, “They are a match. The DNA’s the same.”

Blair blinked. “That’s impossible.”

Carolyn shrugged. “That’s what we got, the bands are identical.”

Blair sat back in his seat, his mind swirling with the complexity of it all. "Hunh."

 "Very academic response there Sandburg." Carolyn teased. Blair shot her a pained look, but said nothing. Just contemplated what she had said.

Finally, he turned back to Carolyn. “Help me with this a moment. We have a guy who shoots Danny, while he’s at a charity event across town. Then this guy shoots at Beverly…”

Carolyn took it up to help him clarify. “Jim catches this guy, we book him and put him in processing while you watch Jim and Simon get shot at down the street… and the blood at the scene matches the guy in lock-up.”

Blair locked eyes with the forensics tech. “So… that could mean one of two things. Juno is a clone, or he's an identical twin which is just a naturally born clone.”

Carolyn snickered. “Um, somehow I’m thinking the first isn’t so likely in this event. But I hadn’t entertained the second just yet.”

Blair grinned at the woman as he stood and gestured that she leave the room with him. “We need to tell Jim about this, fast. If Juno is a twin, that could mean his brother is still out there. Hell what am I saying, of course he is.”

Carolyn nearly walked right into Ellison as the man met them at the door, his eyes wide in disbelief. Blair knew he had heard their conversation and was puzzling the pieces to fit.  

“How much did you hear?” Carolyn asked. Jim’s penetrating look at Blair was answered with a shrug. 

“Enough to confuse the hell out of me.” Jim answered as he turned and walked towards the bullpen with Carolyn beside him. Blair trailed along behind them, coffee still in hand  

Jim’s phone rang before they reached the Major Crimes doors. Jim answered it gruffly. “Ellison.”

He stopped dead in his tracks, his gaze flickering to Blair briefly before turning towards the doors and pushing them open with much more force than necessary. Blair followed close on his heels and slipped into the cop’s chair as Jim snapped his fingers and pointed at the screen.

“Right, got it.” Jim finished the call and snapped the phone shut. “That was booking. The prints on this guy do not match Tommy, so it looks like your theory is correct Sandburg. The question, who the hell is this guy and where’s Tommy Juno?”