By CherylR

July 2004

Blair Sandburg stumbled in the door and dropped his backpack on the floor under the coat rack. "Oh man, I am so glad that it’s Friday. I’m going to sleep all weekend. I so hate finals," he mumbled to himself as he shrugged out of his coat. "It’s not taking them that’s the problem, it’s grading the ones that I give."

"Hey Chief, you look tired," Jim said as he came down the stairs from his bedroom. "Did you make your phone call yet?"

Blair stopped and looked blankly up at his Sentinel. "What phone call?" he asked then slapped his forehead and sighed. "Oh, that phone call… I completely forgot about it." He walked over to the table, slumped down into a chair and rested his head on his hands.

Jim patted him on the back as he handed him the phone. The Sentinel headed toward the kitchen then suddenly stopped and sneezed several times. Ellison gave Blair a puzzled glance, then shifted his gaze to the door. Just then, there was a knock on the door. Jim looked at Blair again, rolled his eyes and went to answer the door.

Blair's sluggish brain tried to analyze his Sentinel's bizarre behavior. He finally realized who was in the hall when Jim sneezed yet again. "Oh man, I so don’t have the energy to debate the pros and cons of jury duty with Naomi," Blair groaned. He pressed the heels of his palms into his tired eyes then moved his glasses back into place as Jim opened the door and Naomi Sandburg waltzed in.

"Naomi, what a surprise," Jim said with a smile.

"Mom, I didn't know you were coming to town," Blair said as he pushed himself slowly up out of the chair and gave his mom a hug. He turned toward Jim and mouthed ‘help me’ to his partner.

Jim smirked at Blair but turned to Naomi and asked, "Hey Naomi, have you had dinner yet?"

Naomi gave Jim a long hug. "No," she said with a smile and a shake of her head, "I haven’t been in this time zone long enough to eat."

"Good, glad to hear it." Jim paused thought about what he’d just said and winced. "Not glad that you haven’t eaten… just glad because…" Jim shot Blair a desperate look.

Blair jumped into the breach. "What Jim is trying to say is that we haven’t eaten either and we would love for you to have dinner with us." He shot another look at Jim. "But, we need a few things from the store. Would you go with Jim, Mom? He sometimes needs help picking out the best fruit?" Okay, that was really lame. Jim is so going to kill me for that remark. "I just need to make a quick phone call and then I’m free all weekend."

"Sure, honey," Naomi smiled. She took Jim’s hand and led him out of the loft. "So Jim, I noticed that you moved the furniture back."

"Umm, Naomi… you see…." Jim stammered.

"Don’t worry about it Jim," she said patting him on the arm. "I’ve discovered a much better way to arrange everything. I was at this nice retreat…"

Blair shook his head. I’m going to owe Jim big time. He glared at the phone and dug through his backpack for his paperwork. I'm going to have this phone number memorized by the end of the month. Sandburg punched in the correct number and waited for ‘the voice’ to come on the line.

"It is Friday, July 16, 2004. This message is for jurors in the US District court pool for the month of July. There are no jury meets for the week of July 19 through July 23. Message repeats. There are no jury meets for the week of July 19 through July 23. Please call back again on July 23 after 2pm to check…."

Well that was unexpected. Blair stuffed the paperwork back into the envelope and looked at the numbers written across the top. He glanced at the crossed off ‘2’ and glared at the ‘9’ with it’s circle and ‘x’ as he recalled the roller coaster ride that day had been. He then sighed and placed a large ‘X’ through the number ‘16’.

He underlined the next number. "‘23’. That’s all that’s left. One more phone call… Once more into the breach dear friends."

Feedback is yummy. Cheryl

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