Die Today, Live Tomorrow
Chp 9
The Promise
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I am so proud of this chapter I couldn't have had it come out better. It was the first chapter I wrote and just made the fic around it. Please give feedback!
I be pimpin': New Batman Beyond fic posted. The Apple from the Tree. Look it over.
Your reviews are so great and helpful. Thank you!
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A building top, she stands, her hand in the large talon of a Golaith. Behind them other gargoyles followed. Matt, her friend, is screaming something.
A nosie.....?a gun shot.
She flinches. Her hand falls from the gargoyle's talon. The gargoyle reaches, she falls. The air is freezing, she doesn't scream, she can't she only feels what the other's faces show.
Fear.
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Elisa's eyes flew open. She quickly sat up in her bed. Alone, she was alone in bed. It was a dream......... no, a memory. She saw shadows from the open skylight windows the moon light cast on her apartment. She looked down at the tangled sheets. They were sticky, Her boxer shorts and sports bra she was sticky, with her sweat. She felt a hurtful tingle. The taped bandage on the back had come off, leaving her wounds at the mercy of the air and her sweat. She pushed the sheets from her legs and stood. Walking down the short hallway to her bathroom. She flipped the light switch and blinked the pain of the light away. Standing in front of the mirror, she looked blankly at her reflection in it, for a split second.
Elisa watched the small jump of her pulse under the skin of her neck. She removed her soaked bra and old bandage in the front. She told herself to calm down. With a deep breath she turned the cold water handle and dipped her head down. She splash her face then her wet hands rubbed the back of her neck and throw her already damp hair, smoothing it all to one side. She came up, licking the water from her lips and reached over the rack above the toilet for a blue NYPD embroidered towel. Along with other cop marked items in a black duffelbag, she received that towel her first day out of training school.
Her first day on the beat she used it to wipe away spit from her first booked arrest. It held bloody knuckles from a fight won, with a punching bag after her boyfriend lost the fight with her job. Relationships are hard when you wear a badge. 5 years now. This blue dyed cloth had been there to soak up what she didn't.....couldn't let herself feel for fear of fear it's self. Of course, she gets scared but it's drowned out by years of experience and adrenaline. Scared, but never feared, fear lingers inside you, clouds your instinct, gets you and/or your partner killed. There was no room for the emotion.
She held the towel covering her face a moment longer, in some childish attempt to make the dream go away. She her hands fall taking the towel with it. She glanced at the reflection in the mirror and jump. Behind her stood Goliath, his expression confused at her reaction. It's been three weeks, she should be use to him by now.
Elisa took a breath." DON"T.....do that!" She said relaxing herself.
Goliath confusion faded as he watched Elisa drape her arm over her exposed flesh and wet the end of her towel in the running water.
Watching her dab the skin around the wound. He spoke. "I'm sorry for my behavior towards you about pressing matters. I do understand your motives for helping my clan and I, Thank you."
Elisa stopped, momentarily they watched each other in the mirror. Elisa's gaze fell as it did so many times when she saw that look he regarded her with.
" I'm sorry, too" She wet the towel and turned, now facing him but, looking over her shoulder to the mirror and reached around to clean the exit wound. "It may be hard for you to believe but, I care for the others safety, and the castle isn't safe."
Goliath watched her effort to reach the wound.
" Please. Let me help." He offered stepping into the bathroom. Elisa thought it kind of him, she handed him the towel and turned around. With her hair falling over one shoulder and her arms wrapped around herself, Goliath gently dabbed the surface of her shoulder.
Elisa felt the tip of his talon softly trace the small circle, she watched his brow set as he examined the wound.
" Does it still hurt?" He ask her, Elisa thought, like he wanted to know where babies come from.
"Of course it does, I was shot." She answered
Goliath looked up from his concentration to her. " I.......forget how....... fragile your kind is."
" Fargile." she said, "That's a new one, most call it a weakness..........being human I mean. Everyone wants to live forever or bend steel. I just want to do my job without becoming a New York statistic."
Goliath handed her the wet towel. She lay it on the sink and grabbed the thick cotton rob from the hook to her right. She noticed Goliath's eyes fixed on the floor, she realized she had to drop her arms to pull the rob on.
Protector and Gentleman, she smirked and sat on the edge of the sink. " Doctor say if the bullet hadn't went in at an angle, I would have died, drowned in my own blood or something tragic like that" she smiled. "The funny thing is, I can't remember it going in. I only remember imaging how the ground would feel when I hit it." she said solemnly.
Goliath eyes softened as he listen to her speak.
" My sister says I'm crazy or have nerves of steel for being calm while bullets are flying at me. I can tell her there's something more terrifying........." She let tears fall from her eyes at the memory of it all. "Shows what doctors know." Elisa snorted looking at him." You saved my life Goliath, not the angle. "
She looked down to the floor a bit ashamed at herself for crying. " I've never fallen before."
Goliath lifted her gaze to his with his talon. Elisa was a bit shocked that he closed the small distance between them to do so.
" I will always be there to catch you." The sincerity in his eyes and vocie made the hair on the back of neck stand.
He wiped the falling tears away. She flew forward, embraced him in a hug, her arms tight around his neck. " Thank you." she whispered. Goliath was a bit whelmed about her actions before he realized he liked the feel of her against him. He slowly brought his muscled arms around her waist and back, and for the comfort he held her.
Elisa mind moved a thousand miles a minute. This was the first time he had been this close let alone touch her other then flying her around and when he saved her. She took it personal until she found out about the castle massacre. Because of her own reason, she understood his reasons of behavior towards her and other humans. She was thrown from her thoughts, his skin wasn't as she thought it would, more of a soft leather or something like it. He was warmer than she remembered. He nuzzled into her hair, she heard him inhale.
From the kitchen, Bronx and Cagney were going for round two. Elisa slowly let go and took a step back. Goliath's words were cut off by a loud crash. Elisa stepped past him and ran into the war zone followed by Goliath.
In the kitchen, Cagney sat nibbling at his food bowl. The gray feline tentatively topped his meal to watch the two hundred pound "dog-goyle" sniff his way over to Cagney's water bowl located next to his food bowl at the end of kitchen. Deciding his personal space had been invaded, Cagney hissed before striking Bronx leaving four thin scratches. Bronx stubbled back a bit but regained his composer and charged at the cat who jumped to the kitchen counter followed by his chaser, sending a water glass to the floor.
Elisa walked around, into the kitchen in time to catch a frantic cat. Bronx, in his attempt to recover some dignity, leaped from the kitchen counter and flew towards the two. Elisa let out a scream and ducked down. Goliath stepped in front of her and caught Bronx before Elisa and Cagney could break his fall. Elisa walked over to her bed, set the cat down and turned to Bronx, growling aggravated until Goliath cast a look quieting the brooding breast.
Elisa laughed, causing a smile to appear on Goliaths face as well. She walked back to the kitchen as Bronx finally settle on the floor, his tung hanging from his mouth while his leader pet him. They watch Elisa clean the glass and water from the floor. She disposed the broken glass in the trash, turned to them with a shy smile.
She pointed to the small scratch on Bronx's nose. "Round two, Cagney."
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