Disclaimer: This series is intended as short in-between vignettes of my other fanfic, Of Life and Lemonade, so in order to understand it, you probably should read that one first. Since that one is Amelia-centered, this series will focus on the other characters that pop up along the way. Slayers is owned by very talented people who make all the money. No harm is intended. As always, reviews are encouraged, constructive criticisms appreciated, and any flames shall meet the same fate as the Balrog. Enjoy! ^_^

Spoilers to chapter 5 of Life.

Chapter 1

Adventures in Babysitting

Xelloss Metallium sat at his large cherry wood desk, and for the past half hour had been staring either at the downtown landscape from his high-rise office or at the piece of paper in his hands. The result: the intense desire to run out of his office, screaming down the hallway, slapping people as he went, before knocking over the water cooler and yelling, "They're coming to take me away! Ha ha! Hee hee! Ho ho…"

Of course, he would never do anything of the sort.

No. He would remain seated in his black leather chair, surrounded by framed awards and a law degree, and staring at a piece of paper that he should have made a decision about yesterday. What the hell was he going to do at the prom of a girl he hardly knew? And even worse, what would his co-workers say if they found out that a grown man was going to a high school function?

Of course, there were perks to taking out his old boss's daughter.

His eyes unfocused as he thought about any possible favors he might need from Judge Philionel. He already had his own office, although it was one in his mother's firm, but there had to be something…

"Mister Metallium?"

Kira, his too-cute, over-enthusiastic, extremely young secretary knocked on the door and entered. Her pink hair was up in pigtails, as usual, and a stack of papers was wobbling in her hands. It was amazing that, at fifteen, she had already graduated from high school and was attending college to go to law school, which had more than surpassed his own accomplishment of blasting though college and law school in a measly four years.

"Here are the reports you wanted typed up. I collated them and made copies. Your original is in the plastic folder on the bottom. We ran out of labels, so I hand-wrote the names of the clients on the tabs. That way, it will be easier for you to find and distribute them," she finished brightly. Her cheerfulness sometimes made him nauseous.

"Thank you, Kira," he muttered, and she set the reports down in his "IN" basket. Rather than leaving, though, she glanced at the paper he was holding before he could hide it, and she beamed.

"Wow, Mister Metallium. Which one are you going to pick? Who's it for? What's it for? I think the one with the bells is nice. She'll make music as she walks. It is a 'she' right? Oh, the gold one is pretty, too. Orchids are my favorite flower. So what's it for?"

While she was talking, Xelloss quickly stood and closed the door to his office, hoping desperately that no one had heard anything. Dammit. Just what he needed. A blabbering girl telling everyone in the office that he was looking at corsages. Now what?

"If it's for a lady, it should match her dress, you know. So, what color's her dress? Do you even know? Are you going to wear a tux? Oh, I know! It would look so good if you could match her, you know, the cummerbund-thingy. So, what color's her dress?"

She had spoken so quickly and so much that Xelloss found himself answering before he could stop himself.

"Blue with silver trim."

"Oh, that sounds pretty. Then you should pick that one," she babbled, pointing at a corsage of mini white roses and orchids wrapped with blue and silver ribbons. "You should also find out if they can put those bells on that one too. I think she would love it! 'Rings on her fingers, bells on her toes, and she makes music, wherever she goes.' Or something like that. Of course, the bells wouldn't be on her toes, would they? No, they'd be on her dress or on her wrist. Oh, there's another thought. Are you going to get a pin corsage or a wrist corsage? Maybe you should ask the florist if they would even do a wrist corsage. The one you picked might not come with it. Hmm… Did you want me to call to find out? I can ask them if they can add the bells on it as well."

"No, I can do that myself, Kira. Thank you."

"Oh, no problem at all Mister Metallium."

"And Kira, do you think we can keep this just between us?"

She squeaked in conspiratorial delight. "Ooh, a secret, you mean?"

Xelloss smiled. "Of course. One thing about being a good lawyer is knowing when to keep a secret."

The smile on her face fell at a thought. "But what do you do if you're under oath? You have to tell the truth then."

"Lawyers are the ones doing the questioning, Kira. We're usually not under oath. But, if you ever are, you can always tell the truth without giving away the secret. It's like a game. To see how long it takes for the other person to figure out the secret when given misleading truths. The trick to keeping a secret is to not offer any information freely, but if asked, any information given needs to be irrelevant but made to seem important. Now, I wouldn't advise this in court, but in real life, there is the opportunity to play this game."

Her eyes widened and she grinned.

"Thank you, Mister Metallium." She skipped away, but before she opened the door, she turned back to him. "And 'it's a secret,' huh?"

Xelloss smirked. "Right, Kira."

With a nod and a smile, she was out the door, closing it behind her. Xelloss looked back down at the paper and circled the corsage Kira had chosen, making a notation about bells next to it. He made a mental note to give his secretary a bonus before he turned his attention to the stack of paper she had given him. Innocent little Kira. She would be so easy to mold to his way of thinking…

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Ring. Ring.

"Hello?"

"Hello, Zelgadiss. It's Xelloss."

"Xelloss. Did you get a chance to review my case?"

"What? No, 'what's going on?' or a 'how are you doing?'"

"…"

"'I'm doing fine, Xelloss. How are you?' Or something like that. You realize that you could do with better conversational skills."

"Funny."

"That's why I like you Zelgadiss. No matter how upbeat or happy a person is, you're always there to burst his bubble and send him crashing to earth."

"If only analogies could be true… Come on. Now were you able to review my case?"

He smirked. It was so fun to rile this guy up.

"Alright, alright. Yes, I did, but I need to see if there's a precedent first. There are too many angles to cover. Also, the man you needed information on is on a higher classification level than I can access. Weren't you able to find anything in the public records?"

"They're overworked over there. I requested something two weeks ago, and when I called back today, they said they never received it."

"Problems of a bureaucracy. I'll see what I can dig up on my end. Do you need the whole background check or just the minimum?"

"As much as I can get. Using any of the computer systems at the station would set up a red flag, and I don't want to do that."

"Alright, I'll see what I can do… By the way, are you doing anything on Saturday? I'm going to need a limo for the night. Let's just say that you don't have to pay me for looking up that information for you."

There was a long pause on the other end of the line before he answered.

"That's the reason you called me, isn't it? You weren't going to give me an update at all…"

"Tsk. Tsk. No need to get testy, Zelgadiss. I did look at your case, and I do need to check the books, and I did have problems getting that information, and I do need a limousine on Saturday. Is there anything wrong with any of that?"

"No… no, I guess not."

"Good, then pick me up at five o'clock on Saturday. Can I make a special request?"

"What's that?"

"Wear a suit and a chauffeur's cap."

"Trying to impress someone?"

Xelloss could hear the smirk on the other end of the line. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all.

"Just be there," he muttered, quite irritated, and before he clicked the line off, he heard Zelgadiss chuckling. He smirked in return. Touché.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The prom had been interesting, to put it mildly, but the best part, by far, was kissing the boss's daughter in the back of the limousine, even with the subsequent lump on his head from that pothole. That damned pothole.

Xelloss stretched out in the back of the limo on the way home, feeling quite pleased with himself. The youngest Seyruun daughter turned out to be quite a bit of a wild girl herself. She could dance and drink, and she felt quite nice, too... He couldn't wait until she turned eighteen.

The privacy glass rolled down, and a pair of aquamarine eyes glared back at him.

"Cheshire cat? Or the cat who ate the canary?" Zelgadiss asked.

"I've always been partial to fish, so I suppose that would make me the Cheshire cat. I like his habit of popping in and out of the place, leaving his smile behind." He put his hands behind his head and leaned back. He looked like the Cheshire cat who ate the canary.

"Well, the next time you decide to make an appearance in my limo, tell me if you're bringing a minor. That was expensive stuff."

"I'll buy you more. Patron and Stoli, right? Besides, those three drinks didn't do anything to her. It was whoever spiked the punch." He added, under his breath, "Bless his heart."

He allowed his mind to wander, and of course, it landed on Miss Amelia. Little Amelia dancing, smiling, laughing, kissing… Oh, could she kiss. Perhaps not as well as…

"So, was it any good?" Zelgadiss asked, breaking his train of thought.

"I… I beg your pardon?"

"Prom." Oh, that. Xelloss breathed a sigh of relief, and Zel went on. "Mine sucked. The band was lame, the food was terrible, and my date took off to be with her friends the second we got there."

Poor Zelgadiss.

"It was definitely better than mine," Xelloss said, sitting up. "I had filet mignon."

Zel made a gagging sound. "Don't remind me. That's what I ordered at my prom, and it ended up being over cooked and tough."

"No, this was juicy and done just right."

He smirked at his double entendre as he began to gather his few belongings together. They were approaching his apartment, a beautiful bachelor pad in a high-rise downtown, just a few blocks from his work. Zelgadiss pulled up to the curb and stopped.

"Thanks, Zel. You don't have to open the door for me. I'll look up what I can for you, but I might need a little help with something later."

Zelgadiss turned around and gave him a withering look through the partition.

"Oh, come off it. I gave you and your date a ride…"

"And I'd like to see that date again, but I don't want some of her friends to know about it. I've got a proposition for you…"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The light was blinking on his answering machine when he walked into his apartment. It was a clean and modern place, with central air and heat. Modern art adorned the walls, and all the latest electronics were throughout his house. With a touch of a button, the soothing sound of a saxophone playing issued forth from strategically placed and hidden speakers around the room. He removed his tie and jacket and threw them on the black marble countertop in the kitchen.

He pressed the button on the answering machine and groaned when a woman's husky voice filtered into the room:

"Xelloss, hon. It's your mother. I need your help next week planning the party. I don't trust any of these idiots. I don't know why I'm paying them. Now I know you said you were probably going to busy, but I absolutely need you to be there to supervise everything over the weekend. Well, whatever it is that you're doing will just have to wait. These morons haven't even gotten the caterers booked, and I think the banquet hall costs way too much. I need you to look over the menu and we'll need a band as well. The awards need to be transported to the hall…"

Damn. Well, there went Amelia's party. Perhaps he could sneak off for a few hours when he wasn't needed. He couldn't believe his mother wanted to have a stupid award ceremony for her stupid circle of friends and their stupid dogs. Who in their right mind would give an award to her friends' dogs for insignificant things such as: "Best Teeth" or, "Best Hairstyle" or, even worse, "Cuddliest Pooch"???

Pulling out a pad of paper and a pen, he began writing down the instructions his mother dictated, and after fifteen minutes of her rambling message, began to formulate a plan that would not only allow him to do his mother's insane bidding, but might just allow him time to see Amelia as well. He tapped the pen on the table and grinned. Now if he could only convince Zelgadiss to do his dirty work for him…

***************************

A/N: Surprise everyone! I know it's not much, and it doesn't really go anywhere, but as I was writing Of Life and Lemonade, I began to think of the other characters and what they were doing while Amelia was being Amelia (also after some requests from some of my reviewers as well). This series is meant to be a companion piece to Of Life and Lemonade and won't go too much into the plot, but it will give a little background about our other characters as well as some side stories. This will not update as often, but I hope you still enjoy!

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