Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters. They belong to the amazing Greg Weisman, and I'm only borrowing them for the time being.

Author's Note: Another drabble brought about by RP sessions with the amazing and lovely Obi's First Cousin. She's been a great Owen to my Elisa in this, and a great inspiration.

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There is always a part of us that wants to see the best in people, even when there's no reason for us to. Maybe that was why I first got involved with Owen Burnett. His boss was known to be a shady character, but I was stupid enough to think that maybe Owen was the exception. Maybe he was worth being with and trying to improve.

This is what I get for being sentimental about a guy. I get lied to and manipulated.

I'd known that Owen was probably bad news like his employer, Xanatos, but I didn't listen to my own instincts. He was handsome and charismatic and I let that get in the way of my own better judgment. And now it came to bite me in the backside. Not only had Owen tricked me, but he had also tricked my new friends, the Gargoyles. Granted, Xanatos did most of the tricking, but Owen didn't try to stop it. As far as I was concerned, that made him an accessory to it. That was good enough reason for me to be pissed off with him.

It was also why I was currently in the elevators leading up to the ancient Scottish castle that Xanatos had transported to the top of the Eyrie Building.

I'd only found out about Gargoyles two nights ago, when they had been woken up from a curse that kept them in stone stasis for one thousand years. Xanatos had brought their entire castle from Scotland to Manhattan just to see if he could break the curse, and succeeded. I'd met the leader of the small clan, called Goliath, on the night when they first woke up, and quickly befriended them all. I'd even given them names, something which most Gargoyles didn't have, according to them.

Then I'd watched the news to see them attack three different areas owned by Cyberbiotics, Xanatos' rival company. I knew that the Gargoyles wouldn't steal from anyone if they knew that was what they were actually doing. Something was up. I did some digging, since that was my job being a detective and all, and discovered that Xanatos was behind all of it. He'd sent the thugs that attacked the castle the first night that the Gargoyles were awake, and that attacked Goliath and I the night following. And Xanatos had manipulated them into robbing Cyberbiotics for him, with Owen standing by and letting him the entire time.

I was furious. And rightfully so. I'd had a hell of a few days recently, and at the moment I was seeing red. So much red it was amazing that I could see anything other than the color. When I finally found Owen in the foyer of the castle, all I could do was punch him.

I'm a strong woman. Being a cop will do that for you, especially with all the training that we do. Even with all the force I put behind the blow, Owen only barely lost his balance for a few seconds. I didn't really take note of this at the time. I was just too pissed off to care. Instead, I made to punch him again, but this time he managed to grab my wrist before I could get enough of a wind up for the strike.

"Elisa," he said, his voice calm, but still very sharp. "What are you doing?"

"I could ask you the same thing!" I snarled. "You bastard! Do you realize what you've done to the Gargoyles, lying to them like this? Using them?" A sudden, sickening thought occurred to me and I almost couldn't get the next words out. "And what about me? Was that all an act? Did Xanatos assign you to me?"

Why else would Owen Burnett show interest in me at that gala? I wasn't like all the women he met on a daily basis. I wasn't stunning or even ladylike. Hell, I couldn't stay dolled up for a full night! There was nothing in common between us that would have attracted him to me. It had to have been a ruse. An act.

I felt sick.

Owen's face grew pale with each accusation. Well…paler. His eyes grew cold and hard as he met my gaze, and the temperature around us seemed to drop dramatically. I tried to ignore this as I stared at him, setting my jaw firmly and glaring up at him challengingly. I hadn't backed down from a fight yet, and I wasn't going to now just because my heart was breaking just by looking up at Owen.

"When have I ever acted as though you were an assignment?" he demanded, his tone icy and almost a physical force driving into my chest with each word. "Have I ever given you reason to suspect that was all you were to me?"

I wasn't going to let him have the last word on this. Not a chance. "Why else would you choose me?" I snarled back at him. "I'm a cop, and you're boss isn't exactly squeaky clean. I am the last woman who you would go for if you were sane."

"Perhaps," he said, his tone still glacial, "it was because you are beautiful, intelligent, strong-willed, and dedicated to your line of work?"

Just when I thought his words couldn't hurt me any further, I felt as though he was slamming a knife into me with each statement about why he found me attractive. But I was still furious. I couldn't let him get away with acting like he was the victim in this. I was the one who he had lied to and twisted.

"Go to hell," I whispered sharply, turning away from him and making my way back to the elevator.

"Elisa," he started to say, and out of the corner of my eye I could see him reaching for me.

I spun around to glare at him dangerously. "Don't. Call me. That," I hissed. "As far as you're concerned, I'm Detective Maza again."

If I didn't know any better, I would have sworn that I could see tears in his eyes as I walked into the elevator. I wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of seeing how much his pleas were affecting me. All but punching the button that would take me down to the foyer of the building, I waited until the doors of the elevator had closed before leaning heavily against the wall of the elevator, tears flowing down my cheeks.

I couldn't admit this to Owen, and I certainly couldn't let him see me like this. I'd fallen for Owen in the weeks we'd been dating, and I'd fallen hard. My heart was breaking from the conversation with Owen. It would only break my heart more to see him again, so I had to get out while I could. If I'd stayed, then I would have broken down in his arms and been unable to walk away like I'd needed to.

This was not going to be easy for me.