Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or locations from Gargoyles, those belong to their owners.

Author's note: This story takes place the summer following "The Journey", and though it ignores the comic's continuity, I'm using Fang's real name, revealed in Bad Guys #2.

Chance Meetings

Chapter 26

by Remtar85

For a few seconds, Daniel and Talon stood there in silent shock, looking at the stoic face of the tiger mutate. It was clear to them both that Claw had finished playing poker and taken notice of Talon and Daniel walking towards the holding cells, following them so he could greet his young friend, and he had heard their talk without them noticing him nearby. He had heard how Daniel was related to Fang, how Daniel covertly freed Fang, kept him hidden in his apartment, and though it was not mentioned, it was more than obvious that both of them had been omitting the truth from the tiger-man. Both Daniel and Talon looked mortified as Claw's gaze felt like it was piercing them.

"Claw, I..." Talon started to say, but the tiger-man raised a hand in a 'stop' motion, silencing Talon, then proceeded to take his notepad and pen, writing on it.

"W-we can explain, Claw, I... I swear!" Daniel said in a very nervous voice, but the mutate ignored them for another moment to finish writing. Then Claw tore the page from the pad and walked over, scowling as he handed it to Talon.

Talon took the note, then read it out loud. "You and I will talk later. I have to talk to Daniel first, in private. Leave." The panther mutate looked down at the distressed-looking child next to him, then back up at Claw with a pleading look on his face.

"Claw..." he started to say, but was once again interrupted by a fierce glare from the tiger mutate. Talon hesitated, then nodded, looking back down at Daniel. He give the boy's shoulder a gentle squeeze of support, then walked away. While he knew the tiger-man would never hurt Daniel, Talon could only hope that Claw wouldn't be harsh on the boy for keeping him in the dark.

Watching Talon walk away, Daniel was even more nervous. He had been dreading this, always hoping that Claw would never find out his involvement in Fang's escape and that he had been lying to him all this time. Now Claw had found out, in one of the worst ways possible, and the display of tranquil fury he had shown with Talon had Daniel's nerves very on edge. After Talon had walked around the corner, his footsteps starting to fade away, Claw walked towards one of the cells and opened the door. He looked down at Daniel, his expression having softened by now, and he offered the boy a hand.

"Claw, I'm really, really sorry, I didn't mean to lie to you!" Daniel said, his nervousness growing.

Claw's only response was to come over, reach down and gently take Daniel's hand in his own, then walk into the cell with the boy in tow. He sat down on the cot, patting the space next to him for the boy to join him, then took his notepad and began writing again. Daniel was still very nervous and worried, and though he hesitated at first, he eventually slowly walked over and sat down. He was quiet for a few more seconds as Claw wrote, but then he couldn't help but speak again.

"I... I just couldn't let Dad stay in that cell," Daniel continued, his voice cracking a bit as he explained. "I mean, he was my uncle that had disappeared, but I found out recently that he's actually my real dad. But he was gone for a long time, and I know he did bad things, he admitted it, but I wanted him back. I didn't wanna lie to you, you're so nice to me, and I hate that I had to keep you in the dark about it, but I was afraid that Dad would get caught and brought back down here and that I'd lose him again..."

Sensing that Daniel was just about ready to break down in tears, Claw stopped writing and put an arm around the boy, hugging Daniel to him in a reassuring way. Daniel's breathing was deep and quick, the boy struggling hard to not cry. He hated crying, as he felt it made him look wimpy and childish, and the fact that he was a pretty emotional boy made it all the harder for him to not cry whenever bad things happened. Daniel remembered that, back when his father was still a normal human, Fang would sometimes tell him that men don't cry, that instead they tough things out. So Daniel gritted his teeth and balled his hands tightly into fists as he breathed deeply, trying to calm down.

Claw held Daniel until the boy's breathing started slowing down to a more normal pace, indicating that he was calming down, then the mutate returned to writing. Daniel just kept his head down, for even though Claw had comforted him, he dreaded to read what Claw was writing, what Claw was going to tell him for what he had done. After a while, Claw finally finished, and he brought his notepad down, showing it to Daniel.

"Please don't be sad. I already knew it was you who had let Fang out and that he was staying with you, and now I know why. I'm not angry at you and you have nothing to apologize for."

Daniel was utterly shocked upon reading that, to the point that he thought he had read it wrong. After reading it again, and then once more for good measure, the boy looked up to see Claw giving him a gentle smile once again.

"B-but... how long have you known?" he asked.

Claw simply turned to another, much longer message he had written on the back of that page. "That one night Talon accompanied me to check up on you. You looked very nervous when telling us that your mother and stepfather were home, even though they couldn't see us where we were, so it seemed odd to me. And I remembered the night Fang escaped, you had excused yourself from dinner, then asked me to take you home right afterwards, and Fang escaped while I was taking you home; then later that night at the castle, he had a boy hostage, but we never saw the boy's face and we never heard any reports about missing children. So I put two and two together and figured out it was you. It helped that we had ruled out the one suspect from the Labyrinth, so it made sense to me that it would have been someone who doesn't live here."

Daniel was speechless. All this time he thought Claw had been in the dark about what Daniel had done, and yet he had, months ago, deduced what had happened. Daniel couldn't help but think back to that show his mother loved, Murder She Wrote, about a sweet old lady who solved murders by deducing the guilty party, their motive and the method of the murder, despite being a writer rather than a cop or a detective. Daniel was astounded by the mutate's keen deductive skills, and he felt a little more at ease now that Claw had assured him he wasn't angry, but the boy still couldn't help feeling guilty, as well as curious now.

"But if you've known all this time, why didn't you ask me or talk to me about it?" Daniel asked.

Having anticipated this question as well, Claw now turned to the next page of his notepad. "I didn't want you to feel pressured into saying or doing anything. I figured you'd tell me when you were ready to."

Daniel felt another pang of guilt but at the same time a rush of gratitude towards the tiger-man. "I... I, uh... gosh, I don't even know what to say right now..."

Claw smiled again, then wrote a new sentence. "You don't have to say anything. You did what you felt was right for your family, and you're a good son, protecting your dad like that. Believe me, this changes nothing between us. You're still my little buddy."

Daniel was silent for a few moments, then turned to face Claw, giving the large mutate a hug, which Claw reciprocated. "Thanks, Claw. I was so scared you'd end up hating me."

Breaking the hug, Daniel still couldn't help looking and feeling concerned. "But what about Derek? You looked really angry at him."

Claw sighed, writing again. It was another rather long bit of writing, which Daniel waited patiently for. "Yes, I am angry. I didn't know Derek knew about you and Fang, and I didn't tell him that I knew for a couple of reasons. I admit one was because I was afraid Derek, who's rather impulsive, would confront you about it and that you'd warn Fang, and he'd escape, maybe leave town. But mainly, I didn't want to get you in trouble with Derek, and I wanted you to feel comfortable enough to tell me, so we could all come together and discuss what to do then. I'm pretty sure that Goliath and his clan, and Maggie as well, all knew about you and Fang, and if so, that makes me as angry at them as I am at Derek. I'm guessing they didn't want to tell me because I'm quite fond of you and maybe they felt like I couldn't handle it. And honestly, I'm very insulted by that."

"Derek said you helped my dad do bad things because you were scared of him," Daniel said, feeling sheepish about bringing that up. "Maybe they were thinking about that when they decided to not tell you?"

Claw looked pensive, then wrote again. "Yeah, I guess that must be it. I'm not going to deny that I can be rather meek and mild-mannered, which Fang did take advantage of. But the fact that they're treating me like a fragile little thing, I'm not going to tolerate that. I won't be pushed around anymore, by anyone, and I'll have to make sure they realize I'm an adult who doesn't need to be sheltered."

Daniel nodded at that. "I'm really sorry, Claw. I wish I could help you somehow," he said, and Claw wrote once more to reply.

"It's okay, Daniel. I'll just have to talk to Derek about it."

"Okay. Maybe you should go do it now?" Daniel suggested. "After what happened, I don't think putting it off till later would be a good idea. I can wait around till you finish."

Claw nodded and gave Daniel a thumbs-up in agreement to his suggestion. Getting up, he walked out of the cell with Daniel in tow, and after closing the door, the two left the cell block, returning to the main area of the Labyrinth. Once there, the two of them could see Talon near the entrance to the kitchen area, looking troubled and fidgeting where he stood. And as Talon took notice of the two of them, Claw looked down at Daniel, gave him a little nod and left to talk to the Labyrinth's leader.

Talon remained quiet as Claw approached him, and once close enough, Claw indicated with his head for Talon to follow him. The two went down another hall, where several sleeping quarters were located, including those belonging to the three mutates. Not as private as the cell block, but it would suffice. As he stayed behind, Daniel sighed, not knowing what to do until Claw came back, and hoping that things between Claw and Talon didn't escalate into anything bad.

"What's wrong, kid?" a voice asked. Daniel turned to find Burbank, Hudson's clone, standing nearby, not having heard him approach at all. "Something happen between Talon and Claw? They both looked upset."

"Hey, Burbank," Daniel greeted the clone. "Yeah, it's just... a bit of tension right now."

"Really?" Burbank asked, Daniel noticing that the clone lacked the Scottish accent Hudson had the one time Daniel heard him speak. "That's odd, Claw was in such a good mood when he left the game."

"Ah, right, I heard that he was playing poker with you and some others. That's why I found it weird that he appeared so quickly over where I was talking to Derek."

"That's because someone saw you down here and went and told him, since most people here know by now that he always spends time with you when you come down here," Burbank told the boy. "I was beating the crap out of everyone anyway, so he figured he'd go hang with you, and everyone else gave up pretty quickly after that. But what happened that got those two looking so upset?"

"I... I can't say," Daniel said. "It's something private."

"Alright then, private it stays. I've never seen those two have so much as a little argument, so hopefully this'll turn out okay in the end," Burbank said, smiling at Daniel. "I think I'll keep you company till Claw comes back."

Daniel couldn't help but smile a little as well. Whereas Malibu was now quite friendly, outgoing and had a rather sneaky, "bad boy" streak to him, Burbank seemed to have a casual, mellow air to him similar to that of Claw. His now normal-looking eyes and warm smile only accentuated this, and Daniel felt rather comfortable now in Burbank's presence, a big difference from how he used to be scared of the clones. Whatever David Xanatos had done for the clones, Daniel was very glad it had happened.

"Thanks, Burbank," Daniel said. "So, are you some sort of a master at poker now that you can think normally?"

"Hehe. Yeah, I guess," the clone chuckled, casually stroking his beard as he looked a little pensive. "Not just poker, though. I've gotten really good at chess too. I've been beating pretty much everyone that plays with me."

"That's cool. So you're kind of like a game prodigy now."

"Well, I wouldn't want to toot my own horn," Burbank said with a smile of amusement, "but I guess there may be something going on in my head. I oughta start reading books, try other things, see how much my intellect extends now, besides being good at games."

Daniel nodded, and after a few moments, he suddenly asked, "What's four hundred and sixty-two multiplied by fifty-six?"

"Twenty-five thousand eight hundred and seventy-two," Burbank replied a mere two seconds after Daniel asked, looking surprised both at the sudden question and at his own rapid answer. "Well, damn. Was that correct?"

"Um... hold on, I kinda suck at math," Daniel admitted. As he had nothing to write with, he started trying to do the equation in his head, using his fingers while mumbling numbers out loud to help him out. "That's... that's the correct number. You got it right in like a second."

"Huh. Well, I'll be. I guess maybe I am smarter than I thought," Burbank said, then patted Daniel's back. "Thanks for helping me notice it, Daniel. Now I know I definitely gotta hit some books and see what more I can do."

"You're welcome, Burbank," Daniel said, happy to have made yet another friend down in the Labyrinth.

"Hey," a voice interrupted, and the two turned to find Hollywood joining them, the clone rubbing his jaw. "What'cha guys doing?"

"Trying to figure how smart I am," Burbank replied. "What about you? Something happen to your jaw?"

"Yeah," Hollywood grumbled. "Angela did."

"Angela hit you?" Daniel asked. "But why?"

"I saw her with Maggie and Elisa talking about whatever, so I..." Hollywood suddenly stopped talking.

"You what?" Burbank asked with both suspicion and expectation in his tone.

"I... flirted with her," Hollywood admitted.

"Ohmigosh, you didn't," Daniel said, starting to chuckle out the sheer surprise of it. "You were hitting on her so she hit you?"

"You actually flirted with the mate of the gargoyle you got cloned from?" a very amused Burbank asked.

"I thought I didn't have anything to lose, okay?" Hollywood grumbled. "And, ya know, she just seems more approachable than Delilah."

"Except that she hit you, so I know you didn't just flirt innocently with her," Burbank stated as Daniel tried to stop his giggling. "Come on, spit it out. What did you do?"

"Okay, fine! I put my arm around her shoulders and called her 'babe' and her instant reaction was to elbow me," Hollywood confessed. "I'm new at this flirting thing, I didn't expect to get my jaw unhinged."

Daniel and Burbank couldn't help themselves, getting a good laugh out of the situation. Daniel did apologize for laughing, with Hollywood sheepishly saying he learned his lesson and would be more tactful from then on. Daniel was rather amazed at how very different the clones were now from what they used to be, and though he had only met a couple of the gargoyles from the Manhattan clan, he knew what their personalities were like thanks to Claw filling him in, and it was also interesting to him how different the clones were from the originals so far. And as Daniel spoke to Burbank and Hollywood, he felt more relaxed from the stress he went through earlier, forgetting his worries even if for a little while.

To Be Continued...

Author's Extra Note: So here we go, guys, we finally got Claw's reaction to the big reveal, and it turns out he figured it out since all the way back in Chapter 10, one week after Fang's escape, at the same time Talon figured it out too, and without the assistance of the gargoyles that Talon had. Good thing for Daniel that Claw's still the big, lovable fella he is and doesn't blame him for what he did. But of course, it's not over yet, as Claw and Talon still have to talk and things look tense with them. However, that talk is going to have to wait, because next chapter we return to how Fang's doing over in London. There is still some time to go before we get Fang returning to Manhattan, so I hope you all enjoy what happens in the meantime. Thanks for reading!

Author's Extra Extra Note: I've had a guest reviewer mention a couple of times that Malibu should refer to Brooklyn as his brother, not his father, so I wanted to address that. Respectfully, I disagree. Malibu was created from Brooklyn's own DNA, not the DNA of Brooklyn's parents, thus Malibu is technically Brooklyn's son. Even Thailog refers to Goliath as his father, in a mocking way, so it's similar to how Malibu calls Brooklyn his dad just to bug him. My apologies, guest reviewer, but Malibu will keep calling Brooklyn his "dad" on occasion to annoy him. But I thank you kindly for your continuous reading of my story and hope you continue to read and enjoy!