The next night, Goliath told the rest of the clan that Brooklyn had attempted to kill himself last night and they all must be extra vigilant with him.

"Brooklyn seemed to be doing so well. I can't believe he would do that." Lex exclaimed.

"His mind is still disturbed, Lexington. It took everything I had to coax him back to his room and told him how we all feel about him. In these coming days, weeks, even if it takes months, we can't let him down. We must all make him feel like he is a valued member of the clan. He just got the wrong idea in his head that he wasn't needed." Goliath explained.

"Uh, Goliath, I have an idea." Angela spoke up. The males all turned to her.

"I know that it seems to him like we all have each other, but what if there was someone that needed Brooklyn?" Angela asked.

"What are you saying, Angela?" Goliath asked.

"He wants someone to love him so bad. I saw this movie recently where there was a guy who was traumatized from a bad accident, and he lost nearly all interest in life for a long time until he was given a dog to take care of." Angela explained.

"We have Bronx here." Hudson stated.

"I know, Hudson, but Bronx is more of your best friend. Maybe we need to go one step further and get Brooklyn his own best friend, since having a mate is out of the option right now. Could we find him an animal friend?" Angela asked. "Like a cat or something? Elisa has a cat."

"Come to think of it, you're right, Angela." Broadway agreed with her. "We know Elisa has Cagney, but he's Elisa's. If we get him a cat, it needs to be strictly his own. Maybe Elisa could help get him one."

"We would also need to talk to Xanatos and Fox about having a cat here in the castle." Goliath said. "But if what you are suggesting will help, we could give it a try."

Later, in David's office, the man agreed. "Yes, I know how animals can be of great therapy to help people heal from their past traumas."

"Could you find him a cat that needs him?" Angela asked.

"There are lots of animal shelters that have cats that need homes." Owen added.

"Maybe tomorrow, one of us can go get him one." David suggested.

"Does Brooklyn know you're going to get him a cat?" Owen asked.

"No. We want to surprise him." Lex said. "It might mean the most if Hudson gives it to him."

"I can do that when ye have the cat." Hudson smiled.

…..

The next day, Owen was asked to go to an animal shelter to find a cat that needed a home the most. He also asked if there was one that got passed over time and time again by adopters.

"I think we have just the one for you." The shelter lady said and led Owen to a cage that had a black kitten in it. "Her name is Salem. She is super friendly but because she's black, adopters just don't want her. She's the last of her litter of seven. Even her mom has been adopted. She was the only black one. Her mom was a calico. Salem is currently five months old. She's been spayed and current on her vaccines. But you must also make haste. She is also on the death row list."

"I will take her. She's for a very special person who needs some healing of his own." Owen declared joyfully. "We will give her a good home."

"Alright." The lady said. "Let us go fill out some paperwork and pay our adoption fee first."

They went to get all the paperwork and fee paid up front and soon, a black kitten was delivered to the blonde man in a travel cardboard box. "Take good care of her."

"He has a whole family who wants to meet her. They'll help him too. But she's for this person directly." Owen explained. "Thank you."

The kitten cried in the box on the way home, but it would be worth it to see a look of happiness on Brooklyn's face again. Owen also got some cat supplies as well from a grocery store. Food, litter, litter box, toys, a bed, dishes, scratchers, a cat tree even. Brooklyn would need all these supplies to keep his cat happy. For now, she was planned to live in his room.

….

That night, Lex stayed with Brooklyn in his room while they were waiting for a surprise.

Owen got Salem home a little after sunset. David and Owen got the supplies upstairs, but the cat was shown to the clan first.

"Oh, it's adorable." Angela smiled as she took her out of the box. "What's her name?"

"Salem. She's five months old and was on death row. She was passed over for adoption just for being black." Owen explained.

"That's awful." Broadway said. "I hope Brooklyn likes her."

"Why was she on death row?" Angela asked.

"So many animals get put down every day when they don't find homes. Pet overpopulation. It's just to make room for more animals. She had been there since she was born." Owen explained sadly.

"Glad you got her out then." Goliath said. "Hudson, you want to go give Brooklyn his special surprise?"

Hudson smiled. "Of course. Be glad to." The elder took the kitten into his arms. He hoped the red Second would like her. He went to Brooklyn's room.

Brooklyn and Lex were playing a card game on his bed in the room when Hudson came in. "Hey."

"Hey, Hudson. We're just finishing a game of Poker." Lex stated.

Hudson waited for a few moments. The kitten lay purring in his arm. He had his wings folded to hide her.

Lex ended up winning the game. Brooklyn glared. "I win." Lex smirked.

"I always lose to this stupid game anyway." Brooklyn sulked, crossing his arms.

"Don't be like that, Laddie. Just a game. But now, I have something for ye." Hudson said.

Brooklyn looked up at Hudson. "What?"

Hudson walked up to him. Brooklyn uncrossed his arms. He heard a strange sound in his arms as he perked his ears to hear it. Hudson unfolded his wings and holding it out, in his arms was a black kitten.

Brooklyn's eyes widened. He blinked in astonishment.

"She's for you, lad." Hudson declared. "She needs a friend to take care of her."

"Why me?"

"Because you need a special friend to hang with when we all get busy." Lex said. "We all talked and agreed. It was Angela's idea."

"Take her, lad." Hudson said.

Brooklyn looked at the little kitten's face. She had the cutest little green eyes. And that purr. He couldn't help it that tears came to his eyes as he gently took her from Hudson's arms. He took her against his chest.

"It was said that she was going to be put down too. She needed to be adopted fast." Lex said. "Her name is Salem."

"Why was she being put down?" Brooklyn asked.

"Just for being black. Black cats are the hardest to adopt out." Hudson stated. "What do ye think of her?"

Brooklyn looked at the little innocent face of the kitten. He had never had a pet that was exclusively his own before. "I like her, but we have Bronx." Brook spoke up.

"Yeah, but he's always with Hudson all the time. You need an animal friend all your own." Lex declared.

"She's all yours, lad." Hudson smiled.

"Thank you. But you know what cats need. I don't have any of those." Brooklyn said.

"There are plenty of supplies out here for Salem. We will put them together and put them in here for her." Lex stated.

"Thanks, guys." Brooklyn smiled. "She's beautiful." He started to pet the purring kitten, making her close her eyes, looking happy to be with him. Salem obviously had been waiting for her special 'person.'

The supplies were all soon added to the room to make it more kitty friendly. Maybe eventually, Salem would be allowed out to explore the castle, or she would just be kept in Brooklyn's room, or maybe one of the other rooms could be made into a cat room. But Brooklyn was going to take on the task of taking care of this kitten.

….

Back at Nightstone, as the weeks progressed, the embryo was growing well. Demona came in to see her child every night. In a way, she still felt like she was pregnant, just not carrying it herself. The embryo was turning from a little blob into more and more like a little gargoyle. The limbs were starting to sprout, even the limbs that were going to grow into wings.

Even though there was a piece of uterine lining that the embryo was attached to, Sevarius was also putting in liquid nutrition into the liquid to be absorbed for the embryo to get its nutrition as it grew. It was nearly similar to how it would be to a pregnant mom eating and the embryo absorbing food through the placenta.

Anton took notes every few days to see what was happening to the embryo. It was still too early to know if it was male or female without taking a DNA sample. It would be found out in a few months if it continued to grow and live.

Demona would talk to and smile at her child. "Keep growing, little one. There's so much I look forward to, to teach you things on how to be a real gargoyle." She would say.

As interesting as this experiment was, Anton still couldn't help but ponder if they should have just transplanted the embryo into its father instead. Putting Brooklyn through all those tests had been enjoyable for him and the men. Demona too. If they had needed him further, that would have been the best way to continue having him as a test subject.

But Brooklyn was gone now. In reality, they didn't know that Brooklyn was still alive. They would likely find out again in due time.

I had worked in an animal shelter myself and it's true, black cats are so hard to adopt out. I adopted a kitten from there, tough she's orange. There were some black ones her age, but they just had too outgoing and aggressive personalities and those were things I didn't want in a cat. My kitty is skittish of strangers but loves me. My kitty is an emotional support animal too. She helps with my anxiety.