Spoilers:  None that I can think of, but this continues the story of Alicia Andreson who first appeared in Land of Nye, so that means that Blair's a cop and this is set a year, maybe more, after the events that took place in TSbyBS.

Carefully crawling out of the tent that he shared this past week with his roommate, James "Jim" Ellison rose to his feet to greet the dawn of a new day.  Taking a deep breath, he pulled in a lung full of clear mountain air. Crisp.  Clean.  Refreshing.  He smiled as he recalled the past few days of hiking, fishing and plain old goofing off that he had indulged in.  His recent battle with insomnia had left his reserves low, and the camping trip had been just what he'd needed to recharge his batteries.  Walking over to where the view of Mt. Baker was unobstructed, he greeted the rising sun.

The shining orb was actually rising behind the huge mountain, giving the snow-covered pinnacle a wonderful aura.  Carefully maintaining control on his eyesight, he watched as the sun cleared over the southern face of one of the tallest mountains in the Cascade Mountain Range, bathing the rest of the area with a warm, golden glow.  Birds in the trees around the campsite started their own morning greeting to the sun, the melodious singing sounding very pleasant to Jim as he stood there, enraptured by the sight before him.

A little over five years ago, he'd thought he was losing his mind.  He was seeing things that he shouldn't have been able to see, hearing things that no one else could hear, smelling, taste, touch all off the scale.  Then he had had the great fortune to meet a young man who seemed to have all the answers that Jim needed, Blair Sandburg.  Then, the young man had been a graduate student at Rainier University, studying Anthropology and something called 'Sentinels.'  Which is what he had told Jim he was, sentinel.  A man gifted with five heightened senses. Their first meeting, well, actually it was their second, hadn't gone well.  But a near run in with a garbage truck had been the start to a friendship that had endured events that no friendship should ever have to endure.

Now his best friend, his soul-brother, his Shaman and Guide was Jim's official police partner, a fellow detective in the Major Crimes Unit of Cascade PD.  Jim allowed himself to smile as he thought that, despite
everything that had happened in the years that Blair had been his friend, he never had had a better partner.  Never.  As if his thoughts had conjured up the younger man, Jim felt the light touch on his back that announced the arrival of his friend.

"Morning, Chief."

"Morning, Jim."  Blair looked past Jim's shoulder to see what had captured the man's attention.  "Oh, wow!  That's a gorgeous sight to wake up to!"

"Yeah, it is.  I'm going to miss waking up to that."

Blair smiled and nodded, not wanting to interrupt the bird song that surrounded them on the mountain.  They had chosen this campsite five days ago, for the view of the valley, the easy access to some of the best fishing they'd ever found and the lack of hiking trails, the latter nearly assuring them complete privacy.

Shrugging deeper into his flannel shirt, he turned back to face the camp. "Guess if we're going to make it back into Cascade before noon, we should get to breaking camp, right Jim?"

Looking over at his partner, he let out a chuckle.  "Chief, you sure know how to ruin the start to a perfect day, don't you?"

"Me?"  A look of pure innocence crossed his face. "Man, it wasn't me that told Simon that we'd be back today.  And you were the one who promised to catch a large salmon for him.  He's probably already up, going over plans on how to cook the damn thing."  Blair walked back to the campsite, where he turned on the camp stove and started heating up water for tea for himself, knowing that Jim would want the instant coffee that they'd brought.

Following his friend, Jim walked over to the tent and began packing up the sleeping bags, clothes and a few other items that had gotten dragged out during their stay.  "Good thing that I managed to land that twenty pounder then, huh?"

They had had more than their fair share of good fishing, most of which they had done yesterday, catching a variety of fish, salmon, trout and a few stripers.  All in all, they'd have to either waste all of the fish, or find a bigger freezer when they got home.  Good thing they had so many friends that would be more than happy to take the fresh catch off their hands.

They broke camp, hiked back to Jim's Ford pickup, and were on the road to home by eight am.  Eleven o'clock saw them pulling into the tiny parking lot behind 852 Prospect Avenue.  Home.

One of the first things that they both noticed when pulling into the lot was the car of their newest neighbor, Alicia Andreson.  The dark green Subaru Legacy Outback was covered in mud.  Completely covered.  The windows were smeared where the windshield wipers had tried valiantly to cut through the dirt with little success.

Blair whistled as he stepped out of the passenger side, trying to avoid the mud-covered vehicle that Jim had pulled in next to.  "Man, I wonder where Alicia went that she got so mud splashed?"

"Splashed?  It looks to me like she went 'mudding'."  Jim lifted the large, collapsible, cooler from the bed of the truck and waited for his partner at the door to the building.  "Come on.  I'd like to get upstairs before too long, Chief."

Grabbing the two large backpacks, Blair ran over and opened the door, then followed the other man up the stairs.  It took a couple of more trips to the truck and back, but finally they were in the loft for the day.  Jim had insisted on picking up a couple of bags of ice, which he used to fill another cooler and he transferred all the fish they weren't keeping into it, before grabbing up their dirty laundry and starting that chore.  That left Blair to double-check the camping gear before repackaging it for long term storage in the basement.  It was a familiar routine for them, though sometimes they'd switch off chores, and it made it that much easier to grab their gear and just go when the camping or fishing fever hit them again.

Blair was just returning to the loft from the basement when he noticed that Saint Germaine, Alicia's cat, was waiting by the loft's door.  "Hey, Saint Gee.  Miss me?"  The lithe, black kitten came over to him and, stretching, put its paws on his jeans covered legs.  "You want up?"  Bending over, he scooped the cat into his arms where it snuggled against him and began to purr.  "You are such a hedonist, Gee. Let's get you back downstairs before you cause your human to worry."  Turning around, he headed back for the stairs.  He hadn't even taken two steps when the door to the loft opened and Jim stepped out into the hall.

"Chief?"

That one word was all it took.  Saint Germaine twisted out of Blair's grasp, leapt to the floor, took one look at Jim, hissed, let out a yowl and took off running for the stairs.  Blair watched as the cat streaked away, then turned back to his friend. He burst into uncontrolled gales of laughter when he caught sight of the expression on the man’s face.  Perplexed would be a good way to describe, but it just wasn’t enough.

Scowling at his manic of a friend, Jim stepped back into their apartment. "I just don’t get it.  I usually get along well with animals, but that cat…"

Blair followed and closed the door behind him. "Hmm, most cats are pretty good judges of character.  Maybe he just doesn't like the way you smell?"

Jim stopped in his tracks. "The way I 'smell'?  Chief, I smell like fish.  If anything, that would attract the cat, don't you think?"

"That's my point, Jim.  You smell like 'prey' but you're way too big for him to take down, so he runs off.  Pretty smart.  I'd run too if I saw a salmon as big to me as you are to him."  Blair walked into the kitchen, away from his roommate, putting as much space between them as he could. "By the way, did you manage to get a hold of Simon?"

Nodding as he wrinkled his nose, Jim decided that Blair had a point.  "Fine. I get the hint.  I need a good, long shower to rid myself of a few days worth of grime."  Rubbing his hands over his face and a week's worth of beard, he walked down the hall to the bathroom.

"Hey!  Don't use all the hot water!  I'd like to clean up myself before Simon comes over!"

Alicia Andreson woke up from her nap, glaring at the ceiling above her as the sounds of the two men in apartment 307 drifted down to her.  "And Jim had the audacity to complain about my radio being too loud?"  Sighing, she crawled out of her bed and wandered out to her living room.  The past week had been both a blessing and a bitch.  The blessing in the sense that while the two men above her had been gone for a week, she'd be able to finish unpacking everything and getting her house in order.  A bitch in the sense that she'd had to do that while getting everything over at the new Hallstatt Trust International office building set up and ready.  In less than a week they would be opening the building for business.

Hearing a scratching at the door, she wandered over and opened it, only to have Saint Gee streak into the apartment like the very Devil was on his tail.  Closing the door, she soon found herself having to deal with a cat-inspired obstacle course.  The young cat kept bumping into her legs, running between them, as if trying to trip her.  His purr was a nice loud rumble, letting her know that whatever it was that had caused him to dart into the apartment was over now.  Carefully walking over to her stereo she turned it on and relaxed as the strains of classical music filled the air.  "Ah, Mozart!  And his 'Magical Flute suite to boot.  Great." Reaching down, she scooped up Saint Gee into her arms and gave him his obligatory chin and ear scratches.

Stepping out onto her balcony, she took in the fresh, cool air.  Glancing at her watch, she realized that she had napped for about two hours, and she really needed to get back to work.  Leaving the French doors to the balcony open, she wandered back to her living area, sat down at her computer and booted it up.  Saint Gee didn't like the noise that the hard drive put out and got down from her lap, complaining loudly at the imposition.  Ignoring him and calling up her e-mail account, she sighed when she recognized one of the sender addresses.  "Now what?"  Pulling the letter up, she let out a moan.  "No way!  I'm not getting dragged into that.  Not again!"  She hit the reply button and sent off her own letter.

Finishing up her correspondences, Alicia decided that it had warmed up enough outside for her to take care of one last little detail, washing her filthy car.  She ran and changed into some old jeans, a ratty looking tee shirt and a ragged chamois shirt, grabbed up some change and headed out.

She passed a tall, good-looking black man on the stairs, and wondered who he was, but was too intent on her destination to give it much thought.  Getting into her Subaru, she headed off to where she knew there was a car wash with high-pressure hoses.  The clay like muck covering her car would need the high pressure to remove it.

Captain Simon Banks moved out of the way of the small, blond woman rushing down the stairs, regretting the fact that the building's elevator was out of service.  Again.  However, he smiled as he thought about the fish that Jim Ellison had called to tell him about.  A twenty pound salmon!  Grinning like a fool over the thought of how many meals he could get out of such a fish, he knocked on the door to apartment 307, where his best detective team lived.

Blair opened the door. "Hi, Simon!  Come on in."

Simon moved past the younger man to enter the well-appointed apartment. "Sandburg, Jim called me about the fish."  He looked around trying to figure out where such a large fish could be waiting for him.

Letting out a laugh, Blair led his commander over into the kitchen and pointed out the two coolers on the floor.  "It's in one of those, but I'm not sure which one."

Crouching down in front of the coolers, Simon lifted the lids.  He let out an appreciative whistle, "Damn, the one time I can't go with you two and you hit the mother load!  How many are in here?"

"Not as many as we caught."  Jim stepped into the kitchen, hair still damp from his shower, dressed in faded blue jeans and a short sleeved Henley tee shirt.  "Hello, Simon."

The tall Captain stood back up. "Not as many as you caught?  What did you do, throw the little ones back?"

"Sure.  They needed to have a chance to grow," Jim answered with a smile.

"And he promised that he didn't cheat, but I wonder when he caught his limit in less than four hours."  Blair came up behind Simon and handed the Captain a beer, then passed one on to his roommate.

"I didn't 'cheat', Chief."  Jim's smile grew wider as he recalled just how tempting it had been to use his sentinel sight to spy on the fish in the river, to know exactly where to throw his hook and bait.

"Yeah, right.  So those fifteen fish you caught just sacrificed themselves to your hook?"

"Something like that."  Jim walked out to the living room to sit down, Simon following him.  "Of course, it would have been easier on me if you hadn't insisted on using your spear again."

Blair followed the two men to the living room and plopped down on the couch across from them. "Hey, don't complain.  I did manage to catch two for dinner last night."

"That you did, Chief."  Jim turned his attention back to his Captain, "So, Simon, how did the week go?  Anything we should know about before heading in tomorrow?"

Simon relaxed back into the couch cushions. "No, not too much going on.  Rafe and Brown have been working on a string of residential burglaries with Robbery Division, Connor's been working with Narcotics on another case, and Taggart's been teaching a EOD course over at the Academy."

"So, pretty quiet without Jim and I there, huh?"

Grinning wickedly, he responded to Blair's question.  "Blessedly so."

Jim hid a smile behind his hand.  He knew that he and Blair had a reputation for drawing the most violent cases, the psychos and the cases that no one wanted, making it very hard for their commander to assign them to 'normal' cases.  The truth was, they were a good team.  There was an unwritten rule in the Central Precinct:  You have a puzzling crime?  Give it to Ellison and Sandburg in Major Crimes and they'll solve it inside of a week.

"Any word back on that information I requested, Simon?"  Jim asked.

"Not yet.  But I've not heard back from Interpol yet, either."

Blair looked over at his roommate, wondering what he could've been looking into before they had left on their camping trip.  "Jim?  What information?"

Jim felt like a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar.  He knew that his partner had been spending a little time with their new neighbor, getting to know her and that little monster she called a cat.  "Just a simple background check, Blair.  Nothing major."

"Any one I know?"

Simon rose to his feet, not wanting to be caught in the possible upcoming battle between the sentinel and the shaman.  "Well, I'd better collect my fish and head on back to the house.  Daryl's supposed to be coming in for the week."

Thankful to Simon for giving him an 'out', Jim rose to his feet and walked in to the kitchen, where he pulled out the fish he'd set aside for his friend and wrapped it in several sheets of newspaper.  "How did his first year of college go?"

Simon followed Jim out to the kitchen, draining his beer as he did so, "Fine. He was a little overwhelmed at first, being so far from home, but he seems to have settled in and made a few friends."

Seeing that the other two were intent on talking about Simon's son and ignoring his question, Blair slipped into his room, grabbed up a fresh set of clothing and headed into the bathroom.

Hearing the bathroom door click shut, Simon turned to Jim. "You haven't told him, have you?"
"No.  Not yet."

"You contacted me the first day you were at your campsite, and you managed to avoid Sandburg when you called?  How did you manage that little trick?" Simon handed over a roll of tape for Jim to secure the newspaper around his salmon with.

"Thanks."  Jim put the finishing touches to the wrap and leaned on the counter. "I went for a hike.  Told him if I wasn't back in an hour, to come looking for me along the only marked trail up where we set up at."

"And your little revelation?  You are going to tell him, aren't you?"  Simon reached out a hand and rested it on his detective's shoulder.

"I'll have to."

Blair had come out of the bathroom only to find that Simon had already left and Jim was standing out on the balcony, something the sentinel only did when something was bothering him.  Reading the body language of his friend, Blair decided to leave him alone for a while.  Going out to the kitchen, he started to wrap up a couple of the smaller fish in freezer paper that he'd stashed above the refrigerator.  Finishing the chore, he walked over to balcony doors.

"Jim?"

The older man turned and looked at his partner, "Yeah, Chief?"

"I'm going to take a couple of the fish we caught down to Alicia, if she doesn't want them for herself, maybe Saint Gee would like them."

Jim turned his attention back to the city below. "That sounds like a neighborly thing to do, Chief."  Without really thinking about it, he stretched out his hearing and was rewarded with the sounds of classical music. "I think she's home."

Blair smiled. "You sure?"

"Well, either she's home or she left the radio on for the cat."  Jim turned back to his friend. "Get back in time and I'll pop for dinner tonight."

"Okay, I won't stay long."  Turning back into the loft, he hurried over to the kitchen, picked up the wrapped fish and headed out.

Knocking on the door to Alicia's apartment, he heard the loud greeting from Saint Gee.

Alicia opened the door and her cat stepped out into the hallway, to do his 'bump and rub' routine on Blair's legs.  "Oh.  Hi, Blair.  Thought it might have been you when Gee streaked past me to get to the door.  Come on in."

Stepping into the apartment, he couldn't help but notice that the woman's jeans covered legs were soaked.  "Get your car washed up?"

"Yeah.  Never thought I'd get all that mud off."  She closed the door, noticing that Saint Gee was following her guest around like a lost puppy. "So, what brings you down here?"  She walked over to her stereo and turned the volume down, the station was starting to broadcast the news.

Holding out the two packages, he smiled.  "Just a little 'welcome to the neighborhood' gift or two.  You like fish?"

Walking over to inspect the packages, she said, "Depends.  What kind?"

He handed the two packages to her, identifying each wrapped item as he did so.  "A ten pound King Salmon and a nice six pound rainbow trout.  Jim and I had a lot of luck on our fishing trip and not enough room in the freezer for all that we caught."

Alicia smiled as he gave her the fish.  "Salmon?  I haven't had salmon in a long time.  And I know just how I want to prepare it."  She walked into the kitchen and placed the trout in the freezer, but placed the other fish in the 'fridge.

"Oh?  How do you like to fix it?  I'm always on the look out for a new recipe or two."  Blair made to follow her into the small kitchen, but nearly tripped on Saint Gee who hadn't followed the fish like most cats would've done. Bending over, he picked up the black kitten and continued to walk into the kitchen while giving the little cat what he called 'belly scratches.'

Seeing that Saint Gee was enjoying the attention, Alicia answered, "I've got a nice smoker out on the balcony.  All I need to do is find some good hickory wood, a nice white wine and some fresh herbs.  Tell you what, I'll invite you and Jim down for dinner when it's done."

"You don't have to do that, Alicia."

"I insist.  I still haven't really apologized to Jim for putting him on the ground that time."   She was referring to the night that she'd been awakened by her car alarm going off, only to find a man, Jim, standing next to her car holding a gun.

Blair chuckled over the memory.  "He's forgiven you for that.  But if you're going to feed us, I'll have to bring another salmon or two down.  How large is your smoker?"

Beckoning to him she walked past him. "Come on, I'll show you."  She led the way to her balcony doors, very similar to the ones in the loft, and out onto the deck.  She pointed to the large smoker standing in the corner.  "See? It's large enough to smoke a twenty-five pound turkey."

Blair felt Saint Gee squirm and let the cat jump down from his arms.  "That's a nice one.  Okay, I'll bring the rest of the fish down on our way out."

"You and Jim going out somewhere?"  She led the way back into the apartment, closing the doors after realizing that Saint Gee wanted to stay out and soak up the late afternoon sunshine.

Smiling, he quipped, "Yeah, I think he's tired of fish, but I have no idea where we'll end up."  Glancing around the apartment he couldn't refrain from commenting, "Wow!  You got everything moved in, looks like."

Letting out a small laugh, Alicia let an impish grin cross her face.  "Yeah, finally.  Didn't have a cranky upstairs neighbor telling me my radio was too loud and was able to work on it all week."

Wandering over to a well-stocked bookshelf, Blair found himself practically drooling over the many book titles he saw there.  The collection was eclectic: everything from a history of crime and punishment in America to accounts on pre-civilized Europe and ancient Gaels. Without thinking, he reached up to one, touching the spine. "Oh, wow!  That's one I haven't read."

Glancing over his shoulder to see what book he was talking about, she said, "Hmm, Burton's First Footsteps in Africa?  You want to borrow it?"  She reached past him to pull the book off the shelf, holding it out to him.

"Can I?  I promise, I'll be real careful with it."

Placing the book in his hands, she said, "Go ahead.  I trust you."  She looked into his eyes, noting the dancing sparkle within their blue depths.

Carefully cradling the book to his chest, Blair smiled at her.  "Thanks. Thank you.  A lot, Alicia."

"You're welcome.  Man, I haven't seen anyone so excited over a book since I found that one myself.  Made a real fool of myself in the book market at Salzburg."  She smiled at the memory; she'd almost gave the book dealer a heart attack when she came running up to the register to purchase the book she'd been looking for.

"Salzburg?  Austria?"

"Is there another?"

Blair stopped to think about that. "No, I don't think so.  When where you there?"

"I just moved back to the States from Austria.  I lived in Vienna for just under two years."  She walked over towards the door. "I hate to give you the bum's rush, but I'm expecting a call and I can't afford to be distracted. Besides, you said you and Jim were getting ready to head out to dinner?" She opened the door.

Getting her point, Blair walked over to the door with her.  "Yeah, you're right.  Thanks for the loan of the book."  Impulsively, he placed a fast kiss on her cheek and headed out the door.

Closing the door slowly, her hand resting on her cheek, Alicia was still in a bit of a confused stupor when her phone rang.  It took three rings before she realized what the noise was.  Running for the phone, she answered on the fourth ring.  "Hello?"  She sat down on a barstool in her kitchen as the voice came over the line.

"Alicia, was ist dieses ich zu hören? Sie haben eine Anweisung abgelehnt?" The male voice wasn't very happy, but not completely pissed off either.

"Hiram. So nett, von Ihnen zu hören."  Actually, she'd been expecting his call and it wasn't nice to hear from him.  Switching over to English she continued, "Yes, I refused the assignment, so if that's what you heard, you heard correctly."

"Why?  It was a simple assignment, well within your skill level."

Sighing, Alicia tried to get her point across to the man on the phone. "Look, Hiram, I'm trying to get past that part of my life.  I do not want to go back there.  For any reason!  Can't you just find someone else to go? Wilhelm could do the job just as well as I."

"You are that uncomfortable with the idea of returning there?"

"Yes."

"Okay.  Wilhelm will get the assignment.  I'm looking forward to seeing you in a week.  You will be there for the grand opening, will you not?"

"I'll be there.  If only to make sure the job is handled properly."

"You will do a fine job, you have a knack for it.  Will you need a stipend to get an appropriate dress for the occasion?"

"No.  I'll make do with what I have."

"Do as you will, Alicia, you always do anyway.  Good bye."

She hung up the phone, wondering aloud to herself, "Why would we need to go there anyway?  Our involvement at that site was to have been minimal." Sighing, thankful that she had gotten out of a personally distasteful assignment, she went about trying to fix something for dinner.