By JudyL

September 13, 2003

Response to a "When Angie thinks of it Challenge" on the Cascadetimes list.

Include a Current news event and the words: red, quiet, cracker jack, safe, milk, and quartet.

Here's my response, enjoy.

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Blair Sandburg sat at the table and popped a handful of Cracker Jacks into his mouth as he waited for his laptop computer to boot up, then he logged onto the internet. He took a sip of milk and scanned the headlines.

The words "Blair" and "fraud" jumped out at him and Blair sprayed his mouthful of milk at the screen.

"What the?!" he exclaimed using the sleeve of his new red shirt to wipe the milk from the screen. He read the headline.

NY Times claims more Blair fraud. Blair clicked on the link and started to read.

Jim Ellison heard a quiet sigh of relief as he entered the loft. Blair sat at the table working on his laptop.

"This is unbelievable," Blair said not realizing he had an audience.

"What's that, Chief?"

"Jim!" Blair sat back abruptly. "Give a guy a heart attack why don't ya?" he said, surprised to see his roommate standing on the other side of the table.

"What's got you so worked up, Chief?" Jim asked coming around the table to see the screen of the laptop.

"I was just waiting for my e-mail to download and checking out some of the headlines when I saw my name…"

Jim read the headline that had caught Blair's attention. Blair and fraud practically popped off the screen. It was a safe bet what Sandburg had thought the article was about.

"It's actually about that reporter, Jayson Blair, who worked for the Times. But I swear, Jim, I thought…" Blair raked his hands through his hair. "I guess I freaked, I mean why would the New York Times be running a story about me four years after the fact? I just panicked."

Ellison put his hands on his friend's shoulders and squeezed gently. "It's not so strange. Blair's not exactly a common name and we're probably a little over-sensitive when it comes to the word fraud."

"Yeah. I guess. It caught me by surprise. I thought I was past caring about that whole thing."

"I don't think there's a statute of limitations on getting used to giving up your life's work, Chief," Jim replied grimly.

"But that's just it, Jim," Blair countered rising to pace beside the table. "I didn't give up my life's work. You're what I was always looking for, my Sentinel. And the fact that you turned out to be my best friend, soul-mate, brother and partner is icing on the cake, man." He stopped and shook his head. "What has bothered me the most is my loss of reputation. I want people to trust me, to be able to take my word as my bond. With the "fraud" label hanging over my head, it hasn't exactly been all roses and string quartets."

Jim ran a hand over his face in frustration. He hated that Blair had ruined his own reputation to protect Jim's secret. And obviously it still weighed on Blair's mind as well.

After four years, the people that mattered realized Blair was a man of his word. They either knew or guessed that he had only been protecting Jim with his press conference, but that still didn't negate the fact that Blair had declared himself a fraud in front of a TV audience.

"What can I do, Blair? What do you want me to do to make this right for you?"

Blair stared at Jim, reading the unspoken offer in his eyes as clearly as if the Sentinel had said it. The Guide took over. He sat down pulling Jim into the chair beside him and turned to face his friend.

"I need you to be you, Jim. Do what you're doing right now. Listen to my rants, confirm our bond and reassure me that you care about my well-being." Blair shrugged and grinned. "That's all I need Jim. Just you my friend."

Jim smiled shyly, amazed at the strength his Guide showed time and again, always bouncing back from life's pitfalls.

"Tell you what, Chief. The next time someone questions your integrity, you just point them to your personal public relations manager and I'll straighten them out. Okay?"

Blair grinned. "I can't afford to pay you much. I understand a good PR man is pretty expensive."

"Yeah, well, you've got a lifetime worth of credit built up, Chief. A lifetime."

Finis.

This was my first challenge fic. I went online a few days after it was posted looking for a news story to use and was shocked to see "Blair" and "fraud" in a headline. I copied that article and pasted it into a word doc before reading it, then I lost power and the doc. I went back online later that day to find the story and couldn't find it anywhere. However I did find a slightly older headline (see below) that had the same words in it. I think the original article was about Jayson Blair's book on journalistic fraud.

I had fun writing it, hope you enjoy reading it.

Feedback? Please let me know what you think. Judy

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