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Elves may link to: http://www.geocities.com/hollywood/studio/5748/sentinelweb.html
Disclaimer is on part 1
Disappearance
By Laura Thomas
Part 2
Two Months ago...
"No Blair! Absolutely not." Kate got up from the union lunchroom chair and began to pack up her things. She had an appointment at her office in fifteen minutes.
"Come on Kate, you can’t back out on me now!" Blair threw his backpack over one shoulder and grabbed the tray on the table in front of him.
"Back out on you? I never said ‘yes’ in the first place! Look Blair, it’s not gonna happen. That’s it." She said picking up her tray as well, stifling a laugh.
They walked to the conveyor belt that led to the kitchen and dumped off the dirty dishes. The two friends walked down the hallway and exited the student union, making their way to Hargrove Hall, where both had offices.
"I think you’d like him. You’d be perfect for each other." Blair stated, hoping to gain Kate’s interest. For weeks he’d been plotting this date. She had just moved back to Cascade at the beginning of the previous semester, after almost twenty years in Seattle. The two anthropologists had met at a seminar six years ago and had always kept in touch.
Kate let out a short laugh, her breath condensing in the crisp afternoon air. "How many times have I heard that one, Cupid?"
Blair rolled his eyes at the nickname. "Give him a chance Kate."
"Blair, let me explain. It’s not your friend Jim I’m worried about here. I just don’t trust your, um...shall we say ‘setting-up’ abilities," she said patting him on the shoulder.
"What’s that supposed to mean?" He stopped in the middle of the sidewalk refusing to go any further until she explained the comment.
Kate stopped and turned around to face her friend. "I’ve seen you try to play Cupid too many times to count."
"And?"
"IT’S NEVER WORKED!" She resumed walking, he hurried to catch up to her. "Remember Joseph and Carrie?"
"Yeah." Blair replied sheepishly.
"It was a disaster!" She replied somewhat dumbfounded.
"Oh come on Kate, it wasn’t THAT bad."
"Blair, she ran over his dog!" She couldn’t believe that he was denying it.
He thought about it for a moment, "Well..."
"And remember when you set up that double date for Jocelyn and Katherine?"
"I’d like to think of that as my one success story, thank you." Blair replied indignantly.
"They ditched the guys you set them up with!"
"SO? You call that a disaster!? Jocelyn and Katherine are one of the happiest couples I’ve ever seen."
"Ok, so I’ll give you that one." Kate said admitting defeat.
"Give credit where credit is due. So you see why you have to go out with Jim, right?"
"Sorry, not yet Cupid." They turned and walked up the building steps.
"Quit calling me that," he said opening the door for her.
"I could just call you the Walking Injury then," she said pointing to the small bruise on his forehead. She didn’t even want to know how he got that. It seemed that he was always coming in with a new injury. What did he do at the police station anyway? Instead of asking about it she started up the stairs to her office. Blair followed her, not quite ready to give up.
"OK FINE. I won’t make you go out with Jim," he lied.
"Good, now that that’s settled--" Kate said entering her office with Blair on her heels.
He was nearly ready to give up, when he remembered he had one last trick up his sleeve. "But you said once that you had a thing for cops."
She thought for a second trying to recall the instance she would have said such a thing. She made her way around her desk and sat down. Finally remembering a previous conversation, "No, I said I have a thing about cops giving me speeding tickets."
"Same difference," he said rolling his eyes.
"Oh yeah? How do you figure?" she asked, truly curious.
"Lemmie think for a second," knowing he had cornered himself. Blair sat in the chair across from Kate, stupefied that he couldn’t come up with a reason.
"Blair Sandburg, speechless!? Where’s my camera? Anyway Blair, isn’t Jim like thirty-five or something?"
"Ah ha! I KNOW you said age doesn’t matter!"
"But I’m four years younger than h--"
"No see, I got you there. Now you HAVE to go out with him."
"Where’s that rule written?" she said in disbelief.
"Its not, I’m just saying you have to."
"On what basis?"
"On the basis that you’re making excuses to cover your ass!" Blair said leaning across the desk pointing at her.
"I don’t believe this," she said resting her head in her hands.
He got up from the chair grabbing his backpack, "I WIN." Blair proclaimed heading towards the door.
Kate got up from her desk and walked over to him. "IF I go out with your friend, you will owe me for the Rest. Of. Your. Life. Got that?" Threatening, poking him in the chest with her index finger.
"Fine great whatever. So come over to the loft at 7:00 OK?" He leaned in giving her a peck on the cheek, then turned to go out the open door.
"Hold on there Sparky. Has Jim agreed to all this?"
Blair hesitated for a mere fraction of a second. He slowly turned around putting on his best ‘angelic’ face, "Of course he has...do you think I would set something like this up WITHOUT his knowledge?"
She rolled her eyes not buying into the line, "Uh huh, that’s what I’m afraid of."
*****
"Not only no, but Hell no." Jim replied, not even looking up from his work.
"Come on Jim, please?"
"Why should I?"
"Because she’s a really nice lady, I’ve known her forever, you’d like her. She teaches Anthropology too."
"Chief, based on that, my answer is...NO." Ever since Blair had moved in, he had learned way too much about the Anthropology "type"...not exactly his kind of woman. Definitely too book wormish for his tastes.
"She’s pretty," Blair raised his eyebrows, trying a different angle with the cop.
"Looks aren’t everything Chief," he replied still concentrating on the forms.
"No you’re right. But she’s tall, long blonde hair, green eyes..." He continued without missing a beat.
"Somehow, I feel like you’re not listening. Wonder why? Is it because, you never listen to me?" finally looking up from his paperwork.
"What?" Blair replied sarcastically, plopping down in the chair next to the detective’s desk.
"Very funny. Anyway, why are you trying so hard to fix me up? Do you go through some sort of ‘fix-up’ withdrawal every few years? Or are you just trying a different tactic this time?"
"Different tactic? I don’t follow," Blair asked, confused by his friend’s question.
"Does the name Margaret ring a bell to you? Last time, you tried reverse psychology to get us to go out."
"Yeah, that was genius," he smiled, quite proud of himself. "What happened to you two anyway? It was because you didn’t hit on her, wasn’t it?"
"Chief," Jim warned, lofting a wadded up piece of paper at his guide.
"Ok ok!" Blair put his hands up to block the projectile. "No this is not some sort of tactic Jim." He hesitated, another thought occurring to him, "She was too pushy, right?"
"Sandburg, this is your last warning," he cautioned, grabbing another piece of paper.
"Yep, I could see it coming." Blair shook his head to emphasize mock disappointment.
"Ok, so she was a little pushy...much like someone else I know." Jim glared at his guide.
"I’m not pushy Jim, I’m determined. There’s a difference."
Jim looked at his friend for a second, wondering what was going on in that weird brain of his, "Riiiight."
"No really, there is. How about this, if you agree to dinner tonight, I won’t rope you into anymore tests...for a month." He shoots...
"If I agree, will you get off my back too?"
Blair smiled devilishly, "Jim, you know I could never promise that."
"Yeah, that’s what I thought." He thought it over, dreading what he was getting himself into. "OK, I’ll do it," Jim reluctantly agreed.
...He scores! "Great! Kate is coming over at seven OK?" He got up from the chair ready to head back to the university. "Oh Jim, wear something nice...and put some dark socks on will ya?"
"Yeah...great."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Present...
That was how it began, Jim and Kate had hit it off wonderfully. Both had busy schedules so the relationship moved slowly. But they made time for each other and even went out on the weekends.
One night, Jim and Blair had been discussing the relationship. Blair confided that every time he saw Jim and Kate sneaking a kiss to one another he couldn’t help but laugh. They were like two teenagers afraid to be caught by their parents. In a way Blair felt like the parent, which scared him a little. Usually the roles were reversed. Jim just looked embarrassed and laughed at the irony.
Jim had thought about his relationship with Kate too, and how different it was compared to when he was with his ex-wife. Carolyn and Jim had always had this unspoken competition between the two of them. If Jim could do one thing, then Carolyn could do it just as well, not to mention the distance between them. He never felt safe to open up to her. Even after they were married, the walls stayed in place. Kate somehow had found a way to get around the barriers. Jim couldn’t explain it. Never had he trusted anyone until an over-active anthropologist came into his life. Blair had helped him to lower his defenses, to realize that not everyone was out to get him.
So he now had two people who ‘fit in’ so perfectly...so perfectly that the fear of losing them both nearly paralyzed him... Now that fear was a reality. In one swift move, Blair and Kate were taken from him and could already be dead. Jim sighed looking around the Major Crime bullpen, he had no motive, no suspects, no clues, no case file, nobody.
(end o’part 2)