Part 9 - Finale
One Week Later.
Beth stood at the apartment door as Diane opened it. Beth smiled, "Hey, Mom!"
"Hey, baby!" Diane greeted, hugging her youngest daughter. "How was the trip?"
"Uneventful. Which works just fine for me!" Beth walked into the apartment, rounding the corner to see Talon, Maggie, and Goliath sitting at the table Elisa and Peter. "I should've known. That uneventful flight was the calm before the storm."
"Funny," Elisa replied, sarcastically.
After greeting everyone, Beth sat down, and they all ate dinner together. Over the course of the meal, Beth couldn't help but notice how comfortable everyone seemed, especially since she remembered Elisa telling her that Talon and Goliath still had some issues getting along. But, more than anything, Beth noticed little interactions between Elisa and Goliath that told her something else was going on there. But Beth purposefully didn't call attention to it, wanting Elisa to say something when she was ready.
After they finished the meal and dessert, Elisa took a deep breath.
Beth immediately raised an eyebrow.
"So, Beth…" Elisa began.
"Finally!" Beth breathed out. "It felt like somebody wanted to tell me something! What's going on?"
"Just… something I wanted to tell you in person."
"Something I guessing everyone else already knows about?"
"Correct."
"Proceed."
Elisa shook her head. "So…" she shrugged, "the simplest way to put it is… me and Goliath are together. We're in love."
Beth stared at them then burst out laughing. "No duh, Elisa! Took you both long enough! I so saw that coming!"
"Excuse me?!"
"Say what?!" Talon raised an eyebrow, while Maggie and Goliath fought laughter.
"You're both kidding me, right?!" Beth giggled. She looked at Elisa, "You were making googly eyes at him the entire time we were in Arizona! I'd been wanting to ask you forever if something was going on between you two! I just thought it would be weird to ask!" She turned towards Derek, "And, if you didn't see it, you intentionally ignored, literally, all of the signs!"
Elisa threw her head back, "You're so infuriating!"
"Don't get mad at me 'cause I could telegraph this from miles away! Shouldn't have made it so obvious you were into him!"
"I did not 'make it obvious'!"
Beth rolled her eyes, "Uh-huh! Whatever! How 'bout this? He's easily the longest relationship you've ever had with a dude who isn't family!"
"I…" Elisa began, "…wish… I had a comeback."
"Ha-ha!" Beth laughed, victoriously.
"This is going way better than when I found out," Talon admitted.
"You went off the deep end and said something messed up, didn't you?" Beth asked.
"How does everyone know that?!"
"Bro. It's you. You have an irrational anger than manifests itself through destructive behavior. Specifically, self-destructive behavior. It's a pattern you should really look into."
Talon furrowed his brow, letting out a low growl.
"Those psych classes are paying off, I see," Peter noted.
"Aced my last midterm with an A+," Beth smiled.
"You're welcome!" Elisa joked.
"Okay, okay! The study tips helped! Do you ever get tired of being right?"
"I absolutely do not."
Beth waved her off and looked at Goliath. "Goliath! Welcome to the family."
Goliath smiled and nodded, "It's my honor and pleasure to be here."
Beth thought for a moment then looked at Talon. "Wait a sec, how messed up was it whatever you said?"
Talon fell silent and looked around, nervously. His ears even lowered.
"Oooh. That bad, huh?"
"Worse," Elisa confirmed with a smile, causing Talon to groan again.
Beth regarded her brother. "You're a real jerk, you know that?"
Talon sighed, ruefully. "I'm working on it…"
Beth giggled. She looked at Elisa and Goliath. "I know this is probably gonna be tough for you guys but… hang in there." She winked, "You guys got this."
"You're rather accepting of this, Beth," Goliath noted.
"You care about Elisa. You protect her. She smiles more around you. It's what she deserves. You're just not human. Four outta five ain't bad."
"I promise to always do my best by her." Goliath looked at Peter and Diane, "You have my word."
"Thank you, Goliath," Peter replied.
"We really appreciate you saying that," Diane added. "More than you know."
"Of course," Goliath nodded.
"Ahh, don't worry 'bout him!" Beth declared. "After all… if things go bad… Derek will just get to be irrational again."
"I said I'm working on it!" Talon hit his forehead on the table, causing everyone to laugh.
A/N: And, so, we are concluded! What did you guys think?
So, what happens now? Well, I have a couple of full-fledged chapter stories in development, introducing some OCs. However, I can't make any promises on when those stories will begin. I'm currently finishing up a Batman Beyond story and I have a couple of other stories that I'm about to start. So, until I can get to the Gargoyles again, here is where I will say "see you later, for now."
I hope you all enjoyed it and see you soon!