by Carol Roi
Joe shot a quick glance from her to Blair. Dee nodded, then said, "He's a friend, Joe. I owed him that much."
The anthropologist spoke up then. "I would never betray Dee, just as she would never betray me." Her sapphire eyes captured his crystal blue ones then, and the warmth and affection he saw there made him blush. "You know I wouldn't, Dee," he said, wiggling uncomfortably under her gaze.
"I know you wouldn't, Lobo," she replied, leaning in close enough for him to feel her breath tickling his ear, brushing her shoulder against his.
Joe watched the interplay between the two with interest. This was a new side of Dee, warm, open, hell, she was flirting with the guy, and he seemed as astonished by it as Joe was. Quite a change from the last time he'd seen her. He'd teased her then about changing her name to MacLeod, because her demeanor so closely resembled the dour Scot's black moods. Must be the water in Cascade. With a sigh, he resigned himself to his fate. "Come on in the back, you two. I'll check my email, see if anyone new has entered the Pacific Northwest."
Blair followed Joe into the bar's office, Dee bringing up the rear. Seating himself at a computer, Joe turned it on, and waited for it to boot up, gesturing for them to pull up a couple chairs. Shedding her black duster, Dee took a seat beside him, Blair taking a position slightly behind her, after slipping on his glasses. Joe clicked on an icon, and the screen dissolved into a marble patterned background, the symbol tattooed on Joe's wrist visible in a stylized relief on the screen. Typing in a password, the words "Watcher Database" flashed briefly on the screen, then dissolved into what looked like a complicated search engine.
Blair's chin was practically resting on Dee's shoulder as he tried to get a better look. "What's a Watcher?" he asked Dee.
"Someone who watches Immortals, records their history. The Watchers have been around almost as long as I have. Most Immortals have no idea of their existence. They have rules and regulations just as complicated as the ones for playing the Game."
Joe shot her a glance over his shoulder. "If anyone knew I was helping you, I'd be in serious trouble. I've checked the database updates, and there's no other Immortal listed in Cascade, not even any that were passing through. What else can you tell me about this Immortal you've never seen?"
Dee sighed. "We may have seen him, Joe. We just don't know who he was out of all the people in the area when I felt the buzz."
"Exactly where were you anyway?"
Blair answered for her. "Standing outside the anthro/history building on Rainier's campus at lunchtime. Even during summer semester, there's at least a couple hundred people in the immediate vicinity."
"That's going to make it difficult, but give me what you got. You're sure he's male?"
Nodding, Dee closed her eyes, trying to bring back the exact flavor of the buzz. She felt Blair's hand begin to slowly rub her back, his voice low and hypnotic. "Try to filter out everything else, Dee, concentrate only on your Immortal warning system. We were coming out of the building, going down the steps. You stopped and& "
"I can feel him," she said. "He's fairly young, I'd say 200 to 300 years old. But powerful& he's taken a lot of heads. His Quickening feels like a snake, coiled and hissing and waiting to strike." She shifted uncomfortably in the chair, and Blair moved his hand higher, so he was now rubbing the back of her neck. The pleasant sensation kept her from falling into the memory of her sensory overload. "My buzz is distracting him; he's busy; he's looking for someone; he doesn't have time for me; he's gone."
Opening her eyes, she turned to look at Blair. "That was great, Lobo. You're really good at this," she said. "I couldn't have recalled that much without your help."
Grinning, Blair lowered his hand from her neck, resting it on the back of her chair. "It's my job," he replied casually, but inside he was glowing from her praise.
"If you two are done congratulating yourselves, I have some suspects for you to look at," Joe said, having entered the info Diandra had given into the search engine.
There were about fifty possibilities, and the two of them went through them carefully, but none of the photos seemed familiar. Still, Joe sent off a blanket email to their watchers, asking for their whereabouts that day. After sending the message on it's way, Joe turned back to Dee and Blair. "Sorry I can't be of much more help, but their watchers will know where they were today, and get back to me."
Dee smacked herself in the forehead with the palm of her hand. "Their watchers! How could I be so stupid! Joe, you have a watcher on me, right?" The grey-haired man nodded. "If they were watching me this afternoon, they had to have seen me react to the buzz. Maybe they got a look at this Immortal."
"It's worth a shot," Joe said. "I'll contact them and see if they saw someone reacting to you. If not, I'll ask them to go over the Immortals in the database, see if they spot someone they recognize from this afternoon."
"Thanks, Joe," Dee said, taking his hand and giving it a squeeze. "How soon do you think you'll have the info?"
"Maybe tonight, but more likely tomorrow. I'll give you a call at the loft. Or," he said, suddenly having a brainstorm, "you could hang around here tonight, have dinner, listen to the band. We've got a great piano trio here tonight& and then if it gets too late, you can head over to the loft, and I'll call you tomorrow as soon as I know anything. Dinner and drinks are on me."
Dee's eyes lit up. "That would be great, Joe. Is that okay with you, Lobo?" she asked, turning to Blair. "Joe's has the best ribs west of Chicago."
"Free food? Count me in!" he replied.
Gathering up their things, they headed back out into the bar, and took their seats in one of the booths. The waitress came to take their drink order. "Joe said to order whatever you want guys, it's on the house."
"Just another sparking mineral water with lime for me," Dee said. "Mmm, and can you make me a strawberry daiquiri without alcohol."
"Sure," she replied, then turned to Blair. When he hesitated, Dee said, "Just because I'm not drinking doesn't mean you don't have to."
Blair thought for a moment, then said, "Bring me a Sharp's." Writing the order down, the waitress went back to the bar.
"You could have had a regular beer, Lobo. I don't mind."
He shook his head. "I figured you must be expecting trouble, and I'm your backup, so& "
Dee laughed lightly. "I don't ever drink alcohol. Even one drink can cause a fatal mistake, and one never knows when the challenge will come, so I just don't indulge. But you can't interfere in my fight, Blair, so if you wanted a beer, you should have ordered a beer."
Blair was beginning to argue the difference between their concepts of backup with her when his cell phone rang. Rummaging through his backpack, he pulled it out and pressed the answer button. "Hello."
"Sandburg! Where in the hell are you? I've tried the station, the university, the loft& " Jim's voice was overlaid with static.
"Uh, I'm not in Cascade, Jim. I'm in Seacouver," Blair replied.
There was another burst of static, then a curious "What are you doing there?"
Blair obfuscated. "Research& .yeah, research. I heard about this guy who's a historian up here and& "
Jim interrupted him. "Okay, I hate to cut this short, but this connection is getting worse. I just wanted to let you know I may be home by tomorrow night. Talk to you later."
"Jim, when you get home, we need to have a talk, okay?" There was an undecipherable response from Jim, then Blair found himself listening to a dead phone. He turned it off, and put it away. "Bad connection," he said to Dee.
Dee played with the cardboard coaster the waitress had brought with their drinks while he was on the phone. "Is that little talk by any chance going to be about me?"
Still digging through his stuff, Blair looked up at her. "Um, yeah. Is that a problem?"
She shook her head. "No, no, I just wanted to make sure you were going to let him know there's another sentinel around, though I think he's had a better sense of what's been going on with me than I have."
&
nbsp; Blair pondered that for a moment. "That would explain his dislike of you, if he sensed your powers returning before you did. He has been acting kind of strange, but not nearly as bad as the last time."
"The last time? You mean there's been two sentinels in Cascade before?"
Turning to look at the bar, Blair avoided her gaze. How could he tell her he'd screwed up so badly then? That he had nearly destroyed his friendship with Jim over Alex Barnes? And what if that's what it came down to this time? What if Jim made him choose? He knew there was only one choice he could make, but that didn't mean it wouldn't hurt him, or Diandra. He turned back to find she had scooted around the curve of the booth and was now sitting right next to him, her concerned eyes peering intently into his own.
"Lobo?" she said, her voice soft, her hand covering his where it lay on the table. "I can see it hurt you very much. Tell me what happened, so we can avoid it happening again."
"I& uh& I found another sentinel, and she had no idea what was happening to her, so I was trying to help her, but I made the mistake of not telling Jim about her. Meanwhile, Jim's senses were starting to act weird on him, and he quit talking to me, eventually he packed all my stuff and just kicked me out, without telling me what was going on. Neither of us knew what was happening to him was tied to Alex's appearance. On top of that, she was a criminal& and she nearly killed me."
He felt Dee's fingers tighten around his own, and she swore softly in that language Blair didn't recognize, or at least he guessed it was swearing by the tone. "Where is this chica now?" she asked.
He told her the rest of the story, about the nerve gas and the trip to Mexico, and Jim being drawn to Alex there. "Last I heard she was still in the mental hospital, Dee, so far into a zone that no one can reach her. What I never could figure out was what was going on between the two of them. One minute they would be trying to kill each other, and the next they were a few layers of clothes away from doing the horizontal nasty. She even pointed a gun at me, and Jim made no move to stop her."
Sitting back in the booth, Dee slid her arm around Blair's shoulders, and he found himself leaning into her half embrace, needing her heat to warm the ice flowing through his veins. "What if that happens this time, Dee?" he asked finally. "I couldn't go through that again. I mean, at least Alex was a bad person, in some ways she deserved what she got, but you& .If Jim hurt you, or you hurt him, I don't know what I'd do."
"That's not going to happen, Blair," Diandra reassured him.
"How do you know it won't? It seems like it's something genetic, some instinct Jim can't control."
"But I can."
He turned his face toward her, his eyes asking a hundred questions, desperately wanting to believe her. He felt her fingers rubbing the back of his neck gently, as he had done earlier to her. She was trying to distract him from his worries, he realized, and damn, it was working. He couldn't focus enough to dream up a worst case scenario if he tried. Her confident words added to the mix.
"What happened between Jim and Alex, and is happening to a much lesser extent between him and me, is a classic battle for dominance. It happens all the time in the wild; the two strongest will battle for control of the herd or the pack. Only one can lead, you see. But I have an edge; I've been dealing with a very powerful genetic instinct for years. It's called the Game. The newest Immortals are the most affected by it. A buzz can send them into a bloodlust, causing them to hunt and kill with no regard for the consequences, or their own lives. Older immortals are stronger. Each Quickening we take, each year we age gives us the strength to separate ourselves further and further from pure instinctual action. I haven't fought in bloodlust in over 2000 years, Lobo. And believe me, the Game instinct is much stronger than the 'only one Sentinel in the village' one is. Besides, Cascade is Jim's territory, Jim's protectorate. I have no such ties there. The only thing I think comes closest to it for most Immortals is the student/teacher bond. They are the only things we really have a claim to. None of us can really stay in one place long enough to make it our territory."
Blair could see a few holes in that theory. "Then what was the purpose of defeating Jim in that little fight you had, if not to establish dominance?"
Dee grinned at him. "That was me blowing off steam. Yeah, I proved I was better than Jim, but I didn't take over what was his. I'm not out protecting the people of Cascade or anything."
"Are you sure of that?" Blair asked, his hand coming up to lightly grasp the fingers that were still doing interesting things to his neck.
"Uh& Lobo, that's not what it looks like. I'm not trying to steal you away from Jim. I couldn't do it if I wanted to. Champions and companions are bonded, are soulmates. An outside force can't come between them, not in the way you're thinking." But she removed her hand, much to Blair's disappointment.
The waitress chose that moment to come by again to take their dinner order, their new positions in the booth causing her to raise an eyebrow, but she made no comment. When she had left, Blair addressed his second question to Dee. "Okay, so you've explained away the rivalry thing. But what about the sex?"
"What about the sex? Well, two sentinels together is kind of kinky. I mean, think of all the arguments about whose turn it is to be on top. A guide/sentinel pair works out much better, if they're so inclined& " At Blair's uncomfortable look, she tried to make up for her faux paux. "Um, not that I'm implying you should be sleeping with Ellison, if that's not your thing& That's not your thing is it?" she asked, peering at him intently. Blair choked on the mouthful of beer he'd just taken, and she thumped him on the back. "Oh, you mean am *I* suddenly going to be lying in wait in the hallway for Ellison?" She snorted. "Highly unlikely. He's not my type. As far as I can tell, he's not interested in me either, and I hope it stays that way. Otherwise, I'm going to have to let him know the score& "
"And the score is?" Blair gasped, still half choking.
Diandra looked him right in the eye and winked at him. "Sandburg 1, Ellison 0." Scooting back around to her side of the booth, she got up. "I'm going to the little Immortals room. Be back in a minute."
As soon as she left the table, Blair buried his face in his hands. If he didn't know better, he'd swear she was coming on to him.
"You doing okay there, son?"
He looked up to see Joe standing next to him. "Uh, yeah, I'm just a little confused right now, that's all."
Pulling up a chair from a nearby table, Joe sat down. "Dee tends to have that effect on people," he said with a grin.
Blair groaned. "Is it that obvious?"
Chuckling, Joe said, "I think it was obvious when she sat down at the bar and introduced you. I don't know who you are, or how you met her, but thank god you did."
Now Blair was more confused. "What do you mean?"
"I mean I haven't seen Dee this happy in ages. In fact, I don't think I've ever seen her this happy. And believe me, she needs some happiness in her life."
"How long have you known her?" Blair asked.
"Personally? A little over two years. As a Watcher? Let's just say she was one of those myths; she ranked right up there with Methos. Before she came to Seacouver two years ago, everyone thought she was dead. She hadn't been seen by a Watcher in over 800 years. And when she did come out of the Outback, it was for revenge."
"Revenge?"
"Doesn't sound like her, does it? But she'd been led to believe that one of her former students had been killed in the Game, by the same Immortal that had caused her first death. In reality, it was a ruse by an evil Immortal to draw the both of them out, hoping one would kill the other, and he would take whoever was left. That would have made him perhaps the most powerful Immortal in the world."
"How?"
"Dee is one of the oldest and most powerful Immortals. The man she was looking for is even older, over 5000 years old."
Blair was beginning to get the hang of this power thing. "And if the bad guy had taken their Quickenings, he would be gaining nearly 8000 years worth of power. Wow! What happ
ened?"
"Dee and Methos joined with MacLeod to find this guy, and rescue MacLeod's kinsman, Connor. I don't know what they did, but it had enough power to blow up an entire fortress outside of Paris." Joe shook his head at the memory. "Dee was unconscious for a week after that. Whatever she did took a hell of a lot out of her."
"Joe! Are you boring Blair with old war stories?" Dee said, coming up behind him, and putting her hands on her hips in amused indignation.
"All right, all right, I'm going. I know when I'm not wanted." Joe rose to his feet, leaning on his cane. "I'll just leave you two alone," he said, giving Blair a wink as he headed back toward the bar.
Dee crawled back into the booth just as the waitress brought their rib baskets. There was silence at the table for a few minutes, as they both attacked the spicy pork. "This is incredible," Blair said, coming up for air after his third rib.