Hey Everyone! Rose here again with a second chapter in two days? I know, it's crazy. But I'm already a good way into chapter four so I thought eh, why not. I hope you enjoy!

Rose

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Fae Meddling

Chapter II

Tires squealing, Elisa pulled up to the precinct in a hurry. She needed to get some alone time and figure out what was going on, like yesterday. She ran up the steps to the doors and rushed through, barely waving when Morgan yelled his daily greeting. Her first stop was her desk, to make the phone call she had been delayed in making before.

Ring Ring Ring Xanatos speaking, to what do I owe the pleasure Detective Maza?

"Save the pleasantries Xanatos I'm having a trying day. Is Owen available early tomorrow morning? I will be stopping by to see Goliath, but I need to speak with Owen's…friend. You know the one we haven't seen since your mother in law was in town?"

Ah I see. And what would you need with Owen's… friend?

"When I know myself maybe I'll let you know Xanatos. I'll see you in the morning."

Have a safe and pleasant evening serving the city Detective. Click

Elisa set down the phone and folded face first onto her desk. She didn't want to tell Goliath what was happening, but at the same time she did. He was her best friend, much more than that, and she was scared. Someone had put magic on her and the only magic users she knew were out of reach or a range of untrustworthy. She wanted his broad bulk by her side, holding her hand.

Gritting her teeth in determination Elisa sat up. She couldn't tell him now; she had already risked putting on the necklace to hide it from him and it wouldn't be kind to him to let him know what was happening. Not until after she was sure everything was back to normal. And maybe it was, Elisa thought hopefully, maybe the necklace had reversed whatever spell had been put on her in the first place. The only way to be sure was to take off the necklace.

Hastening down the hall Elisa found an empty interrogation room in a rarely used part of the building and closed the door behind her. Taking off her jacket, no need to risk ruining one of her favorite things if this went sideways, and shoes, Elisa grabbed a hold of the necklace in her fist, took a deep breath, and pulled it over her head.

There was a flash of glowing green again and Elisa stood on double jointed gargoyle feet once more.

"Well Jalapena now what?" Elisa growled swishing her tail in aggravation. "Hmmmmm…." She settled onto the ground to think. "It didn't hurt this time, and it didn't the last time I put on the necklace either. So why was the transformation so different and painful the first time?"

Voices trickled down the hallway and Elisa slipped the necklace back on in a hurry, the green glow leaving her human again, "Better keep this on for now, I wouldn't wanna bet my money on getting lucky that no one will see…whatever this is if I keep fiddling with it." She said, sliding her shoes and jacket back on.

She slipped out the door of the interrogation room and turned around the corner only to bump into a tall someone.

"Opps," Elisa said detangling herself from the stranger, only to look up and realize it was her trench coat wearing partner.

"Oh, hey Elisa," Matt Bluestone smiled down at her, "I saw you rush through the front doors a few minutes ago so I put on the coffee for you. Have you caught the trail of something? You seemed pretty intense when you first came in."

Elisa chuckled nervously as she smoothed back her raven hair, "Oh, no, nothing like that. I just needed to be alone for a minute that's all. Thanks for putting on the coffee partner. Let me just grab some and we'll hit the streets."

Giving the tall red heads arm a pat, Elisa weaved around his large frame towards the coffee corner for some much-needed caffeine. She had a feeling it was going to be a long night.

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Elisa stretched out her arms as she slowly ambled up the steps to the Xanatos tower. She had been right, it had been a long, rough and tumble night, but strangely she was still feeling pretty good. She and Bluestone had unexpectedly stumbled upon an illegal dog fighting ring while chasing a petty thief. It had been a mad scuffle and Elisa had had a moment of serious fear when a tank of a man, almost the size of Goliath, came at her with a steel pipe. He swung at her head with the heavy pipe and she raised her arm to block it out of instinct instead of dropping like she should have. A second before the impact she prepared for the bone shattering blow but, when it hit, it hurt, but only in a bruising sort of way. Elisa grinned, at least something was going her way, and kicked the big brute upside the chin for a little nap.

Between her and Bluestone they had wrapped up that little brawl quite nicely, and it had been a great distraction from everything. But the little incident with the big guy and his pipe, not to mention everything else, had her head swirling with questions again.

Elisa reached the elevator and found it waiting and ready. It seemed that someone was expecting her.

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Elisa wound through the halls of the castle. She hadn't run into any of the gargoyles yet, she figured they were probably finishing their patrols. It wouldn't be long until everyone would be back, it was little more than an hour 'til sunrise, but the waiting was absolutely killing her. What did Goliath need to speak to her about? What if it was something bad, like, breaking up bad? Would Owen allow his 'friend' to help her with whatever was happening? Could he even help her? And the question hovering above everything else that was taunting Elisa, who had done this, and why?

The whoosh of heavy wings on the wind brought Elisa's dark gaze swinging upwards in a flash, heart beating in her throat. Goliath swooped through the open archway of the castle wall and landed before her in a breath of fresh air scented with stone.

Settling his wings around him Goliath stepped forwards towards Elisa and reached out his hand in greeting. "Elisa, my love, it is good to see you have been safe in your endeavors to protect the city tonight. Come, I must discuss something with you before sunlight brings my stone slumber."

Grasping Goliath's large clawed hand, Elisa allowed herself to be pulled along until the broad-shouldered gargoyle had reached the top of his favorite tower. All alone, she felt comfortable snuggling up into his side as he wrapped an arm around her.

"Elisa something is happening to the clan tomorrow and I am in need of assistance. I turn to you because I trust you more than any other human."

The young woman felt her toughness melt away, relief pouring through her that this was not a breakup conversation…. probably.

"Of course, Goliath, whatever you need. I'm always here to help." She said, a soft smile on her face.

Goliath cleared his throat uneasily. "Tomorrow is the beginning of a weeklong…medical condition for those of my clan. I would ask that you hide Angela from the rest of the clan until eight days from now."

Elisa's brows twisted in confusion as she turned in Goliath's arms to face him better. "Eight days? Hide Angela from all of you guys? That sure is a weird thing to ask Goliath." She reached up and cupped his strong jaw with her hand, turning his face down to meet her eyes. "Would you feel comfortable maybe sharing more of the details with me? For Angela's sake, I wouldn't want to be the only one with her and not know how to help her with whatever this medical condition is."

Goliath held her gaze for a moment before heaving a sigh and looking away. "Well, so long as Angela stays away from us male gargoyles she will be fine." He turned his dark eyes back down towards hers, sending shivers up Elisa's spine, and something in his eyes shifted. "However, I suppose it would be negligent to not properly prepare you should something go awry, it has been known to happen."

"Prepare me? For what?" Elisa asked, foreboding curling in her stomach.

Goliath cleared his throat again in embarrassment, "Ah, hmm, this is uncomfortable…. for me. It has uh, to do with gargoyle breeding and uh, well, mating."

Elisa felt a flush flare from her cheeks, down her neck and up to the tips of her ears. While she and Goliath had been dating for a few months, this particular topic had yet to come up, and she was maybe just a teensy bit unprepared. "Um, wow, okay. Well, uh, what is going on?"

Goliath tried to pull away and Elisa caught his arm as he did, wrapping it tighter around her waist she leaned into him and smiled up at his uncertain face encouragingly.

A hint of a smile warmed his face as he stared down at her and he took a steadying breath. "We male gargoyles are…. coming into season. This hasn't been an issue for some time because there have not been females living with the clan. Now that Angela is here, we, particularly the young trio, will be victims to our more, uh….primitive, hmm,…sexual desires for the next week." Elisa stroked the skin of Goliaths chest, comforting both him and maybe herself, and turned her face downward in embarrassment as she felt herself grow warmer at his words. "Female gargoyles, should they wish to avoid mating during the season, must sequester themselves from the males until the season is over. Should Angela get too close to any one of us male gargoyles during the season and smell us she will be uh…driven, to procreate. Or she will get very sick."

Elisa gasped in fear, Angela had almost died before, it had brought out the worst in Goliath and brought the clan to its knees. The thought of the possibility was just too awful to contemplate. "That's absolutely terrible!" She exclaimed, throwing her head back, eyes blazing. Goliath squeezed her in comfort, and she leaned back into him, her mind suddenly whirling as she contemplated what this meant for her in light of her day so far. Her hand lifted up to wrap tightly around the stone hanging from her neck. "So," she asked tentatively, "does this mean that if any female gargoyle gets too close to you she'll get…baby fever so to speak? Say…uh, someone technically not in your clan, like, uh, Demona!"

"Yes…." Goliath growled thoughtfully, "Demona would also be subjected to the sickness. However, she, would not survive it."

"What?" Elisa felt fear rising inside her, but squashed it down, she would be human again, soon right? It had only lasted a night last time…. "Why? She's immortal right?"

"No, she can be killed if Macbeth dies as well. And the fever would take both her and Macbeth…if a female gargoyle takes with the mating fever and cannot find someone to mate with…. she will die. It is how it has always been."

The fear churned stronger in Elisa's stomach, but she kept the feeling from her voice. "That makes no sense, why would gargoyles work that way?"

Goliath paused in thought, "Well, it may have to do with the fact that there are always fewer female gargoyles than males. If females had not always been driven to reproduce our warrior race may have vanished long ago."

Desperation rising Elisa asked, "But you said that if female gargoyles want to avoid mating, they…hide from the clan?"

Goliath nodded, "Yes, that was the custom in my youth. In fact, in my clan the females would routinely all agree on whether to hide or to mate prior to each season, so that their young would have rockery brothers and sisters all laid and born together and there would be no child born alone." He paused, then continued more slowly "I believe this is why Angela wants to abstain from motherhood for now. She does not want to raise a lone gargoyle, it is not our way, for it is in our rockery brothers and sisters that we find our strength."

Heart still pounding Elisa nodded and smiled at Goliath, "That makes sense…of course I'll help hide Angela but, why does she need to be hidden exactly? Can't she just stay at my place?"

Goliath grimaced and put his hand to his temple in embarrassment. "Well, while you wouldn't have any trouble with Hudson or myself, the trio are coming into the very first season. It would not be… wise for Angela to be anywhere they would know to look for her."

"So, you're saying they're gonna come looking?" Elisa said with apprehension.

Goliath shrugged uneasily. "Most likely. Their personal feelings of affection for Angela combined with the season will make them very eager to see her, despite their better judgement."

"And you won't be affected because Angela is your daughter?"

"Correct." The lavender gargoyle answered, giving her a squeeze.

"Alright." Elisa sighed, "It sounds like the next week is gonna be a crazy one but I'm all in. Why don't we find Angela now and so I can send her on the way to the secret girls club." A secret girls club, Elisa thought desperately, that she might have to join so she didn't risk accidentally catching this concerning 'baby fever'.

"Thank you my darling," Goliath answered, scooping her into his arms and jumping up onto the stone ledge. "You don't know what a heavy weight you have lifted off my shoulders by helping my protect my daughter and her wishes."

Jumping of the tower into empty space, Goliath's wings caught the air and lifted them up high. Soaring above the castle they saw the four youngest gargoyles all clustered together on one of the lower towers. Diving down Goliath smoothly glided to a landing besides the youngsters.

"Elisa!" They four young gargoyles exclaimed upon seeing their favorite human.

"Hey guys." She responded with a laugh as Goliath put her down. "I hear things are gonna be a little different this week."

Every one of the young gargoyles paused in embarrassment. Angela blushed and pulled her arms around herself while Broadway smiled through his flush and wrapped an arm around her. Lexington covered his eyes awkwardly and Brooklyn glanced longingly over at Angela and Broadway before turning around and scowling at the wall.

"I see everyone is excited for this." Elisa said teasingly. "Angela, why don't you come with me, we have some girl time to catch up on."

Spinning around Elisa jumped up and pecked Goliath on the cheek, earning a deep purple blush that made her smirk before she took off running, grabbing Angela and dragging her behind as she zipped past. "I'll see you later Goliath, have fun with all the testosterone."

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R&R if you feel so inclined. It warms my heart like you don't know.