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Summary:
Blair gets an unexpected visitor. Tummy Rub by Kathy P. With a loud beep, the microwave went off in an apartment on the third floor of 852 Prospect Place. Blair Sandburg opened the microwave door, inhaling with pleasure the smell of freshly popped popcorn. Pulling the hot bag out of the microwave, he juggled it from hand to hand as he opened the bag, dumping the contents into a bowl. Grabbing a glass of ice tea, he headed into the living room. Placing the bowl and glass on the end table next to the couch, the young man sat down, settling in for a night of TV viewing. With a flip of the remote, he turned on the television. Surfing through the channels, he lingered for a while on a documentary about twins before turning the channel to check out what else was one. Chuckling, Blair put the remote down beside him when he recognized the show that a friend had gone on and on about. With a rising sense of amusement, he watched as a group of individuals, stranded on a deserted island, fought with each other and the island itself to be the last survivor and win one million dollars. Placing the bowl of popcorn on his lap, he munched away as he watched how the two different tribes interacted amongst themselves. The Anthropological part of his mind was fascinated by the interaction of the group. The rest of him was appallingly fascinated by the machinations that went on between certain ‘castaways'. A soft rumbling slowly invaded his consciousness. Setting the bowl down, he cocked his head in an unconscious imitation of Jim when he was using his sense of hearing to track down a particular noise. Concentrating for a moment, Blair decided that the increasing rumble was coming from behind him. Turing his head around, he immediately saw the source of the sound. Jim's spirit animal, a large black jaguar, was sitting half way up the stairs to Jim's room. The cat was looking intently at Blair, his eyes slitted. As the two looked at each other, the cat suddenly vanished from the stairs. With a blink of astonishment, Blair continued to look at the now empty stairs. "Ok," the surprised man said out loud as he pushed back an errant curl from his face. "Did I just see Jim's spirit animal?" The Anthropologist's quick mind raced as he thought of the many implications of this vision. Could Jim be in trouble? Blair quickly dismissed the idea. The large cat had seemed too content, too happy for his human to be in any danger. The loud purr interrupted his musings again. Now it seemed to be coming from right behind him. Turning around for confirmation, Blair froze when he saw the black cat sitting right in front of him. The spirit animal seemed all together too pleased with itself. Two sets of eyes looked at each other. One gaze questioning, the other playful. Before Blair could react any further, the large cat stretched out his front legs, arching his back, then flopped down on the floor at Blair's feet. Rolling onto it's back, the cat exposed his stomach to the surprised man. The cat's loud purr seemed to increase as the yellow eyes started to close as it stared hopefully at Blair. Still stunned, Blair automatically reached forward to pet the jaguar's stomach. With a tentative touch, he placed his hand on the soft fur. The golden eyes closed even more at Blair's touch. Encouraged, Blair started to stroke the spirit animal's fur. He chuckled at the look of total trust and happiness that shone through the golden eyes. He watched as the big cat started too knead the air with his two big front paws. Blair reached out with his free hand and took one of the paws in his hand. He marveled at the control strength in the cat's paw. "Hey, look who likes getting their tummy rubbed," Blair cooed in the sing song voice that always seemed to be evoked by small children and animals. "Who likes getting their tummy rubbed, Sandburg?" With a squeak of surprise, Blair looked up at the loft's door. Standing there, a confused look on his face was his roommate, Jim Ellison, his hand still resting on the open door. Clutching his chest, the younger man glared at the Sentinel. "Give a body a warning next time." The older man ignored the rebuke as he stared at the sight before him. Tilting his head to one side, Blair watched as Jim grew pale. "You ok, Jim?" Stabbing his finger at the spirit animal that still lay at Blair's feet, Jim ground out, "What the hell is he doing here?" Blair looked from Jim to the large cat. "I don't know, Jim. He just showed up a few minutes ago." The younger man leaned forward to continue petting the cat. "Yes you did, didn't you? You just wanted to get your tummy rubbed didn't you?" the younger man said in the sing song voice. Jim pulled his gaze away from the lounging cat to stare at his partner. "Don't you remember what he did? He ate your plant! You yelled at me for that, remember." Blair grinned up at his friend. "I would never yell at you, Jim. Besides, why would he eat my plant? You were probably delusional when you were sick and attacked the plant thinking it was a threat to your territory." "Very funny, Sandburg. You're such a wit," Jim complained as he continued to glare at the cat. "You know Jim, I'm not sure of the energy you're creating here. This mistrust of your spirit animal is quite concerning," the younger man teased. "Well, you wouldn't trust him either if you saw him try to eat your rug," the Sentinel muttered as he turned around to push to door open again. "This seems to be the day for collecting things." "Collecting things?" Blair echoed with confusion, watching as the older man stuck his head out the door and whistled. "Just wait and see, Chief," Jim said, his back to the other man. The large cat at Blair's feet twisted gracefully as it rolled over and stood up. With a shake, the spirit animal paced forward to stand by the television. Blair's eyes widened in astonishment for the second time that night as Jim held the door open for his surprise. A large gray wolf, tail whipping back and forth, trotted into the room. The canine's pink tongue hung from his mouth as the large wolf's jaw stretch in what could only be described as a grin. "Whoa, man! Where did you find him?" Blair exclaimed. With a sigh, the older man closed the door to the loft. "Would you believe that he followed me home?" The smaller man doubled over with laughter at the Sentinel's resigned tone. Gasping, he fought to bring his mirth under control. "Are you serious?" "Unfortunately yes," Jim said as he threw a disgusted look at the two happy spirit animals that now sat side by side. Edging warily into the living room, past the gleeful animals, the Sentinel sat down on the loveseat, as far away from the spirit animals as he could get. The two men watched as the gray wolf started to groom the jaguar, the wolf's pink tongue raising the cat's black fur into wet spikes. Growing impatient with the the harsh grooming, the large cat growled a warning at the wolf, which was totally ignored by the lupine. Tired of getting wolf slobber in his carefully groomed fur, the large cat pounced on the wolf, pinning the canine to the floor. "What are we going to do with them?" Jim asked hopelessly as he watched the two animals wrestle. Blair shrugged philosophically, "I dunno. Maybe we should buy a house with a big yard for them?" A large pillow sailed through the air to landed in the younger man's face. Laughing, Blair launched himself at the bigger man. The two men tussled on the loveseat, unaware that the spirit animals had stopped fighting and were now watching them. The jaguar swung his head around to look at the panting wolf. /What are we going to do with them?/ With a canine equivalent of a shrug, the gray wolf replied, /I don't know, but we're going to have to housebreak them eventually./ The End |