My sister asked for this one.

Warning- It's AU. Sorry.

Description- Clare is a lawyer and Eli is also. They have very different tactics and came from opposing firms, now that Eli's closed down... what's a guy to do.

"Alli, its papers after papers after papers here." Clare said as she entered her firm while everyone was getting ready for the new lawyers.

"Well, maybe you'll find a hot lawyer and give my kids some friends?" Alli said hopefully as she spooned corn into AJ's mouth and made Alia eat some breakfast.

Clare rolled her eyes, though Alli couldn't see. "Oh please, and did I tell you? Simpson seems to think one lawyer needs to be my partner, apparently he's never lost a case."

"Neither have you." Alli said proudly as AJ refused her corn and moaned for the cereal Alia had.

Clare allowed herself a cocky moment. "True. Hey, I have to go before Heather leaves my coffee and it gets cold."

"Bye- EW!" she cried as AJ threw the corn at her blouse.

"That's why I don't have kids."

"Bye Clare," Alli grumbled and gave AJ her cereal.

"Bye Bye Alliah." Clare hung up and Heather gave her the coffee.

"By the way, your mother called and left a message." Heather said and Clare paused and rolled her eyes.

"Let me guess- 'Hi, when are you having babies'." Clare groaned and Heather giggled and nodded softly.

"Well, along the lines of that. And some god is in your office for you, Eli Goldsworthy." she gossiped and Clare recongized that name. Ugh... him?

Clare sighed. "Ok, ok. Let the pain begin." she said, waving goodbye to her assitant.

"I feeel the welcome." a soft and somewhat sensual voice said and Clare jumped, spilling coffee on her shirt. She made an unprofessional whiny noise and the person chuckled.

"Clare Edwards, remember me?" the voice said, lower than nessecary which made his voice impossibly sultry.

"Elijah Goldsworthy, I could never forget. So... David and Sons closed?"

"Well, David Sr. died and David Jr. is about twelve so I guess, you can say we had no choice." he said, looking at her as she blotted the spot. "It's not coming out."

"I know, hold this." she growled, throwing her coffee at him. He caught it and she called to Heather.

"Heather, go to the Lost and Found, find me something. Anything. Please?"

"Sure but if you end up in a holiday sweater, I'm calling Darcy to give you something." Heather said and traveled downstairs.

Clare stood in a black tank top and Eli smirked.

"You grew up quite a bit in the last five years Clare Bear."

Clare rolled her eyes.

"You almost lost that case." she reminded him and he rolled his eyes.

"So did you." she put her hands on her hips

"Glad that the judge decided to dismiss it?"

"Elated," he said sarcastically.

"Great. Now give me coffee." she said and he smirked.

"Beg,"

"In your dreams."

He raised and eyebrow, challenging her. She shook her head. "I'll live, have the rest."

Eli was about to say something when Heather came in, looking scared.

"You said anything." she reminded her and closed the door hastily.

Clare looked at the shirt and groaned.

Eli looked at it and smirked, sipping his, actually her, coffee.

It was white and very low cut. The sleeves were see-through. The shirt does not leave much to the imagination.

"It's like a stripper's shirt." She complained.

"I like it." Eli said and Clare glared at him.

"Pervert."

"What guy isn't. Especially when someone like you is contemplating wearing it."

Clare looked at him. "Are you calling me a stripper?"

"I don't know what you do at night. Or who."

Clare rolled her eyes. She's been doing that a lot since he came here.

"Just keep your perverted comments to yourself." she muttered as she went into the bathroom.

He chuckled softly and sat in the chair next to her desk.

"Whatever Ice Queen."

"Name-calling... really?" she turned around and glared at him, he ignored it but eventually looked up at her.

"Well, you wanted me to keep my perverted comments to myself. If you want I could call you a lot of other things..."

He looked her over and Clare put her hands on her hips.

"This might be sexual harrasment." she said.

"Just change your clothes Clare."

She huffed and went into her bathroom.

She came out and Eli's jaw dropped.

She looked better than he thought she would. She kicked his chair.

"Are you a middle schooler?" she said and he gathered himself.

"I could say the same."

She sighed and reviewed the case. "Well, it looks like we have a divorce case."

"Splendid,"

"The couple... Spinner Mason and Emma Nelson-Mason. Oh wait- no, that's Torres's case. We have the Biggums, Max and Carla."

Eli nodded. "You say it so plainly."

"Really?" she deadpanned and grabbed a note-pad.

"Yeah, like it's nothing." Eli said.

"I'm a lawyer, we don't have souls." Clare said and Eli smirked.

"Carla is a maid for a family in north Toronto. The family says that Carla woud come with a sore throat and messed-up hair, clothes, glossy bloodshot eyes, and a tired appearence every morning."

"You can interpret that in many different ways." Eli said and Clare glared up at him.

"I'm just saying!" he said, holding his hands up like he's innocent.

"Max owns a resturant in North Toronto too and his employees describe him as 'big, observant, and flirtasious'. Great,"

Eli whistled. "We have our work cut out for us."

Carla walked in with a light blue blazer and skirt combo. "He is the devil!" she stated and Max scofffed from the other couch.

"I cannott get along with a man like that! He's too flirty, and he's supposed to be mine! It's like I'm a prize wife!"

Max rolled his eyes and straightened his tie. "It's buisness Carla, it's buisness."

"Yeah, your cook is quite the buisness isn't she?"

"Rosie? This is about Rosie?"

"No! It's about Rosie, Melinda, Sharon, Margo, Natalia..."

"I get it. I get it!"

"Maximillian Robert Gomez, don't you raise your voice at me!"

"You're the one yelling!"

Then they both began yelling at once and Clare looked at Eli.

"You deal with this a lot?" Eli asked as the screaming grew louder and Carla raised herself.

"Like eveyday." Clare said as she revealed the whistle around her neck. He chuckled and reached across, touching it. Clare's breath hitched and he smirked.

"May I do the honor?" he whispered, his hot breathe hitting her neek and she nodded.

He placed his lips around the metal and blew a a shrill noise. Carla was in the postion of hitting her husband with a purse and Max was recoiling. Clare squeezed her eyes shut at the sound and reopened them once the sound of Carla and Max sitting civily opened them.

"You two have problems." Eli said.

Carla scoffed and Clare sighed.

"My head hurts." Eli complained, sitting back into her spinny chair.

Clare rubbed her temples. "I need a drug to get past them."

Eli smirked as she made that whiny unproffesional groan.

"Well, that sentence didn't just give me enough material to work with."

Clare glared at him and he chuckled.

"You need to lighten up." he said, and she sighed.

"Didn't we go over this? I have no soul." Clare joked and Eli smirked.

"I'll make a hopeless romantic out of you yet, Edwards."

Clare stiffened. "You said that five years ago."

"Regarding our case. The murder was a crime of true passion."

"I still say he's a perverted freak."

Eli got up. "You don't mean that."

Clare rolled her eyes. "I have to get a decent shirt from my sister."

She walked halfway to the door. She turned around. "Stay." she said and Eli chuckled.

"I'm not a dog."

Clare raised her eyebrows. "I beg to differ."

"Now she begs. Here is your coffe."

"I don't want it, that's where your lips have been."

"Didn't affect me."

This is where Clare noticed that she and Eli were subconsciously moving closer.

"Eli-"

"Clare..."

He pushed her against the wall.

"Eli... is this sexual harrasment?" she said and he smirked.

"That's not up to me." he said and pulled away.

Clare looked at him leave her office and she half wanted for him to come back and just... keep her warm and never ever leave her side.

"Three weeks. Three weeks and you two have been hiding all your sexual frutrastion and the tension is choking me." Adam said as Eli and him drank coffee.

"Adam Torres. Will you meet Fiona Coyne, she's your domestic abuse case." Heather said and Adam choked on his coffee.

Fiona's eyes darted around and Adam's eyes widened at her beauty.

"Um, m-my office please." Adam wheezed out. Fiona cracked a grin.

"C-can you... tell me w-where it is?" she stuttered too just like Adam.

"O-okay." Eli rolled her eyes.

"Careful Torres." he muttered and Adam kicked his chair.

"Was that a hate crime?" Eli asked and Adam glared at him.

"So why are you staying here so late?" Eli asked Clare as she drank her second cup of coffee in the last hour.

"Because I love working on a case. Beckonridge vs. Coyne is kinda interesting."she said as she walked from the computer to the printer.

Eli sat on her couch and watched her, examined and analyzed her.

"Stop staring Mr. Goldsworthy, I do enjoy the attention though." she smirked and Eli felt the urge to tackle her.

"Clare... I have a question." Eli asked, still deeply staring at her as she bit her lip.

"Fire away."

Eli reached from behind her, grabbing her sides playfully. "That case five years ago. Do you really think it was a planned murder?" he whispered, making words like murder make Clare want to do so many things.

"It could have been a crime of passion." Clare said, unwrapping her hands from the printer.

"What's passion really?"

"Pure... unadulterated passion?"

"Precisely."

"Well, I wouldn't know. Only ever had one boyfriend. Fiance really. KC Guthrie. It was a long time ago." Clare said, reading again. Eli felt curiosity overtake him, with the advantage of jealousy.

"KC. What happened?" he said, hiding his emotions. Well, he is a lawyer."

"Jenna Middleton. The new host of Next Teen Star, with their perfect little life and daughter and cars..."

Eli stayed silent as he watched Clare type an interesting fact.

"So... if you didn't know what passion was how...?"

Clare sighed, removing her glasses. "I have felt that moment of no thoughts, a clotted yet clear mine focused on one thing. But that never reached the level of passion that I have... even with my job. Like I need to win this case, this battle between two opposing sides with their swords and poker faces, feeling no emotion. Just words. It's the best."

Eli nodded and smiled inwardly as he and Clare shared a strong passion for their job.

Clare smiled. "Why the Q&A? Something up?"

"No... I just wanted to know. For future reference."

Clare raised her eyebrows. "What makes you so sure you're going to get mein any type of passionate situation outside of the courtroom, Mr. Goldsworthy? Some secret plan?"

Eli smiled "Edwards, you have no idea." he whispered from behind her. Clare shivered and he smirked. "One day, you will regret doubting me."

"Not cool." she muttered and got out of ger chair. Out of her lap fell...

"Unbitten..." Eli read the title. "The seventh installment in the 'Fangs' series."

Clare turned bright red. "It's nothing, my friend Alli's."

Eli smirked. "So you wouldn't mind if I..." he placed a warning finger on the bookmark. Clare visibly paled.

"Please don't." she whined.

Eli smirked. "A vampire fetish? Really? Wow Clare, maybe you do know passion."

Clare ran a hand through her hand. "That passion is artificial, words on a page. I was talking about it for real." she mumbled and Eli looked at her as she looked down, cheeks tinted pink in embarassment.

"So is it good?" he asked and her cheeks flamed.

"Shut up."

"May I remind you that dating a client is wrong?" Eli said to Adam as they walked in the next day.

"Yeah but crushing on a co-worker is just as illegal." Adam teased and Eli shushed him.

Adam rolled his eyes. Fiona had been with Bobby since their senior year and she was just two years older. 25. She had a stutter problem from all her beatings and it killed Ada that some angry man decided to take it out on Fiona.

"I can't not like her." Adam and Eli thought as they watched the two talk and laugh.

"Someday." Adam said. "The prince always gets the princess."

"Stop reading fairy tales and get back to work." Eli said and he smiled.

Really bored.

Couldn't help but sharpen my skills.

Yay education *dull horn*