An Ethnography of The Sentinel: Fan Fiction, and Why Writers Write
By Debra S. "Tegan" Ridgway
*~*~*~*
Jim came down the
stairs, and was heading to the door, as Blair was putting the last
of the refreshments on the table. Jim opened the door just as Simon
was raising his hand to knock.
"You
would think that once, just once in this century, that I would get
to knock on this door before you open it," Simon growled good
naturedly.
Jim looked at Simon,
smiled and then closed the door.
Blair started laughing as the knock
came and Jim politely opened the door to admit their Captain.
"Funny Ellison, very funny," Simon
said as he stood there with his hands full.
"Well sir, you asked. Just don't say
that I never gave you what you asked for," Jim answered as he stood
back to allow Simon in.
Simon was
followed by the rest of the Major Crimes Department along with the
new officers that had been recently assigned to the department.
Taking a quiet head count, Blair was
amazed that everyone that they had invited to the New Year's Eve Y2K
party had shown up. including his Mother, Naomi Sandburg. //Let's
see, we have Jim and me. Simon Banks and his son Daryl, who had
finished collage and was going into the Police Academy in January.
Henry Brown and his partner Brian Rafe came with Joel Taggert.
Simon's Secretary Rhonda, and Inspector Megan Connor. Jim's ex-wife
Carolym Plummer came at Jim's request as she was in town helping out
with a case, as well as the new Officer Lila Hobson who was just
assigned to MC. Dan Wolf and his new assistant Incacha showed up.
And last but not least, there were the other three officers that had
also been recently assigned to their departmtent, Officers Kincade,
Bracket and Zeller.//
//It was fun
because when the names of these three were first brought up to the
department, everbody just about jumped out of their skins. It took a
couple of weeks for things to settle down, but they soon learned
that these were very dedicated, hard working men and they had
nothing to fear from them.//
Blair
was still amazed at his popularity, not only in the PD, but in the
community at large. When his dissertation had been leaked to the
press, and he claimed that he was a fraud to protect Jim, he never
in his wildest dreams, thought that he would ever be allowed into
the PD again. much less the university. But here he was, not only a
full fledged Detective in his own right, but he had gotten his Ph.D.
on Sentinels anyway.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Laughing to himself, he remembered
the events clearly. After giving the 'fraud' press conference, he
was told by the Chancellor that he had embarrased the University for
the last time, and he had until Friday to clean out his offce.
At that point, he thought that the
only important thing was Jim, even though Jim thought that he had
purposedly leaked the dissertation to the press. After catching
Zeller though, it was a different story. Once he had cleaned out his
office at Ranier, he had come back to the PD to have a last look
around. That was when everyone from the department had shown up,
Megan and Simon, who had just gotten out of the hospital, came over
to say goodby. Or so he thought. When Jim tossed him the Detectives
shield and told him that he was going to be Jim's permonant partner
as soon as he went through the academy, he thought that he was going
to cry.
But that was only the
beginning. It seems that the good citizens of Cascade liked the
resident Anthropologist that worked with the best detective that the
Cascade PD ever had, and even though Blair was going to be going
through the Police Academy, he still deserved his Ph.D., and any
teaching offer that went along with that as well.
So they banded together and
basically drug the press with them to the University, going straight
to the Chancellor's office and told her that in no uncertain terms
that they knew that Blair was lying when he cried fraud on his
dissertation. That they believed that Jim Ellison could do what
Blair said that he could do. And that they should not only give
Blair his degree, but that the press should stay away from both
Blair and Detective Ellison and let them do their jobs, because this
last time that the press was hounding the detective, it almost got
several other officers killed. They also stated that becaue the
publishing company had been the ones to leak the dissertation to the
press, that they should not only give Blair their previous offer
outright as a kinda peace offering, but even if Blair decided to go
with another publishing company, that they should honor that and
accept their losses and consider it a lesson that should never have
to be repeated.
They also told the
publishing company that they should pay for the damages that they
had caused. Not only damge to the buildings, but to the other
officers that were injured because of the trouble their presence
caused, and that for this, that the press that was involved should
also be accountable.
Lastly, they
went to the Commissioner's office and told her and the Chief of
Police that if Ellison used his senses in the line of duty, then it
was in the line of duty and that there was no need to get IA
involved. He was a good detective before his senses, and he was just
that much better after the senses.
None of this was leaked to Jim or to
Blair as they tried to piece their lives back together, and figure
out what to do next. Two days after Blair was offered the gold
shield, he and the rest of Major Crimes was called into a meeting
with the Commissioner. Attending, were the Governor, Mayor,
Commissioner, Chief of Police, as well as the Chancellor of Ranier,
publisher Sid Graham, Naomi and selected press membors along with
the Spokesperson for the citizens of Cascade.
Blair looked at Jim, and asked with
just the look on his face, Do you have any idea of what is going on?
Jim just shrugged his shoulders. Blair decided that if Jim had any
idea of what was going on, that he was hiding it really well.
"Good afternoon everyone," The man
behind the podium said as the people quieted down and acknowledged
the man who was ready to speak, "My name is Michael Johnson, and I
was born and raised in Cascade. In fact, I went to school with
Detective Ellison when he was in grade school. I've watched his
career from the time he was brought back from Peru. When he came
back fro Peru, he was different from the boy I knew in school, kinda
like something was missing. When he joined the Cascade PD, he became
a really good detective. But when he and Blair Sandburg teamed up, I
could see the young boy that was back. Someone who was always able
to find things that no one else could. Always be able to tell you
what was going to be for dinner. That was, until a good friend of
his was killed. Then, my famly moved to a different part of the city
and we lost contact."
"What I'm
trying to say here, is that what the press claimed that Mr. Sandburg
wrote, and then claimed as fraud, is in fact the God's honest truth.
Jim Ellison is a Sentinel. His partner Blair Sandburg is his Guide.
Now we, the citizens of Cscade know why Mr. Sandburg did what he did
to protect his Sentinel, but the citizens of Cascade want you to
know that we want you to continue to look out for us. We want you to
know that we will do everything in our power to keep you safe, so
that you can continue to do your job."
"We also believe that Mr. Sandburg
should get his degree, and that he should be given the respect and
recogonition that he deserves. All the citizens ask in return, is
the real truth. Are you, Detective James Ellison, a Sentinel?" Jim
looked over to Blair, who was standing there with his mouth hanging
open in total and complete shock. Putting his hand on Blair's back,
Jim steared him towards the front of the room, before looking at
Michael and saying, "Yes Michael, I am a Sentinel, and without
Blair's help, I would not be here today."
Looking back to the detective and
his partner, Michael said, "Thank you , we appreciate your honesty.
We did however run into a small snag when we were setting all of
this up. Someone mentioned that the government might try to wisk you
away to parts unknown for testing and what not, so we called them to
let them know that that was just NOT acceptible. We told them, that
you were our guardian angel and we were keeping you, and that if
they wanted to know something about your senses, that they could ask
either you or your partner. They have no need to take you away from
what you do best. Plus the fact that they would be better off
studying you in your element, and not in some lab somewhere."
Everyone in the room said "AMEN TO THAT," after which the spokesman
turned the podium over to the Chancellor of the University.
As soon as the voices in the room
again settled down, the Chancellor began to speak. "Mr. Sandburg, if
you would be so kind as to step foward." Blair did as he was asked,
and found Jim to be right behind him. "At this time, I have two
things to say to you Mr. Sandburg. First of all, I would like to
appologize to you for the way I myself and the University has
treated you over this. We should have been paying more attention to
you, and what was going on with you instead of just the publicity
for the University. I hope you will accept our sincerest opoligies."
Blair nodded his approval, and the
Chancellor seemed to relax just a little at this point. Continuing,
she reached over and accepted a fairly large flat box from her
assistant. Turning, she looked straight at Blair."The dissertation
committee has gone over your dissertation with a fine toothed comb,
and Ranier University would now like to honor you with the degree of
Doctorate in Philosophy in Anthropology. You are elgable to all of
the rights and priveledges pertaining to this degree." Pulling a
frame from the box, she presented Blair wih a beautifully framed
diploma.
"Congradulations, Doctor Sandburg. We wish you all
of the best in your future. We also would like to offer you a
position as a proessor in our Anthropology Department if you are
still interested. You are a good teacher, and your students like you
a lot. I know you are going to the Police Academy and all, but we
would be honored if you were still interested in teaching as well."
Blair's eyes were very moist at this
point and he was still staring at the diploma with his name on it.
Looking up, he said, "I would like that very much."
"Then we shall be in touch," the
Chancellor said, then stepped back as she turned the podium over to
Sid Graham.
Sid got up to the podium
and looked at both Jim and Blair. Both men almost shivered at the
thought of what he was going to do at this point. Feeling a hand on
their shoulders, both of them turned to look at Naomi who had come
up to give her son and his partner any and all support that he
needed. Both men relaxed under her comfort as they retrned their
attention to the man at the podium.
Sid looked at both Jim and Blair,
and holding an envelope out to Blair, he said, "I too must apoogize
for the mess that we caused over your work. We still want to publish
your work, but can certainly understand if you do not want to work
further with us on this. We also would like you to accept this along
with out sincerest apoligies for the trouble that we have caused."
Handing Blair an envelop, he then turned to the Commissioner and
said, "We would also like to present the Cascade PD with this to
cover any damages that were caused because of our and the press'
interference."
By this time, Blair
had opened the envelope and was looking it over when Jim reached out
and led him to a chair as his knees gave way.
Looking up to see the worry in his
partner's face, Blair just handed him the paper. Jim read through
the paper and was soon sharing the chair with his partner as his own
knees gave way.
Simon, seeing what
had happened to the two men, came to see if he could help. Naomi was
reading the letter that she had taken from Jim's hand as Simon got
to them. "Oh my God," was all that she said before she to had too
sit down.
"Jim, Blair, are you two
alright?" Simon asked as he got to the men.
"I think so Simon," Blair said as he
met Simon's worried gaze .
Sid had
turned the podium over to the Commissioner and she was waiting until
her men had had a chance to catch their breath. Once she had their
attention, she looked at Blair and handed him the same wallet that
Jim had tossed him several days before, and said, Dr. Sandburg,
after IA reviewed all of Jim's past cases, they concluded that it
was your help that has made a good hard working cop into a great
hard working cop, and at this time we would like to offer you the
position of Detective, with back pay from the time that you first
began as an observer and Jim's partner. The title should be
considered honerary until the time that you complete the academy and
get your certification. If that is ok with you?"
Blair just nodded as that was all
that he could do at the moment. The rest of the room however,
errupted in applause and cheers.
After several minutes, the room
quieted down and the Commissioner finished her speach. After that
however, their was no stopping the party that errupted. Blair was
hoisted up on the shoulders of his coworkers and carried back to
their office were maintance had set up another desk next to Jim's.
It had everythng that he would ever need, including the nameplate
that read Dr. Blair Sandburg, Detective. It was a good thing that it
was a Friday and that it was after 5 PM when the Commissioner had
finished her speach, because, they were at the office just long
enough to get their things together before tey headed out to party.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The following
morning, they didn't get up until like noon. Jim had gotten up only
a few minutes before Blair and was making coffee when Blair groaned
as he got out of bed, and made his way towards the aspirine that Jim
was holding out with a glass of water.
With the aspirine down, Blair headed
to the shower. Jim had breakfast on the table when Blair got out of
the shower. He had made a simple breakfast of toast and juice to go
along with the strong coffee that was waiting for him.
After breakfast, Jim got his own
shower and the two of them were feeling almost human again, when
Blair spoke up and said, "Now I remember why I don't drink more than
two beers a day."
"I definately hear
you there partner, I most definately hear you there," Jim returned.
They sat there in companionable
silence for several minutes. Jim was the first to speak after
awhile, "You decided what you are going to do with the three million
that you got from Sid yet? Oh, and let's not forget the four years
back pay for your salery at the PD?"
Laughing, Blair said, "You mean
after I pay off all of my student loans and get the Volvo fixed, and
give you the two months rent that I still owe you?"
"Yeah, after all of that." Jim
returned laughing.
"Well, I thought
that I would buy the loft across the hall."Blair answered.
Jim suddenly realized that maybe
Blair didn't want to live there any more. And even across the hall,
was far enough away that for him it was to far. Looking at Blair, he
asked, "You don't want to stay here any more? I know it's rather
small with you having your degree and all, but I thought that we
could somehow work something out."
Blair smiled that understanding
smile of his, and said, "Well, what I was planning, if it was ok
with you was to buy the loft across the hall. It's identical to this
one, only it's backwards. And then join the two so that we had one
really big loft. Keep the living room here, and on the other side I
could use that as my office. The rooms under the bedrooms could be
used as a den, or as a spare room if Mom should happen to show up or
poker night gets snowed in or something. We could have this really
big kitchen with a dishwasher. Maybe." Blair said to his stunned
partner sitting next to him, almost afraid to say anything else.
Jim just reached over and pulled
Blair into a tight hug, saying, "Anything you want buddy. Anything
you want as long as you stay here. I was soo wrong to ever accuse
you of selling me out. Can you ever forgive me?"
At this point, Blair felt water
seeping into his hair. Pulling back, he saw that Jim had tears in
his eyes that matched the ones in his own. "Alright, who are you and
what have you done with my partner? Yes, I can forgive you, as long
as you promise me that you will always try to listen to me before
you make any judgements in the future"
"I'll try, I can't give you any
guarantees, but I will try. How's that?" Jim answered.
"That's good enough for me Jim,"
Blair said before he really returned Jim's hug with one of his own.
Comfortable in each others arms,
they drifted off to sleep.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
That was seven years ago.
Thinking back to that time, they did
buy and expand the loft, as well as Blair going through the academy.
He also accepted the position with the university as a full
professor, and they worked with his schedule so that he could still
work with Jim at the PD.
Blair did
go with a different publishing company to get the dissertation
published. Sid wasn't too awful happy, but then he could see the
kid's point. Declining the book tour and television interviews, he
did however accept the off from Pet Fly Productions to turn The
Sentinel into a television series. The third season, ended with a
cliffhanger that left Blair for dead in the fountain at the
university. The next day, UPN, the station that aired the show,
anounced their fall guide, and The Sentinel was not on it. Fans came
out of the wood work. Making calls, writing letters and sending
faxes, they made it be known that they wanted their show back.
It took several months of work, but
the fans got their show back for eight episodes as a mid season
replacement in February of 1999. This season ended with The Sentinel
by Blair Sandburg, and Jim offering him the chance to be his
permanent partner. Unfortunately, UPN again cancelled the series,
but again, the fans rallied. They got the Sci-fi channel to pick up
the series in reruns. The are still trying to get Sci-fi to pick it
up for new episodes, but they need to wait until next year to find
out if it is worth the money to produce new episodes or not.
Now, here it is 8 PM on December
31st, 1999, and all of their friends from their department were over
to see what happened when the clock struck midnight.
Grabbing his own beer, Blair headed
into the living room to get his seat that was left for him by his
partner.
"Well, so far so good,"
said Daryl, who was flipping channels to see if there were any
problems with the computers of the world as the clock struck
midnight in each time zone.
"Yeah,
but for all that we know, it could wait until it gets to the last
time zone before all hell breaks loose," Henry said.
"I really hope not, cause if all of
the computers crash, then I'd lose all of the wonderful fanfic that
I discovered recently," Daryl replied.
"Fanfic, you read fanfic? Who's?"
Henry asked.
Looking at Henry like he
had grown a second head, he answered, "Why The Sentinel, of course.
You don't think that I spent all of those lonely nights sitting
around studying, do you?
What fandom
do you read Henry?"
"The Sentinel.
did you think that I would
discover fanfc and not be reading The
Sentinel?" Henry answered, and asked in return.
"No, that's not what I meant. I was
just kinda surprised that after working with the real thing all day
that you would go home and relax and kinda get away from it all,
that's all," Daryl said.
"And what
makes you think that reading and writing isn't relaxing?' Jim asked.
"Oh Lord," Daryl whispered, "I think
that I just put both feet in my mouth"
"Probably," Jim returned, but
honestly, do you think that we are too old or something and that we
wouldn't enjoy all of thse wonderful stories out there.
Daryl blushed slightly, and said, 'I
guess in a way, I did. I'm sorry, I guess that I thought that you
guys worked with crime all day and that when you get home, you would
want nothing more to do with it."
"In a way, that's true," Blair
jumped in, "but you gotta look at it from the friendship point, true
friends share everything together, kinda like a good married couple,
through the good, the bad and the ugly, they stick together like
glue."
Giggling, Daryl said, "Well
if that's the case, then you two should considered yourselves
married, because you have been living together for more than seven
years, and that is considered a common law marriage."
"Cute Daryl, really cute," Jim said
as he got up too get another beer.
|
| |