Obligatory Legal Stuff: All the characters appearing in Gargoyles and Gargoyles: The

Goliath Chronicles are copyright Buena Vista Television/The Walt Disney Company.

No infringement of these copyrights is intended, and is not authorized by the

copyright holder.

Chasing Shadows

Written by Starr Williams

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Elisa made her way through the quiet hallways of Manhattan General Hospital.

She had been in this building so often, she wondered if they offered a kind of frequent visitor discount program.

Elisa made her way to the East wing of the hospital, down the sterile halls with the white walls and beige tiled floors. The strong scent of the hospital's disinfectant tickling her nostrils, and bringing with it memories of her time here.

Some good, some not so good, but it was all part of the job. No one became a cop without expecting to be injured at some point in their career. Elisa had been in this particular hospital for everything from a minor concussion to a life-threatening gunshot wound.

For once, however, she was not a patient.

She was here for a meeting with a one-time friend, one-time enemy, and wondering if she was doing the right thing.

She was here to meet with Jason Canmore.

At one time, even if it had been brief, they had been partnered together within the NYPD. He'd been disguised as a police officer, and had been paired with her to "show him the ropes". They had seemed to mesh well, and for a blink of time, perhaps something more. It had been a low point, when she'd been questioning her feelings for Goliath, when she and Jason had flirted a bit and even shared a kiss…

Ironically, it was that kiss that had brought Elisa to her senses where Goliath was concerned. It had finally made her mind catch up with what her heart already knew.

Then, in a matter of a few days, she'd found out that Jason was a Gargoyle Hunter, tried to keep him and his siblings from killing the gargoyles, and vice versa. She'd gotten between them and ended up accidentally falling from the river dam into the Hudson River, where Jason had saved her life by getting her out of there. The whole fiasco ended when Jason's siblings, Jon and Robyn, had tried once more to kill all of the Gargoyles… Demona specifically, but by that time, they weren't too picky… and destroying Saint Damien's Cathedral in the process.

Jason had thrown himself in front of Goliath, taking the laser blast himself, and ended up paralyzed from the waist down for his trouble.

He had stopped his brother, Jon, from shooting Goliath, she'd give him that.

He had even outright bought the condo that she lived in after she'd been asked to leave her former apartment because of the fallout from the Saint Damien's mess as a way to make amends to her and the clan for the actions of his family.

He had flat out refused to let Elisa come and testify at his trial, wanting to accept the full weight of his family's punishments.

And so, after weeks in the hospital for medical treatment and a short round of therapy, he'd been sentenced to 10 years in a federal prison… significantly less than his siblings had received. Five years later, and now Jason had been released because of good behavior. He had gotten out two months ago, and in that time he'd gotten an apartment, and a job at the hospital helping with physical therapy for people who had been seriously injured as he had been.

Elisa stopped outside of the door marked "Pediatric Physical Therapy" and sighed.

"Here we go," Elisa said quietly and pushed the button on the wall that would open the doors.

Twin wooden doors swung open to reveal a room full of gym and rehabilitation equipment. Almost every machine had someone on it, the oldest looking somewhere in their late teens. The air was filled with young voices chattering, some were cheering someone on, and still others were complaining.

It was a form of organized chaos.

Elisa looked around the room, finally locating Jason in the back of the room. He was working with a young man who was pulling a set of bright yellow Thera Bands.

Elisa was familiar with these, having worked with them a few times when she'd received arm or shoulder injuries. She swore the only reason they were so cheerfully colored was to disguise the fact that they were actually torture devices. They were thick strips of rubber, the colors signifying the strength of the resistance, and were evil during physical therapy sessions.

The young man was standing, holding the band to the floor with one foot, arms to his sides as he bent at the elbows to stretch the rubber upwards.

"Five more," Jason was saying as Elisa walked up behind both of them. "You can do it, Chris."

Elisa saw that Jason had a band of the same color looped under the foot of his wheelchair and was doing the exercise with the young man.

The young man visibly clenched his jaw and worked his muscles to pull the bands.

Once the required number of repetitions had been made, Chris let the bands go so that they hit the floor with a snap.

He turned to face Jason, his face lit with the accomplishment. He must have caught sight of her out of the corner of his eye and turned his head to see her.

"Wow," He said, his expression turning to one of comical young love. He leaned a hand on the arm of Jason's chair, and nodded her way. "Hey. How you doin'?"

Elisa couldn't help herself. She raised an eyebrow in his direction, and dropped her voice a bit to be just a little husky. "I'm fine. Sorry to interrupt the workout."

Jason turned his chair, just enough to jostle the young man back upright. He saw her and laughed.

"You're out of your league man," Jason said. "She'll eat you alive."

"What a way to go," The boy said with an exaggerated sigh.

Elisa burst out with a laugh. "You'd better hold onto that, Romeo. Save some for the other girls."

"What other girls?" He asked innocently.

Elisa sent a look at Jason.

Jason shrugged. "Don't look at me."

Elisa shook her head at the pair. "Sorry, I'm a little early."

"No problem," Jason said, glancing at the clock. "We have five minutes left here, then I'm off for lunch."

Chris looked at him hopefully.

"No," Jason said firmly. "You are not invited."

"Aw, man," Chris said with a definite hint of a whine in his voice. "Why not? You know my brother's going to be late picking me up. He'd never know."

"No." Jason said, his voice stern, even if humor did show in his eyes.

Chris looked so crestfallen that Elisa had to bite back a laugh.

"Come on, you," Jason said, nudging Chris. "Let's go hit the hand bikes."

"Aw, man," Chris said with a huff. "Finally get a smokin' lady in here, and I have to do those weenie hand bikes?"

"Ugh," Elisa groaned. "Those are brutal."

Chris sent her a speculative look. "You've had to use 'em?"

"Yes," Elisa said. "Quite a bit, actually."

"What for?" He asked suspicious.

Elisa knelt a little to get to his level. She reached in her jacket and pulled out her badge. "I'm a detective with the NYPD. I have been shot... Twice, actually," Elisa grimaced. "It wasn't fun, and I don't recommend it. Both times I ended up having to use the Thera Bands and the hand bikes to get my strength and full range of motion back."

"No shit?" Chris breathed.

"Chris," Jason snapped. "Language."

"Sorry," Chris flushed, embarrassed.

"I really did," Elisa said, ignoring Jason for the moment. "And look," Elisa rotated her arm in the air. "I got it all back."

"Okay," Chris said, and wandered over to the hand bike station. He sat, and began pushing the pedals in a steady motion with his hands, his face betraying any discomfort as he reached the uppermost position of the action before bringing it around again.

"Thanks," Jason said with a smile.

"I'll just wait over on the benches there," Elisa said, pointing to where a couple of adults were waiting nearby.

Elisa made her way to the bench that currently held two women, both in their mid-30's, and a younger man, probably early 50's. Elisa sat on the end, next to the older of the two women, and waited for Jason's session to be done.

Five minutes later, Chris gave her a lost puppy look in farewell, as he made his way over to the doors.

Elisa gave him a wave and received a grin and a wink in response.

"I feel the need to apologize for that young man," Jason said, wheeling up to her side. "He's incorrigible."

"He's going to be a ladies man, that's for sure," Elisa chuckled.

"Well," Jason said, looking at his watch. "I am free until 2:30, so how would you feel about getting out of here and hitting the pizza place next door? It's after the lunch hour, so it shouldn't be crowded."

Elisa agreed, and they were off.