Chapter Two
Weiss Xander Chapter Two
Note: I'm amending the pairing; the Xander /Aya part will be as 'siblings'. Pairings will be announced as I think of them.
Disclaimer add-on, I don't own Numb3rs even if I understand the math, I'm just playing with them, and the Scott Brothers have ownership. They are brothers right?
Chapter Summary: the government knows more than they let on, Riley and Graham are assigned to watch/protect Xander and Aya for the summer; meanwhile the twosome stumble upon a mystery involving the Epps brothers…of course…..
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Secret underground military base, Sunnydale
"Finn, Miller." General Meriwether said from his desk. The man was at this base only for long enough for everything to settle, then he was going back to Washington to observe from afar.
"Sir." the two agents-playing-soldiers, and wasn't that scary, said in unison with a smart solute.
"Temporary assignment." Meriwether said, holding out a set of folders. "Harris and Fujimiya have met as predicted after the incident in New York. Our sources say they are currently in LA; Harris was going on a road trip at last update. I want you to keep an eye on them, keep them out of harm's way."
"Yes sir," Riley Finn said looking over the file. "Are we to follow at a distance or interact?"
"Distance until you have no other choice." Meriwether said, nodding to himself. "Dismissed, leave with haste."
"Sir." Finn and Miller said saluting the General and left the office quickly.
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Los Angeles
Xander and Aya walked down the street hand in hand. Every once in a while Aya would pause to look at something curiously, causing Xander to tug on his hand to keep him moving.
"Come on Xan." Aya said after a while. "Cal-Sci has a guest lecture I want to go to. We're going to miss it, if you keep procrastinating."
"I don't want new clothes." Xander protested. "I don't need new clothes."
"Yes you do." Aya said with a nod. "Shirts with sentimental value aside, your wardrobe makes my eyes bleed."
Xander stopped. "You got Angel to throw away my clothes, didn't you?" he asked, horrified. "Then why have you been shopping for yourself all day?"
Aya looked down at his new tight fitting jeans and tight tee-shirt, that, unlike Yohji's choice of clothes, both looked good on him and didn't make him look like a whore. "Because I'm hot and only have winter clothes. Besides, no one I know would imagine me in this."
"I would." Xander pointed out.
"You don't count." Aya said dismissively as he dragged Xander into a store the brunette might actually buy something in.
"This is a Goth store." Xander hissed, looking around for any sign of a vampire or demon owner.
"Yeah, all black." Aya said, pushing Xander toward the racks of clothes and headed for the jewelry counter. "Remember who knows you Xander."
The brunette sighed; yeah he liked the Goth look, but was never allowed to dress the part, then came the knowledge that vampires really existed which kinda killed the idea too. "Just remember when we get back to Sunnyhell not to see Buffy or Willow unless its day."
Aya glanced at the owner. "I think Buffy knows the difference between vamp and Goth. I know Goths that don't think they're vampires and vice versa."
"Just remember you said that when she tries to stake me." Xander muttered, but started looking through the selection of clothes.
"Can I see that?" Aya asked, pointing at a ring in the display case; it was a simple silver ring with the Star of David, Pentacle, and Om in a row on the top separated by a diamond between each. In many ways it symbolized the state of mind and magic, or maybe just a balance; either way it called to Aya.
And there were two rings.
"Lots of people get offended." the owner said. Aya wasn't sure if he was a vampire or demon, but wasn't going to worry about it quite yet. "Mixing religions; but that's the way the maker made them, so only someone that the ring calls to would want it."
Aya picked up one of the rings and slipped it onto his index finger. "It's beautiful." he said, admiring the craftsmanship. "Xan, take a look at these."
"What?" Xander asked, carrying an armful of clothes to the counter and set them down to look at the rings. The picked up the one not on Aya's hand and put it on and both shivered as they felt the magic settle over them….
"Do you want to ring those up or continue looking?" the man behind the counter asked smiling at the two.
Aya frowned, there was something nagging at him, but he couldn't put his finger on it. It was like something wasn't right, yet at the same time something had finally settled into rightness. It was weird and now all he wanted to do was leave.
"Ring it up." Xander said, giving Aya a look that said he felt it too.
And as the demon behind the counter rang up the clothes Aya absently caressed the ring on his finger with his thumb.
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Xander changed at a public restroom before they drove down to Cal-Sci. Aya paid for a parking pass then they drove around the parking lot looking for a place near the math department that was also going to be well lit when nigh fell. They didn't know the area or the vampire population near the school, so it was better safe than sorry and be near light where they could be seen of something happened.
"So who is this guest speaker?" Xander asked, following Aya along the sidewalk.
"Doctor Henry Wellis." Aya said. "Professor of Applied Mathematics."
"And you want to see this lecture why?" Xander asked, horrified at the thought of going to a math class.
"Because he is the math department chair at Sunnydale U." Aya said. "And I want to see how competent he is to get an idea of what the other teachers are going to be like."
"Why?" Xander asked, near to pouting.
"Because we're going to college." Aya said, looking over his shoulder at the brunette. "Even if we have to make Angel pay."
"He'd do that?" Xander asked, remembering the acceptance letter he had gotten. The down side of asshole parents, they made too much for financial aid, but weren't going to pay for him to go to college.
"Vampire as old as he is, with no apparent source of income, has to have cash from long time investments." Aya said opening the door to the math building. "And given his age and the possibility of buying bonds and stock when they were dirt cheap, he's got to have a shit load of money."
"In that case I'll strive to be nicer to him." Xander said putting a hand over his heart.
Aya snorted. "Yeah, that'll last all of three seconds." he said and fell silent as they entered the lecture hall where a sign was posted announcing the guest lecturer.
"He knows the death threats are more habit than truth now a days." Xander said, softly following Aya to the middle where they could see and hear, but would be anonymous enough not to be noticed by the teacher. "And Deadboy is a sign of affection."
Aya snickered.
The lecture hall fell silent as a slim shaggy haired man entered though a side door and walked up on the stage, a short stocky man following a moment later. Aya hoped the handsome man was the Sunnydale Chair, but doubted it. This was disappointing as he would defiantly go to any classes the man taught.
"Good afternoon class." Professor Charlie Epps greeted the students with a shy smile. "Today were going to have a guest lecturer as many of you know. I'd like to welcome Professor Henry Wellis of Sunnydale University."
Just as the man smiled at the students and opened his mouth to speak the lights went out and all the doors slammed shut.
"Is it me or is it us?" Aya commented in the dark.
"It's us." Xander confirmed.
"Ok, as long as it's us." Aya said and pulled a flashlight out of his bag. "Rule nine, always be prepared."
"I thought that was rule one though one hundred." Xander said, pulling out his own flashlight.
"Over here." Professor Epps said waving the two over and pointed to a circuit breaker.
"I like calling it rule nine." Aya said, smiling at the professor, and shined the flashlight at the circuit breaker as the man fiddled with the switches.
"Rule nine?" Charlie Epps asked with an amused smile. "What about one through eight?"
"Math equations." Aya said grinning.
Charlie chuckled. "You're not part of my class." he stated. "Are you here for Professor Wellis?"
Aya nodded. "Yeah, we start in the fall. I saw the lecture online. I hope you don't mind."
Shaking his head Charlie flipped a switch and the lights came on. "There, thank you." he said and they got back to the lecture.
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Don entered Charlie's office blinking at the sight of a redhead and a brunette teenager beating the pants off Charlie at chess without speaking or looking at each other. He'd only seen the action in twins, but there was no way those two could be twins or related. One was broad shouldered and lean, with a swimmers body. The other was painfully thin and small, more suited to be a dancer. However, Don couldn't get the twin angle out of his head.
"Hey Chuck." Don said smiling at his brother.
"Hey Don." Charlie said smiling, "I'm just getting trounced by these two."
"I can see that." Don said, stopping just behind the teens. The smaller one jumped, causing Don to take a step to the side, away from the redhead and at the side of the table. "Maybe you should play one at a time."
"He tried that." the brunette said, looking up and gave Don an assessing once over. "We still beat the pants off of him. We're going to call it a psychic phenomenon because it's funny when he scowls."
Charlie frowned with a slight glare, but there was no malice. "Don, this is Xander and Aya, they came to the guest lecture today to see their future teacher."
"Ah," Don said. "Nice to meet you."
"Hi," Xander said, "Forgive Aya, he doesn't like people standing behind him."
"Getting stabbed will do that." Aya muttered, moving a chess piece, and leaned his head on Xander's shoulder.
There was silence for a moment before Don cleared his throat. "So ready to go soon?" he asked his brother.
"Sure." Charlie said, standing. "Better than being beaten….again."
"I take it that losing at chess doesn't happen very often?" Xander asked raising an eyebrow.
"No," Charlie said a little dejectedly. "Hey are you guys busy? Dinner at my house?"
Aya and Xander exchanged looks. "Well, we were just going to test Angel's resolve, and possibly bank account, which ever would annoy him more." Xander said.
"Yeah, we'd stab him with a pencil, but he might take it personally." Aya said, suddenly cheerful at the prospect of an actual home cooked meal. "Or maybe it would just annoy him. We're not sure."
Xander snorted. "It's the type of annoying it would do." he explained to the redhead. "Money gets the glares, stabbing get the mean face."
Aya laughed.
"You're not serious, are you?" Don asked raising an eyebrow.
"If we were serious, we'd be doing it." Xander said.
"Eww." Aya said.
Now Charlie and Don were laughing, situation defused.
"So follow us?" Charlie asked, grabbing his bag.
"Sure." Xander said with a nod and stood.
"The brother is a cop." Aya said once they were in the car following the black truck at a distance.
"Fed." Xander agreed.
"Do you think it's a good idea to expose a Fed to us?" Aya asked. "Not just because of my past, but everything that goes bump in the night? In my experience cops freak when dealing with the supernatural. And from the look of him, how he moved when he knew I was uncomfortable, Don Eppes is not stupid, and he'd dig for answers."
Xander frowned. He hadn't considered that, but what were they going to do? If the man wasn't stupid, he'd eventually figure everything out anyway, and without a network of people who were in the know, such knowledge could get him killed.
"We'll play it by ear," Xander said with a sigh. "If anything, we make sure he has our number and Angel's number."
Aya nodded, wincing as Xander took a turn a little too sharply.
"Sorry." Xander said.
"Not your fault." Aya said, wincing again. "I'm going to have to change the bandage though."
"You think you popped a stitch?" Xander asked.
"We'll check when we get there." Aya said. "I'm not passing up home cooked food if there is a chance nothing is wrong with me."
"That's a loaded answer." Xander teased.
"Just for that I'm going to tease you the next time you get stabbed." Aya said with a pout.
"So nothing that you wouldn't normally do." Xander said with a smirk. He pulled into the drive behind the Eppes brothers and popped the trunk to get the little first aid kit that held the medical supplies for Aya's injury along with a little bottle of vicodin concealed in a bottle of aspirin. "Can we use your bathroom?" Xander asked as they reached the front door.
"Something wrong?" Charlie asked, opening the door and glanced at Aya in concern.
"Sharp turn." Xander said. "Gonna make sure he didn't pop a stitch."
"Not giving up free food if I don't have to." Aya said with a firm nod.
Charlie chuckled. "Yeah, bathroom is that way." he said pointing down the hall.
"Thanks." Xander said, gently pushing Aya to the bathroom.
"Ow." Aya said, standing with his back to Xander so the brunette could look at his back. "Anything?"
Xander carefully peeled off the bandage and set it aside then knelt down to get a closer look at the stab wound. "A little leakage and irritation." he said, breaking out the antiseptic and cleaned the wound carefully before replacing the bandage with a fresh one. "We'll check it again at Angel's, but I don't see anything bad."
"Good." Aya said tugging down his shirt and turned. "I'll take a pill when we eat."
When they entered the living room Don stood from where he was sitting on the couch watching the recap of the afternoon's football game. "Everything ok?" he asked.
"Nothing severe." Aya said. "I have pills."
Don smiled. "Ok, can I get you guys anything to drink?"
"Soda if you have it." Xander said. "Green tea for Aya."
Don gave them that curious look again, but shrugged it off and went into the kitchen. Aya sat down at the dining room table and set a single white pill on the table top.
"I could do so many Matrix jokes right now." Xander said sitting across from the redhead.
"Not without the proper cast." Aya said shaking his head. "Geek."
"Yes I am." Xander said.
"Alright," Don said, setting down a cup on soda in front of Xander, then set down a stack of plates.
"I got it." Aya said, taking the plates and put on in front of each chair.
"Donny, you gonna introduce me to our guests?" an older man asked as he entered the room carrying a cup of hot tea.
"Oh, Xander, Aya, this is my dad Alan Eppes." Don said. "Dad this is-"
"Xander Harris." the brunette said.
"Fujimiya Aya." the redhead said.
"Nice too meet you." Alan said sitting down at the head of the table. "So where are you boys from?"
Xander sat back in his chair giving Aya an 'I'll take the lead look.' "Sunnydale; up the coast. We're on a road trip for the summer."
"That must be fun," Alan commented. "Is LA your first stop?"
Xander nodded. "Yup. We have a friend that lives down town, so free couch, save money."
"Shop more," Aya muttered.
Xander jumped up. "Oh that reminds me, can I use your phone so Angel doesn't think we got eaten by the locals? Cell phones are tomorrow's venture."
"Of course." Alan said, pointing out the phone by the couch.
"Thanks." Xander said and got up to make his call.
"So how is Sunnydale?" Alan asked Aya. "I heard some strange things happen there."
Aya shrugged. "It looks nice at least." he said cheerfully. "Until the sun goes down."
"You mean the gang activity?" Don asked, knowing about Sunnydale. Various task forces had tried shaking down the town, but thanks to the Mayor no agency had ever been allowed to investigate. He knew why.
Aya snorted then started to laugh. That was a funny joke.
Don and Alan exchanged looked. Then Don said, "Or do you mean the vampires and demons?"
Aya stopped laughing and just stared at the man. Then he got up and sat down on the couch next to Xander and whispered in his ear.
Xander paused in his talk with Angel over the phone and looked at Don then back to Aya.
"Cool."
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Next chapter will take a little longer to post.
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