Chemistry
(PG-13)

He'd passed the gold-foil box several times before the craving got the better of him.

Blair had dropped it there the day before, saying, "Happy Valentine's Day. Touch the starfish or the scallop and you're a dead man." At Jim's surprised look he added, "Hey, man, it's practically un-American not to have chocolates around for Valentine's. I think Hallmark comes after you or something."

Jim shrugged and forgot about it until a few minutes ago, when the scent of Godiva had overwhelmed him.

Just one, he thought. A raspberry crown ... or maybe a strawberry leaf. Okay, two. He lifted the lid and moved aside the inner papers. Several empty spaces revealed that Blair had already sampled the treats. He reached for the marbled leaf and bit it in half. Strawberry filling and a mix of white and milk chocolate exploded on his tongue. He savored the flavors, lingering over the bonbon. As the taste finally faded, he picked up the dark chocolate crown.

Even without Sentinel senses, Blair could hear Jim before he opened the door. The detective was ... singing? And at the top of his lungs, apparently.

"Jim? You okay?" He entered the loft and could finally make out just what his partner was singing.

"I'm as horny as Kansas in August, I'm as randy as blueberry pie. If you'll excuse the expression I use, I'm in love, I'm in love, I'm in love, I'm in love, I'm in love with a wonderful guy!"

"Jim?"

Ellison stopped in the middle of some truly obscene gyrations, his face lighting up as he saw Blair. "Sandburg! You're here! That's good. I was looking for you but you weren't here but now you are here and that's good!"

He must be drunk! Or stoned out of his gills on something.... "Jim, did something happen? Did you take some medicine or did somebody give you a shot or a pill or something to drink?" That was the only explanation Blair could think of for seeing his partner higher than a kite and singing.

He came up to Jim and put his hand on the other man's shoulder, cocking his head up to see if Ellison's pupils were dilated.

"Nope, Chief. I'm clean as a whistle. See?" He tried to bring his lips together and whistle but couldn't get everything coordinated. "I can't whistle, Sandburg. Why can't I whistle? I used to be able to whistle." He pursed his lips and blew air through them but to no avail.

"Think, Jim. You must have done something or got into something unusual today." Amusing as it was to see his usually restrained partner drunker than a lord, Blair was more concerned with the possibility that some villain had managed to drug him without Jim noticing.

"I've been here all day, Chief, reading my files and thinking about Valentine's Day. It was so sweet of you to get me something. Sweeter than chocolate."

"Choc --?" Blair suddenly noticed the open box on the table. He hurried over and saw that it was empty save for the starfish and the scallop. "Man, you ate all of this in one sitting? Jim, that's all sugar and caffeine! How could you go through an entire box of Godiva?"

"I've got to get you something nice for Valentine's Day. Something nice and sweet like you." He suddenly swayed on his feet.

Blair quickly got a shoulder under Ellison's arm and tried to guide him to the couch. "Sit down before you fall down, Jim. You're going to crash majorly and it's not going to be a pretty sight."

Jim resisted his efforts to move him and instead leaned heavily on the shorter man. "That's my Chief, always worrying about me, looking at me with those big puppy-dog eyes. You need to relax."

"Uh, Jim --" A big hand landed on his head and began to stroke through his long curls.

"Just like a puppy-dog, all eager and wriggly and cute."

"Uh, Jim, this is Blair you're talking to here, remember. Sandburg, the annoying college guy? The operative word here is guy." 'Oh, man, I sure hope you don't remember any of this tomorrow, big guy. No way this is anything but sugar talking.'

"Yep. I know you're a guy. I had to think about it for a while. But that's okay. It's like being short and hyper. It's just you." Jim dropped his hand onto Blair's shoulder, swinging him around to face him. "There you are! I don't like it when I don't know where you are." A frown suddenly furrowed his brow. "Where did the music go? There was music before and I want to dance with you." He began swaying back and forth, humming under his breath.

"Oh, jeez, man, you're going to kill me tomorrow if you remember any of this. Come on, big guy. Let's cha-cha over to the couch." When Jim was thrown off-balance by walking backwards into the couch, Blair took the opportunity to push him down onto the cushions. However, Jim refused to let go of him and Blair wound up on his knees in front of his partner, who decided that this was a very good thing.

Blair found himself being kissed well and thoroughly. Jim's mouth covered his, his tongue stroking in and out of Blair's lips. He tried to pull away but his hair was tangled in Jim's hands, which cupped the back of his neck and held him in place.

He gasped for breath as Jim nipped his way from Blair's lower lip to under his ear and down his neck. "Jim," he began, appalled by how breathy and weak his voice sounded, "you don't want to do this! Listen to me, it's the chocolate. It's full of phenylethylamine ... uuuhmm ... a chemical thought to mimmmm ... oooh! ... mimic the effects of infatuation on the brain. The same ... oh, god ... the same neurotransmitters are activated as when you first fall in lo-OH!-ve ...." Warm, soft lips returned to silence his very rational explanation. Jim tasted of chocolate and something even darker, even sweeter. He felt himself tilt as if the world was shifting underneath him. When the earth stopped moving he discovered that Jim had stretched out fully on the couch and pulled Blair on top of him.

The feel of Ellison's hard body beneath him sent shudders through him. He tried to roll off but Jim's arms closed tight around him.

"Nope. You're not getting away this time. I'm gonna go to sleep now but I want to know you're safe and snug." Jim settled into the couch, his legs slightly apart so that Blair's lower body was draped between them. He sighed contentedly and brought one hand up to gently force Blair's head into the curve of his shoulder.

Blair tried to hold himself stiff but the effort was taxing. As Jim's breathing deepened into sleep he could feel himself relaxing onto the big body under him. This feels so good, he admitted to himself. 'But it's not fair to Jim when he's just the victim of a chemical practical joke. He gingerly began to disentangle himself from the arms that held him and managed to get off the couch without waking the other man up. He's going to feel like he was on a week-end bender when he wakes up. I wonder which god I could pray to that he has amnesia, too?

He settled into a chair by the couch, waiting for Jim to wake up and hoping his natural abilities at bullshitting would be enough to guide his Sentinel through the scene that would inevitably follow.

hr

Somebody was using a jackhammer in the loft. Damn it, if Sandburg is doing something weird I'll kill him. And it was dark. "Oh, god, I'm blind again!" The sound of his own voice seemed to blend with the jackhammer and sent waves of throbbing pain through his head.

"You're not blind, Jim. Your eyes are shut. Here, drink this."

Cracking one eye open, Jim regarded the steaming mug thrust into his hand. A light, flowery scent rose from it. "Do I want to know what this is?"

"Just drink it. You're coming down from a major sugar rush and a caffeine jag. This should help your head."

Still suspicious, he cautiously sipped the hot tea and was pleasantly surprised at its mild taste. Not like some of the stuff Blair had tried to foist on him. He pushed himself into a seated position, wondering why in the world he had been sleeping on the couch. His eyes fell on the table in front of him. A gold foil box of Godiva chocolates sat there, almost empty.

"Ah, some people react to chocolate like an intoxicant, you know. You really need to be careful." Blair stood behind the couch, chattering away nervously. "And when you factor in the sugar and caffeine, um, you've got one heck of a punch."

Jim put the mug down carefully and stood up. Blair blinked at him owlishly and took a step back as Jim came to stand right in front of him.

"Calm down, Chief. All evidence to the contrary, I'm not going to pounce." He grinned as his Guide swallowed and straightened his shoulders.

"Uh, I guess that means you remember this afternoon?" Blair waved a hand in the general direction of the candy box and the couch.

"Yes, Chief. I remember everything." He heard Sandburg's heart rate speed up as Jim moved closer and loosely gripped his biceps. "You kept telling me that whatever I was feeling wasn't really me, that I didn't want to do what I was doing."

"Certain studies seem to indicate that phenylethyl--"

It seemed the only way to shut him up was to kiss him, so Jim did.

Blair tasted even better than he remembered. He concentrated on the texture of Blair's mouth, sucking on his lower lip, gliding his tongue over Blair's. Jim tried to balance his senses, spreading his fingers wide over Blair's arms, feeling the tensing and relaxing of the muscles beneath his hands. Some portion of his brain kept track of two heart beats and two sets of gasping sighs.

Jim finally pulled his head up and looked down at dazed blue eyes. "I definitely wanted to do that." He nudged his hips into Blair's to further get his point across. The rapidly hardening erection was unmistakable.

"It's awfully sweet of you to be so concerned for my delicate psyche, Chief. But the only person I'm unsure about is you. If you don't want this, say so now."

"Oh, man...." Blair shuddered and buried his head against Jim's chest. "I've wanted this practically since I met you. Are you sure?"

"Blair, I wouldn't ask if I wasn't." Jim lifted Blair's chin and looked him straight in the eye. "This isn't a spur of the moment thing for me. Maybe I hadn't planned on bringing this up just yet but now that it's out there I'm not willing to pretend it didn't happen. We've been friends for quite a while now and somewhere along the way I realized that I ... cared ... for you as more than a friend. That I loved you."

He continued on, cutting off Blair's attempt to speak. "Yes, love. I don't have a great track record in that department and I sure didn't expect to fall for a man. But it's like you're a part of me and I can't even imagine life without you."

"That's the way it is for me, Jim. I don't know if it's something between Sentinel and Guide or if it's just us. But I know I want to be with you, no matter what." Blair slipped his arms around Jim and moved closer into the embrace.

"That's settled then." Jim smiled down at him. "The only question left now is your place or mine?"

"Yours, man. There's no way you'd fit on my bed."

Arms linked, they made their way towards Jim's room. As they passed through the doorway Jim leaned down and pressed a kiss on Blair's forehead. "Happy Valentine's Day, Chief."

"Happy Valentine's Day, Jim."

the end
14 February 1997