Elisa got back to the castle with just shy of an hour to spare until sunrise.
Skyler wasn't in the clinic. In fact, no one was at the clinic, so Elisa headed back to the elevators and rode them up to the castle levels.
She found the clan in the great hall. "Hey guys," She said coming in. "I'm sorry that I almost missed you. How is Skyler?"
"She's resting," Angela said. "She woke up for a few minutes after we got here, but was so tired that she went back to sleep."
Elisa nodded. "I'm not sure where all that power came from, but she hasn't been sleeping well, so she probably just needs some sleep."
"That's what the doctor thought, too," Angela agreed.
"But… how?" Brooklyn asked, still seeming overwhelmed. "I thought Oberon took all of her powers when he took the other Halflings' powers a year ago."
"I don't know," Elisa shook her head.
"Elisa," Margaret greeted from the doorway.
"Margaret? Did they call you in?" Elisa asked.
"Nope," Margaret grinned. "They hired me. Full time during the week, on call every other weekend, a benefits package that is not to be ignored, and," she dropped her voice, "the pay makes me regret not going into private medicine sooner."
"That good?" Elisa laughed.
"Better," Margaret responded. "Doctor James was more than willing to beat my current salary in order for those weekends off, unless a dire emergency comes up. He's enjoying married life."
Elisa blinked. "Oh, my god, I completely forgot for a moment."
Margaret shrugged. "You were a little busy at the time. Now," She turned to include the Gargoyles into the discussion, "Skyler is fine. All of her tests came back in normal limits, she's just tired. She told me that she hasn't been sleeping well, so I'm thinking that a few hours of uninterrupted rest would do her good."
Elisa nodded, "I will call Beth and see if she can take Liam to my parents for the day to give her some time off."
"She is more than welcome to sleep it off in the clinic. It's Saturday, so we won't even have regular patients until Monday." Margaret said.
Elisa frowned. "Wouldn't she be more comfortable at home?"
"Probably," Margaret admitted. "But it's close enough to daylight that the clan can't get to your place in time, and we'd have to wake her up to get her in and out of your car. I'd rather she just have sleep."
"Then leave her where she is," Elisa suggested. "She'll be fine here, and I'll let Xanatos and Fox know that she's here so they won't wonder why she's here."
Margaret nodded. "I'll come check on her every hour or two but I'm not anticipating any problems."
"Sounds like a plan," Elisa said. "I'll come by before work tonight and pick her up. In the meantime, I need to go find Owen."
Margaret raised an eyebrow at her. "The Xanatos stone faced, and somehow stone fisted, major domo with zero personality?"
"That's the one," Elisa said.
-{- -{- -{- -{- -{-
On his way to his perch for the day's rest, Brooklyn fought the urge to check on Skyler.
'Obviously, you lost the fight,' a voice in his head sneered, 'Because here you are.'
Just a quick check on her, and he'd leave, he promised himself.
As quietly as he could, he turned the knob on her room and peered through the opening.
"Come in," Skyler called out sleepily. "I know you're there."
Brooklyn almost turned and ran, then called himself every kind of a coward. He opened the door and entered.
"Hey," Brooklyn said, awkwardly.
"Hey," Skyler responded with a frown. "Not that I'm not happy to see you, but why are you here?"
"I, uh…" Brooklyn stuttered, "I wanted to make sure you were okay."
"I'm fine," Skyler said. "Just tired. You can go back to ignoring me now."
"Skyler," Brooklyn raised a hand in entreaty to her. He dropped his hand and hung his head. "I'm sorry," Brooklyn said, not wanting to meet her eyes. "I didn't want to hurt you. I was only trying to protect you."
"By breaking it off with me?" Skyler fumed. "Don't you think that should be my decision? I've been protecting myself since I was abandoned at 12 years old, from far worse than anything that could possibly happen to me here."
Brooklyn flinched. She had told him about some of the homes that she'd been placed in while in foster care, and he knew she truly believed that.
"You think you could, but…"
Skyler cut him off. "But what? I don't need protection. I need someone by my side that would support me. Do you think that you wouldn't be there to help me just as much as Goliath would help Elisa?"
"Of course I would try, but…"
"Just stop," Skyler sighed. "I'm too tired to fight with you about it."
"Look at what's happened to Elisa, for nothing more than her association with the clan?" Brooklyn insisted. "She's been shot… a couple of times… Kidnapped, basically held hostage, and gone missing for months. She's had to hide a good chunk of her life from her friends and family, with only a very few who know about us."
"And yet, she's still here," Skyler pointed out. "She is here, alive and well. She and Goliath have a relationship, a marriage and a family. Both would willingly throw themselves in front of a bus, if it meant saving the other one."
"Skyler, you don't understand…"
"What? What don't I understand?" Skyler almost shouted. "I talked to Elisa about all of this a year ago, before we started seeing each other. She told me all of the ups, the downs, the aging differences, the keeping secrets, the importance of not being seen for all of our protection… all of it."
Brooklyn was shocked. "You knew all of that?"
"Yes, because I wanted to know what all was involved, and to make sure that I didn't do anything stupid that would put you… any of you… in danger." Skyler sent him a look. "I'm not stupid."
"Of course not," Brooklyn said.
"But you make a decision like this, without even taking my feelings into consideration," Skyler said. "So, congratulations, I guess. I'm not your problem anymore," She said sadly. "It's almost sunrise, you'd better go."
With that, Skyler rolled over to face the wall opposite the door, effectively shutting Brooklyn out.
Chest tight, he turned and left the room, making sure to close the door behind him.