A Long Time Looking

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Fanfiction
Title: A Long Time Looking
Author(s): Anna S
Date(s): 9 October 2000
Length: ~11000 words
Genre(s): slash
Fandom(s): The Sentinel
Relationship(s): Jim/Blair
External Links: A Long Time Looking at Squidge.org
A Long Time Looking at Anna's Stories
A Long Time Looking at 852 Prospect
A Long Time Looking atAO3

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A Long Time Looking is a Jim/Blair story by Anna S.

Summary:

A trip with Jim and Blair to a plotless wonderland of ice cream and sex. With yuppie trappings.

Author notes:

Recently I went begging for story ideas. Thanks to Rachael, Francesca, and Seah for responding. I ended up going with only one of the ideas, but they were all great to have. In IRC, thinking little of her inspirational mojo, Rachael gave me:
"So, they finish with a movie, they walk down the street to the car, passing this little ice cream shop. Blair nudges Jim. "Ice cream?" "sure." They go in and order. Blair takes a long time looking at the menu, and Jim thinks about it. Blair never orders the same thing twice. And Jim...there might as well not be a menu. It's always the same. chocolate with nuts."

And from that, came this. Keeping with the theme, stuff happens. This is also on my website, by the way. Any uneven italics on this version should be clean there. I bow down and offer many thanks and rose petals to Margie for her yummy beta-reading.

Reactions and Reviews

Unknown Date

[cmshaw]
Jim and Blair go to dinner, see a movie, get ice cream, and buy a couple of books. Jim orders the same kind of ice cream that he always gets in a pointed resolution of an impeding mid-life crisis. It's a lovely, slowly-building story.[1]
[Destina]
This story is pretty close to my definition of perfection in fan fiction. Subtle, elegant prose wrapped around a character's complex pattern of thought, and presented underneath the simple guise of dinner and a movie. God, this story rocks.[2]
[cimorene]
jim's pov wanders delightfully through an evening, which he eventually realises has been a date all along, with just the right tone to keep an essentially warming story from being fluffy. [3]
[wesleysgirl]
I want to describe this so that you'll want to read it, but I feel certain that there's no way a description could do this story justice. It's beautiful and real and there's a date. And ice cream. And a bookstore. And groping. How can you go wrong?[4]
[Ancasta]
Anna is one of The Sentinel's very best writers. Though I don't know that her version of the boys always fits with the version I have inside my head. Hers are very "adult," for want of a better word. They're both a little messed up in the head and Anna's stories don't always end happily. This story, however, works exceedingly well for me. Basically, Jim and Blair go on a date, as just friends at first. Then things change. Not a whole heck of a lot happens--just dinner, a movie and ice cream--but Anna beautifully captures the ebb and flow of the evening, and the way the guys interact. And I don't know that anyone writes hotter NC-17. It's wonderful stuff.[5]

2000s

[fangrrl aka. xen]
Wow, another great story from Anna S. This is the same Anna who wrote Dystocia which is the only domestic discipline story I have ever liked. There is an exception to every rule, and Anna breaks lots of rules. I like her.

But she doesn't write enough TS. Maybe she needs lots of LOCs for inspiration [6]

[Sandy K. Herrold]
Check out Anna's new story, A Long Time Looking; the wealth of detail and the controlled pacing add a feeding of implacable inevitability to it -- Jim's going towards that final question whether he's sure he's ready or not.[7]
[reetchick]
Jim Ellison isn’t a man prone to lengthy conversations about feelings, but I think many of us agree that he has the capacity, at least, to be deeply introspective. Anna taps into the too-often unexplored facet of his personality in this story.

In “Long Time Looking,” Jim and Blair spend some peaceful time together on what I like to call an ‘it’s not a date.’ In his own quiet way, Jim spends the time reflecting on his life, his job, his place in the world, and how Blair relates to all of them.... The writing is slow, gentle, and absorbing, as is all of Anna’s work. You feel wrapped up, safe, when you’re in this world she’s made for Jim and Blair. It’s the kind of story that leaves you with a warm and pleasant feeling after reading.

It’s a good read for a lazy Sunday afternoon, a nice trip through the tangled hallways of Jim’s mind.

Go, read. You won’t regret it.[8]

[thefourthvine]
This story is a ramble through one night in the lives of Jim and Blair, set somewhere mid-canon. The best part of this one is the strong characterization – you really get to know the guys. These are my favorite versions of Jim and Blair, by the way. Jim's senses are mostly problem-free and he's ramped the Strong Silent Manly Man routine down a bit. Blair's Jim-management skills are phenomenal and he's settled into Jim's life but he hasn't lost his own. And they've not yet encountered all the drama of "Sentinel, Too" (also known as "the episode where Blair dies and comes back to life, causing the FF to slide into the metaphysical and the seriously angsty") and "The Sentinel by Blair Sandburg" (also known as "the episode that ended the series in a very strange place"). Good times, Sentinel-style.[9]
[psycho_tabby]
I read this before I was much into Sentinel, and thought it was kind of good. Now I think it's really good.[10]

2010s

[wistful]
Anna gives real good 'guy'. And if any of you know me, you know that I really appreciate a writer who keeps guys like Jim and Blair... well, *guys*. A Long Time Looking gets Jim and Blair together in an everyday setting, dinner/movie/shopping, which is what I really love about the Sentinel fandom. Beyond Jim's abilities, it IS your everyday life... well, except for the explosions and serial killers, but I digress. I like this story for its simplicity. It has a point, it gets to it, it gets out. There's no purple language, there's no exaggerated grief... just two guys, going out and getting off, all while bantering like pros. Plus, Rafe! I'm not Rafe's biggest fan, but I can admit he's pretty, and I like his brief role in this story.[11]

References

  1. ^ cmshaw. "Fanfic recommended". Archived from the original on 2002-06-09.
  2. ^ Destina. "Sentinel recs". Worlds Without Boundaries. Archived from the original on 2002-07-09.
  3. ^ cimorene. "miscellaneous recs". cimorene.net/waxjism.org. Archived from the original on 2005-03-29.
  4. ^ wesleysgirl. "Sentinel Recs". Archived from the original on 2007-10-14.
  5. ^ Ancasta. "10 Sentinel Stories for Newbies". Archived from the original on 2009-10-10.
  6. ^ fangrrl aka. xen (2000-08-12). "Slashrecs". Archived from the original on 2001-11-19.
  7. ^ Sandy K. Herrold (2000-10-12). "Neurotic in 2000". Confessions of a Fannish Butterfly. Archived from the original on 2006-06-13.
  8. ^ reetchick at crack_van (2004-01-25). "A Long Time Looking, by Anna S. (NC-17)". LiveJournal. Archived from the original on 2023-04-06.
  9. ^ thefourthvine (2004-05-04). "Fandoms I Have Loved 2: The Sentinel". LiveJournal. Archived from the original on 2012-11-28.
  10. ^ psycho_tabby (2004-06-25). "Starter Sentinel recs". LiveJournal. Archived from the original on 2023-04-06.
  11. ^ wistful (2003-12-17). "Sentinel (5 recs, all m/m slash)". Website. Archived from the original on 2023-04-06.
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