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 30

by Remtar85

"Okay," Daniel said in a low voice as he peeked down the hall inside his apartment building. "It's safe, come on!"

Down at the other end of the hall, Tyler was peeking out the side and nodded; then he walked as quickly yet silently as he could, followed by Claw, the tiger mutate even more silent in his steps than the boys despite being so much bigger. The three met at the door to Daniel's apartment-which Daniel quickly pushed open, for it was unlocked-and the three quickly made their way inside, closing the door behind them.

"There we go," Daniel said as he locked the door and looked up at the mutate. "It's so much easier to sneak you in when it's two of us with you."

"Yeah. Between two sets of eyes and Claw's ears, it's easy to know when someone's coming," Tyler added as the three started making their way to the kitchen area, where they found Daniel's mother setting some napkins at the small, round dinner table.

"Hi, kids. And hello again, Claw," she greeted them all with a smile, which Claw returned while also giving her a casual, friendly little wave with a hand.

"Thanks for letting Claw come over for dinner, Mom," Daniel told his mother, looking very happy.

"Well, considering how much he takes care of you boys, it's the least I can do," she said while setting the last napkins by the plates. "And you did offer to pay for dinner with the money your father left you, so I figure we can splurge a bit."

"Yeah, might as well do something nice for everyone with this money," Daniel said, still smiling.

"So, Chinese, pizza, anything else?" Tyler asked.

"It's us four, and Claw eats a lot," Daniel pointed out, to which Claw grinned sheepishly. "How about, like, two large pizzas with a bunch of sides? Maybe even dessert."

"Sounds like it's decided," Carmen said as she walked over to the phone. "I'll call the pizza place and put in an order."

"Okay, Mom," Daniel said. "We'll go read some comics while the food arrives. Coming, Claw?"

Claw shook his head, pointing at Carmen, then signing with his hands that he wanted to talk with her. The boys then moved to Daniel's bedroom and took to reading comic books. And as they read, they could hear Carmen in the living room with Claw, having casual conversation. They didn't need to be present and read from Claw's notepad to know what they talked about, as Carmen's questions and replies clued them in. Things like hobbies, favorite things to eat, as well as just their daily life things.

"So, this is Claw's second time coming in here, right?" Tyler asked.

"Yeah, and I hope he comes over a lot more," Daniel replied, looking pleased.

"Me too," Tyler agreed. "It's really cool he can hang out here now. But, you know that when he comes back, Uncle Fang's not gonna like Claw coming here."

Daniel nodded at this, looking over at his friend. "I know. But I told Dad that I don't wanna stop being friends with Claw. And he did say he's gonna try finding a new place to stay, so if he does, that means Claw can come over to hang out without bothering Dad."

"Yeah, I get it," Tyler said, then they heard Carmen chuckle over something Claw wrote to her, and Tyler couldn't help but grin. "Hey, is it just me, or isn't it kinda starting to sound like Claw might become your new stepdad?"

Daniel was snapped out of the comic book he was reading. "Wait, what? What are you saying?"

"I mean, you told me that Auntie Carmen liked Claw from the start. She's invited him over, they had coffee, now they'll have dinner, and you can even hear her laughing back there while they talk," Tyler said. "Sounds like they might be into each other, don't'cha think?"

"Tyler, you're definitely reading way too much into it," Daniel told his friend flatly. "They just met last week. And while the idea of Claw being my new stepdad does sound pretty cool, I can't see him and Mom getting past being friends and nothing more."

"What if she's into the whole Beauty & the Beast thing?" Tyler suggested with a mischievous grin.

"Dude, stop," Daniel said, rolling his eyes. "It's not gonna happen. Mom and Richard are starting to get along again. They even went on a dinner date a couple of nights ago. And that's not even going into the age difference between Mom and Claw."

"What age difference?" Tyler asked.

"Well, Claw said it was okay to tell you," Daniel replied. "You know how we thought he's about the same age as my dad, or maybe younger? Turns out he's actually forty-three."

"Whoa, really?" a surprised Tyler exclaimed. "Man, no wonder he's so good with kids. Maybe he was a teacher? Or maybe he had nephews. What if he was a dad?"

"I've been wondering the same stuff," Daniel admitted. "But I'm not gonna ask him about it. I'm just gonna wait till he's ready to tell us more about who he was before he got mutated."

Tyler nodded and let out a sigh. "Yeah, you're right. But hey, now you got him coming here for dinner and everything. Maybe he'll open up more the more time he spends here."

"I sure hope so," Daniel said. "For now, let's just have fun tonight, and hope that Mom lets me go out tomorrow night and see if we can find a way back to the castle. I'm so jealous you got to go and meet some of the gargoyles."

"Yeah, I hope we can do that, and that you'll get to meet the gargoyles too. You'll see how cool they are," Tyler said, having already told Daniel days earlier about the gargoyles he got to meet, detailing Lexington's prowess at video games and their desire to play again, and Hudson's kind, grandfather-like personality.

A knock on the door and a call for delivery interrupted the boys' reading minutes later, prompting Daniel to get up, take the money he had already set on his dresser drawer, and meet his mother in the hallway, followed closely by Tyler. Handing Carmen the money to pay and tip the delivery boy, they then helped her gather up the food, and once the door was closed, Claw came over to help carry the food to the kitchen table.

The four sat together and enjoyed a big meal of two large pepperoni pizzas, breadsticks with sauce to dip in, chicken wings, and even brownies for dessert, and nobody was surprised that Claw ate the most. All the while they all enjoyed pleasant conversation, with Claw making do fine by just being able to nod or shake his head to say yes or no without needing to write anything. By the time they were all full, there were just a few pieces of brownie remaining that Carmen told Claw he could take home to give out to some of the kids there. The four then rested for a while to let their stomachs settle after the meal by watching TV together. Carmen tuned into Murder She Wrote, and Daniel was not really surprised that Claw loved the show since its original airings back in the 80's. Everyone had a good time watching, the boys having fun in trying to solve the murder before the episode revealed the culprit.

At around 9:30 PM, Claw felt it was a proper time for him to go home, and much like before, Daniel and Tyler escorted him out through the building's hallways, this time accompanied by Carmen as well. It was quite easy to go upstairs unseen, and hiding from one tenant returning home to his apartment had been easy as well, simply having the mutate duck down a hallway for a moment. The four of them found themselves up on the rooftop quickly enough, where Claw wrote a note for them, electricity sparkling on one of his fists to let them read it while he kept the box of leftover brownies in his other hand.

"Thanks again for inviting me to come over, everyone. I had a great time."

"So did we, Claw," Daniel told his mutated friend.

"It's really cool you can visit us for a change," Tyler added.

"I liked having you over again too, Claw," Carmen now spoke to the tiger-man. "It's not often I can have friends over for dinner. I'll let the kids know when you can visit again, and next time we'll have a home-cooked meal."

Claw smiled brightly at Carmen referring to him as a friend and offering another dinner invite. The three of them had made Claw feel very welcome, comfortable, at home, and just simply happy in their company. After they had done so much for him, Claw wished to express his gratitude beyond a simple thank you. He then wrote again on his notepad and, rather sheepishly but with a warm smile, handed the note over. And as all three read it, the two boys were very surprised.

"Claw, that's..." Daniel started to say, to which Claw nodded.

"That's so nice," Tyler said. "But why now?"

Claw wrote another quick note. "You've done a lot for me, and I just feel it's fair and you deserve to know. Especially Carmen, for being so kind and welcoming to a complete stranger who looks like I do, and for trusting me with you boys. I think this is a good step on just getting to know each other better."

"You're a very nice man," Carmen told him, returning his warm smile. "The more I get to know you, the more I see why the boys like you so much. So, you'll always be welcome here."

Claw looked positively delighted. After writing another note to thank them again and letting them know he was looking forward to his next visit, Claw waved goodbye and took off into the night sky. He felt very happy as he glided through the skies after this second visit to Daniel's home. The chance to be able to sit with people he liked in their own home, sharing a meal, pleasant conversation, watching TV all together. He liked and cared for everyone in the Labyrinth; they were his new family, and that was his home, but this felt different. It felt like what life used to be like when he was a normal human, before he ended up homeless, mutated and now living under the city-and being able to get that feeling of normalcy again meant a lot to Claw. He hoped these visits to Daniel's home could become a regular thing.

And as Claw leaped off into the night sky to head for home after Daniel, Tyler and Carmen bid him goodbye from the rooftop, it meant that the apartment was empty. Nobody was there to answer the phone, as it rang for minutes on end. And in London, Fang waited and waited for somebody to pick up, after having returned to the penthouse from hanging out with his gargoyle friends. For weeks he had hesitated to call, mainly due to the possibility of Carmen's husband being the one to answer the phone; Fang had finally decided to take a chance anyway, figuring that if Richard picked it up, he'd just hang up on him without a word. But after minutes of nobody picking up the phone, the mutate growled in frustration and hung up.

Fang sighed as he went to the penthouse's mini-bar and got himself a drink, downing it quickly. He was loving London so far; being able to walk around as he used to, spending time with new friends, and especially spending time with Cecily. But despite how much he was enjoying his time in London, Fang missed Daniel and really wanted to talk to him. Unaware that his son had just spent a most pleasant evening alongside his mother, best friend, and one of the people Fang disliked most in general, the mutate served himself another drink to try to shake himself out of a surly, forlorn mood. It didn't do him much good.

Much later that evening, in the Labyrinth, most residents were asleep, while others were out on the streets, and a few remained awake but doing quiet activities like reading, so as to not disturb those who slept. And as morning drew closer, a tired Talon readied himself for bedtime. Maggie had already gone to bed and Talon had finished doing his rounds to make sure all was well, something he did every night without fail and had been doing so for a long time now. As always, he checked on the clones last. Malibu and Hollywood were watching an action movie, though thankfully at a reasonable level of volume, while Burbank sat at a table filling out a crossword puzzle, and Delilah and Brentwood were both reading. Brentwood was noticeably sitting further away from all the others, for as his intelligence and independence had developed just as it did the other clones, Brentwood's personality had been revealed to be that of a quiet introvert.

Content that all was in order, Talon retired to his bedroom, Maggie fast asleep by the time he got there. Things had been quiet and peaceful for some time, but Talon always preferred to be safe rather than sorry. Fang having left the country with Sevarius for who knew how long gave Talon peace of mind, to an extent, relieved that the cougar-man wasn't nearby to cause them or anyone else trouble. He intended to keep his promise to Daniel of giving Fang a chance to prove he could change, but Talon still intended to keep a vigilant eye on the fugitive mutate, just in case; but as long as Fang was gone, Talon felt a sense of calm.

Yawning, Talon was about to get in bed, but before he could do so, there was a gentle knock on the door. The leader of the Labyrinth wondered who it could be at that hour, as most everyone was asleep and the clones had all been busy when he checked on them minutes prior. Opening the door, he found Claw standing there. The tiger-man had a beach towel over his shoulder, with his torso, wings, head and hair still quite damp from a shower, having focused on drying himself from the waist down first so he could put on his trunks and be decent as he walked out.

"Hey, Claw," Talon greeted him in a low voice. The two had not directly interacted since their tense conversation one week earlier regarding Talon not telling Claw about Fang's escape and Daniel's involvement and relationship with the cougar-man. Claw had not shown any hostility towards Talon, but had not really engaged him in conversation or the like, and Talon felt it was wise to not press the issue and just let things settle down naturally.

"Is something the matter?" Talon asked, to which Claw replied by indicating with his hand for Talon to step out of the room and close the door behind him, clearly so they would not disturb Maggie's sleep. Once Talon did so, Claw handed him a note, the edge where he held it a little damp from his fingers. Taking the note, the panther-man read it and was surprised.

"Roger Conway. 43 years old."

Talon looked at this note and understanding dawned on him instantly. He looked at Claw, who just gave him a little smile and indicated with his finger for Talon to turn the note over, which Talon did.

"I was doing some thinking before bed. I had a very pleasant evening at Daniel's, and well, I told my name and age to the boys and to Daniel's mother. I just felt it was the right thing to do, and I decided it's the right time to tell you as well. Feel free to tell Maggie, too. That being said, I'm still not ready to go into full detail about myself. At least not yet. But I feel this is a good start."

Talon looked back up to see Claw's smile was now a little wider and brighter, the tiger-man reaching with his right hand and giving Talon's left shoulder a gentle squeeze. Talon instantly smiled back and reached up with his own right hand, putting it atop the tiger-man's one that rested on Talon's shoulder.

"Thank you, Roger. This means a lot, and I'm happy things are good again between us," Talon said, then chuckled softly. "Is "nice to meet you" the appropriate thing to say here?"

Claw smirked and suddenly pulled Talon against him, giving him a firm hug. Talon protested in good humor, as the tiger-man was still pretty damp from his shower, and now so was Talon. "Hey! Hahaha! Stop that! You showered before telling me just so you could do this, didn't you?"

The panther-man resigned himself to his current state of damp fur and hugged Claw back, laughing at the humorous and kind gesture of affection, and Claw also laughed his own raspy, growl-like laugh. The two just hugged and laughed for several moments, happy that the tension and the mistakes were over and done with, and more importantly, happy that their friendship and trust was now stronger than before.

To Be Continued...

Author's Extra Note: So, Claw finally opens up a little about himself in this chapter. I was aiming for something lighthearted and wholesome here, and I hope I achieved it to your liking. Though of course, I took a dig at Fang there, because things have been going well for him for some time, so he still needs the occasional knocking down, be it physically or emotionally. Next chapter we return to London. Stay tuned and thanks for reading!