That night, when he awoke, Brooklyn felt sure that he was pretty close to New York. He was more than ready to get there. But first, he grabbed up his food supplies and went to sit down under a tree to eat to give him some energy for his continued flight home.
He finished up the bread, and had some more water. The water was all he had now to carry. He was going to carry the bread's wrapper home so he wouldn't pollute.
Soon, he was on his way again.
…
Hours later, around three in the morning, lights appeared on the horizon. The lights were so bright they turned the night into day. Brooklyn had a feeling that he was nearing home.
"It won't be long now. Once we get home, we'll be able to relax and do what we want." Brooklyn stated to the baby. But he had a feeling his clan would be even more overprotective of him once he was back. At least for now, he was fine with that. He had missed his clan terribly.
He already began to look for the Eyrie building. It was near the tallest in Manhattan anyway. All the tall buildings seemed the same size when you were a long distance away, but they began to come into their real sizes as Brooklyn got closer to the city.
At this time, from his escape, he had been so happy for his ability to glide. It got him home faster that walking ever would, and he hadn't had any physical obstacles to deal with, if not counting his stone sleep time.
Brooklyn soon entered Manhattan and he looked for Xanatos' building. He wanted to get there so badly. He wondered if his clan were still looking for him, or out on patrol? He hoped they had missed him. He didn't want another repeat of what happened with the runaway kids so long ago, but not too long ago.
The Eyrie building was finally beginning to take shape in his vision, and his wings were beginning to tire again. He began to speed up his gliding so he could get there faster. He wanted to be reunited with his clan.
Brooklyn may not have had a mate to come home to, but he was having a child and he would make sure that he was the best father that he could be to her or him. At this point in the pregnancy, the red gargoyle felt he knew what he was carrying. His mind pictured a little girl. If it was a boy, he would accept as it was too.
He pictured the child would look a lot like him, but if there was any other parentage, it might also show up on the child too. Only time would tell.
Brooklyn guessed he had flown at least 500 miles in three days after escaping. The tiring feeling in his wings was getting to an almost unbearable feeling. The highest tower of the castle was almost within his reach. He began panting. He felt the baby kick him.
In just a few seconds, he changed his body position to a more vertical one as he began to descend and get his feet on the ground once again. He was more than exhausted when his feet finally touched the castle tower floor. Finally, he could let his exhausted wings rest.
"We're finally home, little one." Brooklyn said happily. His belly was bigger now than when his clan last saw him. He knew they were going to be concerned for him, but happy that he would be back with them. Now, he just needed to find them.
Brooklyn still had time to find them before sunrise. He went down to the Great Hall first. No one there. He checked the Xanatos bed chamber next. It had once belonged to Princess Katherine when she was little. At that thought, it did cross Brooklyn's mind to name his child that if it turned out to be a girl. He was grateful to her for raising Angela so well.
When he looked into the bed chamber, he found Fox playing with her son. David and Owen must have been busy elsewhere.
"Um, hi, Fox." Brooklyn greeted a little nervously.
Fox looked up. "Brooklyn!" She exclaimed in shock. "Where have you been?!"
Brooklyn cringed at her sharp voice. "Dayton, Ohio." he replied. "I was kidnapped."
"I know that. I'm sorry for shouting. It's just the clan has been out of their minds with worry about you. They've been out every night looking for you for over two months. They've barely been back home at all." She explained the situation.
"Well, they can be called back now that I'm back." he said.
Fox did just that.
When everyone heard that Brooklyn was back, they hurried back to the castle as fast as they could. They found him in the library. He had been looking through a baby name book while waiting for them.
"Brooklyn?" Angela was the first one to say his name. The red male looked over at her.
"Hi, Angela." he smiled.
She ran up to him with tears in her eyes. He got up and was happy to hold her in his arms. He wished she was his mate, but she was just concerned about him. His stomach was a little more in the way, but she didn't hold it against him. Tears were in his eyes too.
"We thought we'd never see you again!" Angela sobbed.
"I thought the same thing too. The man who took me wanted to keep me for good." Brooklyn replied, sobbing too. His hormones were making him moody.
Soon, the others joined them.
"Lad, are ya alright?" Hudson asked in concern.
"I'm alright, Hudson, but my baby is getting heavy." He put a hand on his belly.
"Where have you been, Brooklyn?" Goliath asked.
"I was taken to a place near Dayton, Ohio, Goliath. I only just escaped a few days ago and tried my fastest to get back here." Brooklyn explained.
"Did the kidnappers do anything bad to you?" Lex asked in concern.
"No. They wanted my baby, plus more from me too. The kidnappers were the ones who got me pregnant. They thought of my baby as an experiment. They would have done this to me over and over again. They say they wanted to bring up our numbers too, but doing it like that wasn't right. I couldn't handle that. My body is not meant to do this as it is, I know." Brooklyn explained. "I wasn't going to let them use me like a constant breeding machine."
"But what things did they do to ya?" Broadway demanded.
"They did put me on a strict diet and exercise program. Vincent wanted to have me treated almost like a regular person, as long as I cooperated. I did only to bide my time to find a way out. And I won't doubt he will try to get me back. He knows I'll try to get back to you guys." Brooklyn stated.
"It's good you made it back safely to us, Brooklyn, but with as big as you are now, you shouldn't be gliding at all. And from what has happened, I'm going to recommend that other than Bronx, that one of us will always stay here at the castle up until it's time for you to give birth." Goliath explained and ordered.
Everyone was agreeable to it. They still wouldn't abandon their protectorate, but they still had to look out for any one of their clan that was pregnant. Even in this unusual case.
"How far along are ya now, Lad?" Hudson asked curiously.
"I'm in my 6th month, Hudson. It still feels like a lifetime before it's going to be born." Brooklyn stated. Then, he felt the little kick and roll inside him. He grunted. He put a hand to his belly.
"What?" Broadway asked.
"It moved. I think it's saying it's happy to be home too." Brooklyn smiled.
"Can we feel it?" Lexington asked.
Brooklyn felt a little personal about it, but he was so happy to be reunited with his clan that he was happy to oblige.
The baby was moving around inside of him right now, probably because it was just hungry. Goliath and Hudson stayed out of it, but let the three younger ones experience the joy of feeling the child move.
"It's incredible that you can feel it move inside you. I know I won't be able to feel a child move inside me whenever I get pregnant in my first breeding season." Angela admitted.
"Sorry about that." Brooklyn said. "But at least we are getting some new blood into our clan soon. We'll all be busy teaching her things."
"What makes you think it's a girl, Brooklyn?" Broadway asked.
"I don't know. I just feel it."
"It would be nice to have another female around." Angela said.
"We'll just have to wait and see."
Soon, it was time for the sun to rise. Brooklyn went to his room while the clan went to the parapets for their daily sleep. After sunrise had come and gone, David and Owen went to Brooklyn's room to see what he looked like since he had been gone for over two months.
His stomach was indeed bigger.
"How much longer do you think, Owen?" David asked. "Before it's time for him to have his baby?"
"If it's anything like a human pregnancy, three or four more months, Mr. Xanatos." Owen replied.
"It's just good he's back. Now his clan can resume a more calmer outcome." David hoped for.
"Let's hope so, sir. Yeah, it hasn't been easy on them while he was gone. But we must keep on a lookout for the kidnappers again, after what they pulled last time to get him." Owen stated.
"Yes. We'll be watching for that." David said smugly.
After that, Owen went on his way while David went to talk to Fox about things that Brooklyn would need for the baby.
"We could just let him use Alex's old crib for the baby to lay in. He could decorate it how he wants to." Fox suggested. "Since he now sleeps in a big boy bed."
"Good idea. I'm sure his clan would want to help out with getting the baby some things too, to be a part of its life as well, to celebrate it coming." the man stated.
Fox agreed.
David also called Elisa and talked to her about it. She was tired from her night's shift, but would gladly talk to him about it later. But she did think it was a good idea. Her red friend would need some supplies for the baby.
….
That night, Elisa came to the castle to have a celebration meal with the clan that Brooklyn was back. She gave him some hugs and kisses to just welcome him back.
Brooklyn was loving this reunion. His clan was always glad to see him if he had gotten into trouble before, but this had been the first time he had been gone for over a month. He was happy for all the attention his friends were giving him and the baby.
The mutates had also been invited too for the meal when they had heard that he was back. It was quite a meal too. Winston was also there as well.
Winston was happy that the baby seemed to be alright, and he wanted to do an ultrasound to just be sure the baby wasn't stressed after such a long flight home. He also wanted to check Brooklyn over too.
The exam was done after dinner was over. Constant ultrasounds seemed so annoying to the pregnant gargoyle by now, but knew they were necessary for awhile longer. Just a few more months that seemed like they were just dragging on and not wanting to get through fast enough for the baby to get near its birthday.
Winston was also happy to be invited to a baby shower for Brooklyn.
David had told everyone in private that there would be a surprise baby shower held for Brooklyn real soon. It might be a woman thing, but with so few female allies, the males were welcome to come to this one. Brooklyn would need a lot of things for his little one.
The baby gargoyle would need some things similar to what Alex had had, so they knew about what some of the things were to get. The Xanatos' had plenty of money to help afford the baby shower.
"Hey, Angela," Brooklyn said.
"Yes?" she replied.
"I know you said that Princess Katherine who helped raise you on Avalon is an old lady now, but I was thinking of naming the baby after her, if it's alright with you, if my baby is a girl?" Brooklyn asked.
"That would be a great honor to her, Brooklyn." Angela replied with a smile.
"That sounds like a beautiful name, Brooklyn." Goliath agreed.
"What if it's a boy though?" Lex asked.
Brooklyn thought a moment. Then it hit him. "Malcolm, like the great first human we ever befriended back in the dark days."
"That's mighty thoughtful of ya, lad." Hudson proclaimed. He thought back to his old friend.
"We owe these humans our lives for being there for us. I know the princess saw us as an enemy up until the night of the clan's murders, but what she did for Angela and us just makes me feel honored to name my child after her, or her father." Brooklyn explained.
The clan was proud of Brooklyn for saying so. They too would be honored for his choice of name.
The clan stayed home tonight from patrols and just partied. They just wanted to have some fun and welcome Brooklyn back home. They hadn't had this sort of fun in a long time. Tomorrow, they would resume their duties. Elisa had had the night off too. She would be back to work tomorrow.