By CherylR

August 25, 2004

Thanks always to Judy. My beta, my muse jump starter, my cousin, my friend, and like Blair and Jim… my sister in all but blood. (Well except for the Sentinel senses and the Shaman/Guide thing…and they are both men… and… you get the picture.J )

Beta's notes: But we do share blood… ? <g> Just a quick spoiler's note. Murder 101 and Cheryl is using the stories under "My Sentinel Universe" as a basis for her stories as well. Those stories start after TSbyBS, and this one falls before that, so the one reference she makes to my universe in this story doesn't really matter except as a point of clarification… um, yeah. See the note at the end of the story if you just have to know ahead of time. <g> Enjoy the story. Judy.

Yeah, but its cousin blood not sister blood. Argh! You know what I mean… C.

Blair stood in line to go through the metal detector. He glanced up at the sign. Photo ID. Check. Please remove all metal items from your bag. I forgot about that. Oh man, I wonder what all I have in here. Blair looked into his bag and then shot a glace over his shoulder. "Hey why don’t you go ahead of me. I’m going to have to dig some stuff out of here. It might take a few minutes."

"Thanks," responded the lady behind him, "but you go ahead. I have to dig out my crochet hooks and scissors anyway."

Blair dumped a handful of odds and ends in the bowl and then put his backpack on the conveyer belt. "I think that’s everything," he said as he held out his ID.

The guard just grunted as he looked at the picture and then the man in front of him.

Blair tried to lighten the guard’s mood with his smile. Oh well, some people just refuse to lighten up. He dumped the contents of the bowl back into his bag, returned his ID to his wallet and headed toward the set of double doors in front of him. "Where do I go next? Oh yeah, the jury assembly room. Well," he said with amusement, "that shouldn’t be too hard." The door in front of him was labeled ‘Jury Assembly’ room in very large letters.

He walked into the room and jumped in surprise as ‘the voice’ asked him a question. Blair stood there, caught like a deer in the headlights, until she spoke again.

"Are you here for jury duty?" she repeated.

"Yes, ma’am, I am," Sandburg stuttered.

"Okay. Find your name on those cards over there and then grab a yellow form and fill out your mileage. Remember to put down roundtrip mileage. The line next to it is for how much you spent on parking."

"No problem, but I took the bus. So should I just put the bus fare in the parking amount and leave the mileage section blank?"

"No sir, we don’t pay bus fare."

"But," Blair sputtered. "You mean if I had driven my car all the way here and parked, you would pay both the mileage and the parking fees, but since I saved gas, didn’t add to the commuter problems and helped the environment," he took a deep breath and tried to get his righteous indignation under control, "I have to pay for the expense myself?"

"No sir, you can put down the mileage and we will reimburse you," the lady said calmly.

How the hell are you supposed to clock mileage on a bus? Oh excuse me mister bus driver. Would you mind clocking your mileage as I get on and off your bus, thanks ever so much. "So, umm, how do I figure out what mileage I should put down?" Blair asked.

"Where did you get on the bus?"

"By my place on Prospect Street."

"Okay," she said as she looked at a chart. "That’s about 15 miles one way. So put down 30 on your slip and then grab a button, put it on and go find a seat in the room behind me."

"Um, thanks," Blair said. He grabbed one of the bright yellow buttons. It read ‘JUROR, US District Court.' Man, do these things glow in the dark? Thirty miles at 37.5 cents per mile… It would be cheaper for them if they’d just pay my bus fare.

He saw a sign for bathrooms and after a quick stop found a seat next to the woman who had been behind him in the security check line. "Hi, I’m Blair Sandburg," he said with a smile and a quick glance down at her fingers. "We’re going to have to stop meeting like this. What would your husband think?"

The woman chuckled. "Judy Sam. Pleased to meet you. My husband is pretty easy going, he’d probably just kill you."

"Ouch," Blair said and scooted his chair a bit further away from the woman. "I’m harmless, really." He shot her a look full of puppy dog eyes.

She snorted and tapped him on the arm. "What a flirt you are. I should…"

They both straighten up as ‘the voice’ stepped into the room and up to the podium. "Okay, it’s now 8:15 so we’re going to go ahead and get started. My name is Joanne Book, and I’m in charge of the jury selection process. I will give you a brief orientation and then we will all proceed to the court room for jury selection. The judge today is Judge Daniel Willie. If you are selected as a juror and have any problems that would make you late tomorrow or any day that you are supposed to report for duty, call us at these numbers." She then proceeded to list three numbers. "You can also call the numbers listed in your juror summons paperwork. If you have to call in, be sure to give your name, Judge Willie’s name and your problem to the person you speak to," Joanne stated firmly.

Blair’s eyes were starting to cross, but he was still faithfully taking notes as she wound down. "…If you are not selected for the jury panel, your service has been completed. You do not need to come back to this room nor do you need to call the jury line any longer. Thank you. You have a few minutes left. Take advantage of the vending machines and the facilities. Once you are upstairs, you will not be allowed to read or do anything that might take your attention away from the proceedings."

Judy raised her hand. "Umm, how about crocheting?" she asked as she held up the blanket she’d been working on."

Joanne frowned. "I wouldn’t if I were you."

"Oh, okay. Thanks," Judy said quietly as she shrank back in her chair.

~~~~~~~~~~~

"…so then I said, man, get over it. It’s just a shirt," Blair chuckled as he glanced at his new partner in crime. "So am I doing this right?"

Judy leaned over and looked at the crochet hook and the yarn on either side of it. "Looks good Blair. Just remember not to hold the yarn too tight or you’ll never get the next row in. Keep everything nice and loose and uniform. Are you sure you’ve never done this before? You’re pretty good for a beginner."

"Nope, first time," Blair said getting tangled up in the yarn as he tried to talk with his hands. "This is going to be really great," Blair said enthusiastically. "I’m going to make an afghan to replace the one on the back of the couch. The current one is starting to get old and abused. Won’t Jim be surprised," Blair chuckled again and then he jumped in surprise as ‘the voice’ came back.

Joanne returned to the podium. "Okay everyone, listen up. I know that I told you we would be moving upstairs at nine, but they aren’t ready for you yet. We should be going up at 9:30. For those of you who were trying to get items from the vending machines, they’ve been restocked and you have time to enjoy them."

The occupants of the room let out a heavy sigh all at once.

Blair started laughing. "Oh man, I don’t believe this. How much more hurry up and wait do we have to put up with?"

An elderly gentleman from the back snorted. "You’ve obviously never served in the military young man."

"Well," Blair said evasively with a smile and a twinkle in his eyes. "My roommate has. Does that count?"

~~~~~~~~~~~

Joanne walked back up to the podium. "When I call your name please respond and move to the front of the room. Remember to take all of your belongings with you, because you will not be returning to this room." She looked down at the cards in her hand. "Blair Sandburg…"

Blair gave the crochet hook back to Judy and smiled as he put the yarn and the start of his blanket into his backpack. "Thanks for the lessons."

Judy smiled back and quickly put away her supplies. The jurors shifted restlessly as they waited their turn for the elevators. With such a large group it was going to take several elevators to hold them all. Joanne told them to wait for her in the foyer on the tenth floor. The group that Blair was with made the trip upstairs in silence.

After they regrouped, Joanne led the way to the courtroom. Judy was suddenly shoved into Blair by a couple of guys who were yelling at each other. The two rather large, loud, angry men pushed through the rest of the jurors and into the first courtroom.

Man, glad we’re not going in there. Blair sighed with relief as they continued past the first courtroom and went through the set of double doors right next door.

~~~~~~~~~

They must have awesome soundproofing in this building. I can’t hear anything from next door and you know those guys didn’t just suddenly stop yelling. Hmm, wonder if they use white noise generators instead? They’d probably be cheaper. Blair rolled his eyes and looked around the room. This is so boring. Blair sighed. I can’t believe that we have to just sit here and do nothing. When is the judge going to show up? Looks like everyone else is here. Blair turned slightly and looked at Judy sitting next to him. He leaned over slightly and whispered, "If we’re going to be stuck here for a long time, you’d think they could pipe in some music or something."

Judy laughed and then tried to smother it and whispered back, "I know what you mean. I’d pull out my crochet except they made such a big deal out of it downstairs. How much longer do you think we’ll have to sit here?"

"No idea."

They both focused on the court deputy as he placed a pile of cards in a large wooden sphere.

"Great a lotto drawing…Wonder if they’d mind it we get a card game going or something?" Blair muttered mostly to himself.

Judy tried to stifle her laugh again. "Shh, you’re going to get us in trouble."

~~~~~~~

The court deputy stood up as the door opened. He banged the gavel as he said, "All rise this court is now in session. The Honorable Daniel Willie presiding."

"You may be seated," the judge said.

Everyone regained their seats as the judge started talking about what was going to happen next. Several minutes later the court deputy pulled the first name out of the lottery machine. "Blair Sandburg…"

"Juror number one please move to the seat all the way to the end of the top row and sit down."

Blair grabbed his backpack and numbly moved into the appropriate place. I didn’t think they’d pick me.

"Juror number two, Judy Sam."

Judy grabbed her bag and moved to the seat next to Blair. Blair shot her a reassuring glance and then looked back at the deputy.

~~~~

A few minutes and fourteen other people later, the jury box was full. Blair returned his attention to the judge as the man started talking.

"There are sixteen of you sitting in the jury box," Judge Willie began. "We are going to go through a process of ‘for cause’ elimination where I will ask you a series of questions and dismiss you if necessary. Please remember you are under oath so be sure to answer all questions truthfully and to the best of your ability. If you are dismissed, it doesn’t mean that you are a bad person, just that for one reason or another you are not the correct juror for this trial.

Any juror that is dismissed will be replaced with another person until we get through all of the questions with sixteen remaining jurors. We need sixteen because the lawyers for the defense and the plaintiff will each have three preemptive challenges, for a total of six. That will leave us with ten jurors for this trial. Does anyone have any questions?" the judge asked. He waited for a minute then continued. "I’m going to start with a few easy group questions first. You answer ‘yes’ or ‘no’ when appropriate."

Blair closed his eyes to prevent a noticeable eye roll. This is going to take for ever.

The judge pointed at the plaintiff and her attorneys. "This is Ms. Sonder Park. Her attorneys… Mr. Ward and Ms. Summers. Do you know any of them?"

Everyone in the jury box said, "No."

The judge then motioned toward the defense table. "This is Ms. Katie Money for the XYZ Corporation, a holding company for Rice Corp which does business as Food Bunny in Cascade. Their attorneys are Mr. Merten, Mrs. Reif, and Ms. Tandy. Do you know any of these people or anyone who works for XYZ Corp, Rice Corp or the Food Bunny?"

One juror raised his hand. "I do."

"Yes, juror number ten. Who do you know and what is your relationship with them?" the judge asked.

"My daughter is the CFO of the Rice Corp," juror ten stated.

"Juror ten, you are excused from service at this time. The court deputy will now select another juror for the box."

The next potential juror was added and the questions continued.

"Do any of you know me or any of my staff," the judge asked as he listed the names and titles of all of his staff.

"No," the jurors replied.

"Okay, ladies and gentlemen," the judge intoned, "the final group question is, would any of you suffer undue hardship if you were selected for this trial? Let me explain a bit before you answer. We are expecting to have everything wrapped up and turned over to the jury for deliberations by next Wednesday. Most juries don’t take more than a few hours to a day to come to a decision, so this trial should be finished up by next Thursday or Friday. So undue hardship would be a self-employed person who has a current client at or near the end of a contract. Or someone who has a pre-paid vacation that starts before the end of the trial. Things like that."

A few of the jurors, including Blair raised their hands.

The judge went down the list. "Yes juror number one. State your case."

Blair cleared his throat then said, "Sir, I’m attending Rainier University and the next two weeks are still semester finals."

"So what did you do about tests today?" Judge Willie asked.

"I didn’t have to take any today and I got someone to proctor for the tests that I had to give today," Blair responded.

"Sounds like you’ve got it covered," the judge glanced down at his names board, "Mr. Sandburg. What’s the problem?"

"Sir, I’m supposed to take another two exams and give several more. Plus there is all the grading and the posting."

"Can you get it covered?"

"I think so," Blair said hesitantly. "Of course I’d do my best. But, I had to go through several people before I could find someone to cover my classes today."

"You seemed to be a capable young man. I’m sure that you can handle this matter. Next. Juror number seven, what is your concern?" the judge asked.

And so it continued for several more minutes. He let the painter go. Is it because he sees me as "just a student?" If I had a real job would he have let me go? Well, the guy with the vacation that starts a week from Friday has to stay too. I wonder if the judge is leaving him on in hopes of getting the jury to make a fast decision?

"Juror number one," the judge intoned as he glanced down at the board of name cards, "Blair Sandburg."

"Yes Sir," Blair said as he straightened up in his chair.

The judge continued, "Please take the microphone from the gentleman in front of you and speak into it as you answer the next set of questions."

Blair accepted the microphone then took a deep breath to settle his suddenly nervous stomach.

"Mr. Sandburg what do you do for a living?" the judge asked.

Keep the answers short and to the point, Blair my man. "I’m a graduate student working towards my doctorate in Anthropology and a teaching fellow at Rainier University." He started to pass the mike to Judy but the judge wasn’t done with him.

"Hold on to the microphone Mr. Sandburg. We are going to take all the jurors through the entire set of questions before moving on to the next one."

"Oops, sorry about that." Blair shrugged sheepishly.

"Have you ever been selected for jury duty before?"

"No Sir."

"Have you ever served in the Military?" Judge Willie asked offhandedly.

"Yes Sir."

"You have?" the judge asked in amazement. He cleared his throat then stated, "You have. What division of the Armed Forces? When did you serve? What was the highest rank you achieved? And were you honorably discharged?"

"Army. 1988 to 1992. O-3. Yes, sir, honorably discharged," Blair responded

"Desert Storm?" the judge asked.

"Desert Storm was in ’91. Yes sir," Blair agreed.

"Captain Sandburg…" The judge began.

Blair winced and interrupted him, "Sir, could you just call me Blair? I haven’t been ‘Captain’ in a long time. I might forget to respond to that designation and I wouldn’t want to offend you."

"Mr. Sandburg," the judge tried again, "were you involved in Desert Storm?"

It was worth a try. Blair sighed. "Sir everyone in the military at the time was in some way involved in Desert Storm."

"Mr. Sandburg are you deliberately trying to be obtuse?" the judge fumed.

"Sir, I guess that I just don’t see the relevance of what my level of involvement in Desert Storm has on my abilities as a juror for this case. Is the defendant a war veteran?"

"No, the defendant is not a war veteran. The question is relevant, because I said it was relevant," the judge stated firmly. "So Mr. Sandburg, I’ll ask again. Were you involved in Desert Storm?"

"I flew Apaches in Desert Storm," Blair shifted restlessly in his chair. "My bird was shot down and I was a P.O.W. for a while," he finished quietly.

"I see," the judge said solemnly. "Thank you for your candor. The next question is, have you ever been terminated from a job or disciplined by a boss while you were employed?"

"I’ve never been terminated from a job but I have been disciplined," Blair said remembering to talk into the mike.

"Some more details would be appreciated Mr. Sandburg," the judge sighed.

"Umm sure, I was cited for insubordination a couple of times in the Army and disciplined a couple of times by Rainier," Blair shrugged.

"Mr. Sandburg let’s take this one job at a time," the judge said. "Start with why you were cited for insubordination in the Army."

"A difference of opinion with my C.O. about a few orders," Blair said with a shrug.

"Please elaborate Mr. Sandburg," Judge Willie suggested.

"Orders were given. I requested clarification. The request was denied and I responded back with another question. That question wasn’t answered either. I said something to my C.O. that he didn’t like. I was told that I was insubordinate. That’s pretty much it."

The judge briefly closed his eyes. "Okay Mr. Sandburg, we’ll move on to the time you were disciplined at Rainier."

"Oh that’s easy. I was told to adjust the grades of a few students. I said no and was disciplined for it. Oh yeah, I also caught a student cheating, but since his dad was rich I was dismissed. They changed their minds and ‘un-dismissed’ me when the guy was later booked for murder."

The judge shook his head in dismay. Is this guy a plant? No one really has this kind of life. It sounds like a soap opera. "Let’s move on to the next question…"

~~~~

"…so that’s why I believe as I do." Blair took a deep breath. "Of course, that's just my opinion, everyone else’s opinion is just as valid."

Judge Willie rubbed his forehead. "Very nice summation. The next question will give us a little bit more knowledge of you as a person. What are your hobbies?"

Blair scrunched up his face in confusion. Hobbies? No, don’t ask questions. Just answer them so we can get done with this some time today. "I like to read. People watch. Play basketball. Cook exotic food. Play my guitar. Go camping and fishing."

"Thank you Mr. Sandburg. Now tell us about the books you’re currently reading or your favorite book and then do the same with movies."

"Books… Well, I’m currently reading "Folklore and Cultural Worldview" by Barre Toelken and "Shamans, Housewives and Other Restless Spirits: Gender and Religion" by Laurel Kendall. I have started a couple others, but I’m not far enough into them to be able to tell you if I like them or not," Blair started.

"Mr. Sandburg," the judge interrupted, "I don’t want what you’re reading for class, but for pleasure."

Blair grimaced a bit and cleared his throat, "that is my pleasure reading list. I have a bunch of other stuff for school." He shrugged and added, "I like reading fantasy and science fiction stories too. As far as movies go… my roommate likes action movies so the last one I saw was the Lethal Weapon collection."

"Thank you Mr. Sandburg. Let’s move on to juror number two," Judge Willie glanced at the name board, "Mrs. Judy Sam. Mrs. Sam…"

And so it continued.

He doesn't seem to be spending as much time with any of the other jurors. I'm not sure if it's because the judge went into so much detail about the reasons behind some of the questions or if it seemed to take so long because it was me he was asking.

They only made it to juror number eleven by noon. The judge decided to take a lunch break and finish up afterwards. Everyone had to be back promptly at 1:20 for a 1:30pm start.

~~~~

"Hey Jim, it’s Blair," a tired sounding voice came over the line.

"Hey Chief, you sound tired. How’s it going?" Jim asked as a concerned frown creased his forehead.

"I am tired," Blair sighed. "I think I’m going to be spending the next week and a half on jury duty man. I was the first one picked for the box."

"What about finals?" Jim asked.

"The judge decided that I am a ‘capable young man’ and could figure out how to keep up with finals in my spare time. Man, I felt like I was on the witness stand. He asked me a ton of questions. I tried to give ‘Ellison’ answers but he kept asking me to elaborate. I wonder if the rest of the jurors are tired of me? It felt like I answered questions forever," Blair rolled his eyes. "We're only up to juror eleven. Maybe I should make some phone calls and see if I can start getting my classes covered."

"Why don’t you hold off on that. It won’t make much difference if you wait until tonight to start getting everything figured out. And who knows, maybe one of the lawyers will kick you off," Jim teased trying to cheer up his friend.

"Yeah, you’re right," Blair sighed again. "I’ll wait until tonight. I guess I’ll let you get back to work. The sun just came out," Blair said in amazement. "I’m going to find a good spot and catch some rays while I eat my lunch. Talk to you later, big guy."

"Hang in there Chief. Give me a call when you’re done for the day," Jim rumbled comfortingly.

"Will do, Jim. Will do." Blair hung up and looked around for a nice spot to enjoy the rare appearance of the sun.

~~~~~~~~~~

"Hey," one of the jurors said as he patted Blair on the arm.

"Yes?" Blair responded.

"Man, I’m so glad that I didn’t have to go first. I thought that the judge was never going to finish up with you. Thanks for wearing him down so that he took it easier on the rest of us."

Blair stood dumbfounded for a minute then grinned. "Umm, you’re welcome. Glad to help. I thought that maybe you guys would be mad at me for taking so long."

"Naw. The judge, man, he was fresh and was using all that extra energy on you. You got him all broken in for us… so thanks."

Blair beamed with happiness and relief. "You’re welcome." He looked around the foyer. "I guess we should head back inside. Wouldn’t do to be late."

"Yeah, that’s reserved for the judge," his fellow juror muttered.

Blair laughed and opened the first of the double doors to the courtroom. He stopped suddenly when he heard yelling coming from behind him. Geesh, they’re at it again. Man I’m glad that we don’t have to listen to them. Blair continued on into the court room and resumed his place.

~~~~~~~~~~

Blair leaned over slightly and whispered to Judy, "Here we go again."

Judy snickered and tried to disguise it with a cough. "Would you stop that. You’re going to get us in trouble. Here," she said as she handed him a crochet hook, "why don’t you work on your blanket while we wait."

"Thanks, Judy," Blair said softly with a grin. "I forgot to tell Jim that I learned a new skill today."

"Shh," Judy chuckled.

~~~~~~~~

"All rise. The court is back in session…" the Court Deputy intoned.

Blair quickly returned the hook to Judy and folded and stashed away the blanket in his backpack.

"Please remember that you are still under oath," the judge began. "Let’s see, we got to juror number eleven before we broke for lunch. So… juror number twelve… Mr. Davis…"

This is going to take forever. We’ve a nice assortment of professions in the jury box. A retired police officer, a medical billing clerk, a hospice nurse. Man I don’t think I could do that job. Someone from the Ecology Department, a respiratory tech, a CFO… We have all of the military services represented except for the Navy. Wonder why that is? Seems like we're close enough to the water that some ex-Navy person would want to retire here. I guess they just didn’t get picked for the jury. Wonder if there's someone sitting in the benches who’s ex-Navy. Blair glanced at the judge. Guess there’s no good way of finding out. He sighed and tuned back in for a moment. Oh goody, last one.

"Thank you juror number sixteen. Now, the attorneys for the plaintiff and for the defense have the opportunity to ask you some questions individually or as a group," the judge looked at the clock and then lawyers. "Due to the time, please limit your questions to fifteen minutes."

Time to pay attention again. Blair rolled his eyes.

The attorneys for both sides asked both general and then more specific questions as they tried to decide who to keep and who to use their three slots to remove from the panel.

Blair had decided four of the six jurors that he would excuse if it was up to him. Come on already, he huffed in frustration then frowned in apprehension. Now what?

~~~~~

"Okay everyone, listen up," Simon Banks barreled of his office pulling on his flack jacket. "We have a report of a hostage situation on the tenth floor of the District Courthouse…"

"Oh shit," Ellison blurted out as he grabbed for his vest. "Sandburg got called in for jury duty today. He’s at the District Courthouse… on the tenth floor."

"Of course he is," Simon said with a worried growl. "Let’s go people! We should just assign a team to follow Sandburg around," Banks muttered as they headed for the door. "Think of all the time we would save."

~~~~

"I’m not sure why we bothered to take vehicles to the scene, sir. With this traffic, it would’ve been faster to just jog over," Ellison grumbled.

"Keep your pants on Ellison. We’re almost there. Besides we may need the car later," Simon growled back. Hopefully not to make a hospital run. Simon threw the gear shift into park and jumped out of the car bellowing orders to the surrounding officers. "Who’s in charge here? Do we have a command post set up? I need a status report right now."

One of the patrol officers squared his shoulders and approached the rather large captain. "Captain, I’m Lieutenant Kyle. I've been temporary scene commander pending your arrival. If you will follow me, we have a command post set up in the back of the communications van that arrived a few minutes ago. We're still trying to get a hold of someone inside the courtroom. A witness reported shots fired and yelling. She said she saw a couple of people on the floor who appeared to be injured before the doors leading into the courtroom were closed."

Banks looked over at the woman that Kyle was pointing toward and nodded. He turned toward H and Rafe, "go talk to her. See if you can get a description of the injured parties."

"We’re on it Cap," Brown said.

Rafe responded at the same time, "Yes Captain, if we find any info about Sandburg, we’ll let you know."

"Sandburg?" the lieutenant asked. "You think Blair Sandburg’s in there?"

"You know Sandburg?"

"Sir, I think everyone at Central knows Sandburg. Or at least knows of him," Kyle stated.

"Yeah," Simon sighed. "Biggest trouble magnet I’ve ever seen. He pulled jury duty today and Ellison said he’s in the courtroom on the tenth floor."

"Captain Banks, I don’t want to raise any unfounded hopes but, there are two courtrooms on that floor."

"Ellison," Banks bellowed.

Jim appeared at Simon’s side as if he'd teleported there. "Sir?" Jim asked apprehensively.

"There are two courtrooms on that floor," Simon began.

"I wonder if it’s better or worse if he’s in the other one right now?" Jim sighed.

"What do you mean?" Lieutenant Kyle sputtered. "How could it be worse if he wasn’t being held hostage?"

"Because Sandburg is a trouble magnet," Jim growled. "If he was a hostage right now, he would’ve been in it from the beginning. He would have seen it develop and be better prepared than if he just stumbled into the situation as it stands now."

"Okay…" Kyle said with a bit of disbelief. "We have people getting into position on the tenth floor. I’ll make sure that they’re informed about the other courtroom and keep everyone contained until we clear everything up."

Jim nodded slowly. "It couldn’t hurt and who knows it might even work for Sandburg." He slapped Kyle on the back and nodded to Simon. "I’ll be over by your car if you need me. I’m going to go see what I can find out," Jim finished cryptically as he walked away.

~~~~

"Brown and Rafe said that from the witness description, neither of the injured were Sandburg," Simon said by way of a greeting as he walked over towards his car.

"Well, that’s something," Jim grumbled. "I haven't discovered anything sir. Huge sections of the building are missing, it’s like entire rooms are surrounded by white noise generators."

Banks squeezed Ellison’s shoulder in comfort. "Damn, I was really hoping that you could let us know what was going on in that courtroom."

"I can hear our guys outside in the hall but, I can’t hear anything from inside either courtroom," Jim rubbed his forehead in frustration.

~~~~

I can’t believe this. Blair stood slowly in amazement. He looked down at his ‘partner in crime’ in confusion and disbelief. Blair slowly reached down and grabbed his backpack. He gave Judy’s hand a squeeze and offered her a comforting smile in parting. He silently joined the other jurors and left the courtroom.

~~~~

"Well, we could…" Simon was suddenly cut off.

"They’re coming out," both a voice over the radio and Ellison said at the same time.

The officer on the radio continued, "It seems that one of the jurors managed to talk both defendants into giving up."

Simon and Jim looked at each other and then hurried toward the building. They looked at the bank of elevators and then saw the sign for the stairs. Jim shrugged his shoulders. "It’s only nine flights."

"Damnit Sandburg, I’m getting too old for this shit," Simon muttered as both men headed for the stairs

~~~~

Blair exited the courtroom and momentarily froze in shock. He slowly held up his hands to show that he was unarmed. "Easy guys, don’t shoot. The judge just dismissed us," he nodded his head toward the other five people with him.

"Sorry sir," one of the officers began, "we’ve had a hostage situation next door and I’m going to have to ask the six of you to come with me. We can get you out of the building by this set of stairs," he said pointing toward the exit sign behind them.

Oh wow! I wonder if Jim… The thought was abruptly cut short as Ellison and Banks opened the stairwell door and stormed towards their wayward observer.

"Chief, are you okay?" Jim asked anxiously as he patted his partner down searching for injuries.

"Jim," Blair started.

"Sandburg," Simon growled, "this is the last time I let you go anywhere without an escort."

"But Simon," Blair tried again.

"I can’t find anything wrong but, I think we should take him to the hospital just to make sure," Jim said firmly.

"Hospital?" Blair sputtered. "Wait a minute, big guy. I don’t need to go to the hospital. I wasn’t involved in the hostage situation. I didn’t even know anything was going on until we came out of the courtroom. Look, ask the nice officer here if you don’t believe me."

The officer in question had been standing back watching in amazement as the two rather large men almost engulfed the smaller one. So that’s what they mean by a ‘Sandburg alert’. Now I’ve seen it in action. Glad they give out warnings. He tried to wipe the smile off his face as the three men turned to look at him. "Yes Sir, Captain Banks sir. The gentleman is correct. He came out of the adjoining room. I was escorting them to safety when you and Detective Ellison?" at the nod, he continued, "Detective Ellison arrived."

"See," Blair said as he waved his arms. "Not everything that happens in this town happens to me." He firmly planted his hands on his hips in a ‘so there’ gesture that was not lost on the observing officer.

"Sure Chief, you just keep living in that fantasy world of yours," Ellison said as he grabbed his partner and gave him a quick noogie.

"Hey man, not the hair," Sandburg fumed.

Ellison and Banks laughed in relief and started to escort the younger man down the stairs. "So, what are you doing out of the courtroom anyway?"

"Oh you are so not going to believe this… I got voted off the island, man." Blair said his voice fading as the door closed behind the three men.

The officer started laughing and knew that he was going to be dining well all week off of what he had seen today. The legend of the ‘Sandburg Curse’ was alive and well… and growing.

The end

Feed the plot bunnies. Let me know what you think. Cheryl

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Author’s Notes:

Okay… okay. I know that Survivor’s first show wasn’t until end of May 2000. But that was my first thought as my name was one of the six called and dismissed. I've never even watched the show except for the last ep. So it just goes to show how things can pop up and be added to our culture.

As mention earlier, this series was based on RL. I did go through several babysitters before my husband took the day off and stayed home with our two kids (they’re four and five). It really did take until 3pm to get the jury selected. I was the first one picked and then finally booted by one of the lawyers. By that time I was a bit disappointed. I wanted to see how everything worked out. There was a courtroom right next to the one I was in. It was in session. But, as far as I know <G> there wasn’t a hostage situation while I was there. A hostage situation is so Blair, that I had to add it.

About the books that Blair listed as his current pleasure reading material. The first one is a real book. The second was the title of an Anthro 300 level class lecture. I loved it so much that I had to add it as a book title.

Personally, when the judge asked me the movie and book question… the first thing that popped into my mind was "you mean besides Barney, right?" I had to go back to "The Lord of the Rings" to get a movie. Well, one other than "Clifford" and like children's films.

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Beta clarification: the part of the story that falls into my universe is that Blair was in the Army and served in Desert Storm. Cheryl! You realize this is causing another plot bunny to form! 'Cause now we have to have a story where Jim and the others find out about Blair's time as a POW!!! <g>. J

Plot bunny? What do you mean plot bunny? (slapping sounds) get back in your hole. Argh!!!! J C

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