Getting A Good Lawyer

Cinder

7th in the Temple Series

Buffy/X-Files/Hercules/Sentinel x-over

Blair/Xander

PG

Feedback: Feed the hungry author! cinder@mochamail.com

Summary: Blair and Xander in LA.

In our last installment, Blair and Xander went to Cascade and killed the men responsible for Jim Ellison's death. They were arrested, but Ares rescued them and brought them to meet Wesley in LA before there could be a trial.

Temple 7: Getting a Good Lawyer
by Cinder

Xander knocked on the door. "Hey, can I come in?"

Blair looked up, blinking owlishly behind his glasses. "Yeah. Let me just put this away." He flipped closed his notebook before Xander could see anything and shoved it under the bed.

"I didn't mean to interrupt."

"You're always welcome."

Xander smiled and looked around. He could sit in the chair, but it seemed too far away. Resolutely, he strode over to the bed and sat down in front of his husband. "Kinda missed you."

Blair smiled shyly. "I missed you too."

"I know there's only one bed, but could I ... "

Blair shoved over to make room. "Come here and tell me who this Angel guy is. He is seriously giving me the creeps."

"Deadboy?" Xander grinned, toeing off his sneakers. "But he's all brooding and self-righteous and good. Why ever would he send shivers down your spine?"

"Somehow I sense sarcasm."

"Ya think?"

Blair waited patiently.

"Angel is a vampire. He has a soul, but if he ever has a moment of perfect happiness, that soul goes buh-bye. One time he slept with a friend of mine, Buffy - "

"The Slayer."

"Right. So, he slept with her Buff-ness, had his moment of glee and then went on a murderous rampage. He's not one of my favorite people. I mean, I never liked him before I saw him be evil..." Xander glanced up at the doorway. Angel hung there like a black cloud, listening. "Hi, Deadboy. Fancy meeting you here."

"You two look cozy."

Xander pulled his husband closer, tangling his fingers in Blair's hair. "Have you and Angel been introduced, Blair?" When Blair shook his head, it bumped into Xander's chin. Xander never took his eyes off the predator in the doorway. "Blair this is Angel, warrior for the Powers That Be. Angel, this is Blair, my husband."

Angel choked.

Xander found that incredibly satisfying.

"Um, Angel," Wesley's voice called weakly from the hall, "Cordelia said that Xander and Blair were here."

Angel turned, his arms crossed. "Right here. This is good. I wanted to talk to all of you."

"What about?" Wesley squeezed past the vampire and plunked himself down the chair. Lavishing a tiny smile on the couple, he turned his most studious look back to Angel.

"I just think you all need to re-examine this idea." He included all of them in a sweep of his hand, but he addressed himself to Wesley.

"Re-examine?" Blair asked, arching a brow.

Angel ignored him, still talking to Wesley. "Ares is evil and if you continue to follow him - "

"Whoa there! Ares is evil? When did this news bulletin come out, because I was like, so not informed." Blair leaned as far forward as Xander would let him, his blue eyes flashing.

"Yes, Angel, Ares is not the devil or a demon or any other denizen of Hell. How is he evil?" Wesley folded his hands over his abdomen, settling in for a good chat.

"He's the God of War."

Xander laughed.

"I hate to disagree with you, big guy," Blair countered, "but it is a popular misconception in Judeo-Christian culture that a god would be good or evil. The idea of a good or evil god stems from Zoroastrianism, a Persian religion in the sixth century, B.C. Ares precedes that idea, or at least precedes its spread to the West. The Greeks believed that the gods were just like man, only more powerful. Ares is capable of both good and evil as it were, and is quite fallible, but in an omniscient, immortal kind
of way. He is War in all its goodness and badness, as we understand goodness and badness. It's better to say, he is War in its dichotomy. That which brings about death and destruction also brings new life. Ya know?"

"Quite," Wesley agreed.

Xander pulled Blair back against his chest and dared to kiss his neck.

Angel opened and closed his mouth for a few moments, gasping for his next words.

Blair half-turned to face his husband. "Not too bright, is he."

"Don't think he was hired for his brain. Are we meeting with that Nabbit guy tomorrow, Wes?"

"Yes, yes we are. He's most excited to meet you both, especially because you'll be coming in full dress regalia."

"Dress regalia?" Blair asked. "I'm very frightened."

"Yes, well," Wesley scratched his head. "David is impressed by these sorts of things. I told him that both of you were seasoned warriors and that you would be wearing, well, what the Priests of Ares wear."

"And I just gave my Armani leather scabbard to Good Will. Shucks. Darn."

Blair snickered and poked his husband in the ribs. Xander poked back. Wesley was divided between stopping them before they got to the tickling stage, and getting rid of Angel. The looming guppy over his left shoulder won.

"You may go now," he told the Neanderthal looking vampire, with a rather insulting wave of his hand.

"Oh, yeah, buh-bye." Blair waved. "Wave buh-bye," he ordered Xander, over his shoulder. Xander flicked Angel off. Blair laughed.

"Tomorrow we're going to take my credit card and go shopping. Let's hope this won't be too expensive." Unable to dismiss Angel, Wesley simply ignored him, carrying on his conversation with Blair and Xander as though the vampire wasn't even there.

"We aren't actually buying armor, are we?" Blair asked.

"I've been wearing leather to my meetings with him."

"Go Wes!" Xander cheered.

"Yes, well, I think it's more modern, don't you?"

"Wes, man!" a voice called from the hallway. "Hey, Angel, why ya blockin' the door, man?"

"Gunn?" Wesley jumped up and tried to shove Angel out of the way, but the vampire wouldn't budge.

"Do you know what he's doing, Gunn?"

"Serving Strife?"

"Strife!"

Wesley blushed. "Yes, well, that was the original intention when Xander and I left here. Gunn, move this lug and come in here. There's so much we need to tell you."

"I am not going to let you contaminate - "

"Angel, man, Lindsay is down in the lobby."

Wesley smiled. "That wasn't nice."

"What? It's true."

"Who's Lindsay?" Blair called from the bed.

"Gunn, these are my associates, Blair and Xander Harris."

"Xander and Blair Sandburg," Blair corrected.

"I don't remember changing my name," Xander protested. Leaning back against the headboard, he folded his arms behind his head. "You're shorter and you have curly hair. You're the woman."

"Uh, I think I'm missing something here," Gunn decided, backing out of the room. "Wes?"

"Coming."

"I'm the woman? I'm the woman?"

"Sure," Xander teased. "Didn't you ever watch Starsky and Hutch? Starsky was soooo the woman. He had curly hair. You have curly hair. You're the woman."

"I am second to no one," Blair growled.

"Well, that's a sexist statement."

"What? I mean, how can you..." Blair huffed, working himself up into a good fit. Xander simply smiled. "You asshole."

"Silly." Xander finally leaned forward, wrapping his arms around Blair's shoulders. "I'll be Alexander Sandburg if you want me to be."

Blair looked up through his lashes. "I'm happy the way things are. I mean, I know who you are."

"I think I'm going to kiss you." Two hard, callused fingers traced the length of Blair's chin, rubbing over the stubble there.

"You should."

Xander did. It was a short kiss, full of promise and hope. He'd never kissed a man before, but he had expected Blair's lips to be hard and unyielding. He had expected to hate it. His Blair was soft and sweet and tasted of honey.

"Wow."

"Yeah."

Xander swallowed hard. "Could I, uh, spend the night in here, tonight?"

"Yeah." Blair held him close and nestled down to sleep.

"I'm glad you're my husband."

"Me too."

The next morning, Wesley and Cordelia took Xander and Blair shopping. Wesley's favorite leather shop, The Velvet Vamp, was more of a high-class fetish shop.

Xander picked up a pair of leather manacles and examined them. "Never knew you were into this stuff, Wes."

"Yes, well, I wasn't sure what to get you and Blair as a wedding present."

Blair, who had stopped to examine a rack of whips, choked.

"Wesley!" A blonde haired, young man ran out of the back and practically jumped into Wesley's arms. Swathed in white velvet and lace, he made Xander think of a bad Madonna video. "Cordelia, how are you?"

Blair pressed himself closer to Xander. Safety in numbers.

"How are you, Chance?" Wesley asked the young man clinging to him.

"Bored, bored, bored. Glad you're here." He turned to face the couple that were trying to subtly back out of the shop. "And who do we have here?"

"This is Xander and this is Blair." Cordelia smiled and plopped herself down in a chair. "They have a meeting later today and they need to be dressed way better than that."

"Wine?"

"Please."

"Sit. I'll be back in a moment." With a little swing of his hips, Chance disappeared into the back again. Wesley dropped into the chair opposite Cordelia, leaving the love seat for the couple.

"You come here often?" Xander had to ask his ex-girlfriend.

"Whenever we get the chance. Wes and I love this place."

"Oh." Xander blushed. Settling on the love seat, Xander threw an arm around Blair and looked for something else to say. Nothing was coming to him.

Chance reappeared with a bottle of wine and two glasses. "I found your brand, Wes." He poured for Cordelia first. Blair and Xander just looked on, wondering what they had gotten themselves into. "All right then. Shall we dress them?"

"Leather, Chance, badass from head to toe," Wesley told the boy.

"We can do this. Not a problem." He wandered over to a rack of leather pants. "Okay, you, tall one, try on these. You, curly, try on these. I'll find some shirts while you're in the fitting rooms." He pointed to the stalls at the side of the store. Xander raised an eyebrow at the name designations, but took the pants offered him and went to change. What he pulled up over his hips looked like five-pocket jeans, only not denim. Pulling back on his black t-shirt, he shoved his hands into his pockets and wandered back into the main room.

Cordelia actually clapped. "Wow, Xander, you actually have an ass. I am sooooo impressed."

"I think he has a very nice ass," his husband's voice announced from behind him.

Xander snapped around. Blair exited the dressing room rather shyly. Clinging to his hips were a pair of leather pants tight enough to please Axl Rose. Chance flitted over immediately.

"Oh, darling, those are perfect." His hands traced Blair's hips. Xander growled. "You have to get them. You have to."

Blair, to his credit, didn't even bat an eye. "You were saying something about a shirt."

"Oh, of course, a shirt." He scurried past Xander and picked up a silver mesh shirt. "Try this and ... " He handed Blair the shirt on his way past, on his way back into the coats. Blair shrugged into the shirt. It clung to him like a second skin, stopping just above his navel. Xander didn't like it one bit. Chance came back with a three-quarters length jacket. "There, that's perfect. And you, tiger," he declared, looking at Xander, "well, I just wouldn't change a thing. Let's find you two boots and you're on your way. As for weaponry - "

"We've got that covered," Xander informed him in as cool and as deadly a voice as he could come up with. Chance's eyes widened and he nodded. He scurried to get boots.

They went back to the hotel briefly to arm themselves, ceremonially, Wesley said and then set out for David Nabbit's office. Blair looked somewhere between completely lickable and a two-dollar whore, Xander thought, looking at him in his new ensemble.

"Is that even mildly comfortable?" he finally asked his husband, indicating the man's outfit.

"It's fine." Blair just looked confused. Wesley pursed his lips, but wisely kept his mouth shut.

"You look cheap."

Blair scrunched his brow, trying to react to Xander's emotions rather than his words. "Would you rather no one else saw me like this?"

"I'd rather you didn't look like a raver boy who sucks dick in bathrooms for the price of xtc," Xander lashed out.

"Okay, whoa, you do not need to be insulting me this way. If you have a problem you should be up front and honest. Detach with love, man."

Wesley wedged himself into the corner of the truck, trying to disappear.

"I think I was just honest, and what in the Hellmouth does 'detach with love' mean?"

"It means walk away and think about something before you fucking say it!"

"I'm honest. If you can't handle honesty, that's your problem."

"Or are you just bothered by how good I look in this outfit?"

Xander stopped at a red light and gave Blair one sleazy look from head to toe. "Gee, for twenty bucks, can I have you to?"

"Bastard!"

"Takes one to know one."

Blair bit his lip hard, until it split. Turning stiffly, he looked out the front window and completely ignored Xander's existence. Wesley wisely said nothing. Xander glared at the car in front of him, trying to make all of this go away. Why couldn't he back in nice, murky, dark and dank Sunnydale, happily fighting the forces of evil? Why did he have to suddenly be working for the God of War, married to a man, in a truck on a road going nowhere very fast?

"Hey, buddy, hint, the long pedal makes you go faster," he yelled at the driver in front of him, who couldn't hear him anyway. "Where'd you get your license? A Cracker Jack box?"

David Nabbit's office was in a typical LA high rise. Xander pulled into the parking garage and presented Wesley's ID. "We have an appointment with David Nabbit."

"Aren't you two the guys who are wanted in Washington?" the attendant asked, not taking his eyes off of Xander's face.

"Yeah, so don't piss us off."

"I don't think - "

"Don't think," Blair threatened, pulling out his 9mm, aiming and flipping off the safety. "It's not good for your health."

"I'll just, uh - "

"Let us in," Blair finished for him. "You're going to open the gate right now."

The man scrambled to do just that.

"Hey, can I have my ID back?" Xander asked, pointing to the wallet the man was holding.

The man fumbled it, dropped it, picked it up and handed it to Xander with shaking fingers. "You can... You can... Um, go on through."

"Thanks." Xander eased the truck through the gate and on into the darkness.

"Wasn't that over-kill?" Wesley asked, accepting his ID back from Xander.

"No," Blair and Xander both snapped at him.

Nabbit's office was situated on the west side of the top floor so that all the windows faced the sunset. It being about three o'clock in the afternoon, the room was filled with golden light. Nabbit himself fawned on them in awe.

"I just, wow. Wesley told me, but Priests of Ares? But I believe it."

Blair looked ready to pull his gun again if Nabbit didn't.

"David, why don't we all sit down and have a talk," Wesley told him, heading for the sitting area in the center of the room. "And, I think we could all use a drink. You have decent beer?"

"Heineken?"

"I suppose that will do."

David served them himself. Wesley took a sip, Blair took a gulp, and Xander set his on the table untouched. "So, uh, you guys want to build a temple?"

"Yes. We're going to build a temple dedicated to Ares and we're looking for someone to finance it. We, and Ares, of course, would be most appreciative."

"Appreciative?"

"He might be willing to thank you himself, in person. I'm not sure yet." Wesley toyed idly with his bottle.

"Would he make me a warrior?"

"You come to Ares a warrior already. He doesn't make you one," Blair told him softly. "If you have a noble heart, if you fight the darkness, then you are a follower of Ares."

"I have some kickin' D&D moves."

Blair smiled blandly.

"Could we call it the David Nabbit Temple of Ares?"

"No," Xander told him shortly.

"Well, see," he looked about to have a hernia and took a generous swig at his own beer, "then I can't really fund your temple, not if it's not a good commercial venture for me, you know? There's got to be some way in which you'll make it worth my while, right?"

Wesley and Blair actually smiled. Xander frowned.

"We can't offend our god by putting anyone's name on the temple," Wesley told him smoothly. "I'm sure you understand that. What could we do then?" Xander raised a brow at that, but Wesley ignored him.

"Could Ares thank me on national television?"

Xander shook his head. "We couldn't make a promise like that."

"What if we thanked you on national television?" Wesley asked. "Xander and Blair are about to get a lot of press. I don't think it's going to go away anytime soon - "

"No." David shook his head. "I know what kind of press you guys are going to generate. I probably don't want to be associated with it."

"We could definitely get you a personal audience with Ares," Blair offered.

"That doesn't help my company."

Xander sighed. "We'll call the construction company Nabbit Industries Inc. There will be a big sign out front the entire time we're constructing the temple with your name on it." Everyone looked at Xander. "What? There's always a sign. Take it from the dumb lug who worked in construction."

"No, that's brilliant," Blair enthused. "Isn't it, David? That will work, won't it?"

"Yes, yes, that will work. I'll fund your temple."

Blair and Wesley cheered. They toasted. "We'll get to work right away," Blair told David.

"On plans," Xander added. "We'll make up some plans and a budget and let you know exactly how much this is going to cost. I'm figuring it's in the ball park of ten million right now though, depending on building materials."

Blair grinned.

Wesley gaped.

"Ten million," David mused, taking another sip of his beer. "That's not a lot, really. Are you thinking of building it out of stone?"

"There's a kind of black stone that I want to use, yeah." Xander leaned forward, suddenly in his element now that they were talking about construction. "It's very flat, doesn't reflect sunlight well, very dense, but not really expensive because it's synthetic."

"You don't want to use marble?"

"Well, no. Could I have some water? Not really a beer drinker." David scrambled to get Xander an Evian. "Thanks. See, Blair and I have had a few talks about design and I'm sure he and Wesley will be able to come with some seriously kick-ass blueprints between the two of them, but as far as materials go, I want something mundane. This is a temple, not a monument.
I think that's where European churches tend to fall down. They're not made for actual people to be in. They're for ethereal beings. The protestants are on to something, creating places where people can feel comfortable worshipping. Black is war in some sense and it doesn't stain, definite plus there, but matted black doesn't show the wear and tear of daily life. I like that. So, the whole thing is going to basically going to be made out concrete. Your big costs come on the inside when we start detailing the throne room and the bath in gold and chrome. Should be pretty impressive."

"Wow."

Nabbit's secretary knocked softly on the door and stuck her head in. "Sir?"

"Margaret, I asked not to be disturbed."

"The police are here, Sir."

"And things were going so well," Blair complained.

"Is there a back door?" Wesley asked.

"We need to face this," Blair disagreed. "Look, hire us a good lawyer It's best that we beat this thing on legal grounds. Then we'll be free to serve Ares in whatever way he might ask."

"Blair's right." Xander stood and stretched. "Let's get this done so we can get on with building the temple."

"Let them in, Margaret." David sighed. "I don't have a back door anyway. I was hoping you would go out the window and repel down the side of the building."

"Do I look like James Bond to you?" Blair asked.

The police entered and quickly set about cuffing Blair and Xander and reading them their rights. From the pair of their persons the police confiscated two 9mms, three knives, one fighting axe, and a sawed off shotgun.

"Are you sure I couldn't hold those for them?" Wesley asked. He was ignored. "It's rather my best axe." He was still ignored.

"I'll submit that budget to you just as soon as I have it," Xander told David as the police took them away.

"Do you want the name of my lawyer?" David asked.

"No," Wesley told him, "I already have someone in mind."

Xander and Blair were arraigned for the second time that evening about seven o'clock.

"Lindsey McDonald for the defense, Your Honor. Wave reading of all charges."

To be continued in

"You Don't Really Want to Do That, Do You?"

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