Kin of the Child, chapter 6 (Patreon)

“Oh boy,” Blair said before he closed the door to Simon's office. It was so weird to see Jim behind Simon's desk.  “Did you call Anderson’s boss?” Blair collapsed into the guest chair and Jim pushed a cup of coffee in his direction. 

“Yep. He’s almost as big of an asshole as Anderson. He won’t call Anderson on the carpet about this fuck-up.” Jim sounded crankier than usual about that.

Blair snorted. “Oh man, they’re going to get the whole police department to join a hate group dedicated to making Anderson’s life miserable. And that's not even counting the misery that's going to happen when Tony's friends in the federal agencies learn that some local bumpkin cops in bum-fuck Washington have arrested one of theirs. That's going to go over well.”

Jim lifted an eyebrow. “You checked on him.”

Blair rolled his eyes. “Like you didn’t. You told Tali that she could stay in town, and that is one little demon who knows exactly what that means. She’s also more than happy to stay, so you have just adopted a clan member, even if her father doesn’t know it.”

“I called around. She’s one of the David clan.”

Blair whistled. “Pitaca clan. Okay, I can see why Tony would have run like hell.”

“He doesn’t have to run. The mother of the child renounced her clan leader, and then died about a year ago. According to Wesley, the clan disowned her and the baby. They even scrubbed the names from their ceremonial scrolls. I have no idea what that means, but Wesley made it seem like a big deal.”

“The biggest,” Blair agreed. “I find it interesting that the mother would have slept with someone like DiNozzo. Most of those hierarchy demons are very into, well, hierarchies. She must have really liked him to have had a child with him.”

“Or she was using sex to manipulate him,” Jim said, ever the pessimist. “The David clan is a power broker, and DiNozzo might have been a means to an end.”

Blair shook his head. “No way. With demons, we don't get pregnant or get someone pregnant unless we intend to. So if she had a child with DiNozzo, it's because she wanted to. Tying her genes to someone that physically weak would've caused a stir in her clan. Maybe that's part of the reason her clan wiped her off the scroll.”

“She could also have less charitable motives, so let's not make any assumptions, okay?”

“Yeah, yeah.” Blair arched his back until it cracked. “You know, just because the Pitaca have washed their hands of Tali doesn’t mean that Tony knows that.”

“When did DiNozzo become ‘Tony’?”

No way was Blair going to take any shit from his partner, not today. “Hey, you just adopted a member of the Pitaca clan, so I can adopt Tony. Hell, I don’t think he even knows he has demons in the family tree.”

“Tony’s a demon?” Jim looked surprised, so he must not have picked up any vibes from him. Blair was grateful for that because Jim was not entirely rational when it came to demons in his territory. He might bend for a child, but a full-grown demon would not get a warm welcome in Cascade. The Lubber clan was good evidence of that.

Blair held up his thumb and his finger about an inch apart. “He’s about this much demon.”

“So am I,” Jim pointed out.

“Man, a drop of Va’nuss is not the same as a drop of Kailiff or Brachen or basically anything else in the universe.”

“He doesn’t set off my instincts,” Jim admitted, “but that doesn’t mean he isn’t dangerous.” 

“I’m sure he can be as dangerous as any armed federal agent, but his demon side is not an issue,” Blair said with confidence. “He has so little in him that he doesn’t know he’s a demon. When I tried fishing for information on his clan, he just got more and more confused. However, he definitely has some. Hell, he might be one of my cousins because he does seem to have the instinct for knowing who is on his side.”

“A lot of humans have gut instincts.”

“And a lot of humans have a little demonic blood in them,” Blair pointed out. It always annoyed him when Jim acted like demonic communities and human ones were mutually exclusive. The more Blair looked into it, the more convinced he was that demon and humans had been interbreeding for far longer than anyone was willing to admit.

“Just don’t underestimate DiNozzo. And don’t assume he’s a good man just because he has a good reputation. There are plenty of demons who believe in justice without being good.” 

Jim lecturing him about demons was ironic, and given that Va’nuss were known for both upholding justice and destroying dimensions, Blair understood the difference. “Manson was 100% fully and completely human, no matter how many humans want to pretend otherwise, and he was as evil as evil comes. So don't pretend like the percentage of demonic blood changes whether someone is evil.”

“I didn’t say he was evil. I’m just not sure he’s good.”

“Oh, I would say he’s very good at some things,” Blair said.

Jim frowned.

“He’s a watcher and a bit of a rule follower. That’s why I think he’s on the eudemon side of the fence. He actually called me out for not arresting him, and when we were walking through the station, he radiated disapproval for the way uniformed officers abandoned ship when you and Anderson were fighting. And then he spotted Brown in the main lobby. He didn’t say anything, but his whole aura got darker when he watched Brown doing his paperwork.”

“Why was Brown doing paperwork downstairs?”

Blair hesitated. He didn't like throwing his friends under the bus, but if Jim wasn't paying attention to the staff, someone probably should. “It was pretty clear to me that he thought the woman he was taking a statement from was a suspect, but he was talking to her like they were still on friendly terms, which does imply a lack of Miranda rights.”

“Brown wouldn't take a statement without mirandizing the suspect.”

Blair grimaced. Maybe that would've been true before, but ever since Simon had been part time at the mayor's office, things had gotten a little less by the book. Blair figured most of that was because the other captains. A whole culture of letting shit slide had developed. Simon had been pretty damn good at making sure that his detectives didn't buy into it, but as much as Blair loved Jim, he wasn't going to pretend that Jim was good at the office work. When Blair didn't say anything, Jim’s frown grew deeper. 

“How bad?”

“Not as bad as other units.”

“Well fuck,” Jim said softly. “You're supposed to tell me that shit.”

“I was trying to give you time to get settled in the job.”

“Clearly, I'm not getting settled.” Jim ran a hand over his face. “If that shit is going on in my department—worse, in Simon's department—he's going to kill both of us.”

It was Blair's turn to grimace. “Yeah, I totally know.”

“Then you should've told me.” Jim's aggravation was sharper now.

“I would have!”

Jim gave him an incredulous look.

“Or I would've talked to Brown about it myself. Henry knows how proud Simon is of our conviction rate, so he would've knocked it off.”

“Before we lost a conviction?” Jim asked sharply. Blair didn't answer since Henny answer he would've given would have incriminated both himself and Henry. Jim made a noise and came very close to growling. “If I hadn't asked about DiNozzo, would you have told me this?”

“I was planning on talking to Henry as soon as I left here,” Blair said honestly. He didn't want criminals to walk free any more than Simon did. Hell, the whole reason Blair thought it was a good idea for Simon to move into the mayor's office was because he would have the power to bring all the units in line instead of just Major Crime. Someone had to do something. 

“I'll talk to him,” Jim said with a sigh.

“Maybe I should.”

Blair didn't get any farther before Jim essentially glared him into silence. Right. Blair would be staying out of it. 

“The interesting thing is that DiNozzo noticed,” Blair said. “I get the feeling the whole station was not getting high marks in his book, but he didn’t say much. That doesn’t mean that he couldn’t stir up a whole ton of trouble just by telling people what he saw.”

“So it's not that he's dangerous,” Jim summarized, “as much as we’re incompetent and in danger of getting caught at it.”

“Totally harsh.”

“Totally accurate,” Jim said. “So where did you stash DiNozzo?”

“I introduced him to Kelso. I figured out of sight out of mind, and if Anderson doesn't see him, maybe he'll forget how pissed he was the DiNozzo made a little slip when identifying himself to the suspect. Now to the more important question. What does Angel say about all this?”

“Why does it matter?” Jim asked with a casual air that didn’t match the way his shoulders got stiffer.

Blair narrowed his eyes. “Do not make me explain clan hierarchy again because I know you’re playing dumb. It's actually not cute.”

“I wasn’t going for cute.” Jim steepled his fingers. "Angel and Xander are coming up with McDonald. I don’t like McDonald being in my state, much less my city, but Angel didn’t give me much of a choice.”

Blair nodded. Lindsey was a good guy at heart, but he had grown up desperate and hungry. That had left a few cracks that made it easy for evil to manipulate him. Blair could see how Jim might interpret that as disloyal, even if Blair didn’t see Lindsey that way. Hell, Blair had slept with the man a few times, so he knew how tender and caring Lindsey was at his most vulnerable. However, Blair didn’t plan on saying that in front of Jim. “I’m sure Lindsey can sort out the legal issues.”

Jim smiled, and for a second, Blair could practically see the Va’nuss blood in him. “The one part of this I’m looking forward to is watching Lindsey sort Anderson out.” 

A shiver went up Blair’s spine. Anderson was so totally screwed, and he didn’t even know it yet. Jim was right—this might be a little fun. Well, not for Anderson.