Gargoyles- The Heart of Everything

by Sunmoonlight

Brooklyn has been living in a very lonely world and yearns to find love of his own. However, his life gets turned upside down when he meets the beautiful, young Human woman named Rose. Rose lives in a very similar world; one full of darkness, loneliness, and is haunted by one dark secret. Will they find the love and strength in each other to rise above the darkness?

30. Chapter 30- The Labyrinth

** Hello all! THANK YOU for your support and reviews! It brings me so much encouragement. I hope you've enjoyed this story so far, we've got more to come! ENJOY! Note- A bit more language in this chapter and mature content**

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~Chapter Thirty~

The Labyrinth

Brooklyn was lost. Lost in his thoughts, and lost in the pain of having had to say goodbye for a short time to his love and betrothed mate, Rose. Even though he would be seeing her at the Labyrinth, there was still so much uncertainty and fear filling his heart and thoughts, making him doubt everything he knew. It helped him to know that Rose wasn't going to give up, and was going to be strong through their forced separation, but it still enraged him to no end. Rose had already lost so much; and he wasn't about to let her lose anymore.

He also wasn't going to be selfish, but, with as many years that he spent alone and isolated, he didn't want to return to that state of heavy depression and loneliness. Rose had changed his life for good; and now that she was being forced away from him, he could feel the stark contrast of the love and happiness he had known, to the darkness and depression he left behind; and it was plaguing his mind like a slowly-moving poisoning.

He was gliding in the cold night sky and was exhausted; physically, emotionally and mentally. He had just left Rose alone with Xanatos, and was trusting that man with his mate's life and welfare, but didn't feel good about it. The whole time while leaving her, he was praying to the Gods that Xanatos didn't revert back to his old self and turn on them. He wouldn't have even questioned it, but Rose had, earlier that night, shared her discomfort with how he made her feel sometimes. Her discomfort and slight distrust of Xanatos, made his old feelings of distrust arise in him as well.

Which, for Xanatos' sake, he hoped he was wrong.

When he left Rose in the parking garage, heard all the radio checks, he quickly scaled up the side of the Eyrie Building to get enough air, and then took off towards Southern Manhattan to pick up his motorcycle, and to keep an eye out for trouble. Every night, since Kevin's attacks, had left him feeling light-headed and lost, as though he could no longer see in the darkness, like he was no longer the warrior he was.

Kevin's ruthless and cunning attacks had scared and unnerved him; leaving him to question whether he was even strong enough to protect Rose and his Clan, and if he was strong or wise enough to be Second-in-Command. He had only a brief confrontation with Kevin, and as easy as it should have been to take him out, he still failed. That failure that was enough to bring out the worst thoughts, and to have rage to pulse through him. Rose was the only light that seemed to keep him focused and grounded from wanting to give into his own darkness and rage.

Fuming, he flew as quickly as he could towards the garage in which he stowed his motorcycle, and had only glided a few blocks away from the Castle when he suddenly noticed a car far beneath him. Though most cars out at night didn't bother him, this one was. It was hanging out in a nearby alleyway, sitting in darkness; and was obviously lurking near the Castle. Gargoyles were never the ones to attack first, but he knew this car was up to no good at first glance, and his first instinct was to take them out.

Gritting his teeth, he became suspicious that it could be one of the Quarrymen or even Kevin himself. Setting his jaw firmly while keeping his eye on it, he continued to glide through the night air towards his bike, and to his growing suspicions, the car pulled out from the dark alleyway and began to follow him, ever so steadily. At this point, he did not doubt that they were staging near the Castle to watch the whereabouts of himself, Rose and his Clan. He grit his teeth in anger as the car kept following him, making every necessary turn to follow him.

Brooklyn had been gliding along for close to fifteen minutes, and was now was making sure that they were following him. It was obvious now, that it was either Kevin or Quarrymen, and he wanted them to follow him instead of the others. He would do anything to keep them off Rose's tail; and was wanting to take them out, once and for all. As looked ahead to where his warehouse was, and smiled a dark smile as he looked at the ground below him and saw the car was right beneath him.

"So… " Brooklyn growled to himself as he began to descend towards his warehouse, with the car following him quickly. "Ya wanna play? Fine then… let's play."

---

Terry and Bones sat in their stolen Buick vehicle, in their black hoodies and military get-up; staging four blocks away from the Castle; and were waiting for the Gargoyles to make their move. Castaway sent them back out to watch the Castle and patrol the area, while he kept Kevin occupied with other things. Bones and Terry hated the bat-winged freaks, and wanted them dead, but more than that, they were happy that they were fulfilling their blood lust, adrenaline of doing crime, all while getting paid for it. Inside the car, Terry was smoking a cigarette, while Bones was keeping an eye out on the Castle through his binoculars in the driver's seat.

Terry slowly blew out smoke from his mouth and snarled, "I don't see why we gotta be out here doing deeds for that insane motherfucker. Castaway is a nut himself for letting him into our group. He'll be the end of the Quarrymen… and our paychecks. Mark my words."

"Castaway only did that because, apparently Kevin was able to get inside Xanatos' home and blew up a detetives car, all while going unnoticed." Bones answered quietly, still looking through his binoculars. Terry, however scoffed and blew out more smoke.

"And you believe him?!" Joey scoffed. "Ever since we helped save his ass at that bridge, he has only been talk, no action… and since sitting here, nobody has moved inside the castle! Why are we still sitting here, and ain't Kevin here to help us?!"

"Because Castaway wants psycho occupied and leave the Gargoyle hunting to us." Bones snarled, lowering his binoculars. " Castaway has kept us from prison, and is giving us a decent paycheck to just sit here and keep an eye out, ya ass wipe. Now, shut up, pay attention for any Gargoyle, and stop complaining. You've never had it this good."

"Don't tell me what to do," Terry snarled, raising his fists at Bones. "Ya wanna go? I'll kick you to the curb, right here; right now."
Bones grit his teeth at Terry's anger, and was about to open his mouth to argue with him, when Terry's eyes suddenly widened and was looking past him.

"Whoa, dude! Check it out!"

Bones raised his fists at him, grimaced at him and snarled, "I wasn't born yesterday, Terry. I ain't gonna fall for that trick! The last thing I need is for that cigarette butt to burn into my face."

"Shut the fuck up and LOOK!" Terry yelled, forcing Bones to turn his face to where he was showing him. Bones, being forced to turn his head by Terry's hand, looked out the windshield and saw the outline of a Gargoyle flying towards them. Bones' eyes widened as Terry's hand slowly fell from holding his face, and both were momentarily stunned.

"He was right." Bones whispered, believing their psycho-partner now. "I can't believe that bastard was right! They are living in that Castle… this whole time, they've really been there…!"

"And there's one, gliding, all by himself." Terry interrupted, grinning evilly. He slowly blew out one last smoke, threw the small butt of the cigarette out of the window, and then turned to Bones, who was smiling darkly back to him.

"Shall we follow it?" Bones asked him lightly.

"Ain't that what we are gettin' paid for?" Terry grinned, with a mouth full of gold teeth.

Nodding, Bones slowly pulled the car out of the alleyway, and carefully followed the Gargoyle, who was gliding a few hundred feet up from them; just barely hovering above the top of the skyscrapers. As he drove, he kept his distance from the flying figure above them, as to not blow their cover, all while minding all traffic and laws so that they didn't attract any unwanted attention from Police. Terry pulled out the binoculars again and looked up into the sky to get a better view of what they were chasing. He was quiet for a few seconds, using his binoculars to better his lenses into focus, and then began to laugh a dark chuckle.

"What do you see?" Bones asked him quietly.

"Oh, it's a Gargoyle, all right." Terry replied softly, grinning darkly. "And… oh, lookie here... It's the red one that the psycho one is all about trying to find. Apparently that winged-bastard is fucking his wife… HA!"He paused and began laughing. "God, how disgusting is that?!… I thought the psycho was lyin', but the more I hear about his wife, the more I am ready to exterminate them all. But, I can't believe our luck! We finally have one in our grasp! Would you get a look at him!? He's not as big as the purple-leader; but he'll do just nicely!"

"Would you stop foolin' around, all ready?" Bones snapped back in irritation. "Get Castaway on the phone and have him meet us with back up."

"Fuck backup," Terry sneered. "We don't need them, we can take him ourselves. Besides, he's all alone anyway."

"I've learned from experience not to underestimate a Gargoyle." Bones argued back, still driving carefully. "They are ruthless in a battle."
"Gettin' scared?" Terry mocked.

"Nooo…" Bones emphasized, gritting his teeth, and gripping the steering wheel tighter in anger. "I'm being cautious, like you should be. One Gargoyle is strong enough to take us both out. Plus, if he's alone, he won't be for long. They always travel in groups, and if they are alone, help from the other beasts usually isn't too far away."

Terry smirked at him and continued to look into the binoculars on occasion, as Bones carefully but quickly drove a safe distance behind the flying Gargoyle. However, as they were driving, the red-Gargoyle suddenly began making random turns, heading further into Southern Manhattan. Immediately, Bones began to follow him, driving a bit faster and after a few minutes of this, Bones grit his teeth and turned to Terry.
"The beast knows we are following him." He spat out, frustrated.

"So?" Terry replied. "Keep tailing his ass."

The cat and mouse continued on for another ten minutes, or so it felt like for them, as they silently followed the Gargoyle into lower Manhattan. Then they saw him begin to descend towards the ground.

"Hurry up and see where he's going!" Terry snarled, holding onto the dashboard as Bones immediately began to floor the gas, pushing their car along faster. They slid around a corner, sliding on the snow and ice and sped towards an old warehouse, that had fences all around it. But as they sped towards it, Bones blinked and looked up into the windshield, and saw that the red-skinned Gargoyle disappeared.

"Shit!" He yelled out. "Where did he go?!"

Terry immediately began to search all around them, and yelled back, "You were suppose to TAIL HIM, Bones!"
"No, that was YOUR job!" Bones yelled angrily. "I was driving!"

"Castaway is gonna have our asses if we lose him!" Terry snarled, lowering his binoculars and began to look around some more.

"Not unless we don't tell him." Bones suddenly replied in a quieter voice, slowing the car down as they approached the warehouse, where they last saw him.

"Not tell our boss that we backed down from a fight with a Gargoyle and lost?!" Terry asked him with wide eyes. "I don't think so… how about we find the bastard, get rid of him, tell Castaway and get pay raises?!"

"It's just one stupid Gargoyle." Bones spat back at him with gritted teeth. "He wasn't worth it anyway."

Right as he said that, Terry grabbed the side of his head, and hyperextended his neck, whispering and snarling in his ear.

"A dead Gargoyle is worth EVERYTHING! It's our cause…"

"Let go of me!" Bones yelled out, whipping his head out of Terry's grip, rubbing his neck and eyed him with great resentment..

"Unless you don't really believe in the Quarrymen's cause… " Terry mused darkly, looking at Bones with suspicious eyes. "Huh? Is that it, Bones? You don't really have the guts to take one out…?"

Bones grit his teeth and bared them at Terry in full-anger, turned to face him and yelled, "SHUT UP YOU FUC-"

CRUNCH!

Suddenly, something hard and fast smacked into the side of their car, almost as if it were another car or deer, and made them slide and spin out on the road. Bones tried to control their spin out, but couldn't as the tires hit a sheet of black ice. Both men braced themselves as the car suddenly slammed into the fence of the old warehouse, crunching the front end of their Buick in slightly. At impact, both men smacked head first into the steering wheel and dashboard, grunting out in pain.

A few minutes passed in silence as Bones groaned, grabbed his tender head, and then turned to face Terry; who was also awake but had a huge bruised goose-ache on his forehead. They looked at each other with wide eyes and instantly they got into their Quarrymen training.

Terry grabbed a handgun out of his holster, as well Bones, who then turned to his partner.

"What in the hell was that?!" He asked him, in amazement.

Looking around some more, he was amazed to see that his driver's window had been partially shattered, somehow, by something. "There aren't any cars out of here! And neither did I see any animal on the street!"

Terry, however, looked over at him with disbelief and snarled, "A street animal?! What are you stupid?! What street animal do you know of that lives here in this City and could have caused this much damage to our car and knocking us off the road?! Huh? A fucking alley cat?!"

Bones ignored Terry's usual sarcastic lip; suddenly gasped, looked out to the windshield, searching the area frantically, and then had a thought.

"Hey… was it the Gargoyle?!"

Terry opened his mouth to speak, but then was interrupted by a deafening roar just outside of their car. The two men looked at each other with wide eyes, and then, without warning, something slammed down upon the hood of their car; while two red sharp claws dug themselves deeply into the top of the vehicle's hood above their heads. A screeching sound of tearing metal filled their car as the Gargoyle began tearing their car roof off, grunting in effort and growling ferociously.

Bones and Terry looked up, as their roof opened up, and to their great shock they saw the red-Gargoyle standing above them, holding the ripped hood of the car in his claws. His sharp teeth were bared at them in his beaked mouth, growling and snarling ferociously, while his eyes glowed brightly white in rage at them.

"I would bet my paycheck on that… " Terry mumbled back at Bones, answering his question, whose mouth was open in shock. Terry then silently cocked his gun; readying himself for battle.

---

Back in Xanatos' car, Rose had rested her head against the window and watched each passing street lights pass by, as they made their way to the Labyrinth. She had no idea where it was located, and had never been there before, but she didn't care. Sighing heavily, she forced herself to shut her eyes and think of her love, Brooklyn. This move and separation was going to be the hardest on them, and she just wanted to fall into a dreamless sleep; to think and feel nothing except his love.

A few minutes passed by in silence, and with the silence and darkness around her, it didn't take very long for her exhaustion to finally overcome her. Her eyes grew heavy, and she finally slid into a strange; middle-world between sleep and unconsciousness, where her mind immediately took off into a dream; which mostly felt like it was processing its memories…

Herself and Brooklyn were back inside the Castle, in her bathroom, and were kissing passionately like they had earlier that night. He was touching and kissing her in the same passionate way that he was before. With her invitation, he slowly lowered his claw to her breast and began to massage it heavily, making her body spring to life in heat. Their mouths were claiming each other's, both gasping out by how good it felt for them both.

Her body was being turned on with heat and passion making her throw her head back and cry out in passion, wanting more and needing more from him. But unlike tonight, Brooklyn suddenly whipped her to the ground aggressively, and let her fall on her back. She grunted out in pain and shock and stared up at him in anger and disbelief. Before she could ask him what his deal was, he was eyeing her in a very dark and scary way, so much so, her voice choked in her throat. Then a strange and heavy darkness seemed to surround him, disorienting his image slightly.

She blinked in confusion and opened her mouth to speak, but with a twisted look in his eye, she was petrified where she laid. Brooklyn's brown eyes suddenly turned black, and slowly he lowered himself to her and hovered above her body. Then, his black eyes lit up, glowing bright white in anger; and he bared his teeth at her, snarling like a wild-animal.

"Brooklyn!?" She gasped out, her eyes growing wide with fear. "What… what are you doing?!"

He never answered, but, instead, began to claw at her clothes; tearing them off her body. She gasped out, her eyebrows furrowing in panic, and tried to stop him; to fight him off her, but she was nowhere near strong enough for him.

"STOP!" She screamed out. "Brooklyn! STOP!"
"You're mine Rose…" he growled at her, tearing at her undergarments and started to take off his loincloth. "I thought you wanted this? To be my whore…?!"

Rose's eyes widened in horror and began to cry earnestly.

"No… NO! Stop, this isn't you! BROOKLYN!"

But he didn't stop, and kept coming for her- claiming her as his. She screamed out in pain; but the pain was not where she thought it would be. Her head began to tear open like when Adam tased and then felt the same wounds from her chest, shoulder, and leg burst open with pain and blood; from when Kevin shot and stabbed her. She screamed out, while Brooklyn laughed a high-pitched laugh in her ears, but then his laughs slowly faded into Kevin's laugh and then her world went black.

She couldn't see anything else around her, but could only hear his high-pitched laugh, smell of booze and blood, and then felt that indescribable feeling of the icy East River stabbing her body all over with it's iciness. Looking around, she suddenly realized that she was drowning in the East River once again, the icy water filling her lungs and forcing that terrifyingly familiar heaviness in her lungs and chest. Unable to breathe, the icy blackness pulled her down faster and faster into her icy, black abyss with Kevin's shrieks of triumphant, evil laughter, surrounding her….

Rose's eyes snapped open, and with a yelp, suddenly shot up and banged her head against the top of the car. Groaning, she closed her eyes and grasped onto her head for a few seconds, rubbing it better, before opening her eyes and looking around. To her relief, she was still in the back of Xanatos' car, on her way to the Labyrinth and must have dozed off.
Rose groaned again and sat up fully, shaking slightly.

"What in the hell… ?!" She gasped out, thinking about the nightmare she had. And, thankfully, as she thought about it, it wasn't anything like the images she once saw in that realistic vision a few months ago.

But just like in that one, Brooklyn was in her dream, loving her and nearly mating with her, but then it twisted and Kevin was on top of her, killing her. However, unlike that dream, it felt more like a vision and felt like she was there. With every stab of Kevin's knife, or Brooklyn's touch and kisses… she could feel it all. For this one, she was not in any pain, nor was her connection and magic warning her about anything. This was just a nightmare; plain and simple. A messed up concoxion of her brain, but unfortunately there wasn't anything simple about its meaning or her life as of late. It alarmed her greatly that she saw Brooklyn in the same evil state that Kevin was, but knew that Brooklyn would never treat her as such, or rape her; but him being twisted as a manifestation of Kevin was what bothered her to no end.

She grit her teeth, and slapped her head down into her hands; breathing deeply. She couldn't believe what she had just dreamt up. Her mind was twisting Kevin's evil and Brooklyn's love for her into one giant monster; haunting her dreams, making her fear the only good thing in her life.

She closed her eyes in horror and held her head; wanting to burst into tears again, and was even more exhausted than before. More than anything, she wanted Brooklyn next to her to hold her and give her that comfort that he always gave her, but she also needed to sleep. Though it was a nightmare; she was extremely peeved that she was unable to take a half-hour nap without immediately being plagued by the darkness surrounding her. No matter what she tried, Kevin always seemed to be in her subconscious thoughts; haunting her, and it was getting even worse now that she was being forced away from Brooklyn's light, love and strength. She didn't know how she was ever going to sleep peacefully, or if she could make it through this damning time alone. She stayed in her seat, leaning over with her hands in her face, when a man's voice suddenly called out to her.

"Rose… we-"

Naturally, Rose's eyes whipped open and she screamed a high-pitched scream in fear, looking around wildly. To her surprise, Xanatos was looking back at her with wide eyes, and her scream made him jump. His mouth opened to exclaim his own surprise at her reaction; as she clasped her hand over her panicked heart, and sighed heavily.

"Oh my Goodness," She gasped out, closing her eyes and breathing deeply. "Xanatos… It's just you… I'm sorry."

"Uhm…" Xanatos said slowly, blinking. "Yes, it is me. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you, Rose."

" No, it's um…" she said quietly, opening her eyes and looking at him with an embarrassed and apologetic look. "It's me, not you. I'm sorry. I guess I dozed off and um, didn't realize I was still in this car. I'm sorry for screaming…"

"It's okay." Xanatos said, smiling slightly. "I was just trying to tell you that we've made it to the Labyrinth."

Rose blinked a few times, and realized for once, that the car had indeed stopped, and they were sitting in a very dark, concrete tube; almost like they were in the middle of an underground tunnel. Weak, yellow lights, were on the walls and spread out every twenty feet or so, but the light did not seem to do anything for the dreary and dark area. With widening eyes, she looked out her tinted window, and hoped that it was the tint that was making it look so horrible.

"We're here!?" She asked him quietly, as Xanatos turned off the car and was already getting out of his driver's seat.

"Yes, we are." He responded while shutting his door, then walked to her door and opened it for her. "Come on, I'll help you with your luggage and walk you inside. The Mutates are expecting you…"

Rose grabbed her shoe box, scooted across the seat, and took Xanatos' extended hand; where he helped her stand out of the car. Once she got out, he walked over to the trunk to retrieve her luggage, and with wide- horrified eyes, she shut her door and looked around.

The tint of her window had not been far off, as the world they were suddenly in was indeed very dark, moist, and eerie; everything Rose did not wish to be around. She looked around feeling even worse about this situation, as Xanatos grabbed her suitcase from the trunk of the car, and together they walked down a long stretch of hallway which looked to be a single railroad; towards two floor-to-ceiling concrete doors. Rose didn't say anything to Xanatos as they walked along in silence and was horrified as she slowly started to take in her new home.

She was thankful for the Mutates for letting her stay with them; but she already knew that this was going to be a very depressing time in her life. She would be away from Brooklyn, away from her actual home, and away from the sunlight.

Before they could reach the large doors, they suddenly opened with a loud boom, and creaking sound, as the metal scraped against the concrete. Rose slowed down her walking and watched, as a few of the Mutates, in which Rose remembered seeing at Lexington and Akira's mating ceremony, stepped out to greet them.

The largest of them all, was Talon, who she knew that he was the Mutate's leader and Elisa's brother; personally known as Derek. He was easily the size of Goliath, had the same large bat-like wings as him, but had a body and face of a black panther. His yellow eyes were slitted like cat's eyes; which made him look more fearsome. Behind him was the massively muscled Tiger-looking mutate, Claw, who Rose found out was a mute and couldn't speak. Then behind him, came Brooklyn's past love interest- Maggie.

Maggie's face was of a cat's, with the same slitted cat eyes as Talon's, and had a very slim; but muscular body; and floor length curly blonde hair. Rose felt a pang of jealousy for some reason, as she could see why and how Brooklyn thought her to be so beautiful in the past- because in a Gargoyle's eyes, she certainly was.

She also couldn't help but notice that Maggie's small frame had rounded near her abdomen; as Rose looked over the three mutates with wide eyes; her eyes grew even bigger with comprehension. Maggie, as well as Emily, and now Angela; were all now expecting children of their own, which made her feel extra depressed. The three mutates walked towards Xanatos and Rose; and Talon offered his claw out to Rose, smiling kindly.

"Rose, welcome! It's good to see you again." Talon greeted her kindly.

She reached out and shook his claw with her hand and replied, trying to sound enthusiastic.

"Hello, Talon. Um… yeah, you as well."

Talon let go of her hand, smiling, and then said, "I'm sure you're just being nice. Goliath has updated me about all that's going, and I'm sure you wish you didn't have to be here. I'm truly and sincerely sorry to have heard all about your husband and what you've had to endure. It must not be easy for you to be forced into hiding- but I hope that you will find our home comfortable and a safe haven, until the Manhattan Clan is able to find him and put a stop to his hatred."

Rose smiled up at him sincerely, appreciating his bluntness, and replied quietly, "Thank you… and thank you for letting me stay here. Yes, it has been very difficult to find a different home, but I understand why. And for that, I am very grateful to you and your Clan, for your kindness and service towards me. I know we all briefly met at Lexington's wedding- but I can't tell you how much I appreciate you taking me in, even if we don't know each other all that well yet."

"Of course!" Talon replied, waving her comment away with his claw. " Everyone is welcome here in the Labyrinth. My wife, Maggie, has set up your room- and though I know it's not as nice nor as luxurious as Xanatos' home, be rest assured that it has been cleaned, furnished, and we hope that you'll be comfortable there."

"Oh," Rose replied a bit shyly, moving a hair of her face. "Thank you. That's very kind of you."

With that, Maggie came out from behind Talon and gently placed her claw upon Rose's shoulder, giving her a kind smile and comfort, as though they were good friends.

"Rose, my name is Maggie." She said in a raspy voice. "I'll help you up to your room and show you around if you wish."

"Um, sure." Rose replied quietly, giving her a small smile back. "Thank you, and it's uh, nice to finally meet you too. I know we saw each other at the mating ceremony for Lex and Akira, but never got to introduce myself."

"I understand," Maggie replied, walking her inside the large concrete doors. "I was tired that night and so Talon, Claw and myself left a bit early. So, no worries. I'm excited to get to know you while you're down here. There's not very many females that I get to talk and Akira just love you and have said nothing but good things. I'm sure we'll become very good friends."

When she was this close to Rose, she could see that Maggie was indeed pregnant and looked to be close to five-to six months pregnant- from a Human's point of pregnancy. Rose smiled up at Maggie, but didn't say anything to her, as they all walked past the large metal doors from the hallway into a large living room- looking facility.

Inside was a lot lighter than the dark hallway and Rose suddenly felt as though she had stepped inside a large facility- as the Labyrinth used to be Cyber-biotics property. As Rose looked around some more, there were three stories of rooms for personal use, what looked like laundry facilities, and places for eating and relaxing.

The homeless had streamed clothing across, on drying lines, to dry their clothing all across the three levels of floors- and she could see that this place was home to a lot of people. There were concrete pillars holding for support beams all around the Labyrinth's flat living area; and archways in each lead to different levels and rooms all throughout.

"I cannot thank you enough, Talon." Xanatos said quietly, dropping Rose's luggage on the ground, once they were in the living quarters of the Labyrinth. "Rose has become very near and dear to the Clan, and my family; and hope for her to continue to be safe."

"Of course!" Talon replied. "We're happy to house her for as long as need be."

Xanatos smiled and nodded at him, and then turned around to face her.

"Once it is safe once again, we'll have you return back to the Castle." He said softly. "That's a promise."

"Thank you," she replied quietly, feeling a pang of sadness as she could feel Xanatos rushing to leave, now that she was no longer his problem. She took a deep breath, ignoring his body language, and then asked, "Where is the rest of the Clan? I thought they said that they'd be here by now?"

Xanatos looked around at her words, and then seemed to notice that they weren't there yet, but looked unconcerned.

"I'm sure they'll be here soon." He replied in a cool voice, checking his watch. "I gave them an hour block to get here, and we're getting close to that. I wouldn't worry about them, there are eight of them, and one hunter. What could happen?"

"Uh… well since that hunter is Kevin, and he's involved now with the Quarrymen, and is out for blood?" Rose asked him in a dark and irritated voice. "A lot."

Xanatos stared at her with an inscrutable expression, and looked as though he wanted to be anywhere but there with her, he slowly smiled at her, placed a hand upon her shoulder and said softly, "Hey, it will all be okay. Have faith… they'll be here soon."

"Sooner than you think, perhaps." Talon suddenly said. "I think I see them coming now."

With that, Rose whipped around and turned to face the large concrete doors that were still open a crack, and as she listened; she too could hear the sounds of talking and their claws walking along the concrete floors, getting closer and closer to the main doors.

Just then, the doors opened and Goliath, Hudson, Broadway, Akira and Lexington all came walking into the Labyrinth, talking amongst themselves. Rose smiled at all of them as they appeared to be unharmed and unscathed, as the Mutates all walked forward and began to greet them in a very friendly manner.

"Goliath!" Talon stepped forward and greeted him by grasping his claws, shaking them. "It's good to see you again, my friend, any trouble getting here?"

Goliath shook his head, and stepped closer to the center of the room.

"Thankfully no." He replied in a happy voice. "We didn't see anyone following us; so I would venture to say that no one knows that we've moved Rose down here."

Rose felt immediate relief as he uttered those words, but as she looked around at her Clan, she couldn't help but notice that it was not complete. Akira came up and gave her another huge hug, before greeting Maggie, and Rose quickly stepped forward and grasped Goliath's large arm.

"Where is Brooklyn?"

Goliath looked around at her, smiled, and gently took her arms in his claws.

"He went to grab his motorcycle, remember?" He said. "I'm sure he'll be here soon."

Rose slowly smiled back at him and nodded, taking that as a good answer for now; as Xanatos suddenly stepped forward and geastured to Maggie's swollen abdomen.

"Well, well, well… it looks as if you all have some great news to share as well. I had no idea that you were expecting, Maggie. Especially when we last saw you at the mating ceremony."

All the Gargoyles gathered around at them, as Maggie smiled.

"Yes," She said in her raspy voice, holding her abdomen gently. "Derek and I are expecting a child together… I will be due in March. I'm about 28 weeks along now."

"Congratulations," Goliath said, smiling. "We just found out that Angela is expecting an egg with Broadway. It brings me great joy to see our Clans beginning to flourish."

Maggie's eyes lit up as she exclaimed, "Angela is pregnant? Oh, that is wonderful news! Congratulations to you all as well. Where is she?"

Broadway, however, stepped forward and answered for Goliath.

"She's back at the Castle, resting. She's in the early stages and isn't feeling all that well." Broadway explained. "She's extremely tired, and has been spending her nights lying down on the couch."

"Oh goodness, I know how she feels." Maggie sympathized with a small smile. " I was in the early stages as well, when we saw each other a month or so ago at the ceremony. But, I'm hopefully out of that stage now that I'm halfway there."

"Will it be an egg… or will it be more of a Human birth do you think?" Akira asked gently, taking her arm gently. "I apologize if that's a personal question- I've just never met mutated Gargoyles before. I'm curious to know the difference."

"It's not personal." Maggie said, smiling at her. "But, I'm… I'm unsure to tell you the truth. I'm thinking that it'll be more Human based- since we all used to be Human, and were not formed from eggs like Gargoyles are. That is only my guess, however. We will find out in March, I suppose. If I even get to the full-term 40 week, Human gestation timeline."

"Are you receiving any prenatal care?" Rose suddenly asked.

The paramedic in her was wondering the same thing that Akira was, and was interested to see how Maggie would handle a Human-like birth with a small creature like her and Talon.

"Elisa has referred me to Dr. Sato." She answered kindly. "He's kind of… turning into our Clan's personal doctor."

Rose narrowed her eyes slightly at the mention of Dr. Sato; as the last time she had met with him, didn't end on a good note. But knowing him, and knowing the medical field like she did, she didn't know how he could be her doctor since he was a General Surgeon and MD; so much so, she spoke up her concerned questions.

"How can that be?" She asked her, raising her eyebrows. "He's a General MD and Surgeon, obstetrics aren't in his scope of practice."

"He did mention that, yes." Maggie said softly, smiling at her. "But he is doing his best to help me through the pregnancy, and has an Obstetrician doctor friend that is supervising his practices..." She turned to Broadway and said, "I'm sure he'll also help Angela, if she needs anything."

"I'll pass that along to her, thanks Maggie." Broadway answered, smiling back.

While the Clans talked among one another, Rose sighed and turned around to face the large concrete doors, wishing and hoping that Brooklyn would soon arrive. Goliath told her that no issues were found, but something in her gut was telling her something was wrong. She didn't know if it was paranoia, or not, but as she stared at the opening, her anxiety crept even higher and higher, with every ticking second that he wasn't there.

Rose kept her shoe box in one arm and slowly made her way over to the couches, to sit down. Looking around, it was a quaint little living room, with a few couches, and a few coffee tables for people to sit and relax. She sat on the couch, crossed her legs and relaxed against the back of the couch, closing her eyes. Akira made her way over and without a word, she sat down next to Rose and grabbed onto her hand; offering her silent comfort again.

Rose opened her tired eyes, and offered her a small smile.

"Don't worry." Akira whispered. "Brooklyn will be back soon."

"Do you think anything happened to him?" Rose asked her instantly, with great worry.

"No." Akira replied calmly. "He had a farther distance to travel than the rest of us, but if you're worried about him, then try to feel for his connection with yours, like he often does with you. You might be able to know more about where he's at than we do."

Rose stared at Akira for a few seconds, and then nodded. Slowly, she closed her eyes and willed herself to somehow do what Brooklyn does with her, and reach out her connection to find him and connect their souls together. She knew, despite time or space, she could somehow find him if she tried hard enough, only didn't know how to wield that connective magic to him.

She exhaled deeply, while keeping her eyes closed, and focused on her breathing; willing his name to enter her mind, and let nothing else surround his presence in her mind. Just as she did that, her palms tingled with familiarity, making her smile. However, her smile faded as she suddenly felt Brooklyn's racing heartbeat in her own chest and heard his roars of rage like she could hear an echoing battle in the distance. With that, she also felt that something was wrong, very wrong.

Rose's eyes snapped open wide and could feel herself begin to panic, while gasping out.

"Rose?" Akira asked suddenly, her eyes wide, grasping her hand tighter. "What's wrong?"

Tears filled her eyes, as she turned to Akira and then whispered, "He's in trouble."

"What?!" Akira gasped out, but Rose didn't stay by her side a second more. She sprinted from the couch over to Goliath and placed her hand upon his thick, muscular arm.

"Brooklyn is in trouble!" Rose gasped out, barely able to breathe.

Goliath glanced down at her for a moment and asked, "What?"

"I tried reaching out to him through our connection, and he's in some sort of danger! I don't know what's happening, but we've got to help him!"

Goliath was about to question her, but since he no longer doubted his Second-in-Command when it came to their strange ability to connect and know where each other was at, or if they were in trouble, he trusted Rose's same instincts. Goliath kept hold of Rose's hands, and immediately took action. He quickly snatched up his walkie-talkie and spoke into it clearly.

"Brooklyn, it's Goliath. Where are you at?"

However, the communicator staticked and then went silent, so Goliath tried again, speaking even louder.

"Brooklyn!... Brooklyn!... Come in!"

When the same thing happened to the radio of it following with silence, Rose quickly whipped away from Goliath, and turned to the doors with tears in her eyes, not knowing what to do. A part of her wanted to sprint as fast as she could to Xanatos' car and take off towards the warehouse, hoping she would see him somewhere. But the other part of her knew that the moment, she tried to escape, that her Clan or the Mutates would stop her.

As she stared at the door, debating what she should do, Broadway stepped forward and urged his leader, "Where is he? Why won't he pick up?!"

"I don't know…" Goliath said quietly, staring at his radio. Then, he slowly turned to Rose, walked forward and grabbed her shoulders, turning her to face him.

"Can you feel where he is at?" Goliath asked her in a whisper, his eyes wide with worry.

Rose stared back at him, took a deep breath and answered him quietly, "I… I don't know. But I'll try…"

Goliath nodded at her, and backed away slowly to give her space. She closed her eyes, tried to calm herself down again; and willed her connection to reach out to him. Instantly the tingling sensation began to creep up her fingers and arms; telling her that he was alive at least and somewhere out there.

"Please," she whispered to herself and the connected magic within her and Brooklyn. "Tell me where he is… is he all right? Brooklyn…? Brooklyn… where are you, my love?"

---

As Brooklyn descended down towards the warehouse, he saw their vehicle approach the area, and knew he needed to send a message of his own. He laid his wings flat against his back, taking a head dive towards their car; and slammed into the car with all he had and forced it off the road, while it was still driving, making the goons crash into the fence surrounding the warehouse.

Brooklyn slid across the snowy ground, with his eyes brightly lit up and was growling ferociously. Leaping up in the air, he slammed his clawed- feet down upon the roof of the car, dug his claws into the roof and ripped the metal apart. Once he could see inside, two men were staring with wide eyes up at him, and were wearing black, military based clothing.

Now that he was staring down at them, he could see that both had guns and were overcoming their shock of seeing him stand above them, with a piece of their car ripped off from his claws, and he had never seen them before, but he knew they were up to no good. One was a muscular brunette, and the other was a bald headed skinnier man, with half of his teeth gold, and both were trying to hide a gun from him. He wasn't going to attack them first, until he made sure they were Quarrymen. Brooklyn skimmed over the two men, and then gasped as he noticed that the bald headed man had the Quarrymen symbol tattooed on the back of his neck.

At that, Brooklyn roared out in fury, tossed the car hood away and snarled, "You're gonna wish you hadn't followed me… Quarrymen SCUM!"

From inside the car, the bald headed guy pointed his gun out and began shooting it at Brooklyn, who easily dodged it by jumping off the car. As he did that, both men jumped out of their car and were pointing guns at Brooklyn.

"I thought you said Gargoyles didn't attack first?!" The bald one screamed at the brunette, who was eyeing Brooklyn with great resentment.

"Shoot first, ask questions later!" The Brunette replied, and instantly began shooting at Brooklyn, making shots and bullets fly around everywhere around him. Brooklyn roared out in rage, jumped towards their car to dodge their bullets. However, to his anger, they were strategically coming at him from every side, and he only had a few seconds left before he was shot. Gritting his teeth, with his eyes still lit up brightly, he waited until the bald headed one came to the bumper and then instantly swiped his tail out, knocking the bald one off his feet.

With a yelp, the bald one fell to the ground flat on his back; and Brooklyn grabbed onto his neck, tossing him away as hard as he could. He then picked up and destroyed the gun with one close of his fist.

"Terry!" The Brunette yelled out, and then began running at Brooklyn, yelling out and pointing his gun. Brooklyn roared out in rage, grabbed the back of the bumper, ripped it off and slapped the brunette across his body, with a hard swing. With a cry of pain, the man fell to the ground; dazed and was at Brooklyn's mercy. Brooklyn held his claws out to him, advancing on him, when he suddenly heard the bald man, Terry, running towards him and screaming out his war cry; with their signature electrified hammer in his hands.

"I'm comin' Bones!" Terry yelled out, and with another yell, he slammed it hard into Brooklyn's back, and instantly the electricity began to fry Brooklyn's nerves.

"AHHH!" Brooklyn cried out, falling to his knees.

"How did that feel, monster?!" Terry sneered, pulling the hammer up and was now pointing a gun at his head.

Brooklyn was dazed, but just for a moment, before he snarled, "Like THIS!"

He then twisted on the ground, so that he was now facing Terry; laid on his back and then used his legs and kangaroo kicked Terry in the stomach, sending him flying away once again. Brooklyn then jumped up, turned and grabbed the man, Bones, by the neck squeezing the frail Human's airway with ease. Bone's eyes widened, grabbed onto Brooklyn's claws and tried to pry them open, as he kicked and flailed as he closed his airway and brought him close to his face.

"Are- are you g-gonna kill me?" Bones gasped, staring Brooklyn widenly in his eyes. However, Brooklyn eased his grip but kept growling at him.

"I should for you vermin hunting my kind, and pairing with the true monster who is trying to kill and torture the woman I love." Brooklyn snarled, holding him above his head by his neck.

"The Human woman?" Bones whispered, his eyes growing wide. "So… so it's true?! You… you are really with her?!"

"Yes, but that's none of your concern!" Brooklyn replied, growling angrily and gripping Bone's neck even harder, making him gasp out, struggling for air. Just then, a BANG rang out in the night; and a hot-stabbing sensation shot into Brooklyn's upper arm.

"GAHH" Brooklyn roared out in pain, and dropped Bones to the ground. Brooklyn gasped out, hunched over while holding his bleeding shoulder with his claw, and turned to face the bald one, Terry, who had a gun raised and was grinning maliciously.

"Gotcha, ya filthy beast!" Terry yelled out, running towards Bones. "Come on, Bones! Help me finish him off!"

Brooklyn looked over at Bones, while clenching his arm, and stared at him with an angry expression. Bones frowned down at him, grit his teeth and then raised his gun up at Brooklyn, but hesitated. At his hesitation, Brooklyn's eyes quit glowing and his dark brown ones pierced through Bones' blue ones.

"Yes," he gasped out humbly, answering his question. "I do. I love her… and I'm trying to protect her from Kevin, the psycho monster your gang is aiding…"

At his words, Bones' eyes widened and he hesitated from shooting Brooklyn. Terry was breathing heavily, but then yelled out, "BONES! Shoot him!"

"Shoot me… " Brooklyn whispered, his eyes no longer lit up, and were pleading with him almost. "... and Rose, the Human girl, dies. All of my kind dies. Is that really what your Quarrymen cause is? To kill innocent lives… all because we look different?!"

Bones was still staring deeply into Brooklyn's eyes, shocked at his words, and opened his mouth to speak, but Terry roared out in fury and ran forward.

"FINE! If you won't be man enough to do it, then I will!"

Terry re-cocked his gun, pointed it at Brooklyn, who was still staring at Bones and whispered, "Is this what makes you a man?! Because if so, I'm HONORED to be a Gargoyle, as I protect those with whom I love! Human and Gargoyle alike!"

With that, Brooklyn took advantage of his hesitation, roared out and tackled Bones to the ground, who almost seemed too stunned to move, as Terry's gunshot rang through the air, and streaked past his head.

Growling, Brooklyn picked up Bones' gun, crushed it in his claws, and then threw him as hard as he could against the car. Bones yelled out, and then grunted in pain as he slammed into the car, and then crumpled to the ground. Snarling, with his eyes blazing white again, Brooklyn roared out and attacked Terry, who cried out and shot at him, but Brooklyn stopped his shots, by knocking him hard to the ground.

With a thud, Terry slammed to the ground with Brooklyn on top of him, raised his fist and then began punching him in the face as hard as he could, over and over again. He grasped him by his neck and threw him, with another roar, into the side of the car and slammed against the back window, shattering it. He then rolled off the back trunk, and crumpled to the ground, unconscious.

Breathing heavily, Brooklyn's eyes faded back to normal and stared at the two unconscious Quarrymen, knowing what he should do, but was having an internal battle over what he wanted to do. They were unconscious, and defenseless right now, but once they woke up they would be back at it again, hunting himself, Rose, and the Clan. But, since they were defenseless, it was the Gargoyle way to show them mercy.

Growling to himself, he stalked forward towards them, grabbed them both by the cuff of the neck and began dragging them towards a nearby dumpster in an alleyway. Once they were there, he spotted some rope in the trash, grabbed it and tied the two men together. Terry was out cold, with blood falling down his mouth, and nose; while Bones had a small cut over his forehead and was slowly coming to.

Groaning and moaning, he slowly opened his eyes and found that Brooklyn was tying him tightly against Terry with rope. He gasped, as he came to, and looked up into Brooklyn's face with slight terror.

"What- what are you doing!?" He gasped out.

"I'm taking the trash out." Brooklyn replied dryly, giving the rope one tight set of knots, with a grimace in pain at his bleeding shoulder. "Don't worry- tomorrow is trash day and someone will find you, I'm sure."

"You're not gonna kill us?" Bones asked him quietly, staring hard at Brooklyn, trying to figure out his game.

"I should." Brooklyn snarled at him, gritting his teeth at him. "But that's not the Gargoyle way since you two were defenseless. Now, since you're Quarrymen, you have my full hope and wishes that you and your other Quarrymen partners will rot in prison for your crimes for the rest of your lives."

Bones continued to stare at him, thinking deeply about what he was saying and doing, and was slowly taking his physical body in; since this was his first time seeing them up close and personal. Brooklyn grabbed him and Terry, lifted them up, and set them next to the dumpster. However, instead of walking away, Brooklyn crouched down in front of Bones, grabbed the cuff of his neck and brought him close to his face once again.

"And when you are found…" Brooklyn breathed in a very dark and dangerous voice. "Tell your master, Castaway, that my kind will not put up with his terrorism anymore. The next time I see you attack myself or the ones I love, I will not show you mercy again. We are not monsters or demons; but are a family unit and we will protect our family." He paused, staring intensely into Bones' blue eyes and then growled, with his eyes glowing bright white.

" Then…" he snarled, his sharp teeth bared at Bones. "I want you to tell that piece of shit, Kevin… that I will be protecting Rose from him with my life. So, if he wants her, he'll have to make it through me first… and when he tries to come for me or her, I will kill him."

Brooklyn glared at Bones, whose eyes were huge at this point, listening to him. Brooklyn then let go of Bones with a quick toss of his wrist as though he was disgusted by him, and continued to speak.

"Kevin is a monster, and I don't understand how you can even work with him! He abused his wife, and tortured her on a daily basis. She is another Human… shouldn't you, a Human, be protecting each other?! Or am I, a monster, the only one who values all of life around here?"

When Bones still did not respond to Brooklyn, he pointed a sharp-talon finger at him and whispered dangerously, "Mark my words, Kevin's never going to lay another abusive, and monstrous hand upon the woman I love… ever again. Is there anyway I'm not making myself clear to you?"

Bones grit his teeth in his mouth and frowned at Brooklyn.

"I'll pass on that message." He replied in a quiet voice.

Brooklyn lowered his talon, his bright white eyes faded, and he slowly backed away from Bones, frowning back at him.

"Good." Brooklyn said darkly. "Enjoy your night, Quarryman. Count your lucky stars that I'm allowing you to live. But come at me, Rose, or my Clan again, and you won't be so lucky. We will show you or the Quarrymen no more mercy- that is my one and only warning to you. Now, my other suggestion to you while you're waiting for the trash man to find you, is to perhaps take a better look at your life choices and choose to do something better with it… instead of throwing it away."

Brooklyn then paused, turned back to face the Quarryman, Bones, and smiled darkly as if he was impressed by his use of words to describe him literally sitting by a dumpster. Bones watched him leave and couldn't help but scoff out a laugh, hating himself for letting the Gargoyle's dry and sarcastic sense of humor get to him. Brooklyn smiled at Bones' irritated laugh, then took off across the street without another word.

Bones watched in interest as the Gargoyle, Brooklyn, jumped over the fence with ease, walked over to the abandoned warehouse, opened the chains, and then slid open a large garage door and walked inside. Bones blinked a few times and was confused about what he was doing inside the old warehouse, or what he could possibly be getting.

Gasping out, he tried to break free of the tightrope, but with Terry unconscious against him, the rope was too tight for him to try to wiggle free or work on the triple knots. Bones sighed and leaned his head back against Terry's and could feel his heartbeat echo through his own chest, and was relieved when his buddy was alive.

As Bones sat there, he was incredibly intrigued and shocked that the Gargoyle did not kill him or Terry; and that he was stating that he was in love with the psycho's wife; and was protecting her. He had never actually had a conversation with a Gargoyle, but his capability to talk and state emotions was the most astonishing to him. Bones felt like he sat on the cold and snowy ground for what felt like five minutes, thinking deeply, before he suddenly heard the roar of a motorcycle engine. He whipped his head up, with a furrowed brow, and watched in continued astonishment, as Brooklyn suddenly emerged from inside of the garage with a very nice, black and chrome motorcycle, wearing a black leather jacket, a black helmet retrofitted to fit his horns, and had a chrome set of aviator shades on.

The Gargoyle was sitting on it and was easing himself from inside, with the engine humming nicely. Once he was out of the garage, he got off, shut the garage and re-secured it with chains, climbed back on, and took off through the fenced area. Bones watched, with wide eyes, as the suddenly dressed up Gargoyle drove past him on a very nice motorcycle. Brooklyn watched him for a moment, before tearing through the streets heading north. Bones continued to stare after him, until he disappeared completely from view and exhaled out.

"The bastard has a bike…?" He gasped out, feeling impressed, and slightly envious of him.

---

Brooklyn continued to drive, as quickly as he could towards the Labyrinth, knowing that he still wasn't out of the clear. He had tied up the Quarrymen, Bones and Terry; and secured their limbs tightly. So, unless Bones miraculously got out of the rope and called for back-up; he hoped he was in the clear. The only thing that made him nervous, was that he saw him riding away on his back driving north.

Brooklyn kept weaving in and out of the streets, and was keeping a safe eye on any sign of trouble or any more people following him. However, as he drove through the near empty streets, he was relieved when no one was following him. Pressing harder on his gas, he urged his bike faster, as he now only wanted to see Rose again. For once, he felt impressed with himself by being able to stop the two Quarrymen by himself, but with a painful reminder, his shoulder twinged, making him gasp out.

He hadn't heard from Goliath or the others, and now hoped that they were also all right and hadn't run into trouble, or Rose for that matter. Then, as he drove, he suddenly had a thought; if Quarrymen were set up near the Castle and followed him? What if more were set up more North and caught Rose?

Blinking, he naturally pressed on the gas pedal and sped forward, going faster and faster with every panicked mode of thinking. He reached down for the walkie-talkie, and thankfully it was still there, but over the roar of the engine he wouldn't be able to hear anything or anyone. Brooklyn kept driving as fast as he could, being wary of his surroundings and any Police Officer who could try to chase him, but he was relieved when he made it just outside of the Labyrinth.

This building was north of Central Park; and was close to a half-hour drive from the Castle. From the outside, it was a concrete building, that had a series of railroads entering through it's large metal gates- and looked to be an old, abandoned industrial building. As Brooklyn drove up to the gates, he slowed down, and then came to a complete stop at the entrance and used his talons to type in the correct pin to open the gate.

Normally, he entered from a street entrance, nearby; but because of his bike, he had to take the front door. After dialing in the pin, he waited as the gate opened up, and once it did, he slowly eased his bike forward, and made sure the gate shut behind him. Once it did, he urged the gas forward and drove deeper and deeper into the dark and moist tunnel, and as he went, the road let him lower and deeper underground.

His mind wandered desperately for Rose and prayed that she and his Clan was all right and did not come across any trouble, as he had. Then, to his massive relief, his claws began to tingle and he felt Rose try to connect with him. Brooklyn cried out in relief, shut his eyes for a moment, and urged himself towards the end of the road, towards his love, Rose.

---

As Rose stood at the entrance of the Labyrinth, with her eyes closed, she could feel hers and Brooklyn's connected magic come to life, and she suddenly felt him near her. His heat and light was pulling towards her like a magnet, and Rose suddenly cried out in relief. Her fingers and hands tingled even more powerfully and then she felt his presence nearby.

Right as she did, there was a sudden sound of a motorcycle engine, echoing and roaring throughout the Labyrinth tunnels, coming closer and closer to her. Rose opened her eyes, looked towards the door and smiled brightly with tears in her eyes. She turned around to look at Goliath, who was looking back at her, and offered him a smile and a nod of her head, letting him know that it was Brooklyn.

Goliath's face instantly melted in relief, and nodded back at her with a grateful look. Rose turned back to face the door, and after a few more seconds of listening to his motorcycle speed closer and closer to the entrance. After a few minutes, Brooklyn finally arrived on his bike, slowed down to squeeze through the opening of the doors, and then eased his bike forward along until he was all the way inside the Labyrinth on the railroad, and then killed the engine, leaving silence behind him.

He then kicked down the stand, stood up, and took off his aviator shades and helmet, leaving his black leather jacket on, with his wings wrapped around his chest. The Clan's had never seen Brooklyn, other than Akira, Broadway and Lexington, in his biker getup- and everyone looked at him with great interest.

Rose's eyes were filled with tears, and instantly when he got off the bike, she sprinted towards him, and jumped off the small ledge towards him. The moment he set down his helmet and saw Rose running towards him, it was like they hadn't just seen each other. Any time away from each other was too long.

Brooklyn quickly put down his helmet, walked around his bike and purposely walked towards her, as she sprinted for her, and when she flung herself into his open arms, he instantly scooped her up into his arms and hugged her tightly. He was relieved that she had arrived at the Labyrinth safe and sound, and as she touched, she could feel his great relief, and he could feel hers for his safe return.

"Oh, Brooklyn!" Rose gasped in his ear, hugging him tightly, running her fingers down his long white hair. "You're safe! I… I was so worried!"

Brooklyn held Rose in his arms, closed his eyes and breathed in her scent. She was so beautiful, lovely, and everything he would ever want. As they held each other, he slowly eased her out of his tight grasp, cupped her face in his claws and gently kissed her on the lips, knowing they had an audience and he couldn't kiss her like he desired.

After he kissed her and pulled away, still holding onto her face, she gasped out, "Brooklyn… I reached out for you with our connection and could feel that you were in some sort of danger. And, with you being late, I didn't know what to do! Is… is everything okay?"

Brooklyn pulled away from her, smiling gently at her and whispered, "Yes, my love. Now that I'm with you and know that you are safe… I am perfectly fine."

Rose smiled back at him and slowly lowered her hands to hold onto his biceps, when he suddenly winced in pain on his left shoulder. Brooklyn grimaced and shut his eyes, as though he didn't want her to know that he was in pain. Rose blinked a few times, and then furrowed her eyebrows at him. He was refusing to look at her, but she willed herself to connect with him; making him close his eyes again. Both their hands and arms tingled, and slowly Rose could feel a very sharp and painful wound on the side Brooklyn's left shoulder, and it instantly reminded her of the gunshot wound she received from Kevin in her upper chest and shoulder.

Her eyes widened in horror at him, and opened her mouth to demand what happened to him, but Goliath stepped forward, crossed his arms, and beat her to it.

"Why didn't you answer your walkie talkie?" He asked Brooklyn seriously. "Rose could feel that you were in danger. Did you come across any danger?"

Brooklyn opened his eyes, gave Rose a side glance and silently spoke to her through their connection, and she could hear his thoughts;

Please don't say anything, I'm fine...

Rose blinked in shock at what he asked her do in his mind, but took her hand and walked her up the ledge's ramp to go up to the rest of the Clan, keeping his left shoulder frozen in a comfortable way.

"I did." He replied honestly to Goliath. "After I left Rose in the parking garage with Xanatos, I headed South towards lower Manhattan to retrieve my bike, like we all discussed. However, about ten minutes in, I noticed a car had pulled out from an alleyway, just a few blocks south of the Castle. I was suspicious of it from the get go, and I tried to fool them to see if they were following me. And, after a few more minutes of trying to lose them, I knew they were. I had no idea if it was Kevin or Quarrymen, so I went to the warehouse and it was two Quarrymen scouts. I got in a slight altercation with them, but I beat 'em."

"You got in an altercation with two Quarrymen?!" Goliath demanded, his eyes growing wide. "Why didn't you call for back up?"

"Everyone was too far North of me, but I knew I could handle them." Brooklyn answered, looking Goliath seriously in the eyes. "I promise I wasn't being reckless, but trouble had followed me, and I wasn't going to let them get away to find any of you or Rose for that matter."

As Rose listened to what happened, she felt her heart sink and horror settled deeply into her stomach. Since they were still connected, Brooklyn glanced over at her through his peripheral vision and squeezed her hand a bit more with his claw.

"The Quarrymen followed you?!" She gasped out, feeling faint. "W-was Kevin with them?"

"No," He answered, turning to face Rose now, keeping her hand in his. "I have never seen these two before in my life. But don't worry- I beat them. They don't know anything about us moving you tonight… or at least, I hope they don't." He then paused and then turned to face Goliath and the Clan with wide eyes. "Did any of you have any trouble? Anyone follow any of you?"

The Clan shook their heads, while Goliath answered, "No. It was quite calm tonight- we didn't notice anyone following us."

"Same here." Xanatos said, almost immediately after, stepping forward. "I kept checking in my rear view mirror, but no one was following us. Owen also called me and said the same thing. Kevin and the Quarrymen must have only had those two scouts out, which followed you. Which is probably lucky for us in getting Rose here without any detection."

Brooklyn nodded and looked incredibly relieved, held Rose tenderly against him, and hugged her to his side.

"Good, I can finally breathe knowing that you'll be safe." Brooklyn answered, kissing her on the top of the head. "It was the best case scenario, that we were going to have scouts follow any of us, I would much rather them find us than you."

Rose opened her mouth to argue against him, but again Goliath beat her to what she wanted to say to him.

"What about the scouts?" Goliath asked. "Where are they now?"

"Tied up against a dumpster in an alleyway, just right across from an abandoned warehouse, where my bike was." Brooklyn answered him with a dark smile. "They didn't have any radios on them, so with their hands and limbs tied up as tightly as they were, they most likely won't be found until the garbage company comes and finds them."

Goliath stared at Brooklyn, who was smiling at himself as though proud and very amused of what he was able to accomplish, raised his eye bone and sighed in relief.

"All right." He said. "You think we are in the safe then?"

"With moving Rose successfully without Kevin's detection, yes." Brooklyn answered him, holding her tighter against his side. "They don't suspect a thing. As for them knowing where we live, well, that's still something that has been discovered, unfortunately. Thanks to Kevin."

Goliath nodded darkly, and then said, "Well, thank Goodness that you all are safe. I'm glad that you were able to handle the two Quarrymen yourself. Good job, Brooklyn. I'm proud of you."

Brooklyn blinked in surprise, and then smiled warmly at his leader.

"Thank you, Goliath."

"Are you injured at all?" Goliath asked him, making sure his Second-in-Command was completely unscathed. Brooklyn blinked a few times, straightened up and nodded.

"Yup." Brooklyn lied smoothly. "Not a scratch on me."

He fooled Goliath easily, who nodded, but Rose was not so easily fooled. She had her arms around his side and was shaking in slight anger, and then slowly raised her face up to glare at him. Through their connection he could feel her anger, so he warily glanced down at her for a second, before tightening his grip on her and spoke to her in his mind.

"Easy… I'm fine, Rose."

"You lied to him!" She responded back in her mind angrily. I can't believe you straight up lied to him."

"Calm down, babe." He replied smoothly in his mind. "I didn't lie to him, it's true, I don't have a scratch on me... "

"Yeah!" She argued back; and if she had actually been talking to him verbally, she would have been screaming at him. "You have a gunshot in your shoulder!"

"Yeah… and that's not a scratch. So, I didn't lie to him. I just told him what he needs to know."

Rose exhaled in anger, refusing to speak to him, even in her mind at this point. He looked down at her with a smile, but she found nothing funny about it. Letting him go, she walked away from him and wanted nothing to do with him for a moment. When they were alone, she was going to give him a piece of her mind.

"What about you guys, though?" Rose asked Goliath, with a concerned voice, trying to mask her anger at Brooklyn. "Kevin and the Quarrymen might come after you all at the Castle. What will you guys do if that happens?"

"We will take care of it." Goliath answered for her. "They are formidable foes, but we have conquered them before. As long as we stick together as a Clan; then all will be fine."

Rose took a deep breath, and then nodded; knowing that's all they could do or say to make her feel better. "Alright. As long as everyone is sure… then I can breathe easier as well."

Maggie stepped forward suddenly and said, in her gentle; but raspy voice; "Rose, should we head towards your room and help you get settled? I'll quickly show you around the Labyrinth as well, you look exhausted."

Rose took a deep breath- but finally nodded.

"I am quite tired, yes. I would really appreciate finding my room, so I could possibly go to sleep."

Instantly, Brooklyn stepped forward and place his hands around her, once again, and said, "I'll come up with you."

Rose did not smile or acknowledge him, but stiffly walked away, following Maggie. At her behavior, Brooklyn exhaled deeply and then couldn't help but chuckle, which made her even angrier. Together, they walked up towards the center of the Labyrinth towards where Maggie was standing.

Maggie smiled at Brooklyn, and said; "Brooklyn, would you mind carrying Rose's luggage? I'm afraid I'm unable to carry anything- especially up the stairs."

As Brooklyn and Rose walked towards Maggie and Rose's luggage, he seemed to finally see Maggie's delicate form, and his eyes widened. Rose watched him look her body over and settled on her slightly protruding abdomen.

"Oh… wow. Um…" He said in a low voice. "You're expecting, as well?"

Maggie smiled brightly, looked endearingly over at Talon and placed her claws on his chest, who was smiling lovingly at her and said, "Yes. We just barely told the rest of the Clan; and we also heard about Angela. It's just wonderful- we are very excited."

Brooklyn stayed silent for a few moments before he grasped Rose's luggage in his claws, and took Rose's hand in his.

"Um… yeah, that's great news. Congratulations." He responded in a sad and melancholy voice. Rose looked over at Brooklyn and couldn't help but feel that he was feeling slightly envious of Talon- but she hoped that was just her own, strange, jealousy overcoming her. She knew how much he liked Maggie a few years ago, from Broadway and Lexington telling her.

Though he seemed to have gotten over his crush with Angela- Maggie was different. Apparently, she was the first female Gargoyle that he fell in love with in his new time in Manhattan. And although she was once Human- he seemed to genuinely care for and like her. The way he was acting now, seemed to hold some remnants of that, which bothered Rose slightly.

She wasn't a jealous person, and didn't want to open that issue with him, especially since her current husband was thrusting a great thorn into the middle of their relationship; forcing her to hide and forcing him to constantly fight for and protect her.

"Are you sure you're okay to carry my luggage for me, darling?" Rose asked him , in a innocently malicious voice. At her mocking tone, Brooklyn raised his eye bones at her, giving her 'the look' back, and furrowed his eye at her.

With a painful grunt, he lifted it up with his good arm, and shot her a cocky smile.

"See?" He spoke to her in his mind. "I'm fine…"

Still not speaking to him, she ignored him, and then turned to face the Clan. At this time, Xanatos clapped his hands and then said, "Well, I'm going to let you all get settled here. I'm needing to head back and get some sleep." He then paused, turned to face Rose, slowly came over and offered his hand to hers, in which she took it. "Good luck, kiddo.I hope to see you soon and hope you are comfortable here. We'll see you again soon."

"Thank you for everything." Rose said sincerely, shaking his hand briefly, but then stopped. He watched her for a moment, before she stepped forward and wrapped her arms around him, hugging him tightly. "Truly, I owe you more than I could ever say, David. I'm sorry for all the trouble I caused you and your family. It was the last thing I ever wanted."

Xanatos eyes widened at her actions and words, but slowly he brought his arms around her and hugged her equally as tightly. After a few seconds of hugging each other, Xanatos let her go and had tears in his eyes. When she saw his emotion, he quickly cleared his throat and tried to look cool and un-bothered.

He patted her on the arm and whispered, "Take care, Rose."

She smiled at him, as he turned to Talon, walked forward and shook his claw. "Talon… thanks again for doing this."

Talon shook his hand back and nodded, smiling at him.

"It's the least I can do. We'll take good care of her here. You have my promise."

Xanatos walked away, waving at the Clan and Rose, looking visibly relieved, but sad at the same time. Rose knew that it must have been hard on him to have his family in so much danger, and couldn't blame him for feeling relieved to be rid of her; but seeing the sadness in his eyes, she knew he still cared for her. She smiled sadly at him, waved back, and watched him disappear behind the large doors. Next, the Clan looked over at Rose and Brooklyn, and all of them were looking at Rose with sad eyes.

She hated good-byes; since she had to endure so many throughout her lifetime. But, she smiled at them, trying to be strong, and said, "I've already said my good-byes to you all… we'll see each other soon. Please, don't forget about me down here, and all will be good."

Goliath smiled at her, stepping forward and wrapped her in another hug, once again.

"We would never." He whispered in her ear, then pulled away. "Take care, Rose."

With that, the Clan waved at her, as Akira quickly ran up and gave her another tight hug.

"I'll see you soon!" Akira whispered in her ear, then gave her a kiss on her head.

Rose nodded, trying to hold back her tears, and watched as the Clan began to disperse from the Labyrinth. Goliath waited until they were all out of sight, faced Brooklyn and then said, "We'll see you home, right before sunrise."

Brooklyn nodded silently at his leader, and watched them all disappear from the Labyrinth. As it suddenly became quiet, Talon turned to Claw; the Tiger Gargoyle, and said, "Claw- do you mind doing a quick patrol? Make sure everyone is settling down for the night?"

Claw silently nodded and walked away from them.

As he passed Brooklyn and Rose, he stopped; gave Brooklyn a high-five and then offered Rose a friendly smile. Before he left, she teased him and asked, "Hey! Where's my high-five?"

Claw turned towards her, and a bigger grin lit up his face, swiftly walked back to her and gave her a super high-five. When his claw hit her hand, it left an extremely loud clap; and Rose instantly shook her hand out, laughing.

Claw gave her a sheepish look; as Rose was still laughing.
"Ouch…" She laughed, still shaking her hand. "You have a great high-five. It's good to see you again Claw."

He grinned brightly at her, raised his claw and suddenly shook it across her hair, messing her hair up. He could have easily have laughed out loud, had he not lost his voice in the mutated transformation.

"Oh… wow. Okay, then." Rose grumbled teasingly and laughed, straightening up her hair.

"Hey now, you two." Brooklyn warned, in a semi-teasing, but semi-serious tone. "That's borderline flirting."

Rose glanced over at Brooklyn and raised her eyebrows, while Claw's eyes went huge. He shook his head, held his hands up in surrender, and started to walk away from Brooklyn, who laughed, stepped forward and lightly punched Claw in the shoulder.

"Calm down, Claw; I'm just giving you a hard time." He said, walking back to Rose. Claw then relaxed, waved at them, and then made his way towards the living quarters of the Labyrinth, while Talon stepped forward.

"Maggie will show you to your room-" He explained kindly. " If you need anything at all, please don't hesitate to let us know. One of us will always be patrolling at night and during the day- and tonight is Claw's turn. So, if you need anything, just let him know."

"I will, thank you Talon." Rose replied, smiling at him.

He nodded, yawned largely, stretched his large body and then sighed heavily.
"If you'll excuse me, I need to return back to bed and get some sleep- since it's my patrol tomorrow night." He turned to Brooklyn, shook his claw firmly and then continued, "Brooklyn, it's so great to see you again. You're always welcome here; I wouldn't ever want to be the one to get in the way of your love… who is… by the way, quite beautiful and very strong with what I've heard rumors of. I wish you two the best future; and cannot wait to attend your mating ceremony."

Brooklyn smiled at Talon, sighed and said, "Yeah… if we can get there. Things keep seeming to get in the way, but one day we will have our turn, and it will be amazing." He then glanced down, lovingly at Rose and continued, "She is the best, most beautiful, strongest, and most amazing thing that's ever happened to me. I am beyond blessed and lucky."

Rose's anger at him melted at that moment, and she instantly felt horribly for being rude to him. His large, brown eyes were full of sincerity and not a single hint of sarcasm. He smiled even warmly when he felt her anger fade away, and she lovingly smiled up at him and was about to speak, when Maggie stepped forward and said, "I'm so happy to see you two together. You make a beautiful couple- it makes me so relieved and happy to see you happy, Brooklyn."

"Thanks, Maggie." He responded, forcing his eyes from Rose's. "I'm happy for you and Talon as well for your new addition."

"Thank you." She said softly, touching her abdomen tenderly. " Derek and I are thrilled."

"Yeah." Talon added, gently holding Maggie in his arms. "We are beyond thrilled to be parents." He paused and gently kissed Maggie on her lips and then continued to speak, this time just to her. "I'm sorry to do this, but I've got to get some sleep, babe."

"Don't feel bad, Derek." Maggie replied quietly. "You've been working overtime to let me sleep more during the night. And for that, myself and this baby, thank you."

"Of course," he replied, kissing her once again. "Anything for my family."

Rose watched the two embrace, and couldn't seem to watch anymore. She was happy for them, but twice in one night of having more of what she couldn't have thrust in her face. Brooklyn was also not watching the pair embrace, and was staring at a nearby tapestry with great interest.

Maggie kissed Talon once more and said, "I'll be in soon- I love you."

"I love you, too." Talon responded, pulling away from her, and walked away. When he was out of sight, Maggie turned to Brooklyn and Rose.

"Follow me." She said, smiling. " I'm sorry about the stairs, but I wanted you to have the room in which you can see the Eyrie Building from the ceiling window. It also has the most light- I figured you would enjoy that."

"Oh, that's uh, very thoughtful of you Maggie." Rose replied quietly. "Thank you, I really appreciate that."

Maggie smiled back at her, and nodded.

"No problem." She replied kindly. "I know what it's like to feel displaced. That was my whole few months in this new body- I felt like a freak and had lost my freedom and purpose in life. It wasn't until I met Derek when that all changed for me."

As they climbed the stairs, and Maggie was speaking to them about how much Derek had helped her during her transformation, Rose couldn't help but glance over at Brooklyn to see his expression, and to her slight bother, he looked stone-faced, as though he didn't want to be anywhere near this conversation, or that he was in pain; she couldn't really tell at the moment.

Rose looked away suddenly, blinked a few times, and tried to ignore her feelings of insecurities. The tingling sensation started in her hands, but she did everything she could to ignore it and focus on other things, as she didn't want Brooklyn to know she was feeling that way. She was exhausted and didn't want to deal with anymore drama tonight.

After climbing three flights of stairs, they came to the very top floor and Maggie walked them towards the end of the hallway. There were many doors to their right; and Maggie guided them to the very last door on the end of the hallway, used a key to open it up, and stepped aside to let Rose and Brooklyn in.

Rose turned towards Brooklyn and quietly said, sensing his pain of his arm.

"Honey, I can take my bags now. You don't have to carry them, if you don't wish."

"It's fine." He muttered back at her, obviously in pain, all while not looking at her. "I've carried them this far, what's a few more feet?"

He then passed her, walked into the bedroom and gently set the luggage on the bed, in the center of the room, and then looked around silently. Rose followed him into the tiny room and looked around, trying to ignore the gnawing feeling in her heart and stomach of anxiety. Taking a shaky breath, trying to push her tears away, Rose glanced around her new room; her new home.

There was a small, full-sized bed in the corner of the concrete wall, a small nightstand next to it with a small lamp. Across from the bed, there was a tiny slide-across closet, with mirrors for the doors, and to their instant left as you walked into the room, there was a tiny bathroom.

As Rose explored more into the bathroom, there was one tiny sink, a toilet, and a stand up-shower, with one door of shelves for storage. Rose took a deep breath, backed out of the tiny bathroom, and walked back out to her tiny bedroom, and was immediately drawn to the small window at the edge of her bed. Right there, where her feet would go, was the window that showed the Eyrie Building. Since they were underground still; and were on the third floor, she could see the ground view of the Manhattan skyline and the Eyrie Building.

Rose smiled thankfully at this gesture and immediately felt relieved. Now her separation from Brooklyn wouldn't seem so hard- if she felt lonely, she could look out the window and see the Castle. Rose closed her eyes, wanting nothing more than to sleep all the sudden; when Brooklyn's claws rested gently on her arms, comforting her. She naturally leaned into Brooklyn's touch and almost forgot that Maggie was still there.

"Will this room be alright for you?" Maggie asked her, nervously. "I know it's not as nice as Xantos' Castle… but…"

. Rose opened her eyes instantly and looked over at Maggie gratefully.

"Yes, Maggie. This is perfect, thank you." She whispered, smiling at her. "Seriously, this is more than I was expecting, so this is truly wonderful."

Maggie smiled brightly at her,and looked relieved.

"Good, I'm glad to hear that!" She said happily. "Do you need anything before I leave?"

"No, Maggie." Rose replied quietly, leaning into Brooklyn's chest and holding onto him. "Thank you; I think I just need to get some sleep."

"Alright, then." Maggie said, backing out of the room. "Here is a lock on your roor, only on your side, so you can lock it at night for privacy. And here's a key, so you can lock up from the outside." She paused, placed a small silver key on Rose's dresser, and then continued to speak. "Your bed has been freshly made with clean linens- and if you ever need to change them out, there are more at the top of your closet. Fresh towels are in the bathroom, as well as toilet paper. Laundry facilities are downstairs; and are there for your use. If at any time you need anything, just let me know."

"Thank you," Rose said softly, closing her eyes again at Brooklyn's comforting touch.

"Thanks, Maggie." Brooklyn whispered in a low voice.

Maggie nodded at him, and walked out of the room; quietly shutting Rose's door behind her, leaving Brooklyn and Rose to finally be alone, once again. Rose glanced around the small room, as a few moments of silence passed between them, and then finally turned to Brooklyn. He was looking solemn, downtrodden, and borderline depressed.

Rose took a deep breath, set her shoe box down on side table next to her bed, and forced herself to smile.

"Hey now… It's not as bad as I thought it would be. I… I will bring out a few of my pictures, so it becomes more homy around here. I'll even try to develop the photos from our camera so I can look at us, whenever you're not here." She paused to smile lovingly up at him, however, he continued to stare down at her with a sad expression.
"I could also add some color to brighten the place up." She continued, trying to keep her tone light, as she was looking around the small and dark space. "I also really like the view… It was very kind and thoughtful of Maggie to open this room up to me. With the Castle in view, I won't feel so cooped up, and can always feel that I am back at home with you."

Brooklyn offered her a small smile back and held onto her arms tenderly, but didn't say anything. They stood holding each other for a few moments, before Rose said softly, "Okay… take off your jacket, love."

Brooklyn took a deep breath and chuckled at her.

"I'm fine, Rose." He whispered in her face, coming out of his sad haze. "Do you need help unpacking? Or…"

"Or you can let me heal you." Rose argued quietly back, as he snorted.

"Please… it's nothing my stone sleep can't fix." He replied, gently touching her face.

"Really?" Rose asked him lightly. "Doesn't seem like it's something that can wait."

Brooklyn huffed out an annoying breath, rolled his eyes, and tried really hard to keep his patience with her.

"Rose…" he said slowly. "I'm fine… "

"No you're not." She snapped slightly, crossing her arms over her chest. "You're bleeding all over my new bedroom."

Brooklyn blinked in surprise, looked down at his left arm and saw that a good deal of blood was dripping out of his leather jacket. His eyes widened as he looked at it as if it was the most interesting thing he'd ever seen.

"Oh, would you look at that?" He said lightly, as though he wasn't bothered by it at all. "So, I am."

Rose exhaled heavily, and immediately walked away from him into her bathroom, to quickly gather up some towels. On one of her shelves, she grabbed a few small hand towels, got them wet, and then walked back to him. He was still standing still, as she approached him. Without speaking, she quickly grabbed the cuff of his sleeve, of his good arm, and pulled on it as he pulled his arm out. Then, gently, she slid the other arm off of him to reveal his wound.

She gasped as she saw his wound, and stared at him with an open mouth. The whole top side of his left shoulder had been deeply cut into, as the bullet grazed his shoulder. Blood was oozing out of his arm at a steady rate, and though it wasn't an artery cut, she needed to stop it and fast. She pressed the towels to his shoulder, and then pushed on his chest so that he walked backwards and sat down upon her bed.

"See?" He told her lightly, grinning at her. "I told you it wasn't that bad."

"Not that bad?!" Rose argued with him, looking into his eyes in disbelief. "Babe, you were only a few inches away from your bones being revealed! I'm also shocked that it hasn't grazed an artery. If it did, you wouldn't have lasted as long as you have. You could have bled out. Baby, this injury is quite serious! I can't believe you played this off as if it was nothing..."

"It is nothing." He replied, smiling at her. "I feel fine, there's just a twing here and there, but nothing I can't handle."

Rose stared up at him in irritation, and set her lips firmly, not saying anything. She pressed the towels to his wound, sat next to him on the bed, and quietly kept pressure on his wound. A few seconds passed by in silence, before Brooklyn brought his good claw up to her face and gently moved a talon across her cheek.

"Hey... " he said softly. "I'm sorry. You're right. I shouldn't have lied to Goliath about this, but everything else I was telling the truth on. The Quarrymen weren't that hard to defeat; and though I had a close call, I'm fine. Truly… what's important to me, is that they followed me and wasted their time playing cat-and-mouse with me, and not you. Kevin wasn't with them, and from my knowledge, they have no idea you are in a safe and unknown location."

Rose slowly looked up into his eyes and felt their connection flow more powerfully through them, making them both get lost in each other's eyes. Silently, she pulled encouraged Brooklyn to sit all the way on her bed, his legs crossed, until he was facing her; and he followed her wishes silently as well. When he was facing her, she slowly eased herself closer to him while sitting on her knees, and sat up to get a better look at his shoulder.

Brooklyn naturally placed his good claw around her waist, and stared deeply into her eyes, feeling his mating instincts turning on in their silence. Rose was inches from his lips, and with her scent all around him, he closed his eyes and longed to have her even closer to him. She closed her eyes as well, as she kept a hand over his wound and leaned her forehead to his.

Then, with his encouragement, she straddled her legs and hips and sat over his pelvis, getting impossibly close to him. With them in such an intimate position, Rose opened her eyes and looked deeply into his eyes. Both were breathing deeply, and suddenly their connections flowed through both of them, connecting them completely. Rose could hear his every thought, which was about her and how much he wanted to make love to her; and to have her as his mate, and then she could feel how much pain he truly was in.

Silently still, she raised her other hand up and placed it over his bloodied towel and closed her eyes, willing her healing powers to enter her body; to flow through his, and heal his shoulder. Rose closed her eyes and leaned her head into his, as he too closed his eyes, allowing her to heal him.

Instantly, the calm wispy red power flowed out of her hands and encompassed his shoulder wound, and in her mind; with him able to hear her, she spoke out calmly…

"Heal… Brooklyn, my mate. My love. Heal…."

Brooklyn smiled upon hearing her beautiful voice in his head, and wrapped both claws around her waist and allowed her to heal him, just as he had earlier that night. The red power flowed all around them, and after a few minutes of her allowing her power to heal him, she could feel his pain fade until it was nonexistent. Her red power faded, and then both Rose and Brooklyn opened their eyes, staring at each other. Rose then lowered the bloodied towel and to her amazement and relief, his wound was healed and had no sign that it was ever injured.

She ran a gentle hand over it and smiled at herself, with relieved tears in her eyes. She then used the wet towel to wipe up the trail of blood that was left on his skin, until it was cleaned up. Brooklyn then took the towel from her hand, and threw it across the room, holding her waist tighter, pressing her pelvis into his.

"Thank you, my love." He whispered, his lips inches from hers.

"You're welcome." She breathed back, running her fingers up the side of his face; caressing his skin. His breathing came more frantic with every touch of her fingers; and then slowly, she slid them down his face, over his collarbone, and then caressed his chiseled chest.

He held his arms out, and released his wings from being wrapped around his chest, so that she could continue to explore his chest and abdomen without anything getting in the way. Her fingers slid all the way down his chiseled abdomen and rested just at the top of his loincloth, her breathing becoming rapid with every touch.

She looked up into his face and breathed, "I love you. You're so beautiful, Brooklyn…"

With that, Brooklyn cupped her face with one claw, and the other held her tightly against him. He then slowly lowered her body to the bed, so that he was looming over her, with her legs straddled over his waist. With her lying on her back, she gazed up into his eyes, as he closed his eyes.

"I'm nowhere near as beautiful as you, Rose." He breathed, lowering his lips to hers, and pressed his body down upon hers, speaking through his kisses. "I love you so much too. Thank you for healing me."

She smiled at him, wrapped her arms around his neck and brought him closer to her. At that, they both opened their mouths to each other and kissed even deeper, tasting each other, and breathing each other in. Now that he was actually with her, even as he was lying on top of her and kissing her passionately, she did not think about the nightmare she had in Xantos' car. With how she was feeling now, she felt like she was in Heaven, and forever wanted to feel this way. Rose's hands slid all over his body, his hair, his back, and tried to reach his sensitive spot between his wings. At her attempt, he grinned against her lips and chuckled.

"Rose…" he admonished gently. "I love you. But, it's best not to activate that, like we found out earlier tonight. Plus, it's been a very long night. We both should get some rest."

Rose blinked at him, and laid her head back down upon the bed and gazed up into his eyes.

"You're going to stay with me?" She gasped.

"If you want me to." He replied, looking into her eyes hopefully. "But… if not… I understand…"

"Yes, please." She instantly said, holding his arms. "I would like for you to stay and sleep by my side, very much."

"Good," Brooklyn whispered, kissing her gently on the lips again briefly. "I'm glad you agree. Goliath gave me permission to stay with you until sunrise. Plus, after tonight, it might take a little bit longer until I'm able to come back. But, I promise I will."

Rose stared up at him and then smiled lovingly.

"Okay." She kissed him on his lips briefly again, before she pulled away and pushed him off her so she could sit up. "I'm going to get ready for bed now, okay?"

He nodded at her, and with that, she pulled away from him, got off the bed, opened her suitcase down on the ground, and began to separate the bathroom items from her clothing. He watched her quietly take the 'potions' from her bag and head towards the small bathroom by her front door.

"I will be out soon." She whispered to him, standing back up.

"Feel free to hurry back out." He said softly, grinning at her. She grinned back at him, giggling slightly, and then nodded. When she disappeared behind the door, he sighed out, laid his head down on her pillow, and stretched his body out- placing his claws behind his head. Now that Rose had healed his shoulder, he felt amazing. Closing his eyes for a moment, he thought about Rose and was happy to be here, alone, with her. Though this wasn't the place he would wish for his love to stay; however, he agreed with her. It was a lot nicer than he expected as well, and Rose was right. It wasn't terrible.

She had the basics- a roof over her head, a bed, a fully equipped bathroom, and even had one small television on top of a small dresser. It certainly wasn't the Castle, nor was it what he would pick out for her, but circumstances being what they were- it was better than nothing. Regardless, he still felt terrible that Rose had to hide away in this place and couldn't live with him. As they were forced to live apart; he was going to now focus his full energies on finding Kevin. Once they put a stop to Kevin's evil, then him and Rose could finally be together, never again to be forced apart.

At the same time, in the bathroom, Rose quickly undressed from her sweatshirt, pants but kept her tank top and shorts on, which were under her clothing. She let her hair out of her braid, brushed it out, and found that it had curled nicely from her shower earlier that night. She washed her face clean, brushed her teeth and used the bathroom.

Though the Labyrinth was underground, damp, and dark; the Cyberbiotic Company installed modern day technology, plumbing and heating options, and for that she was grateful. She put away all of her bathroom items, took her sweatshirt and jeans that she was wearing and folded them neatly on the counter. In the morning, she would finish taking care of her clothes and unpack, but for now, she longed to get back out to Brooklyn and fall asleep.

She checked her wrist watch and sighed feeling more and more exhausted. It was nearing two in the morning; and she desperately needed sleep. When she stepped out of the bathroom she shut off the light behind her, walked around the corner, and immediately noticed that Brooklyn was lying on his back on top of her full-sized bed, and was easily taking up most of it. His eyes were shut, with his claws behind his head, and looked extremely calm and peaceful.

When he heard her leave the bathroom, his dark eyes opened and instantly found their way over to hers. When he saw her, in her tank top, shorts and extremely curly hair down- without any makeup- he was in immediate awe of her natural beauty. Ever since he was able to heal her; her beauty was emphasized, body defined, and skin was made smoother and more delicate-looking. Her hazel eyes were bright against her dark eyelashes and her beautiful pink lips were full and luscious-looking.

Brooklyn was stunned by her beauty; and though she was always beautiful to him, his breath seemed to be taken away by her now. She had the most stunning figure and now that it was more exposed to him, it made his claws sweat. Her legs were long, and defined in muscle. Her arms were toned nicely; and while the rest of her body was thin and toned in muscular perfection, her hips were curvy. Her abdomen was flat and toned, while her chest was large and perky.

Instantly, he gasped quietly, sat up from lying down, and stared at her with his jaw dropped; his eyes wide. He hadn't really seen her body like this before; and only got one taste and glimpse of it in the Hospital; and her breasts back at the castle. She was a goddess of true light and beauty. Rose smiled at him, giggled slightly at his expression, and knew what he was gaping at.

"What are you staring at?" She asked him in a quiet voice, still standing near the wall of her closet, facing her bed. Whenever Brooklyn gaped at her, like he was doing now, it made her feel good; beautiful. She had never felt good-enough for Kevin, nor all that beautiful, but now that she was with Brooklyn, he made her feel beautiful every single night. When he would kiss and touch her, it was as if it would be their last time together.

He didn't say anything as he sat up in her bed and swiftly slid his legs off her bed, so that his clawed feet hit the floor, slowly stood to face her, and instantly started to smile lovingly at her. She smiled shyly and leaned against the wall just outside of her bathroom, next to her new closet, and kept her eyes on him.

He was gazing deeply into her eyes and slowly made his way across the room towards her, their electric sensations starting to tingle pleasantly in her hands and in his claws- increasing in power the closer Brooklyn came to her.

When he reached her, he kept his deep brown eyes on her vibrant hazel ones and was gazing intently into them, as though he had never been more in love with her. She smiled up at him softly, their bodies creating a heat already, even though they weren't yet touching. He raised his claws up and lightly grazed her arms- sending shivers up and down her skin- as he went. He lightly caressed her skin up her arms, shoulders, and stopped when he reached her face, in which he gently cupped her face in his palms. He was smiling peacefully down at her as she closed her eyes, leaned into his touch, and kissed the palm of his claw tenderly.

Keeping one claw holding the back of her neck, and one around her waist, he guided her face to his until their lips touched, creating the usual fireworks in their body. Just like every kiss they had in the past, they breathed in each other like fresh air; and kissed passionately; their lips moved in perfect harmony with each other. He then stopped kissing her for a moment, leaving Rose to keep wanting more.

He smiled against her lips and then breathed, "You're so beautiful, Rose."

Rose smiled up at him and then whispered, "Thank you… but if you really think so, you should keep kissing me."

Brooklyn chuckled at her comment, before he did as she wished. He lowered his other claw down her back to press her body more into his, as his lips met hers with a rushed sense of urgency. Rose moaned out quietly as she raised her hands to hold onto either side of his beak, and to keep his lips against hers.

As Brooklyn was holding onto Rose's waist, he found a break in her shirt; and instantly explored his claws up her back, loving the soft feel of her skin. Their tongues found each other and danced around passionately, inviting more intimacy. Rose stepped forward towards him, pressed her chest against his, as well as her pelvis against his and wrapped her arms around his waist. Rose held onto his face, and then slowly slid her hands down his chest with the lightest of touches, all the way down his abdomen again. Brooklyn's breathing intensified slightly as her light touch against his skin created an electric sensation; leaving him wanting and craving more of her.

He was smiling at her now, his eyes flashing with excitement, as she suddenly laughed and flung herself at him. She wrapped her arms around his neck, legs around his waist, and straddle her body against his. He held onto her, and let her tackle him onto the bed, as she laughed. When he fell down on his back on the soft bed, he too was laughing and held Rose tightly on top of him, wrapping his long wings around their tangled bodies, and gazed lovingly into his eyes.

With her on top of him, he had his claws up her shirt, wrapping his arms all the way around her exposed skin,and held her body even closer to his. She raised her eyebrows at him, still smiling, as she lowered her face towards his and gently pressed her lips against his. He immediately moaned, breathed deeply, and deepened their kiss by pushing his tongue against hers once again.

He felt so good to her, as she felt incredible to him. Another sensation of electricity flowed through them, connecting them, as they kissed, touched and held each other. Rose could feel his powerful love and desire for her- and he could feel hers towards him. However, as they kissed faster and deeper, Brooklyn could also feel how exhausted Rose was; and though she was thoroughly enjoying this and was awakened by his touch and kisses- she was still needing to sleep and to take care of her exhaustion.

When he felt that, he slowed down his lips against hers and slowly raised his face from hers. He opened his eyes and chuckled slightly at her, as she was still closing her eyes, and looked to be in complete bliss.

After a few seconds, she opened her bright eyes, and loved the sensation of his claws and skin against hers. She was slightly surprised that he had behaved himself, especially as they were so close to each other; with her lying down on top of him.

However, instead of continuing with their intimacy, he adjusted himself on her bed; moved over to lie on his side, and pressed his back up against the wall. He kept Rose in his arms as he did this, so that she was now lying on her left side facing him, and still pressing her body into his.

He kissed her soundly on the forehead for a long minute, before he lowered smaller kisses down her face; lightly kissing her closed eyes, the tip of her nose, cheeks, and lowered lovingly down to her neck. He was holding her upper back over her rib cage, and held onto the side of her back as he kissed her neck- lightly grazing his tongue over her skin, tasting her briefly.

Rose closed her eyes and was breathing deeply; she loved him and wanted more… needed more. However; he quit teasing her and moved his lips from her neck, and then claimed her lips with his, one last tender time. He kissed her deeply and intimately, before he finally pulled his lips away.

"I love you, Brooklyn." She whispered when he pulled away. He lightly pressed the tip of his beak against her soft cheek, kissed her forehead one more time and then whispered, "Not as much as I love you."

"Mmmhm." She hummed, smiling at him and cuddling into his warm body.

"It's true." He argued lightly, lightly running a talon down her face, making her close her eyes his touch. He slowly then lowered his talons from her face, past her jawline, and lightly touched and rested just over her cleavage, his own mating instincts rising as he thought about her luscious breasts. Rose moaned slightly at his touch, but as he held his claw there, he remembered that he had something to give her.

"Oh, " he said, suddenly sitting up while opening his wings. "I forgot. I have something I wanted to give you."

Rose's eyes widened at his sudden movement, as he left her lying on the bed without his warmth next to her. She placed her arm under her head and gazed lovingly up at him, and smiled in disbelief.

"Give me something?" Rose mused quietly, feeling her exhaustion take over her as she was lying there. "You have given me everything I'll ever need or want. I only need and want your love, Brooklyn. Besides, Christmas is over, and we've done our gift exchange."

"I know." Brooklyn said softly, turning and sitting on his knees. "But this is something I found. And uh… it already belongs to you."

Rose blinked at what he just said, and watched as he slowly reached into the top part of his loincloth, reaching for something, and instantly she felt her breath catch in her throat; while her face blushed like crazy.

"Uhmm…" she said a bit nervously, a bit breathlessly. "What… are you doing there, honey?"

However, before she could wonder anymore, he pulled out her beautiful, silver necklace from his loincloth and held it out to her. Forgetting the thoughts of what she originally thought he was doing, she gasped loudly, sat up and touched the necklace in his hand, as if it was a dream that she was suddenly having.

"Is- is that?!" She cried out in disbelief, amazed at what she was seeing.

"Yes, it is." Brooklyn answered, with tears filling his eyes. Rose's eyes went huge, and she clasped both hands over her mouth, tears filling her own eyes.

"My necklace!" She gasped out. "Oh, Brooklyn! You found it!... I thought I lost it forever. Kevin, he… he tore it off my neck as he was…" She paused and slowly raised her hand up to her neck, remembering his hands over her airway trying to kill her, before she lowered it and shook her head and the memory away.

"It doesn't matter what he was doing." She continued to say, refocusing back on him, as Brooklyn's eyes glazed over with more hurt and pain. She gently touched it and then whipped her head back up to look into his eyes.

"Where did you find it?" She asked him quietly.

"After the Clan and myself lost Kevin, and Bronx was hurt, we sent the CLan back to the Eyrie Building to check out the bomb threat. Then, Goliath and I continued our search in Central Park, as we believed that's where he was going. Elisa then told us about Adam kidnapping you, and I… I felt my whole world fall apart, Rose." He paused, with tears in his eyes as he finally recounted his night from hell to her for the first time. "We came across the first crashed car, which was Adam's and saw all the blood… and with Goliath being such a good tracker, he quickly was able to find out that it was yours. And… again… I thought I was going to die, right there in absolute worry for you."

Rose watched him recall the story to her with wide eyes and had never heard his night before he found her at the bridge, and tears filled her eyes and she felt his deep grief pulse through him. He sniffed, took a deep breath and then continued to speak quietly.

"We uh, then came to the meadow by following your bloody footprints; and that's where we saw Kevin's crashed car against a tree. The same one we had lost that night, and I knew it was him. Then…I saw that your footprints lead right to his. Then, there was more blood, more footsteps, bullet casings and empty guns… and I…." He paused again and had to look away from her, still clenching her necklace. "Then I saw this… in the snow… and it had blood all over it, and I feared the worst."

He took a deep breath and then said in a shaky voice, with tears running down his face, and looked up into her teary, shocked eyes.

"I thought I lost you then Rose." He whispered. "I thought you were dead… and that I was too late to save yo; and I wanted to die. I sank to the snow and mourned for you, howling in the night, and didn't know how to go on, or breathe for that matter… but thanks to Goliath being there, he got me refocused and said that you hadn't died, and that you were running for you life, due to the evidence of your footprints in the snow, heading into the forested part of the park. And because of that, I was not going to give up. I wasn't going to give in… and I was going to continue to try to find you, defend you from Kevin, and then kill him."

He sniffed again and shook his head, in obvious anger with himself, "That, as you know, never happened; and you know what happened after I connected with you and met you at the bridge. But…uh, that's how I found your necklace. I've uh… cleaned all the blood off since then, and didn't have any pockets, so um… sorry for making you nervous. I wasn't…"

However, Rose cut him off by flinging her arms around him and kissing him so passionately and powerfully that it took his breath away. She instantly straddled her hips over his again and held tightly onto him, touching him all over his chest, abdomen, and down his chiseled legs. Then she detached her lips from his and kissed all down the length of his neck, while her hands slid up his legs and wrapped tightly around his back.

He closed his eyes and let her love him, all while breathing her scent in. When she detached her lips from his neck and looked into his eyes, tears were rolling down her face and she cupped his face in her hands.

"I had no idea…" Rose breathed, tears flowing down her face. "I'm so sorry, Brooklyn."

He took a deep breath, nodded his head and slowly wrapped his arms around her waist, keeping her against his pelvis.

"It's not your fault my love." He whispered. "But, all the same. I have your necklace, if you want it back?"

"Yes, of course, I do!" She gasped immediately, as more tears continued to fall down her face, and moved her long curly hair to one side of her body. "Can you please reattach it?"

"Of course." He breathed, smiling at her, and gently re-attached the necklace around her neck. Once it was one, it settled nicely in between her breasts, and Rose gently touched it with her hands, closed her eyes and smiled at him in great love and relief.

"Thank you," She breathed.

He took her face in his claws gently, before he kissed her again. Both of them were exhausted, as the two nights had taken all their energy away. And now that both of them spent a few moments to relive that nightmare, they both slowly gave in. Brooklyn still was kissing her passionately, and then lowered back onto the bed, all while wrapping his wings around them both like a blanket.

He pressed his pelvis into hers, teasing them both for a moment,and held her body tightly against his, until he let up from his kissing. Her eyes stayed closed, and she wasn't sure she could reopen them. He felt the same exhaustion, lowered his body next to hers so he was lying on his side and cuddled her to him, while wiping her tears away.

"Brooklyn… I…" Rose tried to say, but it was slurred and she already felt miles away, but Brooklyn gently placed his talon over her lips and quietly shushed her.

"Sleep, my love." He breathed, holding her tightly. "We are both exhausted… sleep."

Rose had already closed her eyes and could feel the exhaustion taking over her unwillingly. These were the moments in which she felt the happiest in life- with him lying next to her, holding her, and offering her the peace, comfort, love and security; in which she'd always desired.

Brooklyn's body was warm against her cold skin and with his long wings wrapped against her, she had no need to get under the covers of her bed. She adjusted her body so that she was still next to him; but was more resting on her back, instead of her side. She sighed happily, rested her head on his bicep, and nuzzled into his chest. She placed one hand next to his chest, while the other hand sought out his available claw. She slid her fingers through his talons and held his claw; and then rested both her hand and his claw next to her head. He smiled lovingly at her and didn't want to leave her side.

Since Gargoyles slept in their stone sleep; they never had the joy of sleeping next to their mate. They were able to take naps, but the stone sleep was different than actually dreaming and holding one's body. He nuzzled his head into her soft pillows and leaned into her head, breathing in the beautifully sweet scent of her hair. He was impossibly comfortable right now, and was determined to get in a good nap and stay with Rose for as long as he could. Goliath had allowed him this night to be with Rose, since she was going to stay in the Labyrinth. He was also going to keep Brooklyn busy in tracking down Kevin, which was alright with him.

Brooklyn closed his eyes, exhaled deeply and then breathed, "Are you comfortable?"

When he raised his head off the pillow, slightly to face her, he smiled endearingly at her as she was already close to being fast asleep. She was smiling slightly and mumbled a delayed response.

"Hmmm… yes. Please… stay."

Brooklyn lightly grazed his lips against hers, kissing her, and then whispered against her lips, "I am staying, my love. There's nothing more important than being here with you."

Rose sighed, nuzzled herself against him more and then breathed, "I love you."

Brooklyn smiled, tightened his grasp on her as he eased his head back down against her pillow and top of head and whispered, "I love you, too."

She smiled at his comment, but then after a few seconds, her body completely relaxed and was already engulfed in sleep. Brooklyn looked over her face and felt himself becoming overwhelmed with emotion, by her beauty, light, and all that they had overcome in just a short period of time. Rose, his love and soon-to-be mate, was the most beautiful person he'd ever met; inside and out. When he thought about all the horrors in which had gone through, it troubled him greatly. It was a crime for such a beautiful woman to have to endure such hell, darkness and hurt.

His dark eyes skimmed over her closed eyes, full pink lips, and beautiful white skin- and couldn't help but think about the bruises, slaps and punches that she used to take, on a daily basis, from Kevin. Though the abuse left a huge scar on Rose's soul; she never let it affect her unless she was talking about or near Kevin. It was actually hard to believe that Rose had endured such abuse and hell from her husband; since she was an extraordinary light and strength for Brooklyn.

Tears suddenly filled his eyes as he lovingly held the greatest and most beautiful treasure he'd ever received in his life- nothing in this world would ever top how important Rose was to him, and nothing could ever describe the love in which he was feeling for her. He would give his very life and last breath for her and would happily sacrifice everything he was for her life, her light, and her happiness. As he thought of these things, he lightly touched her face while he pressed his forehead against hers.

"I love you, Rose." He whispered intensely. "So… so much."

He didn't expect her to respond to him, as she was fully asleep at this point. She was incredibly tired and desperately needed to get some sleep.

He closed his eyes for a moment, before he raised his head, opened his eyes, and glanced over her body once again. He couldn't seem to keep himself from doing so, as he couldn't believe that this woman next to him was his- and that he was lucky enough to have such a strong light in his life- lighting the darkness around him. As he glanced over her, he admired her skin; it was smoothed out to perfection and her peaceful face was almost too breathtaking for Brooklyn to behold.

Now that she was lying on her back, he could see how incredibly curvaceous and full her breasts were, which made it extremely tempting to run his claws over them. She was breathing softly and was still holding onto his right claw, which was rested under her neck to offer a place for her head to rest, and her fingers were laced through his talons.

He gazed over her beautiful body and couldn't help himself anymore. He took his available claw and lightly ran his talons over her skin until he ran over the fabric of her shirt; and lightly caressed his talons up her abdomen, over her soft chest, and settled on touching her neck, necklace, and then face, lightly tickling her skin with his talon.

With every inch in which he was touching her skin, was sending pleasant tingles through his talons, up his arm and though his entire body. He closed his eyes at the sensations and allowed them to take over him. When he re-opened his eyes and held Rose's figure; he was reminded that he had never loved anyone as much as he loved her.

Brooklyn smiled at himself softly and finally re-nestled himself down against Rose, holding onto her hand tightly, which held his left claw, and kept his available claw modestly down around her waist, still finding some skin. He knew that Rose didn't mind when he sought out her skin near her abdomen or back. It seemed therapeutic to both of them and they only wanted to feel more of each other's skin.

With her scent all around him; he happily forget about all their troubles, the darkness all around them from Kevin's terror, and willed Rose's strong light and presence heal his darkened soul, his past downtrodden heart, and engulf him in peace and love.

He closed his eyes, took a deep breath and listened to Rose's soft his wings secured around both of them, he rested his legs next to her, and used his tail to wrap around her legs; keeping them fully together. He smiled softly and nuzzled his face just over the top of her head. The lights were all turned off and he peacefully listened to her breathe; and was the happiest he'd ever felt. Had he known that sleeping next to her, like this would create the same intimate feelings of love that mating did; then he would have done this a lot more. They had only slept together once, but both of them didn't remember it all that well.

He took a deep breath, and felt the gentle rise of her beautiful chest against his, and let it lull him into a blissful state of rest and sleep. For the first time in months- he slept without the nagging nightmares of her death, which had been plaguing his mind and dreams during stone sleep, and finally dreamed of nothing; but their love and their bright future together.

---

Brooklyn slowly woke up a few hours later in Rose's bed, only a half hour before the sun was supposed to rise. Brooklyn blinked a few times and realized that he hadn't moved for over six hours; and couldn't believe that he took that long of a nap. But, as he recalled how much him and Rose had been through; he easily could close his eyes again and keep sleeping. He took a series of deep breaths through his nose, trying to reconnect with his body, and felt as though he had been floating through space.

Warily opening his eyes, he looked around Rose's new room in the Labyrinth, and noticed that the night sky was starting to lighten outside of her window. Brooklyn groaned slightly, and knew that he would have to leave her side, but didn't want to. He looked down at Rose's sleeping figure next to him, and felt his heart fill with an unbelievable amount of love for her once again. Rose had let go of his claw, turned from her back onto her left side, and was snuggled into his chest. She was still fast asleep and was breathing steadily.

He smiled lovingly down at her and wanted to kiss her, but with time ticking down, he had promised Goliath that he would be back before sunrise. Exhaling deeply, he began to lift himself up from the bed, but then noticed that he was in a slightly tough predicament. Rose's right arm was draped over his waist and her legs were tangled in between his. He never remembered them tangling themselves together as such; but somehow they had managed to become a human-Gargoyle pretzel. He hadn't moved much from his position next to her, but she had molded her body to his, and his wings were still folded around her and him, providing a great deal of warmth between their bodies.

He took a deep breath, lifted his body up off the mattress slightly, and gently unhooked his wings from being around Rose's still figure. Gargoyles wings were luckily very pliable and he was able to easily move them, so that they were now resting naturally behind him.

Rose took a deep breath, as the cool air around them suddenly flooded in on their sauna-like cocoon, leaving her to naturally adjust herself to snuggle even closer to him. She moaned slightly as he quickly moved his arm, which was resting under her head, and claimed it back. Silently gasping in pain; he realized that his entire arm had fallen asleep and felt ten times heavier than it actually was.

He shook it out, moved his talons, and willed the blood to cycle through his body, while sitting up away from his love, just enough to look upon the rest of her body. He watched her with great awe and was still feeling incredible feelings of love for her. She was stunningly beautiful to him; and seemed even more beautiful when she was peacefully sleeping next to him. When he looked down at their legs, in order to see what he would have to do to undo them, he realized that she was resting her right leg on top of his hip, which had allowed her pelvis to rest intimately against his.

Brooklyn's eyes widened as he realized how close him and Rose were to each other. It was probably a good thing he essentially went unconscious, or else his mating instincts would have aroused him, and things could have possibly have done a completely different way for them.

He blinked a few times, took a deep breath, and gently placed his claws on her legs. She was wearing short-shorts, making it so that he was touching the skin on her upper leg. As he gently moved her legs to free his; she was naturally trying to still keep herself against his warmth and comfort.

He wished that he didn't have to leave her in this moment. She was beautiful and he wanted more than anything to kiss every inch of her body until she woke up, only to finally make love and consummate their relationship and love for each other. Though that wasn't the most important thing to them, and it certainly wasn't the only reason that they wanted to get married, they had reached the point in their relationship where they both desired each other greatly; and it was growing increasingly difficult to hold off.

He lightly skimmed her skin with his claw, loving the feeling of the electricity flowing through him, as his heart started to pound excitedly and the electricity suddenly awakened him fully. Rose was starting to stir slightly, as he knew the feelings of electricity were pulsing through her as well. He didn't want to wake her, especially since she needed rest; so he stopped caressing her skin, gently pushed her leg off his, and inched his body away from her.

He looked around and didn't know where else to go- his back was pushed against the stone cold wall and he couldn't leave from the foot of her bed due to the window being there. His only option was to climb over her body.

He slowly moved, trying to lift himself off her bed; by climbing over her. He braced both claws on either side of her face and planked himself so that he was now hovering over her body. The bed creaked painfully loud suddenly and Brooklyn froze, gritted his teeth, bracing for the worst; and then gasped as Rose suddenly took a deep breath, turned over from being on her left side and settled on her back. She reached her arms above her head, stretching them and her body, and then exhaled softly; keeping them delicately near her head.

Brooklyn exhaled quietly in relief that his movements didn't awaken her, but he really didn't want to leave now, not without her knowing that he loved her. As he was hovering above her body; with her now stretched out on her bed, Brooklyn closed his eyes, exhaled and then had to remind himself that he wasn't going to make love to her until they were mates, and wouldn't dare without her consent… however; this position they were both in was making his body break out into nervous sweats. Then, he thought about her if he left without saying good-bye to her… without waking her.

If he were in her situation, he would have hated it if she left his side without waking him up- especially since it wouldn't be as easily to come visit her anymore. He didn't know how busy he would be and it could potentially be a few nights before he could see her next. As he thought of his, Brooklyn gazed down upon her with an overwhelming sadness and couldn't do that to her; or himself for that matter. He had to wake her and then would hope that she would fall back asleep after her left.

He looked out of the window and hated this one aspect of his existence; he hated having to go to sleep in his stone sleep. Sunrise was coming with a surety; and so he would have to make this good-bye quick.

He gently eased himself back down to her side, but adjusted himself so that he was leaning over her slightly and could see her face fully with his own. Now that his arm's feeling was back, he slid his right arm back under her neck and took hold of her back, securing her to him. With his left claw he gently began to tickle and caress her skin with his talons, gazing lovingly and deeply into her face. Rose was beginning to stir the more that he touched her, and suddenly his sadness turned quickly into intimacy. Naturally his body moved closer to hers, and he leaned over her, though not quite to the point where he was dangling over her like he was, moments ago.

Electricity was pulsing through them, and Brooklyn closed his eyes at the comforting and arousing feeling. He stayed like that for a moment, still lightly touching her face and neck, and could feel himself getting lost in his love for her. He kept his eyes closed, enjoying the feelings in which he was having, and opened his eyes when he suddenly felt her hand lightly caress his beak.

His eyes were instantly met by her stunningly vibrant hazel eyes- which seemed to be more blue than usual. Though he was shocked that she was suddenly awake, she smiled warmly at him, her eyes blazing with love for him. He leaned closer to her face, adjusting himself so that he was bracing himself, with his arms, over her face. His upper body was over hers, leaving his hips and legs to still rest next to hers.

"Rose," Brooklyn whispered. "I don't want to keep you awake… but I wanted to let you know that I have to leave, it's nearly dawn."

When he was telling her this, she continued to stare into his eyes with a deep intensity; and it was nearly doing Brooklyn in, especially with her not saying anything. There was some sort of power he felt radiating off her; where somehow, without speaking- she was making it increasingly difficult to force himself to leave.

"I enjoyed sleeping with you, my love." He finished whispering, his lips inches from hers. "I love you more than anything in this entire world… I'll try to come back as soon as I can. I'm sorry that I have to leave."

Rose continued to gaze into his eyes and still didn't say anything. She was holding onto the sides of his face, and started to caress with the tips of her fingertips, and was seeming to take his face, eyes and body in with her eyes.

Brooklyn gulped slightly as he could feel his mating instincts beginning to take over, and knew that he needed to leave before things got out of hand. The way she was looking at him, the way her body felt against his, and how much love they felt for each other; was about to burst forth.

"Rose…?" Brooklyn started to say nervously, but was stopped by Rose placing her finger against his lips, shushing him. She was smiling gently up at him and suddenly slid her one hand from his face, down his neck, shoulders, biceps and further down over his chiseled abdomen. His breath was catching painfully as she kept going, with the lightest of touches, and stopped where his belt rested over his loincloth.

He kept his eyes securely locked on hers, as she was doing this. She then raised her head off her pillow to softly claim his lips with hers. Instantly, there was a burst of energy and an intense sense of urgency between them. It was almost as if they were two charging batteries; and their bodies had created friction through out the night as they slept, collecting that power and energy. Her scent, lips and feeling of her body was making him lose his very will to stop himself from making love to her. Their lips moved perfectly together, their tongues instantly finding each other, making their experience more intense.

Rose's hands were all over him; feeling every muscle in his abdomen, back and arms. Before he knew it, Rose's legs wrapped themselves around his hip again, inviting him to lie on top of her, and it was taking everything it had in him to keep himself from doing so.

Suddenly, Rose's hand crept down his arm and grabbed hold of his claw. For a moment, Brooklyn thought that she was going to hold it, like she had done all throughout the night, but was shocked when she suddenly started to guide it down from her neck towards her chest. His eyes opened just then widely, and he pulled away from her lips, when she had placed his claw over her breast.

"Rose… no." Brooklyn said in a weak voice, not really meaning what he was saying. "We can't- especially with it being so close to sunrise. I'm sorry."

Rose blinked a few times, as though she finally realized that the sun was about twenty minutes away and he really was needing to leave. She bit her lip slightly as she rested her head back down on her pillow and looked instantly disappointed.

"You're right." She whispered, smiling sadly up at him. "I'm sorry… I… I'm still waking up. I don't know what's come over me."

Though she had laid back down and had given up; Brooklyn still kept his claw over her beautifully perky chest, breathing deeply, and couldn't seem to move it now. He quickly glanced out the window and then back to her face, with a great sense of urgency. Rose watched his face transition through a plethora of emotions- before his eyes blazed through hers. She thought he was going to leave right then, but then he said in a low growl-like voice.

"I know what's come over you…"

With that, he grabbed her hands in his claws, forced them above her head, climbed over her so that he was now straddling over her, and began to intensely kiss her, his claws touching her breasts and massaging them with his palms. Their tongues met and started their natural dance, as Brooklyn pressed his body and pelvis onto hers, rubbing against her roughly, making her instantly cry out with pleasure against his lips.

She wrapped her legs around his waist and held herself against him, as his claws left her chest and explored her legs, abdomen and then returned to her chest. Rose broke away from his lips and strained her neck to hyper-extend so that he could kiss and taste his skin. Both of their mating instincts had fully awaken now; allowing Brooklyn and Rose to have their electric-feeling connections start to shoot through them; intensifying their feelings for each other and their bodies.

Brooklyn slid his claws up her shirt, clear up until he found her sports bra. He was slightly disappointed that he couldn't feel all of her skin; but it stopped him enough as he could also feel the sunrise coming closer and closer, with every passing moment of time. He growled ferociously against her lips, pounded the side of her pillow with his fists, and then forced his hips to rise off hers. He was growing more and more frustrated by always being forced to stop; and though it wasn't her fault, it was tough for him. Rose didn't seem to understand his frustrations, as she was still lost in their intimate moment with each other.

She was sliding her legs, up and down the back of his, and was clawing at his back with her nails to try to bring his body back down to hers. He groaned in frustration slightly against her lips as it actually hurt somewhat, but felt good at the same time.

As he slowed down their deep kissing, Rose suddenly reached her hands down, away from his body, and started to tug and pull at her shirt. Brooklyn looked down at what she was doing, and gasped. He stopped kissing her and leaned away from her; took hold of her hands with his claws, and stopped her.

"Rose… please stop trying to take your clothes off." He warned her in a gentle tone. She looked confused as she suddenly stopped tugging at her clothes, and gazed up at him.

"Are you wanting to do that part?" She asked him sincerely, and almost innocently.

He was taken aback and stared down at her with a great deal of shock and then started to laugh; as he thought that she was kidding. However; as he gazed down upon her bright eyes, he realized that she was not joking and was looking up at him with great confusion and sincerity.

He immediately stopped laughing, but kept smiling down at her; with as much love and gentleness as he could muster towards her. Since the power was still pulsing through them; connecting them, she and him both could sense what each other was feeling. He didn't want her to feel rejected by him, but the sunrise was almost upon him and he still had to glide back to the Castle. He would have to leave his motorcycle with her at the Labyrinth; since it took twice as long to ride through the City than it did to glide.

Thankfully; Rose seemed to hear his thoughts, understood where he was coming from, and could feel his greatly intense feelings of love for her. He gently caressed her face with his talons, and delicately pressed his lips against hers, kissing her soundly. After a few moments, he pulled away.

"Another night I promise I will, my love. For now, unfortunately, I must go." He whispered against her lips, holding onto her face tenderly, and hating the fact that he had to leave.

He started to sit up, but Rose shook her head slightly, not ready for him to leave her just yet, she didn't know if she'd ever be ready. She reached back for him, and wrapped her arms around his neck holding her back against her body.

"Please… not yet, my love. You have a few minutes left to still make it back to the Castle before sunrise. I don't know when I'll see you next… please… please stay a moment longer."

Brooklyn searched her face and pleading eyes for a few seconds before he did as she wished. He too, couldn't bear to leave her, and she knew that.

He rested his forehead against hers and whispered, "I don't want to leave, Rose. It's breaking my heart."

"I know." Rose responded softly, holding her body to his, trying to push the tears away from her eyes. She closed her eyes, as they had their foreheads pressed together, and couldn't take the gnawing pain in her heart anymore. She kept her hands firmly grasped behind his neck, and started to lightly ran her fingers through his long, white hair as tears started to run down her face.

Brooklyn opened his eyes and saw that she had clasped a hand over her mouth to stifle her sob, and tears were streaming down her beautiful face. Now that he had seen her crying, she was trying to hide her face from him; and instantly it was breaking his heart even more.

"Oh no… please. Please, don't cry, Rose." He gasped out, her tears were threatening to begin his own grief. " Everything will be alright, you'll see. It may appear to be dark right now, but our love with shine our way through. You are my love, my everything. Please stay strong, positive, and safe. I will visit as often as I can; I promise! I love you."

Rose sniffed, wiped her tears away from her eyes and said in a broken voice, "I know things will be alright- I trust you completely. I always have and I always will… just promise to not forget about me down here?"

Silence passed between them for a few seconds before Brooklyn moaned quietly, took a deep breath and then lightly used his talons to wipe her tears away and cup her face.

"How could I forget about you?" He breathed passionately. "You mean everything to me."

Rose smiled up at him, still wiping tears away, and then said, " I know, I'm sorry for saying that. I know you'll be back for me; I'm just… scared of losing you. I love you so much."

Brooklyn smiled gently and pressed his lips tenderly against her forehead.

"I love you too, Rose. And you won't lose me… you're my life now. You're the very beat of my heart, breath in my lungs, and wind under my wings. You're the greatest thing to ever happen to me." He paused from his intense speech and then teased her, "Now… do you really think I would forget about you?"

"No." She said, smiling; gently pressing her lips against his, stealing small kisses.

He smiled and willingly responded to her light kisses, until she pulled away and gazed deeply into his eyes. He took a deep breath and then said, "I'm sorry, but I must go. I'll be back for you soon, I love you so much."

After he said this, he pressed his lips against hers, kissing her soundly. Their lips moved together in a deep and rushed kiss; but he then pulled away much quicker than she wanted. He went to stand up again, but she kept her legs secured around his hips, and was starting to feel slightly angry. He looked back down at her, with a surprised look, as she urged him in an intense and fiery voice.

"Kiss me like you mean it, Brooklyn. Like you're truly going to miss me"

He blinked a few times in shock, opened his mouth as though he was going to argue with her, but then stopped. He shut his mouth, set his jaw firm, and then looked out the window again. Since he knew every second of the sunrise; he knew that he had ten minutes left. He would have to rush out of the Labyrinth and glide as quickly as he could- but he has pressed his luck in beating out the sunrise before; this wasn't any different. He then glanced back down upon Rose; his mind made up.

He lowered his body back down to hers, pressed his lips strongly against hers, ran his claws up the side of her face and gently grasped onto her long, beautiful and thick red hair. He kissed her soundly, deeply and intensely; as though this was going to be their very last kiss together. He thrust his tongue in her mouth, dancing fiercely with hers. They both were breathing deeply and started to moan. This kiss was so deep, intense and beautiful; Rose started to feel emotional once more and tears crept back into her eyes. Since they were connected with each other; she could feel how much he loved her- and vice versa.

Naturally, she grabbed hold of his back and kept her legs tightly around his waist. As he was pressed against her, she could feel his excitement and arousement, and it was making this moment incredibly difficult to not fully consummate their love; right here, right now. However, Rose understood that tonight would not be their time to do so.

After a few minutes of deeply kissing her, but doing nothing else, he finally pulled away from her and was peering into her eyes deeply. He smiled sadly, and rested his forehead against hers, as she gently took hold of this face.

"I love you so much." Brooklyn whispered with a great intensity. "I'm sorry to have to leave… if I could stay and keep kissing you… touching you… then I would in a heartbeat. You are beautiful; and you are everything to me, my love."

Rose smiled up at him and then rested her head back down on her pillow, exhaling tiredly.

"I know you would." She sighed still looking deeply into his eyes, trying not to shed the tears which were still in her eyes. "I love you, Brooklyn. You're in my heart and mind always."

Smiling down at her, he quickly pressed his lips against hers, and briefly kissed her soundly. After a few moments he pulled away and breathed, "I'll see you soon, I promise."

Then, taking one quick breath, Brooklyn flung himself off her body and walked quickly out the door. He paused to stare at her for a moment more before he shut the door behind him, and took off running on all fours to escape the Labyrinth as quickly as he could, to reach the Castle before sunrise.

The moment he left, Rose immediately felt the room become colder, darker and less welcoming. As she watched Brooklyn leave, he took the feeling of security with him; leaving loneliness and fear to suddenly creep into her heart. She was still feeling exhausted and truly had nowhere to go now.

She got under the cold covers of her bed for the first time, and willed herself to go back to sleep; but the moment she tried to close her eyes, tears escaped them. She tried to hold in the powerful sob; but her grief was too intense at the moment, and she cried and cried; until she cried herself back to sleep.

---

** Four Hours Ago**

Back in the alleyway, Bones had fallen asleep, as he had nowhere to go until someone found them or until Terry woke up. He slept for two hours, until he felt Terry stirring behind him. Bones' eyes snapped open and he sat up slightly, to allow Terry to move around. However, when Terry found that his body was tightly bound with rope, he began to panic.

"What the-?!"

"Calm down," Bones offered calmly. "Terry, it's me, Bones. The monster tied us together with rope, he got away."

Terry took a few breaths and then felt his mind reconnect with reality.

"What-what happened?" He asked weakly.

"The Gargoyle knocked you out cold, and tied us together. I've been unable to get us out, or to call for help." Bones explained calmly, but Terry cursed out loud.

"DAMN IT!" Terry snarled, trying to fight against the ropes, which only cut off Bones' circulation.

"Hey, hey!" Bones yelled. "Cut it out! Don't you think I've tried this already? The bastard has us in this good."

Terry exhaled sharply and rested his head against Bones.

"Shit dude…" Terry sighed. "We're fucked if Castaway finds us like this…"

Before Bones could respond, a British voice answered for him.

"Fucked, indeed."

Both Terry and Bones gasped, and looked up to see that their boss and leader, John Castaway was standing with his arms crossed over his chest in front of them, with Kevin close behind him. Kevin was dressed in the same black military get-up as them, but Castaway was in his usual business suit, with his blond hair slicked back.

Kevin, however, looked as though he had eaten, took a bath and had even gotten some sleep. His skin was more tan than they remembered it being, and the black shadows under his eyes were less pronounced. Now that he was well rested, he had a power about him that was intimidating.

"Cut them free." Castaway ordered Kevin calmly. Terry and Bones warily looked up at Kevin, as he grinned his impossibly white teeth at them, stepped forward with a knife in his hand and slashed it down upon them. Terry gasped out in panic, as Bones stared at Kevin in his black eyes. The moment they were cut free, both men stood and wiped their outfits off from rope; and then stood at attention in front of Castaway.

"So…" Castaway asked softly. "What happened here? You two went MIA for over four hours, not responding to our radios, and here we find you two tied together clear off your course of area. Explain yourselves."
Bones went to open his mouth, but Terry beat him to it.

"We was in our area, boss." Terry explained, stepping forward. "But then, we saw the red-Gargoyle, the one that Kevin is after the most. He was flying South of the Castle, and was alone. So, we took off after him; and he lead us here, where he combated us in a fight."

Kevin stared at them in silence; his fists curled up, as Castaway remained relatively calm.

"Why was he coming here? What's so special about this place?"

"Uh…" Terry said slowly. "Well, I don't really know that, sir. He apparently knew we was followin' him, so he attacked us before we could attack him. I shot him in the arm, but he knocked me unconscious. Bones, here was conscious before me, and I woke up being tied to him with his rope."

Castaway then looked over at Bones with his sharp blue eyes piercing through his own blue ones.

"Well, Bones." He drawled in a quiet voice. "Do you have anything better to tell me? More than just the Gargoyle beating the shit out of two highly-trained Quarrymen?"

"He didn't say anything to us about what he was doing, but we were too busy trying to kill him, sir." Bones replied quietly. "We knew he was one of the Gargoyles that you and Kevin wanted, so we tried to follow and get rid of him. However, when he attacked us, he came at us fast and strong; and forced our car to crash."

"Yes," Castaway said, rubbing his chin. "That is strange behavior for a Gargoyle to attack first. However, it's not uncommon for their kind to be savage. Continue…"

"Well, after he knocked Terry here, unconscious, I battled him some more, but he also got the best of me. I woke up after a moment and found he was tying us together. He said, 'that the trash man would find us, since we are trash.' Then… he walked into that garage across the way, pulled out a freaking nice, black and chrome, Harley Davidson, and rode off."

Castaway froze, while Kevin placed his hands on his hips; his black eyes piercing angrily into Bones'. Bones, however, ignored Kevin's looks of pure rage and murder, and looked into Castaway's; who snickered after a moment, and then fully began to laugh; his laughter sending shivers down his spine.

"Tell me, Bones…" Castaway snarled after having his laughing fit, grabbed onto his neck and whipped his close to his face. "Are you high? Drunk?"

"No, sir." Bones replied quietly. "I'm telling you the honest-to-God truth. He took off on a bike… and was heading… most likely back to the Castle."

Castaway stared at him as though he were crazy, but Kevin stepped forward and asked in a very quiet voice, looking very calculating.

"He is a Gargoyle, and has wings…" Kevin whispered, as if Bones was stupid. "Why would a flying creature, such as himself, have the need for a motorcycle?"

"I don't know." Bones snarled at him, as Castaway let go of his neck cuff. "I'm not makin' this shit up, though. He had the whole freaking get-up though. A helmet with holes in the tops to allow his horns to come out, a nice leather jacket and even wore a pair of shades. He drove away without any other word to me."

Castaway stared at Bones some more, thinking deeply, and then asked him another question, in a very light tone.

"Okay… Bones. We'll go with this, for now… where did he drive off?"

Bones thought deeply and knew the Gargoyle drove off North, but as Castaway stared at him, as well as Kevin's black eyes, he couldn't help but remember the words that the Gargoyle had begged of him…

"Kevin is a monster, and I don't understand how you can even work with him! He abused his wife, and tortured her on a daily basis. She is another Human… shouldn't you, a Human, be protecting each other?! Or am I, a monster, the only one who values all of life around here?"

Something about that Gargoyle's face, tone, and emotion struck a nerve with him. Either the Gargoyle was the world's greatest liar and actor, or was truly sincere. Bones didn't have any opinion over Kevin's wife, but for some reason he began to feel uneasy about the whole situation. Without missing a beat, Bones looked up into Castaways's eyes and answered him.

"He went South." Bones lied smoothly. " Most likely to take a back road to the Castle. After he left, I didn't see where he went, obviously."

Castaway stared at him for another few seconds, sighed and then said, "Thank you, Bones. That'll be all. Both of you get inside the van. We'll regroup back at the facility."

Bones nodded at his boss and then took off without another word, still ignoring Kevin's murderous gaze; his black eyes following him as he walked into the belly of the van, with Terry behind him.

"Something isn't right." Kevin said, once they were out of earshot. "I don't know how to place it, but he's lying about something."

"No," Castaway said smoothly, turning back to face Kevin. "He's one of my oldest and best trained Quarrymen. He would never lie to me."

"So, you really believe him when he says the Gargoyle took off on a fucking bike?!" Kevin snarled. "Really?"

"I'm sure we'll find out sooner or later." Castaway answered coolly. He then turned to Kevin, placed a hand on his shoulder and continued to speak. "Our black market weapons will be here in two weeks' time. We will keep scouts near the Castle… but until then, we wait."

"It's awfully convenient the Gargoyle led them here, don't you think?" Kevin asked Castaway quietly.

"Convenient, how?" Castaway asked him.

"It's almost like the Gargoyle wanted them out of the way." Kevin said, thinking deeply. "While something else was going on."

"Something with your wife?" Castaway asked him, guessing, as Kevin stayed silent. He scoffed out slightly and then turned his black eyes over Castaway's vibrant blue ones.

"If they value their existence, then I sure hope not…" Kevin answered him darkly.

"Well, I'm sure we'll find out sooner or later." Castaway answered him. "If they moved Rose, then we'll find out when we blast away Xanatos' home with our black market weapons. Until then, I suggest we continue to train the men, get your strength back, and focus all our energy upon being ready to take on the Gargoyles when they come in."

Kevin turned from Castaway and settled his black eyes upon the Eyrie Building and thought dangerous thoughts about his wife, Rose and the monsters that were protecting her. It was obvious, Brooklyn, had let a strategic attack upon the Quarrymen, while something else went on. And, if that was the case, the monster wasn't as stupid as he gave him credit for.

"Yes, that'll do for now." Kevin sneered, turning back to Castaway. "We've got work to do…"