"It's probably for the best," Broadway replied, deep voice quiet and even. Soon the three gargoyle and the three fey were waiting patiently for Roe to come. Twenty minutes past before Roe actually showed up. The three trickster heads shot up, sensing the sentinel mother descending. Roe's overly large wings were spread, one leg was bent and his delicate arms were bent at the elbow, slender fingers pressed together. Goliath and Brooklyn flanked both sides of Roe, and both were frowning.
"Hey, Brook," Lex said with a grin and a wave.
"Hey babe," Brooklyn replied, his own grin spreading on his beaked face. The three tricksters stared at them, but shrugged it off, all of them living to long to care. Goliath frowned, but aloud the two mates to greet, his dark grey eyes glanced at the tricksters cautiously, worried they do something. As the leader, he was the first to step forward to properly great them.
"Hello, tricksters, I am Goliath, leader of the Manhattan clan. May I ask who you are?" Goliath asked companionably. Raven stepped forward first, slightly grimed face, they'd expected the sentinel mother being protected by someone in the clan. They didn't expect the leader to come out with the sentinel mother, though it wasn't a complete shock.
"Hello, leader Goliath, I am Raven," The fey gave a short bow, Coyote was next.
"I am Coyote, as you know," Coyote also bowed. Loki was the only one that actually had a sincere smile on his face.
"And I, am Loki," Loki said, bowing deep, one arm crossed over his chest the other extended at his side.
"Loki? As in the trickster god with the serpent for a son?" Roe asked, peeking around from Goliath's large form. Roe had chosen looser cloths, manly for comfort, but also to hide his pregnancy. Loki straightened abruptly at seeing Roe, his grin widened gently, the others smiled as well.
"Why, yes I am. You know of my son and I, I'm so pleased," Loki said with a grin.
"Of course. The village I came from is stationed between the love twins Frey and Frejya and you," Roe replied. Loki's happy look became startled.
"Your from the Gods point village aren't you?" Loki asked, severely disappointed. Roe had been right there, and he could have had him. Roe nodded once.
"You have a serpent for a son?" Rome asked surprised. Loki looked at him dispassionately.
"Yes, though he isn't with me. Odin banished him to live in the seas and oceans. He surrounds the earth several times over and stuck there forever," Loki responded, mood souring.
"If you hadn't decided to use him for evil, monstrous things, he wouldn't be trapped," Roe told him calmly, quietly. Loki frowned, but just shrugged, anger obvious in his movements. Roe shrank back behind Goliath, not liking the display of anger. Lex noticed first and walked over to him, clucking out soothing noises. Goliath frowned, brow ridges furrowing almost angrily.
"May I ask what brings you here? Outside of seeing our sentinel mother Roe?" Goliath asked, a hint of a growl in his voice.
"We would like permission to court your sentinel mother," Coyote stated. The clan's eyes widened almost comically.
"But I've already chosen," Roe replied, biting his lower lip.
"Are you married to him?" Raven asked.
"Well, no but..." Roe was cut off abruptly.
"Then you're not taken," Coyote responded.
"But..." Roe tried again.
"So can we court him?" Raven asked, speaking over Roe and straight to Goliath. The giant gargoyle frowned, agitated.
"I'm sorry, but no. As Roe has explained, he has chosen a mate. Which, by gargoyle standards, means he's married." Goliath responded, voice steady, and surprisingly calm.
"Lets not forget to tell them that Roe's pregnant, Goliath," A voice sounded from above. The group looked up to see Puck floating above them, grin spread to the point of psychotic.
"Puck?" The three other tricksters chorused in surprise.
"What are you doing here?" Loki asked rather venoumously. He'd always been Oberon's favorite of the tricksters, always the strongest of the four.
"Oh, well, I was in the neighborhood you see, and then I felt this niggling little feeling in the back of my mind. Apparently some no fools were harassing my mate," Puck said before planting himself on the ground next to Roe.
"Mate? Wait, pregnant?" Raven asked, dark eyes widening.
"I tried to tell you, but you wouldn't wait and let me finish," Roe responded, blinking large moss green eyes at them.
"What does pregnancy have to do with anything?" Broadway asked, curious.
"By fey standards, if a couple manages to get pregnant, that means they're a breeding couple, thus pretty much married, be it forced or for love," Puck replied, still grinning. A slender arm wrapped around Roe's waist, a slender hand cupping a wide hip. Roe inwardly squealed and leaned into Puck's warm body happily. Puck's grin softened greatly as his face turned down to look at Roe's dark head.
'It's not like we cant force an abortion or adoption, and force her to have on of our children," Coyote growled, canine ancestry kicking in. Both Raven and Loki stared at him in shock.
"Actually, Puck got me pregnant first and I wont be force to do anything," Roe said, braver now that Puck was with him. He detested violence since his birth family died at eight, it terrified him to the point of fainting when it happened, though Demona was trying to teach him to at least dodge.
"So?" Coyote replied rathe smugly.
"The person who pops my cherry, is the only one allowed to fertilize my eggs," Roe replied.
"What?" The group collectively asked.
"It's a fail safe instincts that sentinel mothers have. The one who takes our virginity is the only one aloud to fertilize our eggs. End of story," Roe replied with a delicate shrug.
"Are you serious?" Loki asked. Roe completely ignored him and turned to Puck with a breath taking smile.
"Can we go home? I gotta pee, again, and I'm hungry," Roe asked with a pout. Puck snickered, but nodded, shocking the other three tricksters. Puck had never really done anything that wasn't worth something to him. They disappeared in a flash of green light. Goliath sighed and turned to the tricksters with a careful look on his face.
"I hope you enjoy your stay in manhattan, now, if you'll please excuse us, we have to leave," Goliath said politely with a bow. The three tricksters looked rather dejected, but understood. Pregnancy was a pretty big deal breaker for fey's, especially since there were so little actual breeding couples out there. The five gargoyles politely said their goodbyes and went back on patrol. Back at the castle, Puck and Roe appeared near a bathroom much to Roe's happiness.
"Thank you Puck, love you," Roe said before scurrying into a near by bathroom. Puck's smile gentled even more at Roe's happiness and his confession. Puck being worried, waited for Roe to come out of the bathroom, which startled his much younger lover when he came out.
"You waited for me?" Roe asked, green eyes wide.
"I worried. Are you alright?" Puck replied.
"Yes, thank you. For a moment, I thought you had a weird fetish," Roe replied teasingly. Puck looked startled.
"Weird fetish?" Puck asked. Before Roe could answer, Fox appeared out of nowhere.
"There you are. Puck I need Owen, my father and Mr. Vogel are for another visit. Father wanted to run something by me and Owen instead of David," Fox said. Puck raised a slender brow.
"Again?" Puck asked.
"Yes, please big brother?" Fox replied.
"...Fine, but Roe comes with," Puck said with a pout. Fox grinned and nodded. Both Fox and Roe watched as he slid back into being Owen, the grace of moving water over stone apparent in his movements.
"Shall we go?" Owen's voice was blank and monotone as he offered an arm to Roe. Roe took it with a grin and nodded, Fox grinned as well, happy to see her 'brother' happy.
"Yes, we shall," Fox said, her grin widening. It took ten minutes to get to the library where this meeting would be held. When they entered, Alex, who was being babysat by Renard, saw them first and he grinned and squealed.
"Mommy, you're here. So are you uncle Owen, hi aunty Roe," Alex said in a squeal, running over to hug Fox's legs. Fox grinned happily, and picked up her four year old son.
"Hi baby, hi daddy, Mr. Vogel," Fox said looking at each one in turn. Halcyon Renard still looked weak but he was doing surprisingly well as of late.
"Fox, its good to see you," Renard said, his voice raspy, but soft.
"You to daddy," Fox replied with a grin. Though they still didn't see eye to eye on many things, like Fox's marriage to David, they had managed to patch up most of it. Mr. Vogel stood silently behind Renard, calmly steady in this whole venture, especially when seeing his trickster double. His cool eyes watched Roe carefully, with an almost longing air to them. Roe noticed him staring, and thought nothing of it, and smiled warmly at him.
"Hello Mr. Vogel, how are you this evening?" Roe asked sweetly. A blush dusted across Mr. Vogel's cheek bones as he looked at the half fey.
"I am well Ms. Roe, and yourself?" Vogel responded, his blush crossing over his nose, but he did manage not to stutter.
"Please Mr. Vogel, call me Roe. Everything is going fine at the moment, we've just been preparing for eggs," Roe gushed slightly, almost squealing.
"Eggs?" Both Vogel and Renard asked in sequence.
"Yes, our clan will be having hatchlings soon. Breed season happened eight months ago, started in a pleasant accident. Now we're preparing for them to come in the next three months," Roe gushed happily, giggling at the fact that new babies were coming
"Three months? So it's a ten month pregnancy, that doesn't seem that long," Renard replied. Roe raised a ridge brow, still giddy.
"Actually a gargoyle pregnancy is sixteen months to three years. I just speeded up," Roe replied evenly, still smiling.
"How?" Renard asked, amazed.
"He's called a sentinel mother, sentinel mothers help breeding to happen, fetus development to go faster, and child rearing." Owen replied, monotone voice even, though both Renard and Vogel caught the warning in the tone.
"A life giver eh? Think you can heal me?" Renard asked brightly, almost sarcastically. Roe cocked his head to the side.
"I help make and take care of babies. I'm not a healer for the sick, though there are plants in the amazon that have healing properties," Roe replied. Renard gave a slightly bitter grin, but nodded all the same.
"I see," Renard responded carefully.
"I'm sorry," Roe said and renard waved him off with a grin, not really upset, knowing it probably wouldn't happen.
"So, daddy, outside this wonderful visit, what did you want to discuss, with Owen present no less?" Fox asked, breaking the slightly sad silence.
"I was considering allowing you to run my company, but only until Alexander is old enough to take over. Owen is hear, along with Mr. Vogel, as witnesses and to help draw up legal paper work if this should go through. I don't want your husband knowing about this, because he already has a big head and I don't want him thinking he owns my company as well," Renard replied evenly. Fox's eyes watered and she began to sniff happily. This meant her dad was starting to trust her more, which made her so happy.
"Really daddy?" Fox asked with a watery smile
"Yes, of course my dear. But I will still need time to consider it," Renard said with his own grin.
"Of course daddy, but thank you so much for this, I love you," Fox said, going over to her father and hugging him. Renard returned the hug happily, glad he could, and saying 'I love you to,'
"M-Roe, are you alright?" Vogel's voice broke the happy scene, though Fox and Renard returned to it rather quickly.
"Yes, Mr. Vogel, I'm fine, I just need to have a seat is all," Roe replied, rubbing his lower back as he winced. He felt the baby shift through the egg.
"Please, call me Preston, and here, you can have a seat," Vogel said, pulling out a seat. Roe raised his brow ridge again, and glanced at Owen who was glaring slightly.
"Go take a seat Roe, you need the rest," Owen said stiffly. Roe sighed and shook his head in slight dismay and went to have a seat in the offered chair.
"You know Preston, one would think that you were hitting on me," Roe said with a teasing grin. Fox shushed her father before he interrupted the discussion. It was obvious that Vogel had something for Roe, but Roe, being Roe, was pretty oblivious to it.
"Hitting on?" Vogel asked, dark eyebrow raised. Owen stiffened noticeably while Fox tried not only stifle her giggles, but idle wonder if the blond would go into attack mode. Alex and Renard snickered as well, trying contain their amusement.
"Flirting Preston, flirting, you know what flirting is. Oh Odin above, not again," Roe grunted.
"What's wrong?" Owen asked, voice becoming apparent with worry.
"Need the bathroom. I swear my bladder shrank in the bast eight months," Roe replied and struggled to get up. Vogel was quick to offer a hand and support his lower back with his other arm.
"Takk Preston," Roe said both hands going to his back and stretching. Renard was the first of the two to notice the baby bump. Roe was so thin and tiny, and he didn't need food as much as other gargoyle, his metabolism being disgustingly slow when it needed to be, as a result he looked like he was only four months pregnant. The slow metabolism helped sentinel mothers because if they ever needed to be on the run and hiding with hatchlings in tow, they needed to be able to give up food for the hatchlings benefit.
"Are you pregnant?" a nod," Congratulations Roe, who's the lucky father?" Renard asked, generally happy for him. Vogel's eyes widened in shock, disappointment creeping in.
"Takk, erm, thank you sir. Owen's the lucky father sir," Roe replied before scurrying off to find a bathroom close by. Roe missed the heart broken look that Preston Vogel gave his back, nor did he see Owen's smug one. Fox snickered, then went to working out a deal with her father that lasted the next three months or so, until the birthing began to happen. The females got to their assigned nesting areas and went to giving birth. Of course, the doctors were present, namely helping Elisa, who'd been in labor for two days, much to Goliath's panic and her annoyance. The doctor's assured him, several thousand times, that Elisa would be all right and that it was, for the most part, perfectly normal. Twenty minutes later, when their second child was being pushed out, the boy, his wing got caught on something and scrapped her insides. Elisa was in such pain she sucker punched Goliath right in the eye while Demona just walked in. The red haired gargoyle laughed for a good ten minutes while the doctors got the second babies wing unstuck. Both twins were a perfect blend of their parents, both with tales and wings and ten fingers and clawed toes. Both had black hair, of course, with Elisa's carmel coloring with Goliath's grey eyes.
Demona finally settled and went to help Angela and Broadway and stopping by to see how Roe was doing of course. Lex was helping Roe into a squatting position while Owen rubbed his back. Out of the gargoyles, Loittie was the first one to push out her egg, which was surprisingly small, the others, of course followed in due time. The clan was rather excited in the coming four months, though they were surprised that Roe and Owen's egg hatched three weeks later, instead of waiting with the rest of his rookery brothers and sisters. After a short debate, the boy's name was Nathan Leif Burnet and a promise that Roe would get to name the next one. Angela and Broadway had a little boy with his grandmothers vibrant red hair, his mother's and grandmothers coloring and his father's ears.
Sarah and Clancey had a little girl, who looked mostly like her father with her mothers wings and eyes, the twins, Ru and Lu, had boys, both a perfect blend of their parents, and Loittie and Rome had a little girl they called Belladonna who took after her grandparents. All in all, it was a pretty good start for the Manhattan clan, and hopefully, the next generation would have a better start in this modern world then they did.
The end