Word Count:
5,867
Rating:
PG.
Category:
Angst. Drama. Humour.
Story Status:
Complete
Summary: Jim's
away and Blair's volvo goes off the road but Blair isn't driving.
Notes: Not a crossover, but brief mention of Rodney McKay and reference to the Friendship Series.
Thanks:
Thank you to alyjude for the wonderful cover art.
Crash
By Leesa Perrie and Jayne
Perry
Artwork by alyjude. See more of her artwork here.
It was a dark and stormy night...well; actually it was sunny in
Cascade for once, quite warm in fact, and certainly not night, seeing
as it was midday, but still…
It felt like it should
be a dark and stormy night, then it would
explain why Blair was feeling so glum, fed up, downright down in the
dumps and feeling like a blues singer who was having a really bad day.
Things had started off so well…
Jim had left yesterday with Megan, to attend a week long Police
conference in Florida and Blair was looking forward to having the loft
to himself for a week. As much as he loved Jim’s
company,
he occasionally missed his independence and not living by anyone
else’s rules, especially Jim’s rules. One
week of not
labelling items in the fridge had a definite appeal.
Last night he had met up with an old acquaintance. Rodney
McKay.
They had reminisced about Blair’s last year of High School,
when
he had been staying with Rodney’s family (one of the few
times
Naomi had decided that Blair had needed some stability, in order to get
through his exams) and just generally catching up.
Rodney had explained that he was just passing through on his way to a
‘hush, hush project’ and would be in town for a
couple of
days. Blair couldn’t help feeling as though he
wouldn’t be seeing Rodney again for a very long time.
As a result, Blair hadn’t got to bed until the early hours of
the
morning. But with no room mate and no classes until the
afternoon, he went to bed with not a care in the world.
Unfortunately, he hadn’t anticipated the phone ringing at
8am. It was Simon.
“Sandburg…Blair…” Simon
began, giving Blair
a sinking feeling as Simon rarely used his first name.
“I’m
sorry, but your Volvo was found an hour ago… It looks like
the
car was going too fast on a wet road and slid off the road, down an
embankment, and into a river…”
“Oh no, Naomi!” Blair blurted, he had lent his mom
the car
just yesterday for a trip up to a mountain retreat, as he had
Jim’s truck to borrow. Naomi’s car was in the
garage for
repairs, having broken down during a flying visit on her way to a
retreat.
“Blair…son…they haven’t found
Naomi…but it looks like she must have been swept downstream
by
the river…I’m sorry Blair, it doesn’t
look
hopeful…”
“No, no, no, no! She has to be alive! She
has to
be…” Blair couldn’t believe it, he
couldn’t.
“I’m on my way to you now, Blair. Just
hold on,
I’ll be with you in a few minutes, and then we’ll
head up
to the area and see what, if anything, we can do.”
“Okay. See you soon,” Blair out the phone down in a
daze. Naomi dead? It couldn’t be true;
she was so
alive. He felt like he was in a dream, a nightmare, and
pinched
himself to try and wake up. It didn’t work.
...and now, here he was, in Simon’s car, just leaving
Cascade and heading into the mountains to try and find his mom,
preferably alive and well, though that seemed unlikely, after listening
to the details from Simon again.
A truck had been following the Volvo and had seen the car go too fast
round the corner. Rain had made the road slippery and as a
result
the car didn’t make it, but had plummeted off the road into
the
river below, where it had landed and submerged.
Simon looked over at Blair, who was pale and staring quietly out of the
window at the passing scenery. Both felt as though they were being
mocked by the sun and beauty surrounding them.
The journey passed in silence, until up ahead Simon could see the
flashing lights on the Forest Rangers vehicles.
‘We’re here.’
Simon and Blair left the car and approached the Forest
Rangers.
Blair really didn’t want to talk to them, thinking that if he
buried his head in the sand, so to speak, then Naomi wouldn’t
have crashed and everything would be okay. But even whilst
this
was going through his head, he knew it was no good. No matter
how
much reality might suck right now, he was going to have to deal with it.
“Captain Simon Banks, Cascade PD,” said Simon,
pulling out
his badge. “And this is Blair Sandburg, an observer in my
department and owner of the car that crashed. Have you found
the
driver, Naomi Sandburg, his mother?”
The Forest Ranger looked at Blair briefly with a look of sorrow and
understanding and then turned his attention back to Simon.
“We haven’t found a body or a survivor as
yet. The
river is flowing extremely fast at the moment, due to melting ice
higher up the slopes. It looks like the driver managed to get
out
of the car, but she must have been injured – it’s
quite a
drop here – and most likely drowned in the river.
We have
rescue teams searching further downstream, but nothing so
far.
I’m sorry, but it really doesn’t look very
hopeful.”
“But she could be alive?” Blair asked, desperately.
“I mean - it’s a possibility?”
“Yes, it’s possible. But I
wouldn’t get your
hopes up too high. We’re doing everything we can to
locate
her,” the Ranger said.
“Thanks. I appreciate it. Can I help with the
search?” Blair asked.
“Sandburg, let the rangers deal with it.
They’re
trained for this. Last thing I need is to lose you in the
woods
somewhere. Jim would kill me!” Simon spoke, before
the
Ranger could answer.
“But, she’s my mom,” Blair almost
cringed, as he heard himself whine.
“Come on Sandburg, let’s go up to the
Rangers’ station and wait for some news.”
Blair turned away from Simon and started walking towards the edge of
the road, intending to look at the remains of his car, and then to
start downstream. Simon sighed deeply, and followed Blair to
the
edge of the road.
Blair tentatively looked down the embankment, but then immediately
turned away.
“Oh, man. That’s so not good for my fear of
heights,”
he moaned. “I can’t just stand here and wait.
I’m
going to see if I can find an easier way down.”
With that, Blair started to follow along the edge of the road down.
Simon looked at the lonely figure. Sighing he grabbed the
nearest
Ranger and gave him his cell phone number and then proceeded after his
friend, soon catching him up.
They walked slowly and with frequent stops only to find the terrain
still inhospitable.
Though neither said it, they both wished that Jim were there.
Both men sorely missed his eyesight and support.
Eventually Blair spotted a thin path leaving the road.
Without a
word Blair headed towards it and followed the muddy, slippery path as
it wound its way slowly towards the river.
By the time they reached the river, both men were covered in mud and
Blair was shivering slightly.
“Which way do you want to go, up river or down?”
Simon said loudly to be heard above the noise.
Blair stood staring at the water, unable to come to a decision.
“Okay, we’ll head up river until we reach the car
and then work our way down”
Blair looked at Simon.
“If you head up stream and I head down, we’ll cover
more
distance. Her time could be running out. I need to find her,
I
need to find my mom.”
With that he turned and started to move away.
“Sandburg, keep your cell phone on, OKAY!”
Blair waved his hand to indicate he had heard and continued to move
away, his thoughts churning. Trying to keep the fear at bay.
“She’s gonna be fine. She’s
gonna be fine.
She’s gonna be fine,” he kept repeating to
himself.
But he knew the longer it took to find her the more likely that she
wasn’t going to be fine.
He paused for a minute to drink from his water bottle. But
all
the while, his eyes were scanning the river, looking for something,
anything that would tell him that his mom was still alive, or had
passed by this way.
----------------
Simon arrived at the car after what seemed like ages, but was in fact
only twenty minutes. There was no sign of Naomi. He
hadn’t
really expected there to be, but he’d had to check upstream
in
case she hadn’t got far from the car and had been missed by
the
Rangers somehow. Turning around, he was about to start
downstream
to try and catch up with Blair when he thought he heard a moan from
above him.
Looking up, he couldn’t see anyone on the embankment or in
the
trees. Surely the Rangers would have checked to see if Naomi had been
thrown from the car before it entered the river? Maybe he was
just imagining things. There were a couple of Rangers further up the
stream, awaiting the arrival of a crane to lift the car back onto the
road, prior to it being towed away. He walked towards them.
----------------
Meanwhile, Blair was having no luck in locating his mother, and was
getting increasingly worried about her. He was checking all
the
bushes, nooks and crannies as he moved along the river’s
edge,
and so it was taking a long time to travel even a short
distance.
Part of him told him that he was wasting time, as the Rangers had most
likely already looked here and were looking further downstream, but
another part needed to look for himself and check in case the Rangers
had missed Naomi somehow.
All the time, he kept wishing that Jim were here.
He’d find
Naomi with no problem, of that he was sure. With his
heightened
senses he could hear, see or even smell her far more easily than anyone
else. But Jim wasn’t here, he kept reminding
himself, and
there was nothing to be done about that.
Blair paused briefly on a small bank that ran just above the
river’s edge. The river on any other day would look
beautiful, with the sunny reflections of trees and bushes on
it.
But today, it looked cold and deadly. With a sigh, Blair
turned
to move further along when suddenly the bank he was standing on gave
way and he was plunged into the river.
The current pulled him under, but he managed to reach the surface and
slowly made his way over to the embankment, a little further down than
where he’d fallen in.
Large boulders scattered the shore’s edge. One of which the
river
slammed him into. He tried to grab hold of it, but could feel
his
fingers slipping.
“Come Blair, you can do this,” he muttered to
himself.
Momentarily, his foot touched the bottom. Enough for him to
be
able to push himself on to the top of the boulder. He lay on
top
of it, breathing heavily from his exertions. Once he had
calmed
down he started shaking from the cold.
He put his hand in his coat pocket to take out his cell phone, only to
find that it no longer worked.
“Great! Just Great! That is all I need.” He was
sorely
tempted to throw it into the river, but put it back into his pocket
instead.
Go on or go back? Blair was trying to decide, when he noticed
an
indent in the rock wall behind him. It looked like the
entrance
to a small cave.
Knowing his priority was to get warm and dry, he made his way over to
it, collecting driftwood as he went. He was just about to
crawl
into the small entrance when he saw a flash of bright orange out of the
corner of his eye. Looking round, he spotted it a few yards
to
his right. Putting the wood down he went over and picked it
up. It was his mom’s favourite scarf. But
the sight
of blood on it made his heart lurch. His legs felt like jelly and he
found himself sitting, with tears slowly rolling down his cheeks.
After about five minutes Blair stood up and scanned the surrounding
rocks hoping for more clues as to his mother’s
whereabouts.
But nothing was forthcoming.
----------------
Simon asked the two Rangers if the bushes and trees had been checked,
in case Naomi could have been thrown from the car, or maybe had even
decided to jump.
They had told him that it was highly unlikely anyone could have been
thrown from the car, and that the driver’s door
hadn’t been
opened. The passenger’s door was open, but they
assumed
that had happened after the car had landed in the river and
Naomi’s body had obviously been washed out at the same
time. But he was sure he’d heard someone moan, and
asked
the Rangers to help him to check out the possibility just the same,
feeling annoyed that it hadn’t already been done.
One of the Rangers scrambled to the top of the embankment and sorted to
work his way down slowly, whilst the other started from the bottom of
worked her way up, both checking the bushes thoroughly.
Simon,
meanwhile, started to check the trees as best he could from the ground,
awaiting climbing gear and a couple more Rangers, who had been
contacted and were on their way to help in the search.
----------------
“Naomi? Mom?” Blair called softly, as he entered
the
cave. He thought he heard something move further
inside.
Hoping that it wasn’t an unfriendly critter, but his mother,
he
slowly worked his way towards the sound. The cave narrowed
even
more after about 5 yards and became a tunnel, just big enough for Blair
to climb through. The tunnel soon turned a corner, and what
little light that had made its way into the back of the cave, was
swallowed up in darkness. Blair wished he had thought to
bring a
torch with him, but continued onwards, feeling his way with his hands
carefully.
“Oh crap, this is so NOT my idea of fun!” Blair was
beginning to feel decidedly claustrophobic, as the darkness and the
narrowness of the tunnel started to get to him. He could feel
himself starting to hyperventilate. “Okay, just keep
calm.
Take a nice deep breath…and out. In…and
out. In…and out. That’s it. I am calm, I
am calm, I am
calm…”
Suddenly something licked his face.
“Aargh,” he screamed, moving backwards as rapidly
as he
could. Only to hear a bark, followed by said critter licking his
retreating hands. He stopped.
“Good doggie, nice doggie,” he crooned, still
moving
backwards, though more slowly. As he exited the tunnel into
the
cave, the dog followed him out. He could just make it out in
the
dim light. It was black and white, a border collie possibly.
The dog barked again, louder this time, and pushed up against
Blair’s body.
“Okay, so you’re a friendly dog, then? I
wonder what
your name is and what you are doing down here?” He
leaned
forward to see if there was a nametag on the collar, but then realised
he couldn’t read it in the dim light, and might not be able
to
anyway without his glasses. He reached into the pocket where
he
kept them, to find broken lenses.
“Great, just great! New cell phone AND new glasses.
Lovely!” he moaned.
Blair headed back towards the entrance of the cave and using his best
guide voice, persuaded the dog to go with him (after all if it worked
on Panther Jim why not a dog?).
Once he had enough light he was just able to read the details on the
collar. The dog’s name was Star and on the other
side it
had the owner’s details. Blair was surprised to see
that
the owner’s address was Boston.
“You’ve come a long way.”
At his voice the dog wagged her tail.
Blair looked longingly at his small pile of wood, which meant warmth, a
way of letting Simon know that he was stuck further down the river and
would also let his Mom know that there were other people in the
vicinity. Then he looked back at the dog.
“Okay Star, here goes… Now we can do this
one of two
ways. We can either both meditate and I get my spirit guide
to
talk to you. Or I can hope that your Mom was Lassie or a
Lassie
fan.” At the sound of his voice Star cocked her
head on one
side, which reminded Blair of the way Jim also tipped his head when he
was listening. Blair took Naomi’s scarf out of his
pocket
and held it under Star’s nose. “Find
girl. Find
Naomi. Find my Mom.”
At the word Mom, Star started to run up river.
“Hey, slow down!” Blair shouted as he started to
follow Star.
After he had slipped on his third rock, Blair took his eyes off of the
dog so that he could take more care of where he was going and soon lost
sight of Star.
“Star! Star! Where have you gone? Come
back!”
----------------
Simon could swear he could see the under growth moving of its own
accord. He was starting to get worried when a border collie
ran
past him.
“What the…?”
Simon started running after the dog.
“Wait! Stop! Sit!” he shouted after it.
The dog heard the commands and skidded to a halt. Watching
Simon approach, Star whimpered.
“There’s a nice dog,” Simon held out his
hand
carefully, and was rewarded with a lick. Star then pushed up
against his legs. Simon stroked her. “Where did you come
from,
then? What’s your name, I wonder?” He looked at the
nametag
on her collar. “Star, eh? Where’s you
owner?”
Star ran towards a tree about ten yards from Simon, and started to
bark,
looking upwards and jumping up at the tree. Simon rushed
forward,
craning to look up into the dense foliage. He could just make
out
a piece of orange cloth about five yards or more up. He
quickly
alerted the Rangers to his find and to the presence of Star.
“Hello, can you hear me?” he shouted up to the
person,
whilst waiting for the Rangers to come over with their equipment. He
heard a short moan in reply.
“He or she is alive, I can hear him moan,” Simon
told the head Ranger.
“Okay, sir, we’ll get someone up to assess his
condition.”
Simon moved out of the way, grabbing Star’s collar and moving
her with him.
----------------
Blair had lost sight of Star, but followed upstream, hoping she was
heading that way and would take him to Naomi. He had to climb onto the
embankment in places, as the riverbank was unstable and he really
didn’t want another trip down the river – he was
cold and
wet enough, thank you very much. Of course, this meant
pushing
his way through bushes, and getting covered in lots of tiny (and some
not so tiny) scratches from the branches and thorns.
As he approached the place where he fell into the river, though he
didn’t realise that this was that place, he had to move even
further away from the river and into dense thickets to avoid the
encroaching river. As he did, he spotted what looked like a
bundle of rags to his right, under a bush he was trying to manoeuvre
past. Stopping, he turned towards it; his heart felt like it had jumped
into his throat. Could this be his Mom? If so, was she still alive?
He reached over to touch the bundle tentatively. It moved, and he heard
a groan.
----------------
Simon stood with one hand on Star’s collar, watching the
rescue
team’s medic climb up the tree with his kit. Time
seemed to
slow as he waited for the medic to assess the person’s
condition. Even though he was looking up, the tree was so
thick
he couldn’t see much of anything. If the person
hadn’t been wearing orange, then he doubted anyone would have
spotted him or her, at least, not from the ground.
Another man climbed the tree with ropes and pulleys and a makeshift
stretcher.
Whilst he was watching his cell phone rang. Whilst he answered it his
eyes never left the tree.
“Banks.”
“Hi Simon.” Oh no, it was Jim.
“You
wouldn’t happen to know where Sandburg is? Only
I’ve tried
the loft, and his cell phone isn’t responding.”
“Sorry Jim. I don’t know where he is.”
After all, he
didn’t know exactly where Blair was. “But there is
a good
chance I maybe seeing him in the near future. Can I pass a
message on?”
Jim could hear the sounds of water in the background and wondered
precisely where his Captain was, just as he was about to try and hear
the other sounds going on Megan knocked on his door.
“No, I’ll try and catch him later, we’re
just going
out to get something to eat. Is there anything going on I
should
know about?”
“No, no. Everything is fine, just fine. You go out
and enjoy yourself.”
Jim sat staring at the phone as Megan rapped on his door again, this
time more impatiently. As he got up, he knew something
wasn’t quiet right, but if there were a major problem his
captain
would have told him about it, wouldn’t he?
Simon looked at his phone. He remembered checking that Blair
had his phone, but Jim hadn’t been able to get through!
“Oh crap!”
Just then, the rescue team started to lower the casualty.
Simon
moved closer, hoping that the person wasn’t badly hurt.
He was surprised to see a young girl of about 10 looking up at him,
obviously scared.
“Where’s Star? Where’s
Naomi?” she croaked, as a tear slid down her
scratched cheek.
At that, Star, who had been pulling against Simon, gave a final yank
and bounded over to his mistress and started to lick her
face.
The girl giggled.
----------------
“Mom,” Blair whispered.
He tried moving the branches of the bushes out of his way, but they
soon sprang back into his face, causing him to yelp as one hit him
across the bridge of his nose.
Taking out his trusty Swiss army penknife, he hacked away the offending
branches, until he could get a clearer view of the ‘bundle of
rags’.
There, lying under it, was Naomi. She was bruised, and blood seemed to
be all over her, though Blair was glad to note that the blood was
dry. He felt along her body, trying to feel if anything was
broken and once again wishing that Jim and his sensitive touch was
here.
“Blair?” Naomi’s voice was no more than a
croaked whisper.
“Hi, Mom.”
“Rainbow, must get help for Rainbow.”
“We’ll find her, but first we have to get you out
of here.”
Blair checked his phone, but it was still not working. Looking at his
Mom, Blair noted that she had passed out again. Knowing this
was
not good; he knew he had to wake her up again. But first he
needed a fire a) to warm her up and b) to act as a smoke signal so that
Simon and the rescue team would know where he was.
He looked around, spotting a clearing in the bushes a few feet in front
of him. He crawled from under the bush and gathered some
nearby
stones to make a rough fire circle – after all, he wanted to
start a small fire and not burn down the forest – his mom and
himself included.
After that, he collected some wood and kindling. Finding
appropriate wood to rub together, he managed after a few tries to light
a fire.
“I guess all that time with native tribes has come in useful
again – they didn’t have any matches or lighters to
start
their fires with either.”
After getting the fire started, he crawled back to Naomi.
“Hey, Mom, can you move at all?”
“Hmmm. What?” came the fuzzy reply.
“Can you move?” Blair repeated.
“Sure, sweetie. I moved up here from the
river.”
With some help from Blair, Naomi was able to move herself closer to the
fire.
“Mmmm. Warmth,” she said, closing her eyes and
drifting off again.
Blair placed her into the recovery position with her front to the fire,
and laid down next to her back to try and share some of his warmth,
such as it was, with her. He knew he had to stay awake, so that he
could wake Naomi every few minutes.
“I hope Simon realises I need help soon,” he
muttered, shivering miserably.
----------------
Simon followed the rescue team and Rainbow as she was carried up the
slope to the waiting emergency vehicles.
“What’s gonna happen to Star?” she cried
“Don’t worry, I’ll take good care of
her.” Simon was surprised to find himself saying.
He watched as the ambulance doors shut and the vehicle drove off down
the road.
Turning round he looked over the treetops and down towards the river
below, hoping for a sign, anything that would tell him where Blair, or
even Naomi, was. Then he saw it, the thin whisper of smoke
rising
through the trees.
Quickly he found the Rescue Teams’ Captain and showed him
what he could see. Both Captains smiled.
Orders were given, and the vehicles were relocated down the road, to be
nearer to the signal fire. Once there, men grabbed ropes and
tied
them to strong trees and used them to control their descent until it
was no more than a slope.
Simon had wanted to go with them, but it had been pointed out to him
that he would only get in the way. Also, he had to keep and eye on
Star. So he was left with the support vehicles and backup team, with
nothing to do but pace and keep looking over the edge hoping to either
see or hear anything that would put his mind at ease.
He heard footsteps behind him as a member of the support team came up
to him.
“They’ve found them, both of them.”
----------------
Blair watched anxiously as the paramedic checked over his Mom.
Carefully the paramedic put a neck brace on her, and he and his
colleague slid her on to a body board and then proceeded to strap her
on securely.
“We can’t find anything broken, but we’ll
know more
on her condition once we get her to the hospital and checked
out.”
Using the ropes, they controlled her ascent up to the waiting
ambulance. Blair following close behind her with words of encouragement
and letting her know that all would be okay.
Once they reached the top, Simon was there waiting for him and grabbed
a blanket to wrap around him. Even through the blanket he
could
feel him shivering.
“Get in the wagon with your Mom, I’ll follow behind
and meet you at the hospital. You gonna be okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine, Simon.
Thanks.” With that, he climbed in.
Simon watched the ambulance disappear round the corner before he moved
over to his car with Star and got in. Concern for the two
people
etched on his face.
He headed to the hospital, taking a short detour to drop Star off at a
vets that was not far from the hospital.
----------------
Once he reached the hospital Simon went over to the ER and located
Blair.
“How ya doin', Kid?”
Blair looked pale and Simon could see he was still shivering, despite
being wrapped in several layers of blanket. He could also see
that Blair was worried about his Mom.
The energiser bunny had definitely lost some of his bounce.
“Fine, the doc wants to keep me in over night as a
precaution.
Something about exposure. They’ll keep Mom and
Rainbow in
so I may as well stay and keep an eye on them.”
“Blair Sandburg wanting to stay in a hospital? You really
must be
sick!”
Blair managed a tired smile at Simon’s words.
“Can you go and check how they are for me?”
“Sure, be back soon.”
With that Simon left him and went in search of the doctor.
----------------
About half an hour later, Simon returned and found Blair
gone.
Asking a nurse, he was directed to a nearby room. Entering,
he
saw Blair in bed, looking distinctly unhappy.
“Hey, Blair. Your mom’s going to be fine.
She has a
minor concussion, a twisted ankle and wrist, plus lots of cuts and
bruises. They want to keep her in for a couple of days just
to be
safe, as she appears to have the beginnings of a nasty chest
infection. But she should recover okay. Rainbow has
a
dislocated shoulder and knee, which have been dealt with, a badly
sprained ankle, concussion and several bruises.
I’ve got
someone trying to get in touch with her mom, who apparently is at the
retreat Naomi was heading for. They’ll be keeping
Rainbow
in, at least until her mom gets here, possibly a bit longer.”
Blair looked mightily relieved that they were both going to be okay.
“I didn’t know Mom was taking Rainbow and Star with
her,
but I’m glad they’re gonna be okay. I
assume Star
wasn’t hurt too badly? She seemed okay to
me.”
“I’ll ring and check with the vet later, but she
did seem alright, just a little cold and wet.”
“That’s good. Can you believe it, Simon?
They’ve
admitted me! I thought I was going to be able to sit with Mom, but no,
I got bullied into this room! I’m thinking of signing myself
out
against medical advice…”
“Uh, uh, no way, Sandburg,” Simon interrupted
Blair’s
complaint. “You’re already going to be in enough
trouble
with Jim for wandering off down the river on your own and falling in,
without signing out AMA.” Simon threw in a glare for good
measure.
“Me? It’s you who should be worried
man. You
let me wander off down the river on my own in the first place! Oh crap,
talking of Jim, he’s gonna be frantic by now! I
should have
been at home for his call ages ago!”
“Oh, well, actually…” Simon looked
somewhat guilty.
“Jim rang me on my mobile a while ago, whilst I was looking
for
Naomi. I kind of gave him the impression that there was nothing going
on for him to be worried about…”
“Oh boy, Simon. You are soooo dead,
man!!”
“Yes, well, I’ll be even deader if I let you sign
out of
here AMA. So stay put. Rainbow and Naomi are gonna
be fine,
just stuck in hospital for a couple of days or so. If you
behave
yourself, I imagine the doctors will let you out tomorrow and you can
sit with them then.”
“But, Simon…” Blair whined, giving him
the patented lost puppy dog eyes.
“No! And quit it with the eyes. You’re worse than
Daryl
when he was a little boy! I’ll see you tomorrow
morning. Now stay here and get some rest. And yes,
that is
an order!”
“Sir, yes, sir!” Blair said sarcastically, and
pouted.
Simon merely shook his head, hiding a grin, and left to go home and get
some well deserved rest, after ringing Jim to let him know what was
going on. Hmm, he thought, maybe I can tell Conner, and she
can
tell Jim…
----------------
Blair shuffled over to the door of the loft, wincing at the stiffness
of bruised muscles and the soreness of a myriad of cuts and
scratches. There was a second, more annoyed sounding, knock
on
the door as he approached it.
“Hold on, I’m coming!” he said loudly,
muttering about impatient visitors.
He opened the door and received an enthusiastic greeting from Star and
a gruff, “About time,” from Simon.
“Hey there, girl,” Blair said, bending slowly to
pat Star
on the head, and remove the leash from her collar. Star
immediately made herself comfortable on one of the couches.
“And
hello to you too,” he said to Simon. “Thanks for
picking
Star up from the vets for me.”
Simon eyed Star on the couch uneasily. “Are you
sure this
is a good idea? I really don’t mind if she stays at
my
house until Rainbow’s mom is able to collect her.
And I
really don’t think Jim is going to be happy about dog hairs
all
over the loft, especially on the couches,” he said,
indicating the
contented dog.
“Hey, it’s no problem. I’ll be
home for a
couple of days anyway, and you’ll be at work.
It’s
better for Star not to be left on her own for a long time, and you
don’t need the hassle of having to look after her.
As for
the dog hair, well, it’ll make a change from Jim complaining
about me shedding all over the place!”
“It’s your funeral,” Simon
muttered.
“Maybe you should at least give her a bath?
She’s
still a little muddy from yesterday, even though the vet cleaned her up
a bit.”
“Oh, well, I don’t think I can manage that right
now, what with the cuts and bruises.”
“I think it would help with Jim if Star is at least clean
when he gets home later tonight,.” Simon pointed out.
“Yeah, well, I really don’t think I could manage
right
now. At least, not on my own,” he looked at Simon
expectantly.
Simon gave a deep sigh and shook his head. “Okay,
I’ll help.”
“Man, that’s great! Could you nip out and
get some
doggy shampoo from somewhere, and then we can get started?”
Simon removed a small bottle from his coat. “The
vet gave
me a sample of doggy
shampoo, so we may as well get started right
now.”
Simon removed his coat and jacket, and headed for the
bathroom, with Blair coaxing Star to follow.
----------------
Jim sighed in relief as he pulled into a parking space outside the
loft. He’d been able to get an earlier connecting
flight
than expected and was glad to be home. He’d booked
the
first flight home after Simon had told him about Naomi and Blair. Well,
after he had finished shouting at Simon for originally keeping the
accident from him.
He spotted Simon’s car in the parking area, and smiled
evilly. He had actually forgiven Simon, but he was looking
forward to seeing him squirm, or at least look uncomfortable, for a
while before letting him know that.
Jim headed up to the loft, not using his senses to see what was going
on up there, as he didn’t want to risk zoning whilst he was
so
tired from the flights back.
He opened the loft door to be immediately ambushed by a strong smell.
“What on earth is that?” Jim frowned in thought.
“Wet fur?”
Just then he heard Blair and Simon’s voices from the bathroom.
“I’ll just get an old towel from my
bedroom…”
“Sandburg! Don’t open the
door…!”
Jim saw a very friendly and very wet dog hurtling towards him.
“SANDBURG!!!!”
The End
