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 41

by Remtar85

"Man, that quiz was so hard," Daniel grumbled. "I hate math!"

"Yeah, especially when it's a surprise quiz," Tyler agreed. "At least it wasn't a test. I have to keep my grades up, or else Mom and Dad'll get mad at me, and I don't want them cutting my hanging-out hours on weekends."

Daniel nodded. "Same here. At least my Mom knows about the Labyrinth, and the mutants and gargoyles, but that won't stop her from not letting me go there if my grades slip."

"Speaking of grounded, how long do you guys think Derek will have Malibu grounded for?" Yvonne, who had been walking with them, asked the two boys.

The three children had just left school on a Monday afternoon and were all heading home, their friend Cynthia having opted that day to go a different route with a few of her popular friends. Yvonne's question brought their minds back to that recent Saturday's evening at the Labyrinth. The girls had been in awe at watching the clones awaken from their stone sleep and were thrilled to get to know them, finding Delilah especially to be very cool. When Malibu eventually returned from Fang's place, there was a rather tense argument between the clone and Talon regarding Malibu revealing everything about the Labyrinth to Yvonne and Cynthia without consulting on it with the Labyrinth leader. Malibu was meek and apologetic at first, but quickly let his temper get the better of him when confronted by Talon's firm tone of voice and strict demeanor, and started to justify his actions while giving attitude. Daniel had to admit to himself, and his three friends agreed, that Malibu was acting just like an uppity, rebellious teenager who thought he could do no wrong. And while Talon agreed that the girls would have found out about the Labyrinth eventually, it was not consulting him that upset the mutate, and Malibu's response to it caused Talon to actually ground Malibu, like the teenager he was acting as.

"I think he said he'd go a week grounded," Daniel said, as he had been the one to most directly talk to Talon throughout the evening.

"But you know Mal's a rebel," Tyler said. "What's gonna prevent him from just going out if he wants?"

"Burbank told me that the other clones will all try to keep Malibu in line if he tries to step out, even lock the Labyrinth entrance if they have to," Daniel replied. "They all agreed that Malibu's acting out a bit too much."

"Gosh, now I feel kinda guilty," Yvonne said. "He got in trouble because he told Cynthia and me about the Labyrinth."

"More like because we took you there before Malibu could warn Talon about it," Tyler pointed out. "Which wasn't our fault, since we didn't know he'd spend the day at Uncle Fred's place."

"Makes me wonder if Malibu's attitude is all him, or if maybe my dad's being a bad influence on him," Daniel said with some concern.

Tyler shook his head. "Nah, he was like this from day one, remember? He was just more subtle about it back then."

"I guess," Daniel said. "I just hope neither Dad nor Malibu get in any more trouble."

"I hope so too," Yvonne said, then waved at the boys as she headed down another street, towards her home. "Anyway, see you guys tomorrow!"

Daniel and Tyler bid their friend farewell, and a few minutes later, Tyler headed down a different street himself, heading to his own home, Daniel walking the opposite way. It wasn't that long a walk left to his home, the boy feeling relieved to have gotten out of that math quiz and that the rest of the week would hopefully not be as hard. People were coming and going in both directions, and Daniel couldn't help but notice a man had been walking the same way as him for a few minutes. Out of the corner of his eye, Daniel realized that something about the brown-haired, muscular man looked familiar, and he couldn't help but turn his gaze towards him, and when he did, the man then turned towards Daniel with a smile.

"Oh, so you finally noticed, Danny Boy."

A shocked Daniel stopped in his tracks, eyes wide. "Dad?" he uttered in a low, confused voice.

"I know it's been a couple years, kiddo, but c'mon. Did'ya really forget this face? I mean, I know it's nothing special, but still..."

"Ohmigosh," Daniel gasped. "Your face, the voice. It really is you! But... but..."

"I know. Back to being plain ol' Fred Sykes... for now, at least," Fred said, then he signaled to his son to follow. "C'mon, we can keep talking while we walk."

The shocked boy followed his father, looking him up and down. "But how? You're human again..."

Fred grinned. "And buff, don't forget buff."

"Yeah. Yeah, buff," Daniel said as he studied Fred's now strong, muscular physique, realizing that this was a big reason why he didn't recognize him at first. "But Dad, seriously, how did this happen?"

"This is thanks to my London Clan buddies," Fred replied. "Cecily made me a few batches of a potion that can turn me human, and another that can turn me back to mutant."

"That is so cool!" Daniel exclaimed. "I can't believe it's so easy, and all you needed was a magic potion."

"Well, it ain't that easy, Danny. The transformation hurts like hell; I'm buff but back to not being tall, and my hair was a long, scraggy mess, plus a lot of annoying stubble on my face," Fang explained; he had never been able to grow proper facial hair, as it never grew out much and remained as an unsightly stubble. "I had to waste one of each potion just to test it out. After that, I got Mal to bring me some good spare clothes from the Labyrinth before Halloween for the next time I took a potion, which was just this morning, so I could hit a barbershop and get a haircut, then I'll eventually turn back to a mutant again. So that's two potions down of each kind."

"So, wait, that means that your human self got muscular thanks to how much exercise you do as a mutant, and your human side's hair grew long, like if you had never cut it? Like, your human self kept aging and changing even if it wasn't there?"

"That's my guess," Fred said with a nod of his head. "The human side of me kept aging over the years too, just seems like it makes sense. Next time I go back to turning human, my hair'll probably be cut short like it is now. I dunno how it works exactly; guess magic's just weird but fun that way."

"That's really, really cool," Daniel said with a smile, and then his face brightened even more. "Ohmigosh, Dad. This means you can give the potion to Roger, Derek and Maggie. They can be normal people again!"

Fred hesitated a bit before he spoke. "I'm sorry, kiddo. Cecily made that potion just for me, so it won't work on them. Magic's all specific and finnicky like that. I'd have to be able to contact her again so she can manage to make some that'll work specifically on the three of them."

Daniel's smile faded and he looked crestfallen at hearing that. Fred felt rather guilty at lying to his son in such a way about the potions, knowing full well that Cecily said they'd work on the other mutates too, and that a big part of why she gave him those potions was for helping the others return to being normal humans again. Nevertheless, Fred still didn't want the others to find out about the potions, at least not yet. He knew that Talon and the others were not going after him anymore, so long as they thought he was not doing bad things out there, but he still felt like those potions could be a potential bargaining chip later down the road. He knew Malibu supported him on this, but he was sure nobody else would, especially not Daniel.

"Hey, don't look so down, kiddo," Fred said, patting his son's shoulder. "I'll manage to get them that potion, you'll see. It's just that it might take some time. So, for now, let's keep it a secret, okay?"

Daniel nodded, sighing in disappointment. "Yeah, okay. I don't wanna get their hopes up."

"Yeah, me neither. Not to mention that Maggie's pregnant," Fang said, speaking with honesty now. "I don't know what this potion could do to her baby, and like I said, the transformation hurts like hell already as it is. I'd have to ask Cecily about the whole thing."

"You're right, I hadn't thought about that," Daniel said. "I hope you can get Cecily to find a way to help them before the baby's born."

"Let's hope," Fred said, then he smiled and reached to ruffle his son's hair. "But let's focus on you and me for now. We can hang out during the day more openly now, at least till I run out of potions. So, where do you wanna go?"

"You mean right now?" Daniel asked, smoothing his hair back down with both hands. "But, Dad, it's Monday. I have homework to get done, and I have school tomorrow."

Fred grinned. "Hey, come on now, tomorrow's tomorrow and today's today, and you can do your homework later. I'm not gonna keep you out late. We'll go someplace you'd like. Whaddaya say?"

Daniel's mind told him that this was probably not a good idea. He should be going home, doing his homework, eventually getting some dinner and then just do something to entertain himself till bedtime. But seeing his father in front of him, now a normal human once more, even if temporarily, Daniel could not resist wanting to spend more time with him. The boy smiled and nodded.

"Okay. Can we go to the mall, then?"

"Anything you want, kiddo," Fred replied with a winning smile.

Fred and Daniel walked side by side in the mall. It was now close to 5:00 PM and the two had been checking out shops together, just browsing without buying anything, at least until Fred went into a movie shop and bought himself a few of his favorite action movies to watch any time he wanted. Father and son pondered on whether to have a meal at the food court or eat elsewhere later when they passed by a book store and Daniel stopped.

"Can we go in there, Dad?" the boy asked. "There's some books I wanna check out."

"Sure thing," Fred said. "Go for it, I'll pay for whatever you get."

Daniel smiled brightly, thanked his father and walked into the store, Fred following suit. It was a fairly big book store, and Fred knew that his son could browse for hours if left to his own devices. The both of them studied the genres placed on top of the shelves of each aisle, and at one point, Fred stopped while Daniel kept moving ahead.

"Hey, Danny Boy," Fred called out, pointing to his left. "The horror section's right here."

Daniel stopped to look back. "I know, Dad. But I'm not looking for horror this time," he said before moving on.

Fred's eyes went wide at this. "Seriously? You're passing up on horror books? Okay, who are you and what did you do to my son?"

"I just found a new kind of book type that interests me, that's all," Daniel replied with a casual shrug, then turned into the Mystery aisle.

"Oh. Mystery, huh?" Fred said while Daniel started looking. "So you got into crime solving stories, kiddo? Nice. Some gritty serial killer stuff, or maybe noir stories?"

"Cozies."

Fred blinked in confusion. "What?"

"Cozies, Dad. Cozy mysteries," Daniel explained as he turned around to look on the other side of the aisle. "Here they are. It's solving murders, but it's pretty light-hearted. The main character's not a cop or a detective, and there's no swearing or sex, and the violence is mostly implied. So, like it says, it's cozy, like that TV show, Murder She Wrote."

"Oh, yeah. Your mom and her mom both used to love that show."

"Mom still does," Daniel confirmed, checking book after book, reading the story synopsis on the back of each. "She said that Grandma still also watches it on cable."

Fred remembered that Carmen's parents had returned to Puerto Rico several years prior, having missed living there, but that they still visited when they could. Fred then stooped down and checked through the books himself without picking them up, looking only at the colorful covers, and he grimaced. "Look at these. Titles made up of bad puns. Lots of baking and knitting and stuff like that. Lots of animals, especially cats. I hate cats..."

Daniel looked up at his father and didn't need to say anything, for his eyes said it all, and Fred was quick to add. "I know, I know, I'm technically a cat too, when I'm mutated. I mean that I don't like housecats, as pets."

"Why not?"

"'Cuz they're spoiled, entitled, they steal your food, wreck your furniture, and they'll go from being friendly one second to clawin' your skin off the next, the backstabbing little bastards." When Daniel suppressed the urge to chuckle and averted his father's gaze, Fred spoke again. "Hey! I saw that. You were comparing that to me, weren't you?"

"Sorry, Dad," Daniel said, choosing one book to purchase, and continuing to browse.

Fred shook his head and couldn't help but to continue his tirade. "Daniel, these are all girly books."

Daniel stopped browsing and looked up at his father. "How? Because they're more light-hearted than the usual crime solving stuff?"

"Yeah. It's all cutesy crap. There's no action or anything like that."

"I don't mind that," Daniel said, picking another book. "I still like action and horror, but now I like these too. I dunno, I just really enjoy the casual feel of them. And trying to solve the mystery before the answers are revealed is a lot of fun."

"That's the kind of stuff Claw would read, I bet," Fred grumbled, rolling his eyes.

"Well..."

Fred grunted in frustration as he instantly understood. "Goddammit! Daniel, I told you, I don't like you hanging out with him."

"But, Dad, we talked about it, remember? You didn't say I should stop hanging out with him. He's my friend-"

"Guy's way too old to be hanging out with a kid your age," Fred interrupted.

"I know he is. But Roger's had it rough, and he's a really nice guy, and it's just fun to hang with him. There's no harm done."

Fred shook his head in exasperation. He checked around him to make sure no other customers were nearby, then spoke again, in a lower voice this time. "Look, Daniel. Claw's not the goody two-shoes you think he is. Guy's got 'sleazebag' written all over him. Or are you forgetting that he was helping me try to take over the Labyrinth and then backstabbed me after I got caught? That asshole only did that to save his own skin. And you don't even... hey, Daniel, hold on."

As Fred was going on his tirade, Daniel had put the books back on the shelf and started walking away, averting his father's gaze, and rather than going back into the mall, the boy headed towards a set of doors that led outside. Not wanting to draw any attention inside the store, Fred waited until they were outside before speaking up again.

"C'mon, Daniel, you don't have to get pouty with me when I'm just looking out for you."

"It doesn't feel like you're looking out for me," Daniel said, and Fred could hear both hurt and some anger in his son's voice. "You still don't want me to hang out with Roger because you don't like him, and you made fun of me for being interested in those books."

"I didn't make fun of you."

"You called those books girly because they don't have the manly things you like," Daniel retorted. "So it's like you're calling me girly. And then you got mad that I got into them partly because of Roger. I'd rather you not buy me anything, then, so I'll just go home now."

Daniel kept averting his father's gaze and walked away towards the nearest bus stop. Fred stood there for a moment as his son's words got to him. For a moment, Fred got angry and figured that Daniel acting like this was Claw's fault; after all, Daniel would not be acting like this had he and Claw not been so close, and Fred should have put his foot down much earlier about not allowing his son to hang out and become friends with Claw.

But as he watched his son walking away from him, Fred couldn't help but think back to the night he and Daniel found out that they were actually father and son, and how happy both had been that night and afterwards. Being away on that trip had been hard for Fred and even harder for Daniel due to being away from each other for that long, and they both had been very happy to be back together, even more so now that Fred had a way, even if temporary, to hang out with his son more openly and freely.

And yet now this had happened. Fred knew of only one time that Daniel had been angry with him in any way, which was the very night Daniel had found him in that cell in the Labyrinth and found out exactly why he ended up imprisoned. Fred had gotten lucky that Daniel wanted him back in his life so much that he forgave Fred's actions and not only gave him a second chance, but also freed him from that prison. But on the other hand, Fred couldn't remember any time that Daniel had been hurt by anything Fred said or did, and Fred's anger at Claw, as well as his blaming the tiger mutate for this situation, faded, replaced by a pang of guilt. As much as he hated Claw, Fred figured that, right now, his negative feelings regarding the tiger-man were not worth getting his son angry and sad, so Fred hurried after Daniel, catching up to him.

"I'm sorry, Daniel," Fred said, deciding that apologizing flat-out would be the best course of action; but as Daniel kept walking while looking down at his feet, Fred cut him off by getting in front of him, setting his bag of purchased movies down and gently holding his son's shoulders, though Daniel still looked down at his feet. "I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to poke fun at you over those books, and I definitely didn't mean to make you feel bad about you liking them."

"You've never done that to me before. Why now? Is it because I'm close to being a teenager, so you want me to act more manly and less like a kid?"

Another pang of guilt hit Fred, as he now realized that this was indeed part of his reasoning on why he had been harsh to his son regarding Daniel's choice of books to buy. "I... I guess, maybe. But honestly, it doesn't matter why I did it. I shouldn't have done it in the first place. I'm sorry for snapping at you and for talking shit about something you got into just 'cuz I don't like it. And I'm sorry for getting on your case over hanging out with Claw."

Daniel sighed, then looked up at his father. "Promise you won't do it again."

"It's a promise," Fred said, smiling and giving his son a hug. "I just got back and we're hangin' out again, and I don't wanna ruin that by being an asshole. So, we can go back to the store and you can get the books you want. I won't say anything bad about it anymore."

"Thanks," Daniel said, now hugging his father back.

Breaking the hug, Fred picked up his bag of movies and smiled down at his son, starting to lead the way to the book store. "Still, y'know, I got some books back at my place. How 'bout you give one of those a chance and I'll read one of yours? That sound fair?"

"Yeah, it does. Thanks again, Dad," Daniel said with a smile on his face, his good mood having returned.

Father and soon re-entered the book store and returned to the Mystery section, where after much browsing and reading synopses, Daniel finally decided on a variety of cozy mysteries, a total of six, with Fred promising he'd bring Daniel back to buy more at a later date, provided his son not let his book reading or visits to the Labyrinth affect his grades; Fred also kept particularly quiet regarding anything involving Claw, knowing that it wouldn't be wise to bring up the subject again. Fred paid for the books and the two exited the store and headed out of the mall.

"So what now, Dad?" Daniel asked.

"Now we catch a cab," Fred replied. "Got a great place to show you. You're gonna love it."

"Okay. What place is that?"

Fred smiled down at his son before he replied. "We're goin' home, kiddo. My home."

To Be Continued...

Author's Extra Note- Hey everyone. Sorry it's taken me a while to post a new chapter, and a fairly short one at that. Just a whole bunch of things happening that have been preventing me from writing, it's just been real slow. So, until I can manage to write more often, updates wll be more sporadic, and I hope that won't be a problem. I appreciate you all reading this story and being patient with me. Anyway, now we get to see Fang using his potions in a good way, some proper father-son bonding, even if there was some drama there, since we all know Fang just can't help himself a lot of the time. Next time we get to see them hanging out in Fang's new home, and I got a couple of surprises planned, so stay tuned and thanks again for reading.