Author's Disclaimer: Steinke belongs to me, stubborn old cuss that he is. The rest do not.

Author's Notes: The J/B pairing is implied. Thanks to Cedara for her help with the beta reading. ALL feedback accepted at AngieTee@netscape.net (give it to me straight -- I can take it!)

I know Jim Ellison. At least, I know the man he used to be. Now, I'm not so sure. A lot has happened in the past week and I'm beginning to think that maybe -- just maybe -- I don't know him as well as I thought.

I had been on the force for four years when I heard about the Fast Track Program and its first graduate. Theory was, the academy would be a waste of time for some people, they already had a large part of what they needed. So you let 'em test out of certain classes -- they take a test and if they pass, they don't take the class. With Ellison, it was firearms, self-defense and physical training, among others. Cascade Police Academy's normal course of training takes 6 months. Ellison did it in 6 weeks. And he scored high enough that he only spent a token two months in a uniform before the brass decided that it would 'reflect well on the department' to have a hero as a detective. They put him in front of the promotion board, gave him the exams and we had a brand spankin' new detective up in Vice, on the Narcotics squad.

Ellison rode with me those two months he wore a uniform. He was easy to ride with. Didn't jabber on about his family problems or complain about his girlfriend. He was professional. It was really easy for me to see how he had gotten through the program so fast, because he never thought about anything else. He was focused on the job and let me tell you, that's a good thing to have in the person who is watching your back.

Course, I still saw him now and then, after he got bumped up. There were a couple of big drug raids and I was there to help haul away the perps. Ellison never acted high and mighty like some of the gold shields.

"Hey Steinke! How's Lucille?" he'd ask. After he got moved to Major Crimes, about then Lucille died and he came to the funeral. After that, it was "Hey Steinke -- how are things?"

Ellison isn't one of those touchy-feely types. But he knows what it's like to try and go on by yourself. And in that little question, he was lettin' me know I could call him and he'd listen. And I did, a few times. He'd meet me at Benna's Bar and we'd drink a couple of pitchers between the two of us and we'd talk.

Some of the detectives upstairs, they act like us uniforms are nothin'. Like we are robots who do nuthin' but lock up the bad guys after the bust has been made. Ellison doesn't do that. He gives us respect and that means something. He calls for backup and you gotta know, most of us will be there.

Even if the backup is for his partner.

Now there's an interesting one there. They say he's an observer. What I always wanted to know was what kinda ride-along the kid had. Been a couple years now and the kid is still hangin' around.

Lotta the guys, they talk trash about the kid. "Hippy" they call him, and that's when they're bein' polite. I always figured, if Ellison is lettin' him ride along, there must be something to the kid. Right? I mean, Ellison doesn't put up with crap from anybody. If he didn't want Sandburg along, the kid woulda been gone a long time ago.

But I didn't buy the other crap either... Ellison, a fag? Oh please! The kid I can see, yeah, with that hair, but Jim Ellison?

Course, that was before last week. When I turned on the news and saw that woman saying that my boy Ellison was some sort of Superman, I laughed. I figured I'd rib Ellison about it the next time I saw him and that would be that. We'd have a good laugh and forget about it.

The next few days were something else. I was on the detail providing security to that Jimmy Hoffa wanna-be and I saw those damned reporters mob Ellison. Stupid, greedy, mindless idiots... all they saw was a possible story. I was glad, later, when it turned out the pipsqueak we were tryin' to protect was alive. If only for Ellison's sake.

Then Zoeller had the balls to shoot up the station and some of Major Crimes with it.

But the most amazing thing to me was that press conference Sandburg gave. I didn't see it right off, caught it on the 11:00 news. I couldn't sleep afterwards.

Of course, Ellison wasn't a Sentinel! Was he? The story was a fairy tale. Who'd believe something like that? The kid had lied. He fessed up to it. So now things can get back to normal.

I heard they offered the kid the Fast Track Program, the one Ellison piloted. So he is gonna be a cop. But the whole thing smells fishy to me. Something ain't quite right.

First off, Ellison and Sandburg live together. We all know that. So you'd think, if Sandburg were the kind of guy that would lie through his teeth like that, wouldn't Ellison know? Wouldn't he have figured it out beforehand?

And then I got to thinkin' more. I heard about the raid in the Switchman case... Ellison cleared a whole farmhouse seconds before a bomb went off. Binford told me later Ellison said he smelled gas, but no one else did.

And there was the Choi murder. Ellison testified that he could see the murderer from 300 yards away. The lawyers claimed he was lying, no one could see that far. But Ellison won't testify to anything in court that isn't true. It's not like him. No matter how bad he wants the conviction, he isn't the type to make up evidence.

There were other stories that made the rounds... Ellison always seems to know stuff that no one else does. Is there a bomb inside a building? Ellison has already called the Bomb Squad in. Can't find the missing kid? Ellison will lead ya right to 'em. I've seen the man find a hair from a perp that the forensic team missed...

So if Ellison isn't a Sentinel, what is he?

And then I thought about Sandburg and all the things I heard about him. How he took off for Peru with Ellison that time Banks went missing. How he helped take out that psycho Lash -- and he was chained to a dentist's chair at the time. How he took out two of Kincaid's men when they took over the station. How he always seems to need rescuing and how Ellison is always there to bail him out.

How, a year ago, on what would have been Lucille and I's 30th anniversary, Ellison and I met at Benna's and Sandburg showed up to drive us home. At 2 am. And he never bitched at getting out a warm bed, but helped me in the house. Nice kid, that Sandburg.

Ellison, now, he wouldn't take a partner for years after Jack disappeared. So does it make sense that suddenly he not only takes a partner, but takes one that isn't a cop and that he can't trust?

So I'm thinking... a nice kid like that... maybe he would lie. But maybe he'd do it to protect a friend. And if you look at the evidence, the weird things Ellison has done in the past few years, maybe there's some truth to this Sentinel stuff.

And maybe there's truth to the other rumor, too. Ellison always seems so jumpy about the kid. You talk trash about him and Ellison is gonna know it. And when some nutjob grabs the kid, Ellison acts like a mama protecting her cubs -- or an animal protecting its mate.

Hell, to be honest, I don't care.

I'm gonna hafta talk to Ellison. Tell him what I figured out. And I think I'll let him know, he and his partner can always depend on me for backup.