Chapter 1- What Lies Ahead
Mac and Stella were grim faced as they looked over the scene before them. It was the most grisly, and gruesome thing either of them had seen in all their professional working lives.
Stella finally turned her head away and closed her eyes. She just couldn't face it anymore. She felt Mac place his hand consolingly on her shoulder.
"How, Mac?" She asked out loud." How can they live with themselves?"
Mac nodded, his mouth set firmly in a determined manner that didn't bode well for anyone that stood in his way.
"We'll get through this Stella."
"How?" She asked him, her eyes wide with shock and disbelief.
"We'll find a way," he assured her. Then he stood and collected his thoughts. "We need to brief the team on the situation. We need to talk to them before word of this gets out. We should gather everyone up and meet in the AV lab." She didn't respond right away, so he shook her shoulder lightly and spoke her name a little louder. "Stella."
She looked up at him and took comfort in the fact that none of them was alone in this.
"It will be alright." And he nodded at her once more and went to gather the troops.
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A short time later Mac stood before several concerned faces. He had found each of them doing their appointed tasks and asked them to meet him here without telling them why, but he could tell that they were suspicious enough to be concerned. 'They should be,' he thought grimly. This was going to be rough on all of them.
Danny and Lindsay sat the closest to him. He'd caught them on their way out to lunch. Danny had protested that they were on their way to Ray's to get pizza and couldn't it wait just an hour? But Lindsay saw through Mac's facade and knew something was up, and convinced Danny to postpone their date. They sat in front of him, his hands on her shoulders, attempting to soothe one another's nerves.
He'd asked Detective Flack to join him, and then went looking for Detective Angell as well. They'd tried to be aloof about coming to the meeting but he could tell he'd piqued their interest with the lack of details. Details were what they were all about, and here he had so little to provide them with. He thought it funny how they stood next to each other but tried to look like they weren't with one another. On any other day he might have found it amusing, them trying to hide their budding interest in one another. He wondered what effect his news would have on them. Their relationship was so new that he didn't know if it could handle the shock he was about to deliver.
The remaining faces looked at him in various states between curiosity and mild alarm. Hawkes face was the most impartial of them all. Mac knew that he always kept an open mind about whatever situation he faced. He was obviously staying optimistic in the hopes of hearing news that wasn't as bad as everyone feared, but one look at Stella's face would tell even the greenest of techs that something was very wrong. Which probably explained why Adam and Kendell stood the farthest away, heads bent together already formulating a plan for whatever news they were about to hear.
The rest of the techs stood around the room in various poses, most still dressed in their lab coats as he had interrupted their work and told them to drop everything to come in here. He waited for another moment as he saw the elevator doors open and the last people he'd been waiting on from the coroner's office made a beeline towards the AV lab, Sid Hammerbeck leading the way. Mac gave him a nod when everyone had settled then stood up, put his hands on his hips, and started to deliver the news.
"Stella and I just got a report, and it's been confirmed by our own sources….The negotiations have ended, and both parties have walked away from the tables. The writers strike is going to take place effective immediately."
The room immediately was in an uproar as people's voices rang out in shock, panic, disbelief and anger.
Mac held up his hands and tried to calm the crowd down.
Flack's voice managed to carry over the din. "Mac," he bit off angrily, his eyes flashing with Irish temper. "Are you telling me that the Television Execs aren't willing to even negotiate with the writers over their requests?"
The room quieted slightly as everyone wanted to hear what Mac's response was.
"It looks that way."
There was a collective groan from the room.
"But Mac," Flack said annoyed, "Angell and I were supposed to go get coffee!"
"What about us?" Lindsay said, her own temper flaring. "Danny and I are in this limbo right now. Mac," she said with some concern, "some people aren't even sure that we're dating anymore. They think that the pool table was just a one night stand!"
"Pool table?" Flack asked curiously.
"Never you mind Donnie." Danny answered swiftly. He stood up behind Lindsay and gestured with his hands. "Mac, just put me in a room with those Television Execs for 10 minutes. I'll soften them up and get them to agree to the writers demands so fast……"
Many heads behind Danny started bobbing enthusiastically at his suggestion.
Mac shook his head at the response and tried to regain order. "Listen people, we have to handle this by the book."
"Mac, those Television Execs aren't going to be handling this by the book." Stella said gesturing her hands as she made her point, her voice growing as loud as her conviction. "They're going to try to starve those writers out and force them to come back to the table on their terms. We have to do something." She finished solemnly.
Mac shook his head. "No, we have to stay professional on this one people".
"Why?" Flack asked outraged.
The chorus of agreements behind Flack grew as comments were thrown out randomly by the crowd.
"I'm tired of constantly falling for men and finding out they're either crazy or deranged." Stella quipped.
"You think you have it bad," Detective Angell said, "at least you have a confirmed first name."
"Hey, I said your name just the other night." Flack said indignation in his voice as he turned to face her.
"No, you mumbled my name the other night. Now, no is sure whether it's Jessica or Jennifer!" she retorted angrily.
Adam's voice was also heard plaintively wailing. "But Kendell was asleep on my couch with no clothes on and I never got to find out why!"
Hawkes stood up from the chair he'd been sitting in and raised his voice to be heard above the din. "Wait a minute everyone. Mac, there's nothing that says we can't bend the rules on this one."
"What do you mean Hawkes?" Mac asked.
Hawkes turned to look at his captive audience. "What if we shook things up a little?
We're not the only show that's going to be hit with this. The fanfiction sites will keep us alive for a little while and help the fans remember that we're still out there."
"Fanfiction," Danny scoffed. These are the same people that keep pairing Lindsay with Flack, and me with Mac."
Hawkes tried to hide his grin, he himself had escaped most of the unusual pairings on the fanfiction sites. "There are a few people who are into the unconventional," he admitted, "but they can help us."
Mac nodded in agreement, "You might be on to something Hawkes. But if we're going to make this work, we're going to have to cross some lines we've never crossed before."
"What about 'by the book?'" Stella asked.
"This one's not in the book." Mac said as he formulated a plan. We're going to have to partner up-" He said and pulled up the website on the plasma and viewed the long list of TV shows. "-with all of them."
Stunned silence greeted his suggestion.
"Mac, you can't be serious." as Flack said aloud what they were all thinking. "It's just not done."
"Actually it is sometimes. They're called crossovers, and they're rare, but they are out there. Listen, if we have any hope of helping the writers end this strike on their terms, then we have to go big or go home." Mac argued. "By ourselves we can't make it happen." He nodded towards the numerous listing of shows that has fic's written about them, "but if we partner up with them we reach a larger audience."
No one answered for a moment until Danny, shifting his weight from foot to foot nervously asked, "So how would we go about starting this thing?"
"We put out feelers, find shows through common interests and find out what they're doing. We're detectives," he said. "We'll follow the evidence and see what other shows have done." He pointed to one show on the list and tapped on its name. "We'll start with them."
"But Mac," Lindsay said as she connected with the name. "They were canceled!?"
"Yeah," Mac says. "They were. But they didn't give up either. They had a movie made and still live onto this day. They've managed to stay away from the grey place folks and let's face it, with a strike every show faces that possibility. Not every show will make it out of the strike alive. Some will lose sponsors, some will get cut for funding, and some will get bumped for new reality shows."
The faces looking at Mac grew quiet and pensive, and Mac watched as more than a few people drew nearer to one another. He noticed that Stella's face was taking on that green pallor that it had earlier in his office, and that Danny had pulled Lindsay back against him and was murmuring soothing words into her ears.
"We'll find a way, and when the writers strike is over…" Mac let his sentence hang.
"We'll be back and better than ever." Hawkes finished with a satisfied grin.
Mac nodded and then began ordering his troops, preparing them for battle. "I want everyone following leads on this one. Ask questions and find out what else our audience is watching. Stella, you and I will start looking into this 'Firefly' show, and see what we can dig up."
Everyone was slow to leave the AV room, most walked out with blank faces.
Flack followed Angell out back towards their desks in homicide. He muttered under his breath.
"What was that?" Angell asked. "You were mumbling again."
"I can't believe that all this is happening over four lousy cents." He muttered. Then awkwardly stuffing his hands in his pockets and sulking asked the question he'd been dreading the answer to. "So I guess our coffee date is off."
She nodded glumly, but then gave him a little bit of hope. "Unless someone else writes about it on the fanfiction site. Who knows what else they might write about us." she added.
As he watched her walking a few steps in front of him he lifted his eyes and prayed silently to whatever god and/or writer might be listening. "Irish coffee," he mouthed, "a stuck elevator…" and then after a moment added, "and maybe some of Messer's pool table?!"
Ok, so if you caught onto all that, you might know where I'm going with this. I'm gearing up for the largest cross over 'fanfic' ever written, and its centered around what the characters of the shows reactions were to the news of the writer's strike was, not the actors. But in order to do this I need your help. I have a few shows that I can start this with, Firefly will be the next chapter to all those that missed the reference, but I don't want it to end there. I'd love some collaborators that know this show and others and can help me continue this fic. As we add a new show, we'll add the story to that Show's site as well with the same name- "Four Cents." Suggestions for possible crossovers are welcome, as are directions that they can go in. I'd also love some fresh news if anyone has it on the strike. I plan to use as many actual canon quotes in this, just turned to mean something different in context.
I hope you enjoyed "Chapter 1- What Lies Ahead," and will stay tuned for "Chapter 2- Serenity."
Damn the Man- keep on writing!