Blair sat in the park, enjoying that rarity, a warm, sunny day in Cascade. He looked around him, thinking how much he was going to miss the place. But it was impractical to stay. The problems with his dissertation had pretty much guaranteed that. Oh, he'd tried to make it work, for the sake of Jim, Simon and all their friends, but he just couldn't stay at the Academy, couldn't be a cop.

When he'd gotten a broken wrist during the first week due to an "accident", Blair had told Jim that he had to leave, that it wasn't fair on anyone if he stayed around. Jim took one look at the bruised, haunted look on his Guide's face and decided there and then, he wasn't going to let Blair leave him.

"Chief, we'll both go," he said.

"No way, no," Blair started to protest.

"Blair, remember our promise to each other?" Jim asked gently.

Blair nodded; how could he forget? When they had got together, Jim had recited a passage from the book of Ruth to Blair, promising him that they would always be together no matter what. That had taken a serious battering in the wake of Naomi's interference and the press conference, but they had fought through it together and were stronger for the experience. 'What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger,' Blair had thought ironically. Well, he could certainly testify to the truth of that statement, from both sides of the fence.

So, it was decided, they would both leave. All that remained was to work out where to go. Jim had gone to Simon anyway and told him he was resigning. Simon had tried to argue him out of it, but when Blair had arrived to take Jim for lunch in the middle of the argument, one look at the younger man had convinced Simon of the truth of what Jim had told him. So he had agreed to accept Jim's resignation.