Sentinel Fic: They Have To Take You In 0/9
Fandom: The Sentinel
Title: They Have To Take You In
Author: Alex51324
Length: about 70,00 words
Rating: R for a bit of violence, one sex scene, and a whole lot'o swearing.
Series: Finding Home
Thanks to Simplystars for beta and cheerleading help! \o/
This is the Dreaded Bonding AU that I have been talking about in various places all year...or at least, part of it. I decided that it's a trilogy, so I can at least get started posting. For those who don't read WIPs, this is basically a complete story in eight chapters and a prologue, but there are some loose ends at the end that won't be resolved until the other two stories. Of the other two stories, the second one is written, and the third is half-written.
Summary: Do I really need a summary? You either like these things or you don't...in yet another universe where Sentinel and Guides are known, and Guides are oppressed, Jim and Blair find each other and forge a partnership. Slash.
A/N: Title from the Robert Frost poem, "Death of the Hired Man."
Prologue
“Ellison’s on my list for a case review next week,” Lorelei said, careful to keep her tone level. This was going to make her career, if she could pull it off.
“Ellison. Right, don’t worry about it if you can’t get him to take a Guide-none of the others have managed it, either,” Mr. Dench said dismissively. “He’s a stubborn son of a bitch.”
“Actually, Sir, I have an idea about that.”
“Do you.” He sounded more amused than curious.
“It’s a little…unorthodox.”
“Please, do tell.” He sounded bored, but Lorelei would show him.
“Sandburg,” she said, taking out the folder with the Guide’s case file in it. “They’re a perfect match on all the tests-100% compatible, straight across the board.”
“Well, that certainly is unorthodox. No, Lori, that won’t work. For one thing, Sandburg hasn’t even broken yet. And he’ll need a month of re-training after he does break, before we can even think of sending him back out with a Sentinel.”
“That’s where the unorthodox part comes in,” Lorelei explained. “Look, what we normally do with the tough ones is handle them with unrelenting severity until they break. After the renegade completely submits, the trainer can start to reward his obedience with kindness. Right?”
“I know how we train renegades, Miss Marks.”
“Of course you do, sir.” She blushed. “But the regular procedure hasn’t worked on Sandburg. He’s been broken, what, three times? And each time it takes him two months to recover enough to work, and almost as soon as he’s assigned to a Sentinel he starts acting out again, and after two or three months of work he’s back again for retraining. His longest time in the field is just under eleven weeks. He’s never even come close to Bonding.”
“I’m familiar with the case.”
“As stubborn as he is, sir, I don’t see how he’s ever going to Bond with a Sentinel that he sees as having any relationship with us, with the training we put him through here. And Ellison, on the other hand-he knows that we have to hurt the Guides sometimes, to train them, and his Blessed Protector instincts are so strong-they’re off the chart, really-that he can’t stand the thought of us. He only comes in for his case review every year because he has to to keep his job, and he’s on record as saying he’ll never Bond.”
“All the more reason to make sure they never see each other, I should think,” Mr. Dench murmured.
That was what everyone thought, and that was what made Lorelei’s plan so brilliant. “I’ve spoken to the trainer working with Sandburg, and he agrees that if we time things just right, we can get Sandburg to break on Tuesday of this coming week. Right when I’ll be meeting with Mr. Ellison. And because my office will be being fumigated, or painted-we’ll think of some excuse-I’ll have to meet with him in one of the old conference rooms on sublevel three.” The ones that they couldn’t use to meet with Sentinels, because the Sentinels couldn’t stand overhearing what went on in the training suites on the same level.
“He’ll go insane,” Mr. Dench said. “I see what you’re trying to do, and it’s clever-very clever-but Ellison could, frankly, become a serious danger to the staff.”
“He also has the strongest testable rating for control over his instincts-it’s why he’s done as well as he has without a Guide. He’ll be overcome with the need to protect the Guide, but he’ll have enough control to know that he can’t help Sandburg by going on a murderous rampage. We’ll be able to get him to agree to just about anything in exchange for letting him ‘rescue’ Sandburg from us. And Sandburg will see Ellison as his savior.”
“You may be right,” Mr. Dench agreed. “But Sandburg still won’t be trained, and Ellison will insist on taking him home, so we won’t have the opportunity to finish up with him.”
“We’d have to let Ellison take him at first,” Lorelei agreed. “We’ll make sure that Sandburg is very badly hurt-Ellison will have to take care of him for quite some time, and Sandburg will have to let him. They’ll Bond-the circumstances and their instincts will force them to. Then all we have to do is tell them they’ll be separated if Sandburg can’t function as his Guide, and they’ll have no choice but to cooperate with Sandburg’s training.”
Mr. Dench leaned back in his chair, steepling his fingers. He seemed to be looking for a flaw in Lorelei’s plan; she knew he wouldn’t find one. “What if it doesn’t work?” was all he could come up with.
“Given their respective psychological profiles, sir, I don’t see how it could fail. But if it does, we aren’t any worse off than before.”
Having said her piece, all Lorelei could do was wait, her heart in her throat, for her superior’s decision. Finally he said, “Miss Marks, if this works out, I can guarantee that you won’t be an Assistant Case Manager for long. On the other hand, if it blows up in your face…you won’t be an Assistant Case Manager for so much as another day. Are we understood?”
“Yes, sir.”
“If you’re comfortable with those terms, then do it.”
Chapter One
Title: They Have To Take You In
Author: Alex51324
Length: about 70,00 words
Rating: R for a bit of violence, one sex scene, and a whole lot'o swearing.
Series: Finding Home
Thanks to Simplystars for beta and cheerleading help! \o/
This is the Dreaded Bonding AU that I have been talking about in various places all year...or at least, part of it. I decided that it's a trilogy, so I can at least get started posting. For those who don't read WIPs, this is basically a complete story in eight chapters and a prologue, but there are some loose ends at the end that won't be resolved until the other two stories. Of the other two stories, the second one is written, and the third is half-written.
Summary: Do I really need a summary? You either like these things or you don't...in yet another universe where Sentinel and Guides are known, and Guides are oppressed, Jim and Blair find each other and forge a partnership. Slash.
A/N: Title from the Robert Frost poem, "Death of the Hired Man."
Prologue
“Ellison’s on my list for a case review next week,” Lorelei said, careful to keep her tone level. This was going to make her career, if she could pull it off.
“Ellison. Right, don’t worry about it if you can’t get him to take a Guide-none of the others have managed it, either,” Mr. Dench said dismissively. “He’s a stubborn son of a bitch.”
“Actually, Sir, I have an idea about that.”
“Do you.” He sounded more amused than curious.
“It’s a little…unorthodox.”
“Please, do tell.” He sounded bored, but Lorelei would show him.
“Sandburg,” she said, taking out the folder with the Guide’s case file in it. “They’re a perfect match on all the tests-100% compatible, straight across the board.”
“Well, that certainly is unorthodox. No, Lori, that won’t work. For one thing, Sandburg hasn’t even broken yet. And he’ll need a month of re-training after he does break, before we can even think of sending him back out with a Sentinel.”
“That’s where the unorthodox part comes in,” Lorelei explained. “Look, what we normally do with the tough ones is handle them with unrelenting severity until they break. After the renegade completely submits, the trainer can start to reward his obedience with kindness. Right?”
“I know how we train renegades, Miss Marks.”
“Of course you do, sir.” She blushed. “But the regular procedure hasn’t worked on Sandburg. He’s been broken, what, three times? And each time it takes him two months to recover enough to work, and almost as soon as he’s assigned to a Sentinel he starts acting out again, and after two or three months of work he’s back again for retraining. His longest time in the field is just under eleven weeks. He’s never even come close to Bonding.”
“I’m familiar with the case.”
“As stubborn as he is, sir, I don’t see how he’s ever going to Bond with a Sentinel that he sees as having any relationship with us, with the training we put him through here. And Ellison, on the other hand-he knows that we have to hurt the Guides sometimes, to train them, and his Blessed Protector instincts are so strong-they’re off the chart, really-that he can’t stand the thought of us. He only comes in for his case review every year because he has to to keep his job, and he’s on record as saying he’ll never Bond.”
“All the more reason to make sure they never see each other, I should think,” Mr. Dench murmured.
That was what everyone thought, and that was what made Lorelei’s plan so brilliant. “I’ve spoken to the trainer working with Sandburg, and he agrees that if we time things just right, we can get Sandburg to break on Tuesday of this coming week. Right when I’ll be meeting with Mr. Ellison. And because my office will be being fumigated, or painted-we’ll think of some excuse-I’ll have to meet with him in one of the old conference rooms on sublevel three.” The ones that they couldn’t use to meet with Sentinels, because the Sentinels couldn’t stand overhearing what went on in the training suites on the same level.
“He’ll go insane,” Mr. Dench said. “I see what you’re trying to do, and it’s clever-very clever-but Ellison could, frankly, become a serious danger to the staff.”
“He also has the strongest testable rating for control over his instincts-it’s why he’s done as well as he has without a Guide. He’ll be overcome with the need to protect the Guide, but he’ll have enough control to know that he can’t help Sandburg by going on a murderous rampage. We’ll be able to get him to agree to just about anything in exchange for letting him ‘rescue’ Sandburg from us. And Sandburg will see Ellison as his savior.”
“You may be right,” Mr. Dench agreed. “But Sandburg still won’t be trained, and Ellison will insist on taking him home, so we won’t have the opportunity to finish up with him.”
“We’d have to let Ellison take him at first,” Lorelei agreed. “We’ll make sure that Sandburg is very badly hurt-Ellison will have to take care of him for quite some time, and Sandburg will have to let him. They’ll Bond-the circumstances and their instincts will force them to. Then all we have to do is tell them they’ll be separated if Sandburg can’t function as his Guide, and they’ll have no choice but to cooperate with Sandburg’s training.”
Mr. Dench leaned back in his chair, steepling his fingers. He seemed to be looking for a flaw in Lorelei’s plan; she knew he wouldn’t find one. “What if it doesn’t work?” was all he could come up with.
“Given their respective psychological profiles, sir, I don’t see how it could fail. But if it does, we aren’t any worse off than before.”
Having said her piece, all Lorelei could do was wait, her heart in her throat, for her superior’s decision. Finally he said, “Miss Marks, if this works out, I can guarantee that you won’t be an Assistant Case Manager for long. On the other hand, if it blows up in your face…you won’t be an Assistant Case Manager for so much as another day. Are we understood?”
“Yes, sir.”
“If you’re comfortable with those terms, then do it.”
Chapter One