The following evening Goliath awoke with a roar, shaking off the last remnants of his stone skin.
"Well good morning." Goliath's face warmed as he heard Elisa Maza's voice.
"Ahh, Elisa." He smiled down at the lovely detective. "We have not seen you recently."
Elisa nodded, "Been catching up on some sleep, that's all."
"You haven't been unwell, I trust?" Goliath ventured, alarmed.
Quickly Elisa threw her hands up and protested, "No! No, really, I'm fine!" The most recent time she'd admitted to being sick to the gargoyles they had insisted on applying Broadway's sure fire cure for the common cold; it amounted to a giant side of raw beef delivered right to her balcony, courtesy of some poor neighborhood butcher who had carelessly left his meat locker open long enough for Broadway to slip in and out unnoticed. The thing weighed so much she had had to ask Matt to help her drag it out to the curb with her, amidst some odd looks from her neighbors. It was one of the many times she felt thankful to be living in Manhattan…at least she knew the garbage men had seen weirder.
"Well…" Goliath went on cautiously, "we've missed you. I've missed you."
Elisa smiled back, placing a hand over his, "And I've missed you." The rest of the gargoyles looked on, amused. Slowly but surely the two of them were becoming more open about their relationship, and it was a joy for their friends to watch. It had done wonders for Goliath's mood. "Well?" She finally asked, conscious of the others, "Are Matt and I getting our gargoyle escort tonight or not?"
Brooklyn immediately put himself forward, "I'd like to go." The others all frowned. Trailing Elisa while she was on duty was the most solitary of all the patrols the gargoyles had taken upon themselves in their efforts to protect the city. As such the position usually shifted every night Elisa was on duty. No one wanted to spend the entire night alone…but Brooklyn had volunteered for it every night she'd been on duty for the past two weeks.
"Brooklyn…" Elisa said haltingly, "I appreciate your wanting to come along, but…wouldn't you like to take a different post tonight? Following me around has got to be getting pretty dull."
"I don't mind." He answered, opting to ignore the looks of concern on his brothers' faces. Elisa appealed to Goliath, who only shrugged helplessly.
"Alright then, sounds good." She sighed in defeat, handing the ear piece over to Brooklyn. With a grateful smile he took the ear piece and made his way back to the ledge, fiddling with the radio as he fixed it to his belt. Elisa carefully walked back into the clock tower with Goliath.
In a whisper she said, "Are you sure you should let him go, Goliath?"
"I have no reason to forbid him." He answered with a sigh.
"Well, I know, but…"
Goliath nodded, "Yes, I'm worried about him too. See if you can't get him to talk, Elisa. Perhaps he'll find it easier to confide in you than me."
Elisa nodded, shoving her hands into her pockets skeptically, "Alright, I'll do what I can."
He gallantly took her hand and kissed it tenderly, "I expected nothing less from you, Elisa." She favored him with another warm smile before walking out.
Matt scanned the streets listlessly, a yawn escaping from his lips.
"Slow night." Elisa ventured.
"Yeah, that's the fifth time you've said that." Matt grumbled, "I'm so bored I'm thinking I just might need to take up crime myself. At least then I'd know for sure I was gonna get some action." Elisa just rolled her eyes.
"Well sure," Brooklyn's voice came over the radio, "that'd be fine for tonight, but after that it'd only get worse…there's even less to do in prison." He said dryly.
Matt objected, "Oh I don't know, I mean, in my experience of prison-"
"Enough you two!" Elisa laughed. Matt looked up as she parked in front of a convenience store.
"What are we doing here?" he inquired.
Unbuckling her seat belt Elisa smiled, "Reminding you what it means to be a cop…go get us some doughnuts."
"Why me?" He moaned.
"Because I'm driving, now scram." Shoving his hands in his pockets Matt Bluestone ambled into the grocery store, grumbling as he went. Watching the sky, Elisa strolled to the back of her car and leaned against the fender. "Want anything from the store, Brooklyn?"
His voice answered, "No, I'm good."
"You're awfully quiet tonight." Elisa said reproachfully. Brooklyn remained silent. "Come on Brooklyn…I'm worried about you. Talk to me." She urged him gently.
Softly he answered, "There's nothing to talk about."
"Is this about Angela?"
"What!" Brooklyn exclaimed, "No!" He paused, "Not exactly."
Elisa folded her arms, "Not exactly?"
"I think we're losing signal Elisa, you're breaking up." Brooklyn answered, making loud static noises with his mouth.
With a laugh she insisted, "I am not, so cut it out. I wanna help you Brooklyn. Tell me what's bothering you."
"There's no point Elisa, there's nothing you can do." She didn't respond, sensing some hesitation on her friend's part, "Well…It's not really easy being alone when everyone else around you-"
"Oh Brooklyn, you're not-"
"Come on Elisa, gimmie a break." Brooklyn said incredulously. "Everyone…everyone has someone to be close to. You and Goliath, Broadway and Angela, Lex has gone nuts over the baby, even Hudson has Bronx to keep him company." His voice became a little huskier, a little sadder, "I don't have anyone I feel a…a connection with, and I'm starting to feel like I never will. I'm sorry if I've been a little distant lately, I'm just trying to sort things out for myself, that's all. It's taking some getting used to."
"Getting used to!" Elisa balked, "Is that why you've been keeping to yourself lately, so you can 'get used' to being alone? Brooklyn, that's ridiculous."
Defensively Brooklyn answered, "Look, I'm not doing anything wrong, I'm not abandoning my clan. I'm just trying to get comfortable with being on my own. Haven't you ever wanted to just shut yourself away from it all?"
"The world doesn't work that way." Elisa said gently, "Pain doesn't stop because you distance yourself from the ones who care about you."
Brooklyn snorted, "Well, it's the only satisfactory idea I've come up with, and so far it seems to be working."
"Brooklyn-" Elisa began in a warning tone. She looked up as Matt walked back out. "We'll finish this later."
"I can't wait."
Matt smiled up at the roof top Brooklyn was perched on, "Someone's in trouble!" he sang teasingly.
Brooklyn smugly answered, "Bluestone, my hero. We're so glad you're back! Elisa and I were so worried…I hope those doughnuts didn't give you too much trouble."
"Har har." Matt exclaimed as Elisa started up the car, "You just watch it or I'll hand you over to the zoo."
"Oohh, I'm shaking!"
Elisa interceded, "Alright! That's enough…let's just have silence for the next half hour, alright?"
After a few sullen moments of silence Bluestone muttered, "He started it." Before Brooklyn or Elisa had a chance to respond they got a call on their radio.
"What is it?" Brooklyn asked anxiously.
Elisa flipped her siren on, answering quickly, "Burglary in progress, museum of natural history…we're the closest unit responding. Better see if you can head us off, Brooklyn."
"I'm on it, meet you there." Brooklyn answered.