Fifth story!
Title: A Step In the Right Direction
Author: Debbie
Email: debbie020556@yahoo.com
Category: Slash
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Blair is determined to help Jim with a problem, but Jim is stalling
Warnings/Spoilers: Small spoiler for The Rig, some not so nice words
Prompt by: Bluewolf
Prompt: Why is Jim afraid of deep water?
It had been a real bear of a case and Blair asked Simon for time off. Without hesitation, Simon approved a week’s vacation for his best team. When Blair told Jim about the vacation, Jim’s face lit up.
“It’s going to be my choice of place, Jim. It’s my turn. You got to choose the last time.”
“Sounds good, Chief.” Jim leaned in close. “Maybe we can find some place romantic.” The last line was whispered into Blair’s ear, making him blush slightly.
“I’ll work on that, Jim. Finish typing up the case notes and reports and I’ll book our vacation.”
*~*~*~*~*~*
Blair wouldn’t tell Jim exactly where they were going. Just that it was an out of the way place and they would have privacy.
Jim was packing when Blair came upstairs to their bedroom. He noticed that Jim was packing mostly his things.
“What about my clothes?”
“What clothes would that be, Blair? I was thinking having you naked and at my beckon call the entire time.”
“What if I want you naked and at my beckon call?”
“Hey, I’m the senior partner in this relationship. My needs come first.”
“I would think the staff at the resort would frown on me being naked the entire time.”
“Ah, so it’s a resort we’re going to?”
Blair shook his head. “Oh, no you don’t, Jim Ellison! I’m not telling until we get there.”
Jim grabbed Blair’s arm, pulling him into a tight embrace. “I have ways to make you talk!” He kissed Blair on the mouth, trailing down to his neck.
“You know, your methods are very persuasive. I may have to resign myself to allowing you to find out my secrets.”
“I already know your secrets.” Jim resumed his kissing.
“I suppose I should tell you that we’re going to have to go over an expanse of water. The resort is located on an island by itself. That will ensure we have privacy.”
“How do we get to the resort?”
“Small airplane. We’ll be together, so it should be okay. I can distract you on the ride there.” Blair returned Jim’s kisses. “You know how distracting I can be.”
“I may not need your distracting ways. You taught me how to conquer the open water before. I can just focus my sight on the island and everything will be fine.”
Blair pulled out of Jim’s arms and walked a few steps away. “We could also try to pin down the reason for this and try to solve it from that way.”
“I told you, I don’t remember it clearly.”
“Well, I can help you clear it up some. We’ve done this before.”
“Look, Blair, I just want to go on our vacation, relax, and have a great time. Now, why don’t you help me finish packing?”
*~*~*~*~*~*
They boarded the small plane, Blair sitting behind the pilot, Jim sitting beside Blair.
Blair leaned over towards Jim. “You okay, Jim?”
“Yeah, I’m fine.” It was a little white lie. Jim had not been able to focus on their destination. He couldn’t spot the island because there was cloud cover in the area. He wondered if it would be too much just to hang onto Blair as his anchor. He decided he would take the risk.
Jim reached out and took Blair’s hand in his and tried to avoid looking out the windows. But it was hard not to look at all of that water. Jim could feel himself getting lost in the water and becoming anxious.
Blair tried to free his hand from Jim’s. All of a sudden, Jim’s grip on Blair’s hand had become like a vise. Blair wasn’t successful in freeing his hand.
“Um… Jim, you want to let go of my hand? I’d prefer not to suffer an injury on our vacation. I’d never live it down.”
All of a sudden, Jim loosened his grip, but didn’t completely release Blair’s hand. “I’m sorry, Blair. I didn’t mean to grip that hard.” He kept hold of Blair’s hand, bringing it up and raining kisses on the bruises he could see there. “There’s some bruising. I’m really sorry, Blair.”
“Why were you holding my hand in a death grip, Jim?” Blair looked over at Jim, who concentrated even more on Blair’s hand, avoiding Blair’s look.
“Jim? What is going on here?” Blair turned his glance towards the window of the plane. He saw the cloud cover and immediately knew why Jim was gripping his hand.
“It’s okay, Jim. But know that we are going to talk about this when we get to our room. I really want to help you with this. Don’t think that we are going to avoid this.”
Blair laughed just a bit at Jim’s low moan of defeat.
*~*~*~*~*~
Jim insisted on carrying Blair’s backpack because of what happened on the plane. Blair wasn’t one to pass on the offer. He knew Jim was feeling guilt.
On the elevator ride to their room, Blair wondered why Jim was afraid of the deep water. It had originally come up when they went out on the oil rig to investigate a murder. Blair tried to get Jim to open up about it once they were back on land, but Jim clammed up and deflected the conversation to Blair following the rules of the loft. It had been monumental for Jim to even admit the fear of deep water on the rig. Blair came up with a solution, which worked to perfection and Jim thought all was right with the world.
However, Blair knew there was a reason behind the fear. He had been in therapy long enough and took enough psychology classes to know there was a story behind it. But it was like pulling teeth to get Jim to open up about his past. All Blair was able to get was the minimum. Blair had his suspicions, but without concrete facts from Jim, there was no way for Blair to help with Jim’s phobia.
They reached their room and Blair gave the bell man a tip. “Thank you.”
“Enjoy your stay, gentlemen.”
Blair shut the door as soon as the man left. “Okay, Jim. Let’s talk about this.”
“Look, I’m tired and we are here for vacation. We can talk about that when we get home.”
“Oh, no you don’t, Jim. You just put me off and put me off and I’ll never get an answer from you. Why don’t you want to talk about it? Getting it out in the open will help, believe me. This is a real issue with you and I can help you.”
“I said not now, Blair. I’m going down to the bar. You can come along with me if you want, or stay here. But I’m not going to talk about this now.”
“Go, then. Maybe we need some time apart after what happened on the plane. I should get an ice pack and make sure my hand doesn’t swell too much.”
“Call for that ice pack. It will help.” Jim left the room.
“Damn stubborn man! It’s a wonder I love him at all, the way he is!” Blair knew that Jim could hear him and kept going. “I hope you know that I’m really pissed off at you, Jim. I just want to help you, that’s all I want. But no! You have to act all macho and Neanderthal. Yeah, that’s right, Jim. Neanderthal. When you come to your senses…” Blair paused and laughed. “Oh, man. I can’t believe I just said that. When you have sulked enough, come on back and you know that I’ll forgive you. I do love you, Jim. Faults and all.”
*~*~*~*~*~*
Jim heard Blair’s speech as he left the room. He knew he should let Blair help him, but he really didn’t remember specifically why he was afraid of deep water. He knew that it went back to his childhood, but didn’t remember any of the details about it. He knew Blair wouldn’t let him be hurt by the memories, no matter how bad they were. Blair was the one person who loved him, flaws and all. Blair didn’t dwell on Jim’s shortcomings and had always helped him in the past, with his senses, with his life, and when he fell in love with Blair. It was a gradual thing, but Jim suspected he always had the feelings deep inside from the beginning, from when he met Blair.
Jim reached the bar and ordered a beer. If he really concentrated, he could hear Blair up in their room. It sounded like he was unpacking their suitcases. Jim smiled to himself. He really didn’t deserve Blair. Blair deserved someone much better than Jim. Jim knew he better not screw this up or Blair might just leave him. He didn’t really think it would happen, but if Blair was pushed enough, it might.
*~*~*~*~*~*
Jim walked back into the room, his arms raised in surrender. Blair looked at him and laughed.
“I surrender to your superior intellect.”
“Come over here, you big lug!”
Jim walked over to Blair, putting his arms around Blair’s midsection and pulling him up off the bed.
“Are we going to talk about this like intelligent men?”
“Yes.”
“Good. I think if we go out on the beach, it will give us the perfect spot to do this.”
They walked hand in hand from their room, into the elevator and outside. Blair led the way. He knew just where to go. They reached the beach and Blair sat Jim down on a bench that was there.
“Close your eyes and breathe deeply. Relax and concentrate on the circumstances of your phobia. Do you remember how old you were?”
“About five or six. Steven would have been three or four. My dad had a small boat that we used when we went to a cabin up in the Cascades. We loved going to that cabin because my dad would become a real dad during those times and not the hard ass he usually seemed to be to us kids. We’d go out on the lake in the boat and fish for hours on end.”
“Did something happen on the boat?”
“Yeah, Steven was never the most patient kid. He’d jump up and down and rock the boat.” Jim paused and there was a pained look on his face.
Blair noticed the expression. “It’s okay, Jim. Remembering won’t hurt you. Can you tell me what happened?” Blair’s voice was barely above a whisper.
“I tried to help him. I couldn’t find him! I can’t find him!”
Blair sat down beside Jim and touched his arm. “Steven is fine, Jim. You found him. He’s safe and sound.”
“He almost tipped over the boat. Dad and I tried to stop it before it happened, but Steven fell over the edge of the boat into the water. He wasn’t a good swimmer. I told my dad I’d get him. I dived in, but couldn’t spot him under the water. It was dark and murky. I flailed around for a while, but I couldn’t find him. He finally grabbed onto the boat. I must have swum a distance from the boat. When I came to the surface, I didn’t spot the boat right away and I couldn’t see the land. I panicked and almost drowned until my dad was able to move the boat over towards me and grab the back of my shirt. I was scared half to death. I told him I didn’t want to go out on the boat again.”
Jim opened his eyes, looking straight at Blair.
“You’ve identified the source of your phobia. That’s a big step in the right direction.”
“I can’t believe I repressed that.”
“It’s what the mind does with unpleasant memories. We’ve both dealt with that before. Now, we can work on a cure. It will take time and probably have a lot of false starts, but we can conquer this together.”
“So, now that we have that out in the open, can we start to enjoy our vacation?”
“Definitely, Jim. Let’s take a walk along the beach before dinner, and then we can go from there.”
“At times, you plan too much, Chief. Why don’t we just play it by ear?”
They hugged and kissed and sat on the bench, looking out at the water, now not such a demon.
Don't forget to give feedback to the author!
Author: Debbie
Email: debbie020556@yahoo.com
Category: Slash
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Blair is determined to help Jim with a problem, but Jim is stalling
Warnings/Spoilers: Small spoiler for The Rig, some not so nice words
Prompt by: Bluewolf
Prompt: Why is Jim afraid of deep water?
It had been a real bear of a case and Blair asked Simon for time off. Without hesitation, Simon approved a week’s vacation for his best team. When Blair told Jim about the vacation, Jim’s face lit up.
“It’s going to be my choice of place, Jim. It’s my turn. You got to choose the last time.”
“Sounds good, Chief.” Jim leaned in close. “Maybe we can find some place romantic.” The last line was whispered into Blair’s ear, making him blush slightly.
“I’ll work on that, Jim. Finish typing up the case notes and reports and I’ll book our vacation.”
*~*~*~*~*~*
Blair wouldn’t tell Jim exactly where they were going. Just that it was an out of the way place and they would have privacy.
Jim was packing when Blair came upstairs to their bedroom. He noticed that Jim was packing mostly his things.
“What about my clothes?”
“What clothes would that be, Blair? I was thinking having you naked and at my beckon call the entire time.”
“What if I want you naked and at my beckon call?”
“Hey, I’m the senior partner in this relationship. My needs come first.”
“I would think the staff at the resort would frown on me being naked the entire time.”
“Ah, so it’s a resort we’re going to?”
Blair shook his head. “Oh, no you don’t, Jim Ellison! I’m not telling until we get there.”
Jim grabbed Blair’s arm, pulling him into a tight embrace. “I have ways to make you talk!” He kissed Blair on the mouth, trailing down to his neck.
“You know, your methods are very persuasive. I may have to resign myself to allowing you to find out my secrets.”
“I already know your secrets.” Jim resumed his kissing.
“I suppose I should tell you that we’re going to have to go over an expanse of water. The resort is located on an island by itself. That will ensure we have privacy.”
“How do we get to the resort?”
“Small airplane. We’ll be together, so it should be okay. I can distract you on the ride there.” Blair returned Jim’s kisses. “You know how distracting I can be.”
“I may not need your distracting ways. You taught me how to conquer the open water before. I can just focus my sight on the island and everything will be fine.”
Blair pulled out of Jim’s arms and walked a few steps away. “We could also try to pin down the reason for this and try to solve it from that way.”
“I told you, I don’t remember it clearly.”
“Well, I can help you clear it up some. We’ve done this before.”
“Look, Blair, I just want to go on our vacation, relax, and have a great time. Now, why don’t you help me finish packing?”
*~*~*~*~*~*
They boarded the small plane, Blair sitting behind the pilot, Jim sitting beside Blair.
Blair leaned over towards Jim. “You okay, Jim?”
“Yeah, I’m fine.” It was a little white lie. Jim had not been able to focus on their destination. He couldn’t spot the island because there was cloud cover in the area. He wondered if it would be too much just to hang onto Blair as his anchor. He decided he would take the risk.
Jim reached out and took Blair’s hand in his and tried to avoid looking out the windows. But it was hard not to look at all of that water. Jim could feel himself getting lost in the water and becoming anxious.
Blair tried to free his hand from Jim’s. All of a sudden, Jim’s grip on Blair’s hand had become like a vise. Blair wasn’t successful in freeing his hand.
“Um… Jim, you want to let go of my hand? I’d prefer not to suffer an injury on our vacation. I’d never live it down.”
All of a sudden, Jim loosened his grip, but didn’t completely release Blair’s hand. “I’m sorry, Blair. I didn’t mean to grip that hard.” He kept hold of Blair’s hand, bringing it up and raining kisses on the bruises he could see there. “There’s some bruising. I’m really sorry, Blair.”
“Why were you holding my hand in a death grip, Jim?” Blair looked over at Jim, who concentrated even more on Blair’s hand, avoiding Blair’s look.
“Jim? What is going on here?” Blair turned his glance towards the window of the plane. He saw the cloud cover and immediately knew why Jim was gripping his hand.
“It’s okay, Jim. But know that we are going to talk about this when we get to our room. I really want to help you with this. Don’t think that we are going to avoid this.”
Blair laughed just a bit at Jim’s low moan of defeat.
*~*~*~*~*~
Jim insisted on carrying Blair’s backpack because of what happened on the plane. Blair wasn’t one to pass on the offer. He knew Jim was feeling guilt.
On the elevator ride to their room, Blair wondered why Jim was afraid of the deep water. It had originally come up when they went out on the oil rig to investigate a murder. Blair tried to get Jim to open up about it once they were back on land, but Jim clammed up and deflected the conversation to Blair following the rules of the loft. It had been monumental for Jim to even admit the fear of deep water on the rig. Blair came up with a solution, which worked to perfection and Jim thought all was right with the world.
However, Blair knew there was a reason behind the fear. He had been in therapy long enough and took enough psychology classes to know there was a story behind it. But it was like pulling teeth to get Jim to open up about his past. All Blair was able to get was the minimum. Blair had his suspicions, but without concrete facts from Jim, there was no way for Blair to help with Jim’s phobia.
They reached their room and Blair gave the bell man a tip. “Thank you.”
“Enjoy your stay, gentlemen.”
Blair shut the door as soon as the man left. “Okay, Jim. Let’s talk about this.”
“Look, I’m tired and we are here for vacation. We can talk about that when we get home.”
“Oh, no you don’t, Jim. You just put me off and put me off and I’ll never get an answer from you. Why don’t you want to talk about it? Getting it out in the open will help, believe me. This is a real issue with you and I can help you.”
“I said not now, Blair. I’m going down to the bar. You can come along with me if you want, or stay here. But I’m not going to talk about this now.”
“Go, then. Maybe we need some time apart after what happened on the plane. I should get an ice pack and make sure my hand doesn’t swell too much.”
“Call for that ice pack. It will help.” Jim left the room.
“Damn stubborn man! It’s a wonder I love him at all, the way he is!” Blair knew that Jim could hear him and kept going. “I hope you know that I’m really pissed off at you, Jim. I just want to help you, that’s all I want. But no! You have to act all macho and Neanderthal. Yeah, that’s right, Jim. Neanderthal. When you come to your senses…” Blair paused and laughed. “Oh, man. I can’t believe I just said that. When you have sulked enough, come on back and you know that I’ll forgive you. I do love you, Jim. Faults and all.”
*~*~*~*~*~*
Jim heard Blair’s speech as he left the room. He knew he should let Blair help him, but he really didn’t remember specifically why he was afraid of deep water. He knew that it went back to his childhood, but didn’t remember any of the details about it. He knew Blair wouldn’t let him be hurt by the memories, no matter how bad they were. Blair was the one person who loved him, flaws and all. Blair didn’t dwell on Jim’s shortcomings and had always helped him in the past, with his senses, with his life, and when he fell in love with Blair. It was a gradual thing, but Jim suspected he always had the feelings deep inside from the beginning, from when he met Blair.
Jim reached the bar and ordered a beer. If he really concentrated, he could hear Blair up in their room. It sounded like he was unpacking their suitcases. Jim smiled to himself. He really didn’t deserve Blair. Blair deserved someone much better than Jim. Jim knew he better not screw this up or Blair might just leave him. He didn’t really think it would happen, but if Blair was pushed enough, it might.
*~*~*~*~*~*
Jim walked back into the room, his arms raised in surrender. Blair looked at him and laughed.
“I surrender to your superior intellect.”
“Come over here, you big lug!”
Jim walked over to Blair, putting his arms around Blair’s midsection and pulling him up off the bed.
“Are we going to talk about this like intelligent men?”
“Yes.”
“Good. I think if we go out on the beach, it will give us the perfect spot to do this.”
They walked hand in hand from their room, into the elevator and outside. Blair led the way. He knew just where to go. They reached the beach and Blair sat Jim down on a bench that was there.
“Close your eyes and breathe deeply. Relax and concentrate on the circumstances of your phobia. Do you remember how old you were?”
“About five or six. Steven would have been three or four. My dad had a small boat that we used when we went to a cabin up in the Cascades. We loved going to that cabin because my dad would become a real dad during those times and not the hard ass he usually seemed to be to us kids. We’d go out on the lake in the boat and fish for hours on end.”
“Did something happen on the boat?”
“Yeah, Steven was never the most patient kid. He’d jump up and down and rock the boat.” Jim paused and there was a pained look on his face.
Blair noticed the expression. “It’s okay, Jim. Remembering won’t hurt you. Can you tell me what happened?” Blair’s voice was barely above a whisper.
“I tried to help him. I couldn’t find him! I can’t find him!”
Blair sat down beside Jim and touched his arm. “Steven is fine, Jim. You found him. He’s safe and sound.”
“He almost tipped over the boat. Dad and I tried to stop it before it happened, but Steven fell over the edge of the boat into the water. He wasn’t a good swimmer. I told my dad I’d get him. I dived in, but couldn’t spot him under the water. It was dark and murky. I flailed around for a while, but I couldn’t find him. He finally grabbed onto the boat. I must have swum a distance from the boat. When I came to the surface, I didn’t spot the boat right away and I couldn’t see the land. I panicked and almost drowned until my dad was able to move the boat over towards me and grab the back of my shirt. I was scared half to death. I told him I didn’t want to go out on the boat again.”
Jim opened his eyes, looking straight at Blair.
“You’ve identified the source of your phobia. That’s a big step in the right direction.”
“I can’t believe I repressed that.”
“It’s what the mind does with unpleasant memories. We’ve both dealt with that before. Now, we can work on a cure. It will take time and probably have a lot of false starts, but we can conquer this together.”
“So, now that we have that out in the open, can we start to enjoy our vacation?”
“Definitely, Jim. Let’s take a walk along the beach before dinner, and then we can go from there.”
“At times, you plan too much, Chief. Why don’t we just play it by ear?”
They hugged and kissed and sat on the bench, looking out at the water, now not such a demon.
Don't forget to give feedback to the author!