Jim was watching his lover with an appreciative grin on his face. He couldn’t decide who was having more fun – the underprivileged kids taking part in the Mayor’s Easter Egg hunt or Blair who was helping them hunt for eggs.
What Jim did know, however, is that he loved to see Blair having a good time and that the all-too-rare spring sunshine was making Blair’s curls shine, each strand seeming to be a different shade to his Sentinel sight. Jim sighed and pulled his eyes away from Blairhair to focus instead on the rest of the PD members who were assisting in the hunt. He would never hear the end of it if he zoned here, from either his Guide or his boss. It would be far too difficult, not to mention embarrassing to explain.
Jim had got out of hunting duties by the simple expedient of agreeing to hide the eggs as soon as Simon had raised the subject in the Major Crime bullpen. Simon had been surprised by his ready capitulation, but hiding the eggs unobserved was preferable to having so many people watch him pretend to hunt them out. Sometimes, being a Sentinel was a pain in the ass, but on this occasion, it was a bonus. Simon had agreed, once Jim had explained his reasoning to the Captain in the privacy of his office, but had then made Jim swear not to be too hard on the kids when he hid the eggs.
“They aren’t Sentinels, remember,” Simon had said, not wholly succeeding in his attempt to make a joke of it.
Jim had merely nodded and agreed that the eggs would be hidden in such a way that the kids wouldn’t have to work too hard to find them.
Jim turned his attention back to Blair, not surprised to find he was now coaxing on another kid who was upset because he’d only found one egg so far. Jim dialled up his hearing.
“Don’t worry, Petey, there’s lots more eggs left to find,” Blair was murmuring encouragingly to the little boy, hand resting on the boy’s shoulder. “How about I help you look?”
The tremulous smile Blair got in return was returned a thousand times over by one of Blair’s own radiant smiles and the two went off together to investigate a bush.
Jim smiled to himself. He was looking forward to a little hunt of his own later, when they got home. But this time eggs wouldn’t be involved and the rewards would be substantial for both Jim and Blair.