Blair was floating, almost literally floating on air as the taxi made it's way to the station. He'd done it! All by himself, no waiting for Jim to save him. He'd actually hauled off and hit the guy who snatched him, a couple of times, no less, leaving him sprawled as he ran for the door.

Okay, so maybe it wasn't the most dignified exit, but at least he was out, and he knew where the bad guys were. He'd go to the station, surprise the hell out of Jim (which he anticipated with a grin), and ride with them to arrest those scumbags he'd left behind.

All in all, not the best day he'd ever had, but not the worst either.

He even had enough cash on him to pay the cabdriver, which was uncommon at best.

Blair waved a greeting to the officer behind the desk at the front as he strolled to the elevator that would take him up to Major Crimes. Please, God, let Jim be there, just so I can see the look on his face when I stroll in unhurt.

The face that greeted him as the door opened was not his partner, but it was almost as good.

"Sandburg!"

He swallowed a gleeful snicker at the other man's surprise. "Simon. Miss me?"

"What the hell are you doing here?"

He shrugged. "I was in the neighborhood, thought I'd stop by. Jim around?"

Simon's worry didn't fade. "No, Jim isn't around. He's probably somewhere trying to save your butt."

Blair hid his disappointment. "I'm gonna call the loft, okay?"

"My office, Sandburg. We need to have a little talk about what's been going on."

"Sure thing," Blair folowed Simon into his office, grinning at the familiar faces sitting around the department, acknowledging their looks of surprised relief with a growing smile.

Simon went behind his desk and sat patiently as Blair called the loft. He listened as Blair left a short message telling Jim where he was, and managed to stay quiet long enough for Blair to call Jim's cell phone.

"Darn it." Blair hung up on the recorded voice that answered instead of the welcome bass of his partner's voice, and sighed. "Where else do you think he could be?"

"I don't know. Does he ever let me in on his plans? Now tell me what you know."

So Blair gave him a brief summary of everything that had happened to him- as far as he knew. "-and then I blacked out. I think I heard a gun shot, though. Do you know what happened?"

Simon sighed. "Your girlfriend got shot."

Blair's contentment faded in a snap, and he sat up, tense and feardul. "Angela? What happened? is she okay?"

"Calm down. She's fine. It was just a flesh wound, the doctors released her earlier today. She killed one of the men who attacked you, Blair."

His eyes were huge. "Really? Oh, man, poor Angie. She must be feeling so...can I use your phone?"

"Hang on a second. You were going to tell me where they took you, right? I need to-" Simon was cut off as his phone rang. "Dammit." He snatched up the phone. "Banks," he barked. He listened for a long minute, then seemed to almost grow in stature as he straightened in sudden anger and surprise. "What??? How long ago?"

Blair watched, immediately on alert, wishing that he had a little of Jim's sentinel abilities so he could hear what was going on.

"Damn, damn, damn. Don't you ever let them dismiss a call like that again." Simon didn't bother to wait, he slammed the phone down and shot out of his seat. "Let's go, Sandburg."

Blair followed him out of the office and watched as he called Brown and Rafe over.

"What's up, Captain? Glad to see you in one piece for once, Hairboy."

"Can it. Listen, Blair reported being taken to a warehouse on 1st street. I was just informed that a half an hour ago the idiot down at the desk got a call from a woman saying she was with Jim Ellison at a warehouse on 1st street, and he needed backup. Whoever it was dismissed it as a prank when they checked the roaster and saw Jim wasn't on duty."

"What?" Blair was on instant alert- his sentinel needed backup. He must have left right before Jim got there....dammit. "What kind of idiot would-"

"Doesn't matter, won't happen again. Blake down at the front has dispatched any nearby black and whites, but if Jim is involved, we'd better get ourselves down there."

"We're there," Brown acknowledged, leading the foursome quickly into the stairwell and down to the cars in the parking deck.

Blair went silently, his entire body tense, ready for action. He should never have left. He should have known that Jim was coming after him, he should have known....

No, enough of that. Don't worry about it now. The only important thing now is to get to your partner, to help Jim the way he's always helped you.

Jim Ellison groaned as a shaft of light greeted his opening eyes. He took a moment to wonder why he went to sleep on the ground last night, and why he couldn't remember exactly what had happened.

Had he gotten drunk? No, that didn't make-

A face suddenly loomed in his vision. "Bed time isn't over yet, Ellison."

Jim blinked in confusion, and saw the fist flying towards his face.

Oh, shit.

He blacked out.

"Dammit! They were here, Simon! Right in this building. I left one right where I showed you. Dammit!"

"Calm down, Sandburg. Rafe, anything?"

"Nothing. No one's reporting seeing a thing. They could have just left in a car and no one would have suspected a thing, Captain." Rafe approached the pair, an object hanging off his arm. "We searched the truck. Jim left his cell phone inside. He wasn't planning on being gone long. We also found this," The young detective lofted a small black backpack.

Blair groaned. "Oh, no. Oh, no no no."

"Sandburg?"

Blair hardly heard Simon's voice as he went to Rafe and grabbed the pack out of his hand. He only had to open it and glance briefly at the contents to confirm what he already knew. "This is Angela's, Simon. She was here. She must be with Jim."

Whereever that was.

He heard humming.

That in itself was strange enough to force Jim's eyes open. He realized with a flash exactly what had happened- everything came back to him, the warehouse, going to save Blair. Getting shot.

He winced when that came back to him, and it brought him up, fully alert, immediately picturing dials and turning down the waves of pain sweeping from his leg and his shoulder. Shot twice, how pathetic was that? Blair would never let him live it down.

He took in his surroundings, stopping when he spotted a familiar form sitting against the wall to his right, knees drawn up, staring into space and softly humming her song.

He recognized the tune and smiled slightly. "Wishful thinking, eh?"

The sound cut off abruptly and she turned to him with a grin of relief. "You're awake! Thank the gods!"

He sat himself slowly. "Where are we?"

"I have no idea. I woke up in here."

"How long ago?"

She shrugged. "I don't own a watch, and I think they took your when they searched you. Probably afraid you could use it to build us a bomb or something, like that guy McGyver. They're really scared of you, Jim." The fact made her smile. "But it's been hours. I was getting worried. You're hurt. I mean, it didn't look fatal, but you did lose a lot of blood, I guess. I mean, I don't know, but it looked like a lot. I did what I could, but I was afraid it wasn't enough."

He glanced down at himself, seeing the roughly torn strips of fabric crudely bandaging his wounds. He recognized the fabric as the flannel shirt she'd been wearing over the t-shit she now shivered in. "Thanks," he said, examing the bandaging.

"This sucks, Jim. What do you think's going to happen?"

Jim paused. Should he go for the truth, or tell her something to make her feel better? He met the intelligent eyes briefly and decided she wouldn't fall for false words of comfort. "I have no idea. I figured they would want me dead. I;m surprised they didn't kill me and get it over with. I really don't know what they could be planning." And I really wish they hadn't dragged you into it, he finished silently.

There was a silence as she took in the words.

In the boredom that he knew would follow as they waited for thier kidnappers to make some move, Jim found his eyes wandering slowly. He looked at her for a minute, then glanced back around at the small room. Then back at her. Then he studied the door more carefully, but there was no handle on his side- no way out. Then his eyes drifted back to her silent figure, and this time she was looking back.

"You knew that song?" she asked after a minute.

"What?"

"The one I was humming. You said it was wishful thinking?"

He grinned. "'It can't be true, but this time the dream's on me.'" he recited.

She laughed slightly.

"What? That's the right song, isn't it?"

"You just don't strike me as the kind of man who would know it."

He shrugged. "I saw her, you know. Doing that song, about fifteen years ago."

Her eyes grew as she swallowed his attempt to get both their minds of the currect situation. "You saw Ella Fitzgerald?" she asked in confirmation.

"Yep. In Washington D.C."

"Wow. I gathered listening to Blair gripe that you only listened to Santana."

He laughed. "Blair thinks I'm closeminded about a lot of things. What he doesn't know..."

"Huh. You are full of surprises, aren't you?" Her smile changed suddenly, and she studied him more closely. "Now...about you listening to Blair's heart beating from a block away...."

He sighed. "I knew somehow we'd get back to that."

"It isn't the kind of thing you mention casually and expect someone to forget about," she pointed out.

"That's true."

So Jim told her, slowly, the entire story, leaving out only a few minor, embarrassing details. He told her about meeting Blair, about sentinels and guides, about Incacha, and Blair replacing the Chopec as Shaman.

She took it all in relatively calmly, he saw with approval. "That's...quite a story."

"I'm living it, Angie. I know."

"You are serious, aren't you? This isn't some kind of well-thought-out joke? Cause Blair may have told you, I'm gullible."

"No joke. Why else do you think a guy like Blair would hang out with a guy like me?"

She looked him in the eye. "I could think of some good reasons."

He almost blushed. "Um...thanks, I guess."

"Okay,so you're no different than anyone, except your senses work about a thousand times better, and Blair's the only one who can rope you in and get you focussed. Right?"

"Well, that's a little exaggerated, but right for the most part."

"So you're not, like, ten times as strong as everyone else or anything?"

"Nope. And I can't fly, and if I put on a pair of glasses, I don't become some nerd no one recognizes."

"Darn it. It figures, real-life superheros wouldn't be as nifty as fiction."

Jim chuckled, not bothering to protest her labelling him a real-life superhero.

There was a comfortable silence, and Angela shifted herself to a more comfortable position. "This is ridiculous. How long can they keep us here without saying anything to us?"

"Technically? Forever. But in my experience someone will eventually come in here to gloat or brag or take us somewhere else. They'll slip up, don't worry."

"I just hope it's soon. This is getting boring."

"Yeah. Don't worry, I don't see us spending the next day in here,"

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