October 31

Halloween

Elisa, dressed in her newly purchased gold Belle costume, walked down the crowded street, arm in arm with her husband. Someday she was going to have to think of a different costume for Halloween, but it's the only one that worked as a couple with Goliath.

There were people everywhere. Adults, kids, families.

Lining the street were food vendors, Dia De Los Muertos souvenir vendors, game booths for the kids, and a band playing covers of popular music.

Elisa slanted a flirty look up at Goliath. "I love Halloween," She said with a smile.

Goliath smiled down at her. "It is fortunate that your captain gave you the night off."

Elisa made a face. "Gave? We had to have a talk last year. I offered to pull double shifts on any other holidays, but that I needed to have Halloween off. Luckily, she understood, and she's holding that promise over my head this year for New Years' Eve. Mom and dad insisted on taking Liam trick or treating in their neighborhood, and they're keeping him for the night. We have the whole night to ourselves."

"Well," Goliath chuckled. "Let us not waste the time that we have." He swept her into a dance in time with the band.

After the emotional roller coaster of the last few weeks, it was such a relief to be able to relax and just be together with her husband.

Even Matt and Pamela were here. They had come in pairs of oversize footie pajamas, like little kids and carrying their baby that they had dressed to look like a sock monkey toy. It was adorable… and Elisa was not going to let the opportunity pass to tease him about it on their shift tomorrow.

The whole clan was here tonight, as well, taking a portion of the night to enjoy the festivities.

Ironically, the most popular costumes were, once again, Gargoyles. Elisa wondered how the people would react knowing that the real Gargoyles were here and wandering among them.

In the spirit of things, they had improvised costumes for the evening. Angela has basically rolled in glitter, donned a white dress and glued on layers of feathers on her wings to make herself into an actual Angel. Broadway had chosen to wear his trench coat and fedora, and Lexington had layers of something black painted on to look like a bat. As far as Goliath, he had given in and allowed a large zipper to be glued to his back, just between his wings to give the impression of his being in costume.

Hudson and Bronx were spending the evening with their friend, Robbins.

When Brooklyn had discovered that Skyler had planned on being at the festival, he had opted to stay at the castle and monitor the communicators which was normally Lexington's job.

Over the last few days, he was growing more and more short-tempered.

For that reason, out of self-preservation, no one had mentioned that Skyler would be there with a date.

Once the song ended, Elisa and Goliath broke apart and began making their way through the crowd. Several times, Elisa had managed to spot the rest of the clan, and had even caught sight of Skyler.

Skyler was wearing a billowy pink gown, a tall crown and carried a large 'magic wand'. The dress had enough glitter to look like a disco ball, but she made an impressive Glenda the Good. Detective Travis had managed to scrape together an impressive Tin Man costume, leaving Elisa to wonder how he was managing to move in it.

Elisa frowned. Skyler insisted that they were here only as friends, but she worried that Travis was thinking otherwise. He was acting a little too protective.

"Elisa," Goliath gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze, bringing herself back to herself.

"Sorry, Big Guy," she said.

He followed her haze and frowned.

Elisa sighed. "I just wanted them to be as happy as we are."

He looked down at her and smiled. "I am not sure such a thing is possible."

Elisa smiled and placed her hand against the side of his face. "Probably not," she said.

She was just raising her face for a kiss, when the sound of squealing tires broke the festive atmosphere.

People began shouting, and Elisa saw that everyone was running in their direction. Goliath instinctively wrapped her in his wings to protect her from the unknown threat, and moved them both into the side of the nearest building to get out of the path.

Once it became obvious that they weren't in danger of being trampled, Goliath once again caped his wings around his shoulders.

Now that that the crowd was thinning, Elisa looked towards the direction of the noise and felt her breath catch.

A car had gone through the blockades that had been set up to keep the street festival closed off to traffic.

Elisa broke into a run towards the car, pushing through the fleeing people. She potted a pajama clad Matt running in the same direction.

Once the area was clear, Elisa had only a second to take in the scene. A large older style Buick had broken through, the front end was hanging in the air a foot off the ground. Two bodies were on the ground beneath it, one an adult and the smaller form of a child.

"Elisa!" Skyler's scared voice reached her, and Elisa looked at her.

Both her arms were pointed at the car, palms facing it, a faint green glowing mist encased her hands.

"Get them out!" Skyler screamed.

Elisa ranthen, stopping in a full skid on her knees, tearing holes in the delicate fabric with the force.

With Matt at her side, they grabbed the closest body, the adult, and pulled it from under the car.

"I can't hold it," Skyler cried.

The Gargoyles converged on the car as a single group, holding it aloft.

Matt grabbed the child and pulled him free as well.

Once both injured people were out from under the car, Skyler dropped her arms, eyes rolling back and collapsed.

"Broadway, turn the car off." She watched as Broadway reached through the window and retrieved the keys. Now that the wheels were no longer turning, the clan lowered the car to the ground. "Goliath," Elisa called. "Get Skyler out of here!"

Goliath hurried forward and scooped up the unconscious woman. He and the rest of the Gargoyles ran down a nearby alley, disappearing into the darkness.

This young boy was crying now, a good sign for Elisa, as she took over the assessment of the woman.

Elisa used her hands to stabilize the woman's neck. The woman was breathing, but Elisa could tell she was struggling.

"Has someone called 911?" Elisa asked in a yell. She looked up and found the Tin Man, still standing in his place on the sidewalk, frozen.

"Travis," Elisa barked. "Travis," She tried again. When there was no reaction, she increased her volume. "Detective Stephen Travis, snap out of it."

Travis's eyes suddenly focused on her. "Yeah, yeah…" he automatically took out his phone, but just stared at the screen.

"Matt," Elisa called out. "I don't have my phone," cursing herself for not having it on her, because she'd given it to Goliath to carry for her since she hadn't had the time to have pockets put in her dress.

Matt got to his feet and grabbed the phone from Travis. "Get it together," Matt snapped. He dialed the number, then returned to the child. "Don't move, buddy," Matt told the boy softly. The 911 operator answered in his ear, "This is Detective Bluestone, 23rd precinct. I have an MVA, Car versus Pedestrians with injuries at the corner of…"

Elisa tuned him out at that point, and focused on the woman on the ground in front of her.

"Elisa," Matt called, tossing her the phone.

She grabbed it out of the air. "This is Detective Maza, 23rd precinct. We have a woman who is unconscious. Definite head injury, open laceration on her face," Elisa reported. "Open fracture of her left leg, and a possible pelvis injury."

"And the child?" The 911 operator asked.

"I'm staying with the adult. My partner has the child," Elisa called out, "Matt," then tossed the phone back to him.

"It's me again," He said into the phone. "I have a boy named Shawn Arthur, age 6, lost consciousness for a minute or two, but has come around. The woman is his mother, named Joan Arthur. Age of the mother unknown."

Sirens and horns suddenly cut into the hush that had fallen the previously festive area. Elisa looked around and realized that many of the onlookers had made their way back now that the danger had passed.

"If anyone lives near here, we need blankets, towels, anything to keep them warm," Elisa called out. "If anyone here knows first aid, we could use some extra hands as well."

"I am taking a class right now," A young man said, walking forward.

"That'll work," Elisa said. "I need you to go check on the driver of the car. I'll ask you questions, and you answer, okay?"

The young man nodded, and hurried to the driver's side of the car.

"Are they hurt?" Elisa asked.

The young man relayed the rapid fire questions that Elisa shot at him.

No, he wasn't hurt.

Yes, he appeared to be in shock.

Yes, he was able to answer questions, but sluggish.

The young man raced over to Elisa then and whispered, "I think he's been drinking."

Elisa nodded solemnly. "For right now, keep them talking. I hear the sirens, so help is near. We need to keep him conscious."

The boy nodded, and went back to the car.

The woman began stirring, and Elisa felt the woman trying to turn her head.

"Ma'am?"

"Joan," Matt corrected her.

"Joan," Elisa said firmly. "I need you to hold still. You were in an accident."

"Shawn?" She asked, her eyes still closed.

"He's fine," Elisa assured her. "You both need to go to the hospital, but he is awake, and close by, okay?"

"Kay," She said, and went still again.

Blankets and towels were brought and used to cover mother and child, in an effort to stave off any of the shock effects that could be fatal in accidents like this.

The red and blue flashing lights began coloring the area, and Elisa breathed a sigh of relief.

Help was here.