Title: Snippets
Author: Mrs. Fish
Fandom: The Sentinel
Pairing: Jim/Blair
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: m/m implied
Status: Completed
E-mail address for feedback: mrs_fish@hotmail.com
Summary: Various snippets posted to Senad precluding an off-topic post or response.

Disclaimer: These snippets are written for the private entertainment of fans. No infringement of any copyrights held by UPN, Pet Fly Productions, or others is intended. These snippets are not published for profit, and the author does not give permission for these snippets to be reproduced for profit. The author makes no claims on the characters or their portrayal by the creation of these snippets.

Jim put the last of the dinner dishes away, shook out the towel and hung it over the drainer before settling down on the sofa and grabbing the TV remote. He turned on the set and switched to ESPN just as the World Surfing Championships were about to
begin.

"Damn! I know that one."

Settled back, ready to enjoy a quiet evening, Jim was surprised by Blair's outcry. "Sandburg... Everything okay?"

"Oh... sorry, Jim. It's nothing."

Ellison was able to enjoy a few moments of blissful quiet before a loud 'thwak' from the direction of the dining room nearly made him jump off the couch.

"Shit, shit, shit... What is the name of that song?" Blair hit the table again in frustration.

"Sandburg, what the hell are you doing? I thought you were reading your Anthropology newsgroup." The detective turned off the TV, moved behind his roommate and read the info displayed on Blair's laptop. "The Ultimate 80's Music Quiz?"

"Ummm, yeah... See I read the newsgroup on Deja News and they have advertising all over the place, and when I spotted the one for the music quiz, well... I couldn't resist. But it's hard."

Jim bent closer and nuzzled Blair's neck. "But I thought you liked it hard, Chief."

"I like you hard, Jim. Oh, man, that is so distracting. C'mon, babe, stop."

Ellison reluctantly backed away and pulled up a chair next to his lover. "Maybe we could work on it together. I know a few songs from the 80's." He chuckled lightly. "What do we have to do?"

"Okay... There are 221 questions and each question is a line from a song. You just have to identify the song. But it's not as easy as it sounds. Here's the first one: Suckin' on chili dogs outside the Tastee-Freez."

"That's easy, Chief. It's Jack and Diane by John Cougar Mellencamp."

"Yeah, that was an easy one. How about this: Can't get food for the king." Jim thought for a minute, then shook his head. "Beats the hell out of me."

"See what I mean? You still want to do this with me?"

Jim pulled the chair a little to closer to Blair and draped an arm over the younger man's shoulder. "You bet, love. What's the next one?"

"Stupid e-mail program!"

Jim turned to look over at the dining room table where Blair was huddled over his laptop. "Problems again?"

Blair sighed and joined his lover on the couch. "What else? I'm never going to volunteer to test a beta-version of an e-mail program again."

The detective wrapped his arm around the younger man and pulled him close, placing a gentle kiss on the top of his head. "I told you I'd give you the money for a decent e-mail program instead of you using those web-based ones. You wouldn't be having all these problems if you were using something like Eudora Pro."

"I know," Blair said dejectedly. "But you're always buying me stuff. I feel like I'm taking advantage of you."

"Chief, maybe I like buying things for you. After all, when you're happy, I'm happy."

Blair chuckled and looked up at the other man. "You mean when I'm happy, we have sex more often. I've got your number, James Ellison." Sandburg pounced suddenly, pushing his lover down on the sofa, straddling him, and kissing him several times. "And I wouldn't have you any other way."

"Glad to hear it, Chief. I... ohhhhh... ahhhh... yeah, right there, babe."

"Jim... I'm very happy."

Going, Going... Gone

"Aw, man, I don't believe this."

Jim Ellison carefully refolded the newspaper and placed it on the table before addressing his obviously upset lover. "What's wrong, Chief? People griping on the list again?"

"No, Jim, nothing like that. I went to see if an author had added anything new to her website and none of the pages are there. Poof! Gone, just like that."

"Did you type in the right URL?" Jim asked, trying to be helpful.

Sandburg glared at the other man momentarily, shaking his head and mouthing something even sentinel ears couldn't pick up. "Yes, Jim... I'm sure. The reason I'm upset is because I just checked my discussion list and the author posted a message stating that she pulled all her work from the net, including her web site. She said it was because of another fandom she writes in, not the one about the two guys we like."

Jim pushed back his chair and walked over to Sandburg, then wrapped his arms securely around the other man and kissed him lightly on the cheek. "I'm sorry to hear that, Chief. Is she still going to post stories about the guys?"

"No, and that's the part that really sucks. She said she's only going to submit stories to zines from now on. Like I can really afford a lot of those."

The detective squeezed his lover a bit tighter, then whispered softly in Blair's ear, "Guess we'll just have to add zines to the budget, won't we?"

The anthropologist chuckled lightly. "Jim, have I told you how much I love you lately?"

"Not since we woke up. But I don't mind hearing it again."

Sandburg turned slightly in the chair, tilted his head up and said smiling, "I love you, James Ellison."

An answering smile, then Blair found lips pressed firmly against his own, a tongue demanding entrance and fire spreading through his loins.

After several moments, Ellison reluctantly pulled away, panting heavily. "I know, Blair. I love you too. Why don't we go upstairs and I'll show you how much?"

No further words were needed as the two men headed up the stairs hand in hand.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!"

Jim's head snapped around and he was halfway off the couch at the sound of his lover's anguished voice. "Chief, are you all right?"

Blair stormed into the living room and plopped down on the sofa next to the larger man. "Yeah, just frustrated. I usually enjoy surfing the net, but, man, I hate it when I can't find what I want."

Ellison wrapped a strong arm around the distraught man and pulled him close. "Can I help?"

"Mmmmm... You don't happen to speak Arabic do you?"

"Sorry, Chief, don't even know any swear words."

The smaller man sighed audibly. "Guess I'll have to wait until morning and ask someone in the linguistics department. It's just that I was on a roll... Wait, I could just leave a blank spot in the story and go on."

"Story, Chief? Are you writing another piece of fanfiction about the two guys we like?"

Sandburg squirmed from his lover's grasp and headed back toward the study. "Yeah, Jim, I am. Promise I'll read it to you in bed later, but like I said, I'm on a roll."

Jim just shook his head and smiled, looking forward to bedtime.

Jim sat quietly at the dining room table, pouring over his e-mail. He glanced over at his lover and asked, "Chief, you're on some X-Files story lists, aren't you?"

Blair sat up and turned to face the other man. "A couple of them actually. Why?"

"Someone on The Watchman list is looking for a story and it sounds familiar, but I can't think of the name. Thought you might know it."

Sandburg came over and read the posted request. "Oh, yeah! I know that one. It's The Paradox Club by Cody Nelson. It's really hot!"

"Do you know where to find it?" Jim inquired.

"Well, there's a printout in the night stand, but I don't think that will help Moonpuppy. It's archived at MKRA. I'll get the URL so you can reply."

A few moments later...

"Blair, did you say there's a copy of the story in the night stand?"

Sandburg wrapped his arms around his lover and whispered, "Yes... I thought I might read it to you one of these nights. To... get you in the mood."

Jim kissed his partner's hand gently. "You got any plans for tonight, Chief?"

"I do now."

"Oh, man..." Blair Sandburg rose from the table and began pacing around the living room. "Big business really sucks, Jim. All that money and power they wield. How do the little guys stand a chance?"

Ellison watched his partner thoughtfully, waiting for the younger man to calm down. "I think I'd be able to answer your question intelligently if I knew what you were talking about, Chief."

Sandburg joined his lover on the sofa and explained, "I needed the lyrics to a song, so I went to the International Lyrics Server. It has thousands of lyrics that people have submitted. Well there was a message on the main page saying it had been shut down due to alleged copyright violations by some music publishers."

"I don't know what to tell you, Blair; I'm not a lawyer. But if it's any consolation, I agree that shutting down the site sucks." Jim kissed the top of Sandburg's head as he pulled the other man into a warm embrace.

"Thanks, Jim. Glad to know you're on my side."

"Wow! Hey, Jim, somebody found the pic I needed."

"The Diet Coke guy?"

"Yeah, and you're not going to believe this, but the guy was a Ranger. Is being a gorgeous hunk a pre-requisite for joining?" Blair teased as he turned the laptop toward his lover.

"Ha, ha, Sandburg. Let's see... Joined the army at the age of eighteen, was selected as a member of the 1st Ranger Battalion (Black Berets), the elite anti-terrorist and anti-guerrilla response team. In the Rangers he traveled extensively and was trained in many military skills including demolitions, scuba diving and low-level parachuting. After completing his duty with the Rangers he continued to travel on his own, hiking the Himalayas and making twelve outback excursions into Alaska, as well as other remote areas throughout the world... Impressive, Chief, so what's he look like?"

"Well, we have to go to another page for that. Let me type in the URL."

[After waiting for the page to load...]

"Not my type, Chief." Jim pushed the laptop away, stood and started toward the stairs, pulling off his shirt along the way.

"Jim... Jim, where you going?"

"Just thought I'd pull out my fatigues; you know, see if they still fit."

"Fa... fatigues?... Are you gonna take out the greasepaint too?" Blair swallowed hard as he watched his lover strip out of his clothes and head for the closet.

A moment later Jim came back into view carrying four tubes. He leaned over the loft railing and said, "Jungle or desert motif tonight, Chief?"

Blair quickly turned off his computer and took the stairs two at a time.

/Lucky Vanous might be good for a fantasy, but he's nothing compared to what I've got in real life./

And those were the last coherent thoughts either man had for the rest of the night.

Settled comfortably on the sofa, laptop balanced on his knees, Blair Sandburg looked forward to reading a few of his backlogged Watchman-X stories before his partner got home. Maybe even get a few ideas to try out on Jim later. That thought brought a smile to the young man's face.

Blair waited while the modem connected, then went to his bookmarks and clicked on his e-mail program. He then logged in and went to read his e-mail.

"What the fuck is all this shit!" Sandburg exclaimed as he read some of mail headers. "XXX Live Nude Girls XXX; Make $5,000 Legally; ATTRACT THE WOMEN YOU WANT! INSTANT SEX APPEAL; LEARN TO S*E*D*U*C*E MORE WOMEN EASILY AND INSTANTLY!; P.H.E.R.O.M.O.N.E.S ATTRACT WOMEN EASILY."

The familiar rattle of the door made him look up as his partner and lover entered.

"Everything all right, Chief?" Jim asked, throwing his keys in the basket near the door. "I could hear you down the hall even without sentinel senses."

Ellison came over and sat down on the sofa, wrapped his arm around Sandburg's shoulder and drew the other man in for a quick kiss. "C'mon, tell me."

Blair relaxed against Jim and sighed. "I was going to try and catch up on reading before you got home. And when I opened my e-mail, the first thing I saw was all this crap." He gestured toward the screen.

Jim glanced over and saw what the other man was talking about. "Spam. Well, you won't have to worry about it much longer."

Sandburg looked up confused. "Huh? You have some magic solution that's gonna make it go away?"

"Better than magic, Chief. Effective June 11th, unsolicited junk mail to Washington state residents will be illegal under certain circumstances. All you have to do is register all your e-mail addresses to be added to a master database."

"Cool! You have the URL?"

Jim pulled a sheet of paper from his pocket and handed it to his partner. "Thought you'd be interested. Why don't you register while I clean up, then we can read some Watchman-X stories together. Okay?"

"Sounds great to me, Jim. Thanks for the info."

"Any time, Chief. Any time."

The end.

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