The tang of a saltwater breeze off the bay tickled Jim Ellison's nose. Stirring from his drowse, he rolled lazily to the side and inhaled deeply. The sheets were cool and smelled lightly of soap and the chemicals that treated the water, overlaid by the fabric softener Blair insisted on using - at about a quarter  strength, in deference to this very sensitive nose.

Thinking of Blair drew Jim's attention from the breeze and down below, beneath the left where he slept, and in the pretty french doors that his friend slept behind. Only tonight, as Jim had realized a couple of hours ago, Blair wasn't sleeping.

This happened once in a while. Jim wasn't worried. The younger man got wound up, got involved in too many things and it seemed like his brain -one of his best features - just wouldn't shut off long enough to allow him to rest.

He listened as Blair rolled over and got up again. This was the fourth time for the night. Water, a trip to the bathroom, a short bout of channel-surfing, and now it  sounded like he was headed for the kitchen again.

The fridge door opened and Jim breifly cosidered jogging  down to defend his leftover pie, but it closed quickly and Blair sighed, heavily, then returned to his bed. It creaked loudly as he flopped on it with a grunt of discouragement.

With a quick shake of his head, Jim rolled from his bed, feet hitting the floor almost silently, and went to his desk, pulling out a drawer and taking what he would need.

Most times all Blair needed was a little help.

On his beck on his rumpled bed, Blair stretched his arms   over his head. Wearing only a pair of tatty boxers, he couldn't even blame his restlessness on the weather. The temperature was right at 72, just about perfect. There was a gentle breeze from the cracked balcony doors and his room  smelled of books and paper and Jim.

It smelled like home.

And that was cool.

But this not being able to sleep thing - defnitely uncool. With another mumble of disgruntlment he rolled to  his side, facing the wall.

Sometimes, on nights like this, Jim would come down from the loft. He would make Blair feel better and then the anthroplogist would sleep deeply.

Of course, there were no rules that said he couldn't go   up to Jim....

"Hey." The soft word made his belly quiver and Blair rolled back over slowly.

Leaning against the doorframe, arms crossed casually over his chest, Jim cocks his head and offers Blair a small,  sweet smile. "Want some company?"

On his other side now, facing his roomie, Blair smiled just as sweetly. His eyes are already darkening, the bue as depthless as deep ocean. Holding out a hand, he answered, voice steady and calm.

"Oh, yeah, man. That'd be nice." (p> Crossing the room in three steps, Jim took Blair's hand   in his and lay down beside him on the bed, facing him.

"Can't sleep?"

"I can't figure it out." Blair shrugged, the movement bringing him closer to Jim's big body, not by design but effect. "Everything is good. Not great, y'know, but good. Classes are fine, no real problem students, no huge life-threatening cases at the station, I even got a date with that new  receptionist in the U office."

"You know what I think?" One big hand came off the bed to stroke warmly over Blair's chest. The younger man sighed and leaned into the pressure. "I think you don't know what to do without a crisis. You're so good at them, when there isn't one your mind starts worrying."

"So, are you, like, gonna take my mind off things?" Blair's quick grin was naughty and his hands crept around Jim's neck with surprising strength, pulling him closer.

Thier faces came closer and closer, Jim's free hand sliding to the back of Blair's head and twining through the curly hair, tangled from tossing in bed, cupping the back of his head firmly. At the last second, just before their lips touched, he tilted his wrist and dove for the tendon that  stood out in the younger man's neck.

"Ah-ahhhhh..." Panting, Blair closed his eyes and relaxed into Jim's strong embrace as the man seduced his neck lovingly.

This was so good.

Jim suckled his neck, biting gently. He was always tender and gentle with Blair and the younger man reveled in the  feelings that engendered within him.

Cherished, safe, protected, loved...he lost his train of thought as the bigger man pulled him closer and rolled them over, covering Blair with his warmth.

"You smell good." Jim commented softly, tasting that smell where it gathered, in Blair's hair and the hollow of his collarbones.

"I'm - mm - glad yo think so." Panting, Blair wriggled his hips slightly, just enough to let Jim feel how turned on he was.

"And you taste better." the low chuckle proved that Jim was aware of the situation and intended to deal with it in his own time.

With a low moan Blair slumped further into his pillows and let Jim take over completely.

He loved this.

Oh how he loved this.

Jim spent an inordinate amount of time tasting him, scenting him, petting him. It made Blair hungry in ways he couldn't explain, even to himself. All he knew was that Jim's touch soothed as much as it  aroused, calmed as much as it excited.

The power was in that dichotomy.

It was almost too soon, when Jim turned him to his side again and spooned around behind him. They always used  this position but Blair was never in any condition to complain.

By this time words had failed him.

His previously spinning mind was slowing to a sluggish stop.   And his body had taken over.

Jim had one hand spread over his chest, right over his heart. And now the other was slipping between Blair's legs,  with a nibble to his neck as he lifted the top one and moved it forward, and then two slick cool fingers slid home.

Blair grunted and held still. He always opened to Jim quickly, accepted him without pain, but the older man still felt the need to prepare him as carefully as if he were a  virgin. As he had been the first time this happened. There had been little need then and there was none now.

But Blair loved the attention to detail, the care Jim took with him.

His mind wandered, dazed now.

With women he was the one in charge...he was agressive and made a tremendous effort to please his many bed  partners...but this was so nice.

"So nice." he breathed the words and the Sentinel behind him heard them.

And smiled.

"You're the best thing that ever happened to my ego, Sandburg." he said, moving his hand to caress a smooth round muscle as he used the other to aim and steady himself.

"God, I hope so, Jim." Exhaling a long, tight breath, Blair bit back the urge to shout with joy as Jim filled him with one smooth stroke. There was no pain or hesitation.

He had shouted once. And the sound had so startled Jim that the older man had stopped, thinking for one terrifying minute that he'd hurt his friend. So now Blair kept his noises small and soft and told Jim how sweet it was, to be so close to him.

"I never feel so safe as I do now. Never so loved, so  cherished. No one else makes me feel this way, Jim..."

"I know, babe, I know." Starting a gentle rocking motion,  Jim wrapped both arms tightly around Blair and pulled the smaller man to his chest, as close as he could get him. He buried his face in the hair that curled over Blair's shouder and breathed deeply.

The breeze off the water rose and he could smell it. The salty tang wove through the scents of Blair in his arms and the richer, heavier scents of their lovemaking. He'd never told Blair that scents had weight, that they had a density all their own....and now was definitely not the time.

Blair moaned softly and began moving with him. Small thrusts, his butt tight to Jim's pelvis, they rocked together, the movement gaining strength and speed.

"Do you want me to -?" Jim panted into Blair's ear, taking a second to tongue and pull at the silver hoops that chimed there. One hand loosened breifly from its clasp over Blair's chest but the hair around his face shivered with a headshake and he knew that was no.

"Hold me - tighter -" Blair panted heavily, his sturdy body flushed hot. "Don't let go." Grabbing onto Jim's forearm for support, he reached down and grasped his own cock, head tilting back to press into Jim's shoulder, and began to pump himself slowly.

The rythm was building. Forward and back, deeper and deeper until he was sure Jim was touching his heart inside and out.

"There ya go..." Jim murmured softly into his ear. "That's a good boy. You gonna come for me, babe? C'mon, I want to see it. I love the way you shudder and moan my name..."

"Jimmm...." Blair did moan his name, but he wasn't quite ready to come yet. "I love this." He gasped, his fist moving faster, milking himself hungrily. "I want to come..."

"I know you do." Feeling the waves of pleasure start working thier way through Blair's body, Jim slowed the thrusting and just pressed his cock deep within the younger man's trembling body, angling his cock to hit Blair's prostate and stay there.  Holding his breath, preparing to ride out the storm, he ground his hipos tighter and tightened his grip on the smaller man.

Blair moaned and his body arched graphically, shoving Jim even deeper within him.

And then he came, his fist closing tight around his cock and squeezing, shuddering violently.

Collapsing onto the bed, still held tightly in Jim's arms, he panted madly.

Jim grinned into Blair's hair and waited. After a few minutes, his own cock throbbing and aching inside the younger man, Blair finally drew in a huge breath and wooshed it out.

"Oh, man. Your turn, Jim. Come on, give it to me."

"You asked for it, Chief." With a burst of strength Jim flipped them over, so that Blair was on his stomach and Jim was on top, and pulled all the way out.

"It won't -" he grunted with effort, "- take long!"

Arms loose, bent by his sides, his hands resting half-curled at shoulder-height, Blair turned his head to the side and watching Jim with one eye, the view partially blocked by a lock of hair.

"Oh, yeah." he sighed as Jim plunged in to the hilt, deeper than he'd been earlier. Blair shivered as aftershocks, prompted by Jim's thrusts, skittered along his nerve endings. "That feels so damn good, Jim." He sighed again, the shivers becoming more pronounced and closer together as Jim  hit his rythm and began fucking him steadily. "So god awful good." Blair moaned breathlessly. He wasn't becoming aroused again, but the sensations this drew from his body were remarkable.

Nothing in his life had ever felt this good.

"You're incredible. So strong and gentle." His moans were becoming catches in breath. A glance caught Jim's face twisting into a particualrly ferocious grimace and it made  Blair shudder again. "I love it when you take me."

"Yes!" Jim's growl made Blair flush hotly. The older man fell forward, his hands landing by Blair's head, and he  thrust once more, hard and deep, and then froze. Blair groaned, hands clenching the bedclothes, turning his face into them as he writhed, rubbing his prostate against Jim's pumping cock. He moaned, almost incoherent as pleasure flooded his body, drowning in it, and finally whispered one last time.

"So good."

Jim rested his hot face aganst the cooling skin of Blair's back, just above the shoulder blades. Beneath him the smaller man stirred, murmuring as he slept. One hand crept away from his body, blindly searching the bed.

Lifting himself, Jim pulled his limp cock free, catching the base of the condom as he did, and slid to the side, catching the wandering hand in his and bringing it to his lips.

He kissed the back ot it tenderly.

Sleepy blue eyes opened and blinked at him.

"Jim?"

"Yeah, Chief. You go back to sleep, okay?"

Standing, Jim pulled the covers free and tucked them around the limp form. Blair rolled to his side and curled up with a sigh, and then looked up at him again, marginally  more aware.

"You going to bed?" Breathed words, sodden with satisfaction, on the edge of sleeping again.

"Yeah. I don't have any trouble sleeping at night." Jim teased gently, turning to gather his things. Boxers off  the floor, half-used tube of lubricant on the desk, and the open box of condoms - the same one he'd bought nearly three years ago, when this started - on the floor. That got a grimace and he stopped to peel the latex  off his shrumken cock. They always seemed to stay on him surprisingly well. He guessed that was a good thing.

"Hm." Blair made a small sound of pleasure and his eyes closed again. "G'nite, Jim."

Leaning over the bed again, Jim pressed a soft kiss to the smooth forehead, brushing a few wisps of hair off it.

"Thank you." Blair's whisper was too quiet for anyone else to hear it.

"Like I said, Chief." Jim grinned as he straightened and left the room, Blair's wandering hand making a small movement on the bed, as if it searched for him in his sleep, "You are really good for my ego."

Jim did a quick wash in the bathroom before going back upstairs. Stowing things away, he settled back into his own  bed and plumped his pillow with a smile.

It was always special, these nights when Blair needed him. Sacred, as if they were set aside on a calendar someplace, marked as important.

Tomrrow they would wake and go back to thier lives, and everything would be great. There might be a case, there might be a date for Blair, there might even be a squabble over the mess he made in the bathroom come dawn.

But in the back of their minds, just waiting for the next chance, there would be this.

It was something friends could do for each other. And Blair was right, Jim mused as he drifted to sleep. It was always so damn good...

~fini~ 

                  saraid@wf.net