Love's Austere and Lonely Offices

Fanfiction
Title:	Love's Austere and Lonely Offices
Author(s):	Brighid
Date(s):
Length:
Genre(s):	slash
Fandom(s):	The Sentinel
Relationship(s):
External Links:	Love's Austere and Lonely Offices on AO3
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Love's Austere and Lonely Offices is a Jim/Blair story by Brighid.

Reactions and Reviews

1999

This is the kind of story you will enjoy reading on a rainy day when you want to feel cozy. Of course, you could also read it in the Arizona desert when it's a hundred degrees in the shade, but that would be wrong.

I wake up to the phone shrilling loudly about a foot away from my right ear. Jim snuffles and grunts and reaches over me, grabbing the phone, pulling the cord across my body. "Yeah, Ellison," he says, grumpy and too damned awake for four in the morning when we were working a stakeout until three. I yawn, stretch, roll over and cuddle up to him, but his body suddenly goes stiff and tense and way, way awkward. "Yeah, yeah, Sally, okay, I'll be there. How long ago was he admitted?" I stiffen, too, at that, at the cold control of his voice. Sally. Admitted. Something's happened to Jim's dad.

Why you should read this: Ellisonian familial angst, Jim and Blair getting domestic, Blair being the generous charmer that he is.

What might throw you off stride: I think even William the Bloody would like this story, including the heartwarming ending. Of course, then he'd go kill someone to clean his palate, but that doesn't mean we have to.

2000

In this dramatic story, we see the world from Blair’s point of view, in his own words. Blair’s voice is very much in character and this device provides us with insight into how he thinks. The author also does a good job of helping us understand the Sentinel, through his Guide’s explanations and comments.

The plot is original. William Ellison suffers a stroke and in the time that follows, Jim must deal with his feelings toward his father. Blair helps him, as always, and the interaction shows us how much their 6 year relationship has grown. The two are obviously established as a couple, and there are not only love scenes but domestic and intimate scenes as well.

We see William Ellison in a light that actually provokes sympathy and understanding— remarkable when the character is usually written off as a cardboard boogey-man from Jim’s youth. He is portrayed as stubborn, stoic and proud, which highlights these matching traits in his son. In the end, he must accept Blair as his son-in-law and reach an understanding with Jim.

For hurt/comfort lovers, the story offers plenty of JimAngst with equal measures of BlairComfort. Add loving touches and a sex scene that gives it the NC-17 rating it holds and there is something for everyone here.