"Looks like trouble."

Broadway looked. "Aw, man. Gimme a break." 

The two gargoyles peered down into the alley. A group of boys 
were clustered in the center of the alley, apparently just 
hanging out. But as Broadway looked closer he could see that 
the object of the boys attention was a small puppy, huddled 
pitifully against that alley wall. As they watched, one of the 
boys poked the poor creature with a stick.

Lexington growled. "We take them out?"

"Yep."

"Usual? Scare the stuffing out of them so they run away 
screaming and we don't have to lift a finger."

"Yep."

Lexington grinned. "Show a little enthusiasm."

Broadway thought for a moment. "Like this?" And he leaped 
down into the alley.

Lexington smiled and followed.

One of the boys looked up from his cruel fun. "Did you guys 
hear something?"

Another boy looked up. "Huh?"

Lexington took the lead. Eyes glowing he advanced slowly, 
making sure to keep to the shadows. Broadway followed, 
growling slightly.

The first boy stared. "Holy-!"

"Jesus, Toby," another boy said. "Grow a spine. It's just a cat or 
some...kind...of...mutt." He caught sight of the glowing eyes. 
"Shi-!"

"Gargoyles! RUN!"

They boys ran, practically falling over each other in their haste 
to escape from the 'monsters,' leaving behind a small form, 
huddled against the alley wall and whining pitifully. Even from 
several feet away Broadway could see blood on the puppy's 
light colored fur. Broadway looked after them with disgust. 
Anyone who'd do something like this to another living 
creature... And they were teenagers too. They should know 
better.

Lexington was slowly approaching the puppy. With one hand 
outstretched, a gentle smile on his face, he was the epitome of 
kindness and friendliness. The puppy whimpered softly and 
slowly edged toward him. After a moment, he allowed 
Lexington to pick him up. Lex checked the puppy over, and 
while bruised and cut over most of it's body, there didn't seem 
to be too much harm done. 'They must have just gotten started 
when we showed up,' he thought.

"Is he okay?" Broadway asked. He spoke softly, not wanting to 
frighten the poor thing any more than it already was.

"Yeah. He looks like he'll be all right."

"Will he be all right if we leave him here? We're going to be 
late getting back to the castle if we're out much longer."

"I'd rather not leave him out here," Lexington objected. "If 
these wounds get infected or those kids come back, he'll be 
done for."

Broadway scowled. "Is there some kind of animal shelter we 
can take him to?"

"This late? I doubt it."

"How about Elisa? Do you think she'd take him for us?"

"Can we ask her to do that?"

"NOW you think of that?" Broadway said. "I'm sure Elisa won't 
mind. She's almost as much of a soft heart as you are."

"Cute. Should we call her first?" Lexington grinned as the 
puppy licked his hand.

Broadway smiled at the scene before him. Lex had a talent for 
befriending every stray he met, human, animal or otherwise. 
"No. She'll have a harder time saying no if we show up 
unannounced. Especially once she sees those big puppy dog 
eyes."

"Yeah," Lex said. "He is kinda cute."

"I meant you."

"One more crack out of your mouth, Broadway..."

***

Three years ago, if Elisa Maza had heard sounds outside her 
window she would have gone for her gun. Today she went for 
the TV remote and the refridgerator. "Hey! Who's there?"

A blue head poked through the window. "Hey, Elisa. It's me 
and Lex. We have a favor to ask you."

"Hi, guys. Come on in. Want something to eat?"

"Yeah!" Broadway jumped through the window.

Elisa laughed and pulled a pizza out of the freezer. "Five 
minutes. What's the favor?"

Lex hopped through the window and Elisa saw what he carried 
in his arms. "What have you two been up to?"

Broadway filled her in. "We didn't want to leave him there 
while he was hurt and the animal clinic won't open until 
tomorrow morning. By then we'll be stone. And if we brought 
him back the castle, well-"

"Goliath would kill us," Lexington finished.

"Yeah," Broadway said.

Elisa held out her arms for the puppy, which Lex surrendered. 
"I'll watch him for you. Hell, I'll even feed him." She scratched 
the puppy's head. "Hey, little guy. How you doing? You 
hungry? I'll bet you are. Come on, let's get something to eat. 
What do I have that a dog can eat?" She cradled the puppy in 
one arm as she searched through kitchen cabinets. Oh, ground 
beef." She dumped the meat into a bowl and filled another one 
with water. "There you go, boy." A timer beeped. "Pizza's done! 
Broadway, would you get the plates? Lex, how about the 
soda?" 

Lexington grabbed three sodas out of the fridge. Pepsi for him 
and Elisa, rootbeer for Broadway. "Mind if I use the phone, 
Elisa?"

"Four years you guys have been dropping by after patrol. Four 
years you've been asking me if it's all right to use the phone, 
the TV, the microwave. Have I ever said no?"

"Yes. Right after we blew up the coffeemaker."

"Oh, right. Well, can you blame me?" Elisa grimaced. "I found 
coffee glop stuck to the walls for *weeks.*" She laid the pizza 
on the table. "Help yourselves, boys. Aside from the coffee-
maker thing, have I ever said no?"

"I take it you don't mind if I use the phone?" 

"At the rate this is going, you had *better* use the damn 
phone."

Lex grinned and grabbed a slice of pizza. "I'll be just a minute." 
The phone was in the living room, so he flipped through the 
channels on the TV while he dialed and waited for an answer. 
"Owen? Hi, it's Lex. Can you give Goliath a message for me? 
We're gonna be a little late getting back. Nope, no trouble. 
We're at Elisa's. Actually, pizza." He laughed. "Yeah, me too. 
Okay thanks, Owen. Bye." He placed the phone back in the 
cradle and continued flipping channels while he munched on 
the pizza. 'News, news and an infomercial. Great.' A definite 
downside to only being awake at night was they missed all the 
good programs. After a moment Broadway and Elisa joined 
him, balancing plates and glasses. He jumped up to help Elisa. 
"We brought your plate too," Elisa said. "You call Goliath?"

"Mmm-hmm. Just letting him know we're going to be late." 
Lexington looked down as he heard a whining at his feet. 
"Hey, pup. Still hungry?" Seeing Elisa nod permission, Lex put 
a plateful of pizza down for the puppy.

Elisa smiled tolerantly as the dog wolfed down the food. "I 
think this little guy's gonna eat me out of house and home even 
worse than the seven of you did."

"Nah," Broadway mumbled around a mouthful of cheese. 
"We're way worse."

Elisa laughed and exchanged a look with Lexington. "Well, 
then, who am I to argue? You guys are worse."

"You don't need to agree with him, you know," Lexington 
pointed out. "Just becasue *he's* totally incorrigible-"

"Hey!"

Curled up in an armchair, her pizza balanced on her lap, Elisa 
watched contendedly as the conversation dissolved into an 
arguement. 

***

"About time ye two lads got back." Hudson greeted Lex and 
Broadway with a stern glance and crossed arms. "'Tis almost 
sunrise. Another few minutes and ye'd have been trapped."

"Sorry, Hudson," Broadway apologized. "We sorta lost track of 
time."

Lexington leapt down from the parapet, landing on all fours. 
"We had to drop by Elisa's for a few minutes, and ended up 
staying longer than we thought. I did call though."

"Aye, Owen told us," the elder gargoyle. "Good thing, too. 
Goliath was just becoming annoyed."

Lex snorted. "He'd would have been a lot more annoyed if we 
*hadn't* dropped by Elisa's." Broadway nodded. "Speaking of 
which, here come the others." He moved forward slightly to 
greet Angela. Bronx bounded around him, stopping on front of 
Lexington. "Hey, boy," Lex absently patted the dog's head. 
"Hello, Goliath. Hey, Brook."

"Anything to report?" Goliath asked.

Lexington straightened to face the clan leader. At seven feet, 
with a wingspan more than twice as long, sharp talons and 
greater-than-average physical strength, the lavendar gargoyle 
was an imposing figure even to those who knew him best and 
knew how kind and honorable he really was. It was an effect 
that made sure that when Goliath wanted your attention, he got 
it. 

"Nothing really," Lexington informed him. "We ran into a 
bunch of kids who were casuing trouble, but they weren't a 
problem. They're why we were late, though."

Goliath glanced over the city and saw the beginning of sunrise. 
"It will have to wait until morning. You can tell me the whole 
story then."

They joined the others as the sun rose.

***	

Over the past four years the gargoyles had grown accustomned 
to having an audience when they awoke from stone sleep. But 
the sound of laughter as they broke free of their shells was 
something new.

Goliath turned, surprised. 	Fox and David Xanatos, their son 
Alexander and his beloved Elisa Maza stood behind them, all 
visibly amused. More than slightly miffed he asked, "What is 
so amusing?"

His answer came wth another burst of laughter, this time from 
his own clan. Lexington was holding a small animal in his 
arms, a puppy,- Goliath saw after a moment - and the rest of 
the clan was gathered around. Goliath rolled his eyes. So much 
for his seasoned warriors.

"Stop it," Elisa scolded him. She took his arm and led him over 
to the rest of them. "She's cute. And it wouldn't kill you to be 
nice to her."

"Her?" Broadway asked.

"Yep. I took her to a vet this morning, got her fixed up, got her 
shots, found out her, ah, gender. Definately a female."

"I take it this has something to do with why you were late last 
night," Goliath said, folding his arms across his chest.

Broadway filled him in while Angela and Fox cooed over the 
puppy. Now it was David's turn to roll his eyes, although with 
a great deal more tolerance and amusement that Goliath had. "I 
see," Goliath finally said. "Why is she here now?"	

"I thought the guys would like to know how she was," Elisa 
said. "And she's cute and I really couldn't see myself just 
dumping her on the street and well, I hate the pound and 
anyway," she shrugged. "I was thinking of maybe keeping her."

"Really?" Lexington asked. "What does Cagney think about 
that?"

"She's less than fond of the idea," Elisa admitted. "Which is 
why," she said with a mischievous grin, "I'm going to keep her 
here."

"WHAT?"

Elisa took one look at Goliath's face and cracked up. "What?" 
she finally managed. "You allergic?"

Goliath seriously considered replying. "Elisa, we don't have the 
time to care for a pet. What would it do during the day?"

"We could watch it," David offered, ignoring the venomous 
glare it earned him from Goliath. "Alexander has been 
pestering us for a pet anyway. And it would be nice to have a 
dog around the castle." He patted Bronx's head. "Aside from 
Bronx, of course."

"That sounds like a marvelous idea," Fox chimed in. "I haven't 
had a puppy since I was a little girl."

Elisa smiled sweetly at Goliath. "What do you say, hon? Is it 
set?"

Goliath scowled at the three humans who had so obviously 
planned this ahead of time, then at the rest of his clan who 
were quite obviously in support of the whole thing, and 
admitted, if only to himself, that he wasn't going to win this 
one. "Very well," he sighed. 

"What," he asked Elisa over the cheering of the others, "are you 
going to name it?"

Elisa shrugged. "I figured I'd let Lex and Broadway name her 
since they're the ones who found her."

"Thanks, Elisa," Broadway said. "But maybe the whole clan 
should have a say. I mean, since she's going to be living here 
with all of us and everything."

"I agree," Lexington added.

"Well then," Elisa leaned against the parapets. "The floor is 
open to suggestions."

"How about some of the more traditional names?" David 
suggested. "Spot, Spike, Rover..."

"You're kidding right?" Brooklyn asked him.

"How about naming her after places in New York?" Lexington 
asked. "Like the rest of us."

"I wasn't named after a place in New York," Angela objected.

"No one's perfect, lass," Hudson replied.

"I like it," Elisa said. "Okay, a New York theme. Chelsea?"

Fox jumped in with "Yonkers? Van Courtland? Manhattan? 
Broadway? -No, that one's taken already..."

A quiet voice somehow cut through the rest of them. "Perhaps 
Madison?"

The clan's attention turned to the speaker. Owen Burnett, 
David Xanatos's assistant and long-time friend stood just 
outside the doorway, looking as inconspicuous as humanly 
possible. Or more so, considering he wasn't human.

Lexington ruffled the fur on the puppy's head. "Madison. I like 
it. What do you guys think?"

Brooklyn and Angela agreed immediately, and Broadway gave 
in after a less than subtle glare of encouragement from Angela. 
David, Fox and Elisa consented also. "What do you say, 
Alex?" David asked 
his son. "Do you want to name the puppy Madison?" The three 
year old clapped his hands. "I take it that's a yes." He looked 
up. "Well, Goliath, you're the only one left."

Elisa and Angela both turned to him immediately. Goliath 
sighed. They were getting very good at teaming up on him. "It 
is a good name."

The newly named Madison jumped at Goliath. He obligingly 
picked her up. "However," he added warningly, "the first time 
she eats something I'm feeding her to Bronx."

Madison licked his face.
________


End