After making sure Elisa and Brooklyn safely make it back to the castle, Lex and Hudson land and are immediately greeted by a lonely Bronx. Lex gladly scratches Bronx in all the right places, happy to be home and back with his clan. He's so busy giving Bronx all of the attention that he craves that he almost doesn't hear the sound of approaching footsteps.
"Lexintoon," a happy little voice cries out.
"Hey, Alex!" Lex cheerfully greets, turning as the child toddles up to him. "How are you, buddy?"
Lex catches the little one as he trips and starts to fall, gladly pulling him into a hug. Bronx comes over and sniffs at Alex's hair causing the boy to giggle. Alex lets go of Lex's neck and then immediately falls onto Bronx, giving the hound's front leg a hug.
"Doggie!" Alex squeals in delight.
Bronx makes a few curious noises as he continues to sniff at the child and the boy giggles some more. The sound of a feminine chuckle causes the gargoyles to look up and see Fox staring down at them, amusement clearly written on her face.
"Ok, little man, you've gotten to say 'hello' to Lex, now it's time for bed," she says gently as she picks up her son.
"No bed," Alex protests, struggling in his mother's arms. "Lexintoon."
"Yes, young man, it's bed time," she patiently replies as she starts to head back inside with the small squirming body in her arms.
"NO! NO BED!" Alex shrieks, fighting even harder as they move away from the gargoyles.
"How about I read you a bed time story," Lex suggests as he follows the humans back into the castle.
"Lexintoon," Alex cries, reaching for his friend as his mother continues her journey.
"That would be wonderful," Fox sighs with relief as Alex stops struggling as hard as before, though he is still wiggling around.
A while later, Alex is in his pajamas and tucked into bed with Lex perched on a stool next to him reading to him Where the Wild Things Are. By the time Lex finishes reading, Alex is sound asleep. Lex climbs down off of the stool and quietly exits the room where Fox is waiting for him.
"Thanks, Lex," she whispers as she quickly checks in on her son. "It's been nearly impossible to get him to go to bed the past couple of nights with you gone. He's really missed you."
"I missed him too," he admits and then stares at the woman for a few moments. "Can I ask a favor of you?"
"Sure," she answers as she shuts the bedroom door. "What do you need?"
Sometime later, Lex finds Hudson, Bronx and Brooklyn in the TV room watching a late night movie. Lex looks over at Brooklyn and sees that he's still a bit groggy, but other than that he seems fine. So the small yellow gargoyle settles down next to his clan mates and watches The Creature from the Black Lagoon with them.
When the early morning news comes on, they know it's time to return to their roosts and so they file out of the room and back out into the cool open air. As they're settling into their normal spots, they see Angela and Broadway return, both looking very ragged. The couple lands on one of the farthest towers from them and the younger gargoyles turn towards their elder.
"What are they doing way over there?" Lex asks.
"They still have one more night, lad," Hudson explains. "It's best that they be stayin' far away from the rest of us for now. Come sunset, you two need to make sure you keep out of their way."
"Fine with me," Brooklyn grumbles as he scans the skies that are so close yet so far away from him. "Where's Goliath?"
"That is an interestin' question, lad," Hudson responds as he casts his gaze to the brightening sky. "I hope he found a safe place to sleep for the day."
The other two nod their agreement as the first rays of the sun put them to sleep.
Elisa wakes to a muffled thumping sound coming from the direction of her living room and a brief glance at the clock shows that it's only a little after 5:00am. As quietly as she can, she pulls open her nightstand drawer, unlocks the box in there and pulls out her gun. She silently gets out of bed and tiptoes to the door, carefully peaking out.
An extremely large, very familiar looking shadow stands on her balcony and almost soundlessly opens the sliding glass door. With a slightly frustrated sigh, she returns her gun to its box, locking it and stashing the key back under the lamp on the nightstand before returning to the living room, flicking on the entryway light switch as she goes.
"You know, Goliath, if you keep sneaking into my apartment at all hours people are going to start talking," she teases as steps down into her living room.
Her only response is a low grunt as he closes the door and turns towards her. The lighting is poor and all she can see is his moving silhouette as he takes a few steps towards her and then goes down on one knee with a moan.
"Goliath!" she yells as she rushes to his side and tries to help him.
She knows she doesn't have a prayer of picking him up should he completely go down, but she grabs his shoulders anyways. Her hands immediately slip off as something hot, wet and sticky makes it impossible for her to get a grip on him. She quickly reaches over to a nearby lamp and turns it on after several slippery tries.
She gasps when she gets a good look at him and she briefly looks down to see blood covering her hands. His body is crisscrossed with a myriad of what appear to be claw and teeth marks, most of them oozing with his blood. He looks at her with tired eyes, still breathing a bit heavily as if he's flown a million miles to get to her.
"My god, Goliath, what happened?" she asks in horror.
"Demona wasn't so easily dissuaded this time," he groans as he lowers himself all the way to the floor, wincing in pain.
"Let's get you cleaned up," she suggests as she heads for the bathroom. "Maybe we Gwen can sow up anything really bad. I can go and get her if I have to."
"No need," he whispers with effort. "It's almost dawn."
"Why didn't you head for the castle then?" she questions as she gets a towel wet.
"You were closer," he answers quietly. "Wanted to see you."
She doesn't know how to respond to that, so she doesn't. Instead she starts to clean up the blood that's smeared all over his body, being extra careful around any of the nastier wounds. When she finally gets the nerve up to look him in the face, he's staring intently at her and she can feel her face get hot. As she starts to drop her gaze again, she notices what appears to be a blanket tied around his neck.
"What's that?" she inquires, pointing at the thing.
"It something Hudson suggested I use," he states as he slowly reaches up to start undoing the knots holding the thing in place, but he's so tired he only fumbles with it until she helps him. "It's an old blanket to protect my neck. It made keeping an eye on Demona difficult while we were fighting, but it kept her from biting my neck."
"What's the big deal if she bites your neck?" she asks as the cloth falls loose into her hands and she can see the rips and tears throughout the blanket.
"When gargoyles mate, they get very…aggressive," he replies hesitantly.
"Do tell," she softly grumbles quietly, briefly glancing down to her left arm.
"The neck is a very sensitive area," he continues to explain. "If Demona had succeeded in biting me on the neck…"
"You would have mated with her," she finishes for him moments later as things start to click into place. "Demona didn't bite me on the arm to get rid of me, she was trying to get to you and I just happened to be in the way. Wasn't I? That's why you were biting me on the neck last night too, wasn't it?"
"Yes," he sadly sighs, bowing his head in shame. "On both counts."
"If Angela is any clue, female gargoyles aren't exactly thinking straight when they mate, are they?" she questions as she goes back to cleaning him up.
"No, they aren't," he answers, still staring at the floor.
"And I'm guessing the males are only slightly less crazy," she concludes as she wipes off some dried on blood.
"Only just," he agrees.
"So the only reason you and I nearly…," she starts, not able to bring herself to say it. "…is because of Demona and Angela rising to mate."
"Yes," he sadly admits. "I shouldn't have come here last night. I nearly forced you to…"
"Did it ever occur to you that maybe I wouldn't have objected in the morning?" she gently asks, as she carefully guides his face to look at her.
The shocked look on his face is very gratifying, especially since the first rays of dawn insure that it will stay there until night fall. She chuckles lightly as she kisses the cold stone lips before going to clean up the blood he left all over the place.
Gwen wakes and stretches with the first buzzing of the alarm clock. She feels a more refreshed then she's had in a long time since she got a decent night's sleep for a change and she lounges in bed for a few minutes, enjoying the feeling of being well rested. She remembers last night and how Brooklyn had called her 'friend' and that makes her smile.
With a contented sigh, she rolls over and lands on something hard. She quickly moves off of the object and with a bit of difficulty, pulls it out. It's the photo album from home and her good mood instantly plummets.
With a sad sigh, she climbs out of bed, returns her memories to her safe and then she goes to get ready for work. She moves around the apartment on automatic pilot, not truly aware of what she's doing. It's not until she's heading out of the building that reality comes crashing back down around her as apartment 1A's door suddenly opens with a bang.
"Knight!" Welker barks, standing there in her usual ratty robe and curlers. "Your rent's due!"
"Not until tomorrow it's not," Gwen snaps back.
The two women glare at each other until Welker finally slams her door shut and after scowling at the closed door for a few more seconds for good measure, Gwen finally walks out of the building. She's not sure if she's relieved or disappointed when there's no sign of Matt hanging around her front door. With an almost nonexistent shrug, she walks to work like she's been doing for three years. When she gets there, she sets out to have a day like almost every day in her life.
"Are you ok?" John asks from Gwen's office door, startling her slightly.
"Hmm? Oh, yeah, I'm fine," she lies as she quickly starts shuffling her reports around.
"Uh-huh," he grunts, staring at her as she tries to look like she's busy even though when he came in she was staring into space, tapping her pen on her desk. "What's going on?"
"Nothing, I'm just doing my reports," she answers, not looking up at him.
"Gwen, I've known you since the day you got here and I think at this point in time I know you well enough to know something is up," John states as he steps into her office and closes the door behind him. "You never leave early, yet all week you've actually been leaving at a reasonable hour. Maybe having a man in your life now is actually turning you into a real person instead of a workaholic."
"What man in my life?" she demands, suddenly looking up and staring at her assistant in surprise.
"The one people have seen dropping you off and picking you up from work," he replies blandly, all emotion removed from his voice. "And kissing you."
"Oh, for heaven's sake," she growls. "He's a friend of a friend and he only kissed the back of my hand. I've been helping a friend out the past few nights and that's why I've been leaving early. After tonight everything will be back to normal."
"So, who is this guy?" he asks a little too casually as he sits on the edge of her desk. "What's his name? What does he do for a living?"
"Like I said, he's just a friend of a friend," she answers irritably. "What are you? My father?"
"Just a concerned friend that doesn't want to see you get hurt," he replies as calmly as he can.
"I'm a big girl now, I can take care of myself, thanks," she snaps, getting very irritated.
"Ok! Fine!" he snaps back, practically launching himself off of his perch and roughly pulling the door open, finally reigning in his ire just before he leaves. "I'm just worried is all. I'll see you tomorrow."
He exits the office, softly shuting the door behind him and she throws her pen at the closed portal. She drops her face into her hands and takes a ragged breath, not sure what's come over her. She glances at the picture of her parents and brothers that sits on her desk and she can feel the depression welling up again. She lowers her arms onto the desk and lays her head atop of them before having a good cry.
A couple hours later finds Gwen still at her desk catching up on her paperwork. A soft knock at her door does nothing to interrupt the doctor's concentration and a cleared throat garners the same result as the knock. It's not until a hand is waved in front of her face does she finally look up, startled, at Tony who has a rather bemused look on his face.
"Oh, hi, Tony," she says, still blinking in surprise. "Is there something wrong with one of the animals?"
"No, the animals are fine," he chuckles. "However, there's a red helicopter with 'Xanatos' written on the side waiting for you at the Southern Ave. parking lot."
"Oh," she quietly replies, quickly trying to find a way to explain why Xanatos would be sending a helicopter to pick her up.
"I talked to Dr. Taylor earlier," he casually mentions, still looking amused. "It seems you brought him a very interesting patient the other night. You better get going. I imagine Brooklyn won't wait long after wakes up to spread his wings."
"I guess you're right," she chuckles while she starts to organize her reports. "Can you imagine what it must be like for him? To have the wind beneath your wings your entire life and then have it suddenly snatched away from you. I imagine he's about ready to go nuts."
"I imagine so," he agrees as he watches her.
She stuffs the unfinished reports in her bag and the rest are not so neatly put into a pile. She gathers her things before heading out and he makes way as she hurries past him. She dumps the reports onto the secretary's desk and quickly exits the building only pausing long enough to wave 'goodbye' to Tony. He chuckles in amusement at the young woman's energy and enthusiasm for her patients before collecting his own things and heading home.
A short time later, Gwen is hurrying past a couple security guys towards the helicopter and one of them reaches out and grabs her arm. She's brought up short and looks over at the man in shock as he glares back at her.
"Hey! This isn't your personal helipad," he growls at her.
"I didn't tell it to land here," she protests as she tries to pull her arm free.
"Is there a problem here, gentlemen?" Xanatos asks congenially and Gwen's actually glad to see the man.
"This isn't your personal helipad, buddy," the security guard snaps at Xanatos. "You can go tell your boss that he can't just have his lackey's landing that thing wherever it darn well pleases them."
"I'll be sure to tell him that," Xanatos replies with a smirk. "Now if you don't mind, my 'boss' has need of Dr. Knight's services."
"Fine," the guard snarls as he pushes Gwen towards Xanatos. "Just don't let this happen again or I'm calling the police and the FAA."
"I wouldn't dream of it," Xanatos says as he neatly catches Gwen before she can fall on her face. "Good evening, gentlemen."
Without another word, Xanatos escorts Gwen to the helicopter and helps her in. Just as she finishes strapping in, he climbs in on his side and starts the preflight checks. She watches the guards glaring at them through the windshield as Xanatos takes his time starting the chopper.
"Does it really take this long to start one of these things or are you deliberately taking your time to torment these guys?" she asks in a strained voice as she puts on her headset.
"Sorry," Xanatos smiles as he flips a switch causing the engine to kick in and the blades start to spin before putting on his own headset. "Fox told me that you weren't found of this method of travel."
"Which makes me wonder why you decided to do this to me again," she responds, her voice rising in pitch as the machine starts to vibrate.
"It was the more expedite method of travel to get you back to the castle," he answers calmly as he starts to lift the whirly bird into the air.
Her only response is a squeak as they start to rise above the trees and a few moments later they're flying over the high rises and sky scrapers of Long Island. After what seems to be an eternity, but is in fact maybe fifteen minutes, the helicopter lands on Wyvern Castle. Shakily, Gwen undoes her seatbelt and returns the headset to its proper place before nearly falling out of the craft. The second her feet are safely on the ground again, she's confronted with Owen and the hairs on the back of her neck stand up again.
"Please follow me, Dr. Knight," Owen instructs before turning and walking away, not even bothering to wait for an answer.
Seeing as she has no choice, she follows the tall man as best she can despite having much shorter legs that haven't quite recovered from the helicopter ride. She trots along behind Owen, glancing around at the wonders of a castle she's only ever read about. She's so involved with looking at the amazing job that was done restoring the place that's she's not really paying attention to where she's going and she slams right into the back of Owen when he stops.
She jumps back as if she's run into a live wire and just about every hair on her body is standing on end. A massive shiver runs down her body and she has to lean against a wall to stay upright. When she finally manages to look up at Owen, he's staring back at her with a frown of disapproval on his face.
"Sorry," she says, managing a weak smile.
"Your patient, doctor," Owen states, waving a hand towards the four stone gargoyles that have yet to awake.
"Thanks," she replies and he quickly vacates the area, passing her as he does so.
Another shiver runs down her spine and she swears that her goose bumps have goose bumps. She watches his retreating back and tries to figure that guy out. She hasn't had feelings like that since…but her train of thought is interrupted by the sound of stone cracking.
Author's Notes: My apologies for taking so long with this chapter. School's out so life's been a little more hectic than normal. Hopefully when school starts I'll be able to write more, but I'm not making any promises since with my luck everything will go to hell in a hand basket if I do.. I hope you enjoyed and please leave a review.