By Maaaaa

I didn't always have enhanced senses.

Maybe it's contagious. Yeah, yeah…maybe living with Jim all this time, working with him, breathing the same air, maybe it's catching. Maybe it's not just a genetic thing.

Whoah---gonna hafta give this some serious thought.

I see things other people don't.

I see every single laugh line crinkling Jim's eyes when he thinks I've said or done something goofy. Six long ones and three shorter ones on the right, nine long and five short on the left. And I swear I'm the only one who ever sees that snarky smirk of his that's there and gone before you know it when Simon is rolling his eyes at some perfectly logical suggestion I make.

I hear things others don't.

Jim has this really amazing chortle that starts low in his diaphragm and sorta gurgles its way up through his chest and comes out like a seventh-grader trying to stifle a laugh during Science class when his best buddy's just let one rip.

I taste things that have no substance.

Sometimes, right before a bust, as Jim goes into Sentinel-confront-defend-protect-mode, fear rolls off him in tiny ripples and I swear I can taste it and it prickles my tongue, and it's not the flavor of fear of dying doing what he knows he must do. It's a bitter tang…fear that he might fail his tribe.

I smell things I shouldn't be able to.

When we're on the couch, right before a Jags game is about to start, Jim leans into me, elbowing me in the ribs, roughhousing with me like we're kids. And I can smell his excitement. I can. Well, that and his Wonderburger breath but that's kinda hard not to notice, if you know what I mean…even if he tries to hide it by sucking on Tic Tacs all afternoon.

I feel things that are there but aren't.

I don't know if you know this, but Jim Ellison can get a little carried away with his driving when he's in pursuit of a perp. I can't tell you how many times I've felt his forearm slam into my chest as Sweetheart careens around a corner, or through a barricade, or across a median. But what I feel is not just the tiny shudders in the tense muscles as he pins me in place. What I feel is a bone deep need for him to protect me.

Enhanced senses…transmitted by one highly contagious Sentinel.

Yeah…that's gotta be it.

Fin

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