Fancake

Fandom: The Sentinel
Characters/Pairings: Blair Sandburg, Jim Ellison, Simon Banks, Henri Brown
Rating: Teen
Length: 13K
Creator Links: t_verano  & T's fic on LJ
Themes: old fandoms, hurt/comfort, cops & crime

Summary: In the episode Cypher, Blair was kidnapped and drugged by a psycho serial killer, David Lash, who drowns his victims after assuming their identities. Jim saves Blair and kills Lash. Cypher happens during the first season, when Jim and Blair's friendship and working partnership are new. "Permanent Ink" starts after the rescue but before the last scene in the episode. It's told entirely from Blair's POV.

Blair waits to be discharged from the hospital after the rescue. Physically he's recovered, but mentally he's barely hanging on. Little things he encounters set off flashbacks and panic attacks. He's guilty that he wasn't able to win the fight with Lash and about how much damage was done to the loft as a result. He's afraid that he's going to let Jim down, and thinks Jim is being kind when he says Blair "did everything right" while captured. He jokes about Jim as his "Blessed Protector", then worries he's put too much on Jim's shoulders, while secretly believing implicitly in him. All of this is done through a jittery internal monologue that echoes the slightly manic Blair we see onscreen.

Reccer's Notes: In TV Land you can be damaged in any number of ways and come back the next week perfectly fine. The beauty of fanfic is that writers take a more realistic approach and delight in filling in the interstitials. It's quite reasonable to assume that Blair would have repercussions, despite his desire to support to Jim. This is angsty and humorous at the same time, and what comes through it all is Blair and Jim's emerging friendship. Enjoy.

FYI, T kind of posts all over the place, most often for challenges like Sentinel Thursday, and she's been one of the most devoted Secret Santa contributors in the past several years. For 2015, she wrote a serialized story for every SS prompt called "December This Time Around" (slash), plus an extra. I'd highly recommend it but you'll have to click through each day to get it, since she hasn't yet had time to merge it into one fic. Here's the link to the first part. The quality of the fic still being produced in this "old fandom" shows that TS still generates a lot of devoted writers and fans. Hoorah!

Fanwork Links: Permanent Ink

Fandom: The Sentinel
Characters/Pairings: Jim Ellison, Blair Sandburg, Simon Banks, OCs
Rating: Gen
Length: 10K words
Creator Links: at AO3
Themes: cuddling, snuggling, & bed-sharing, fork in the road AU, cops and crime

Summary: The story starts shortly after Jim has become a detective and is working in Cascade's Vice Department. He's been undercover working the streets for months; doing a good job but getting a little burnt out. One evening he gets an unusual proposition: a customer who wants to buy his services; not for sex, but to simply sleep with the stranger for the night.

Reccer's Notes: It can be a little tricky having them meet in a different way without a story becoming very AUish, but Dolimir does a good job dove-tailing this into canon. Enjoy.

Fanwork Links: Sleeping

Fandom: The Sentinel
Characters/Pairings: Blair Sandburg/Jim Ellison, Simon Banks
Rating: Explicit
Length: 27K words
Creator Links: at AO3
Themes: body swap, established couple, cops & crime, hurt/comfort, soul bonding

Summary: Blair wakes up to the realization that he's in Jim's body and vice versa. The biggest problem, besides the obvious, is that neither Jim nor Blair have any idea why it happened or how to undo it. As the swap continues on for days, each has to fill in at the other's job and life, which isn't so easy. Despite having worked and lived together for years, it's definitely different wearing another man's skin.

Reccer's Notes: Originally written to raise money for the Moonridge Zoo, this is one of Jane's longer stories. It's complex, emotionally intense and satisfying. Both men try to cope, but each has his moments as hero and asshole. Enjoy.

Fanwork Links: A Mile in Your Shoes

Fandom: The Sentinel
Characters/Pairings: Blair Sandburg/Jim Ellison, Rhonda, CFC, Simon Banks, canon characters
Rating: Gen
Length: 16K words
Creator Links: at AO3
Themes: forced proximity, cops and crime, humor, minor characters, female characters

Summary: Jim, Simon and the rest of the Cascade detectives are in handcuffs in the holding cells at PD Central. The uniformed officers and other personnel are locked in other rooms. Communications in and out of the PD have been jammed. What's up? Another siege on the PD, but not by the Sunshine Patriots.

What is the same as when the Patriots raided the PD is that Blair finds himself once again hiding behind the vending machine. This time, though, he's with Rhonda and Claire, the donut lady. When they overhear the baddies talking about how they've got the entire PD locked down, they realize that no one is coming to save them--they need to become the rescuers.

Reccer's Notes:This was originally published at the 852 Prospect archive under the title "Saving the Day" under the pseud Karen. Karen was known for her humorous stories, and I was saddened when they disappeared from the archive. I'm so glad she's posted her stuff at AO3. Enjoy.

Fanwork Links: Saved by the Sidekicks

Fandom: The Sentinel
Characters/Pairings: Blair Sandburg/Jim Ellison, canon characters, original characters.
Rating: Explicit
Length: 84K words
Creator Links: at AO3
Themes: forced proximity, case fic, cops and crime, hurt/comfort, first time, fork in the road AU

Summary: This takes place sometime before Night Shift in Season 3 and diverts, never to return. Jim receives bad news from his past. A couple who helped mentor him after Bud died (in the episode Remembrance) have contacted him after a long estrangement with news that the husband is dying of cancer. He is in a hospital in Seattle and wants to tell Jim something before it's too late.

Meanwhile, Jim is assigned a bizarre case: a Rainier professor has been murdered in a most gruesome way. No one seems to know why, and his loner ways are making it hard to figure out who would want him dead.

On top of that is a disturbing development: Blair's office phone has been tapped, his mail is being opened and his files and journals at work and at home have been rifled through in a very professional way. Is it possible everything is related and, if so, what's the common denominator?

Reccer's Notes: This is a twisty, turny story that plays off a lot of the anxiety-producing themes from canon: Jim's uneven childhood that informs his present abandonment issues, Blair's insecurities over his place in Jim's life, the problematic dissertation, and how realistic Jim's fear of exposure to the outside world might be.

Additionally, it's told mostly through Blair's eyes. While not precisely an unreliable narrator, Blair's incomplete knowledge of Jim's past, his natural loyalty and admiration of Jim, and his naiveté about people in general and himself in particular, all work to blindside him. Written way back in 1998, "Those Who Can" is edgy and engrossing. Enjoy.

Fanwork Links: Those Who Can, Part One
Those Who Can, Part Two

Fandom: The Sentinel
Characters/Pairings: Blair Sandburg/Jim Ellison, Simon Banks, minor characters, original characters
Rating: Mature
Length: 20K words
Creator Links: at AO3 and Quercus/Lemon Drop's fiction

Themes: future fic, cops and crime, case fic, minor character, character of color, first time

Summary: While Jim is away at a police conference, the new captain of Homicide requests rookie Detective Sandburg for a special assignment: to clear out the desk of a Homicide detective who's had a nervous breakdown. As Simon explains the situation to Blair, it's clear that something hinky has been going on, and it probably revolves around the recently departed, but still very powerful, previous Homicide captain.

It also brings up things out of Jim's past that he'd rather have stayed hidden (no surprise there), as well as a maelstrom that affects the entire Cascade police department.

Reccer's Notes: I like Simon in this story. He's the ethical captain that we saw on the show; that's nothing new. But the way he treats Blair--as one of his men instead of merely Jim's sidekick/partner--says a lot about how Blair develops in his new career. Enjoy.

Fanwork Links: A Man of Integrity

Fandom: The Sentinel
Characters: Blair Sandburg, Jim Ellison, Simon Banks, Joel Taggert, original characters
Rating: Not rated -- I'd call it PG
Length: 28K words
Creator Links: at AO3
Themes: future fic, cops and crime, minor characters, characters of color, competence

Summary: It's a few months after Blair has graduated from the police academy and become a detective in Major Crime. Everything should be terrific, but something's wrong with Jim. He's not sleeping well, brooding and losing his temper. Simon would like to send both partners on vacation, so Blair can figure out what's wrong with Jim, but Blair is too new on the job to have any vacation accrued.

Not for nothing is Simon the boss. He thinks outside the box and sends Jim and Blair to an unusual seminar. It seems the ideal way to take the pressure off Jim and give them the off hours needed to figure things out. But it does anything but--as they face each exercise, Jim gets more and more bent out of shape.

Reccer's Notes: Jael's stories are always well thought-out and chock full of action and emotions. Her canon and original characters are well-served. But always, always the strong friendship between Jim and Blair are at the heart. Enjoy.

Fanwork Links: Think Outside the Box

Fandom: The Sentinel
Characters/Pairings: Blair Sandburg/Jim Ellison, canon characters, original characters
Rating: Gen to Explicit
Length: 92K words
Creator Links: at AO3
Themes: future fic, first time, pining, cops and crime, world-building

Summary: After Blair graduates from the academy and becomes a detective, Jim remains aloof and Simon still treats Blair like a tag-along. He decides to strike out on his own. His car breaks down in Phoenix, Arizona and, while he's waiting for the mechanic to look at it, he stops a robbery. Upon questioning him, the captain offers him a job with Phoenix PD.

He quickly becomes part of the new team, feeling more accepted than he did by many cops in Cascade. He's successful in his job, but that doesn't fill the emptiness he's felt since leaving Jim. Then, out of the blue, Jim shows up, on the trail of a serial killer from Cascade who's made his way south.

Reccer's Notes: LitGal did a great job bringing Blair's new situation to life. The original characters are interesting and believable, and you can feel the shimmering Phoenix heat she describes. She originally wrote the series for a FanFic 100 challenge, with segments of the stories written to specific prompts. Enjoy.

Fanwork Links: Recovery Epic series

Fandom: The Sentinel
Characters/Pairings: Blair Sandburg/Jim Ellison, canon characters, original characters
Rating: Explicit
Length: 11K, 13K, 18K
Creator Links: at AO3
Theme: pining, first time, mythical creatures (ghosts), super powers, crimefic, fork in the road AU

Summary: This takes place after Sen Too. Blair has not fully recovered from the drowning that left him dead for an indefinite period of time. The doctors can't find any physical reason for his complaints, and Blair's afraid they are going to tell him he's got brain damage.

Jim, meanwhile, is watching helplessly as the man he loves is fading away. He confesses to Megan that he doesn't have the right to tell Blair he loves him because of his culpability in the events that led up to Blair's drowning. Besides, he's sure that Blair is straight and he thought he was himself, so he's not ready to declare anything.

But Blair's problems go deeper than damaged lungs or panic attacks. He thinks he's having vivid nightmares, but what's really happening is that he's being pulled into the spiritual plane. And when he starts seeing ghosts who come to visit him with a warning, it's going to take every bit of  Jim's love and support to help Blair survive.

Reccer's Notes: Canon kind of dropped the ball (IMO) by not pursuing Incacha's shaman blessing to Blair. Fortunately, we have a lot of talented writers who make up for that shortcoming. Whether Blair is predisposed and Incacha recognized that in him, or whether this is an aftereffect of his NDE (a la The Dead Zone), you can decide for yourself. Audra Rose will keep you riveted with this complex tale of love. Enjoy.

Fanwork Links:
Into the Summer Sea
Sand and Water
Still The Deep

Fandom: The Sentinel, The Invisible Man (TV 2000)
Characters: Jim Ellison, Blair Sandburg, Darien Fawkes, Bobby Hobbes
Rating: Teen
Length: 12K words
Creator Links: Gil Hale's Fiction Page
Themes: crossover, cops and crime, casefic, sci-fi

Summary: Jim and Blair are requested by the Feds to investigate a strange death on an unpopulated island near Hawaii. One reason for the request is a connection to their case with the mutant spiders in the episode "Smart Alec". But the other is that Darien and Bobby know Jim and Blair from another case involving Arnaud, when the men learned each other's secrets.

But there's something disturbing about what little information is available during their briefing. It makes Blair speculate about it being a real-life Island of Doctor Moreau. Unfortunately, when they arrive, they find few clues and a lot of menace.

Reccer's Notes: I thought I'd read everything of Gil's but I missed this one until recently. It's a sequel of sorts to "Arnaud You Don't", which you can find on her page, but it's not necessary to read it first. Enjoy.

Fanwork Links: Night of the Triffids