Vocabulary

Fanfiction
Title:	Vocabulary
Author(s):	Miriam Heddy
Date(s):	21 October 1998
Length:	8470 words
Genre(s):	Slash, First Time
Fandom(s):	The Sentinel
Relationship(s):	Jim/Blair
External Links:	Vocabulary (Miriam Heddy's Little Corner of the Universe) Vocabulary (AO3)
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Vocabulary is a Jim/Blair story by Miriam Heddy.

Summary: When actions aren't enough. Jim and Blair define the terms of their relationship.

Reactions and Reviews

“Rogue” is a watershed episode in both the canon and fanon of “The Sentinel.” It shifts the show’s paradigm, and suddenly the relationship between Jim and Blair seems a little more symbiotic. It’s the first time the term “guide” is used. It’s the first time we see one of Blair’s infamous “sensory tests” on Jim. And it’s how we meet Lee Brackett, rogue ex-CIA agent now in business for himself.

Any Sentinel fan will tell you: you can’t read Sentinel fic without stumbling across stories that either reference or feature guides, sensory tests, or Lee Brackett. Jim and Blair are complex guys. They’re articulate, and when necessary, they’re both pretty willing to get up in your face. Like most guys, they don’t always know what they want - or how to express it - and sometimes they have to work their way around to knowing what to say. Here, they define a couple of things: just what a guide is, why Brackett was more of a nuisance than a true criminal mastermind, and that Jim and intimacy get along just fine – when you finally figure things out and know the right thing to say.

Miriam Heddy is one of the masters of “Sentinel” fanfic. Her works are powerful and compact, and she writes Jim’s senses with a subtle finesse. What Miriam can convey in a single sentence, most writers can’t accomplish in a paragraph. She’s terrific at writing “guys,” sex, and Jim, and making it all real and tangible.

She's also someone whose enjoyment of the written word and the nuance of language comes across on the page. It’s no wonder she would write a story called, “Vocabulary.”