All the characters appearing in Gargoyles and Gargoyles: The Goliath Chronicles are copyright Buena Vista Television/The Walt Disney Company. No infringement of these copyrights is intended, and is not authorized by the copyright holder. All original characters are the property of Spacebabie

by: Spacebabie

Email: spacebabie@hotmail.com

Feedback is not only welcome but greatly appreciated.

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Showers

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Light rain fell from the clouds floating over the city, sprinkling the ground with cool tiny droplets. The water collected into the buildings eaves and poured out of the spouts, creating small rivers flooding towards the curbs. The first of many April showers had arrived in New York.

The rain felled against the large windows of Kitty Burnet’s room, creating a soft pattering sound. A sound that was a beautiful music to Kitty’s ears. The woman with the beige colored hair sat back in her throne like lounge chair near the window and stared outside. She loved the rain. She loved to listen it, to watch it outside, and even feel a few drops on her skin when she stuck her hand out from under the umbrella.

"I wonder if you will like the rain too," She stared down at her swollen abdomen. She pictured a little boy around the age of three or four dressed in rain gear with a bright yellow coat, hat, red rubber boots and holding up an umbrella. He was holding on to her hand as they skipped from puddle to puddle.

"If he is anything like me he would find it a nuisance." Her husband, Owen Burnet, entered the room carrying what appeared to be a photograph. "You are on your way doing errands when it suddenly pours and you spend five minutes trying to get the umbrella to open and end up racing around, trying to find something to provide sufficent shelter." He took his fingers to her hair and ran them through.

Kitty closed her bright green eyes. She usually kept her hair in a ponytail, but decided to leave it loose that morning. "Now I know why the gargoyles enjoy doing this."

"I love feeling you hair, it’s like silk." He placed a kiss on her cheek. Kitty opened her eyes and brushed her hand against her husbands face. Her fingers slid his glasses off and leaned up with her full lips pursed. The rest of the world melted away when Owen locked his mouth against hers. "I prefer the human way of kissing."

"Me too," her eyes caught sight of what he was holding. "What do you have?"

"The first picture of our son." He turned the picture around in his hands. It was the photo of Kitty’s last sonogram. The fuzzy light green image of an infant was surrounded by black.

She smiled as she took the picture into her hands. Their son appeared to a normal healthy child with a one slight noticeable difference. The child had a tail flailed out. "I’m going to be cutting a lot of holes in his pants. He’s also going to need a holo-disguise bracelet."

"We’ll worry about the bracelet when he’s ready for school and Fox and Marle said they will take care of his clothes."

"That just leaves one thing he’s going to need, a name. I have been leaning towards Ronald, or Ron for short."

Owen’s eyes lit up at the sound of the name. "It sounds perfect." He kissed her cheek again and rubbed her should affectionately. He didn’t want to tell her the other reason he liked the name. It was close to the ending of the king if the fae’s name.

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Feminine hands covered in yellow fur knocked on the door leading to the SFM room. Maggie Maza stepped back while folding her rust colored wings against her shoulders. She glanced over her shoulder at the females that have accompanied her to the castle: The human woman, Natalie who held the small gift for Kitty neatly wrapped in news paper. Behind the human stood the two hybrid clones. Delilah, with the body of Demona and the face and voice of Elisa, clutched a clear Coke bottle used as a vase for a small bouquet of flowers. Deep green Eleanor, with gargoyle features of Angela and the face and voice of Kitty held onto a small flat package. The last of the female clones that accompanied the Labyrinth group was Lucy. The butter yellow gargoyle had the features of both her parents. She had the split butterfly wings and average pointed ears of Marle and the spiral horns and spurs of Gloria. Her dark hair was kept loose with a handful of small braids interwoven in. She held a tray covered in aluminum foil. It was a gift form the pure female clone, Michelle. The deep blue female agreed to stay behind and guard Winter and Chi Lin. She didn’t mind since her mate, Holly wood, was suffering from an upset stomach and if he couldn’t attend Owen’s surprise party then she wouldn’t go to the baby shower.

A Caucasian woman in her late fourties answered the door. Her hair that could have been a bright red at one time had faded to the shade of fall leaves mixed with silvery white. Small wrinkles lined the sides of her mouth and under her green almond shaped eyes. "You must be Maggie," the woman greeted. "I’m Gretchen Masterson, Katrina’s mother. We met at he wedding."

"Uh huh," Maggie couldn’t keep her eyes off Gretchen’s head. The woman was wearing a head band with bright red balls attached to coiled springs.

"Come on in," Gretchen held the door open for them. "Please take a pair of alien antenna with you and put them on."

"What?"

"Like these," Gretchen pointed at her headgear that bounced and bobbed with every movement. "It’s my daughter’s idea. She thought it would a add a bit more fun to tonight."

"That does sound like fun," Natalie pulled out a plastic bag containing the strange head gear and opened it up. The balls were made of Styrofoam and covered in green glitter.

"Well it is creative," Maggie agreed as she pulled a pair from the large paper bag. She took one look around the room. Nearly everyone was wearing a pair. Her jaw dropped at the sight of Demona wearing a bright gold pair.

"I don’t know if I’ll be able to wear them," Lucy said softly. She stared down at the pair of pink antennae in her talons and reached up to stroke her spiral horns.

"I think they will under stand," Delilah told her. She pointed at the orchid gargoyle who Lucy inherited her horns from. "You see, Gloria isn’t wearing them, and neither is Desdemona."

"Why don’t you keep it though," Maggie suggested. "You can give it to Michelle. I’m sure she would appreciate it." The lioness like mutate waited until the clone had smiled before she carried her gift to the card table piled high with presents. Some of the larger ones were placed on the ground. She set her package down and wandered over to the larger table. The table cloth carried the blue and yellow theme. Instead of plates there were silver dish covers with plastic flatware on the sides and plastic wine glasses with the top being able to seperate from the stem, were set in front of them.

On a closer inspection Maggie noticed something in between the covers and glasses. Place cards made of thick paper were folded and set on the table. Each card had the names of all the guests written on them and paper punch whole. Slim ribbons were threaded through the holes and kept miniature rattles covered in silver spray paint tied close to them. Maggie found the card with her name and picked it up. The cute little decoration made an actual rattling sound.

"These are cute."

"Nearly everbody likes them," Fox approached her. "I hope you brought your appetite. We are having duck ala orange with steamed string beans, wild rice and special punch made from gingerale and Juicy Juice."

"It sounds delicious."

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He knew he shouldn’t feel disappointed. It was his wife’s evening and he was the dull assistant of David Xanatos. A man more wooden than wood. He should not want to party, even if he was a trickster sprite in disguise.

As he turned the door knob he wondered what the rest of the men were doing. He remembered Frank spoke something of alcohol and Broadway of preparing dinner, but he was certain they spoke of the details when he was not around.

"I can always have fun with the children."

He wanted to take back the word as soon as he entered the nursery. A bright red rubber ball nearly stuck him in the face. Charlie stared at the dull blond man with a look of shock.

"Sorry about that," Alex ran up to were the ball fell. "I was playing catch with Charlie."

Owen was too busy focused on the rest of the chaos in the room to pay attention. Teddy sat in the middle of the floor crying. Next to the sandy-furred lion cub like mutate were the remains of his wooden block tower. Pamela sat at the nearby table with a stack of coloring papers next to her. Picture of crudely drawn people and broken crayons like in piles around her feet. Macy squealed and ran up to him with her arms out stretched. The twins of Goliath and Elisa were taking small steps around the room in the complete nude.

"Own pick me up," Macy squealed.

Owen bent down and took the little quaterling into his arms. "Why is Teddy crying? and why are Rowen and Rebecca naked?"

"They dirtied their diapers," Alex explained. "So Charlie and I helped take them off them and we cleaned their bottoms with those baby wipes."

Owen closed his eyes and sighed. "Where are their soiled diapers?"

"In the diaper pail," Alex pointed at the white plastic diaper pail. "We would have put clean diapers on them, except we don’t know how."

"I’ll take care of it. You help cheer up Teddy." Owen set Macy down and picked up the tawny half gargoyle child.

"Uhhh," Rowen whimpered. The sound was a warning he was about to cry.

"Rowen, please." Owen stared into the warm brown eyes of the child. The infant’s lower lip pooched out. Owen studied Rowen’s face, waiting until he could be sure tears were not falling. "That’s a good boy." He carried him to the changing table and laid him down. As he tried to rub in some powder the infant’s large arched feet kicked the small bottle out of his hands. "You are trying to make my life a bit difficult?"

"I think the wee laddie is just giving ye some training," Owen turned at the sound of Hudson’s voice. The elderly gargoyle was holding Rebecca in his arms. Bronx had followed him into the room and was covering Teddy's body with huge damp licks. "I was watching the lass as she walked to the wall."

"I have had the same training with Alex. He didn’t have talons or a tail. May I ask what you are doing here?"

"I’ve been asked to watch the hatchlings in yer stead."

"Why?"

"Because Xanatos and the others have a surprise fer ye in our living room."

"A surprise?" For as long as he had worked for Xanatos Owen never remembered receiving surprises. He struggled with Rowan a little longer until he secured the sticky tabs of the diaper. Barely a second had gone by before a smooth tipped tail tore through the diaper.

"I’ll diaper the lassie," Hudson said as he approached the table.

Owen held out his arms as to say "Be my guest" before he approached the adjacent bathroom to wash his hands.

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"Surprise!" Owen nearly fell backward when entered the living room part of the gargoyle’s wing. The second he had stepped into the darkened room someone had turned on the light switch and everyone inside had shouted the greeting.

"Quite a surprise," Owen readjusted his glasses. "May I ask what all this is about?" Owen surveyed the room. He saw the video game system set up in front of the television set, the three-in-one activity table, the could change around to play pool, ping pong and air hockey, in the middle of the room, a stack of board games. A miniature bar as set up in one corner with Frank behind the table. Near the back there was a small table with a variety of food, and a stack a gifts.

"We are giving you a ‘Father’s Bath’." Xanatos said. the billionaire seemed to be smirking more than usual.

"I don’t really need a bath," Owen said. His eyes went wide when he saw Goliath approach him. "You don’t mean to dunk me in the pond in the atrium do you?"

The large lavender gargoyle picked up the disguised fae. "No, we want you to kick back and relax." He deposited him in the large red chair favored by Hudson.

"May I ask what is the meaning of all this?"

"Women get to enjoy baby showers," His employer approached him. "Technically they should be called Mother’s Showers. We are giving you the equivalent. This is what the ‘Father’s Bath,’ is all about."

"I see," Owen sank back into the chair. He was surprised at how comfortable it was. "But I cannot kick back and relax as you suggested. Remember Oberon’s rule."

Xanatos wagged his finger. "You are not allowed to become Puck unless you are either training or protecting Alex, but you can still relax as Owen".

"Yeah," Frank grunted from his place behind the small bar. "You look like a martini type of guy." He poured Vodka, sour apple schnaps, and a little apple juice into a shaker full of ice. "Check me out I’m Tom Cruise." He sealed the top and shook the container, giving it playful tosses behind his back.

"I don’t think I would care for a martini." Owen said.

"You are thinking classic martini," Frank said. "The James bond type with an olive. Welcome to the world of different flavors such as apple, chocolate and cappuccino." He pured the ingredients into a cocktail glass and placed a slice of green apple into the drink.

"He’s right," Matt Bluestone said. The golden weregoyle took the glass from the bar. "Fill one of those Solo cups with a beer for me. For as long as I have known you, you have never really let loose and partied." He set the drink on the small end table next to the chair.

"I’m not really sure if I should," Owen eyed the glass. "I have rarely drunk in the past."

"Try it son," the man holding up his own cocktail at him was Harold Masterson, Kitty’s father. "You might actually like it. I once thought the same about those wine coolers my daughter slurped back in her college days. I thought they would taste too fruity. Turns out they were pretty good."

"There is always the first time for anything," Owen raised his glass to his mouth and took a small sip. He pulled the glass away from him sharply, but not too sharply, and blinked. "I do detect a little apple flavoring."

"You can set down the drink. The good stuff is on its way." Broadway approached him carrying a large paper plate. "Somebody give him a bib."

"Bib?" Owen raised an eye brow.

"I’ll do it," the voice sounded like Hudson’s, but Owen knew the elderly gargoyle was in the nursery with the children. The mustard yellow talons that reached over and tied the plastic bib around Owen’s neck was not Hudson’s.

"Thank you Burbank," Owen said. "Why am I wearing a bib? We are having lobster?" Several people and gargoyles laughed at his question.

"We are having a manly party Owen," Xanatos explained as Broadway set the plate on Owen’s lap. "Which means we are having manly food."

Owen stared down at the food on his plate. There was a large number of fried food: onion rings, fries, and a strange puffy shaped food that appeared to have been beer battered broccoli. There were the small golden brown pizza rolls, bright red buffalo wings and a quarter of a rack of baby back ribs smothered in barbecue sauce. "Do I get anything to eat this with?" He remembered Kitty talking about her baby shower all day, even mentioning the food and the disposable dishes they would be using so he or Broadway, or anyone else would not have to do dishes that evening.

"Just your fingers," Broadway deposited a large stack of napkins on the end table next to his drink.

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Kitty speared her last bite of cake with her fork and swirled it around the melted sludge of ice cream, making sure it soaked up as much as possible before placing it into her mouth. "Now that is the best way to eat cake and ice cream," she set her plastic bowl down and wiped her mouth with her napkin.

"You said it," Elisa agreed. She and the rest of the women were finishing up their desserts. "When I was pregnant with the twins cake soaked with melted ice cream was one of my favorite snacks".

"Elisa, Gloria if you give me a hand with cleaning up we can quickly move on to the next part of the shower." Fox had picked up a large trash bag and handed two others to the orchid weregoyle and to Elisa. Cleaning up involved walking around the large table with open bags while the others shoved their garbage inside.

"What kind of games are we playing?" Delilah asked. "I know my little clone sister would want to know. She loves games."

"Pass the Parcel and Truth or Dare," Kitty explained. "Fox has all the materials needed for both games."

Fox finished tying a knot in the last of the garbage bags and set them outside the room for the men to clean up. She pulled the cloth off of a large package and carried it to the table. "The game is called Pass the Parcel. We hand it to each other and when we receive it we remove a layer of wrapping paper. Like this," Fox carefully made a cut into the wrapping paper and peeled it of. Underneath was more wrapping paper of a different color. "Now I hand this to Elisa."

The detective removed another layer of paper before handing it to Maggie. After the female mutate tore through the yellow covering something fluttered to the ground. Maggie handed the gift to Marle before she bent down and picked it up. It was a gift certificate with a picture of a bear on it. "A twenty dollar certificate for a place called Build-A-Bear."

"It’s a cute store in the mall You pick the type of animal you want. Select it’s outfits and accessories. Then you stuff it, sew it up, fluff it, dress it up and pay for it. I’ll give you and Teddy a catalogue so he can select which one he wants and I’ll buy it for you."

"Thank you."

"That was one little detail about the game I forgot to bring up. Sometimes a small gift like candy or a certificate will fall out, and sometimes it will be a silly stunt."

"What kind of stunt?" Rayne asked as she carefully removed the paper. She peeled away to a purple layer with pink polkadots. A Blowpop was on top of the gift. "Sour blue raspberry, my favorite."

"Oh they are just stupid things to do, like picking up a pencil with your toes, blowing a Bronx Cheer or doing a silly dance."

"I think I have one of those," Eleanor stared at the scrap of paper that came from her layer. "It says to make a funny face." She pushed in her nose with a finger and used another to pull down on her lower eyelid while sticking out her tongue.

They passed the package around the table four more times, tearing off layers wrapping paper, brown paper bags from different stores, and news papers. The last layer came off in Lucy’s talons. She stared at the small white box that was the size of a Harry Potter book. She looked up at the eager smiling faces before she cut through the bits of tape and lifted the top off. The gift was a brush set. The brushes, comb and a mirror that looked like it was made out of gold with bands of turquoise circling the handles. The back of the flat brush and mirror had more bits of turquoise. The top of the roller brush was a small flat turquoise bulb. Black bristles circulated the brush. The comb was also gold with ivory white plastic teeth and tiny turquoise beads running down the length.

"It’s beautiful," Lucy gasped. "Thank you."

Eleanor had leaned over to stare at the brush set along with the others. "Oooh Lucy, I hope you style my hair with the set first, please."

The mixed clone chuckled. "I would, but you are going to have to ask Michelle. I’m going to give it to her."

"Do you think she will accept," Delilah asked. "She wouldn’t unless she agreed to share it with everyone."

"Well there are four parts to the set, if that is what you mean. If I have to choose I’d keep the comb, but we will let her decide."

"Lucy let’s set your gift down next to the gift table," Maggie suggested. "It looks like Fox is ready to play Truth or Dare." She stared at the woman with the strawberry blond hair. Fox nodded while smiling.

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Owen grabbed one of the remaining napkins from the stack and wiped his hands clean from the slick layer of grease coating his fingers. Parts of the napkin became transparent from cleaning. He had nearly gone through the entire stack during his meal. He hoped Kitty kept an extra bottle of Tums in their room. He was going to need it.

"Are you having fun?" Malibu asked His beak was lined with barbecue sauce. It looked like the clone had messily applied brown lipstick.

Owen felt the same sauce sticking to his own mouth and dabbed his lips with his napkin. "I am having fun. Are you enjoying yourself?"

The aqua gargoyle clone nodded. "I’m enjoying myself. The food is good and I can’t wait to play the games."

"I meant to ask what kind of games will we be playing."

"Fun games," Jerry told him and removed his plate, empty save for the chicken and rib bones left behind and a pile of crumpled up napkins. The mahogany gargoyle replaced with a smaller plate with a chocolate frosted cupcake and another napkin. "Here is your dessert."

"Thank you," Owe set his dessert down next to his martini glass. There was only a swallow left. He tilted his head back and drank it down. "I guess I could take another of these." He didn’t feel any serious affects of the alcohol, just a slight dizzy feeling.

"Not another apple one stiff man," Frank called from the bar. "A chocolate martini will go better with chocolate cake." He finished refilling Talons beer and poured different ingredients into the shaker. "Could you give this to him Talon? I got my hands full back here."

Owen didn’t noticed how close Brooklyn was until the second in command slipped something into his hand. Something cool and made of hard plastic, with colorful buttons. Owen accepted the glass from the panther mutate and set it down next to his dessert before he noticed he was holding onto a Playstation 2 controller.

"I never seen you play video games before," Brooklyn smirked. "Technically this your day but I think we are going to make short work of you."

"We?" Owen asked.

"Us," Brooklyn picked up another controller. "Pop in the game Samson."

"No mercy," Samson agreed. The white hybrid clone of Matt and Goliath slipped the disc into the machine and pressed start. He grabbed the fourth controller and sat down in front of the television. Othello had the third.

"You play these games?" Owen asked.

The former cyborg shrugged. "It’s a new hobby of mine. I guess you can say it’s quite addictive."

Owen reached for his cupcake and peeled off the pale blue paper. The small cake was completey chocolate and almost sponge like, not a single crumb fell. He took a bite from the top. It was like the baked good variation of velvet. It was soft and moist and not too rich. He used his tongue to clean the creamy frosting from his upper lip while Brooklyn used his remote to select the four player option off the game.

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The famous question tugged at Cecilia’s mind. The slate gray gargoyle twitched her spade tipped tail while trying to think of what would be the best answer. "Truth." She was the last one to have a turn in the game.

"I think her rookery sister should ask the question," Kitty glanced at Angela.

The lavender female already seemed to have the question in mind. Her dark eyes held a twinkle of someone plotting. It was the same twinkle her mother usually gets. "How close are you with Mercutio? If he asked you to be his mate would you?"

Cecilia blinked. "That’s two questions."

"You can choose which one to answer."

"Sometimes you are impossible," she shook her head. "We are very close and if he did ask then I just might say yes."

"Might?" Angela raised her brow ridges.

"Angela, don’t goad your sister," Demona’s voice had taken the same tone she used when reprimanding Charlie. "We don’t want to be a pest."

"Besides the game is over now," Fox said. "Its time we give the mother to be what she really wants, the presents."

"How about we go first?" Maggie asked. "Our gifts do not cost much and may be disappointing if they were received after something nice."

"I won’t be disappointed," Kitty said and pat her stomach. "And I’ pretty sure Ronnie won’t be, but if you want to go first then go ahead."

The first present was the bouquet of hyacinths from Delilah. Kitty studied the flowers wondering if they were real. She inhaled their fragrance. "Where did you get these."

"From Aeris," Delilah replied.

"It’s what we call the girl from the Labyrinth who sells these flowers in subways." Eleanor explained as she handed Kitty another gift. "She’s named after a character from the shared game system in the fun center we set up for the children. she’s just like Aeris from the seventh final fantasy. She claims to grow them in an abandoned building."

Elenore’s gift was a small mosaic taking on the shape of a blue bunny and letters spelling out baby. "This is beautiful. Did you make this?"

The green hybrid clone nodded. "There was an artist in the Labyrinth who taught me how to do it."

"I have a poem," Lucy held up the rolled up paper she had brought. "And the tin pan contains Lemon raspberry cake squares. Michelle baked them."

"And they smell delicious," Kitty smiled. "Let me hear what you wrote."

Lucy unrolled the poem. "A blessed event is about to arrive. A small bundle shall enter the world. A creature sweeter than honey gathred from hives. The anouncment of his birth must be told. He’s only small and delicate now. He woudn’t be able to run or even walk. He will stat small, but will be able to grow. He will learn to read and draw with colored chalk. From the second of his birth he shall begin his ride. A long and adventurous ride called living. His journey wont be alone with parents by his sides. With their love he will grow up to be kind and giving."

"That was beautiful," Kitty applauded along with the rest of the women.

Natalie’s gift was a set of three pacifiers from Wal-Greens and Maggie’s was a hand woven poncho. Kitty held the cloth in her hands while stroking the soft material. "You cook and weave?"

The lioness mutate shrugged. "My mother taught me how. She’s like the non evil version of Martha Stuart. It’s a special breast feeding cover. You wear it when you are feeding your baby in public without grossing out the non parents out there."

"I plan on feeding him in the restroom, but thank you."

Angela, Cecilia, and Rayne were next in line in giving gifts. Cecilia grave her soft blankets in different colors Angela’s present was three pairs of infant sized pajamas. The hoods even had sewed on bunny ears. Rayne’s gifts were several wrapped packages of diapers. One large pack from each brand. "Don’t know which brand you preferred." The orange gargoyle said.

"Thanks for the a variety," Kitty chuckled. "You can never have too much diapers. Ron is going to need all of these gifts."

Both Marle and Jam had bought presents that would help in the kitchen. Marle gave Kitty a stack of bibs and Jam found a cute kitchen set of a powder blue baby dish with matching silverware.

Gloria’s gift looked like a book. "It’s a baby book," the weregoyle said after the soon to be mother had unwrapped it. She waited for Kitty to open it to point out all the features. It has a place to keep his first lock of hair and his certificate with foot prints. "You have lists to fill out when he has his first tooth, says his first word, has his first birthday and so on and the back is a miniature photo album of sorts."

"I can’t wait to fill this out, Thank you Gloria."

The next present from Christine Canmore. Kitty’s costar couldn’t make it for the shower, but she did manage to send a present from her, Jason, and Hunter. The gift was a small basket containing bottles of powder, baby lotion and oil. No more tears formula of shampoo, conditioner and bath gel. There was even the bottles of the special bath add in for when the baby was sick or has a difficult time of going to sleep. "I’m going to send her a card. She must have gotten the idea from her brother in law. He gave her something similar for Hunter once."

Elisa and Kitty’s mother followed with presents of a rocking chair and several baby outfits. "I’m sure your husband wont mind assembling the chair." Elisa placed her hand on the box containing the parts of the chair. "There is something about the steady rhythm of the chair that helps me get the twins to go to sleep."

Desdemona gave her a small package of teething rings. "They will help your child be in little comfort when his teeth grow."

"My gift is for you Kitty," Demona placed a flat box tied up with ribbon in Kitty’s lap. "I’m sure you will be able to enjoy it after you loose your pregnancy weight."

Kitty carefully removed the ribbon and slid off the top. Her eyes widened at the sight of crushed velvet purple cloth. "It’s beautiful," she pulled out the dress. It was a backless evening gown.

"It will go with my gift," Fox handed her an envelope. Kitty opened and pulled out two tickets. One was to see Joseph and the Technicolor Raincoat and the other was for a free ride in a handsome cab. "I even made reservations for the two of you to enjoy a dinner at Cassios."

"But the tickets are for seven months from now and there is only one for each."

"Your husband has the other half. Better clean up for the last event planned." Fox clapped her hands. "Come on folks, give me a hand here."

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Plastic hippo heads lashed out, gobbling up the multitude of white marbles. Owen pressed the tail on his hippo rapidly, hoping he would end up getting the most marbles in the pocket. After being easily defeated at the Playstation2 the dull man decided to try some of the board games. He was joined by Broadway, Lexington and the mute tiger mutate, Claw.

"I think we got them all," Lexington let go of his green hippo. The four of them counted up their collection of marbles and compared them with each other. Claw indicated his number on his talons.

"I got two more than Owen," Broadway held up his arms in triumph. "I win!"

"Why am I not surprised you’d win at this game," Lex grumbled.

Broadway’s grin dropped from his face. He blinked in surprise before his eyes narrowed and he leaned toward his smaller rookery brother. "What does that supposed to mean?"

"Forget I said anything," Lex held up his hands in defeat. "Besides. It’s time for the presents."

"Presents?" Owen blinked. He wasn’t supposed to be the one getting gifts that night. Kitty was the one enjoying the baby shower.

"Time to get back into your chair." Lexington watched as Owen walked back to his seat. "Everyone it’s time for the gifts!" He clapped his hands together.

"I’m not supposed to get presents," Owen took another drink from his martini. He was halfway finished with his second glass.

"These are gifts for you to enjoy with your child," Xanatos explained as he pulled himself a way from the pool table.

"Were we supposed to bring gifts for the father?" Talon asked. His own face mimicked the confused expressions of his clan.

"It’s okay if you don’t," Xanatos said. "You had no idea we were going to give him this bath."

"This is something all new father’s should have," Lexington handed him a small square shaped package. "It was easy since we know what the gender of the child is."

Owen had no idea what he was talking about until he unwrapped the wooden cigar box. The box was full of several cigars wrapped in white paper with "Its a boy!" written several items in blue.

"I think Othello’s and mine are better for the baby," Brooklyn said. He had given Owen several packages of diapers while Othello had given him a diaper pail.

"I think Rayne gave Kitty the same thing," Lex said.

"I think my wife and I will agree we can never have enough diapers," Owen smiled. "Thank you both for these generous gifts."

Most of the gifts for the father were large. Broadway had given him a high chair, Frank, a changing table, Jerry’s gift a car seat and from Goliath a crib. While not at the party, Hudson left an extremely soft teddy bear for the baby. Mercutio’s present was a musical mobile to hang over the crib.

"Here is my gift," Harold handed Owen a video camera. "I want you make several tapes of my grandson."

"I will," Owen set the camera down in time for Matt to place his gift in his lap.

"My mate has given your wife something similar," the golden gargoyle said.

Owen tossed the lid aside and pulled out a suit. A black dress jacket was accompanied with a pair of black slacks and a purple dress shirt.

"This from me," Xanatos handed him an envelope. "A night off to spend with your wife. We have even made dinner arrangements."

Owen removed the same tickets his wife received and studied them. "I have been wanting to see this play and she’s bent wanting a horse and carriage ride for a while." He left his gift in his lap and picked up his glass. He was going to need another refill.

__________________________________________________________________________

Kitty had waddled over to the television and VCR that was brought into the room and sat in the chair that was set up for her. The other women sat around her. She glanced at the woman who was partly responsible for the evening. Fox was approaching them with a VHS tape in her hands.

"Remember my warning Fox," Kitty crossed her arms. "There is still some cake left. There better not be any naked men on that tape."

"There are naked males on this tape, but not what you think." Fox placed the tape in and pressed start. she stepped back away from the TV.

After a small brief scattered storm of black and white flurries an image appeared on the screen. It was of Fox kneeling next to a bath tub with her sleeves rolled up. Nov 8 1997 was in the bottom left corner of the screen.

"Here she is," The voice of David Xanatos was heard. "The prettiest woman in the world as she attempts to give the most spoiled kid in the city his bath.

"David, what are you doing?" Fox asked.

"Just capturing a moment for eternity." The shaky camera zoomed in on Fox’s face. "And such lovely moment." His wife paused to turn to the camera and stuck out her tongue. "Maybe later. Right now I want to see bathtub boy."

"So far he is behaving."

The camera moved off her and hovered down to what was in the tub. Surrounded by foamy patches of bath rubbles was a toddler with strawberry blond hair. Alex was holding onto a thick washcloth in the shape of a bunny. The toddler gurgled while squeezing the cloth and gave it a quick dunk in the water. The force of the dunk sent a small splash of water of water up and landing against Fox’s outstretched arms.

"That is why you rolled up your sleeves." David chuckled

"He likes to slam that into the water."

"You know we are going to have to show this to his dates when he brings them over."

"He’s going to hate that."

"Now I see what you mean by naked male," Kitty said between bursts of laughter. For a short while she was watching quietly along with the rest of the women. Her hands were slowly moving to her mouth. She knew she was going to laugh, but she didn’t want to burst out in the type of laugh that would throw her head back and have her whole body shake. "I can also see why Alex wouldn’t like it." She quieted down as soon as she heard the Alex in the video start to whimper.

"Dada?" Alex stared directly in the camera. His confused face could be read like a book. He had just noticed his father in the bathroom and he didn’t know what the camera was.

"Yes, Alex that is Dada," Fox picked up the washcloth she was using and took it to the baby’s back. "Let me scrub your back."

"Dada no!" Alex pointed at the camera. "Ding." The image was frozen.

"I believe ding was how he said thing back then," Fox shrugged and took the remote off pause.

"This is my camera," David explained. "Don’t you like it?"

"No. No ding Dada. No ding."

"Can you say camera?"

"No!" Alex scooped up two handfuls of suds and three it at the lens. The whole image became nothing but white foam.

"Alex!" Fox shouted above the loud splashing. The camera moved to the side while a hand reached up to wipe the lens clean. "Alex get back here!" The camera whipped around to the open door of the bathroom. Alex was toddling out as fast as he could, giving his father and the camera a good shot of his tiny damp cheeks. "David why didn’t you do something?"

"I did. I cleaned the camera and made sure I got that shot."

"And pause!" Fox pressed the pause button again and turned to the crowd of laughing women. "So mother to be, what do yu think of the entertainment so far?"

Kitty wiped a way a tar from the corner of her eye. "Oh dear lord. This is priceless. What’s next."

"Alex pouring a bowl of cereal for the first time. I also have some video of Charlie and the mutate’s children when I took the camera that one time."

"Teddy is never going to forgive you," Maggie giggled. "I’m pretty sure Pamela won’t either."

Natalie shook her head. "No she won’t. Now un pause it."

__________________________________________________________________________

The television in the gargoyles den had a similar image on the screen. Charlie in human form was sitting in his highchair. A green slimy substance was leaking out of both corners of his mouth.

"I know this tastes awful," Matt gave his son a sympathetic smile while holding on to a plate of warmed up strained peas. "but it’s good for you and will help you grow up into a strong warrior." He dug the infant spoon into the mush an brought it back to the infant’s mouth. Charlie closed his eyes and shook his head.

The room was filled with the sound of laughing and coughing. There were enough cigars in the box for everyone and Xanatos had a lighter. A cloud of smoke had gathered above their heads while they kept waving away the excess smoke with their hands and talons.

"Jesus Lex, these things taste like ass," Brooklyn coughed.

"No one held a gun to your head and forced you to smoke one," Lexington said while rubbing his eyes. They were both pink from being bloodshot.

"Hey guys," Matt removed the cigar from his mouth. "My wife is about to talk." He pointed at the screen with his lit stogie and took another puff.

"Having trouble my love?" Demona’s voice was full of mirth.

Matt gave her a look. "You know if you set the camera down and offered me a hand."

"There is that saying about honey attracts more flys than vinegar."

"How I can I convince him the peas taste more like honey than vinegar?"

"Eat some yourself and look like you are enjoying it."

Matt shrugged and brought the spoon to his mouth. The second the green stuff pass his lips his eyes crossed and his nose wrinkled up. "Hmmm." He closed his eyes and forced himself to swallow. "Yummy. See Charlie I like it."

"Oh poor you," Masterson gave Matt a gentle pat on the back. "Making that sacrifice. You deserve a prize."

The golden gargoyle nodded. "I hope I taught you a lesson Owen. Never give your son strained peas. I think that stuff they have in England would have been better than that crap."

"I like strained peas," Broadway mumbled before taking a bite of his third cup cake. He was the first one to smoke his cigar all the way.

"I’m learning, I’m learning," Owen slurred before he finished off his third glass. "Make good videos of Ronnie and don’t give him pained steas. Bartender I need another."

"Are you sure you hadn’t had enough?" David raised his eyebrows in concern. "I think you are three sheets to the wind."

"One more." He picked up his glass and waved it around.

___________________________________________________________________________

The sound of rain striking the window was normally relaxing sound but each patter against the glass was more like a fist striking a bongo drum. Owen slowly sat up and immediately grabbed his head. He had four different kinds of martini’s the night before at his bath. He remembered the food, the strange cars firing weapons at each other, the gifts, and smoking cigars. He did not remember when and how he got into bed.

He tried to stand up and quickly sat back down. His head felt swollen. "Oh," he massaged his scalp. He did not feel queasy and he did not have the acidic tang of vomit in his mouth. He only tasted ash. He felt like he had been sucking on cotton sprinkled with cigarette ash. "Great move Puck. You have never been this drunk before."

He grabbed the edge of his bead and forced him to get up and stagger to the adjacent bathroom. He needed water and aspirin. He removed the bottle from the medicine cabinet behind the mirror and dumped two in his hand and swallowed them with a long gulp of water. He did not set the glass down until he had drained it.

As he was refilling the glance he stared at his reflection. He looked like hell, worse than that actually. "I look like shit," he mumbled before drinking his second glass. His eyes were like roadmaps and had dark crescent moons underneath them. The rest of his skin appeared sallow.

He had managed to find his glasses and slip into a pair of pants and a shirt. He will switch out of the casual wear after breakfast. He cringed at that little reminder. He had to fix breakfast. Most of the human and weregoyle members preferred to get their own breakfast, but Owen would at least have breakfast ready for his boss, Fox and the children. He’ll serve Kitty her breakfast in bed. She would love to have some French toast with strawberrys and scrambled egg whites and sausage. That is what he will fix.

He needed to find one thing first. He remembered Broadway had prepared the elegant dinners for the women along with the greasy food for the men. The gargoyle usually liked to save the peel of citrus fruit. He found the small jar containing the pieces of orange peel and took a plastic cup from the cabins. He grated the zest from the peel and let it fall into his cup. After filling the rest of the cup with warm water he brought it to his nose and inhaled the citrus scented steam.

"Kitty’s magazines were right," He did feel slightly better.

He set the cup down just as the kitchen phone decide to ring. "Xanatos residence. This is Owen Burnet. How may I help you?"

"Burnet this is Vogel, is Fox around?" Vogel’s voice didn’t have the usual calm blandness it usually had. His voice sounded weak and even cracked a couple of times. Could he have been hung over also?

"Hello Preston," Owen sank back into his chair. "What’s wrong?"

"It’s Mr. Renard," Vogel paused on the other end. Owen could hear him swallowing. "He finally succumbed to his illness."

The words bore into Owen’s aching skull and gnawed away at his mind. Halcyon had parted from his mortal coil. "Oh god no," Owen placed his head on the table while he continued to talk on the phone.

"The funeral will probably be a week from now. I’ll get back to you with the correct date."

The blond man forced his tongue to work. "Where will it be?"

"Hartford, Again I am sorry I do not have the full details."

"Will there be a wake?" He pulled the cup closer. The citrus along with the asprin was making his head feel less bloated, but it was doing nothing for the ache in his chest.

"You can call us back." He kept the phone to his ear, not letting go even though he heard the dial tone on the other end. The throbbing in his head had slowed, but it still lingered. His eyes burned from the developing tears and he felt parts of his insides being crushed by an invisible force.

"Owen?" The disguised fey sat up, giving his nose full exposure to the citrus scented steam. Fox approached him while yawning. "Morning?" Despite the fact she was married to the richest man in the country she was dressed in flannel pajamas, pink flannel pajamas that cost over a thousand dollars, but still flannel.

"Morning," Owen moaned out the greeting. His fingers tightened around the phone while. She had no idea what happened, and he was going to be the one to break the bad news to her.

"You are not your usual, boring self," Her mouth curled up in a confused smile. "You actually look like you had too much fun last night." She tousled his unkempt hair.

"Last night," Owen sigh. While he was slamming back drinks and playing games Renard was inhaling his last few breaths.

"I was only playing. You usually are a morning person." She noticed the steam wafting up from his cup. "The citrus inhalant cure. You are paying for drinking too much last night. You have to remember Owen you are a lightweight. You need to know your limit."

"It’s not just that. There is some pain in my head, but there is more."

"What do you mean more?" Her eyes trailed to the phone near his hand. "Who called."

He squeezed his eyes shut as she rose from his chair. He couldn’t keep it a secret forever. "It was Preston Vogel."

He could see she was trying to read his face. "What’s wrong?" Her light blue eyes blinked. He pulled her close, wrapping his arms around her shoulders and leaned to her ears. He whispered the message he received, unable to see if tears were forming. "I’m sorry," he did not let her go. He knew she was going to need someone. He heard her sobs before she felt her body tremble her own arms grabbed on to him and held him as she continued to cry.

__________________________________________________________________________

Hartford, Conneticut.

Fox slipped the charcoal colored stalking’s up her legs. They looked like they were bathed with ashes. It really didn’t matter what her legs would look like. Nobody was going to pay attention to her legs, and she didn’t care if they stared. She had brought a black dress that fell lower than her knees. All they were going to see would be her well toned calves.

"David can you zip me up?" She asked as she reached for her flats. She did not want to look like a prom queen at the funeral. She selected her most plainest black dress and a pair of shoes without any heels. The funeral was for the memory of her father, not for her to show off. She also didn’t want to be in discomfort from walking around in stilettos and risk falling on the soft ground.

Xanatos sealed the last button on his black shirt. "I have you covered." He reached over and pulled the zipper on her back sealing her skin in the black cloth cover.

"Now is not the time to be funny," she stood up and stared in his eyes. The way he blinked at her told her he was not trying to pun. "I’m sorry."

"Don’t be. I’m the one who’s sorry."

"Why?" She entered the bathroom of their hotel room. She, David, and Owen had checked into the bed and breakfast earlier that morning. They were going to spend a few days in town and didn’t feel like driving back and forth through the city for the funeral service and the reading of the will.

"Because of what I had done to him. I took nearly everything of his, even tried to steal his company. He was a good man who didn’t deserve all that. He even tried to protect my son from Oberon. I’m sorry I have never took time to officially apologies. I’m sorry I didn’t try to make it up to him."

Fox set her hair brush down on the counter. "Don’t say that. I tried to steal his company before, and I’m his daughter. I took his fatherly love for granted." She twisted up a tube of lipstick and tried to brig it to her face. She couldn’t apply it until she reigned in control of her emotions.

Two light knocks tapped against the door to their room. It was Owen’s knock. "Mr. and Mrs. Xanatos? The car is ready for us. I took liberties of placing a few umbrellas in the back seat. The clouds are starting to thicken."

"Thank you Owen," Xanatos said. "Fox needs a little more time to finish getting ready."

"Perfectly understood sir."

The conversation between her husband and Owen had calmed her down long enough to paint her lips a matted shade of coral and swept pale gale gray over he eyelids. Fox quickly placed her favorite pearl earrings into her ears. She didn’t want to make everyone wait forever for her. She didn’t want to wear any mascara or eyeliner. She didn’t want to have dark gray streaks running down her cheeks. She dabbed a little blush onto her cheeks and spritzed perfume on to her neck.

___________________________________________________________________________

It had rained the night before and the dark awning of gray clouds lookd like they were going to promise more. The sharp endges of the neatly trimmed grass blades were covered with clear damp beads of moisture. Nightingales gatherd on the ground in small groups searching for worms that were flushed out from the rain on the night before.

Fox watched as a small flock flew off the second Owen opened the car door. She felt sorry for disrupting their meal, but she also felt sorry for the worms. If they didn’t crawl out of the soft ground they would drown, and if they did crawl out they would be eaten. For some creatures the rain would equal death instead of life.

The threat of the incoming weather had prompted the funeral home employees to set up canvas awnings over the rows of folding metal chairs. The service for Halcyon Renard was expected to draw out a lot of people and they want to make sure there was enough room for everyone. Fox, Xanatos and Owen sat in the front row. Owen taking a place nexto Preston Vogel. Fox turned towards them while feeling her husband’s fingers lace through her own. Owen and Preston always had an appearance of twin brothers. They even grieved the same. They were silent with bloodshot eyes. Streams of tears slowly traveled down the sides of their faces.

A second awning was set up in front ot th crowd. It was smaller in width and lenght, but it was enough to cover the podium and casket. The podium was made of allunimum with wooden paneling. It weighed light enough to be easily carried around. The Cherrywood casket wasn’t fancy. It was polished smoothly with rounded corners. A swath of deep purple cloth covered the middle and several bouquets of flowers were placed on top.

Father Albert was a young man, appeared no older than twenty eight. His round face was topped with a crown of strawberry blond curls. His large blue eyes and thin lips reflected the sorrow displayed on the faces of the mourners. "Dearly beloved," he began, silencing the coughs and most of those who were blowing their noses in sorrow. "We here today to remember Halcyon Renard, a great business man who took a small dental products company and turned it into a grand enterprise. He was not just a nobleman with a set of ethics. He was also a husband, uncle, father and grandfather. He was a saint to some, and a teacher to others."

"This man had done his homework," Xanatos whispered into his wife’s ear. Fox responded with a nodd of her head.

"He was the grandson of French immigrants who arrived in the country with a few coins in their pockets and minds full of dreams and ideas. Their son used learned their skills and applied them to develop toothpaste and toothbrushes for children, the business grew to include mouthwash and dental floss. His buisness was passed on to his son Halycon while the money went to his sister, Harriet."

Xanatos reconized the name of Harriet and felt his wife tense up next to him. He heard Fox mention her aunt a few times but she had never gone in great detail when talking about her.

"I know it is hard for a grieving sister to talk about her brother," Father Albert said. "Harriet could you say a few things?"

Xanatos watched as a woman with hair the exact color of moonlight in a short and neat style approach the stage. The small slouch in her back was made almost unnoticable by the black wool sweater she wore with a matching skirt. She walked with a limp and relied on her black and cane with a silver handle. "You never really talked much about your Aunt, just spoke of her name."

"Aunt Harriet and I were never on very good terms," Fox sighed. "She always thought of me as the spoiled ungrateful daughter who took advantage of her brother and in a way she was right."

"Don’t say that," Xanatos hissed.

"Watch her eyes."

Xanatos returned his focus onto the woman standing at the podium. Her thin fingers, long twisted from possible arthritis clutched onto the cane’s handle. The old woman’s appearance was striking similar to her brother’s with the narrow face and thin lips held in a disapproving frown. Her nose was actually longer and thinner than Halcyon’s ending in simple point. Her cold blue eyes drank in everything around her.

"I like to thank you all from coming, even those who I have not been on better terms with." Her eyes darted across the audience and rested on Fox. "My brother was an amazing man. He took the small sapling planted by our father and turned it into a forest. He was a man of ethics and morals. He rewarded hard work and punished incompetence. He believed people are responsible for the consequence of their actions." Again her eyes focused on Fox. " He was a hard man to work for, but he had the kindest soul. There was a time when I was a child of eight and he was thirteen. We had been promised we could go to the fair if we did our chores. In the process of cleaning the steps I slipped and twisted my ankle. I couldn’t go and believe me I didn’t care if I hurt myself further or not, I wanted to go, but our parents made me stay in bed. He told me it wouldn’t be fair if he went and I stayed, but I told him to go. He didn’t talk about the fun he had when he returned home that evening. Instead he gave me cotton candy, a caramel apple and a balloon he bought. He won me a stuffed bear from knocking over milk bottles, but the best gift was the bunny he won in a contest. Our parents didn’t want to get a dog, but they didn’t mind a bunny. The rabbit lived for ten years and even though he was a young college student, near graduation, my brother helped me bury it." She wiped the tears away from the corners of her eyes. "He shared that kind side with his close friends and loved ones." She was helped to her chair by her eldest son.

"Our next speaker is Halcyon’s ex-wife, Anastasia Renard." The priest spoke briefly before stepping back to allow Anastasia to approach the stage.

At the mention of her mother’s name Fox’s whole body went limp. She could not believe she was there, a person show tried to shut out, a person she wanted to speak with. She watched as her mother readjusted the microphone. She had not changed in appearance. Her hair the color of sunset was pinned up with sky blue metallic hair clips. Everything else she wore was black, save for the white blouse she wore under the black sweater.

"I know this will sound like a broken record after a while, but I like to thank you for coming," Anastasia greeted. "I can go on for days and weeks on how much Renard meant to me, and how deeply I loved him, but I will try to keep it short. We met at the 1959 world fair. I was curious about all the new scientific breakthrough’s and discoverers like everyone else was, but I asked too many questions. My inquisitive mind annoyed nearly everyone, except Renard. He liked curious minds and didn’t mind speaking with me for nearly an hour, answering all my questions. As I was leaving that day he ran up to me and offered to treat me to dinner. How could I refuse? He was smart, attractive, kind and most importantly I was hungry," she paused for the wave of light laughter to pass through the crowd. "We dated several times. He couldn’t wait to show me around his lab, pointing out a new discovery, everything from displaying a new invention for chopping vegetables to allowing me to be the first to taste Great Grapalicious flavor of toothpaste."

Fox couldn’t help but to smile. She remembered brushing her teeth with her father’s brand of toothpaste. Great Grapalicious was her’s and Alex’s favorite flavor. The only thing troubling her was the way her mother was speaking of her father. She was acting like she had actually loved him. The woman was not even crying, just smiling. Fox felt her strength return to her with every word that flew out of her mother’s mouth.

"Our love grew and two years after we met he proposed. I will never for get our wedding day. The bouquet of cow lilies I carried, the ice blue bowtie he wore and how much it matched his beautiful eyes, or how he released a dozen doves before he threw my garter to the single men. He was a good husband, he worked long hard hours, but he always made time for me. We went out at least once a week, weather it was to dinner, or to a movie, or to go bowling, or dancing. He never left the house without giving me a kiss and after Fox was born he wouldn’t leave until he kissed me and kissed her on the top of her head. I believe it’s my daughter’s turn." She slipped away from the podium.

Fox watched as her mother walked back to her seat. There were no tears trailing down her cheeks, her face was completly devoid of any emotion. She knew she could not let anyone see her with a mask of anger. She was mad at her mother not at her father. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before she advanced to the microphone. "I’ll admit I never was the perfect daughter." Her hands wrapped around the base of the microphone. Her watering eyes scanned over the entire crowd. I was the normal well behaved daughter until I entered my teens and began living my life in every manner that would annoy my father," she shrugged and tried to smile. She knew it had to appear extremely stupid. She could feel how strange it was as well as the warm droplets trickling down her cheeks. "What can I say, I was in my rebellious phase, and that phase lasted until my son was born."

She tilted her head back to stare at the overcast sky. "I know my father is up there shaking his head at me. ‘Janine you need to stop making exuses for your behavior. You need to admit when you are wrong and take what you have earned.’ My father has said the same words to me ever since I was three and accidentally broke a decorative plate. I blamed it on a cartoon character. Now that I have a child of my own I can appreciate what he was trying to tell me. He wanted me to be a responsible woman. He not only lectured me on admitting when I had made a mistake. He made sure I had my homework done the second he returned home from work and gave me a special folder to write down assignments in and if the teacher did not hand out any she would write it down and I showed it to him. He always made sure I went to bed at my scheduled bed time and made sure I had plenty of time to take a bath and brush my teeth."

She reached up to wipe away the crystal clear liquid falling from her eyes, not stopping until her fingers were soaked. "There is so much more I want to share about him. He helped me with science projects and proofread my book reports before I wrote a final draft. Before I was old enough for school he would let me see where he worked and when I wanted a lab of my own he made me one out of cardboard boxes and played mad scientist with me. When my mother was sick we would try to cook dinner ourselves. Please don’t ask me how many disasters we created. He helped me get over my fear of thunder storms, helped me learn how to read, taught me how to ride a bike and even helped me practice my pitching for little league." She wanted to finish her speech, ending with the right words but she couldn’t. Even if she wanted to say something she would not be able to force a word out over her sobs. She had no idea she was leaning against the podium until her husband took her arm and helped her back to her seat.

"There are only two other speakers who wish to say something on behalf of Renard." Father Albert said. "Even though they are not twins they asked to speak at the same time and I may have to remind everyone they are not twins. They are not even related to each other. Mr. Owen Burnet, and Mr. Preston Vogel you may share your sentiments."

Owen approached the podium first, but allowed the other man to speak before him. The priest had reason to repeat the fact Owen and the other man were not related. They looked exactly the same. They were even dressed in the same black suits. The only differences between the men were their hair. Instead of neatly cut blond Preston was coifed with thick dark curls. His choice of neckwear was also different. Preston wore a bow tie instead of the more tasteful style of tie Owen wore.

"I like to start by completing the success story of Halcyon Renard," Preston spoke after clearing his throat. "Halcyon continued the work of our father, improving the formula and opening new factories. Because of his business skills he was asked by a friend for help with his lawnmower company. In the end his friend gave up and sold the company to him for a paltry sum. My brother ran both companies together and the smaller company grew to include vacuum cleaners and other house appliances. He saw potential in younge college students with skills in computers and hired them. Still not giving up on the old mission of providing better toothpaste my brother worked on developing better medical tools. With the new technology my brother turned Renard’s Dental Care and Appliances into Cyberbiotics." He paused briefly to catch his breath and force back the moisture gathering at the corners of his eyes. "Cyberbiotics has gone beyond the basic laboratory buildings and towers. Today the business has labs under the ground and in the sky in the from of huge airships. We have developed robots, or cybots that can do anything, we are even developing robots to take care of basic household chores, and it is all because of Halcyon Renard. I consider myself a lucky man to have signed on with him in the early eighties. He had grown from a boss to a father figure. My only regret is he won’t be able to witness my marriage to my lovely fiancee Mary Anne Rail."

"I should be grateful Mr. Renard was able to attend my wedding," Owen spoke. "Even thought I left him to work for David Xanatos I am honest to say he was much more benevolent than my previous boss, the one before Halcyon," Owen stared right into Anastasia’s eyes. He was expecting a small scowl or an eye roll, not a sigh and a nod. "He did not hand praises out like Halloween candy. Whenever he told someone they had performed a job well done it was because they had earned it. He was pleased I had found someone and was estatic when I called him to tell him I am going to be a father myself. My wife is eight months pregnant and wishes she could be here. I have talked with her and we both agreed our first born son’s name shall be Ronald Halycon Burnet." The men parted the stage while the audience were still clapping lightly. Owen took his place on the other side of Fox. She was still draped over her husband, sobbing into his shirt jacket.

"That was beautiful," Xanatos said while brushing his fingers against Fox’s back.

"It was from my heart and from Kittys," Owen whispred while the priest read from the common book of Prayer. "She wishes she could be here."

"I know," Fox choked through tears. "I know who actually cares and those who are only pretending." She leaned in closer to David’s chest, not to cry against, but to feel his warm comforting body.

______________________________________________________________________

The woman who was once known as Janine Renard had thanked everyone who had arrived and even promised her aunt she would attend the post funeral pot luck meal. Her father was gone, her only true parent was gone. All the wounds from the past between her mother and herself had reopened. How dare she speak of her father like she actually cared.

She waited until she had spoken with everyone before she sought her mother out. "Titania," she spoke her mother’s name in a shrill clip. The queen of the fae had decided to be the first one to leave and was on her way to her rental car when Fox had caught up with her. "I was close to mending bridges with you, but what you have done tore them down again."

The disguised faerie queen still had the key in the lock. "And why is that?"

"The falsities that fell out of your mouth like the rain that is about to pour," a not too distant roll of thunder rumbled before tiny ice cold drops fell onto the ground. Fox ignored the droplets landing on her head. "Did you do this?"

"If you had watched the news you would have realized this is not my doing, nor your own." She raised an elegant eyebrow. "You have been using your magic."

"How do you know?"

"I can smell it. Now go find your husband or Owen. I know they have umbrellas. I don’t want you to catch a cold."

"Drop the caring mother act."

"This is not an act, Fox, I want you to get out of the rain. You can catch a head cold, and you are ruining your pretty dress. I want you to go to your hotel, get out of those cloths and get into a nice warm bath."

"Stop it!," Fox’s fists were so tightly clenched her nails dug into her palms. "You never cared about any of us. My father was just a mortal you kept as a plaything and I was the experiment."

Anastasia stepped back in shock. "I loved your father and you very much."

"That’s a lie! If you loved him you wouldn’t have left him. If you loved me you wouldn’t have tried to take my son from me."

"I didn’t have any choice. As one of Oberon’s children I was under Avalon’s law to return when my king called the gathering. I left because I felt the time was near, and when I convinced Oberon to try to take your son I did it to bring out your power. You are of faerie lineage. I had to get it to manifest inside you." She turned the key, keeping her back turned to her daughter

"Magic, that is what all you faerie types care about isn’t it. You are beings without souls and love. Was magic so important that you had to put me through hell? That your so called king had to end hundreds of innocent lives when he caused everyone to sleep?"

"Fox-"

"Don’t you call me by that name, Faerie Queen. After you tried to abduct my grandson I wanted to purge my fae blood out of my system. I vowed never to use magic again. I broke that vow because of dreams that came true, but I think I’ll try not to learn any more and stay with scrying and dreaming. I don’t want to become anything like you!"

The sound of a slab of meat being dropped on a wooden cutting board filled the air. Anastasia pulled her arm back. Her palm was still stinging from striking her daughter’s face. "I love you and I always have. I spent long hours working on your Halloween costumes I was the den mother for your girl scout meetings. I always signed up to run a booth for the school fair. I sang to you while you were in bed and planned healthy and delicious menus for my family. I fixed you homemade chicken soup when you were sick and played Barbie with you when it was raining outside and your friends couldn’t come over. I planned you birthday parties, made sure you had everything packed when you went over on slipovers, taught you how to put on lipstick and while the rest of your classmates had Hostess and Little Debbies in their lunch boxes I gave you home made cookies, cupcakes, and brownies. Please tell me you hadn’t forgot all of that, please tell me you you didn’t forget how much I loved you, how much I loved your father." She stepped inside her car. "Now please get out of the rain and if you won’t apologize to me, then apologize to Owen. You have insulted him as well." The car door slammed shut.

Fox stood their dumbstruck, the pink hand print had already faded away but the pain was still there, not the pain from being slapped but what she realized what she had said to her mother. "Mother wait!" She reached for the car just as the wheels turned. "Mother, don’t leave. Mom I’m sorry. Mommy, please don’t go." Through blurry eyes she watched the car speed away. "What have I done?"

"You have left without your umbrella."

Fox spun around at the sound of Owen’s voice. The blond majordomo was standing right behind her, holding out a large scarlet umbrella to her. "Owen, I’m sorry. When I said I didn’t want to be anything like them I didn’t mean you."

"You don’t have to apologize. You were upset and said things you didn’t mean."

"I said things I didn’t mean to her. I don’t know if I’ll ever see her again."

"I am sure you will." He placed his arm around he soulders and lead her back to the car they had arrived in.

___________________________________________________________________________

The last of the rain fell in scattered drops over the city. Slender beams of sunlight found weak spots amongst the clouds and poked through, highlighting the clear drops sticking to cars, lampposts, windows and the slender trees held saftely by their minature fences.

Kitty watched the fading shower outside her window. Crystal like droplets covered the plants in the window box and slid down the leaves. She wanted to open the window and inhale the sweet post shower scent, hoping the rain had washed away most of the pollution but new that was not possible. The rain could have been acidic.

"Maybe there will be a rainbow." she whispered to herself.

"You are the rainbow at the end of my day," Owen said as he entered the room. He had barely closed the door when he felt the warm embrace of his wife. "I missed you." He kissed her.

"How was it," She asked softly. "I wish I could have been there."

"It was good and bad, the service was good. Fox is going through a bit of depression."

"I can understand that."

"She exchanged a few words with her mother, very hurtful words."

"Oh," She pressed her lips together, trying to think of the right things to say. "Hopefully they will make up." She noticed the envelope he was carrying. "What is that?"

"It is what Renard had left us. Cyberbiotics was divided up into three’s and given to different heirs. Alex will someday own the software and medical science division when he turns eighteen. Mrs Xanatos will manage it for him until that day. She also recieved his house in France. Preston is given his cabin in Vermont, The airships and cybot divisions."

"He deserves it."

Owen nodded. "Anastasia was given the large house Renard was living in, but decided to give it to Renard’s sister. Harriet received some money and the appliance part of the division. He willed a lot of money to be given to the Labyrinth."

"What about the dental care division?"

He waved the envelope around. "We own it. In his own words Renard rewrote his will after he found out you were pregnant. He believes we will raise our child to be a responsible young man and wants him to have the seed he used to start his own empire. Renard always believed the children were the future."

"And that was what he gave our son, a future." she stroked her stomach, only moving her hand to the side to allow her husband to pet along with her.