Lex quietly shuts the door to Gwen's apartment and begins his journey back down to Lars' apartment. He thinks about their conversation, rolling what she did and didn't say around in his mind. He's so absorbed in his thoughts that he never sees it coming.
Gwen is quickly slipping into a state of mind that shuts everything out. It's the only way she can get her paperwork done and short of a bomb going off next to her, she usually just tunes out the rest of the world. Before she can totally become immersed in her work, what sounds like the biggest cat fight in history is going on out in the corridor and she knocks her chair over as she leaps for the door.
Goliath has taken to going through Lars' library in order to get his mind off of Elisa going to the hospital while Brooklyn continues to play video games and Lars works on his computer. Picking up a likely candidate, Goliath reads the summery on the dust jacket of the tome or at least tries to. He can't seem to keep his mind on what he's doing, all he can think about is seeing Elisa lying there with her face so swollen that she can't open her eyes and hearing her struggling to breathe. With a sigh of defeat, he puts the book back on the shelf and starts to pace.
Before he gets more than a few steps, Goliath hears Lex's roars of anger tinged with fear. In a heartbeat, Goliath is out the door with Brooklyn right on his tail. They follow the sounds up onto the second floor and find a tug of war going on with Lex as part of the rope. With all of the shouting going on, it's hard to hear what people are saying, but the scene before them speaks for itself.
There are two men in identical outfits each holding a poll with a lasso attached to it standing at the end of the corridor with the landlady standing behind them. One of the men has managed to get the lasso around Lex's neck and the second one is attempting to follow suit. Gwen has hold of the poll that has a hold of Lex in one hand and is pushing the other poll away with the other.
With a roar of anger, Goliath and Brooklyn are down the hallway in a blink of an eye. The landlady is roughly pushed out of the way as Goliath grabs the two men and slams them against the wall while Brooklyn destroys the two polls. Gwen quickly gets the rope off of Lex, but as she's trying to examine his neck, he leaps through the air and lands on Welker causing the woman to scream.
Gwen quickly follows the small gargoyle and starts trying to pull him off of the annoying woman. Lars gets there a moment later and helps her get Lex off of the landlady despite Lex's struggles. Eventually the two humans wrestle Lex to the floor and Welker beats a hasty retreat back downstairs.
"Lexington, please calm down," Gwen yells over the growling. "Goliath, please let them go."
"Why?" Goliath snarls back.
"Because they were only doing their job," she sighs finally releasing Lex when she hears Welker's door slam shut. "They're animal control. Welker must have called them."
"We aren't animals," Goliath growls turning glowing white eyes to the two terrified men.
"Sure, sure, whatever you say," one of them whimpers.
"Right, not animals," the second one sputters. "Got it."
With one final snarl of warning, Goliath lets them go and the men quite possibly break the four minute mile getting out of the building. With a sigh that a combination of relief and frustration she watches them go. It's only then that she notices Lars struggling to keep Lex in place.
"What's going on?" she asks as she walks over to them.
"That woman called those men to come after us," Lex growls as he digs his talons into the floor and drags Lars a few more inches down the hall. "I'm going to…"
"March your tail right back up to my apartment and let me look at your neck," she interrupts, less than amused.
"No," Lex snarls and he gets a little farther down the corridor.
"As much as I'd love to see you scare Welker right out of her hair rollers, it won't do any good," she responds. "All you're going to do is reinforce her belief that you're a dangerous animal."
"Gwen is right," Goliath states as he steps in front of his clan mate. "Going after that woman will serve no purpose. Go back upstairs and let her tend to your wounds."
"But…," Lex starts to protest.
"Now, Lexington," Goliath commands.
"Fine," Lex grumbles as Lars gets off of him.
Lex sulks back upstairs with Gwen right be hind him. Lars stands up and is confronted with a scowling Goliath. A quick glance over at Brooklyn shows that he's not looking too happy either.
"I'm guessing I shouldn't have held on to him, huh?" Lars bashfully asks.
"No, you shouldn't have," Goliath agrees, nearly growling.
"Sorry," Lars says. "I didn't know what else to do."
"Next time, leave my clan to me," Goliath states before turning and heading back downstairs.
Lars follows the gargoyles back down to his apartment silently, watching them as they move. From a dancer's point of view, they're not very graceful, though their muscles are just about mouth watering. But he figures from a vet's point of view, seeing such incredibly powerful beings up close must be breath taking. He idly wonders how graceful they are in flight as he opens the door for his unexpected, but not unwelcome, guests.
For the first time since meeting Gwen, he's glad of all the times she nearly talked his ears off about gargoyles. He's not quite sure how she knows so much, but with all the articles she's read and the shows she's watched, she must be one of the leading experts on them by now. Without her knowledge, he's sure he would have been on the wrong end of their ire long before now.
As they step into the apartment, Brooklyn heads back to the video game he had abandoned and Goliath returns to the bookshelf to stare at the books. Lars heads for kitchen to get himself something to drink and sees that there's a message on his answering machine. He hits the play button as he reaches for a glass and a second later Matt's voice fills the apartment.
"Hey, guys, it's Matt," the machine announces, immediately getting the attention of Goliath and Brooklyn. "Just calling to say Elisa's going to be fine. I'm going to call Gwen's place now. Talk to you later. Bye."
The sound of the line being disconnected is quickly followed by the machine giving the day and time and Lars glances over at the clock.
"Huh, seems we just missed his call by a couple minutes," he muses.
He turns to look out at the others and discovers he's talking to himself. He chuckles to himself as he goes over and closes the door behind them. He can distantly hear them charging up the stairs towards Gwen's apartment.
Gwen opens her apartment door just as the phone starts to ring. She quickly grabs the handset as Lex follows her in, sulking all the way.
"Hello?" she greets.
"Hello, beautiful," a man's voice at the other end of the line replies.
"Oh…uh…hi, Matt," she stutters as her face reddens, remembering what Lex told her about one of the invitations. "Here, talk to Lex."
She shoves the phone into the small gargoyle's hand and dashes into her bedroom. He stares at the device for a moment until the sound of Matt's voice jars him out of his daze.
"Hello?" Lex says tentatively.
"Hey, Lex," Matt responds. "What happened to Gwen?"
"She went to get her medical bag," Lex grumbles.
"Her bag?" Lars questions. "What does she need her bag for?"
"That miserable woman called these control people," Lex snarls. "And they put a rope around my neck like I was some type of animal."
"Who called what?" Matt asks in complete confusion. "Gwen called some control people? What control people?"
"Not Gwen, that Welker woman," Lex growls as someone bangs on the door.
"Who is it?" Gwen calls out as she walks back into the room.
"Goliath," Goliath yells back.
Gwen opens the door and Goliath and Brooklyn come in. Goliath quickly looks around and sees Lex holding the phone.
"Is that Matt?" Goliath asks.
"Yeah," Lex answers.
"May I have the phone please?" Goliath requests as he holds his hand out and Lex hands it over as Gwen herds him into the family room.
"Matt, it's Goliath," Goliath states as soon as he has to phone up to his ear. "How's Elisa?"
"Hey, Goliath," Matt responds. "What is this? Pass the phone?"
"How is Elisa?" Goliath repeats, letting his impatience evident in his voice.
"She's going to be fine," Matt replies. "They had to dig what looks to be bits of her shirt and jacket out of her arm and they say she's going to be sore for a day or two, but she should be as good as new once the bruising goes down. Can I talk to Gwen?"
"No," Goliath states quite simply. "Why did she go into that anaphylactic shock?"
"They don't know yet," Matt answers. "It could have been from the bits they pulled out of her arm or it could have been from Demona's saliva."
"If it was Demona's saliva and Demona finds out about it…," Goliath trails off, not even wanting to think about it much less talk about it.
"Listen, they want to run tests on her first," Matt states. "Let's not panic until we know for sure. Ok?"
"Your right," Goliath replies after a lengthy pause. "How is she doing now?"
"She's doing better, but they're going to keep her here for a while longer," Matt replies. "They want to make sure she's completely recovered before they let her go. When are you coming to visit?"
"I don't think that would be wise," Goliath states. "If people in a vet's office didn't like the appearance of a gargoyle, I don't care to find out how they would feel in an emergency room. Tell her that I won't be able to visit tomorrow night since I'll need to help keep watch over Broadway and Angela to make sure Demona doesn't interfere with them. She is probably still recovering from the bullet wound that Elisa gave her so she shouldn't pose a threat tonight."
"Is any one watching over them tonight, just in case Demona does recover?" Matt asks.
"Hudson is keeping an eye on them," Goliath answers. "I saw them take off shortly after I left with Elisa. Do you still want to talk to Gwen?"
"Yes, please," Matt says.
"Here, he wants to talk to you now," Goliath says.
He holds the phone out to Gwen as she finishes taping the bandage around Lex's neck. She looks at the phone like it might bite her for a few seconds before she tentatively takes it from him. She takes a deep breath and then lets it out.
"Hi again," she says, trying to keep the nervousness out of her voice.
Brooklyn and Lex both sit down across the room from where she's sitting at the table, looking for all the world like they're going to watch a really interesting show. At least they do until Goliath taps them on the shoulder and points to the door. With crestfallen looks, the younger gargoyles allow themselves to be shepherded out of the apartment by their leader.
"Hey, cutie, how are things?" Matt asks, sounding genuinely happy to talk to her.
"Oh, um, well things are ok at the moment," she replies, gulping a couple times to keep from hyperventilating. "Brooklyn's wing needs another day's rest I think. There's still nearly a two inch gap between the bones and since there was about a five inch gap last night, I'm pretty sure come sunset tomorrow he'll be able to have the rig taken off. Of course that means going back to the vet's office to do that and then giving him a local so we can remove the gear, but he should be right as rain after that."
"What about Lex?" Matt questions in concern. "What happened?"
"Welker was being her typical prejudice self again is what happened," she nearly snarls just as a beep can be heard over the line. "Hold on a minute, I've got another call coming in."
"Ok," Matt reluctantly agrees and he hears her click over.
He stands there outside the hospital staring up at the mere sliver that is the moon. He tries to be patient, but it's a bit chilly out and the hand that's holding the phone is getting cold. Besides, he's not used to girls making him wait.
"Matt?" Gwen asks, startling him out of his reverie.
"Yeah, I'm here," he assures her.
"Listen I have to go," she tells him. "I'll talk to you later."
"Wait!" he yells. "What about Lex? Why are you hanging up?"
"Lex will be fine by tomorrow night," she quickly answers. "I'm sorry about having to hanging up on you, but my parents are on the other line and I don't get to talk to them very often."
"Oh, right, parents definitely out rank would be boyfriends," he jokes. "I'll talk to you later, beautiful. Bye."
"Bye," she nearly squeaks as she can feel her face heating up again and she swiftly clicks over to the other line. "Bon jour, Mama. Bon jour, Papa. Bon jour, Onyx."
"Bon jour, Gwen," her mother replies.
"Bon jour, moppet," her father responds.
"Bon jour, mon ami," her oldest and dearest friend greets in her rough gravelly voice.
Author's note: A little short, I know, but this seemed like a good place to stop, so there you go. My apologies for taking so long with this chapter, I've been working on 3 other stories so updates are taking a bit longer than normal. On the good side, one of those stories is now complete, so new chapters should be forthcoming a little faster now. Thanks for reading and please remember to review.