by Cindy Combs
Scrambling through a pile of plastic snow pellets, the younger man had managed to finally find a gun and swung it towards Rodmore and another smuggler approaching him. "Freeze! Cascade PD!" he shouted.
Rodmore laughed. "You're going to shoot us with that thing?"
That's when Rafe noticed the flag hanging out the barrel of the gun with 'BANG' written across it. He threw it at the smuggler and struggled to rise to his feet in spite of the pellets.
Jim fought his way through the junk to his fellow detective. Just as the second smuggler reached Rafe, Jim tackled him out of the way. The force of hitting the ground jarred his arm, causing his gun to slide into a pile of rubbish. Jim decided to ignore it for the time being and immediately turned his attention to his perp.
Rafe grinned a moment when he recognized Ellison, but had to duck as Rodmore threw a punch at him.
Blair was finishing his own battle by connecting with the middle of one of the smugglers and swinging him into a clothes rack. Turning, his back swing clipped the head of the other man, who fell to the floor. Blair yanked out his cuffs and swiftly fastened the guy struggling through the clothes to a support beam. Noticing the second guy was dazed, Blair spared a quick glance towards the last place he had seen Rafe. He grinned when he spied Jim trading blows with one of the smugglers. Glancing around, Blair spotted a roll of duct tape and used it to secure his second smuggler.
Jim had finally knocked out his opponent. Turning, he spotted Blair duct taping his guy, Megan with her foot on the back of hers, and Henri lifting his cuffed suspect to his feet. Only Rafe was still fighting. Jim swiftly worked his way over in time to see Rodmore had landed a hard blow into the detective's middle. Rafe fell to his knees, clutching his already woozy stomach. Rodmore pulled out his own gun and aimed it at the bowed head.
Out of options, Jim grabbed the first handy item, a fire extinguisher. With a roar, he slammed the end of it into Rodmore's head. Rodmore crumpled.
However, the extra pressure on the end of the old extinguisher somehow released the canister's contents. A squeal raised Jim's head. There, with a look of shock on her face, was Amanda staring at her silk dress covered in white foam. Jim felt like he'd been the one punched in the stomach. Her eyes raised to meet his for a moment. He was unable to read them.
Then Amanda straightened up. Pulling together the shreds of her British dignity, she announced, "I believe I will find the ladies room now." She turned around and climbed back up the stairs.
Jim continued to stare until he felt a pat on the arm. "You would have impressed her more with flowers, man," Blair commented softly, hoping to make his friend laugh.
It didn't work. Jim could almost hear some of his ex-wife's more stinging remarks about his lack of feeling or finesse echoing in his ears. He mournfully shook his head. "That wonderful lady will never go out with me again." Then he knelt down to check on Rafe.
Overhearing the words, Megan handed her prisoner over to one of the newly arrived officers. Then she grabbed the black sweater she'd picked up before and raced up the stairs. She entered the first ladies room in the hallway. Leaning against the counter was Amanda, tears streaming down her face. Megan was about to offer her condolences for the silk dress when she realized the other woman wasn't crying, but laughing -- hard. Megan couldn't help but join in.
* * *
"I'm fine," Rafe insisted weakly as he sat on an old throne prop.
Jim, monitoring the feverish face, firmly ordered, "'Fine' doesn't cover five solid minutes of dry heaves, L.T. You ARE going to the hospital to get checked out."
When Rafe shook his head, Henri added his own weight. "Yes, you are, babe. God only knows what kind of crud you picked up in that sewer water this morning."
"But..." Rafe waved weakly at their suspects, heading for jail.
"I'll start the paperwork and then meet you there," Henri interrupted, squeezing his partner's shoulder. He nodded towards Serena and her team as they carefully picked up the diamonds scattered on the table. "With the evidence we've got, it oughta be a slam dunk."
"And I'll take you," Blair added. He didn't like Rafe's color, either.
Jim sighed as he fingered the tear in his suit jacket. He would like to go, too. But somewhere was a woman for whom he had single-handedly managed, through no fault of his own, to totally ruin both her evening and an expensive dress. The least he could do was make sure Amanda got back to the hotel okay, even if she wasn't speaking to him.
An elbow in the ribs from Blair made him raise his head. Amanda, now engulfed in the black sweater that reached her knees, was walking towards him with Megan. Before he could say a word, she asked, "Are you all right, Jim?"
Astonished, Jim nodded. "I'm fine." He waved his hand toward Rafe. "The only injury to our side is a case of stomach flu."
Amanda gave Rafe a commiserating smile. "Blair?"
"No, ma'am," Rafe replied politely, realizing this had to be Jim's hot date. "Detective L.T. Rafe."
"I'm his partner, Henri Brown," H. injected with a wide smile for the beautiful woman.
"And I'm Jim's partner, Blair Sandburg," Blair smoothly slipped in, offering his hand.
"Yes, I remember you from the auction now," Amanda nodded as she shook his hand. "Your eye looks much better."
Blair chuckled, remembering the shiner he had gotten from Steven's stalker. "Yep, much better."
Amanda smiled shyly, then turned back to Jim. "I hate to ask, but since I'm sure we've missed most of the play by now, could we get that ice cream?"
Jim blinked. "You're still talking to me?"
"Of course, silly. You were doing what had to be done to protect your friends."
A wide grin slowly spread across Jim's delighted face. "Then let's go get some ice cream." He offered his arm to Amanda, who happily accepted.
Watching the couple leave, Blair whispered to Megan, "How did you manage that?"
Megan chuckled. "Didn't take any managing. You should have heard her laughing in the ladies room. It seems that the way the evening has gone, it wasn't surprising her dress would get ruined. So I told her about Jim being turned down flat last month, then about how his last date was nearly two years ago with an ex-girlfriend who set him up to fall for her husband's murder."
Blair shook his head. "And with all that she STILL wants to go out with him?"
"Most definitely. She finds him fascinating, as well as strong and courageous. I just figured I'd let her discover all his annoying traits on her own."
Blair couldn't contain his snicker. "Yep, why ruin a bad evening with those?"
* * *
Next morning, Ellison's loft
Rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, Blair smelled the coffee as he wandered out of his bedroom. He was surprised to spot Jim leaning against the counter, reading the newspaper. "Jim? You make it back last night?"
Jim leveled a glare at him. "Of course I made it back, Sandburg. It was our first date."
Blair poured himself a cup of coffee. "So whatcha do?"
"Went for ice cream at Walston's," Jim replied, mentioning the best ice cream parlor in the city. "Then we talked."
"Just talked?"
Jim glared at him again. Knowing his partner's one-track mind, he decided to change the subject. "How's Rafe?"
Blair sat on one of their stools, holding his mug with both hands. "He was pretty dehydrated, so they had him on an IV for a while. Guess he'd been feeling bad all afternoon, but didn't want to stop working on the case. The doctor thinks it's just a stomach bug. But they gave him antibiotics and wrote up a list of things to watch for in case it was something else. We gave it to David when H. and I dropped L.T. off."
"I'll have to give him a call tonight when I get home," Jim noted thoughtfully.
"Get home?" Blair asked.
"Yeah." Again the soft smile appeared. "Amanda and I are going horseback riding today after we go out to breakfast."
"Breakfast? Horses?" Blair blinked at his friend. Then he pointed out, "But isn'
t Steven picking up his car this morning?"
"Should be here in a couple of minutes." Jim glanced at his watch.
"You picking her up in your 'classic'?"
"No." Jim smirked into his own cup. "Amanda loves Harleys."
"Cool," Blair laughed. At the knock on the door, he stood up and opened it. "Hi, Steven."
"Hi, Blair." Steven studied his brother a moment and smiled. "It went well?"
Jim shrugged, attempting to be nonchalant, but failing. "We had a few mishaps, but it ended well. We're meeting for breakfast, anyway."
Chuckling, Steven held out his hand, palm up. "Great. Just give back my keys, and I'll let you make your rendezvous."
Jim sighed and looked down at the counter. "First, I have to tell you something."
A worried frown immediately replaced Steven's smile. "What do you have to tell me?"
Before Jim could say anything, Blair piped up, "You lost the pool." Steven's eyes grew wide with the implications.
"Pool?" Jim repeated, staring at his roommate. "What pool?"
"What happened to my car?" Steven demanded, forcing Jim's attention back to him.
"Well..." Jim slowly drew out guiltily.
Steven turned to Blair. "Who won?"
Jim glanced between his brother and his partner. "Who won what?"
"Rhonda," Blair supplied, taking a step back from Jim.
"Rhonda?" Jim repeated bewilderedly.
"My fender?" Steven glared at his older brother.
"How did you know I dented the fender?"
"You DENTED it?"
Blair silently slipped out of range with a smirk, carrying his coffee to his bedroom. Maybe having brothers would have been more fun than he thought.
The End
* * *
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