"The Captain was the head of the unit I was assigned to out of sniper school. He was the scariest guy on base."

"I wasn't that bad." Jim glared at Blair when he snickered.

Vin just raised an eyebrow, "Captain, I still remember the day Rock Scardini pissed his pants an' all ya did was glare at him an' tell'im no one messed with yer unit."

"I'm surprised you remember any of it with the knock you took to that thick-headed skull of yours. The first time I saw the runt here, he was this scrawny looking kid with a chip on his shoulder the size of Texas; and he was blinking up at me and Lieutenant Martins from the ground where Rock had just laid him out with a solid punch to the head. Martins snaps me a salute and says, 'Sir, may I present Private Tanner, our new sniper.' Vin here attempted a salute, but he must have been seeing double because he ended up smacking himself in the face. Well, knowing Rock and his tendency to pick a fight with anyone that was smaller than him, which included most of the base, I stepped up to him and asked what happened. He starts giving me this story about how Tanner had come in mouthing off, saying he was the best thing since sliced bread. The thing about Rock is he wasn't too bright. Got his nickname from the saying 'dumb as a rock'. So the more I let him ramble the worse the story gets. Finally he winds down to a stop and I say..."

"The Captain says to'im, 'You're sayin' that this little runt just walked right up to you, a complete stranger twice his size, and just started punching? For no good reason?' Rock's standin' there noddin' his head so hard I thought it were gonna fly off. So the Captain says, 'You wouldn't lie to me, would ya?' Rock's getting this scared look on his face cause the Captain's glarin' and glarin' at him. It's the same glare Chris uses when he's pissed bout something. An' Rock starts stutterin', 'No, Captain Ellison, sir. I wouldn't lie to ya, sir.' And the Captain steps up to him so they were face to face, well almost cause Rock was a little taller, an' says; 'I better not find out otherwise because we all know how well I tolerate people messing with my unit. And the private here is a member of my unit. Understand?' An' Rock's noddin' his head again goin', 'Yes, sir. Of course, sir. Wouldn't dare, sir.' An' he's standin' there with his pants wet in a puddle a piss." Vin chuckled evilly, then blushed suddenly remembering Megan was there. "Uh, sorry, ma'am. Didn't mean ta be so crude."

"No worries, Vin. I grew up with 5 brothers. I've heard far worse."

"I thought getting yelled at by Chris was bad. I sure don't ever want to get you mad at me," JD said, amazed that there could be a good guy even scarier than Chris.

"Tanner is just exaggerating. Rock didn't really wet himself," Jim said, shifting a little uncomfortably under JD's awestruck gaze. It didn't help that Blair and Simon kept snickering.

"Sure smelled like it to me. That and he'd bring it up every time he tried ta pound on me."

"Dammit. I knew he'd try something. Why didn't you ever say anything?"

"Wasn't nothing to say." Vin shrugged. "You already had me training with Sensei Malloy. Didn't see no reason to talk about it."

"You know, Runt..."

"What?" Vin grinned at him.

"You are still the scrawniest, most exasperating, pig-headed, pain-in-the-ass I have ever met. Except maybe Sandburg here."

"Hey! I'm not scrawny. I think we've just been insulted, man."

"Nah. Coming from the Captain that's a compliment."

"I'd say we have different definitions of compliment."

"As long as we all have the same definition of Royal Flush," Ezra lay down his cards, "I believe I've won this hand, gentlemen, my dear."

"Aw hell, Ezra. Why don't I just hand you my wallet? One of these days I'm gonna catch you cheating."

"He didn't cheat," Megan and Blair said at the same time as Ezra said; "I assure you, Mr. Wilmington...pardon me?"

"We probably should have warned you guys, these two," Jim indicated Megan and Blair, "might as well be professionals and we know they cheat."

"Do not. At least we don't cheat in these games."

"Only when we play each other. Makes it more interesting that way."

"That's it! I ain't playin' if any of you three are. I've already lost most of my money to Ezra here. Hey, Blair buddy, when's that chilli gonna be ready? I'm starved." Buck rose from the table and headed towards the simmering pot, Blair hot on his heels.

"Well, I've only got fifty bucks left for the rest of the trip so I'm finished. Wonder if there's anything good on TV?" JD folded his hand and wandered over to the entertainment center.

"I'm gonna go get some fresh air," Vin announced, taking Ezra's new beer with him.

"Mr. Tanner! Vin, return my beverage at once."

"Losers weepers, finders keepers," Vin's voice floated back in to them from the balcony.

"Please, Chris? Just one bullet? I swear on my sainted mother's grave I won't hit anything vital."

"No, Ez. You cannot shoot Vin for stealing your beer."

"You wouldn't say that if it was your beer."

"Yeah, but he didn't take my beer. Deal with it, Ezra." Chris grinned as the Southerner glared at him.

"He still have problems with being cooped up inside for too long?" Jim asked, catching Chris' attention.

"Vin? Yeah. Hates being in crowds or small places. I'm still amazed we managed to get through the plane ride with out incident."

"Tell that to my pair of Armani suit slacks he ruined."

"Hell, Ezra, you're lucky that's all that was ruined. The two of you were twitchier than a pair of espresso addicts." Nathan commented from the couch, shooting a stern glance at JD, he said, "Son, you change that channel one more time you're gonna lose a hand."

"You're afraid of flying?" Megan asked, shuffling the cards for another round. Josiah grinned and went to help Blair keep Buck away from the chilli.

"No, I am not afraid of flying. I simply feel that if we had been intended to fly we would have been born with the proper appendages to do so. Tell me, Miss Connors..."

"Megan."

"As you wish, Megan. Tell me how is it you came to be so well-versed in the art of poker?"

"Her dad's a bookie," Jim answered, rising to his feet and heading out to the balcony to join Vin. Chris raised an eyebrow at Megan; "Your dad is a bookie?"

"Yep. Gambling is legal back home so it's a lucrative profession. He had hoped I'd go into the family business, so he made sure I knew all the tricks of the trade."

"Uh-huh. Well, I quit. Have fun, Ezra." Chris left the table and joined Nathan on the couch. Taking the remote from JD, who was still channel surfing, he put on a sports channel and settled in to watch a baseball game.

"Team leader perk," he said when JD protested.

"And you, Mr. Sandburg? Where did you learn your card playing skills?"

"Blair or Sandburg. Only my students call me mister, and even then I try to get them to call me professor. And my name is not Sandy," he said, shooting a meaningful look at Megan.

"Of course, Sandy," She grinned at his glare.

"As for where I learned to play poker, I picked it up from some of Naomi's friends at one point or another. Then when I was first at Rainier I'd make the rounds of the different games. It helped pay my tuition and board. Where'd you learn to play, Ezra?"

"Mother. If one cannot make their fortune through marriage there is always the gaming tables."

"That seems a little mercenary. I mean, whatever happened to marrying for love?"

Ezra snorted, "You have never met my mother. I never really gave marriage much thought so it hasn't mattered. I do see the game as a chance to study the behavior of others. Something which is remarkably helpful in my line of work."

"I hear that."

"Yes, I believe you do," Ezra said quietly, a small smile on his lips. "Perhaps you'd care to join us for another game? Test our skills against each other?"

"Sounds like fun. How about it, Sandy?"

"Sure. Soon as I'm done here. Buck, you're gonna lose those fingers in a minute, man, if you don't quit it."

********

Outside, Jim leaned up against the rail next to Vin. They both stared out over the bay in silence until Jim asked, "Your friends always this lively?"

"Nah," Vin grinned. "We're pretty calm tonight. Chris is usually ready to have a coronary by this point."

Jim laughed. He could well imagine how exasperating his prank-loving friend could be. Vin's next question sobered him up.

"How long have you been back in the States?"

He turned to look at the quiet young man next to him, noticing the lines of tension in the lean body, the sadness. Jim cursed himself for being an idiot ten times over. "Eight years. I thought you'd heard. Hell, it seems like everyone knew about my rescue. There were enough reporters around."

"Didn't know. Until this morning I thought you were dead."

"God, Vin, I didn't realize...Everything was so hectic when I got back I didn't even know you hadn't re-upped until just before my own discharge. When I got out things were just so weird, but I should have..."

"It's okay, Captain. You had your own things to worry about. You didn't need ta be worryin' bout me as well."

"No, it's not okay. You're family, Vin. I should have at least tried to find you, made sure you were doing all right." Jim looked back into the loft, watching the others. JD had regained control of the remote while Chris, Nathan, and Simon sat talking. Blair and Josiah were in the kitchen getting ready to hand out the chilli. Buck had wandered back over to the table to flirt with Megan while she continued to play poker with Ezra. "You seem to have good friends though. How long have you all been working together?"

"Little over three years now. The guys are great. Ain't none of us perfect, but we stand by each other."

"Only three years? You seem like you've known each other longer. What were you doing before that?"

"There ain't much work out there for an ex-Army Ranger sniper who can barely read n' write. I was approached by a couple of merc groups and one guy was lookin' to make me an assassin. Just didn't seem right to me so I drifted for a bit, picking up odd jobs here and there. I was working at a feed store outside a Tulsa, trying to get some money to fix my jeep when this guy comes in and tries ta rob the place. I stopped him and tied him up until the local sheriff got there to arrest him. Couple of days later the sheriff shows back up and hands me a check for 10 grand. The guy had a bounty on his head and the sheriff figured I deserved it for catchin' him. Right behind the sheriff came this guy, Eli Joe. Turned out he was a professional bounty hunter who'd been tracking the guy I just got paid for. He'd done his homework and knew about my time in the Rangers and as a sniper. Talked me into partnering up with him. I figured why the hell not? Wasn't like I had any better offers. We'd been working together bout six months when we went down to Tascosa, Texas after a bounty. Eli Joe shot and killed the wrong man. Left me holding the bag, so to speak. The guy who'd been killed had been a real good citizen and folks were pissed. Took some doing but my lawyer finally managed to convince the jury it weren't me. Once I was free I lit outta there fast as I could, not that they weren't just as happy to see me go. After that I went back to Denver and Purgatorio. Kept bounty hunting, but I worked solo. Weren't gonna take the chance of something like that happening again. Then three years ago I was tracking a guy and ended up in the middle of a bust that Chris, Buck, Nathan, and Josiah were working on. When it was all over Chris asked me to join the team. Even got Judge Travis to waive the college degree requirement. Been workin' with'em ever since."

Closing his eyes, Jim wished, not for the first time, that he could go back and change yet another mistake he'd made. Because of his own self-absorption another person he'd cared for had been let down. It was nothing short of a miracle that Vin had managed to remain the honest and decent person Jim had known him to be. He hadn't realized he'd been quiet for so long until Vin spoke again.

"I'm sorry, Captain. I know I'm a disappointment to ya..."

"What?" Jim's eyes flew open as he turned to stare incredulously at the sharpshooter. Vin kept his head down, not wanting to see the disappointment, or worse disgust, in the eyes of one of the two men he looked up to most.

"It's all right. I know most people don't think too highly of bounty hunters. An' I know you always expected better from me." Vin trailed off as he felt his chin grasped in a strong hand and lifted until he made eye contact with steel blue eyes.

"Vin, runt, you are not, and have never been, a disappointment to me. You had limited options and you did the best you could. It seems to me you've grown in to a damn fine man and you found yourself good friends, a family to be proud. The only person I'm disappointed in is myself. I should have been there for you. I've hurt so many people I care about because I couldn't see past my own fears."

"I'm a big boy, Captain. I could take care of myself. Been doin' it since I was a kid."

"Yeah," Jim smiled, patting his cheek, "but sometimes you shouldn't have to."

In a rare display of affection Jim pulled him into a hug, whispering to himself, "You shouldn't have to."

Inside Blair looked up in time to see Jim draw the younger man in to a hug. Smiling, he ladled chilli into the waiting bowls. Josiah saw the smile and quirked an eyebrow in question. Blair shrugged, "Just happy that things have gone so well tonight."

"Yes, it's been a good night all around."

"Can I help?" JD asked, wandering over to the counter.

"Sure, JD. Thought you were watching TV?" Blair handed him a couple of bowls with chilli and spoons.

"Was, but Chris took the remote back. Said 400 was more than enough times to watch a movie."

"What movie?"

"Navy SEALs," JD called back as he went to deliver the bowls to those sitting on the couches.

"Actually," Josiah said quietly, a sly grin on his face, "Chris is uncomfortable watching it ever since JD commented that he looked a lot like the guy who leads the SEAL unit but Chris could kick his butt any day."

Blair tried not to laugh, but couldn't help himself, drawing, looks from the others. Josiah just smiled innocently at them while Blair brought himself back under control. "Oh man, that's too funny. It's like the time H started watching reruns of this show on USA network. He said the cop looked just like Jim, only the guy had a better attitude. For weeks after that H kept leaving bags of Twizzlers on his desk cause that's what the cop was always eating. Jim was sooo not happy about it."

Back outside Jim and Vin had returned to taking in the view, occasionally sipping from their beers. Finally Vin slanted a glance at Jim and asked, "So, what happened?"

"I assume we're talking about that mission to Peru?" At Vin's nod Jim continued. "I actually don't remember a lot of it. Basically we were given bad intel. The region we flew into was still hot. There was still a lot of guerilla activity and our chopper was shot down. I was the only one to survive more than a couple of hours after the crash, and the only reason I'm still alive now is because of the Chopec."

"The Chopec?"

"The native tribe that found me and treated my wounds. Most of my time with them is still lost in a haze. Blair figures it's because of my injuries and Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome. I do know that once I was back on my feet I carried out the mission we'd been given. I organized the tribe into a militia and we guarded that pass. No one got through it we didn't want to get through it. I was with them about 18 months before a unit showed up looking for me. I got back to the States and between debriefing and all the reporters wanting to talk to the HERO LOST IN PERU I guess I just repressed everything even more. It was to the point where my time in Peru was like it happened to someone else. Developed a real attitude problem and joined the Cascade PD. Worked Vice for a couple of years. Got married, got divorced. Then I was moved to Major Crimes where Simon partnered me with this guy named Jack Pendergrast. He managed to keep me from getting myself kicked off the force and taught me some of the social skills I'd apparently forgotten. After Jack died things got tough again for a while. Then this curly-haired hippie kid showed up and things slowly started to get easy again. Hasn't always stayed that way but we've worked through our problems."

"When I got back from that solo mission and heard about y'all being MIA I knew Oliver had to be behind it. Bastard was so smug. Hell, the only thing that kept me from killing the arrogant sonuvabitch was Sensei Malloy. Practically sat on me for a week, talking some sense into me. Though I did get one good punch in. Made sitting in the brig for a month worth it. I was transferred to another base after that and a few months later I got my discharge papers. I wish I coulda proved somehow he was behind it."

"Don't worry about it, Vin. He's already been taken care of." Jim shrugged at Vin's questioning glance. "He showed up here in Cascade a couple of years ago. Tried pulling some shit, even kidnapped me and tried to kill Blair trying to cover his tracks. We nailed him good."

"Good. That bastard needed to be taken down." They shared a feral grin at knowing their friends had been avenged. Vin held up his beer; "To friends we've lost and friends we've found."

"I'll drink to that." Jim clinked his beer against Vin's. Silence surrounded them again, Jim thinking about the past and Vin trying to figure out how to ask his next question.

"Is what he wrote in that paper true?"

Jim glanced sharply at Vin, not sure how he wanted to take that. "What do you know about Blair's thesis?"

"Me an' Ez skipped one of our seminars this afternoon so he could go digging on JD's laptop computer. He found a copy of the thesis and the transcript for the press conference. From what he was able to tell me a Sentinel is a person with enhanced senses. You can smell, taste, and feel things other people can't, see things really far away, same with hearing. It also said Sentinels were the protectors of their tribe and would go to great lengths to protect them. It said you needed a Guide to keep from getting lost in your senses, to watch your back." Vin watched Jim carefully, noting the tension in his jaw and the way his hands tightly gripped the rail. "I've been thinking back to our Rangers days and watching you tonight. Seems to me he's right. You always did have an uncanny ability to know when people were coming or something just wasn't right. And tonight there's been a couple of times when you've reacted to something but none of us even noticed it. Seems to me that if he was a liar and fraud like he told all those reporters he was then I doubt you'd have let him stick around. From what I can figure he did what a Guide is supposed to do, he protected his Sentinel. Am I right?"

Jim nodded curtly. "Have you told any of the others?"

"No. Ezra's come to his own conclusions I'm sure. He's good at reading people. It's what makes him such a good undercover guy. He's also got his own share of rumors about being on the take. Ain't true, but Ez didn't bother to fight it. Figured there wasn't anything he could do that wouldn't just make them think it even more. He don't judge people on what he hears from others. He judges'em by what he sees and hears from them. The others don't need to know about it. They seem to be giving Blair a chance; they'll make up their own minds about why he done it, whether there's any truth to it."

"Sandburg's a good kid. Reminds me a lot of you in some ways. The whole thing with that damn thesis was a mess. Things could have been handled a lot better by both of us. It was hard to get back the trust between us. Actually, it took spending close to a month with the Chopec last summer to get it back. There was so much we didn't know about the bond between Sentinel and Guide. So much we took for granted. Now I'll do whatever's necessary to protect him, and I know he'll do the same for me. It was like two pieces of a puzzle that you just knew went together, but no matter how hard you tried wouldn't fit. We fit now. Doesn't matter what happens now. He can move out, get married, have a separate life, but the bond will always be there." Jim was quiet for a moment, before turning to look him square in the eyes. "Whatever happens in your life, Vin, you have good friends in there, don't let go of them. There isn't anything that can't be worked through. Don't learn the hard way like I did."

"I understand, Captain. I don't intend to let them go without a fight."

"Good. Why don't we go and get some of Blair's chilli before the others eat it all."

"Sounds great. Hope he makes it hot. Ain't nothin' better'n hot as Hell chilli, Captain."

"It's hot all right, and you know, runt, it's just Jim now. Haven't been Captain in eight years."

"Yeah, well I ain't been called runt in nine, so we're even." Vin grinned, ducking as Jim reached out to smack the back of his head, muttering, "Runt."

Part 8