Rollie blinked, cocked his head to one side and blinked again as he stared at the letter in his hands. Angie watched him in amusement. "What's up, boss?"

The lanky Aussie jumped slightly and peered up at his partner and best friend through a mane of shaggy brown hair. He hadn't heard Angie's arrival, in spite of the fact she had done nothing to hide it, giving a loud, cheery greeting to Blue, his robot dog, as she entered. He waved the letter in his hand  in the air. "They want a Y2K compliance statement!"

Angie chuckled. "So? A lot of companies are issuing Y2K compliance statements. We should too. After all, they want to know that our explosions will be just as loud and big and our FX just as spectacular after January 1st." She responded cheerfully.

Rollie stared at Angie as if she'd grown a second head, looked at the letter from the studio thinking about hiring them the first of the year and shrugged. He sighed deeply. "I don't know how to do a Y2K compliance statement, Ang. It's never come up before!"

Angie laughed out loud, then decided to take pity on the poor, put upon man. "It hasn't come up for anyone before, but it's easy. You issue a statement saying that all of our equipment has been checked in regards to working with a 00 or 2000 date and is fully functional and functioning properly. You verify with our suppliers that they're Y2K compliant, give a disclaimer saying you aren't responsible for them if they screw up." She shrugged back at him, spreading her hands. "Oh, and you pass it by our lawyers so they can give it a legalese spin. That's all, Rol."

Rollie looked horrified. "All?" He squeaked out, then his voice rose. "ALL?!? Angie, I don't know that! I..."

Angie put her hand over Rollie's mouth effectively stopping the helpless flow of words. "I've already checked the computers and software, boss. Everything is go there. I always wrote my programs compliant. We just have to check the chips in the remaining electronic equipment. Email our primary suppliers for their statements... Or better yet, while you put the chips through the digital chip analyzer, I will check their websites for Y2K compliance statements." The blonde grinned wickedly. "It's already programmed for the test. If anything fails, we replace it with a new chip and test it again."

Rollie nodded his head obediently under Angie's hand. She smiled, removed her hand and headed for the clean room to get to work. He stared after her for a moment, grateful that Angie had thought ahead and went to find the analyzer. He started to pick up his PDA to check it, then looked up to where Angie was logged into the internet. Was a PDA a computer? Had she already checked them? Rather than risk doing the test again, he went and asked. Higly amused, by Rollie's humbled questions, she told him exactly which equipment she had checked. Rollie's head bobbed as he filed each one away on a mental list - all of the PCs including his personal one, his business one and the one in the FX truck, check; the Ambler, check; the software for the PCs (including the business programs), check; the software for the PDAs, check. The PDAs themselves? No check. Angie had decided to leave them for him to do. After all, she wasn't going to do all of the work!

It didn't take long for Angie to hit their major suppliers' websites, saving and printing off Y2K compliancy statements. She filed the hard copies, in duplicate, in Rollie's filing cabinet, then she made copies of the files on Rollie's business PC. She fixed lunch and dragged Rollie away from his absorption with their electronic equipment to eat.

Once lunch was devoured, Angie joined Rollie in testing the rest of their equipment. They swiftly settled into a rhythm of handling things. Work continued apace. Finally, two days later, the duo were done and taking a well earned rest. They'd checked everything they could think of, even the vehicles hadn't escaped their share of attention. Chips had been removed, tested and placed or replaced back in the VR chamber, the engines, the Ascender, the Rocket Board, PDAs, the security systems, sound equipment, the mask makers, stunt equipment and every piece of special effects equipment. Bloody hell! They'd even tested the monitors, televisions and VCRs. They'd gone down to Midtown South and checked out Big Blue as well. Rollie snuggled against Angie, the blonde fitting perfectly under his arm, as they watched a movie and shared a bowl of popcorn. The statement had been delivered to their lawyers and would be issued in two days. Nothing had escaped their notice! However, the Aussie couldn't help think they had indeed forgotten... Something? What? He racked his brain trying to think of what they could have missed, but it wouldn't come out of where it was hiding in the back of his brain. Oh well, it couldn't be that important...

Could it?

Christmas 1999 was a quiet affair, spent with friends they thought of as family. A phone call shared with Lucinda Scott on the West Coast, Christmas Eve dinner with the Gattis, their annual visit to the hospital children's ward. Gifts were exchanged on the day with their friends and each other. All in all, it was a quiet Christmas. Rollie Tyler didn't get sick, hit on the head, break a limb or go into depression. They didn't witness a robbery or solve a murder. Very atypical for them, but they weren't going to complain. (Especially Angie! She was very grateful for the peace and quiet, the normalcy of their holiday.)

The following week, Rollie and Angie were at the loft, waiting to ring in the New Year. It was just the two of them sharing a quiet, romantic candlelit dinner together. Neither had any desire to be at a party ringing in the "new" Millennium and Century, something that continually puzzled Rollie who insisted to everyone who would listen that "that was next year!" In any case, neither of them wanted to be out in the madness of the rest of the world this night. They wanted to be together and alone with each other. Rollie pulled Angie a little closer as they danced to the music coming from his new HDTV with its surround sound system. This had been a surprise and a half to say the least. He hadn't expected one and hadn't planned to get one until the prices came down more, way down. It had been a present from a backer and his wife whose twins he'd saved a couple of months ago during filming of their last movie. The toddlers had been happy, friendly, adorable and greatly indulged. They'd spent a lot of time on the movie set because their mother was the star. Amazingly enough, it wasn't a case of money or influence buying her the role. She had auditioned at the cattle calls without her husband's knowledge or the director and casting finding out who she was. She'd won the plum role through her talent. When those thugs tried to kidnap the children, it was Rollie to rescue. "Again!" Angie complained, even as the baddies went down like nine pins. Instead of a date that night, they spent their time filling out police reports. Everyone had a hard time believing Rollie had stopped them with flourescent colored liquid soap. The film of the rescue had settled doubts and provided several high camp moments as the criminals slipped, slid and floundered around. The laughter was a mixture of relief and genuine humor.

Rollie sighed happily as the song ended and Angie pulled his head down for a kiss. This was how he wanted to spend his time, with Angie, enjoying quiet moments together. Eventually, they'd have kids of their own, but for now, he was content to be with her and her alone. As they settled on to the couch to watch the countdown at Times Square, the Aussie thought about the fact he really needed to propose to Angie Ramirez sometime. They needed to be wed. Well, he needed to be wed. He wanted the world to know that Angie Ramirez belonged to Rollie Tyler or, more truthfully, Rollie Tyler belonged to Angela Ramirez, that he was hers and hers alone. He couldn't live without her now and he didn't want to try. He was wondering when he should ask her (and what type of ring to get) as the count reached One. The sounds of celebration poured from the speakers as Angie locked lips with him in a major, earth shattering kiss.

Rollie Tyler wondered why the earth wasn't shaking or hadn't stopped spinning as they separated when an odd noise finally worked it's way to his oxygen starved brain. What? Errr-errr-ERRRR!!! What in the world? He looked at the television, wondering why they were playing the sound of a rooster crowing. No, the sounds coming from it were what he would expect, cheers, applause, bangs from fireworks and the sound of noise makers. No rooster... He looked around in bewilderment as the crow changed to a loud Urhnnnn trumpeting of an elephant. Angie was also looking around. She convulsed into laughter as she pointed to the source. Rollie followed the line of her finger to the culprit as it changed to the loud Brrrrrraybraaaack bellowing of a mate seeking male koala. Blue! He gaped at his robot dog as the little spiderlike figure moved in odd circles making more strange noises. Blue? "Bluey? What's wrong, boy? What's wrong with my big boy?" Rollie got down on his knees and reached for his electronic pet. "Give me a bark, Blue. Come on, let me hear a big bark," Rollie pleaded as something finally worked it's way to the surface of his brain. They hadn't checked to see if Blue was Y2K compliant! "Ah bloody hell, Angie!" He looked at her, his face full of hurt as Blue gave a RRRRooooaarr like a tiger and squirmed to get out of his hands. "We forgot to check Bluey!"