Author's Note: Not exactly a alternate ending to S2, more like an epilog to all the other alternate endings.  I haven't gotten around to my alternate ending to S2 yet.  Maybe one of these days, after I finish at least one more story that's rattling around in my head demanding an exit!

Ratings: PG for language.

Jim walked into the hospital room and sat beside his friend.  "C'mon Chief, it's time to wake up.  Show these idiots what a fighter you are.  They don't believe me when I tell them you're going to be all right."  He paused and tried to control the tears that threatened to come as he gazed at his friend.

He brushed the curls back from the still, dear face as he continued.  "They say that the longer you're in the coma the more likely there is to be some form of brain damage.  I pray to God that they're wrong . . . to think of you with your hunger for knowledge, and those bright eyes dimmed . . ." tears threatened again but this time he didn't try to halt them.

"God Chief, I know I don't deserve you as a friend . . . but I don't think I could go on knowing that this mess is all my fault. Please wake up, yell at me, call me the bastard that I am for the way I've treated you, kick my butt, anything . . . just wake up." He pleaded as he lowered his head until it rested on his Guide's hand and sobbed.

"J-j-j-I-I-m-m . . . is that you?"  A soft voice asked.

"Chief!  Thank God!" Jim swiped at the tears in his eyes so that he could better see the eyes of his partner, his life.  The eyes that were filled with pain and fear, his gut churned as he realized that he was the one responsible for that look.  He reached over and hit the call button.  "Don't try to talk too much just yet, you've been though a lot.  Besides I have something to say."

"I should never have thrown you out of the loft, it's your home as much as it is mine.  Hell, it's more yours than mine; you're the one that made it a home.  All it was for me was a cave to hide in and lick my wounds until you moved in. Less than a week later, I knew that I didn't want you to leave.  I actually found myself looking forward to getting home and seeing what kind of devastation you had wrought on my sterile, cold hideaway.  I have something for you."

He handed Blair an envelope.  Blair opened it to find a legal looking document.  After he read the paper, he looked at Jim with tears in his eyes.

"That's right Chief, you are now the proud owner of half of the loft.  No matter what happens with this Sentinel thing or between us, you will always have a home.  And NO one can take it from you again, not even me." He paused looking into his Guide's eyes, eyes awash with tears, filled with pain and fear that warred with a budding hope.

"Please come home Blair."  He whispered his voice choked with unshed tears.

Blair gazed at him for a long moment then launched himself into the Sentinel's arms.  The nurse paused in the doorway and then retreated.  The big man that had been haunting this ward ever since his friend arrived needed that hug more than the patient needed to have his temperature taken.

 The End