Ok as promised here is the next chapter…and not exactly the way you all were anticipating it. I haven't decided whether or not this is the last chapter, there may be an epilogue…it remains to be seen. Tell me what you think…Review…review… review! (Would a please help?)

Darwin

Chapter Nine: The Price Paid…

Goliath drew himself up taller as the butterflies flew wildly through his stomach. Somehow he managed to keep his voice even as he said, "I will take you to the doctor then."

Gently he lifted her into his arms and started toward the converted room in the castle that would serve as her delivery room. The desire to run was strong in him and maintaining a steady pace was a hard battle within him. Suddenly he found himself scared for her though he couldn't fathom just why…other than a thousand vague fears that plagued him.

"Ugh," Elisa uttered, tensing in his arms as he continued to carry her. The tone of her voice and the frame of her body drew his attention back to her face. She looked pained and scared in his arms, and it was more than just a labor pain, he thought.

"Elisa?" He asked again, his voice rising a notch in worry. He could feel his muscles tensing under his skin.

"Something's wrong," She grunted, squinting her eyes against another wave of extreme pain, "It feels like…he's tearing at me."

Memory pricked in Goliath's mind, a long ago memory, of darkness, and an overwhelming urge to be free from confinement. Sharp hooked claws ripping and tearing at a leathery casing trapping him, wanting to be freed into the night. The memory was from his hatching day. Was the child doing such to Elisa? Was instinct, gargoyle instinct, telling him to tear free of his confinement?

A growl of fear escaped him as he began sprinting down the stony hall, Elisa's pained uttering ringing in his ears like thunder. Suddenly he knew, without a doubt, that if he did not get Elisa to the doctor fast, his son's birth would hail Elisa's death! He skittered around the corner turning his body as his feet slipped on the stone taking the brunt of his impact with his shoulder.

Goliath burst through the doors waking the snoozing doctor with the commotion. The doctor was on his feet as Goliath slid to a stop in front of him, "The child tries to claw his way free!" He bellowed in his fear, "You must stop him! You mustn't let Elisa die!" Goliath turned from the doctor before he could respond laying Elisa's writhing form onto the bed.

The doctor pushed past him looking Elisa over quickly then whirled on him, "Out!" he ordered loudly pointing toward the door. This time the Doctor turned from Goliath before he could respond, quickly preparing an IV and beeping the nurses that he had chosen especially for this work.

"But…"Goliath started to protest.

The Doctor spun back to face him, "You can do her no good by hovering over me! Get out! I will update you when I get a chance! Now get out!"

"Yes…of course," Goliath rumbled softly. He turned to leave just as the nurses rushed through the door and past him as if he was not there. Dejectedly he wrapped his large wings around his shoulders trying to take comfort from the fact that Xanatos could afford the best and would insist on it. Elisa would be all right… she had to be or he would never forgive himself

It was not long before the rest of the clan had heard the unhappy news and joined their anxiously pacing leader at the doors to the delivery room. All the animosity of the past months seemed to disappear, the event reminding the Clan just how strong the bond between them was, Elisa was, after all, Clan. Even Brooklyn, the most boisterous opponent of the pregnancy hovered near Goliath trying to offer him solace, and ignoring the many opportunities provided by his leader to say "I told you so."

It was all they could do to keep Goliath from returning to Elisa's side when she began screaming in agony shortly after their arrival. His eyes blazed and his tail lashed wildly he was so out of his mind with helplessness and it took the rest of the clan to hold him back. It was silent now, and had been for nearly two hours, and the silence made Goliath more nervous than the screaming had made him crazy. Now his mind was free to ponder all the worst case scenarios, and none of them were pretty.

"It will be all right, Goliath," Hudson assured him laying his clawed hand on Goliath's shoulder.

"How could I have been so stupid," He muttered, "How could I have let her go through with this?" Goliath looked up into the older Gargoyle's face, "If she dies it will be my fault!" He added guilt wracked.

"Now, boy, she could have made the decision long ago herself to stop this," Hudson said paternally, "She's a woman with a mind of her own, and the will to use it."

Before Goliath could beat himself up any further the doctor returned, looking over the expectant looking group before his eyes settled on Goliath, "You, come inside," The doctor said.

With a clouded expression and a feeling of dread in his gut he looked over his clan and then followed the much shorter human into the anteroom of the space, "How is she?" Goliath asked quietly when he was sure that the others wouldn't overhear. His voice was throaty and pained.

"I'm afraid it's not good," The doctor started looking down and shaking his head, "There was a lot of damage to the uterine wall and some tearing occurred along the abdominal muscles. There was a lot of internal bleeding, and though we stopped it, she's lost a lot. There is only about a thirty percent chance for her survival."

Goliath sagged, covering his face to hide the tears in his eyes. He shook his head slowly, "May I see her?" He asked in a barely audible voice. He looked again at the doctor, seeing sympathy breaking through the weariness he saw in the doctor's face.

He nodded frowning a bit, "But keep it short."

The doctor retired from the room and Goliath heard the myriad of questions that were asked of him as he stepped into the gaggle outside. When the door closed behind him Goliath looked sadly over at the bed where his friend, his lover, lay. Slowly he moved toward her swallowing hard as he lay one large hand on her hot and sweaty forehead, the other he lay lightly across her chest. The heartbeat he felt there was weak and rapid and it sent another jolt of guilt through his body. With watery eyes he looked over her, seeing the monitors seeing the bottles of blood and fluids draining slowly into her in an attempt to bring her back from the brink of death. He had seen her this way before, and then as now she had been near death. He looked at the ceiling blinking furiously as unfocused rage and helplessness surged through him thinking about just how guilty and helpless he felt. Elisa was injured for an act that should never have happened. He would never again wish for any happiness in his life, for that all turned sour in the end. He suddenly wished that Titania had refused his request, anything, even hoping for an impossible relationship, was better than seeing Elisa in this way, and him helpless to provide for her.

Goliath, overcome by emotion, collapsed to his knees wrapping his wings protectively around her and the bed. His tail curled around the base of the gurney and he buried his head into the soft skin of her shoulder weeping openly in his guilt, "What have I done?" He whispered into her ear, tears flowing freely from his dark eyes, "I never meant it to be like this, my love."

To soon the doctor intruded on his privacy, "That's enough for today. Let her rest."

Goliath's head whipped toward the doctor eyes glowing white-hot and his teeth bared in threat. He felt like a cornered animal his only recourse to fight. He growled threateningly at the doctor, frustrated, angry, and ashamed. The doctor was the only target in the room to vent those emotions on, no matter that he didn't deserve it.

The doctor took one step back but did not retreat, "I would have a very hard time keeping her alive with a stone gargoyle pinning her in," Goliath growled again. The doctor went on blinking slowly, "And I thought that perhaps…you'd want to see your son before daybreak."

Lucidity returned to Goliath's eyes, "He lives?" he breathed.

The doctor looked away a moment, nodding then returned that gaze to the angry gargoyle's face, "We were forced to sedate him…heavily…to prevent him from further injuring his mother. We delivered him by cesarean. He kicked the sedative pretty quickly, and shows no signs of any permanent damage from the experience. Would you like to see him?"

Slowly Goliath stood again his gaze lingering on Elisa. He leaned down and kissed her gently on the forehead, "Come back to us, Elisa. Don't leave me," he whispered into her ear then turned toward the doctor, "Where is my son?"

Without a word the doctor turned away and led Goliath to another section of the converted castle room. The doctor paused and lifted a small bundle from a bassinet, turned, and handed it to Goliath.

Goliath looking awestruck took the small parcel looking down at the smallest gargoyle child he had ever seen. He nearly fit into Goliath's large palm. The baby had a head of dark straight hair, somewhere between Elisa's and his own shade of hair. The baby's brows were heavy and sported two horns, one short just barely a nub, but the one closest his ears was longer and embraced his head in a bony crown. He seemed perfectly formed considering his lineage, with small graceful looking wings and a long, elegant, and powerful looking tail. Both features looked very suitable to allow gliding. His feet were slightly shorter than any gargoyle baby he could think of, but were not short enough to set him apart from the rest of the clan. His skin was the same shade as Elisa's was, nearly a dark olive tan, were it not for his gargoyle features he would easily pass as human.

"Tanner," Goliath murmured as the name surfaced in his head, "My but you are a handsome Gargoyle." He said smiling at the sleeping form in his arms. The guilt he had been feeling faded a bit looking at the wonder that he had created with Elisa. He could not blame the child when generations of gargoyle instinct flowed in his veins. It was never a willful act against his mother, only a drive to be born into the world.

The boy stirred as if responding to his name, and opened his dark eyes looking directly at Goliath. The child's stare was unnervingly intelligent as he reached up for his father's face with outstretched fingers and making a small noise like a sigh with his mouth a small "O". The gesture revealed the sharp pointed canine teeth in Tanner's mouth, they were slightly shorter and looked duller than his own teeth. Again it was not so noticeable that the others would comment on it.

Goliath's eyes narrowed when his gaze moved to that tiny hand reaching toward him. His heart skipped a beat as he noticed a disparity in its appearance. To the outside of his pinky finger was a fifth digit or at least what should have been another digit. It was stunted just a nub that looked as if someone had plastered the clawed tip of a finger there. He saw it move slightly as his son began to squirm in his arms.

Goliath leaned down into that questing grasp and he felt the tiny fingers making fists and releasing them repeatedly on his cheek. Goliath smiled down on the boy and Tanner looked as if he smiled back just as the sun peeked through the window and turned them both to stone.