The next night, after Brooklyn broke free from his stone sleep, at least he didn't wake up with shackles on his arms and legs. He was still loose in the cell. Then the door began to unlock.
"Good evening, Brooklyn. Are you ready to begin your exercise program?" Vincent greeted him and declared.
"What sort of exercise program?" Brooklyn asked warily.
"You'll be walking on a treadmill, yoga exercises, swimming, lifting some light weights, just light aerobics and such. Those are safe for any pregnant person to handle. And of course, I do have a dome where you could glide around safely to exercise your wings. I know you'll want to exercise them as well." Vincent explained. "You'll exercise for a little bit, and then you'll be allowed to have your breakfast. It works up the appetite."
"But none of these exercises will be harmful to the baby, right?" Brooklyn demanded firmly, placing a hand on his swollen belly.
"No. They won't put pressure on your stomach. But if you feel something hurting, you have to tell us. If you feel you have to stop to rest, that's fine too."
"Can I be allowed to read too?" Brooklyn asked.
"Of course. I'm sure you want to read about pregnancy?"
"Yes."
"That can be arranged. I'll also work on getting a table in your room so you won't have to keep on getting your food and vitamins off the floor."
"Just what do you want my baby for?" Brooklyn demanded.
"To raise it, but to also see it raised by its parent; you. Who knows if you'll ever find a mate." Vincent said.
"Are you going to release me to go back to my clan?"
"No. You are here to stay. And you are going to be doing your kind a favor by being the first male gargoyle to give birth. You should consider this an honor, more than you know. You could also have plenty more where this one came from."
"I won't stay here and be your lab rat!" Brooklyn retorted angrily. He got up and punched Vincent, then tried to run for the door, but two guards from behind Vincent stepped in his way with guns right in his face. "Whoa!" He raised his hands in surrender.
"My bodyguards are serious about their jobs, Brooklyn. You are not going to be leaving anytime soon." Vincent said, getting up, rubbing his cheek where Brooklyn had gotten him down.
"Alright, you win." Brooklyn agreed. 'For now.' He said in his mind.
Just for safety precautions, and after what he had just done, Brooklyn was only allowed out of the room if his arms were cuffed behind his back. Vincent assured him that he wouldn't do anything to the baby while his hands were cuffed. He was 'honorable' in that way.
Brooklyn was escorted to an exercise room. The guards stayed in there with Vincent as he prepared Brooklyn for a walk on the treadmill. But the door was locked so the gargoyle couldn't get away.
Vincent had Brooklyn hooked up to a heart and respiration monitor. He took his resting heartbeat first before proceeding next.
Brooklyn felt weird being hooked up to these devices, but the man was insistent on him wearing these things. He wanted to know how they differed from human statistics.
After he was hooked up to the monitor devices, he was directed toward the treadmill first. "From the things I mentioned a bit ago, Brooklyn, we will be doing different activities every day, or come up with a mixture of everything." Vincent stated.
That would be good, to vary up the routine.
Brooklyn was started at a slower pace at first, but as time went on, Vincent kept on moving up his speed. Brooklyn was just walking real fast at that time. Soon, he had to stop because he was getting dizzy.
Vincent was willing to give him the space he needed to catch his breath. And he gave him some bottled water too to make sure he didn't get dehydrated.
He caught his breath and he went on walking on the treadmill for a little longer. About an hour. He was timed, and when it was time to stop, Vincent let him get off and had more water.
Now it was time for his breakfast. Brooklyn felt his energy was more or less, depleted. He panted as he followed the men back to his cell, with his hands cuffed behind him. Once in his room, his hands were released, and a tray of food, water, and pills were brought in for him. The humans left him to it.
Brooklyn picked up the tray and took it to the bed, setting it down gently, but not diving into it right away. He sat there for a few minutes longer. Tears were coming to his eyes.
"I can't believe we're in this mess, little one. I promise I'll get us out of here before it's your time to be born. I won't let them harm you. I swear Vincent is lying to me, to us." Brooklyn said in a low voice. He was talking to the baby.
The baby seemed to answer him as he felt the fluttering in his stomach. Tears came from Brooklyn's eyes. His hormones were making him cry. He still felt so alone, but he still did have the baby for company.
It took several minutes before the red gargoyle dried his tears and began to eat the food he had been served. Then he took the prenatal pills with the water. This would become daily habits for awhile.
…..
Over the coming weeks, as boring as the cell was, Vincent did allow Brooklyn out twice a night for exercises. He would choose what he wanted Brooklyn to do. The nights were not as long as the daytime. So he only got two meals a night, but was offered some small snacks too in between meals.
Walking, swimming, gliding in the dome, lifting light weights, and light aerobics were some of the basics he was allowed to do.
Vincent also gave Brooklyn books to read, especially about pregnancy. He also put a table and chair in his cell too.
Brooklyn had an ultrasound weekly, whether he liked it or not. He hated that Vincent was seeing his child, but he was glad to see how it was developing too. It was getting so big. Its movements were also getting stronger as well. He could easily feel when it kicked him now. His belly had grown some more since getting here a month ago.
At 21 weeks, he was just past his halfway mark.
Doing his reading, he saw the baby was about the size of a large banana at the moment. It was 10 and a half inches and could weigh about 11 or 12 ounces. And the baby could begin to 'taste' the things he was eating. The baby would also be taking in amniotic fluid too. When it came to getting sleep, Brooklyn had some short, small naps too at times, but his real sleep came during stone sleep, so he wasn't totally deprived of rest from a kicking fetus like most other creatures were during pregnancy.
He did notice maybe some stretch marks on his skin from his skin stretching to accommodate the baby. His chest still felt weird in the fact that it might be changing to want to maybe feed the child when it was time, but he still didn't know about that. He knew of formula for babies nowadays, but would it be alright for a gargoyle baby?
After exercising and such, he had to be taken back to his room where he could lie down and support his feet, as sooner or later, his back would start hurting too, besides his ankles swelling up. He had a lot more blood pumping everywhere. He was also being forced to watch videos on finding new ways to breathe too as his body was changing and shifting its balance.
There was so much to prepare for. And the book was right that there were times that anxiety would set in for Brooklyn. He knew he was going to be a father soon, and he knew he had to escape this place before he got too heavy in the belly. For the past month, he had been trying to think of a plan because he wanted to know where certain parts of the building were that might make good escape plans.
He had also began to try to think of names for the child since he didn't have much else to do besides read. He knew he wanted a very pretty name for a girl, and maybe something warrior-like for a boy. Or he could name it after another town or city. After all, he had named himself after the borough of Brooklyn, New York. Being able to look through a name book would have been a good way to decide.
Brooklyn tried to think of names that were towns he had heard of, and even of the places that Goliath and Angela had told him about on their World Tour. So far, he just didn't have the right mentality of thinking of a name. He was thinking on more of just trying to get out of here. He knew he would have to fool the humans a little longer that he was willing to cooperate with them.
Just because he was allowed to do the exercises, read, and had a comfy bed didn't mean he wanted to stay here. He wanted to be back home, with his clan.
…..
In New York, all the searches had turned up empty for Brooklyn. The clan began to wonder if they would ever see him again. They were worried about him and for him.
Broadway and Lexington were still close when Broadway wasn't with Angela or anyone else. Without Brooklyn, they just weren't the Trio anymore. Angela may not have been born of their direct generation, but she was close enough to it that made her desirable for Broadway, or if had been Lex or Brooklyn she had chosen.
Goliath could see how happy his daughter was with Broadway. He gave them his blessing that they could be together. He was happy having his child live with him, and he had seen the joy on Brooklyn's face before he was kidnapped that he was beginning to experience being a father-to-be. Even if how he was getting the baby was rather, unusual. But he still held a strong concern for Brooklyn's safety due to his condition.
Goliath was also worried if he would have to pick another second in command. If Brooklyn didn't come back soon, he would have to. He himself was just targeted so much as the leader of the clan. Someone would have to take his place if something happened to him. But who would it be?
Winston had also been disappointed in Vincent that he had gone and pulled something like this on him. The baby had been his idea, even though he denied any of the doing to the gargoyles about it. He had just wanted to give Brooklyn a baby of his own to love. Not going so far as kidnapping him for his own greed and glory. Vincent might have also had other plans for Brooklyn and his baby too. He just hoped he was alright.
Elisa and Matt, plus the Xanatos family, and Owen had also been looking up anything possible on the Internet for anything possible of a gargoyle sighting that it might possibly be Brooklyn in another city or state perhaps, but there was nothing of the sort. It was hard to tell where Vincent had taken Brooklyn.