Cascade PD, Major Crimes
Tuesday

Simon stopped at Jim's desk. "Jim, we have a problem." Jim looked up at his boss' concerned tone Simon motioned to his office.

"What, Sir," Jim asked in concern, following Simon into his office and sitting down in one of the chairs across from Simon's desk. "Is it about Sandburg?" Jim asked figuring that was the reason for Simon's concern.

"The Feds are conducting an experiment, and guess who gets to try it first." Simon grimaced.

"What sort of experiment?" Jim asked warily, not sure, if he wanted to hear the answer.

"The FBI is sending an agent to act as a liaison between local law enforcement and the Feds. In theory, this is to ease complaints of toe stepping. It also gives the Feds an agent who can be brought in from the start of an investigation, supposedly easing any manpower shortages that we have. Guess who gets to show this agent the ropes of Cascade PD?" Simon replied raising his eyebrows to Jim. Jim saw the look, raised his hands to ward off the assignment

"No, not me Simon. I already have a partner. You know, Sandburg the one you call a flower child wannabe."

"That's what I told AD Skinner in Washington DC. He knows that you work with Sandburg. That's why he wants you. He feels that if you are used to 'baby-sitting', his words not mine, then this agent shouldn't be a problem."

"OK, how about my senses, then. If I spend a lot of time around this agent, they could begin suspect something."

"Then be careful, Jim," Simon told him, trying, but failing to inject a small measure of lightness into the conversation. Then Simon realized that it was too quiet in his office. "Where is Sandburg? You are going to have to tell him about this new addition to the force. You are picking this agent up at the airport tomorrow at 10am. So far, we have very little information on this agent except a name: Megan Davison. Now, I've telephoned a friend at the local office he never heard of her. He called a friend in DC and found out that, while she's never been assigned outside of DC, Agent Davison makes any agent who crosses her very sorry. " Simon looked at Jim, trying to see how this next bit of information would go down. "Jim, I tried to request Agent Davison's file. FBI Records informed me that her files are restricted for now, and have been for about a week."

Jim groaned, and his jaw began to clench and unclench. "Great. That is just great. So why does AD Skinner have an eye on this why couldn't they move someone from the local office, someone we've worked with before?"

"I don't know Jim, maybe we should ask her when we meet her. I just don't like the fact that someone doesn't want us to know too much about her. It also seems that the AD in DC is taking a personal interest in this not the local office. That sets off the warning signals." Simon said concerned.

"Damn it, Simon." Jim said standing up and beginning to pace in the office, close to exploding, "I hate playing catch-up."

Simon noticed Jim's reaction, and knew whom Jim was most likely to be the victim of the fallout. 'Hell, the kid may be annoying at times, but I don't want him on the receiving end of an Ellison bad mood. If he doesn't deserve it, that is.' "Jim, don't take your mood out on Sandburg, save it for Agent Davison when she gets here. This is the flight information." Simon said with a false smile not knowing where his sympathies lay, with Ellison and Sandburg or Agent Davison.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jim walked into the loft with his turbulent mood barely concealed beneath the surface. Just barely able to stop himself from slamming the front door mindful of tumultuous amount of noise that such an action would cause to his Sentinel hearing. After placing his keys in the basket Jim immediately went to the refrigerator for a beer. From his seat on the sofa where he was grading papers Blair looked calculatingly at Jim's jaw clenching and unclenching at a mile a minute, and wondered what his chances were of leaving the loft for a few hours alive were. "Um, Jim if you are in a bad mood I could leave for a few hours. You know let you calm down a bit." Blair asked hesitantly. Unsure if he was the cause or not, and if he was, what he had done. He didn't think he had done anything recently.

"No, Chief, you may as well stay here. We need to have a planing session," Jim said, rubbing his hand over his hair. "Simon called me into his office this afternoon." Jim then proceeded to tell Blair the sketchy story about FBI Agent Megan Davison. During Jim's recitation Blair forgot about the papers he was grading and began to pace around the room. Stopping briefly to fix some tea.

"Man, this is bad. I didn't think that they could do this. You know, teaming up three people like this, sounds like it could be a long-term thing. Jim what if she finds out about your Sentinel abilities?" Blair said beginning to pace around the loft anew. Arms moving and muttering unintelligibly under his breath.

"I know, Chief. I already asked Simon about it. He said, 'be careful.'" Jim told Blair with a humorless smile.

"That is just great. So we get to meet Agent Davison tomorrow, and she's had a week to check up on us. Any files that we would normally have access to have been recently restricted. Man this sounds bad Jim; we need to figure out how to cover for your senses when I'm not there. I mean, I can cover for you as much as possible, but when I'm at the University and you're alone with Agent Davison it's going to be a problem."

Jim sighed, "I know, Chief, you'll come up with something." 'You always do.' He added silently.

~~~~~~~~~~

Wednesday
Cascade Airport
10 am

"Flight 45 from Washington DC has now arrived at gate 9." The voice droned on the intercom.

"Come on, Chief, lets see if we can find Agent Davison." Jim said, looking through the throng of people. As they walked towards gate 9, Jim focused his sense of sight towards the gate, and just saw normal, daily airport traffic. "Well, Chief, I can't see any Federal types yet. I just hope that Agent Davison has looked us up and knows what we look like."

The two men reached gate 9 only to see that, with the exception of five people, four men and a very young woman, who looked just old enough to be out of high school--the place was unusually empty. Two of the men are involved in a discussion on computers; the other two are dressed in grunge, talking about some rollerblading contest that would be in Cascade that weekend. Deciding that young woman was too young to be the FBI Agent, Jim figured that either Agent Davison had taken another flight or no one had informed her she would be picked up at the gate. "Come on, Sandburg, I don't think that she's here. Let's call Simon and see what he's heard." Jim walked over to a corner and pulled out his cell phone.

~~~~~~~~~~

Megan Davison sat down next to the gate, relaxing just a bit. She looked around trying to find the two faces she was supposed to meet. Hoping that she didn't see any faces that she didn't want to see.

--The plane was early, child. They could be running on time. It would make a change for you, to deal with people who are punctual, -- a soft, velvet voice told her mind.

*I know, Lace.* Megan gave a mental sigh before framing a response with in her mind to the spirit with in her necklace. *Wait, there they are. I hope they are distracted enough so I can 'look'.. *

--Meg, don't they could be sensitives just 'look' when you shake their hands-- Lace pleaded.

*All right. I really wish Skinner could have waited until Mulder and Scully got out of quarantine. They really wanted to come out here and help.*

--No, Mulder wanted to make sure you would be safe, and Scully to make sure Mulder didn't get hurt. That man, as good-looking as he is, can get hurt doing the simplest things. Frohike will have all of your stuff out here tomorrow. The manager of the apartments here received your package.-- Lace began to laugh. --I think your non-federal style is throwing them.--Lace said, referring to the two men, who had looked at Megan, dismissed her and then walked over to a corner the taller of the two pulled out a cell phone.

*Well then Lace, lets go introduce ourselves.* Megan got up and began to walk over to the two men.

~~~~~~~~~~

"Detective Ellison, Mr. Sandburg. I'm Agent Davison." Stated a firm voice from behind the two men, Jim and Blair turned around and saw the young woman standing in front of them. She stood approximately 5'2", with long brown/red hair almost bronze-colored-- pulled back in a ponytail. Her eyes were a startling blue that captured the gray in the top and jacket Agent Davison wore until her eyes looked almost gray. The neutral color also was reflected in her face that gave the impression that this woman had seen more in life than her years suggested. Jim couldn't get over the transformation in this Agent when he first looked at her all he saw was an eager but contained High School/College student. Now close up he saw a young woman who appeared to have more life experience than ten agents. 'what brought about this change' Jim mused

Blair also noticed the change in the Agent before them, but for a different reason. The closer he looked at her the more different she appeared. Just before he lost himself in trying to figure out the ambiguity the clear crystal necklace that Agent Davison wore caught the morning light and glinted into Blair's eyes.

"I'm sorry that my photograph isn't in my files, but I don't like people to blow me off just for my looks," Megan said, extending a hand, looking like she did this every day.

As Megan shook Jim's hand, she realized that he had a very strong mental shield. 'I wonder what he has to hide to that extent.' Megan thought. Then she remembered his files, which the Lone Gunmen had helped her 'retrieve'. 'What doesn't he have to hide, I should say.'

Blair just stared at her as he shook her hand. There was something about her--he just couldn't place it. It seemed to be familiar, yet strange. Blair almost wanted to trust her. As he stared into her eyes, he began to feel himself being pulled into them. Then as soon as he felt that he was pulled out. For a second he thought he saw a nimbus around Agent Davison. Then it disappeared, the crystal necklace shimmering in his eyes again, 'I'll have to ask Jim what he saw,' he thought when he was rational again.

As Megan shook Blair's hand, the activity of his mind stuck her solidly. She felt his mind trying to probe hers and carefully nudged it back to where it belonged. 'Oh dear, he's able to probe that means a probable empath at the least and untrained at that. I'll have to be careful,' she thought.

With introductions finished, Megan decided to get this show on the road so to speak. "All right, gentlemen, let's go to the baggage claim area and get my suitcase" Megan said as she shouldered a dark gray bag and started to lead the two puzzled men down the walkway. Then Megan began to slow, Jim and Blair thought that she was unsure of what direction to take. Megan though had noticed two men dressed in black suits wearing dark sunglasses. She stopped and stiffened, looking at them furiously. Moments later, the men looked at her and left, Megan relaxed and resumed the trip to the baggage area.

"What was that about?" questioned Jim, when she had caught up with them, noticing her heartrate had increased.

"Oh probably nothing, you know. Let's just get out of here." Megan shrugged. Jim listened to her heartrate return to normal, but to the Sentinel instincts within him, she seemed unusually alert.

After putting Megan's suitcase in the rear of the truck, Megan settled in the back seat behind Blair. She placed her bag on her lap and began to rummage through it. "I need to report in at the field office first, to an Agent Johnson. So if you can drop me off there, I can get a car out of the motor pool until the rest of my stuff gets here tomorrow."

"Agent Davison, Captain Banks would like to meet with you at your earliest convenience." Jim informed her.

"Of course, Detective Ellison. I'll go there after I meet with Agent Johnson. Since we will be working together a lot, you might as well address me as either Davison or Megan. I answer to either but I will not put up with being called Agent Davison from you or Mr. Sandburg for very long. In case you're wondering how long you're stuck with me, it will be a long time." The rest of the ride passed in silence, "thank you for the ride. Will it be all right to leave my suitcase in your truck until I meet you at the station?" Jim nodded an affirmative.

"Thank you. Oh, Mr. Sandburg you might be interested in some of these" Megan handed Blair a thick file folder before slipping out of the truck.

Megan disappeared into the Federal Bldg. as Jim pulled away, heading to the station. "Well, Chief, Simon wasn't kidding about Agent Davison keeping people on edge, was he? So what did she give you?"

"Not sure, Jim. Give me a chance to look." Blair opened the folder, inside were reports on people with hyperactive senses and a note:

Mr. Sandburg,

How does a man who did his master thesis on this subject come to work with the police department?