After making sure Lexington and Brooklyn are welcomed back into Lars' apartment, Goliath heads for the roof. As he passes Gwen's door he can hear her talking rather animatedly in a language that he can't speak or understand, but he thinks it's French. Either she's talking to someone else on the phone besides Matt or Matt has a previously unknown talent.
With a shrug, he continues up to the roof and gives a sigh of relief as the wind brushes past his face. Looking down at the same clock as the night before, he sees that it's barely ten o'clock. He shakes his head, hardly believing all that has gone on tonight.
He opens his wings with a snap and jumps off of the building. Within moments he catches an updraft and soars into the sky. Ever vigilant of another attack from Demona, he glides over likely areas that Angela and Broadway might have gotten to, figuring Hudson could do with a break. After several hours of searching, he decides to call it a night and heads back towards home.
As luck would have it, the wind just happens to carry him near Elisa's apartment building. Wondering if she's made it home yet, he decides to check in on her. Landing on her balcony with practiced ease, he opens the sliding glass door silently and steps inside the dark apartment. Moving as quietly as possible, he goes into her bedroom to check in on her.
"I have a gun," a voice warns him from the shadows.
"I certainly hope you're not planning on using it on me," he replies, slightly amused and a little bit worried.
"Goliath?" Elisa asks in confusion as she fumbles with the light on her night stand. "What are you doing sneaking around in my apartment in the middle of the night?"
"I wanted to make sure you are alright," he tells her as he steps closer to the bed. "How are you feeling?"
"Tired and sore, but other than that, I'm fine," she replies with a yawn as she sits up in bed, pulling on the bedclothes to cover up her front.
"I'm glad to hear that," he says as he steps up to the side of the bed and squats down beside it, staring into her face, refusing to look down and see what little she's wearing. "I'm sorry. I should have warned you about Angela and Demona."
"You think?" she teases and chuckles at his confused expression. "I'll be fine, Big Guy. Don't worry so much. We humans are tougher then we look."
He closes his eyes and bows his head as he lets out a sigh. He feels her small hand on the side of his face and he grudgingly allows her to turn his head back towards her. He opens his eyes again and looks into a pair of big brown eyes so full of love and trust.
"It's my fault you were hurt," he states as he reaches out and gently runs his talons through her soft hair. "I could have lost you and it would have been my fault. I would never have been able to forgive myself."
"But you didn't," she points out as she lets go of the bedclothes and cups his face with both hands. "I'm still here and that's all that matters."
She pulls him forward and gently kisses him. The smell of her and the feel of her warm lips on his sends a shiver from the top of his spine to the tip of his tail. He pulls her flush to him, wrapping his powerful arms around her slight body.
If the warmth of her lips was driving him crazy, it's nothing compared to what the feeling of her scantily clad body against his is doing to him. She circles her arms around his neck, holding him tight and he moans as he deepens the kiss. His hand cradles the back of her head making it impossible for her to pull back, but eventually the need for air forces her to turn her face to the side.
He continues to kiss her cheek, across her jaw and down to her neck where he nips and licks her. She gasps as anything that might have resembled sleep is quickly driven from her body. His talons slightly dig through her thin night gown while her body trembles as pain and pleasure battle within her and she lets out a small whimper.
"Goliath," she whispers and he suddenly freezes.
He tries to pull away but she refuses to let go so he reaches up to pull her off. She's no match for him especially when he accidentally grabs the wounds on her arm. She lets out a hiss of pain as he pushes her away, guilt overcoming him.
"Goliath, what's wrong?" she asks, trying to keep the pain out of her voice and only partially succeeding.
"I'm hurting you," he states as he quickly lets go of her.
"That's only because you grabbed my arm," she points out as she rubs the bandage on said limb. "You were doing something else as well. I liked it."
"I can't…we shouldn't…," he stammers, shaking his head.
"Goliath, what is wrong?" she reiterates, reaching for him only to have him back up into her dresser. "Why are you acting like this?"
"I'm sorry, I can't" he groans as he turns and rushes out of the room.
She gives chase, but by the time she makes it to the balcony he's just a shadow against the moon. She stands watching him soar away from her, ignoring the fact that she's wearing only a very thin shift in the very early hours on a late September morning. She watches him until he disappears into the distance. Confused and saddened by his actions, she returns to bed where sleep evades her.
A while later, Goliath lands in the courtyard of the castle where he's greeted by a very lonely Bronx. Goliath sits on a nearby rock and scratches the hound's neck as Bronx tries to climb into his lap. He sits there, lost in thought until Hudson lands next to him and only then does he look up at his old friend.
"How did it go?" Goliath asks, standing after giving Bronx on last pat.
"See for yourself," Hudson replies as he points up at one of the higher towers.
Goliath looks up and sees Broadway and Angela have returned. They stand with their arms and wings wrapped around each other as they gently and lovingly lick the wounds they inflicted on one another. With a sigh of relief that they're safe, he turns back to his old friend.
"Did you have any problems with Demona?" Goliath inquires as they start to walk towards the stairs.
"Nay, lad, all was quiet," Hudson answers as he pats Bronx as the hound bounds beside his friend. "How are things with the other two?"
Goliath proceeds to tell Hudson everything that has happened with the exception of what occurred in Elisa's apartment. He's still too embarrassed by his behavior to tell his former leader. He's not exactly sure what came over him to cause him to act that way, but until he figures it out, he's not about to admit it to any one.
"Seems you had quite the night then," Hudson chuckles as they make it to the parapet wall and the older gargoyle hops up. "But as they say, all's well that ends well. Come, lad, it's time to sleep. We only have to worry about Demona for one more night and then we can rest."
"Of course, old friend," Goliath nods as he jumps up onto the wall. "Just one more night and then we can rest."
No more is said as the first rays of the sun break over the horizon and the gargoyles are forced to rest. Xanatos and Fox emerge from the castle to look at the couple at the top of the tower. Owen and Alex appear a moment later to hand the boy over to his mother and to see what they're looking at.
"Interesting," Owen states.
"To say the least," Xanatos chuckles.
"I wonder what the gestation period for a gargoyle is," Fox muses.
"You could always ask Dr. Knight," Xanatos suggests, a knowing glint in his eye.
"You think she would know?" she asks, an eyebrow rising in curiosity.
"I think Dr. Knight is the foremost authority on gargoyle biology," her husband mysteriously replies.
"Just because she fixed Brooklyn's wing?" she questions. "How in the world does that have anything to do with how long before Angela has her baby?"
"Actually, gargoyles don't have babies," Xanatos corrects, neatly changing the subject. "They lay eggs."
"I don't even want to think about how much that's going to hurt," she moans in pity.
"Come, let's go have breakfast," Xanatos laughs as he steers her back into the castle. "I'm sure we'll know all about gargoyle babies soon enough."
BREEP BREEP BREEP BREEP BREEP
The alarm clock ceases its wailing the instant a hand slams down onto the snooze button. Ten more minutes, that's all she wants, ten more minutes of sleep. Of course, that's what she wanted half an hour ago too.
She cracks an eye open to look at the clock and after about a minute of staring at the dreaded thing, the time finally seeps into the functioning part of her brain. She's out of the bed and into the bathroom like a shot. Turning on the water in the sink with the intention of washing her face she realizes she's still in her clothes from yesterday.
Swiftly turning off the water in the sink and turning it on in the shower she strips and gets into the water even though it's still a bit cold. It's not until she's about half way through her shower does she realize that she never crawled into bed. She remembers putting her head down on the table to rest her eyes for a few minutes while she worked on her paper work, but nothing after that until the alarm went off.
She finishes her shower in record time, dashes out of the bathroom and into the bedroom, only partially dry and completely without clothes. She gets dressed as fast as she can, cursing the inventor of bras the entire time and then charges into the family room and nearly trips over Brooklyn. She belatedly realizes that the pair of gargoyles must have returned to her apartment after she fell asleep and put her to bed. A brief look around the room and she spots the spare key that usually resides with Lars, explaining how the two got into her apartment.
She smiles and gently touches their stone features knowing that tonight they return to their home. She sighs and goes to collect her papers, groaning when she notices that she only made it through about half of her reports. She grabs the papers and quickly shoves them into her bag before heading into the kitchen.
She moans when she realizes that her travel mug didn't get washed and the coffee maker wasn't set up last night. She gets the coffee brewing as fast as she can and then washes the mug. Just as she's rinsing out the mug, the buzzer to the front door sounds startling her nearly out of her wits. Grabbing a towel to dry her hands, she goes over to the intercom and pushes the first button.
"Yes?" she calls, quickly pushing the second button.
"Hey, it's Elisa," Elisa replies. "Can I come up?"
"Sure," Gwen answers as she pushes the lock release button.
A quick glance at the clock and Gwen starts creatively swearing in German again. She rushes into the bedroom to get her shoes on only to realize that she has no idea where the gargoyles put them. A quick search of the apartment finds them peacefully sitting under the table.
While she's trying to cram her feet into them, there's a knock at the door and she hobbles over to it. She opens the door while balanced on one foot and starts to topple over as the door swings by. A pair of strong hands reaches out and grabs her before she can manage to land on Brooklyn. She instinctively reaches out and grabs the arms that are holding her. Once she's upright again and fairly stable, she looks up into the smiling face of one Matt Bluestone.
"You're not Elisa," she states.
"Well, I'm glad we don't need to have you're eyes checked," he laughs. "And good morning to you too."
"Oh, uh, hi," she mumbles, blushing furiously and trying to ignore how good it feels to have his hands on her. "Where's Elisa?"
"Waiting for her partner to stop pawing the doctor so she can come in," Elisa calls from somewhere behind Matt.
"Just making sure the good doctor didn't fall onto Brooklyn," he chuckles as he carefully releases Gwen.
Gwen hops over to the counter and finishes getting her shoe on as the two detectives finally make it the rest of the way into the apartment. Elisa goes and checks on the gargoyles while Matt goes into the kitchen and inhales deeply at the coffee pot. Gwen finally gets her shoe tied and then goes over and pours the coffee into her still damp mug, quickly putting the cap back on.
"I'm sorry, I don't mean to be rude, but I'm really late for work," she states as she grabs her bag. "Der angsthase! I forgot to brush my teeth."
She drops her bag and carefully places the mug on the counter and then practically flies into the bathroom where the sounds of furious teeth brushing can be heard a moment later as the two detectives quietly chuckle. Gwen reemerges a few minutes later with fresh minty breath and her hair back into its traditional pony tail.
She picks up her things, snatches the spare key off of the counter and then opens the door, standing there waiting for the other two. Matt and Elisa take the hint and exit the apartment. Gwen locks the door behind her and then quickly starts trotting down the stairs, keys still in hand. She stops at Lars' door, unlocks it with her copy and puts her spare on his kitchen counter before swiftly relocking his door and now nearly running down the stairs.
She bursts out the outer door and sets a fast pace for work. Before she can get half a block she realizes she's forgotten her medical bag and runs back inside to get it. Several minutes later she's back out and trotting down the street.
"Are you done tormenting the poor woman?" Elisa asks as she leans against her car.
"I don't know," Matt muses with a smile tugging at his lips from his spot leaning against the building. "How many more times do you think she'll run back in?"
"Bluestone…," she warns.
"Alright, alright," he laughs as he pushes himself away from the wall and turns towards Gwen's retreating back. "HEY, DOC! YOU WANNA RIDE?"
For her part, she at least manages not to shriek and she only jumps half a foot into the air. She spins around and sees Matt grinning at her and Elisa just shaking her head and rolling her eyes. Gwen just stands there with a deer in the headlights look on her face as she tries to answer his question. On the one side, if she's late, Weisman will ride her back about being on time. On the other, if she arrives at work with Matt again, the rumor mill will really run amuck with stories of her new 'boyfriend.'
"Come on, you," he laughs as he gently pulls on her arm and drags her towards the car. "Let's get you to work."
"Oh, uh, that's ok," she stammers as she starts to tug against his hand. "I can walk."
"I'm sure you can," he agrees as he opens the door, pulls the seat forward, climbs into the back, pulls the seat back in place and drags her into the car all without ever letting go of her. "But this way you'll get there fresh as a daisy and not a wilted flower. And trust me; I like daisies a whole lot more than wilted flowers."
He finally releases her arm and gently strokes her cheek with the back of a finger. She's not sure if she's more shocked by his brazen behavior or his shameless flattery. By the time she's recovered, Elisa's closed the passenger door, gotten behind the wheel and pulled away from the curb.
A quick glance at Matt and she can see the self satisfied smirk on his face. She looks around for something to concentrate on other than his handsome features. She just happens to be facing Elisa when the other woman flips her long hair back over her shoulder and Gwen sees marks that she sure weren't there the day before. What's even more nerve wracking is that she's fairly sure she recognizes what they are.
"What happened to your neck?" Gwen asks, leaning closer for a better look.
"Where?" Matt asks, suddenly leaning forward.
"It's nothing," Elisa hastily replies as she pulls her hair forward.
"It looks like something was biting your neck," Gwen states as she pulls the hair out of the way.
"It's nothing," Elisa insists.
"Did Goliath pay you a late night visit?" Matt teases.
"Yes," Elisa mumbles as she sinks down in her seat.
"Did Goliath make those marks with his teeth or his talons?" Gwen inquires already knowing the answer and dreading it
"His teeth," Elisa answers in a small voice, her face turning bright red as Matt falls back in his seat laughing.
"Are you out of your mind, woman?" Gwen demands shocking Elisa out of her embarrassment. "You go to the hospital with the bite of one gargoyle and then you let another one use you as a chew toy later only hours later? You do realize that you could be allergic to gargoyle saliva, don't you?"
"It's not like I asked him to do it," Elisa snaps back. "And nothing happened, so I'm not allergic to gargoyle spit."
"The drugs that they pumped into you probably prevented another attack," Gwen states, obviously less than pleased. "Next time you decide to do whatever it was you two were doing, make sure you have an EpiPen on hand. I'm fresh out."
The tension in the car becomes thick enough that one could chew on it. Elisa pulls up to a stop light and Gwen can see that they're only a couple blocks from the zoo.
"Listen, I can walk the rest of the way from here," Gwen says as she opens the door and gets out of the car. "Thanks for the ride."
Gwen runs out of the street as Matt scowls at the back of his partner's head. He can see the tension in Elisa's shoulders and her knuckles are white from gripping the steering wheel so hard. He turns to look at Gwen again and sees her nearly running down the street.
"Next time, I'm driving," he grumbles.