Goliath returns to the castle with the rising sun soon to make an appearance. He sees the others together on one of the turrets and he lands nearby. When the others turn to look at him, Brooklyn and Lex's injuries are immediately apparent.
"What happened?" Goliath demands stepping closer to his clan mates.
"We had a run in with Demona," Brooklyn snarls, his tail lashing through the air.
"Where did this happen?" Goliath asks.
"In Central Park," Lex answers, still upset by the memory. "She had me by the neck."
"If it hadn't been for that lady doctor, Demona might have killed Lex," Broadway adds and Brooklyn and Lex both cringe.
"Lady doctor?" Goliath questions, the sound of disapproval in his voice.
"Yeah, the one that fixed Brooklyn's wing," Broadway clarifies and Goliath glares at the two injured males.
"We will discuss this at sunset," Goliath growls just before taking his spot on the wall.
The others follow suit with Brooklyn taking the spot right next to Goliath.
"Goliath, there's something you should know," Brooklyn reluctantly says, keeping his voice down so the others won't hear.
"What's that?" Goliath replies, a bit of a growl still in his voice.
"I think Gwen knows Demona," Brooklyn states and the look of surprise gets frozen to Goliath's face with the morning's first light.
He knows he's only got a little time before he has to leave to be at the theater for the Sunday matinee show. So he's just going to pop in, get the Cliff notes version of her date and then off he'll be. He knocks first and when there's no answer, he lets himself in with his key.
"Gwen?" he calls, doing a quick look around the apparently empty apartment for her.
He doesn't hear her shower going and the bathroom door is open, so he knows she's not in the bathroom. He quietly slips in, smiling to himself that she might have finally gotten her breakfast in bed. He closes the door behind himself and goes to check one last place, hoping he won't find her. With a disappointed sigh, he finds a Gwen sized lump under the covers of her bed.
"Really, sugar, it's nearly noon," he grumbles as he gently pokes her. "Wake up. I need some juicy tidbits about your date with John before I go to work."
She is either ignoring him or is really asleep. He pokes her again with the same result and he does a quick check to make sure that not only is she really in the pile of bed clothes but that she's breathing. Once he's sure she's just sleeping, he grabs hold of her foot and gives it a good shaking.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH," she shrieks at the top of her lungs, instantly wide awake and in a great deal of pain.
She grabs her foot and curls protectively around it as she whimpers and cries in agonizing pain. It feels like her foot is on fire and the searing pain travels up her leg leaving no room for coherent thought. It's not until the pain is down to just throbbing in her foot is she able to take in her surroundings. Lars is holding and rocking her as one would a child and she wishes it was another strong man she knows doing this before she gives herself a mental smack.
"Why are you here, Lars?" she asks, sniffing and wiping the tears from her cheeks.
"I came by to see how your date went," he answers as he slides her off of his lap. "What happened to your foot?"
"I stepped on a piece of glass and had to get stitches put into it," she replies, whimpering when she accidentally bangs her foot on the bed.
"What happened to your shoe?" he asks.
"I threw it at an evil das miststück gargoyle," she explains as she tries to crawl back under the covers."A what gargoyle?" he questions. "Never mind, I think I can figure it out. I thought gargoyles were good guys."
"Most humans are good people, but there's an occasional rotten apple in the barrel," she points out while she carefully snuggles back under the blankets. "Gargoyles are no different."
"How'd you know this one is evil?" he inquires as he easily gets to his feet when she pushes him off of her bed.
"She had Lex by the throat and was saying that she was doing it to get back at Goliath for all of the humiliation and whatnot he's caused her," she tells him and lets out a huge yawn. "Now go away. I want to sleep."
"Have you eaten?" he demands, hands firmly planted on hips.
"Not hungry," she grumbles as she lies down and gets as comfortable as possible.
"When did you last eat?" he questions, with no intentions of going anywhere.
"Dinner," she mumbles as she closes her eyes. "Go away, Lars, I'm tired."
He glares at her, silently daring her to fall asleep again and to his amazement, she does. He heads out and as he's passing the kitchen he notices a couple of white prescription bottles and a pair of crutches that he somehow missed before. He picks them up and reads the labels, finding that she's on some serious pain killers and antibiotics.
He quickly rushes back down to his apartment and makes her a lunch of a sandwich, salad and soup. He returns to her place, puts everything in the fridge and leaves a note next to her drugs letting her know. Then he's off to the theater at lightening speed, knowing he's going to be late and the director is just going to have kittens, but he doesn't care, friends come first.
She's not sure exactly how long she's been asleep, but the need for a bathroom and food finally drive her out from under the covers. After taking care of her needs in the bathroom, she hops into the kitchen and looks at the bottles of drugs she's supposed to be taking. There's something extra there and as she tries to force her eyes to focus on the piece of paper, there's a knock at the door.
"Who is it?" she croaks and suddenly realizes she's very thirsty.
"Gwen?" Lars asks after quickly checking to make sure he has the right apartment and the door opens a short time later.
"Me Gwen," she says, pointing to herself before pointing to him. "You Lars."
"Ha ha, very funny," he retorts as he steps towards her and she has to hop backwards to get out of his way causing him to reach for her. "Here, let me help you."
"I can manage on my own," she grumbles irritably as she slaps his hands away, turns and hops back into the kitchen.
"I know you can, sweetie, but I just want to make sure you found the food I left you," he assures her.
"What food?" she asks, slightly appeased.
"I put it in the fridge," he tells her as he goes to the appliance. "Didn't you get my note?"
"I just got up," she replies and his jaw drops open.
"You've been in bed all day?" he asks in shock.
"I didn't get home until really late last night," she snarls as she hobbles over to the counter where her medication is waiting for her. "Now go away. I want to eat my food, take my drugs and go back to bed."
"Wow, you're cranky," he states in surprise.
"Ya think?" she snaps. "It's not bad enough I've sliced my foot open, but then my friend comes in and decides to wake me up by grabbing that foot. Be glad I'm too groggy to beat you with one of my crutches."
"Have you eaten at all today?" he questions, eyes narrowed.
"What part of 'I just got up' did you miss?" she growls as she picks up the first bottle and starts trying to open it.
"In that case, no drugs until you eat something," he states as he grabs the bottle out of her hands and quickly snatches the other one before she has a chance to move. "I read the labels on these earlier and they say take with food."
Before she can tell him where to stick it, the buzzer goes off and they both turn to look at the speaker on the wall.
"Who the hell could that be?" she demands as she starts hopping towards it only to have Lars beat her there.
"Who is it?" Lars asks in a falsetto voice.
"Gwen?" John's tinny voice counter questions.
"Hey, John, come on up," Lars happily replies as he pushes the release button for the building's front door.
"What'd you do that for?" she demands.
"Because if I can't get a report out of you how your date went, I might be able to get it out of him," he gleefully replies. "You might want to put some pants on, unless of course you want to send John the wrong message."
"In case you missed it, I'm not exactly the most mobile person in town," she snarls as she balances on one foot wearing not much more than her night shirt.
"Ok, fine, I'll get you some pants," he huffs as he heads for her bedroom. "But don't expect me to get you a bra too."
"You touch one of my bras and I'll tell everyone you're straight," she warns as she slowly and painfully makes her way to a chair.
"You really know how to hurt a person," he yells back as he briefly rummages through her dresser and then comes back out a few moments later. "You need help with these?"
"I can still dress myself, thank you," she growls as she snatches the sweats he offers her from his hands.
"Touchy," he huffs, her attitude starting to get on his nerves.
She just scowls at him as she gets her sweat pants on a bit clumsily. She only just gets them over her hips when there's a knock at her door. Before she can object, Lars opens it to John and lets the other man in.
"Hey, Lars," John hastily greets, not even looking at the other man as he brushes past him to get to Gwen. "What are you doing out of bed? You should be getting some rest."
"I would be if Lars hadn't stolen my drugs," she pouts.
"Why'd you take her drugs?" John demands as he turns on Lars.
"Because she hasn't eaten anything all day," Lars retorts with a huff, crossing his arms over his chest and eyeing the sling that John's arm is in. "I'll make you two a deal, I'll make dinner, but you two are going to have to tell me about your date in lurid detail."
"What's there to tell?" John questions with a one shouldered shrug. "She stepped on a piece of glass and I got attacked by some psycho monster."
"It's ok, John, Lars knows about the gargoyles," she tells him.
"Perhaps you should tell me how you know them," John strongly suggests.
"How about we all go down to my place and then we can have story time," Lars puts in as he comes over to Gwen.
"I don't want to go down there," she replies testily. "Walking isn't my strong suit today."
"That's why I'm going to carry you," Lars tells her as he puts action to words before she can object. "John, would you mind making sure her door is locked?"
With that, Lars sweeps out the door with Gwen in his arms before either of the injured people can protest and before they know it, they're down in Lars apartment having story time.
"I wonder what Brooklyn told Goliath to get that look on his face," Elisa quietly muses, looking up at her still sleeping mate.
"I don't know, but it must have been a whopper," Matt chuckles as the last rays of the sun disappear from the sky.
The detectives shield their faces with raised arms as stone shards go zinging past their heads. They brush off any stray shards that may have gotten caught on their clothes as the clan hops down from their perches. Goliath steps up to Elisa and gently removes a few pieces of stone skin from her hair and they smile at each other as Brooklyn and Lex get ready to take off.
"That's far enough, you two," Goliath orders, not even bothering to look at the two young males trying to make their escapes. "Tell me everything that happened last night."
"Everything?" Lex meekly asks.
"Everything," Goliath commands, finally turning towards them with his eyes narrowed.
Lex and Brooklyn briefly look at each other and then with a sigh, Brooklyn tells their leader about the night before with help from Lex, Broadway and Angela. The humans listen in fascination as the story unfolds and then they briefly look at each other.
"That explains the report we got last night," Elisa states, drawing the attention of the gargoyles. "It seems a Dr. Gwendolyn Knight and Mr. John Richards were attacked last night in Central Park by a red haired monster with glowing red eyes. Both were injured and were taken to a nearby hospital where she received seven stitches in her foot for stepping on a piece of broken glass and he received thirty-two stitches in his arm from injuries sustained from either claws or talons."
" Brooklyn says he thinks Gwen knows Demona," Goliath states, a frown creasing his brow.
"That's ridiculous," Lex scoffs. "How could they possibly know each other?"
"You heard Gwen, she was screaming something at Demona and she was really, really angry," Brooklyn retorts. "What human in their right mind would throw their shoe at Demona and then tackle her?"
"Why don't you ask her?" Elisa suggests. "The report said that she was driven home by one of the blue and whites after the hospital released her. I doubt she's going to be doing much of anything with a stitched up foot."
"That sounds like an excellent idea," Goliath replies with a nod. " Lexington, Brooklyn, come with me, the rest of you I want out on patrol."
"Yes, Father," Angela replies as she and Broadway immediately head for the wall and take to the air.
"Remember, lad, there may well be a good reason for what she did," Hudson cautions before he too takes flight.
"Would you care to join us?" Goliath asks, turning back to the humans.
"No, that's ok," Elisa answers before Matt can open his mouth and then steps up to the large Gargoyle to speak to him quietly. "Come by my place later to let me know how things went?"
"As you wish," he softly responds before turning to the remaining two gargoyles. "Alright you two, let's go."
A moment later, Goliath, Brooklyn and Lexington can be seen gliding away in the night and Elisa watches them just a bit longer then necessary. Meanwhile, Bronx gives a sad whine and plops down with his chin on the wall to watch for his clan mates.
"Poor guy," Matt mutters, watching the hound. "Left all alone up here every night. Maybe we should take him with us. Bet he'd be a great help chasing down the bad guys.
"No way," Elisa laughs as she heads for the stairs. "Could you see us trying to fill out a report explaining how or even why we brought him along? The chief would have our hides for sure."
"It was just a thought," he replies with a shrug as he follows her. "Speaking of the Bronx, maybe we should patrol that area tonight. There are some pretty seedy neighborhoods in that area."
"I don't think so," she snickers. "We're not just going to happen be in the neighborhood when Goliath starts grilling Gwen about whether or not she knows Demona."
"Hey, it's just a thought," he repeats and she just shakes her head as they make their way through the castle.