[A/N; I love Delilah, but I can't get my hands on the comic, so I'm stuck with the three minutes of screen time she got...XD Also, I'm ashamed of myself, but I totaly forgot who beated this! Sorry! XQ]
Sing For Me
Maggie had started to hate it when the clan came down to the labyrinth to visit. Not because she disliked them, not one bit, but because there was more and more tension every time they came.
They where trying, they really were. It must be hard though, seeing yourself in a photo-negative, walking around, talking like a five year old. But the clan really did try to accept them, make them feel, well, normal.
It's hard to make someone feel normal when you're not normal yourself, but it was a good effort and it made the clones happy when the clan came and talked to them. The clones weren't the problem.
It was Delilah.
Goliath wouldn't look at her, and if he did, it was a blaming look, like he wanted her gone. Delilah wasn't stupid, she picked it up and took it the wrong way.
Delilah reminded Goliath of Thailog, and the other way around. It was bound for disaster. Goliath saw the face of his enemy in the creature created from the two women he had loved, and Delilah saw the master she loved, but received no warmth from him.
Even worse, children are the mirrior of their parents, and Angela picked up Goliath's looks just as much as Delilah did.
Maggie tried to explain to the white haired little girl that they didn't hate her, just her master, but to Delilah that was the same thing. So the young woman hid herself away, tried to avoid first the clan, then the homeless in the labyrinth, then Maggie and Derek, then finally her brothers.
In the end, Maggie gathered up all her courage and went to her would-be sister-in-law.
Elisa didn't come to visit as often as the clan did, just popped down to hug her brother then disappeared again, but she listened to Maggie's concerns, seemingly battling over something in her mind. The furrow in her brow ridge proved it.
Must be hard on her too, to have a being that is, technically your flesh and blood, but still not. Delilah was a reminder for Elisa that she was not, nor would ever be, a gargoyle. She would never bear the children of the man she loved, or any children at all for that matter. Delilah was the daughter Elisa should never have had.
Still, Elisa was many things, but not heartless. She came down to the labyrinth to talk to her clone.
They talked, in private, for a long time. Goliath paced, even though he pretended not to, and that made everyone nervous. Finally, Elisa came out of the room Delilah shared with her brothers. The clones where busy playing, Lexington trying to teach them jacks. Everyone else looked up, seeing her red eyes and slumped shoulders. Goliath stepped forward, but before he could ask Elisa answerd.
"I said that she could call me mom, if she wanted to."
It took them all back. Nobody moved for a good few moments, not until Angela stood up and stormed out. Broadway folowed her. Elisa sighed and smiled vaguely at Maggie before walking after them.
Delilah was in the little alcove where she curled up when she wanted to be alone. Maggie approached slowly, not wanting to disturb her. Seeing the young girl smile however, made Maggie certain that things where going to be just fine.
Elisa found Angela on one of the castle walls. The gargoyle turned away when her father's lover walked over, but she didn't fly off. The detective sat down next to the winged girl, gazing out over New York.
They sat in silence, the human patient and the gargoyle in an air of guilt and righteousness. Finally, the young girl cracked and with a hint of desperation in her voice she almost yelled at the older woman.
"Why?"
Elisa was a trained police officer. She knew that the best way to keep someone calm in a conversation was to remain calm yourself.
"Because, whether or not I like it, she is just a little girl, and the closest thing she has to a parent is me."
Angela growled and turned away, and Elisa feelt a sting of worry whe she looked at the horned face, finding that it looked a lot like another female gargoyle she knew. One she didn't care for half as much as she cared for this one.
"If you keep frowning like that, you'll end up looking like Hudson-a big creaky babboon."
The girl hissed and turned farther away.
"Angela, why are you so angry…?"
The wind stilled and they were quiet for a moment, then a soft whisper made it's way out of the girl's cracked mouth.
"Because you told HER that… But not me…"
Elisa was puzzled for a moment, then she understood.
"You're jealous…"
The teenage girl hissed again and spat back.
"Of course I am! You're my fathers beloved, a member of this clan! Why can't I call you that?"
"But sweetheart, you have a mother…"
"Yes, a mother that tries to kill my father and corrupt my brothers every chance she gets! I'd rather…"
"You'd rather…?"
But the gargoyle was quiet, staring down at the clouds engulfing the lower floors, much like the sea had before the castle was moved.
"Angela, I didn't want to impose on you. I didn't want to take away whatever hope you might have had about your mother. But that doesn't mean I don't love you. I do think of you as a daughter, I just didn't want to try and take the place of the one that gave birth to you, or princess Kathrine, who raised you…"
Angela sniffed and wiped her face, but didn't answer. So Elisa continued.
"But I guess… If you want to, you can call me mom too…"
The purple gargoyle almost snapped her neck turning towards the human, but before she could say anything, the police woman held up a finger in front of her face.
"On one condition!"
"What…?"
Elisa smiled and gently stroked the young girls cheek.
"You have to be nice to your sister…"
Angela bit her lip and looked down, almost guilty. Then she smiled a little and turned her face back.
"Ok, I'll be nice to my sister… Mother…"
Goliath watched the two women hug each other from his position high up on the tower wall. He didn't know what they had been talking about, but they seemed to have worked it out.
He'd be lying if he said he was ok with this. He still couldn't get over the fact that Thailog had created that... that abomination from the blood he had stolen from the two women he'd loved! It feelt so unnatural to see her, hear her voice. He couldn't stop thinking that she looked so much like Elisa had when she…
The clan's leader shook his head. Elisa would never take that form again, she would never soar through the sky with him again. It was alright, he could have lived with that, he loved her still, but that THING… No, he could never get used to Thailog's creation.
"I said that she could call me mom, if she wanted to."
He sighed, deeply. Suppose he would have to get used to her, one way or the other.
Her daughter. Maybe, if he could start seeing her as Elisa's child…
Still, he growled at the thought of Elisa having a child that was not his as well.
But he had a daughter, one that was not Elisa's, and she handled that just fine. Just look at them, right now, sitting a few floors beneath him, chattering away. If she could handle it, couldn't he?
It would be easier, seeing Delilah as Elisa's child rather then the creation of his evil clone.
Angela came up the stairs, Elisa in tow. He smiled at them as Angela took her place next to Broadway, facing the brightest part of the sky. Then he turned to his love, stroking her soft hair with his big hand. She took it in her small ones, kissing his palm. He pressed his thumb against her lips before pulling back and turning to face the dawn.
"See you tonight, big guy…"
"Yes, tonight."
He did not have time to wipe the smile from his lips before they froze.
And somehow, he didn't mind. Didn't mind at all.
[A/N; Comments makes Tai type faster!]