A/N: Aaaaaaaand, we're back!

Chapter 12: Interrogation

Owen was ignoring Xanatos. A task that had been getting increasingly difficult since Emily's call at dinner last night.

Xanatos had taken it upon himself to find out just who had called Owen and what had been said. Normally this wouldn't have disturbed Owen in the slightest. Xanatos was more or less easily evaded. If only they hadn't been on a plane...

"It was someone you really wanted to be able to contact you, or else you would have given them your office number." Xanatos reasoned. Owen neither confirmed or denied this, as the statement spoke for itself.

"And it almost definitely has something to do with the time off you took last month." Xanatos said. He said this so definitively that it was almost certainly a shot in the dark.

"Does it?" Owen asked, not taking his eyes off his work.

"It does." Xanatos answered.

Owen supposed that it wasn't an unreasonable assumption. Even looking through his own eyes the idea had merit.

"But what I haven't quite figured out is how all of this ties in with Puck." Xanatos added, knocking Owen from his train of thought.

Owen could suddenly see the downside of riding in a private jet. This wasn't a statement Xanatos would have dared to say if there was any chance of being overheard. Of course, there was the pilot, but he was in a secured cockpit and was only likely to contact them via intercom. The intercom made a noise for every action, so it wasn't going to give them away.

Owen actually paused to think about the statement. Initially he hadn't considered that Emily did have anything to do with Avalon or his life as Puck. Their first interactions when he'd had the necklace on had seemed to be total coincidence. But in the following weeks, when he'd hadn't the heart to let go of the necklace right away after missing her for so long, he'd noticed something. Even after he'd put his barriers up, and even when he wasn't feeling particularly flirtatious, or even that friendly, the necklace had behaved... oddly.

Whenever he was at the diner, the necklace had given off little... tugs of sensation. Just little annoying things that seemed like the magical equivalent of a fly landing on you. Something that forced you to recognize it was there. He was almost certain it was because of Emily, but he hadn't any solid proof of this. But she seemed to be the only consistent feature that he thought the necklace would respond to. It hadn't slipped past his attentions that she bore a remarkable resemblance to the brown haired woman he'd seen in his dreams. He believed that was why he was attracted to her.

So, in a roundabout way, he supposed that there was a connection to Puck buried in his motivations for asking Emily out. Not that he'd ever admit it, even so.

"The two needn't be tied to each other at all." Owen said, as if to answer Xanatos, after his moment of contemplation.

Xanatos frowned. As usual, and frequently with good reason, he didn't believe it. Whenever Owen deliberately kept something from him, it almost always had to do with Puck. The constraints of the contract said only that Owen served him, not Puck himself. Therefore Puck demanded autonomy, even if he couldn't get it as often nowadays. Owen wasn't going to tell him anything.

Owen looked at Xanatos for just a moment, then went back to his work when it was clear he didn't have anymore to say.

The rest of the flight was uneventful. Work was done, some business calls were made, and there was some minor turbulence as they got further east. But nothing of any note happened until the jet touched down in Manhattan that evening.

When the jet landed and they were making there way through to the more public part of the airport they were suddenly accosted by a slew of reporters. This, in itself, was perfectly normal and so they continued walking without missing a beat. No doubt news of the merger had made it to the east coast by now and the media was all abuzz.

"Mr. Xanatos, what do you have to say about the rumors of gargoyles being spotted during the day?"

"Mr. Xanatos, what do you intend to do about the property damage supposedly caused by the gargoyle identified as Lexington?"

"Mr. Xanatos, what is really going on?"

Anyone with a trained eye, who really knew David Xanatos, might've perceived the slight pause in his gait as he processed this information. There were a few strides made on autopilot before Xanatos thought of anything to say.

"It's biologically impossible for a gargoyle to be active during the day. No doubt this is the work of one of the better funded terrorist groups looking to discredit Goliath and his clan." He answered succinctly. By this time they were at the town car and he was no longer obliged to answer questions. He and Owen quickly slid into the car and motioned the drive to go.

"It seems we've missed something rather interesting while we were away." Xanatos commented, his casual tone belying the worry he felt.

"Indeed." Owen commented. Xanatos glanced at him and noted a peculiar look in his eyes.

"Do you know what's going on?" Xanatos asked.

Owen declined to answer.

A/N: Hope you enjoyed that. Next chapter(s...?) will be up really soon. Promise.