Disclaimer: Still don't own Gargoyles. I do, however, own Lex's 'true' brother and his brother's mate. Please don't steal them.

Chapter 2:

John stared at the couple. "What do you mean if? Of course you entered! You couldn't have won if you didn't!"

"Someone must have entered us without our knowledge," David said.

"But why?" Fox asked, looking between the two men. "We didn't enter because of Alex! We can't take on another child now!"

"I'm afraid we don't have a choice," David replied darkly. "If we refuse an orphan, what do you think the media will do to us? Going to jail is one thing, but turning away a homeless child is just plain cruel."

John cut in, "And besides, it's only for a week. What harm could it do?"

"Please don't ask that question," David groaned.

--

"I don't trust Vaden," Owen said bluntly as they drove home. He had stayed silent and to the side for the party, not much caring to socialize. No one seemed to mind. To the rich guests at the party he was nothing more than decoration.

"You've been saying that for years," David pointed out, undoing his tie. Fox let her hair down and shook it out. "Do you have any basis behind it?"

"The fact that you won a drawing you didn't enter," Owen replied. He slowed to a stop at a red light and glanced in the mirror at his boss. "And even without my Fey side I can still sense something not right."

"Hmm…" David considered the first point. "Alright, I'll send someone to keep an eye on him. Would that make you feel better?"

"Thank you, sir," Owen nodded.

The rest of the trip was spend in silence. When they reached Eyrie Tower they headed straight for Alex's room. They saw Lexington sitting on the floor, on the last page of his magazine, and Puck leaning back on a stool next to the cradle, making a few toys float circles in the air in front of him.

"Nothing exciting happened I assume?" David smirked.

Puck dropped the toys and sighed. "As exciting as watching a tree grow. I'd know, I've done it. Twenty years of my immortal life I'll never get back."

"He was quiet the whole time, then?" Fox asked, walking over to the cradle and pulling the blanket up on her son.

"The whole night," Puck fibbed.

"Except when Puck yelled at me because he lo-mmph!" Lex was cut off as his magazine suddenly jumped out of his hands and into his mouth. He glared at Puck, who gave him an innocent look.

David raised an eyebrow, but decided it wise not to push the issue. "Well, I guess it's safe to relieve you two. We'll be off to bed," he announced. "Oh, and Lexington? Can you gather the others tomorrow night? There is something rather important I need to discuss with everyone."

"Yeah, sure," Lex replied, pulling pieces of magazine from his mouth.

"Good night, Owen," David patted his assistant on the shoulder as he and his wife returned to their room.

"Good night, sir," Owen nodded, heading back to his own room. He was just removing his jacket when Puck glided in. "Is there something you need, Master Goodfellow?" he asked, not looking away from his mirror. Owen was the only one besides David that Puck couldn't startle, being able to sense his other half's presence.

"Yeah, a heads-up," Puck replied, sitting on the corner of Owen's dresser. "What's so important we have to have a mystical meeting?"

"We'll be taking in an orphan," Owen stated.

Puck looked at him in surprise. "Was it wise of them to enter the drawing with the castle's current…state of magical mayhem?" He was well aware of the orphan drawing, having attended the party the first few times when he and Owen were one.

"They didn't. We suspect fowl play," Owen answered, unbuttoning his shirt. "And I was under the impression you enjoy 'magical mayhem'."

"Of course I do!" Puck retorted. "I just don't think the human world is ready for it! They weren't even ready for Goliath's Clan, and they're rather tame."

"We're taking in a child, not the whole city," Owen pointed out. He sat on the bed, removing his shoes and socks. His stone hand wasn't as much of a hindrance as one would think, though only because he was quite used to functioning with it. "Though I see your point. I suspect Mr. Xanatos will ask you and the Gargoyles to keep a low profile while the child is here. We will also have to keep an eye on both him or her and Alexander." He glanced at Puck as the Fey considered all of this. "I'll take it Lexington has found out your dirty little secret?"

Puck cringed. "He's perceptive for a pigeon roost." He leapt off of the dresser and somersaulted into the air, landing gracefully in a cross-legged sit next to his human half. He then folded his hands on Owen's left shoulder and smiled impishly. "Though you say it like you don't feel it, too."

Owen looked at him in annoyance, plucking the Fey's hands off of his shoulder. "I wouldn't feel such things if you didn't," he huffed. He watched Puck warily, having intimate, personal knowledge of the Fey's love to tease those he cared for. And Puck had a special place in his heart for his human half.

"Oh, sure, blame the Puck," the Fey said overdramatically. "I'm an easy target!" He looped a leg around and straddled Owen's lap, removing the servant's glasses. "If you feel it because I do…" he drew his face in an inch from his other half's, "…then it must kill you as much it does me that he'll never love us back." He held his position there, letting it all sink in. Owen simply stared back with the same lack of emotion with which he regarded everything. Puck, however, could feel his human half's subconscious squirming. Satisfied, he gave his other half a quick peck on the nose before disappearing with a shimmer and a, "Tootles!"

Owen's glasses landed on his lap and he sighed, putting them on. He then moved over to his dresser and finished changing into his night clothes. He knew that Puck was right. It did kill him. And it was all the Fey's fault.

--

Lexington wandered into the TV room where Hudson and Bronx were, watching an old movie. He liked watching Alex, but he longed for company that wasn't sleeping.

"Ah, Lad, how is the wee one?" Hudson asked, turning the volume down.

"Alex is fine," Lexington replied, sitting in chair next to his elder.

"No trouble with the Fey then?"

Lexington hesitated. "No, not really."

Hudson looked at him suspiciously. "Aye, then what's between your teeth?"

Lex felt with his tongue, then spat out a piece of page 23. "Oh, that," he laughed embarrassedly. "It's just my magazine. I got in a little…spat with Puck."

"Do I want to know what over?"

Lex hesitated again. He wasn't really going to tell Xanatos Puck's secret. He was just teasing. But Hudson was old and wise and wouldn't tell anyone else. "Well, I found out that Puck…well, he's in love. With Xanatos."

Hudson sat straighter and actually turned the movie off. Bronx gave him an indignant look but stayed silent, seeing that this was important. "I see. I can also see why ye're so interested in it."

"Yeah," Lexington looked at his hands. "It's just like then."

978 AD:

The Wyvern Clan of Gargoyles gathered anxiously at the rookery entrance. Everyone had heard that two of the eggs were hatching and wanted a look. Lexington, though then none of them were yet named but Goliath, was with his rookery brothers in the front. He had to be, since he was the smallest and couldn't see over the others.

For what felt like forever, they anxiously waited for the emergence of Hudson and one the eldest female of the clan. It was tradition that the eldest male and female be the ones to greet the hatchlings. Finally, they came out from the rookery, Hudson holding a newly-hatched Bronx, and the eldest female holding another newly hatched female. The tension finally lifted and everyone seemed to cheer for the new, tiny members of the clan.

A few hours later, they returned to the normal pace of things. Many of the clan took to scouting around the castle, including his rookery brothers. Lexington preferred to stay behind and marvel at the various knick-knacks that were sprawled around the castle. Tonight's point of interest was a catapult, which was used to fend off the few invaders that appeared in Wyvern Castle.

Out of nowhere, a pair of hands covered Lex's eyes. "Guess who?" a familiar voice asked.

"Brother…" Lex grinned, knowing full well who was there. He turned around, and faced a Gargoyle very much like himself. The other Gargoyle was the only other in the clan like Lex, with webbed wings spanning from his arms to his legs. He also, like Lex, had no hair. He was a deeper green than the younger Gargoyle, though, and was much taller. This latter aspect was often referred to by Lexington as "just plain wrong".

The other Gargoyle was also the only one, though Brooklyn and Broadway were Lex's rookery brothers, that Lex ever truly referred to as "brother". This was because both of their eggs came from a separate clan than the rest in Wyvern. Their eggs came from a cousin clan of the Wyvern's in Russia, who had two of the Wyvern eggs in exchange for Lex and his brother's as a sign of respect.

"Shouldn't you be out with the others?" Lex asked him, leaning back against the catapult.

"Didn't our leader tell you not to play with the catapult?" his brother retorted. By 'the leader', he meant Hudson who hadn't given leadership to Goliath yet.

"Point well taken," Lex said sheepishly. "I can't help it, whenever I see things like this I just feel the need to observe it."

"I know, but if our leader found out you were touching the humans' machines again he'd have your tail," the other warned. He then softened at the sheepish look Lex gave him. "But…if he finds out, it won't be from me. Even if he strung me up by my tail and forced me to listen to your rookery brother sing."

Lexington snickered. He knew his brother meant Broadway. The beefy Gargoyle was notoriously bad at singing. Truthfully, Lex looked up to his true brother more than anyone else in the clan. He felt like he could relate to him more. The others didn't understand his need to take things apart, to see how they work. The Wyvern Clan was more about hitting things when they didn't work than finding out why they didn't.

"Darling!" a female voice called. A lovely Gargoyle, with red skin like Brooklyn but built more like Desdemona with black hair, landed by them. She took the older Gargoyle's arm and looked at him affectionately. She was his mate, and they seemed to love each other deeply. "Did you tell him?"

"Tell me what?" Lex asked. He didn't know quite why, but he felt a twinge of something akin to pain whenever he saw them together.

"I was just getting to that," his brother said. "After discussing with our leader, he gave my mate and I permission to travel to Russia and seek out our clan," he explained. "We are to leave tomorrow night, right after sunset."

"Really?" Lex was excited. See his original clan? It was like a dream. "And we're leaving tomorrow?"

His brother's mate chuckled. Lex hated that chuckle. It was the sound she made when she was about to treat him like a hatchling. He was hatched 20 years previous, when would she treat him like an equal? "You're not coming with us, dear." That simple sentence pierced Lexington like an arrow.

"What do you mean?" he asked. He looked up at his brother, who gave him a sympathetic look.

"I'm sorry, little brother. But it's simply too dangerous, and you're too young." This frustrated Lex even more. He hated when the female treated him like a hatchling. But now his own brother?

"I could handle it!" he insisted.

"I know you think that, and I tried to convince the leader that we could keep an eye on you. But he is staying firm that it wouldn't be wise to let you come along," his brother tried to reason. "I really am sorry."

"Come on, darling," his mate pulled at his arm. "We must tell the others as well!"

"Of course, I'm coming," he replied, smiling. "I'm sorry, little brother. See us off, at least," he requested. Lexington just looked away in anger, and his brother and his mate rushed off to find the next person to tell.

The next night, Lexington stood with the others again, but this time instead of greeting a life into their clan, they were saying goodbye. "Well, little brother," the older, Russian Clan Gargoyle said, putting a hand on his shoulder. "This is it. I promise I'll come back and see you, okay?"

Lexington didn't say anything. He'd been brooding over what to say to his brother for a long time, but couldn't think of anything. His brother sighed and hugged the smaller Gargoyle. "Goodbye, little brother." As soon as he let go, Lex could already feel a hole starting to form in his heart.

His brother's mate said goodbye to her clan members as well. As soon as they were done with goodbyes to them, they turned to Hudson. "Well, clan leader," the female said, smiling. She hugged him. "Wish us luck."

"Aye, lassie," Hudson smiled. "Good luck to both of you. May the wind be kind to you."

"Thank you," Lex's brother said, stepping up to the edge of the castle wall. "Well," he looked back at them all one last time. "Farewell, everyone." With that, he and his mate took off, gliding swiftly away.

In that moment, as Lex watched his brother leave, the pieces seemed to click into place all at once. The pain he felt in his chest when he saw his brother and the female and how much they loved each other. The hole he felt inside of him that seemed to grow larger the farther away he got. Lex felt like an idiot for not understanding it all until now. And he knew what he wanted to say.

"Brother!" he called out, hoping he could still hear him. He was in luck, as his brother looked over his shoulder. "I-" he stopped as he saw his brother's mate look as well. They loved each other so much. He couldn't tear that apart. "Goodbye!" he finally called. He saw his brother smile and turn back away, and the hole got bigger.

Present day:

"I still regret it," Lexington said, looking back up at Hudson. "Not telling him how I felt, I mean. But…"

"It's alright, lad, I know," Hudson nodded. "I'll tell you the same thing I told you when you approached me then. Ye did the right thing by letting him go. Loving someone means knowing when to let them go." Hudson at the time hadn't been surprised at the young Gargoyle's feelings for his Russian Clan brother. Though it was very rare, it wasn't unheard of for two Gargoyles of the same gender to be mates.

"I think Puck already understands that," Lex sighed, folding his arms against the arm of the chair and resting his chin on them. "He's already accepted that Xanatos is a happily married man and probably wouldn't have had feelings for Puck even if he wasn't."

"But…?" Hudson encouraged him to open up more.

"But…I still don't think I've completely accepted what happened," Lex admitted.

"There isn't anything ye could do about it now, anyway. That was over a thousand years ago, lad. I'm sorry to say it, but we don't even know if the Russian Clan survived this long itself." Hudson knew it was a harsh truth, but it was a truth nonetheless. And no matter how much Lexington didn't want to, he needed to hear it. After a moment, Hudson stood up, putting a hand on Lex's shoulder. "Come, lad. The sun will be up soon. We should meet the others. You'll feel better after a good day's sleep."

To be continued…