Blair looked over the paperwork in his hands, the request for a search and seizure warrant specifically aimed at recovering a weapon registered to someone that his partner knew well. Or should’ve. And if Jim’s formative years had been anything close to ‘normal’, then he would have been closer to the new owner of the gun. Feeling the truck slowing down to a halt, he brought his gaze up to see that they had arrived at the Cascade Racetrack.

"Let’s get this over with, Chief." Jim climbed out of the truck and slammed the door shut. Without waiting for his partner, he started walking towards the main offices. A phone call to the racetrack earlier had supplied the information that the man he needed to talk with was, indeed, in attendance today. Blair caught up with him, just as he reached for the door, and they walked into the cool interior.

Checking over his partner as they headed up the stairs to the office they needed, Blair couldn’t help but notice the tightly clenched, square jaw line. At the top of the stairs, he reached out to the older man. "Jim? You need to relax here, buddy. You go in there like this, radiating your anger, and he’s going to get all defensive and, maybe not cooperate."

"He’d better cooperate." The words barely got past tight lips, coming out in a growl.

"Jim!" Blair deepened his grip on his friend and pulled him to a stop. "That’s exactly what I’m talking about! Where is this anger coming from? You keep this up and you-know-who is going to make us get a damn warrant!" Making eye contact, he lowered his voice, going into his ‘guide’ mode. "Come on, take a couple of deep breaths, relax, let the anger go."

The sentinel in Jim automatically followed the advice of his Shaman, his guide, his brother. The anger dissipated, no longer burning so brightly, but rather cooling into a dying ember in his heart. Quirking a smile at his partner, Jim nodded. "Thanks, Blair. You’re right, I cannot afford to let my anger push him away."

Blair released the arm he’d been holding, using the same hand to brush loose hairs away from his face. "No problem. That’s what I’m here for, remember?"

Now that Jim had calmed down, he dared to make a suggestion. "Jim? Maybe I should be the one to approach him? Let you distance yourself from this?"

Jim scrubbed his face, his hand lingering over his eyes for a moment as he rubbed his temples. "Okay, it’s really your case anyway. Let’s get this over with."

They approached the offices and were shortly shown into the spacious office of the track’s owner. The tall, dark haired, well-dressed business man came to his feet as his visitors were shown in. "Jimmy! What brings you down here! And Sandburg, I hear they finally gave you a badge?"

Taking the lead, Sandburg answered the enthusiastic greeting. "Hello, Steven. Yeah, Jim finally got a ‘real’ partner when I graduated the academy."

Steven Ellison walked around his desk and shook Blair’s hand, then turned and clasped his brother’s shoulder in welcome. "Congratulations, Jimmy! Now, Anna said something about you two needing something from me?"

Blair held up the piece of paper that Alan Casland had copied the bill of sale on, pulling his glasses out to ‘read’ the thing ? as if reading an actual warrant -- to the man standing beside his partner. "Steven Ellison, you have registered as the owner of a used Beretta 9mm semi-automatic hand gun, recently purchased at Cascade Rod and Field. This warrant allows the City of Cascade, the State of Washington, to seize that weapon in pursuant of a murder case." He handed the sheet of paper over to the now confused younger Ellison.

"What?" Steven turned to look at his brother, "Jim? What’s going on? What murder? Is the gun stolen?"

Jim reached out a reassuring hand, placing it on his brother’s shoulder, feeling the tremors coursing through the younger man's body. "No, Stevie, it’s not stolen…" He explained why he and Blair needed to confiscate the gun and the tests that would need to be run before they could return the weapon to him. "I’ve got to ask, though; why do you need a gun, Stevie?"

Shaking off his brother’s hand, Steven walked around his desk to open a drawer. "We’ve had a prowler problem here. I bought the damn thing in case I needed to leave here late at night, for protection." He pulled the gun out of the drawer, ejected the magazine, then racked the slide back to retrieve the bullet from the firing chamber, then handed everything over to Blair and watched as the younger man placed it in a evidence bag.

"Thank you, Steven," Blair said as he sealed the bag shut. "I’ll just go wait in the truck; you two need to talk." He walked out, leaving the Ellison men alone.

"Have you reported the problem?"

"I took the required firearms course."

They had spoken simultaneously, startling each other. Steven was the first to fill the subsequent void. "Yeah, I reported it. Two, maybe three, months ago. The PD is doing something called ‘extra patrols’, but they haven’t seen anything suspicious."

Jim nodded his head. "What’s been going on? Anything been taken, missing or vandalized?"

"All of the above." Steven sat down behind his desk, gesturing for his brother to take a seat himself. He continued as Jim settled into the wing back chair across the desk from him. "Tack’s been noticed missing, some of the drugs from the Vet’s shed, the track has been screwed up by what appeared to be a motorcycle. Thankfully, though, none of the horses have been messed with."

Leaning forward, placing his arms upon his legs, Jim asked, "Do you want me to look into this? See what’s going on? Talk to who ever has the case?"

"Would you?"

Seeing the hope that flared in his brother’s blue eyes, Jim smiled. "Yeah, Stevie, I’d be happy to. After all, what good is it to have a cop in the family if he can’t help you out from time to time?"

"I didn’t want to ask, it’s just that I don’t think that Zowalski seems to understand how serious this could be." Steven shook his head. "But I’d really appreciate it."

"Zowalski? I know him. Detective over in the Third Precinct. Probably has ‘short timer’s’ disease." Seeing the confusion on his brother’s face, Jim grinned as he explained. "He’s due to retire in two months. He’s probably avoiding digging too deep so as to avoid getting tangled into a case that would force him to stay a bit longer to clear it."

"But wouldn’t that entice him to work the case faster? Clear it with plenty of time to retire?"

"You’d think so, but I’ll talk to him anyway."

Steven smiled, relief showing plainly on his face. "Thanks, Jimmy, I really mean that. And since you’re looking into things for me…"

Jim threw up his hands, forestalling the words about to leave his baby brother’s mouth. "Stevie, I draw the line at ‘fixing’ parking tickets ? just pay the damn things."

He shrugged. "Never hurts to ask. And why do I get the idea that your partner didn’t really have a warrant?"

Getting to his feet, Jim chuckled, feeling more relaxed in his relative’s presence in this moment than he had thought possible. "I’d better go, before Sandburg decides to take off without me." He held out his hand, which Steven took into a firm grip and shook. "I’ll keep you posted on your gun, Stevie. Would you like to borrow one of mine in the meantime?"

"Thanks, but no. I really shouldn’t need it. I’m not even sure why I bought that one in the first place." They parted company amicably and returned to their work, Steven getting the track ready for the up coming racing season; Jim retreating back into the familiar world of police work.

Blair relaxed as he spotted his partner approaching the truck. He noticed a slight bounce in the older man’s step, but he decided not to comment on it. After all, Jim would protest that he doesn’t bounce; that habit belonged exclusively to one Blair J. Sandburg. They made it back to the Central Precinct in time to check the appropriated gun through Evidence before taking it over to Forensics for testing. After writing up their contact reports, updating PA Crawford of their progress, and bringing Captain Banks up to speed the two partners decided to call it a day and took off for home.

Blair snapped the hardbound book closed, causing Jim to jump slightly on the couch, where he sat channel surfing. Grinning at his ability to have caught the ever vigilant sentinel off guard, he stood up and stretched. "Jim? I’m going to take this back down to Alicia. I’ll be right back." He noted his roommate’s distracted nod, the man had his attention riveted to the flickering television, and deciding that there wasn’t much chance of Jim zoning on the appliance, left the loft.

Knocking on the door to apartment 207, Blair heard the familiar, and loud, greeting of Saint Gee. When Alicia opened the door, he was shocked by her appearance. She was pale, dark circles had taken up residence under her eyes, her mouth was set in a tight line, and her normally bright, warm, green-gray irises were stone cold. Holding the book close to his chest, keeping his voice low, he asked, "Is this a bad time, Alicia?"

She carefully shook her head. "No, come on in, Blair." She stepped aside so that her neighbor could enter her home, smiled weakly as Saint Gee started his ‘weave through legs’ routine on Blair, and closed the door. Softly.

Turning around to face her, he couldn’t help but notice how quiet she was being. No music floated on the air, and he knew that Alicia loved to have either music or talk radio filling her home. Even Saint Gee’s voice had seemed a little subdued. "Alicia? You feeling okay?"

"Just a headache. Brought it home with me." She padded over to her kitchen on bare feet, lifting the lid of a small saucepan, letting the steamy aroma waft into the air. Leaning over the pan, she inhaled some of the steam.

Pausing to place the borrowed Burton book on a side table, Blair followed his neighbor into the kitchen. The aroma that drifted to his nose was tantalizingly familiar. "Willow bark tea?"

Alicia nodded, impressed with his apparent knowledge. "Yeah, that with some valerian and ginger root and a smidgen of chamomile thrown in for good measure." She nearly jumped out of her skin as she felt his hands reach up and test the tension in her neck. "Though, if I can’t get rid of this, I may end up in the Emergency Room."

"The ER? For what? A shot?"

"Yeah. I hate to do that though. They tend to knock me out of action, something that I cannot afford tonight."

Blair felt the taut muscles in her upper shoulders and neck gently, knowing from working with Jim’s headaches that the last thing she needed was pressure on the sensitive, over stimulated sinews. "Whoa, that’s tight. I might be able to alleviate some of that, if you want me to try?"

She turned to face the young man. "I’d like that. Let me get a cup of the tea poured and I’ll give you a chance."

He nodded, then left the kitchen to find just the right place to have her sit, where he could stand behind her to work on her neck. Deciding that the straight back chair at her computer desk was probably his best bet, he pulled it over towards the balcony doors, which he opened to let the fresh evening breeze enter the apartment.

Seeing where Blair had decided to set up, Alicia walked over to the French doors, sipping her bitter brew as she did. When she made to sit in the chair as she normally would’ve, he stopped her and made her straddle it backwards.

"No, I want you to sit this way in the chair…that way you can’t get away from me." Blair held the mug of medicinal tea for her as she settled into the chair. "Now, drink a little bit more of that, and then I’ll start. In the meantime, tell me, how long ago did the headache start?"

She snorted into her mug, luckily not spilling any of the contents. "You want the truth?" He had walked around to where she could see him and squatted down so she didn’t have to crane her neck to look at him, his hand resting on her knee. He nodded. "Sunday morning. I got some bad news when I got home, I’d guess that’s when the tension started to build."

"Oh, okay. That’s not too bad. Here." He reached out and took the empty mug from her hands, placing it on the nearby dining table. Walking around behind her, he gently placed his hands on her shoulders and just started gently running his hands up and down; from neck to shoulder joint, back to the top of the neck and down the middle of the back, like he was stoking Saint Gee. Just enough to gently stimulate, without causing more pain. As he felt muscle groups starting to relax under his ministrations, he slowly applied more pressure, until fifteen minutes later, when he was kneading pliant muscles. During the process, he was very aware of the sounds coming from Alicia’s throat; she was practically purring.

She was barely aware that Blair had stopped the massage, but when she did notice, she sat up, rotated her neck ? which ‘popped’ quiet loudly ? and rolled her shoulders. "Ah, you’re a miracle worker, Blair. Thank you." She slowly got to her feet, knowing that one can become slightly disoriented after such a deep massage, and turned to face her masseuse.

Blair grinned. "No problem. By the way, where did you learn to purr like that?"

She raised an eyebrow at him. "I purred? Really?"

"Yeah, it was, well, interesting. Never have met a person who could purr like a cat."

"Too many years living with felines, I guess I picked up some of their mannerisms." Looking around, she spotted Saint Gee, sleeping comfortably on the back of the couch. Feeling the urge to bother the sleeping cat, she sauntered past Blair, unconsciously proving her point.

‘Damn! She even moves like a cat!’ The thought crossed his mind as he watched her. As he continued to watch, she scooped up the black cat and cradled him in her arms, bestowing chest scratches and making a noise that sounded like a ‘Purrrreowrrr’ to his ears. Crossing the floor to stand beside her, he reached out and gave the relaxed cat an ear rubbing. "I don’t know what you’re saying to him, but Gee seems to like it."

"I’m not sure either. I just know that it’s a sound that one of my former cats, Princess, used to make when she had kittens to talk to, to calm down or reassure." She carefully turned Saint Gee back over and placed him back in the same spot that she’d removed him from. Looking up, she noticed that Blair was watching her intently. "Blair?"

Realizing that he’d been staring at her, he dropped his eyes. "Sorry about that."

"Oh. And here I thought I had something on my face, or stuck between my teeth." She smiled and crossed over to the side table where he’d left the book earlier. Picking it up and turning back to face him, she said, "You finished it already?"

Reestablishing eye contact with her, he answered, "Yeah, just before I came down to return it." As Blair watched, she moved lithely over to the massive bookshelves and replaced the borrowed tome then reached up and pulled another one down.

"If you liked that, you might find this interesting to read." Alicia silently crossed the floor and placed the book into his hands.

Tearing his eyes away from Alicia, Blair looked over the book. " ‘The Celts by Gerhard Herm’?"

She nodded. "Yes, it’s about the Celtic Empire that spanned Northern Europe for about 2000 years. Traces all their influences on other civilizations like the Romans, Greeks, and the Germani. It also goes into some detail about how many early scientists were wrong to throw the Picts into the same group with the Celts and Gaels." Realizing that she had launched into a lecture, Alicia blushed and averted her gaze. "Sorry, I tend to lecture when I get rolling on about anything Celtic."

Blair let out a soft laugh, "Oh, that’s okay. You should see me when I get to going on about South American cultures." They shared a quiet laugh, which faded naturally. Glancing at his watch, he said, "Oh, man! I didn’t realize I’d been here that long. I’d better get back upstairs."

"Well, if you insist," Alicia purred as she aimed a rather blatant ‘come hither’ look at her guest. "Thanks for the neck rub, it really seems to have helped."

Catching the look, Blair decided that two could play at the flirtatious game and returned a similar look to her. "If you liked that, someday you’re going to have to let me give you a full body massage, Alicia."

She felt a shiver travel down her spine at Blair’s seductive tone and the idea of such a man giving a full massage… "Maybe. I’ll keep the offer in mind."

"Please do." Blair smiled, then crossed over to the door, clutching the latest loan from his neighbor’s rather eclectic library. Turning at the door to find Alicia standing close to him, too close, he gave her a peck on the cheek as she opened the door for him. Then, before he could allow himself to go any further, he scooted out.

Closing the door softly, Alicia leaned her back against it, her hand rising to her cheek as she met the rather amused glance of Saint Gee. "Well, that was interesting." Gee flipped his tail and jumped down from his perch on the back of the couch, disappearing down the hall in a black blur of motion.