Sky Ain’t The Limit – Chapter 3 – ScarsLikeVelvet

Chapter 3 – Meeting his new charges

Jim Ellison took one last moment to centre himself before he pushed open the door to enter the room where he knew his husband, bondmate and Guide, Blair Sandburg was currently checking on Daniel Buckley and his newborn brother Evan. He looked at the chart next to the door, and a moment later, he finally entered the room.

“Blair,” he greeted his partner softly and smiled when he realised that both boys were fast asleep despite the people bustling around the room. It seemed as if the two little ones—one eight, the other literally hours old—were absolutely exhausted and unlikely to fall asleep given that Blair’s wolf was currently making sure that their Spirit Guides were resting too.

He was licking the coarse hair of what looked like a honey badger cub, and a bedraggled-looking, emaciated otter rested fast asleep against the wolf’s side.

Jim’s jaguar joined the cuddle pile and took care of the otter, who looked like he was at the brink of death but willing to fight to stay alive.

“Jim,” Blair murmured, not looking away from the boys he was focused on.

“What’s going on with them?” the Sentinel asked gently, his voice barely audible.

Blair closed his eyes for a moment.

“My wolf says that they formed a bond. They are clinging to each other despite being utterly incompatible with each other. We need to help them untangle their bond with each other without hurting either of them. Daniel has a chance to live with the right treatment, something his mother denied him despite it being an easy fix compared to what they put this innocent little boy through in all these mundane hospitals. Once he is stable, we can break their bond and help them grow up into a healthy Sentinel and Guide respectively,” the Alpha Prime Guide explained.

“This sounds like an absolute mess waiting to happen,” Jim said, sounding sceptical.

Blair snorted. He knew Jim always considered things that had to do with working on the bonds between Sentinel and Guide as well as the Psionic Plane to be metaphysical bullshit, but when push came to shove, he knew that Jim would back his play and do what needed to be done.

“It is a mess waiting to happen because Evan is too young to understand that his bond with his brother is absolutely unhealthy and just came to be out of the sheer desperation Daniel was projecting and Evan could feel even inside the womb. We can only hope that their Spirit Guides will be able to help us slowly untangle this mess once we got Daniel stabilised. The centre already started treatments so we can safely transport him and Evan to Cascade,” the Guide explained calmly, his focus still on the sick little Guide.

“You really want to travel with a sick kid? And a newborn?” Jim questioned as he sat down on the edge of the bed.

Before Blair could answer, said newborn opened its eyes and focused its intense baby blue gaze on Jim, seemingly fully aware of the other Sentinel in his presence. The little boy made a soft cooing sound and reached with one tiny hand for Jim.

Jim hesitated for half a heartbeat before he very carefully reached out and lifted the handful of tiny human being and fully fledged Sentinel into his arms. He settled the little boy against his chest and leaned his head down to scent him, listen to his heartbeat, imprinting on the tiny life in his arms in general.

He couldn’t help but smile when he realised Little Evan was mimicking everything he was doing.

“Holy shit,” Jim breathed out. “He’s imprinting on me.”

His voice was filled with wonder, and there was no way this should be possible. Evan was new to this whole Sentinel shtick, yet here he was, doing something that fully grown Sentinels had to be walked through carefully, else it would overwhelm their senses in ways that could hurt them. It was something that should have been instinctive, the way Evan did it, yet it wasn’t for most Sentinels.

Jim knew it was a sign of a Primal Sentinel, one who would walk the Path of a Warrior, the same Jim had done until bonding with his Guide had changed his path. The honey badger cub made a soft sound and escaped Blair’s wolf’s care, toddling over to Jim, who very carefully scooped the tiny Spirit Guide up with one hand and put it onto Evan’s chest, where it curled up against his partner in crime.

“He did that to me when I came in here but not to anyone else. The Sentinels and Guides from the Centre said he was fully focused on his brother and barely allowed himself to be separated from Daniel for a diaper change before throwing an unholy fit,” Blair said softly, reaching over to Daniel and carding his fingers soothingly through the tiny Guide’s blond curls, knowing it was best if he slept through the first part of his treatment.

“So the Psionic Plane decided they should be our children … just them? Is that why I feel so protective about them already?” Jim questioned.

Blair shrugged.

“I think so. You know the Psionic Plane is capable of many things and I wouldn’t put it out of the realm of possible things that she decided the Buckleys didn’t deserve these two boys and instead went ahead and found them a new home,” the Guide admitted.

“A new home in us?” Jim asked, sounding surprised. “With all the issues we have to take care off?”

“I think these issues have something to do with the unrest I’ve been feeling on the Psionic Plane but things have gone calmer ever since we stepped foot on the plane to Pittsburgh,” Blair admitted.

“You think the plane was drawing us toward the boys?” Jim asked, nuzzling the soft blond curls on top of Evan’s head, rocking both the boy and his Spirit Guide to sleep, given that he could sense he wasn’t hungry and his diaper was dry and clean.

“It’s quite possible,” Blair agreed and carefully helped Daniel turn onto his side. He hissed under his breath when he saw the open sores on the little boy’s back.

“Holy shit,” Jim breathed. “What the hell did they do to cause that?”

“Make a young Guide to stay in bed while forcing chemo-therapeutics down his throat as to destroy his connection to the Psionic Plane. It’s an absolute mess and we need to make sure to rebuilt that connection for him and with him. It will take a lot of work to help make that happen given how sick this whole mundane treatment plan made him. I still have no idea how Margaret Buckley kept the fact that her whole family is anything but mundane from the hospital personnel in not one, but three hospitals,” Blair murmured.

“I would have said we ask Phillip Buckley, but the man is on the brink of death as it is and I don’t think he’ll continue to hold on for long. His daughter won’t be any help either. She is tainted beyond our ability to help and Phillip warned me that she has been spoon-fed his wife’s bullshit from the moment she was able to understand the words,” Jim replied, standing up and swaying in place because something told him it would help Evan to sleep. He rumbled softly under his breath, mimicking the sounds of his own Spirit Guide.

Evan settled back against his chest and seemed to finally fall asleep as deeply as only a baby could, while he also squirmed in his sleep and grunted a bit, his tiny feet pressing against Jim’s biceps.

“So, how long are we going to stay here?” Jim asked Blair.

“As long as Daniel needs us too stay here,” Blair murmured.

Jim inclined his head and scrunched up his nose when a soft bubbling noise sounded and the air filled with an acrid smell.

Blair laughed softly in response and guided his partner toward the changing table by the wall.

“Want me to take care of it?” Blair asked.

Jim shook his head.

“I can do it. It isn’t as if you’ll always be around to do it for me anyway. I’m used to nasty smells on the job, I can get used to the nasty business one calls diapers,” he said as he carefully took care of Little Evan’s business. Quick movements prevented him from getting surprised by a golden shower from the little boy, and then Evan was clean again.

The boy blinked awake and made sucking motions with his tiny mouth before pressing his nose against Jim’s chest, clearly seeking food. Jim squeaked in surprise when the tiny boy latched onto his nipple through his t-shirt, causing Blair to burst out laughing before he grabbed a minuscule baby bottle from the bottle warmer.

“Here, try that, unless you want to figure out if the Psionic Plane is willing to give you the ability to nurse a newborn,” Blair said, laughing louder when his Sentinel paled drastically.

“Yeah, no … thank you. I don’t wish to figure out if that is an ability a Sentinel can have,” Jim said as he settled on the sofa by the wall across from Daniel’s bed, and ran the nipple of the bottle along Evan’s lips, causing the little boy to latch on and greedily suck down his food.

“I’m glad, though it is something to keep in mind in case we need it,” he muttered under his breath, glad that Blair couldn’t hear it, because he knew he would be utterly confused by his Sentinel’s willingness to provide for a baby this way.

His Spirit Guide rumbled softly from where it was settled, taking care of the otter with Blair’s wolf.

——–

Howard and Helen Hollander watched the camera feed from the isolation suite where the Alpha Primes were bonding with the Buckley boys. It was amazing to see how naturally the Alpha Prime Sentinel took care of the newborn without hesitation, taking the lead despite both Howard and Helen knowing how uncomfortable babies could be for Sentinels.

All the smells, dirty diapers, and such weren’t all that great for Sentinels. They only faced them for their own children, but rarely for strangers. To see the connection between the Buckley children and Sentinel Ellison and Guide Sandburg bloom as naturally as it did between parents and their children when all was well and they weren’t suffering from mental illness was amazing to see.

“I’m glad the boy is taking so well to Sentinel Ellison,” Helen remarked.

Howard nodded. The boy had accepted his care, but he had been a bit tense.

Helen had had an easier time when it came to handling the boys, but she too had problems after the immediate danger had passed, with their mother and their father having handed over their care.

“I’m still surprised how easily Phillip Buckley let go of his children. I would have expected him to fight for them,” he remarked.

“I don’t think he could have fought, no matter if he wanted to or not. His Spirit Guide was too hurt, so I think he did what he could to protect Daniel after realising that Maddie was already a lost cause … at least on the Psionic Plane. He should have taken the children and taken them to the Sentinel and Guide Centre for help … counselling, getting his bond with Margaret broken for all of their safety before she pulled this stunt with Little Evan … that boy would have gotten hurt so badly if she survived the birth,” Helen said, her voice sounding flat as she suppressed the anger she was feeling.

“Darling,” Howard said, pulling his wife into his arms. “There is nothing we can do outside of taking care of Madeline. We both know neither Sentinel Ellison nor Guide Sandburg will be willing to take her with them, and given that she tried to spout some of her mother’s nonsense already tells me that she needs a lot of therapy and counselling before we can even consider allowing her some form of contact with her brothers.”

Helen shook her head.

“We can’t allow her contact with them at all. It will be best to make it a clean cut. She will always envy them their intact connection with the Psionic Plane and she is likely to try to hurt them for it if she is anything like her mother as her father fears. It is best that she gets institutionalised and kept with dormant Sentinels and Guides … her own kind … without contact to people who still have this connection,” the female Guide explained.

Howard tilted his head to the side, and after a long moment of considering his bondmate’s words, he nodded.

“You are absolutely right,” he said. “It is a risk we can’t take.”

——-

Daniel Buckley woke slowly and looked around the room confused when the slight weight of his little brother was missing from his chest and he was on his side instead of his back. He was surprised that he wasn’t hurting as badly as he usually did.

“Evan?” he asked, his voice sounding raspy in ways he only knew from waking after surgery.

“Daniel?” a stranger addressed him. “Your brother is fine. Look, he is getting fed by my Sentinel.”

Daniel blinked slowly.

“Who are you?” he asked, accepting the straw offered to him, sucking down some water.

“I am the Alpha Prime Guide of North America, Blair Sandburg, and this is my Sentinel, Alpha Prime Sentinel Jim Ellison,” the curly-haired man sitting by his bedside offered.

Daniel took another slow sip of water before looking at the Sentinel and Guide with him in the room.

“Why are you here?” he wanted to know.

“We are here to take custody of you and your brother, because your mother is gone and your father is unable to take care of you … he is on the brink of death and he will likely fade soon,” Blair explained gently, knowing that lying to the boy would be bad.

“I don’t want to stay here,” Daniel proclaimed. “It isn’t safe for Evan.”

Guide Sandburg inclined his head.

“You are right. It isn’t,” he agreed. “But we need to ensure that you are healthy enough to survive our journey back to Cascade, which is close to Washington.”

“I don’t care if I survive as long as my brother does,” Daniel whispered, his fingers curling around the blanket. “I’ve been hurt for so long, I don’t think I can ever reach my full potential.”

Blair reached out and took Daniel’s hand.

“You have been hurt, that much is true,” he agreed again. “But there is no need for you to die and leave your brother without a single familial connection in this world. It will take time and dedication, but you can heal and you can have a proper connection with the Psionic Plane, though we will have to sever your bond with your little brother in time … well, not sever truly but shift it into a much healthier sibling bond than what you have currently going on.”

“He came our of the womb ready to defend me … I’m the reason he is online and suffering right now,” Daniel whispered, tears rolling down his cheeks.

“Your brother isn’t suffering,” Jim spoke up from where he was feeding the baby. “He is doing well and his senses are well-balanced for one so young.”

Daniel looked surprised.

“Really?” he questioned.

“You are doing a great job instinctively, even if you yourself aren’t doing physically well. We will help with that, though,” Sentinel Ellison assured him.

Daniel looked surprised.

“So, I’m not hurting him?”

Guide Sandburg shook his head.

“No, you aren’t,” he assured him.

Daniel nodded slowly.

“What do you intend to do to me to help both me and Evan?” he asked softly.

Guide Sandburg grabbed a folder sitting on the bedside table and opened it so Daniel could see what they had written down.

“You see,” the man said. “We will purge the medications the doctor gave you from your body. It will be easier on you if you sleep through this, as it will ease your connection with your Spirit Guide, who is incredibly hurt due to what your mother put you through. Once the drugs are gone, I will start meditating with you and show you how to smooth out your psionic profile and meditate properly. Once we’ve got that down, we can likely handle the travel to Cascade.”

Daniel listened and blinked slowly.

“Meditation?” he asked softly with his nose scrunched up unhappily.

“Meditation is the first and foremost skill a Guide needs both to keep himself and his Sentinel on an even keel. I know a lot of people don’t like it. Hell, I can tell you that my Sentinel absolutely loathes it, but he does it, because he learned over time that it helps him with his senses just as much as it helps with our connection to the Psionic Plane and our Spirit Guides,” Blair said, used to young Guides scoffing at the thought of having to meditate just as much as Sentinels of all ages.

It seemed as if they all expected that meditation meant sitting on their asses and staring into space or closing their eyes when it couldn’t be farther from the truth. While it was true that some people meditated that way, there were also forms of moving meditation and even the option of doing it together. It didn’t have to be as boring as people always seemed to expect, and Blair was used to showing people the difference.

Daniel pouted at the Alpha Prime Guide’s declaration, but he didn’t protest. He knew better than to tell adults they were wrong, and he also knew instinctively that he could trust this man. His Spirit Guide was weak, he knew that, but it didn’t mean he wasn’t able to verbally kick Daniel’s ass.

“Alright,” he said, yawning. “I am hungry and I am willing to allow you to put me under once my tummy is filled.”

Guide Sandburg smiled and headed to the fridge in the next room.

“PBJ?” he asked after studying the contents of the fridge.

“Anything really,” Daniel called back, pushing himself into a sitting position despite how exhausted he felt.

Sandburg hummed in response and got a couple of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches ready, carrying them into the bedroom and handing the plate off to Daniel, who started to devour them with a hunger neither the Sentinel nor the Guide with him seemed to expect.

Once the sandwiches were gone, Daniel looked toward where he suspected the bathroom was.

“Bathroom break before we put you to sleep?” Guide Sandburg questioned, more perceptive than even the nurses who had been taking care of him for ages.

“I would appreciate it,” Daniel said, more polite than a lot of adults were.

“Want me to carry you over or do you wish to try to walk under your own steam?” Daniel’s fellow Guide asked.

Daniel stared at him.

“It’s been ages since I’ve been allowed out of bed and try to walk alone,” he admitted.

Guide Sandburg just looked at him, waiting for him to make a decision it seemed.

“I’d like to try,” he said eventually.

Guide Sandburg nodded and assisted him in scooting to the edge of the mattress and helped him to his feet. He stayed by his side without touching him, but he didn’t urge him to walk faster or get impatient in the way his parents always did when he tried to do something by himself.

“You are doing well,” Guide Sandburg praised him when he made it to the bathroom door despite Daniel’s steps faltering a couple of times.

Daniel blushed and made his way toward the toilet.

“I’ve got it,” he promised, and Sandburg nodded.

“Call me, if you need help,” he said firmly and pointed to the toilet. “Sitting down, please, so you don’t fall over.”

Daniel flushed worse, but nodded.

“Alright,” he said.

The moment the door closed behind him, he pushed his pyjama bottoms down and settled on the toilet seat to do his business. He was feeling exhausted from just those few steps, and he knew he would need to be carried back even if he hated it.

“Guide Sandburg?” Daniel called out a couple of minutes later after wiping and pushing to his feet. He was shaking, but forced his knees to lock and flushed the toilet before he stumbled toward the sink to wash his hands.

The door behind him opened, and Guide Sandburg entered the room.

“I’m sorry about the smell,” Daniel apologised, but Guide Sandburg just smiled.

“I’ve smelt worse on and off the job, I promise,” he told the young boy and held him as he washed his hands.

“Really?” he asked curiously.

Sandburg just smiled and asked him if he wanted to try making it back to the bed.

“I’d love to,” he admitted, but he was shaking so bad, he knew he wouldn’t make it back. “But I am too exhausted to make it.”

Guide Sandburg just nodded and carefully lifted the sore boy from his feet and carried him off to bed. He tucked him in gently after checking on the open sores on Daniel’s back.

“Lay on your side, please,” he instructed the boy gently. “I will try to use psionic energy to heal those wounds or at least start the healing, so they hopefully will be gone by the time you wake again.”

Daniel looked surprised.

“They’ve been growing worse ever since they started me on the new mediation,” he muttered.

“I figured that out when I saw what they’ve been giving you,” Guide Sandburg said. “But now it is time for you to go to sleep.”

Daniel nodded and closed his eyes, a yawn escaping him.

“Please keep Evan safe,” he mumbled.

“We will keep both you and your brother safe,” Sentinel Ellison promised him, while his Guide started to use psionic energy to manipulate the young boy into falling asleep and a couple of minutes later, Daniel Buckley was fast asleep, and it didn’t take Blair long to shift his attention from getting the boy to rest to beginning to heal him.

Jim leaned back and watched Blair work his magic with no hesitation. He held onto the young Sentinel and his Spirit Guide, while psionic energy flooded the suite of rooms, and soon after the festering wounds on Daniel Buckley’s back started to heal much faster than they naturally would.

The boy’s otter Spirit Guide made chittering sounds and tried to get away from its own caretakers, and after a moment of silent deliberation, Jim’s jaguar Spirit Guide helped him over to Daniel’s side, and into the epicentre of the psionic energy flooding the room, something that would help the otter spirit heal along with its bondmate.

“Do you need my help?” Jim asked softly.

Blair shook his head.

“I’ve got this. You stay where you are and hold onto Evan. Your shielding is naturally wrapping around him and that’s just what he needs right now. It will help separating them slowly when the time comes,” he explained, his voice soft, and he was focusing on what he had planned to do to help the two little boys with them.

“Alright,” Jim agreed easily and simply watched Blair do what he did best, which was make metaphysical bullshit possible in ways Jim never expected, experienced, or would likely ever see again. He smiled, knowing that what he was doing was the best thing he could pull off to help the two children in the room with them and make it possible for them to take the children home.