Disclaimer: The Sentinel and all Sentinel characters are owned by Pet Fly and not sure who. I have not and will not make any money off this story ~sigh~. If you want to go ahead and sue me anyway, all you will get us a large HECS bill and a heap of other debts.

Title: RONA

Author/pseudonym: Sentarla

Rating: G

Status: Finished

Posting date: 02/06/99

Archive: Yes ohhhhh PLEASE do!!!!!!

Series/Sequel: Non

Note: Rona is based on a real cyclone and it is dedicated to all the people who have lived through similar experiences and even then still live in the same place. Many thanks to Bonnie, for taking time out and betaing this for me, girl you are the best. Please e-mail me, I promise to reply.

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RONA

The Loft: Tuesday 02/09/99 6am

"Chief. Do you and your laptop ever sleep?"

Looking up from the kitchen table, Blair stretched and gave an impish grin. "Yeah man, just not together."

Rolling his eyes, Jim walked over to the coffee pot, silently thanking his Guide for making a fresh pot.

Logging off the computer, Blair started making preparations for breakfast.

"Hey Jim."

"Yea Chief."

"Have you ever been to Australia?"

Thinking it was a strange question for this time of the morning, Jim took a quick scan of his friend's vitals while answering in the negative.

"Hey Jim, enough with the health check already, it was just a question."

Giving his roommate a 'yeah, sure' look, Jim sat down with the coffee and waited for the other shoe to drop. Within minutes he was rewarded, if you could call a trip into the Sandburg zone a reward.

"Well, I was just wondering. You see, I have this friend in Australia, in a place called Port Douglas, in the state of Queensland. It's in the far north coast, on the eastern coast of Australia. Anyway, I've known her for ages, I met her when I went to Australia on a field trip about 6 years ago. Christy, that's her name, e-mailed me an hour ago and was a little worried. She surfs the net a lot, like me, and with it being cyclone season at the moment, her favourite site, after my homepage, is the weather bureau, and the weather satellite pages. She told me something is brewing, and the forecasters expect there to be a cyclone by Thursday our time. Christy sounded so jumpy. She said no one was taking it seriously, but she knows something was going to happen. Christy going to spend the day shopping, and making sure she is ready for anything. I had a look at a few of the satellite pictures she attached. I agree with her that there is something building, but I not really as freaked as her. I know you're not interested, but Christy is special. I thought maybe she was like you a first, but all I could narrow it down to, was that like some species in the animal kingdom, Christy could sense changes in the weather and her environment. I told her to keep e-mailing me if anything comes up. Umm, I also gave her your e-mail address at the station, encase I wasn't Online."

His Guide having talked non stop while making scrambled eggs, Jim waited till Blair had dished the food, sat down, and paused for breath before talking himself.

"Hmm, Okay, I see where the question came from originally. Yes it was okay that you gave out my work e-mail, as long as you don't give it out to everybody around the world I don't mind. I don't think all this is worth worrying about, until you hear from her again. You know weather Chief, it is totally unpredictable. If you do, hear anything, let me know, you have me interested now. I haven't been to Australia, but I know about Port Douglas. It is a tourist town near Townsville right?"

Receiving a surprised nod, Jim smiled and started eating his eggs.

Shaking his head, at the strange things his Sentinel sometimes knows, Blair smiled and tucked into his own breakfast.

~~

The rest of the day pasted slowly and nothing extraordinary happened. Rafe and Joel found the Cascade bomber, and Joel was very happy to see him behind bars. Simon spent half the day with the Mayor, and the other half, taking out his anger and frustration on major crimes. Rhonda and the Tea Lady went on strike because of the noise that Simon was making, and Jim and Blair spent the day interviewing witness in relation to a hate crime committed on the local homeless community.

Much to Blair's surprise, there was no e-mails from Christy, and Blair promised himself if he hadn't heard anything tomorrow morning, then he would e-mail Christy and see how she was doing.

~~

The Loft: Tuesday 02/09/99 11.30pm

"Chief, will you sit still. What is it with you and computers. You don't need to be bouncing around to make it work, that is what a power socket, or batteries are for."

Stopping his tapping fingers, and jumping knee, Blair looked at his slightly irritated partner with a part innocent, part guilty look.

"Sorry Jim. I just got an e-mail from Christy, she said that half and hour ago, 5am her time, a cyclone was declared. They have called it Rona. There are 5 categories, depending on the wind speed and central pressure. It is only a small one at the moment, so it is a category 1. Christy found out when she was surfing, they are only making reports every 4 hours on the radio. She rang work and called in sick, she said there was no way she was going in today, even her dog Emer is refusing to get out of bed and go outside. I told her, that I would stay Online so she had someone to talk to and so I knew what was going on. I offered to meet her in a chat room, so it would be easier to talk, Now I'm waiting for her reply. Man I hate waiting. Sometimes, it feels slower then snail mail."

"Yeah Chief we know."

"We, big guy, who is we?"

"Hmm lets see. Hmm, everybody that knows you." Jim ducked in time to avoid a pillow that went sailing at his head.

"That is so…. Wait a sec… Christy, said not to worry about it yet, get some sleep, and she will hold me to my offer later. I am going to tell her to e-mail me when something happens, and I will set my computer up to buzz me when her message comes in, while we go to bed, that way, I will wake up, when I get it, and I get some sleep as well. We only have a paper work day tomorrow, so it won't matter if I spend the day here talking to Christy."

"A pen, I need a pen. What's the time, what's the time." Jim gave the impression of franticly searching for the absent pen.

"Are you okay Jim?"

"Yeah Sandburg, I just need to make a note of the date and time, I think this is the first time, I have heard you admitting you need your sleep. Now, where is that pen."

With laughter in his eyes, Blair tried to look sternly at his Sentinel. "Comeon Jim, I know I'm not invincible, I just don't need as much sleep as everyone else. If I really need sleep, I will admit it."

" Yeah Chief, Or fall asleep before you can."

Shaking his head, Blair gathered the marking he had been working on and the laptop, and went to his room. Coming back out moments later, Blair said good night to Jim, and went back into his room for the night. Falling asleep moments later.

With a small smile, put there with thoughts of his young Guide, Jim did a last check, and headed for bed himself.

~~

Wednesday: 02/10/99 5am

A short, but insistent beeping woke the Sentinel, five and half-hours later. Knowing it was not his Guides alarm clock; Jim went down to investigate. Quietly entering his Guides small room, Jim saw the soft blue light of the laptop flashing on his Blair’s face. Not wanting to wake his sleeping friend, but knowing that the computer must being trying to tell the sleeper something important, or this case, Christy might be, Jim set about, waking his partner, as he tried to cling with both hands to sleep.

"Uggh. Go away." Blair tried to swat away the offending hand like a fly."

"Comeon sleepy head, your computer was beeping, now flashing and soon, who knows, may explode, so wake up and answer it."

Opening his eyes, and looking at the blurry figure standing over him, Blair yawned and rolled over, straight onto the laptop, which let out a loud dinging noise, which is usually reserved for when a mistake is made.

Jumping of the bed as if stung, Blair landing on the floor with a large thud. Trying not to, but failing miserably, Jim started laughing at the bundle of Sandburg at his feet.

"Yeah, laugh it up big guy, for that, you make breakfast."

Still not able to stop laughing, Jim turned around and went outside, Knowing Blair must still be half asleep to have gotten out with only breakfast duty.

Fifteen minutes later, breakfast ready, and no movement from the small bedroom, save from the sound of fingers tapping away on a keyboard, Jim walked back into the room, knocking first.

"Breakfasts ready, Chief."

"Yeah Jim." Blair answered, somewhat distracted.

"What you up to?"

Looking up, and taking note that Jim was there for the first time, Blair explained what he had just found out."

"Christy sent a wake up call. It's 11am in Australia, and she said that Rona is now a Category 2. Wind speeds of 62ml/hr in the center. It is 111.60 miles of the coast, and moving closer each hour. With the Upgrade, and the quick sudden movement to the coast, the schools have been shut, and many people are either being sent home from work, or just walking out. Christy went out for some milk, and she said that there were lines of 40-50 people at the supermarkets, and everyone was in panic mode. Man from what she said, it's like a mad house, and no one, but her and some of her friends, that she told, are prepared. I went onto her local weather page, and they are updating every 2 hours now. I told Christy that I would meet her in this cool chat room that I found, Cascade PD. I am just waiting for her to sign up and log in, once she has, I told her, I would stay with her, for as long as she liked. "

"Sounds serious Chief. I know we only have paperwork today, but I would really like it if you came in today, and that way, you can tell me everything that is happening. I really am interested."

Looking at his friend with a surprised look, Blair replied. "Really?"

"Yeah Chief, I once lived through a hurricane when I was stationed in Florida, so I know what it is like to be alone in something like this. I really do care about your friend, so I'm interested in finding out what is happening. Now grab your laptop, and come eat."

Giving his Sentinel a large 'Sandburg special' smile, Blair got off the bed and headed to the bathroom, to clean up before sitting down for an early breakfast.

By the time Blair had finished breakfast, Christy had logged onto the chat room, and both were in a world of there own. Promising to tell Blair if the computer beeped again, Jim sent him off to get showered and ready for work, in typical Sandburg fashion, Blair had narrowed his world down to Christy, the computer and events happening thousands of miles over seas.

~~

Station: Wednesday 02/09/99 9.30am

When Jim steered his walking and typing partner into the bullpen, Jim realised that Blair was oblivious to his surroundings. Sitting him down into his chair, Jim watched as his usually bouncing Guide just settled in and keep tying, smiling every now and then at something he read.

Putting his coat on it's hook, Jim turned towards Simon door as it open.

"Ellison, my office"

Looking around, Jim saw that most were staring at his partner in bemusement, but not ready to approach. Nodding his head, he headed into Simon's office.

Offering Jim some coffee which was excepted, Simon looked towards his closed door and raised an eyebrow in question.

"Thanks Simon. I don't think he will be joining us. He's talking to a friend in Australia who is currently being threatened by a cyclone. He's been chatting with her constantly since 5am this morning."

"Hmm, as long as she doesn't send it here. I never knew it was possible to walk and type before, I thought that was why it was called a laptop."

"Neither did I sir, but that is nothing compared to some of the impossible things I've seen Sandburg do. You know him, where there is a will there's a way."

"That's for sure. Okay, get your butt out there and get some work done. Ohh, and I better not come out later and find that Sandburg has turned the place into a weather bureau, we both know how carried away he can get when he gets obsessed with something."

Waving away the concern, and holding up his coffee mug in thanks, Jim opened the door and walked out to his Guide and the crowd surrounding him.

"Hey guys, what's happening." When no one answered, Jim looked directly at his once again tying Guide and asked him.

"Oh, Hey Jim, sorry, have I been here long, umm, don't answer, doesn't matter. Christy just told me that Rona was just upgraded to a 3 at 4pm EST ( Eastern Standard Time, {Australian}; 10am Pacific Time {American}) five minutes ago. The winds are now 111.60ml/hr at the center and ranging from 62ml/hr outwards. She sounds like she is just hanging on. Her instincts are to run. There are no bird sounds or anything at the moment. Rona is only 55.80 miles from the coast and moving fast. Most of the shops have closed, they have run out of stuff, and the shoppers have become aggressive and violent. I'm tracking the cyclone on the weather homepage, and Christy is right, It is heading right for them. A category 3 is really heavy stuff. We are talking major structural damage; Gail force winds, houses loosing their roofs, and even injures, maybe deaths. Rafe came over to see what I was doing, so I told him about Christy, and then suddenly I had an audience. Even you have to admit that this is more interesting then paper work. The guys are going to get the address for the weather page, and keep a watch them self." Having explained everything, and noticed he had been neglecting Christy, Blair turned back to his computer and went back into his own world.

"Okay guys, back to work, I will personally e-mail you all with the address, and any info from Blair. Simon told me that if he caught us hanging around Blair, and being more interested in foreign weather then our case files, then he was going to pull the moden plug from our computers and make Sandburg go into his office. If that happened, we would never find out what is going on".

With a small amount of grumbling, the major crimes detectives went back to their desks, checking ever few minutes for any new mail.

"Chief. Do me a favour, could you please log me into the chat room on my computer, and send an e-mail to everyone with the chat room, and weather page addresses. If I leave it too long, we may have a mutiny on our hands. What did you do, hypnotise them or something?"

"Nah, man, anything is better then the dreaded paperwork day. This will keep everyone's mind active as they fill out all those forms for our esteemed higher leader."

Leaning over to work on Jim's computer, his attention still half on his own computer, Blair sent the requested info to the department and set Jim up in the room, under the simple name, Panther.

Within twenty minutes, the chat room had jumped from four people to twenty-five. It was 12 o'clock, lunchtime, and Blair and Christy were still going strong.

This time of the day, you would normally be lucky to find one or two detectives still in the Bullpen. When the two Captains of Vice and Homicide entered the department for a meeting, they were stunned to see everyone still there and obviously hard at work. Congratulating Simon on his men 's dedication, both Captains left an hour later, determined to get their departments working in a similar manner.

Having checked his e-mail earlier, Simon was not so easily fooled by the rustling paper, or the occasional completion of a file. He knew his department was not really working, but logged onto the net, captivated by Blair and his friend's current predicament.

Looking at his watch, Simon added eighteen hours to work out that it was currently 7pm EST. Having been to Australia himself a few years ago, and been through a cyclone, Simon knew that night time was the worst time for a close-to-the-coast cyclone. Logging on as The Boss, Simon started reading the flowing text in front of him.

out...Breathe in ...

Getting up to stretch, Simon looked at his watch with a start; he had been sitting in his office, doing nothing but drinking coffee and reading the session for the last three and a half hours. Shaking his head, Simon decided that this was more interesting than paperwork. Simon sat back down to watch the events unfold.

~~

~~

~~

~~

~~

Christy is escorted out of Cascade PD.

Simon watched as he began the process of logging off, a long continuous scroll of ‘yes" and "yes sir", appear. From outside his

office, he heard the sound of chairs being scraped on the floor, drawers opened and closed as his men and woman all talked about what they had been reading.

When his office door opened and his best team walked in, Simon said the first

thing that came to mind.

"Do you two realise that you have condemned everyone to another day's worth of paperwork tomorrow?"

With puzzled looks on their faces, Jim and Blair sat down and waited for Simon

to continue.

"Due to the chat session, not even a small amount of forms were filled out, so

everyone has to spend tomorrow finishing what they were supposed to do today.

"Aww, come on, Simon, we all agreed that it would only be one day per month."

"That's right, Jim, but I don't really think today counts."

Not looking his happiest, Jim agreed.

Looking over at the now quiet and still observer, Simon could see the strain that the last few hours had put on him. Knowing Sandburg must be thinking a thousand questions a second in his tired, overworked brain, Simon decided to say something to ease the questions.

"Sandburg," he began gruffly.

"Yeah, Simon."

"Christy will be okay. You got her through the hardest part, the waiting. I know, I've been in the exact same situation as her. The worst part was knowing it was coming, but unable to do anything about it."

Looking up at Simon with hopeful puppy dog eyes, Blair gave a slight smile and said, "Thankyou".

Wanting to restore a bit of order, Simon hmphed and waved the two detectives

towards his door.

"Now go home. Sandburg, if you hear anything, e-mail everyone, otherwise, I'll

see you both here, pens ready, tomorrow."

"Yes,sir," they both replied in unison, causing Simon to groan.

~

The trip back to the loft was awkward and silent. Jim knew his Guide was upset, but also knew there was nothing he could do about it. The rest of the night was the same. Blair charged his batteries for his laptop and set it to alarm mode, eliciting a promise from his Sentinel to wake him if it beeped. Once Blair was convinced his friend would, he went to bed, tossing and turning all night.

Jim got less sleep than Blair over the night, and watched as the rumpled, slightly moody Guide stumped out of his room the next morning.

There had been no word from Christy, and some other friends in Townsville had not been very helpful. From what he had heard, Townsvillians were just waiting for it to go back out to sea, and come back and hit them like Justin did in '98.

Rona had hovered over Port Douglas for about three hours and was now a severe tropical low.

"Morning, Jim, breakfast in ten.

"Thanks, Chief, anything from Christy?"

"Nope, I've left heaps of e-mails, so when she can, she'll contact me."

Nodding his head, Jim set about getting ready for another boring day at the Precinct with paperwork.

~

Blair continued to be quiet and withdrawn for the rest of the day. Jim was unofficially given the job of telling the detectives that came to ask about Christy, that nothing new had developed.

The weather page was receiving heaps of hits, and Blair even bookmarked fifteen different sites related to cyclones and satellite pictures. At one pm, a sudden change came over Blair.

"Yes!!"

Having heard the sudden increase in Blair's heartbeat, the shout was not a surprise to Jim as the other detectives stopped their work and looked up. Jim watched as Blair replied to Christy's e-mail and logged onto the Cascade chat room. Seeing that his partner had transported himself into another world, Jim made the announcement for him.

"Everyone, Christy's back Online, Blair is talking to her in the chat room."

A sudden flurry of keyboards being hit, told Jim they had all heard. Turning back to his own, Jim saw that Blair had already logged him on.

Christy is escorted out of Cascade PD.

With a tired smile and aching fingers, Blair logged off the site and shut down the laptop. When the adrenaline rush from all the worry had warn off, he was able to look around at the world without a nagging worry in the back of his mind.

All the other detectives wore large smiles and a few came up to him and congratulated him for his friend. Simon soon came out and ordered them all back to their work, promising another day of paperwork if their quotas weren't done by five. Within moments, silence reigned and the sound of keyboards tapping and pens scribbling could be heard.

Letting out another sigh, Blair turned to Jim, ready to be given an arm full armful of paper work. Instead he found his Sentinel looking at him with a puzzled expression.

"What's wrong, man?"

"I was just wondering what the bet was?"

Seeing a flush of red, stain his Guide’s cheeks, Jim became more interested.

"Nothing, man, just a silly bet, you know."

"Come on, Chief, what was the bet?" For added effect, Jim crossed his arms to show he was not moving till he got the answer.

"Oh man, okay. It's really silly. About six years ago, when I first met her, I was still totally blown away by her weather abilities. Christy made a bet with me, she reckoned that by the year 2000, she would have lived through, without personal injury, or having specifically gone looking for the event, every major, natural weather disaster the world has to offer. I told her she was nuts and the bet was on."

Jim took this in and quickly did a mental checklist of all major disasters.

"She won the bet?" he queried, having completed the list.

Counting off on his fingers, Blair answered his puzzled Sentinel.

"Oh yeah, Christy has been through a Volcano, Tornado, tsunami, earthquake, blizzard, flood, tidal wave, drought, and now a cyclone. Each time she was either living there, or travelling on a field trip for her U. I was such an idiot to make that bet with her. She laughed then, she was laughing now, and I bet you will too."

Trying to cover his need to laugh with a cough, Jim just shook his head and closed his eyes. Only his Guide could try and second-guess a weather expert that he, himself had proclaimed. Wanting to get some much needed rest after the last few sleepless nights, Jim pushed a pile of paperwork towards his Guide and told him to get moving.

As Blair reached for the first file, Jim reached over and placed his hand on his Guide's, stopping the movement. Looking into his Guide’s deep blue eyes, Jim spoke what was on his mind.

"I'm really happy Christy is okay, Blair. Your friends are my friends."

Looking back at Jim in surprise at the unusual emotional and honest Statement, Blair gave a full smile and tried to restore the usual casual atmosphere between them, while letting the Sentinel know he had understood.

"Yeah man, so am I, but please, If you hear me complaining about Cascade weather again, just remind me why I live here and not in Australia with Christy."

"Oh, so the truth comes out, you like the rain and cold now."

"Like, noway, man, like is totally too strong of a word, tolerate is the one I'd use."

"Sure, Chief, sure, " Jim replied and smiled back at his partner.

"Now, get to work. I want to get home and watch a movie I picked up earlier."

Perking up with interest, like a dog who had just heard the rattle of the biscuit tin, Blair asked, "What video?"

With a totally serious expression, Jim answered.

"Deep Impact."

Groaning as if in pain, Blair dropped his head and pretended to hit it on the table repeatedly.

Smiling to himself, Jim went back to the paperwork, mindful of his Guide’s mumbling about Sentinels and the possibility of a genetic reason why they had no sense of humour.

~Fin~

Rona was a real Cyclone and the wind speeds etc are true. Due 99’ cyclone season, Fifteen cyclones were named and tracked with only three crossing the coast. The worst a cat 5 over in Western Australia, Luckily, much to everyone’s surprise there were no deaths. I live in Townsville and the fear Rona put in us was great, it was a quick, sudden, within 24 hours cyclone. We went to bed and it was a severe tropical low, and woke up to a cat 1 and moving closer, by bed time we were hearing about the gale force winds above us and watching the weather get worse outside. We had last cyclone season been hit by a cat 1 called Justin, and I can tell you that is enough for me, I am now always on edge when the wind picks up, even though it is not cyclone season.