ellisedesade's Journal

Jumping to conclusions part 1
Title: Jumping to Conclusions
Author/pseudonym: Fluffy Rabbit
Fandom: Sentinel, Jim/OMC Blair/OFC
Rating:
Status: New WIP
Archive: To WWOMB, anyone else please ask first
E-mail address for feedback: kevin.schmidt1@ntlworld.com
Series/Sequel:
Other web sites: No
Disclaimers: The Sentinel guys belong to Petfly, the rest are mine.
Warnings: Au, Jim with someone other than Blair
Notes: Unbetaed, anyone willing please let me know.
Summary:
Jumping to Conclusions
by
Fluffy Bunny
It wasn't just by chance that she was here, Ria thought, entering the Bullpen. Everything she'd done in her life had led up to this moment and she wasn't going to waste it. Smiling as she walked past the various desks in the room she made her way to the office at the end of it. Knocking on the door she waited to be told to enter.
"Come." bellowed a deep male voice.
Opening the door she entered the office, and then closed the door behind her.
************
It couldn't have been, Jim thought, looking towards Simon's office. The last time he'd heard she'd still been in school but that had been almost a decade ago. Still the eyes had been the same shade as hers. If it was her, just what the hell was he playing at letting her become a cop. They'd always agreed that she was going to be kept away from guns and violence at all costs.
Perhaps something had happened to him and that was why she'd chosen this career. Either way, she was here and he was going to have to deal with it.
"Jim." Blair said.
"What, Chief?" he replied.
"You okay?" the younger man asked.
"Just thinking," he said. "It's not that often you see violet eyes."
"No it's..." Blair began.
"No lectures." Jim said.
"Sure." he grinned.
*****************
"I understand that you've only been a detective for just over a year." Captain Simon Banks said looking at the file he was holding.
"Yes, Sir." Ria replied.
"You seem to have taken on a lot of difficult cases." he said.
"I like a challenge," she said, "and all those cases were assigned to me because they thought they'd test the rookie." And she'd passed every test they'd set her with flying colours which was why she was being given her shot at the big time. All the long hours she'd put in, tracking down leads that no one else had bothered to check up on had paid off.
"Here we all take our share of difficult cases," Simon said. "If you can't work as part of a team..."
"If other people let me I can." Ria replied. Being as young as she was and a woman were two strikes against her as far as some of her fellow officers were concerned.
"Everyone is treated the same here," he assured her. "Unfortunately, your partner is in court until this afternoon. So I'll introduce you to the rest of the department and then you can have a chance to look round. And remember that my door is always open."
"Yes, Sir." she smiled.
*************
It just wasn't like Jim to be so distracted, Blair thought, when he caught him looking towards Simon's office again. Whatever was going on in there it had certainly attracted Jim's attention. Simon wasn't bellowing so that probably meant no one was in trouble and if it was important Jim would tell him. So why did he have a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach.
**************
"If I could have some quiet," Simon ordered, coming out of his office, "This is Detective Ria O'Brien, I'm sure that you'll all do your best to help her settle in." Although it looked like one of detectives didn't seem too happy to see her, he thought, when he saw the look on Jim's face.
Whatever the problem was he would soon sort it out as soon as he found out what it was. "Your desk is the one in the corner. If you need anything don't be afraid to ask." he said heading back inside his office leaving Ria standing there.
***************
"Hi, I'm Henri and the fashion model is my partner Rafe." Detective Henri Brown said going up and introducing himself.
"It's nice to meet you." Ria smiled politely.
"So where do you come from?" Henri asked.
"Seattle PD, serial crimes squad." she replied, looking across at where she was getting some very strange looks from a man who looked very familiar to her.
"That's Hairboy and Ellison." Henri said when he saw where she was looking.
"Hairboy?" she asked.
"It's his nickname," Rafe explained smiling at her. "He's a consultant with the department."
"Well, if you gentlemen will excuse me I'll go get settled in at my desk." she said smiling at them both as she headed over to a desk in the corner of the room.
**********
It really was her, Jim thought, watching her walking over to her desk. He was going to have to talk to her because there was no way he could work in the same department as her without doing that. She might have pretended not to recognize him but he knew that she had from the way her heart rate had increased. If she wanted to play it like they were strangers then that was the way it would be. He was going to have to be careful though not to make Blair curious about what was going on. Otherwise he'd end up dragging things out of him that he didn't intend to tell anyone.
As soon as he saw her get up and head towards the break room Jim followed her as discreetly as he could. After making sure that they were alone he closed the door behind him.
"Ria..." he began.
"Uncle Jimmy," she said, "it's been a long time."
"How's your dad?" he asked.
"Fine, he wasn't for a while after... I don't suppose that's why you want to talk to me though, is it?" she asked.
"No," he replied. "How do you want to do this? Pretend we're strangers or..."
"Don't worry. I'm not going to tell anyone if that's what you're worried about," Ria said, "What's past is past, right."
"Yeah," Jim said, "So what does he think to your becoming a cop? We agreed that..."
"You left! That means you gave up all rights to me." she snapped.
"That wasn't my fault..." he began.
"You could have gotten in touch when you got back, sent a card, anything," she said. "We had to find out that you were still alive from the papers. Do you have any idea what we went through?"
"I'm sorry." he said softly.
"We waited and waited for you to come back but you didn't," she said, tears welling up in the corners of her eyes. "You certainly did a good job of wiping us out of your life, didn't you? Even went so far as to get married. I hope she's worth it."
"It didn't last," Jim replied. "I never meant to stay away for good. It was only supposed to be until I'd got myself together again." But the longer he'd stayed away the harder it had been to go back. Until, finally, he'd convinced himself that his family had moved on.
"In case you're wondering he never found anyone else. Still hasn't," Ria said pouring herself a mug of coffee, "I'd better go back to my desk."
"Maybe we could talk away from work," he suggested, "if you'd like to..."
"Sure I would." giving him a faint smile.
"How about lunch?" he asked. "Dinner?" He wasn't going to take no for an answer. Of course, he was going to have to come up with some reason why Blair couldn't come with him.
"Lunch would be fine," Ria replied. "I won't have to lie to dad about where I'm going then."
"Moppet, I'd never want you to do that." Jim said.
"You haven't called me that in a long time." she said.
"You'll always be Moppet to me..." Jim began, when the door the break room opened.
"I'll see you later." Ria said, picking up her mug as Rafe entered the break room.
"Yeah." he grinned.
**************
Later, Rafe thought as Ria exited the break room. He would never have had Ellison down as such a fast mover. Hairboy definitely. Still, it wasn't every day that they got a detective looking like her joining the department.
"You want something?" Jim growled.
"Just coffee." Rafe replied, sensing that it would be better not to upset him. At the best of times Jim could be grouchy.
*************
Her dad wasn't going to be too happy when she told him that she'd had lunch with Jimmy, Ria thought, sipping her coffee. As it was, he hadn't really wanted her to transfer to Cascade PD because he'd known that, at some point, she was likely to have run into Jimmy. What he didn't know though was that was precisely the reason why she'd transferred.
She knew that despite everything, deep down, her dad was still waiting for some sort of explanation as to why Jimmy hadn't come back after Peru and they both deserved to hear it, even if her dad was reluctant to do so in the beginning. She'd persuade him to though, and maybe once he'd heard it he'd be prepared to forgive Jimmy. It was going to have to be one hell of an explanation though.
***********
Lunch was a start, Jim thought, returning to his desk. It wasn't much of one though. Until she'd walked into the Bullpen and he'd realized that it was her he hadn't realized just how much he'd missed being called Uncle Jimmy. Ria might be prepared to listen to what he had to say but that didn't mean she was going to forgive him. The only thing he could do was hope that she would understand.
There was no possible way that he could talk to Blair about this though. It would totally shatter the image that his friend had of him. An image that he sometimes found a struggle to maintain. Maybe it was time for him to get the photos out from the safety deposit box where they'd been since Blair had moved into the loft.
****************
He'd never thought that luck would take the form of Naomi Sandburg but today it had.
"Before you ask, Chief, I'll be fine. Go pick your mom up." Jim said when Blair put the phone down.
"You're sure?" Blair asked.
"I'm sure," he grinned, "Say hi from me."
"I will." Blair replied more than a little confused by his friend's mood.
"I'll see you at the loft tonight then" Jim said. With Blair safely out of the way he and Ria could have a long talk over lunch.
"No sneaking off to Wonderburger." Blair joked picking up his backpack from the side of Jim's chair.
"I won't." he assured him. For a start, too many people who knew him went in there. If they saw him with Ria word would soon get back to Blair. Then the questions would start. And at the moment even if he wanted to tell him, he didn't have any answers to give him.
Waiting until Blair was at the other end of the office he pulled out his cell phone and dialed a number in.
****************
"Detective O'Brien's desk." Ria said, picking up the phone as soon as it rang. "Hi," She smiled when she recognized the voice at the other end, "Sure. I can meet you there. Fifteen minutes." She then put the phone down.
The park was as good as place as any for them to talk, she thought. It was unlikely that anyone from the station would see them together there and rumours were the last thing that either of them needed.
****************
He had every reason to be nervous, Jim thought, waiting in the car park of Cascade's main park. After all, she'd said that she would come but that didn't mean that she wouldn't change her mind on the way over. This could be the only chance he got to explain to her why he'd done what he had after Peru.
The last time he'd been to a park with her had been just before he'd left to go to Peru. She'd been fourteen at the time, too old to go on the swings anymore so they'd gone to the batting cages instead. Maybe they could do that again some time if she was willing to try and rebuild a relationship with him. Of course, he'd understand if she didn't want to.
****************
"Sweetie, is everything all right?" Naomi Sandburg asked when she saw the distracted look on her son's face as he picked her up from outside Cascade's airport. "Has something happened to Jim?" She might not approve of the fact that her son was both living and working with Jim but if something had happened she wanted to know if she could help.
"He's fine, at least, I think he is." Blair replied.
"Either he is or he isn't." she said.
"It's probably nothing." he said.
"If you're sure, Sweetie." Naomi said. He'd never been able to lie to her when something was bothering him.
"There's a new detective in the department," Blair said. "A woman."
"And?" she prompted.
"I think Jim knows her." he replied.
"Has he said that he has?" she asked.
"No, it's just this feeling I have." he said.
"I'm sure that if Jim wants you to know, he'll tell you." Naomi reassured him. "Why don't we drop by to see him before you take me to the loft?"
Perhaps Jim would be more willing to tell her whether he knew this woman than he would Blair.
**************
It was too late to turn back now, Ria thought, when she saw Jim waiting for her. She had to go through with this just so that she could find out why he hadn't come back to them after Peru. Even if she believed what he had to say she wasn't sure what she was going to tell her dad. He'd suffered so much when Jimmy had first been declared dead, then again when he had been found.
The final straw had been when someone had sent him a newspaper cutting about Jimmy's wedding. From that day, until the one she'd applied for her transfer to Cascade and Major Crimes, Jimmy's name had never been mention. Every time she'd tried talking to him about him he'd changed the subject or answered her questions with total silence.
******************
"I wasn't sure that you would come." Jim said as Ria got out of her car.
"How else was I going to find out why you..." she began.
"Why don't we go for a walk and I'll try to explain it to you." he suggested as she locked her car up.
"I need to know one thing first though." she said.
"Ask away." he replied.
"You and Sandburg, are you..." Ria started.
"He's strictly my roommate," Jim assured her. "Since your dad, there hasn't been anyone serious apart from my ex-wife."
"So you didn't leave us for someone else?" she asked.
"No," he replied. "Moppet, I wasn't the same person when I came back. I couldn't inflict him on you."
"We loved you. We would have helped you." she said. What he was saying was just an excuse for running away and leaving them. She should have known better than to think that he would tell her the real reason.
"At the time I didn't want help," Jim said. "I was a mess. I didn't care about anything or one."
"Well, we cared about you," Ria snapped. "Did you even think about us? How we felt being abandoned like that? There was no one we could talk to about you."
****************
"I'm so sorry about that." he said.
"Sorry doesn't even begin to make up for what we went through." she said.
Words couldn't take away the pain, nothing could.
"Moppet, what do you want me to do?" Jim asked.
"I don't know," she admitted. "Maybe dad was right. I shouldn't have gotten a transfer." Raking up the past wasn't going to do anyone any good, especially her.
Part two
After being stuck in a stuffy courtroom all morning in was good to be in the fresh air, Joel thought, waiting in line outside the Mr Tube Steak stand at the entrance to Cascade's park. When he got back to the station he was going to meet his partner. The first real partner he'd been assigned since moving to Major Crimes from the Bomb Squad.
Looking around as he waited to be served he spotted a familiar figure in the car park. There was no mistaking the taller figure as anyone other than Jim Ellison. At first, he thought that the smaller was one was his partner Blair then he realised that it couldn't possibly be. Not that it was really any of his business who Jim met during his lunch hour. Still, he couldn't help but be more than a little curious about who it was and why Jim was meeting them in a car park.
*************
"Before you head back to the station why don't I treat you to lunch?" Jim suggested. "They have a Mr Tube Steak stand." She'd always liked junk food in the past.
"With all the works?" Ria asked.
"And soda." he replied.
"I need to grab something to eat anyway, so sure, you can treat me to lunch." she said.
"I'm glad that you still like junk food," he grinned. "You know you haven't told me much about what's happened in your life."
"There's not all that much to tell," she admitted, "I came out top of my class at the Academy, walked a beat for a while then I got picked for Serial Crimes and got my gold shield."
"You must have been good to get picked for that." he said throwing an arm around her shoulders.
"I was the token woman," Ria replied. "Ended up using that to my advantage though."
"So why transfer?" Jim asked sensing that she was starting to relax. "Major Crimes had a better record," she said. "You also played a part in the decision."
"Your dad can't have been too happy about that." he said. Under the circumstances he would have thought that Robert would have wanted her to stay as far away from Cascade and him as possible.
"He wasn't," she admitted. "He still isn't too happy about it. Just like it took him a while to get used to the fact I wanted to be cop. He came around eventually though."
"You were supposed to have been a scientist." he smiled.
"Yeah, well, that didn't work out. Not after I sort of blew up the chemistry lab at school." Ria said.
"You blew it up!" he exclaimed.
"It was an accident, okay?" she said. "I make a lot better cop than I would have a scientist."
"As long as you're happy." Jim said. Not that he could claim he was that she'd become a cop.
"I am." she replied.
***************
It was just a coincidence that both Jim and Detective O'Brien were both absent, Blair thought, when he entered the Bullpen with Naomi. After all, Jim wasn't expecting him to drop by with his mom and it was lunch time.
"He went to the park for lunch." H called.
"Thanks." Blair grinned.
"So did Detective O'Brien." Rafe said.
"They went together?" he asked. Not that it meant anything it they had. Jim could justbe being friendly. Yeah, right! Since when had Jim been friendly with a total stranger.
"He left then she did," Rafe said. "I never had him down for that fast a mover."
"What do you mean?" Blair asked.
"I overheard them talking about meeting up later in the break room." Rafe said.
"Sweetie, I've had a long flight and Jim wasn't expecting us to drop by." Naomi said.
"Sure, Mom." Blair said.
"We'll tell him that you dropped by." H said.
****************
"Hey, Jim," Joel said. "No Blair?" He looked at the young woman who was with Jim.
"He's picking his mom up from the airport." he replied.
"So you thought you'd grab some junk food." Joel laughed.
"Something like that," Jim said. "Joel, this is Ria, Ria, Detective Joel Taggart."
"Detective." Ria said politely. So this was the man who was going to be her partner, she thought, he obviously had no idea who she was. That meant that he could get the wrong idea about what she was doing with Jim.
"I used to serve with Ria's dad in the military." Jim said when he saw the questioning look on Joel's face.
"Quite a coincidence that you both came here for lunch." Joel said.
"When I was a kid my dad brought me here all the time for picnics," she smiled, "I was just looking around when I bumped into Jim." Not that she really expected him to believe such a lame excuse as that.
"Well, I'd better be going." Joel said.
"See you later." Jim grinned.
*****************

Current Mood: relaxed

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