A/N: there may be no slash in this story, but it contains the basis for a gay relationship that might show up in other one-shots later on. You shouldn't really see anything like that in here, though. It's just a heads-up.

Disclaimer: Disney's Gargoyles is the property of Walt Disney Enterprises, and Buena Vista. I don't own them, nor do I claim to. This story was not written for profit. All original characters belong to me.

2045 AD Manhattan Airspace, NYC

Air filled Jeffrey's wings as he soared over Manhattan. Below, he watched as his shadow passed over clutches of trees, meadows, and even the occasional lake. He sighed and frowned slightly.

"Hey, Kare," he said to his companion. "Don't you ever miss it?"

Karen looked over at him, her blond hair whipping across her face. "What?" she yelled over the wind. "I can't hear you!"

Jeffrey motioned downwards, and they both landed. Deprived of any tall buildings, they were forced to land on the ground.

"So," Karen asked, pulling a twig from Jeffrey's curly blond hair. "What were you saying?"

Jeffrey sat down on a stump. In the pale moonlight, his grey skin seemed silver. Karen loved patrolling with Jeffrey; he was beautiful in the moonlight. If only he weren't her cousin, she often thought, she would snatch him up immediately. But he was, so she sat down and leaned against a tree, shaking the thought of him out of her mind.

"Don't you ever miss it?" he asked her again. Karen thought a moment, but despite her best efforts, she could not figure out what he meant. At last, she threw up her hands in defeat.

"I give up," she told him. "Miss what?"

He sighed and moved to sit beside her. The long grass bent as he walked, leaving a groove behind him. He sat.

"The citly, Kare, the city. Ever since the Great Epidemic, Manhattan has been nothing but trees, the Eryie Building, and those cottages on the west coast. Don't you miss the times when there were buildings to land on? Or crimes to stop?"

"Oh, please. I wasn't alive back then, and neither were you," Karen retorted. Jeffrey shrugged.

"I would have liked to have been there, is all. There's no excitment nowadays."

Karen didn't bother to answer; she knew she didn't need to. And, sure enough, Jeffrey stood up and started roaming without another thought on the matter. Soon, however, she had to stop him.

"Jeff!" she called. "Jeff! Come back, we've got to go!"

Karen's companion groaned playfully. "Must we?" he pretended to complain.

She smiled and answered. "Yes, we do. There've some break-ins at the cottages lately, and we're supposed to check up on it."

Jeffrey buried his claws into the trunk of a nearby tree, and began to climb.

"Well then," he said, preparing to take-off. "Let's go."

The night was perfect for gliding, and so the pair reached Manhattan's west coast quickly, and with ease.

They took a few brief passes over the the cottages, without incident. Then, just as he and Karen were about to head back to the Eyrie Building and call it a night, Jeffrey heard the faint cries of a person in trouble.

His expression changing from carefree to serious in the moonlight, the grey gargoyle pulled back his wings and dove for the nearest rooftop.

The wind roared in his ears, and his eyes began to water, but Jeffrey didn't care. He was in his element; the need to protect flowed through his veins from both of his parents. With a gargoyle as a mother and a policeman as a father, Jeffrey had always known that his calling was to help others.

Jeffrey landed on the roof with a muted thud; the screams had silenced, but he could still detect people moving in the building beneath his feet. He motioned, signalling for Karen to veer off and land near the cottage's rear entrance. Jeffrey was left alone.

The moonilight, which had illuminated the scene as well as the sun, was suddenly obscured by an expanding stormcloud. This provided Jeffrey an oppurtunity.

Invisible withing the absence of light, he was free to imbed his claws within the wall of the cottage undetected. Scaling down the side of the building and entering through a second-floor window, Jeffrey was forced to lean against a wall in rest before continuing. This was because of the unfortunate fact that his left wing was underdeveloped, and prone to sever muscle spasms.

"Damn it," he whispered harshly to himself; the pain had started to overwhelm his senses and he had slipped down the wall to the floor. The spasm continued for several minutes, leaving Jeffrey totally and completely incapacitated.

In an unfortunate turn of fate, it was just as Jeffrey was groaning in genuine agony that another person, a man adorned in burglar's garb, entered the room.

At first, the man seemed frightened; gargoyles were renowned fighters afterall. But he soon realized Jeffery's predicament, and smiled.

"Well lookee here," he taunted. "One of Manhattan's best, all helpless and vulnerable."

The man approached Jeffrey, and crouched down beside him. The grin on his face made Jeffrey sick; it displayed a demented glee.

"Oh man..." the burglar whispered, with giddy excitment apparent in his voice. "I've wanted to do this since one of you freaks busted me last year..." He slowly removed a sharp knife from his belt. Jeffrey tried to force himself to move away, without success, while mentally beating himself for allowing this situation to arise.

With his prey still moaning from the continuous spasm, the burlar caressed the cold blade against Jeffrey's chest. Then, as he prepared to puncture the skin, a new figure appeared in the room's doorway.

Having hoped that Karen had come to his rescue, Jeffrey was filled with surprise and suspicion when another human enterd the room.The burglar, however, noticed nothing. And he remained ignorant of the new presence up until he was knocked unconscious from behind.
Though filled with relief, a particularly strong spasm caused Jeffrey to groan. The room's new occupant ran over to help.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

Jeffrey stood, cautiously. On his face was the most pathetic expression of embarrassment that the stranger had ever seen, and he pitied the gargoyle.

The stranger extended his hand. "My name's Joseph Bertram. That guy was robbing my cottage here and, well, thanks for trying to help."

Jeffrey accepted the hand. He grimaced, causing his nose and brow ridges to crease. "I didn't do too well though, did I?"

Joseph smiled. "Yeah, well. It turned out okay."

He then pulled Jeffrey's arm over his shoulders, and helped him walk out of the room and down the stairs.

When the two men reached the bottom of the stairwell, Karen was just emerging from within the den.

"Jeff!" she exclaimed. "Jeff! Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, I'm fine," he responded. "Where the hell were you? Some low-grade burglar nearly sliced me up like luncheon meat."

The concern that had, only moments ago, been apparent on Karen's leaf-green face was quickly replaced by severe annoyance.

"It's not like I was sitting around watching the television," she said. "I was canvassing the main floor. Have you seen this place? It's huge!"

"Yeah, yeah." Jeffrey rolled his shoulder; it was still sore, but was no longer causing him any great discomfort. He, however, still felt worn, and went to sit on the leather sofa nearby. As a rule, he would normally stay away from animal products, but was currently too tuckered-out to care. Joseph ran off to the kitchen to fetch a glass of water for his wounded guest, and Karen sat down on a overstuffed chair facing the stairs.

"It happened again, didn't it?" she asked. Jeffrey sat silently, trying to think of a plausible excuse, but came up with nothing. Instead, he decided to pretend there had been no spasm. He sat up straight, brushed a blond lock out of his face, and stared defiantly into Karen's bright brown eyes.

"What do you mean?" he asked her. She sighed.

"Don't lie to me, Jeffrey Ricardo Bluestone." Jeffrey winced; he hated when people used his full name. "The only reason you were allowed to start patrolling again was because you said you had grown out of the spasms. Now look! One nearly got you killed!"

Resisting the urge to slump, and therefore relieve the pressure on his aching shoulder, Jeffrey remained straight-backed. "I had no spasm."

"Really?"

"Yes, it wa-"

Just then, at the most unfortunate time, Joseph re-entered the living room with Jeffrey's water. "Here you go," he said, passing it to him. "I hope you're okay. I'm studying to become a doctor; that was a muscle spasm, right?"

Jeffrey groaned, he took a sip. "Thanks, I'll be fine."

"Aha!" Karen exclaimed. "You're right, you'll be fine, because once the others find out about this, you won't be going out on patrol any time soon."

"Karen!"

She shook her head; Joseph looked on, confused.

"No way, cousin. Not only are you a danger to yourself in this condition, but you aren't any use as back-up. What if that burglar had gone after me, and you were incapacitated at the time? I shudder just thinking about it!"

The argument over Jeffrey's fitness continued for quite a long time; in fact; the duration was so lengthy that it was soon close to daybreak, and they were no closer to a compromise. Jeffrey wanted Karen to keep his episode a secret, while she was dead-set on informing Goliath, Brooklyn, and Artus.

Eventually, it was Joseph who provided a workable answer. The tall, brown-haired human suggested that, perhaps, Jeffrey should visit a doctor, who would then inform Goliath, Brooklyn, and Artus when Jeffrey was qualified to patrol again.

"I suppose I could live with that," said Jeffrey. "Anything, if it means I'll be out protecting to populace again." Joseph smiled.

"You know," he told his gargoyles guests. "I've been working as an aide in a physiotherapist's office; I can probably get you some special consederation if you go there."

Jeffery thought it was pretty nice of this guy to offer them his services, especially since they had been no help whatsoever in ridding his cottage of that burglar.

"Sure."

By the time Joseph had retrieved a business card for Jeffery, it was too late for he and Karen to return to the castle. Instead, they were allowed to stay the day in the living room of Joseph's rather large cottage.

Feeling sunrise, Jeffrey got into position. "You don't have to do this; Kare and I would be just as comfortable outside."

"No, you're welcome here."

"Thank-you."

The sun breached the horizon. As his body began to convert from flesh to an organic stone, Jeffrey smiled. "I think I'm going to like you, Joseph."

-The End