By JudyL

July 20, 2004

Is that smarm I smell? Yep, pretty heavy dose of it coming up, or well below, I guess. Sigh

Warnings: Smarmy smarm with a side of smarm.

Disclaimers: Not mine, wish they were. I'd still share if they were, promise.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"You ready to go, Chief?" Jim asked his partner as they prepared to head out for the day.

"Ready, Jim," Sandburg replied shrugging into his jacket.

Ellison frowned and examined his roommate for a minute then patted him on the back. "What's with the padding, Sandburg?" he asked poking Blair on the back with one finger.

"Ah, come on Jim," Blair asked with barely contained exasperation. "Didn't you read the script for today? I get tossed up against a wall by one of the bad guys. Last time that happened the director had us do ten takes for the scene." Sandburg waved his hands in the air to indicate his disbelief. "Ten! Do you know how many bruises I had after that? I could hardly move the next day."

Jim grimaced. "Yeah, I remember, Chief."

Blair nodded. "Yeah, well, so I decided to be prepared this time." He grabbed Jim by the arm and dragged him to the nearest wall. "Go ahead, test it."

"What?" Ellison snapped.

"Toss me up against the wall, big guy. It's not like you haven't done it before," Blair snarked.

Ellison glared at his friend. "I'm not going to toss you against the wall."

"Fine," Blair said. "I'll do it myself." And with that he took a sort of backward jump into the wall.

Jim winced as Sandburg's head bounced off the wall and the younger man grunted in pain. Ellison caught Blair's arm and kept him from falling as his partner tried to regain his balance.

"That was smart, Chief," Jim said dryly.

Blair rubbed the back of his head and sent a quick glare up at his Sentinel. "Yeah, but my back is fine."

Jim sighed. "Why don't I just talk to the director and make sure you only have to do one take?"

Blair met Jim's concerned yet amused gaze. "Uh, I guess that would work too."

Ellison shook his head and grabbed hold of Sandburg's jacket dragging the younger man with him as he headed for the door. "Come on, Einstein. If we don't get going we'll be late."

Blair snatched up his backpack and followed Jim down the hall to the elevator. "Thanks Jim."

Jim frowned. "What for?"

Blair shrugged. "For being you. For being my friend," he replied softly, his gaze fixed firmly on the floor.

Ellison draped his arm over Sandburg's shoulders and gave a small squeeze. "Thank you, Blair."

Blair looked up, met Jim's eyes and smiled.

The end.

Okay, all together now…. Aaahhhhh… I warned you.

Feedback. Thanks, muchly appreciated. Judy

Back