InsaneJournal

“Dresden!” came the shout along with the pounding at the door that scared Molly half to death. “Dresden, open up!”

Meekly she went to the door and asked, “Erm…who is it?”

The pounding ceased and the voice replied, “Warden Morgan, apprentice. Open up. I need to speak with Dresden about something.”

“Harry’s not here right now,” said Molly quickly, not sure if this was really Morgan or not. It sure sounded like him but she’d learned that things weren’t always what they seemed to be. Especially after that story from Harry about the thing that had gone around looking like him and had hurt both Murphy and her mother.

Morgan growled then started to speak again when Harry’s voice came from the top of the stairs along with Mouse’s resonating rumble.

“Why, Morgan, how pleasant to see you. What’s happened now?”

“What makes you think something has happened, Dresden?” he asked as he moved back so the other wizard could get at his door. He sidestepped further back as the big dog eyed him in a rather worrying manner.

Harry smirked as he took down his wards and heaved his door open a space before replying, “Because you never show up at my door when things are fine.” He then finished opening the door and entered, leaving it open without an invitation for Morgan. The older man sighed and entered the apartment without waiting for what wasn’t going to come, leaving most of his power at the threshold.

“Dresden…”

“One minute…here, Molly.” Harry handed her the bag he’d been carrying and said, “Take that down into the lab, will you? But don’t mess with it until I get down there.”

“Okay,” she said and disappeared down into the sub basement. Harry waited until it closed after her then shrugged out of his coat and turned to Morgan finally. “So what possible apocalypse do we have coming now?”

“Nothing of the sort, Dresden,” replied Morgan stiffly. He hated having to deal with this man even if he give him a little respect for a few recent actions of his. But Captain Luccio had insisted he be the one to go and bring him in so they could deal with the Watcher’s man. “There is simply someone we need you to come and identify for us.”

“Me?” said Harry, confused. “Why? Also, why the hell are you in town?”

“It could be better explained at where he is being kept.”

“Look, Morgan, I’m sure as hell not going anywhere with you to identify someone when I don’t even know what’s going on. And answer the second question.”

The older wizard frowned and hissed, “This man is claiming to be of some relation to you, Dresden. I would think you would know if he were.” He ignored the second question again and sensed that the other wizard was going to be ignoring it too.

His words didn’t quite get the reaction he’d expected. Instead of just looking mildly surprised, the taller man stumbled backwards and barely caught himself on the back of a chair. He wobbled dangerously and stared at Morgan in wide-eyed awe before he gasped, “He…he’s claiming to be family?”

“Yes, Dresden,” snipped Morgan, not seeing where this was going. “He’s claiming to be your kin though I don’t see why that’s so shocking…” Then he remembered: Dresden had been raised by duMorne and then McCoy without knowing any family besides his father. Of course he’d be shocked to know he actually had some.

“Okay,” said Harry. “I’ll come. Just…just let me tell Molly to head home.”

Morgan just nodded stiffly and watched from his spot with mild interest as the other wizard bustled about. He watched the girl walk out looking confused and sad at the loss of her lessons then looked at Harry as the man fumbled with a few things before shrugging his coat back on.

“Lead on, Morgan,” he said stiffly, glancing briefly at him before he clipped the lead back onto his monster of a dog. Morgan sniffed then went out the door the girl had left open, leaving the other wizard to catch up to him.

As Harry came up onto the street digging keys out of his pocket, Morgan shook his head and said, “No need. We were not far away from here when we found him and took him to a hotel.”

“Oh.”

The keys went away with a jangle and Morgan led the way towards the hotel, wondering at the sudden tense quiet of the wizard behind him. He almost wanted to snipe at him to get one of his usual responses but he held that need back and just led the way in silence.

That stiff, uneasy silence – not even broken by Harry having to leave Mouse tied outside - continued until they reached the room Captain Luccio had paid for and Dresden brushed past her into it as she opened the door. He had his blasting rod out before either other Warden could respond and at the throat of the dark-haired man standing by the window.

“You better explain just who the hell you are right now,” he hissed angrily. “I don’t like ‘things’ pretending to be my family.”

“Dresden!” exclaimed Morgan angrily but the two men ignored him.

“Can we put the mojo stick down?” asked the man, not really looking that nervous at having it at his throat. “’Cause I don’t want you jumping the gun and blowing my head off when I reach into my coat.”

Harry scowled but lowered his blasting rod a few inches and the guy smiled as he reached into his coat for something. He came back with a folded piece of paper and extended it towards him, saying, “Here.”

“What is it?” asked Harry, eying the folded piece of paper. It didn’t look like it had any magic in it and this guy didn’t feel anything like a practitioner but you never knew.

The man rolled his eyes and replied snippily, “Sheesh, its just a letter! Here, read it. And if its not proof enough of who I am…” He reached into his coat against and pulled out a sheaf of papers bound together with a few rubber bands and thumped them down on the generic hotel table he was standing next to. “I’ve got those to back me up.”

Harry frowned then took the letter gingerly, letting his blasting rod fall down to dangle from the strap about his wrist. He closed his eyes and cast a quick search over the letter for anything but found nothing. Slowly he opened it and scanned it quickly, glancing up the dark-haired man every few seconds and absently wondered how he’d lost that eye of his.

Halfway through the letter he stopped reading and just stared at the man, not believing it.

“I had an aunt?”

“Had being the major word,” confirmed the man. “My old man, who was already a few fries short of the Happy Meal, decided to kill her then tried to off himself. She wanted me to find you.”

“Hell’s bells,” gasped Harry, shaking his head. “Is there…is there anyone else, erm…I don’t even know your name.”

“Xander,” replied the man with a smile. “Nice to meet you.”

“Harry. I…” The wizard suddenly turned towards the other two Wardens and demanded, “And what the hell are you two doing in Chicago?! How did you get tangled up with him?”

Luccio frowned and replied, “There’s been a sudden convening of the Warden’s called. We were coming to gather you when we came across him facing off with a young Red Court.”

“You ran into Red Court?” exclaimed Harry, turning back towards his newly revealed cousin. Or possible cousin as he wasn’t going to go along with it for sure until he saw what was in that sheaf of papers on the table.

Xander shrugged far too casually and replied, “Scary, yeah, but I’ve faced worse Big Bads. I mean, I grew up on the Hellmouth fighting vampires and demons. Kinda hard to faze me after that.”

Harry just blinked then asked, “What vampires?”

“Well we were told pretty recently that they were Black Court but that’s kinda iffy. Since the info on that came from old Council documents it’s not really safe to trust it but we don’t have anything else to go on. They call ‘em Black Court and so do I on occasion since they are kinda similar.”

“More like a sub species of vampires that couldn’t stand up to any of the Courts,” said Luccio with a snort.

“Okay whatever,” grumbled the one-eyed man. “Thanks for the save and giving me a hand in finding him. Oh, and for the headache. I really love that little gift.”

Morgan grunted at that then growled, “We should go.”

Luccio nodded then said, “Warden Dresden…if you would accompany us? Mister Harris, I’d kindly ask you to do as we agreed and leave town immediately. You’ve found what you wanted.”

She turned briskly to leave with Morgan at her heels and was at the door before Harry exclaimed, “Wait, what? You can’t just make him leave town now!”

“That is what he agreed to.”

“I did,” said Xander with a sheepish shrug. “Seemed like a good idea at the time.”

“Now wait a minute!” roared Harry. “He’s family, dammit! I am not just going to let him disappear on me.”

“Dresden,” growled Morgan, “we don’t have time for this. The Council…”

Dark eyes narrowed at him and the annoyed wizard spat, “You know as well as I do that I only wear that damn cloak ‘cause you need me, Morgan. If I had a choice, I’d have tossed it back at you and told you and the Council to stuff it. Now take back your damn deal.”

Captain Luccio scowled and said, “You are very likely the most difficult man I’ve ever had to deal with.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment,” quipped Harry. “Now can he stay?”

Morgan frowned and looked down at the Captain, who sighed then nodded.

“Very well, Warden Dresden. He may remain within the city but…you are to keep a close eye on him as your duty as Warden here. The Watcher’s Council have never gotten along well with us.”

“The what?”

“I’ll explain later,” hissed Xander.

Harry frowned then nodded, saying to Luccio and Morgan, “Thank you. Now can I lead him to my apartment or are you two going to drag me off kicking and screaming?”

The Captain glared at him but Morgan was well used to the sarcasm and simply said, “We will wait outside for you, Dresden. And do take your dog back with you.”

“Good,” said Harry as Luccio asked, “Dog? What dog?” But Harry had grabbed the sheaf of papers off the table and waved Xander out the door before she demanded an answer out of him. As they went down the stairwell, they looked at each other then away again.

“So…you’re a wizard…how’s that work?” asked Xander.

“Well enough when I don’t have several things trying to kill me.”

“Ouch. I know the feeling.”

Harry frowned at that then said, “You’ll have to explain that one to me. Also about this Watcher’s Council of yours…I’ve never heard of them.”

Xander shrugged at that. “Well, I’d never heard of your White Council or Wardens before this, so I think we’ve both got some catching up to do. And you can ask.”

“Ask what?”

“About the eye.”

“What eye?” replied Harry innocently.

Xander blinked then laughed and said, “I like you already.”

The wizard smiled at that, asking, “Want to take care of my dog for a few hours then?” He shoved the door open then, holding it until his newly discovered cousin stepped through.

“Sure, where…holy crap, you mean that wooly mammoth over there is a dog?”

“I prefer to call him Mouse.”

“Wow. Sure, I’ll hold onto him for you…whoa, hi doggy!”

Mouse panted and licked Xander’s hands as the one-eyed man petting him in the effort to keep him from jumping on him. Harry nodded and said, “Okay then, now I really know you’re for real.”

Xander blinked at that, frowning at him for a moment before he had to turn back to Mouse. “Why’s that?” he asked as he reached out to untie the big dog’s leash.

“If you hadn’t been and got past Luccio and Morgan, Mouse would have had you for lunch.”

“So he’s a demon-fighting dog?”

“He’s a bad guy-fighting dog,” corrected Harry with a smile. “Anyway, my apartment’s down this way…”

Xander followed and got a crash course on a different type of wards than he was used to, just nodding every few moments as he took in everything Harry said. Once inside, he looked around and smiled, saying, “Homey.” At Harry’s unconvinced look, he continued, “No, I mean it. But for the lack of electricity – which I’m sure you’ll explain later – it’s a really nice little place. Though how the hell do you keep it so clean?”

“Trade secret,” replied the wizard with a wry grin since you can’t reveal it when faeries are doing your housecleaning. “So, kitchen’s there, as you can see, and there’s the couch and books. Bathroom’s that way…”

“Please tell me you have something for a headache…”

“Going through what I do, I have more than enough for every ache and pain. So just stay here and I should be back in an hour or two. Oh, and don’t open the door for any reason.”

“Why?” asked Xander as he managed to find the hook on Mouse’s collar and took off the leash.

Harry frowned and replied, “Lots of magic on it and you trying to open it would be bad. Plus nasty things like to come knocking at my door.”

“So…don’t touch the door.”

“Don’t touch the door.”

Xander nodded, saying, “Okay, I got it. Surprised you trust me to be in your place alone though since we only just met.”

“Like I said, if Mouse didn’t threaten to eat you in one gulp, you’re okay.” The wizard chuckled and said, “I better go before Morgan decides to come down here after me and gets a jolt off my door. And, er, if anyone calls for me take a message.”

“Gotcha.”

Harry nodded then headed towards the door, glancing back just before he closed it. He stared at Xander for a moment as the other man crouched in front of Mouse, rubbing the big dog’s ears with a wide smile on his face. Looking at him…it was sort of easy to imagine him as family.

Shrugging, he headed out the door, closing it firmly behind him with a sigh. Then he started up the steps and went to grab his gray cloak out of the Beetle.

It was time to go be a Warden, it seemed.