Something to tell you ch 3

7 months and three weeks after conception

Demona stared down into the skylight and noticed the boxes already packed. Didn't that human understand anything about rest? Demona's eyes burned for a moment as she watched Elisa pulling a chair over to the kitchen cabinets to start pulling the dishes off the top shelf so that she could pack them. She could have easily went inside and insisted that Elisa let her take care of that, but the detective had been very vocal about not caring for Demona's coddling anymore. As if Demona was coddling the woman, she was just trying to make sure that Elisa didn't get hurt… didn't damage the hatchling.

Demona had lived outside of human society for her long life, but she'd seen many women and children die during childbirth. She'd seen many human females have to bury their offspring before the baby had taken its first breath, and most often it had been the woman's own labors that caused that. Live born creatures were all so fragile. Demona didn't want to lose them… the hatchling, she didn't want to lose the hatchling.

She sat down on the rooftop to watch, not really feeling like having a conversation. Elisa didn't like when she did that, but that was just too bad. Demona wasn't the detective's lap dog like Goliath. She didn't just bow before the woman's feet and do what she was told like some sort of pet. She'd just stay here and make sure Elisa didn't push herself too far. The detective had a habit of thinking she could do anything.

The gargoyle tilted her head and smiled at the detective when Elisa grinned wickedly and tossed a particularly ugly plate at the wall, watching it shatter with a smile of joy on her face. She actually chuckled at the fake look of dismay as it's twin hit the wall as well. Those plates must have plagued the detective's cupboards for a long time for Elisa to take such joy in their demise.

Elisa continued to pull the other plates down without tossing them to their doom, her moment of destructive playfulness over. Demona missed it. That look was so rare on Elisa, she'd been so serious since she found out about the pregnancy.

Dishes and glasses were packed away carefully, even though Elisa had mentioned that she wouldn't need them where she was going. Her brother was going to be getting them since he was getting a house soon. Demona sighed as she watched Elisa pack. This was bothering the detective far more than she let on. Elisa liked her independence, and living with the clan was going to be hard on her.

Demona smirked. Of course living with the clan would show Elisa all of Goliath's flaws. Somehow the gargoyle had managed to be on his best behavior around the detective, but he couldn't do it every night all night. If there had ever been a hope of those two getting together, this pregnancy and the subsequent overbearing and demanding attitude that Goliath was bound to exhibit would stop that. Elisa wasn't any more likely to care for Goliath's attitude than Demona had, and with a hatchling in her care already, Elisa may turn into a real wildcat if he pushed her. Demona hoped he pushed Elisa. The thought of her human taking Goliath down several pegs was so delicious. He always took the idea that the clan leader made decisions about the hatchlings too far. Then the clan didn't know which hatchling was theirs, but that tradition was dead now. Angela and the other two females were very aware of which egg they had laid, and Delilah was hers. The smirk faded from Demona's lips as her fist clenched. Delilah was hers, and god help the clan if they tried to keep her from this daughter!

Elisa stepped off the chair and Demona released a breath she didn’t realize she’d been holding as the detective’s feet hit firm ground. Safe.

The detective was a bit of a puzzle to Demona. Elisa had agreed to let her into her new daughter’s life when the male she’d been mated to for years denied her right to be with Angela. Even beyond that, she’d heard that same detective talking to Goliath in Paris. She’d been stunned when Elisa and Goliath talked about Angela being her daughter. The idea that she had a daughter, and she was alive had filled Demona with joy while she hid in the shadows to listen in to the animated discussion between her ex-mate and Elisa. That joy had been tainted when Goliath refused to tell Angela about her. It turned to surprise when Elisa argued that Angela had a right to know, and that perhaps Angela should be introduced to Demona. Elisa gave the reasoning that if Demona knew Angela was her daughter, she wouldn’t attack her. That was very insightful, because before she’d even set eyes on the young lavender female, Demona had loved her for merely existing. She would have stayed longer to listen to Elisa’s very vocal protest to Goliath’s decision to never tell, but the sun was going to rise and she needed to get out of range from MacBeth so that he wouldn’t feel her pain.

Months later she’d managed to get a spy inside Xanatos Enterprises. He’d gotten several surveillance videos to her and she made sure that he hadn’t viewed them. If he had, she would have killed him. He was untrustworthy, all humans were untrustworthy. She couldn’t have him knowing that Angela lived there.

She was shocked at what the tapes showed her. Elisa was still arguing on her behalf. She had several tapes of Elisa standing up to Goliath and trying to get him to see reason, trying to get him to allow Angela to visit with Demona. Her heart ached when she also saw Elisa comforting her daughter after the clan had been telling the young female lies about Demona, and completely ignoring the fact that it was Goliath’s blind trust in humans that had killed the clan. She’d watched with her jaw hanging open as Elisa told Angela that the clan was wrong about Demona, and that Demona wasn’t a monster. Elisa told Angela that her mother was so much more than the clan was willing to see, and wouldn’t listen to her when she tried to point that out. That Demona’s hatred wasn’t absolute and that her ability to love wasn’t dead, that Demona loved Angela very much and the female should never doubt that.

Demona watched the detective in the kitchen carefully wrapping the dishes before putting them in the box and shook her head lightly from side to side. Elisa defied description. Demona had tried several times to find the detective’s human failings, like they all had. She’d spied on the detective often ever since Goliath had chosen to save the human rather than his own mate, and she couldn’t count the number of times she’d sat on this rooftop in the past few years trying to understand how this human could be so different from the rest of them.

The sound of wings traveled to her and Demona tensed as she looked up to see Angela smirking at her while she glided overhead. The young female continued on her patrol without stopping to talk but that look on Angela’s face made Demona grimace. It’s the same look Angela got every time she caught Demona here. Angela obviously thought that there was more to Demona’s feelings than there were. Demona turned to stare into the kitchen again. She was just protecting what was hers. Elisa was so very careless with her safety. Delilah needed someone to watch out for her human mother.

8 months after conception

Demona glanced at the clock for the fifth time in the past hour, and almost growled at how slowly it was moving. She picked up her pen and started to sign all the forms that her secretary gave her. In spite of her impatience, she knew better than to sign without reading each one carefully. Carrie hadn’t made any mistakes yet, but Demona wasn’t willing to risk signing something that would come back to haunt her. The last paper on the pile surprised her.

She carried that paper out to the lobby to ask about it. “Carrie, you requested some time off during reports week.” That was the week each month that Demona dedicated to meetings with her department heads and reading all the reports on how things were running. It was strictly forbidden for her secretary to request that week off and she knew it.

Carrie looked a little nervous as she looked up at Demona. “My ex-husband is taking a vacation and agreed to let me have my son for that week.”

Demona went quiet as she heard more about Carrie’s personal life than she had in the past five months that she worked here. She didn’t even know that Carrie was a mother. She didn’t care to know about her employees personal lives, she wanted them to leave that at home and not bother her with it. She stared at Carrie and could see the young woman flinch just a little. “I don’t get to see Nathan very often. His father moved him to New Jersey and I couldn’t leave New York.”

“He just moved your son away from you without even considering this?” Demona found herself asking, rather than snapping that it wasn’t her concern.

Carrie seemed to relax a little bit. She didn’t have the deer in headlights look anymore. “We didn’t split on the best of circumstances. He barely keeps the court ordered visitations. I hardly ever get to see Nathan at all. Just a weekend a month, and I have to go to New Jersey and stay at a hotel to do that. He probably figured moving that far away would keep me from being able to do that, or that I’d get tired of the drive.” Carrie sighed and Demona leaned against the file cabinet.

“Fine, one week, but you need to find a replacement for the front desk.” Her eyes narrowed. “A good replacement.” She really shouldn’t let Carrie have that time. She needed the woman here. Surely Carrie could find a babysitter for that time. She signed the request and handed it to Carrie.

“Thank you Ms. Destine.” Carrie sounded so relieved. Demona just nodded and moved to go back to her desk to wait for Elisa. She’d spent the past week making the mansion look more kid friendly and was now going to show Elisa where she lived. She wanted Elisa to feel comfortable bringing Delilah to stay with Demona, to maybe let her have a week once in a while.

Elisa got there at a little before five. Demona was ready to leave and the drive to the mansion was quiet. Demona could see that Elisa was tired. “You’ve been working too hard packing and moving haven’t you?” Demona glared at Elisa while they sat at the stoplight.

The detective sighed. “No, I didn’t push myself too hard. I just didn’t get a lot of sleep last night.” Demona had to start driving, but she kept glancing over at Elisa when she could. “I left when the movers got there. I should have all of my stuff moved by the time I get back to the castle.” Elisa sounded a bit defeated and Demona could bet on what kept the detective up all night. Elisa hated to depend on others, and this move was going against everything that she wanted for herself. She was asked to move into that castle several times, but hadn’t because she liked her privacy and liked not owing Xanatos. This was a big bruise to her pride and Demona actually felt a little bad for Elisa. She was only doing this to keep their daughter safe. The detective was making large sacrifices to do that, and while Demona did feel some sympathy with that, knowing that Elisa was willing to protect Delilah and put their daughter’s needs first made her feel better about having gotten this particular human pregnant. As if she would have let any other human touch her. Demona grimaced at the turn her thoughts had made. She tried to not think about that night. The moon had hit her harder than normal, and made her do something incredibly stupid. The idea that she’d mated… No, bred… with this human still stunned her.

Demona smirked when she noticed Elisa’s eyes go a little wider as they drove up the driveway to the mansion. The detective had never seen Demona’s home, and the gargoyle knew that it was impressive by human standards. That was foremost in her mind when purchasing it. It was fitting for a CEO of a large corporation.

Demona had shown Elisa the entire downstairs, and was now covering the upstairs part of the tour. She felt her heart pounding a little faster as she neared the last room on the tour. She glanced over at Elisa and noticed the detective admiring the paintings on the walls. “I bought a few things.” Demona started as she pushed the door opened to reveal the other part of what she’d spent the last week doing. The walls were a soft pink, with various stuffed animals adorning the tables and dressers. Demona had seen the room before but started to look at it as if for the first time. She grimaced at the cutesy drapes and the Mickey Mouse mobile above the crib, suddenly feeling embarrassed for buying such things. She turned to glance at Elisa and noticed the detective’s shock and pleased expression and decided that she hadn’t done too badly after all. “For when she visits.” Demona spoke softly while watching Elisa step into the room and pick up the stuffed dog laying in the crib in place of an actual hatchling.

“It’s beautiful.” Elisa’s smile was so… Demona had to drag her eyes away from the detective to glance around the room again.

“Well, shall we go have dinner?” Demona felt the need to do something, to get away from Elisa’s constant stare. “I ordered Chinese, but it needs to be reheated.”

“Sounds good, but lead the way.” Elisa set the dog back under the blanket. “This place is too huge, I’ll get lost.” Demona seriously doubted that. Elisa probably had the entire place memorized by now. The detective was pretty smart about knowing all the exits and potential danger spots of a place. She’d seen Elisa in action, and the human was a warrior at heart. A warrior learned her environments fast, to be better able to protect themselves.

After a pleasant dinner with conversation Demona was almost ready to invite Elisa over for the next night. She stopped herself. Elisa had unpacking to do, and she had to settle in with the clan. Their days of spontaneous visits were over. Demona knew that if she tried to stop by the castle she’d get shot out of the sky. It was ridiculous to visit so much with the human now anyhow. She was just spending so much time with Elisa so that Elisa didn’t get hurt, but Angela would make sure nothing happened to the detective now. She was free to spend her evenings doing other things. That was a good thing. Her studies in magic had suffered in these past few months while she watched over the danger prone detective, and she really needed to get back to it. She also hadn’t done any surprise evaluations of any of her departments, and couldn’t let them think that she was getting soft.

The thought of magic made her think of something. “I’d like to teach Delilah magic when she’s old enough.” Demona started while watching Elisa’s discomfort at the idea. Delilah was Demona’s daughter too, and she had the right to teach her the skills she’d need to be able to survive. Demona’s eyes narrowed as she waited for the human to dictate how she could and couldn’t interact with her own daughter.

Elisa took a deep breath, “I’d like for her to have a choice in the matter. If she is old enough, and wants to know…” Elisa seemed really uncomfortable with the idea, but Demona was seeing that the human wasn’t dismissing the idea right away like Goliath would have for Angela, like she assumed the detective would have done. “I know you wouldn’t teach her anything that would put her in danger, but I’m still worried. I don’t know anything about magic. I’m not really equipped to…”

Demona took pity on Elisa’s fish out of water expression. “The first several years of training would just be learning Latin. I wouldn’t start actual spells until she’s old enough to understand magic isn’t a toy.”

“Oh, well good.” Elisa slumped a little and Demona suddenly realized how tense that conversation made the detective. Perhaps the more serious conversations about raising Delilah could wait until the hatchling was born. Stress might be bad for an expectant mother.

8 months and two weeks after conception

Fox smiled flirtatiously at the waiter when he refilled their drinks. Granted he was attractive, but Elisa just didn't see how the redhead could do that when she was married with a child. Still, she didn't say anything about Fox's come-hither eyes. It was getting them better service, which was probably Fox's goal. The woman may be a horrible flirt, but something about the way she'd seen Fox and Xanatos interact made her think that he really didn't mind. It seemed to amuse him how easy it was for his wife to use her sex appeal to control other men.

Once the waiter was gone Fox turned to smile at Elisa conspiratorially for a second. "Not bad. What do you think?"

Elisa glanced over at the young man taking an order at a table across the restaurant. "I think he's just out of high school." She liked Fox and her teasing ways, but every conversation with her descended to sex at some point. She'd never realized how sexual Fox really was until after Elisa found out she was pregnant and found herself spending more time with the ex-mercenary.

Fox's grin was purely wicked as she leaned a little closer to Elisa. "Is he too young, too human, or too male?" Elisa felt her face blush at the direct question, but when she didn't answer Fox continued with her teasing. She aimed her flirtatious smile at Elisa and coupled it with sweeping her long red hair off of one shoulder. "If you still have a thing for redheads, I might be able to drop by once in a while."

Elisa found herself glancing around the restaurant to see if anyone was seeing Fox blatantly flirting with her. When she didn't see anyone paying attention to them she decided to finally fight back. Fox had been teasing her about having sex with Demona for a few weeks now. She slowly took her hand and tucked her hair behind one ear while tilting her head down to look up at Fox through her eyelashes. She smirked at Fox's raised eyebrow as she gave the redhead her own version of bedroom eyes.

"Well, now I see how you managed to tame her for that night." Fox gave Elisa a grin and then laid out her napkin because the waiter was back with their dinners and Elisa blushed at the strange look he gave her. Someone witnessed that. Great, just great.

Once they were alone again Fox rested her fork on the side of her plate and looked at Elisa with a more serious expression on her face. "I never knew that you were bisexual Elisa. I normally catch that sort of thing."

"Do you like having all our private conversations out in public?"

Fox grinned. "No one is listening in. We're far enough from the other diners. You're still a little closeted aren't you?"

"Look." Elisa spoke in a harsh whisper. "I'm not in the closet. Everyone knows what I did with her."

Fox calmly took a sip of her wine while watching Elisa, completely unconcerned that she'd struck a nerve. Having Fox as a friend was a double-edged sword. "Was she any good?" Fox just smirked at Elisa's glare. "Was she your first female?"

Elisa sighed heavily. "I'd experimented once in college, but Demona…" She couldn't believe she was going to admit this. "Demona was the best lover I'd ever had. It was amazing." Elisa focused on filling her fork up rather than looking up at Fox after that admission. Fox was staring at her with a thoughtful look on her face before wiping that serious expression away before Elisa looked up again.

Fox gave Elisa a smirk. "The Best eh? Maybe I should be dropping by that mansion of hers too."

The teasing lasted through the first half of dinner, but by the time they were driving back to the castle they'd moved on to other topics. "The doctor doesn't really know how long I'll be pregnant. We're just going by the norm, but it could be longer." Elisa sighed at the thought of being pregnant longer. She was eager to get her body back and evict the small tenant. "She'll have to be a C-section."

Fox grimaced in sympathy. "I imagine that's where the egg would have been useful. Too many sharp edges on gargoyles."

Elisa turned to stare out the window. "That too, but I want to make sure that her wings aren't damaged during birth." She almost added that Puck should have thought about this, but just kept it to herself. Fox wasn't Puck's keeper, and she didn't want to seem like she was accusing Fox of anything. After a moment of silence Elisa spilled her latest problem. "Demona wants to be there to see Delilah right after she's born. Actually she wants to sit in the room and make sure the human doctors don’t do anything to Delilah, but with it being a C-section…"

"The clan is really not going to like that."

Elisa grimaced. "The clan doesn't make my decisions, I do. If I want her there, then she'll be there, and he can just learn to deal with it." Her voice held venom.

"Sounds like you've got some other problems as well." Fox pulled the car into the parking place but made no effort to get out. She turned in her seat to give Elisa her full attention.

"He's tried convincing me that I'm wrong." Elisa clenched her fists. "He said that I shouldn't subject a tiny hatchling to Demona's hatred and insanity. That I should not let Delilah visit Demona. He even started to claim that she had a spell on me or the pregnancy was making me irrational." Elisa wiped her tears away. She hated arguing with Goliath about this. "He's convinced that he knows her better, but he's spent less time with her since he woke up than I have in the past two months. She's not who she was a thousand years ago, and she's not the monster that he thinks she turned into. He just won't listen to me at all." Elisa took a deep breath and tried to calm down a bit. Her voice was raising too much. "I can't do that to her, tell her she can have a daughter and then take Delilah away. That is so beyond cruel. I made a promise and you should see what she's done to her house so that Delilah will feel at home. She's so happy, I can't take that away from her. I don't want to take that away from her." Elisa took another deep breath to try and calm down while Fox reached out to rest a comforting hand on her knee. "I know he's concerned, but he never did listen to me when it came to Demona."

"So what are you going to do?" Fox asked the question that Elisa kept asking herself. This time she had an answer.

"I'm going to have Demona there for the delivery. I'm going to keep my promise and bring Delilah over every week. I'll just have to beat it into his head that I've made up my mind." Elisa sighed and stared out the side window, making no motion to leave the car. She really hoped that her friendship with Goliath could survive this, but she had to do what she thought was right. "When he wouldn't move from the castle I had to just move the clan myself. I'll just do what I think is right and he'll come around eventually."

8 months and three weeks after conception

Angela helped to put Elisa on the hospital bed, even though Elisa knew she could do it herself. Her water broke while she was helping Angela and Broadway cook. The doctor had been called, but Elisa was pretty sure she had a while before it became an emergency. The frightened look in Angela's eyes wasn't really called for. Once she'd told Angela how Delilah was going to have to be born a few days ago, the female had been worried.

When the doctor came in Angela stood by the bed to offer support. Elisa addressed her first. "Could you call Demona for me?"

Angela gave her a helpless look. "Father told me not to. That is was an order."

Elisa glared at the door as if it were Goliath as she listened to his complete disregard for the decision she'd already told him she'd made. She didn't want to get Angela in trouble or pulled into the argument. "It's okay Angela. I'll call her."

After Angela left Elisa endured a few minutes of questions and exams. She stopped him from injecting her with anything and swung her feet off the bed. She was going to find a phone and make that call herself. The doctor pointed her to his office.

After the third ring the gargoyle answered. "Demona, I'm in labor." Elisa started with that right away. "Can you come?"

"Of Course. I'll be there soon." Fox's serious expression drew Elisa's attention away from Demona's answer.

"Just a minute. Don't go anywhere." Elisa spoke distractedly.

Fox stepped into the room. "Goliath is on the castle wall watching for her."

"Shit." Elisa felt helpless rage at his thick headedness. This wasn't his concern; it was between Elisa and Demona.

"Give me the phone. We'll sneak her in." Fox spoke wearily and waved for Elisa to hand it over. "You can't wait for him to wake up and listen right now." Elisa handed the phone over and Fox spoke with authority. "Demona, Goliath is being a problem, so I can take the limo out. I can bring you in on ground and we can get you down here before she has the child." Elisa sighed at the mess this was. "Where do you want to meet me?"

Once Fox helped her to the bed again Elisa turned to face her. "Thank you for everything you are doing." She could never have dealt with this pregnancy without Fox's support.

"No problem." Fox smiled at her. When she turned to leave she addressed the doctor. "Try to wait for us." She smiled soothingly at Elisa. "You too."

****************

Demona glided as fast as she could towards the city. Elisa was stubborn and would probably try to wait until she got there, but if the baby started the process of being born the regular way it would severely damage the human. Demona grimaced at the thought of giving live birth to a gargoyle. There was a reason that gargoyles came in eggs.

She circled over the alley that she'd arranged to meet Fox in and saw the redhead leaning against the limo hood waiting. She landed right in front of Fox, who gave Demona a searching look before opening the limo door for her. "Let's get going." They still had a ways to go, because they'd met far enough away from the castle that hopefully the clan wouldn't notice.

Demona stared out the darkly tinted limo window in silence. Her daughter was going to join them today. She was nervous and worried that it wouldn't go well. A mother, she was going to be a mother to a hatchling. She grimaced at the fact that she had to sneak in to see her own daughter's first breath. If she didn't she could very well end up arguing with Goliath all through Elisa's delivery. That was probably his plan anyhow.

As they started down the street the Eyrie was on, Demona heard Fox call ahead. "Owen, I'm coming in with Demona. Is the hall clear?" A moment of silence and Fox seemed more battle ready when she spoke again. "Dammit, you couldn't get them to leave? No, of course you couldn't." Fox sighed. "Are the new steel clan robots operational?"

"What?!" Demona spoke indignantly. "I will not have those robots causing havok with my daughter in the building!" She could see that Fox was planning to use the robots to hold the clan back, but that would start a full out battle just feet away from Elisa and Delilah. They could get hurt in the crossfire.

Fox parked the limo and stared at Demona in the rearview mirror. Demona took that opportunity to glare at the redhead. Fox spoke. "Okay, fair enough." She addressed Owen again. "Never mind the robots, we're just gonna march right in and hope for the best. At least Goliath's still on the castle wall."

After they got out of the limo Demona hissed at Fox. "I can't believe you would have used those things."

"I wouldn't have." Fox stared at Demona while they waited for the elevator. "I was testing you. Elisa seems to think you care about Delilah. If she's wrong, I will make you regret it."

Demona glared at Fox as they entered the elevator. When it started to descend she took a few deep breaths. This was going to be hard to get past the clan if they were as bad as Fox had hinted at. She would have assumed that if Elisa said she wanted her there the clan would have grudgingly let it happen. Goliath was actively going against Elisa's wishes, and while she had wanted him to show Elisa what an overbearing ass he could be, this was inconvenient.

As soon as the elevator doors opened she heard it. "What is SHE doing here?!" Brooklyn's angry question demanded no answer, so she ignored him and carefully noted the environment. The hallway was wide, with chairs on either side. The door at the end of the hallway must be where Elisa was, but the entire clan minus Goliath was seated along the way staring at her warily. Only Angela seemed relieved to see her.

Fox started to walk so Demona did as well, but she used her ears to listen for any sudden shifts in position. Brooklyn stood to stop their progress. "No, Goliath doesn't want you near Elisa."

Demona gave him a cruel smirk, while hating the delay. "Well, that is obviously too late or she wouldn't be delivering my hatchling tonight, now would she?"

"Brooklyn, Elisa asked for her." Fox interrupted the staring match. "She's trying to hold off her delivery until Demona gets there, and that isn't safe for her."

"Having this murderer in there when she's defenseless isn't safe for her." He glared. Demona noticed a female with purple skin reach out to try and take his hand. So that is his mate? She noticed he stiffened when she turned her attention to stare at the young female he'd mated with before turning to him in a silent threat. The young female didn't have any warrior air about her. Demona would use whatever she had to in order to get to Elisa now.

"Elisa wants mother in there." Angela interrupted Demona's cold stare. "The doctor told her she needed to stop waiting and she won't. Mother needs to go to her."

Demona started her march towards the door while trying to not let them know how much Angela's words about Elisa not doing what the doctor said bothered her. She noticed Brooklyn reaching for her, but Elisa's scream stopped them all in their tracks.

"WHERE THE HELL IS DEMONA?!" seemed to echo off the walls, making Demona's welcome clear. Brooklyn stepped back to allow her past and Demona tried to not run to see what was wrong.

"I'm right here Elisa." Demona said as soon as she entered the room. "I just got delayed in the hall."

Elisa's skin was flush and she was in obvious pain. The doctor nodded her way and started to prep Elisa for the procedure. Demona didn't really know what to do. The typical laying eggs things wouldn't apply here.

A nurse walked up to her and actually managed to startle Demona. She turned her angry red glare to the woman after she was able to tear her eyes away from Elisa's vulnerable looking form. "If you want to be in the OR, she said you could be. You will need to follow me to get prepped. We need to get her in there right away."

Elisa had mentioned letting her sit in on this, and it still stunned her the level of trust the detective was showing her. She just nodded and followed the human nurse to get prepared. She needed to be there to make sure these doctors didn't do anything to hurt Delilah when she came out. Their daughter wasn't a guinea pig.

She could hear the arguing going on in the hall, and was glad that Elisa was too distracted to hear it. She didn't need the added stress of the clan's disapproval.

The hospital scrubs must have looked ridiculous on her, because Elisa managed to smile. The mask covered her own mouth, so she just raised her eyeridge in response, making the detective smile even more. The O.R. looked clean enough, but Demona was still concerned about infection. She moved to sit beside Elisa's head. The detective seemed just a little out of it when she spoke. "I'm glad you made it. I don't want to be alone." The nurse then put the mask over Elisa's face. Demona not knowing what to do with her hands, rested one on Elisa's arm to try and comfort her.

Demona started to caress Elisa's upper arm gently while the doctors worked. She didn't want to see what they were doing to Elisa's body. She was going to leave here and kill Puck as soon as Elisa and Delilah were safe.

Delilah came out covered in Elisa's blood. Still she was stunningly beautiful. The nurse took Delilah away to clean her up before showing Elisa, and Demona felt tense as she watched the human walk away with her hatchling, but she couldn't leave Elisa alone now. The doctor was starting to put her back together, and the human was awake for this.

"She's beautiful." Demona stared into Elisa's anxious eyes and smiled. Her own eyes were stinging a little with tears. "You'll see in a moment. She's absolutely beautiful."

The nurse carried Delilah closer. "She's a girl." As if they all didn't already know that. Still Demona didn't bother snapping at the nurse, she just held out her arms to take her daughter. She stared into the hatchlings face. She had a small browridge and Elisa's coloring. Her fangs hadn't come in, but they would probably be normal when they did. Her hair was a shocking white. Demona shifted her daughter in her arms and reached out to touch the snow white hair in surprise. She'd expected black or red. She tickled the baby's arm gently and checked her hands. Four talons, like a full gargoyle. Perfect.

"Demona?" Elisa's voice was so weary. Demona turned to look at the female that gave her this precious gift and she had no words to thank her enough. She moved closer and held the baby out for Elisa to see. The detective still couldn't move because of the procedure. "Are her wings okay? She's okay?" Elisa seemed so worried. Demona carefully unwrapped the hatchling to show Elisa the wings. They were small cherub type wings with Demona's three wing talons. When she turned to smile at Elisa she could see Elisa's concern. "Those are too small aren't they? My human DNA hurt her, didn't it?"

"Oh." Demona pulled Delilah close to her chest and sat on the chair beside Elisa. "No, hatchlings are hatched with small wings. They grow later. She looks normal." She then leaned over to kiss Elisa gently. "She's perfect." She whispered. It took her a moment to realize what she'd done, but the Doctors were talking about giving Elisa rest and needing to give the baby a check up. Demona followed the nurse out with her hatchling. She wasn't going to leave them alone with her. It was clear to her that they didn't know what they were doing when looking at a gargoyle, but apparently they thought she was fine.

"Elisa will be out for a little while. It will take her a few days to recover from we'll be keeping her and Delilah in the medical ward for a few days." Demona just nodded, but she wasn't really very happy with that. When she'd laid Angela she was up and about later that night. This was going to take days for Elisa to recover from.

With Delilah cradled in her arms she took a deep breath and stepped out into the hall. The nurse had held the hatchling while Demona took off the ridiculous scrubs. She may not be part of this clan, but Delilah was, so she'd do the hatchling introductions for her. Elisa wouldn't know the ceremony.

The gargoyles all stood when she suddenly stepped into the hall. Demona got the impression that the only reason that Goliath didn't growl was because she was carrying her child. Brooklyn's eyes were burning as he watched Demona gently cuddle Delilah closer to her. "This is Delilah." Demona glared around the room to dare them to deny her right to introduce her daughter. She then looked down at the small gargoyle nuzzling her skin and couldn't stop the smile. "There is a new member of the clan. She will be fast, she will be strong, and she will be a warrior as her mothers before her are, and as her own hatchlings will be." It was uncommon to have a name, and when she'd seen or done this ritual last there had been no names at all. She'd been the only gargoyle with a name at that time. "She is Delilah… She is Maza… She is Destine…" Demona adlibbed her own addition for this new custom. She ignored the others surprised stares to catch Angela's eye and smiled. She was lucky to live in a time where she could know who her daughters were.

Angela seemed to be leaning closer. Demona spoke gently. "Angela, would you like to come see your sister before she has to go back to the medical wing?"

Angela was by her side quickly looking down into Delilah's face. "She's so small." Angela spoke softly while hesitantly reaching out to caress Delilah's ridges. Demona watched Angela and felt a wave of sadness that she'd never been able to see Angela as a small hatchling. She also felt bad that Delilah was the first hatchling Angela had ever seen. Normally there would have been a rookery between Angela's hatching and her own first egg. She would have been able to practice with that middle generation. Demona glanced down at Delilah and realized that this was the middle generation for Angela. She felt a little nervous as she shifted the hatchling in her arms and held her out for her other daughter to hold.

Angela took Delilah gently and it didn't look like the first time Angela had held a hatchling at all. She seemed to be a natural. Demona glanced around the room and noticed the humans for the first time. An older black woman and a younger black man had just come down the hall with Fox leading them. They must be the Mazas. She felt concern for Delilah as she realized that she'd have to share her daughter with humans as well, humans that she hadn't spent years watching, humans that weren't Elisa. She wanted to take Delilah and rush her back into the relative safety of the medical lab, but a move like that would cause trouble. She knew if she tried to grab Delilah and run in any direction the clan would assume she was abducting her own daughter.

"You must be Demona." The black man said while staring at her suspiciously.

Demona gritted her teeth, "Yes, and you must be Derek." She noticed she'd surprised him with that one. Elisa had been talking to her. It wasn't like she didn't know the detective.

She glanced over at the older woman and could see her tension as she glanced at the doors. She was worried about Elisa. Demona managed to soften her voice, and tried to calm the tension in her body. "She's resting. Delivery went well and she should recover fully. That's what the Doctor told me."

"Why is it the Doctor told you, but we haven't seen him." Goliath's deep voice held his suspicion. He obviously wasn't happy that Demona had managed to sneak past him.

Demona's eyes burned. "Well she is my mate." She turned away from him and grimaced when she realized what she'd said. She reached out to take Delilah from Angela's arms and fled into the medical wing with her. Fled from the embarrassment of calling a human her mate. The stunned silence behind her let her know that her words were heard.

The nurse was cleaning up the O.R. and the doctor was checking on Elisa's chart while the detective rested. He just nodded to Demona as she set the hatchling in the crib.

"Mother?" Angela had of course followed her. Demona glanced at Angela and then behind her to see that the rest of the clan hadn't insisted on storming the room when she'd fled so quickly. "Oh, Believe me they tried." Angela gave a humorless smile. "Brooklyn and Father were almost ready to chase you. Theresa and I stopped them."

Demona glared at the doctor and left that room so that they didn’t wake Elisa up. As she closed the door behind them Demona glanced over at the weakened detective with some worry in her eyes, not realizing that Angela was watching her with compassion in hers.

"It's almost sunrise." Angela spoke softly. "We'll need to go up soon, and the father is concerned about leaving you here."

"Well I'm not leaving." Demona snapped at Angela. Angela just nodded to that like she'd expected it.

"Also, if Delilah turns to stone like the rest of us, the Maza's should really see her before sunrise." Demona tensed up but just nodded. She remembered being there for Angela when she laid her egg and she'd been upset that she had to leave so soon. Elisa would be upset if she did that to her family. Still, she wasn't comfortable watching humans touch her hatchling.

Demona had stayed out of the way while Diane and Derek Maza looked at her hatchling. She listened in though and could hear their appreciation of Delilah's beauty. She'd expected them to be upset with the obvious gargoyle heritage, or worse yet start thinking of ways to make the hatchling look more human. Diane even smiled over at Demona once.

She left to endure her painful change alone. She didn't like being human when she needed to protect Delilah, but there was no choice in that matter. She would have stayed to watch Delilah's first time turning to stone, but her scream of pain would upset the hatchling.

***********

"Elisa?" Elisa heard her mother's voice and slowly opened her eyes. She felt sore. She gave a weak smile to her mother. "I thought you'd like to see her before sunrise."

"Elisa moved her arm a little as her mother gently placed Delilah in them. Elisa stared down at her daughter's browridge and wondered if that was what Demona's looked like under that tiara. She caressed Delilah's ridges and ran her fingers over the white hair. She had no idea where that hair color came from, certainly not her side of the family. She chuckled softly at that thought. Delilah's tail moved around a little disturbing the bed sheets.

"She's so beautiful." Elisa smiled and then glanced around for Demona. Her smile started to fade when she didn't see her.

"She's gone to change. Didn’t want to wake you." Diane tilted her head and studied Elisa. "Are you sure she doesn't like you? She seemed pretty concerned about you."

Elisa glanced at Delilah again, wishing the sun wasn't going to turn her to stone at that moment, but since it was she should be in her crib. "Mother, could you put her back in the bed before the sun rises." She couldn't really answer that question right now. Demona had kissed her tonight. And Demona had looked so completely giddy with joy while she held Delilah. Elisa didn't know how Demona felt about her, if that kiss was just gratefulness or true affection.

Delilah was put down just moments before she started to turn to stone. Elisa laid in silence while watching that. She was going to have it pretty good as a parent. Her child would always sleep straight through. She would have to be awake all night every night, but her days sleep would be solid.