Summary: A little gift-giving from a police consultant to his captain. Pre-TSbyBS.
The title of this fic belongs to this photo by Michael L. Smith (he signed my guestbook!!) that I always see in the Signals catalog. It originally appeared on the cover of a National Geographic brochure and folks started wanting to buy it. I just got the newest catalog and came across the picture again. And so I decided to write a little shorty story around it. In any case, go to this link <http://www.buythemadbluebird.com/> to see the picture.
Mad Bluebird
by Becky
August 1999
Humming under his breath, Blair exited the elevator, grinning and nodding congenially at a few other officers as he passed them on his way to the open doors of the Major Crimes bullpen. The mid-afternoon sun he'd absorbed during a walk through campus just a little bit ago had left him in a rather cheery mood. Shifting his backpack on his shoulders again, he entered the bullpen, only to stumble back as a rather loud yell echoed across the large room.
"Out! Get to work!"
Simon stood in the doorway of his office, glaring and nearly shoving Jim and Megan out the door before slamming it shut with a cacophonous bang. Jim winced, hunching his shoulders. Next to him, Megan cringed and lifted one hand to rub at her ear. Silence fell on the bullpen for a long moment as all eyes stared widely at the captain's office and then at the two detectives. But only a moment as everyone hurriedly found something to do before Simon decided to return for a second helping.
Blair hesitated in the doorway a moment, then pushed himself inward, pasting back on his smile. He headed over towards Jim's desk, meeting his partner and Megan as they slowly made their way over there. "Hey guys."
Megan returned his smile weakly. "Hi, Sandy."
Jim just grunted in acknowledgment and sat down at his desk, immediately opening a file, then turning to his computer.
Blair ignored Jim's lack of greeting, knowing he was probably upset because Simon was upset and not upset at him. He slipped the backpack from his shoulders and held it in his lap as he perched on the corner of Jim's desk. "So...I guess the case is going nowhere?"
"No. It's not." Megan slumped down at her desk just a few feet from Jim's. "The leads we had all dried up. No one's talking. Frustrating."
"Aggravating as hell, you mean," Jim muttered, eyes still on the computer screen, scanning through files, looking for Blair-knew-not-what. "Mayor called the Chief, the Chief called Simon, and Simon called us. The buck stops here."
Blair nodded sympathetically. "Right." He looked over at Simon's office, watching the captain through the slitted blinds as he bit rather savagely into a cigar, nearly snapping it in half. "Maybe...maybe it's time that I..." He shifted his backpack a little, opening it and digging inside with one hand. "Where is... Ah, here it is."
"Here's what?" Jim glanced up at him briefly, frowning as he noted the plain brown-wrapped small package in Blair's hand.
Megan leaned forward at her desk, leaning elbows on the paperwork at her desk. "What's that, Sandy?"
"This," Blair grinned, "is something I picked up for our good captain the other day."
Jim just looked at him, lips twitching at the corners. "And why, pray tell, would you do that? It's not his birthday or bosses' day or any other kind of day." He paused, frowning. "Is it?"
Blair chuckled, shaking his head. "Nah. It's just a friend gift, Jim. You know, like when I picked up that new birdbook the other day for you. Just something small." He lifted the backpack and handed it to Jim across the desk. "Here, hold on to this for me. I'll be right back."
Jim found himself holding Blair's backpack before he could protest. By time he opened his mouth, Blair was already at Simon's door and tapping on it for entrance. He heard the distinctive "What!?!" emerge from within and winced again. Blair turned briefly and met his eyes, waggling his eyebrows before he opened the door and entered the captain's office.
"Sandburg! What do you want? I'm...."
The door shut again, blocking out Simon's voice. Jim decided to leave things that way and deliberately didn't tune into the conversation inside. Instead, he set the backpack down next to his desk, exchanged a look with Megan, and then returned to his work. He ignored that little curious voice inside him. He had a feeling he was better off not knowing what his partner was up to -- and why he decided to risk the wrath of Captain Simon Banks on a bad day.
******************
Simon glared at the man in front of his desk. "Sandburg! What do you want? I'm busy here. I don't have time to listen to any of your lectures right now."
Blair bounced slightly on his feet, seemingly unfazed by the dark glare. Simon growled, wondering when he lost the ability to frighten the younger man.
"Simon...Captain...here." Blair held out a small, square package.
"What?" Simon stood and reached gingerly toward the package, frowning. "What is this?"
"Something I saw the other day and thought of you." Blair let his eyes wander around the office. "Not that it really matches anything else in here, but, still, I thought of you anyway."
Simon looked from the small package in his hands to Blair and then back again.
Blair laughed, motioning toward the package. "Go ahead. Open it. It's not gonna explode or bite or do anything malevolent."
Grunting, Simon shoved the cigar in his mouth and used both hands to peel away the tape and open the package. He set it down on his desk and unwrapped the brown paper -- to see the back of a picture frame. Pushing aside the last of the paper, he lifted the picture and prepared to turn it over.
"Now mind you, this isn't one of the expensive versions of this." Blair took a step back away from the desk, a wider grin pulling at his lips again. "More like a small poster version in a frame, but...the sentiment is still there."
Simon stared at the picture he held in one hand. A short fat bluebird, feathers fluffed outward, stared back at him. Frowning at him. Glaring at him.
Yanking the cigar from his mouth with his other hand, Simon transferred his glare to the unrepentant consultant standing in front of his desk. "Sandburg!"
"Yeah, Simon?" The answer came quickly with a smile.
A moment, then Simon shook his head, a ghost of a smile appearing on his face. He looked back at the picture again, a quiet chuckled rumbling in his chest in spite of himself. Gesturing to the posturing bird, he asked, "Are you trying to say something here?"
"Me?" Blair touched his chest, still grinning. "No, no, I wouldn't do that. No, no."
"Yeah. Right." Simon snorted. "And your partner has normal senses like everyone else, Conner doesn't still wear that pink coat of hers to bug Jim, and you are just a mild-mannered anthropologist."
"Well, you know what they say about the shoe fitting, Simon..."
******************
"Out! Get to work!"
Jim looked up at the yell, wincing again the door slammed behind Blair after Simon shoved him out. Blair glanced back at the door, muttered something about earplugs under his breath, then strode over to join Jim at his desk.
Leaning back in his chair, Jim played with a pencil and looked at his partner. "So...plan didn't work, huh?"
"Hmm?" Blair paused in the act of pulling over a chair. "Oh, no, it worked. Trust me." He picked up a file from Jim's desk and started leafing through it. "So, what are we doing here?"
The detective frowned, exchanging puzzled looks with Megan again. He looked toward Simon's office, edging up his hearing just a little. A soft chuckle emanated from inside, followed by his captain's quiet and rather amused voice.
"Mad bluebird, indeed. What will that kid think of next?"
"Jim?" Blair's voice interrupted his eavesdropping.
"Hmm? Oh, sorry, I was, uh, thinking." He caught the knowing smile on Blair's face. "All right, so I was listening. You happy?"
"I don't know. Is he?" Blair nodded toward Simon's office.
Jim smiled a little. "Sounds like it. He was laughing. He mentioned something about a...bluebird." He watched as Blair grinned wider. "Chief? Just what did you give him?"
"Well, you see, there's this bluebird..."
- The End -