Disclaimer:

Also, this is somewhere between the gargoyles moving back to Wyvern Castle and the season 2 finale.

Eyrie Building, Manhattan

Owen Burnett stood stoically as ever as the sun set behind the skyscrapers of Manhattan. He stood on what served as the main balcony of the Scottish Wyvern Castle, flanked on all sides by stone gargoyles. Instead of their usual perch, the seven were frozen in a semi-circle as if paused in a conversation. A heated one, if the facial expressions could be judged.

Once the last rays dipped below the horizon, the monuments surrounding the majordomo began to crack. One by one, each statue's rocky hide began to break away, accompanied by animalistic roars. Seven flesh and blood figures soon stood where once there were seven stone.

Owen stepped up to the large lavender gargoyle, Goliath, and nodded. "Good evening. Mr. Xanatos sends his regards, but he and Mrs. Xanatos have stepped out for the evening."

A deep, almost threatening growl came from Goliath's throat. "We were discussing Xanatos' plans for a cure to the Mutates..."

"He is aware of that." Owen was not the least bit intimidated by the giant before him. "Mr. Xanatos plans on continuing the discussion once he returns from the mayor's party." With that, he turned on his heel back to the castle's interior.

Goliath scowled at the man's retreating form. Hudson, the oldest of the clan, stood at his side. "We may as well go on patrol until he returns, then..."

"Yes," Goliath grumbled. "Brooklyn and Hudson will come with me to the East River. Broadway, Lexington, and Angela will take the West Side once we return. Agreed?"

"Yes, sir!" Brooklyn gave a mock salute and eagerly hopped up on the stone ledge. Goliath and Hudson followed soon after and the tree warriors glided into the night.

Broadway, Angela, and Lexington watched the others go. "So who wants breakfast?" Broadway grinned at his clan members as he wrapped his arm around Angela's shoulder. "Belgun waffles?"

"Sounds good to me," Lex agreed, petting Bronx between his ears. The beast barked in agreement. "Bronx thinks so, too."

Angela remained silent, looking through the glass French doors to the inside. Broadway nudged her gently. "Angela, honey? Waffles?"

"Hm? Oh... I'm sorry. I was thinking...

"What about?" Lexington asked.

"Mr. Burnett. He's very... Well..."

"Weird?" Broadway offered.

Angela nodded slightly. "I suppose. He's always stoic, unnervingly so. Its like he was made of stone."

"That's not far off. Y'know, with his hand and all..." Lex joked, which received a chuckle from Broadway.

"But other people," Angela continued. "They show their emotions. Owen doesn't..."

The aquamarine gargoyle became thoughtfully curious. "It is weird, considering who he shares that body with..."

"Yeah," Lex agreed. "Puck isn't famous for his calm demeanor. It makes you wonder what goes on in there, what its like to have two completely different people sharing a mind..."

A particularly loud rumble interrupted that train of thought. Broadway put a hand to his gut and grinned sheepishly. "All this wondering is making me hungry. Maybe we can figure out the mysteries of Owen over a plate of waffles...?"

Angela smiled at her boyfriend and nodded. The trio of gargoyles headed inside to the kitchen with Bronx leading the way.

"Don't worry," Lexington added. "You'll get use to Owen... Eventually..."

Burnett's Office

Owen, or Puck rather, finished Alexander's evening lesson in Fae magic somewhat early. The babe's mother had taken him out for a day of shopping and his attention span was weaning from exhaustion. Dutifully Owen had seen to putting Master Alex to bed before returning to his own inner sanctum to finish the Xanatos Enterprises business reports for the day.

He gracefully sat at the solid oak desk, woke his computer from sleep mode, and began typing one-handed when a voice creped up from the base of his neck...

"Reports on a Friday night? Again?!" A ghostly transparent figure of the Fae Puck appeared, hovering over Owen's left shoulder. "Its bad enough the kid fell asleep on me. Now you put me through this?!"

Owen continued his rapid key-pressing without so much as acknowledging the appearance.

Put out, Puck sat Indian style in mid-air and hovered to the front of the desk. "I'm starting to rethink my deal with Xanatos, or not returning for the Gathering while we're on that track. Living peacefully on Avalon in eternal peace has to be better than business reports! Or at the very least less boring..."

"It is too late for regrets, Puck," Owen said off-handedly as the typing continued uninterrupted. "Perhaps you should have considered everything before making your choices."

"And who says I didn't?" Puck waved away the though as he reclined on nothing. "What I don't understand is why you haven't gone insane with all this paperwork! Sure I created you to be an uptight stiff, but even uptight stiffs have their breaking point!"

Owen refused to dignify that with a comment.

"C'mon, Burnett..." The Fae lowered to eye level with the majordomo. "You can't do this everyday forever. I know. You have to do something fun sometime! Go out for a drink or two, play a harmless prank on some unsuspecting sap, find a lady friend for some 'company'..." Puck waggled his eyebrows at the last choice.

"No. I don't. I have obligations to see to."

Puck half groaned, half snarled. Owen's eyes finally left the monitor to watch the temper tantrum. "You... You... Are impossible! Don't you understand that I'm going crazy up here?! Every time that little brat is occupied with sleeping or eating or drooling, I'm reduced to you, the stick in the mud from Hell, as my only company! And what do you do with you spare time? File reports! And I have had it!"

Owen took this in stride and leaned back into the office chair. "And what would you do? Defy Oberon? Go on with your childish whining in a vein effort to convince me to go back on our pact with Xanatos?"

"Childish?!" Puck looked as if he were to go on with his rant. Suddenly, he stopped, that mischievous look shining in his eyes. "Childish, you say? Well... If you think I'm childish, then I may as well act out the part..."

One Hour Later

"John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt,

His name is my name, too!

Whenever we go out

The people always shout,

'There goes John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt!'

La La La La La La La La!

John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt,

His name is my name, too--"

Owen tapped the fingers of his right hand against the desk while leaning his head against his stone fist. This was Puck's third rendition of John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt, the fifth children's song, and yet the Fae had no intention of stopping. Owen had tried working through it, but that only lasted the first forty-seven minutes.

"Puck..."

"The people always shout--"

"Puck!"

The singing paused. A slow smile appeared."Yes?" Puck drawled out, managing to sound innocent.

Owen sighed, a rare thing. "I will consider asking Mr. Xanatos for a short while off... Next week, once this merger has completed and--"

"This is the song that never ends!

It just goes on and on my friend!

Some people started singing it, not knowing what it was,

And they'll continue singing it just because--

This is the song that never ends!

It just goes on and on my friend!

Some people started singing it, not knowing what it was,

And they'll continue singing it just because--

This is the song that never ends!

It just goes on and on--"

SMASH!

The sound made Puck stop singing in shock. Owen took a deep breath in order to look at his left fist. It was now sitting in the middle of what was once a state-of-the-art computer, brand new from Xanatos' Technology division, surrounded by microchip shrapnel and broken plastic casing.

Puck whistled in admiration. "Very nice. Expensive, but nice... How'd it feel?"

Owen was quiet as he pulled the limb from the mess. He stared at it contemplatively for a moment.

"Perhaps...," he began. "Perhaps a vacation would be beneficial..."

A/N:

This is not meant to be taken seriously. Bad things (like having your brain explode) will happen if you do. Just a silly whim of a plot bunny...

Hm...

What if it was taken seriously...?