Chapter Text
{+}+{+}+{+}+{+}+{+}+{+} CH 24
ONE WEEK LATER
Elisa and Talon sat in front of a large letter board as Hudson was taking Talon through the alphabet. Elisa would have her own one-on-one time later. For now, she wanted to encourage and support Talon.
They had gotten to Hudson and Robbins’s house as soon as they could, so that they’d be able to get as early a start as possible before the others got there.
Angela and Broadway came next, and had set themselves up on the loveseat and spreading their homework out between them. Angela, mindful of what had happened last time, had taken it upon herself to make sure that no furniture was moved and all books and bags were well out of the way to avoid creating trip hazards for Robbins.
They were well and truly deep into their algebra when Lexington arrived.
“Hey guys,” Lexington called out, entering the large book-lined library of Robbin’s house. “Did you hear the news?”
“You have to be more specific, Lex,” Broadway said. “Lots of things happen in the news.”
“Not like this,” Lexington insisted, passing his friend the phone.
“Multi-Millionaire David Xanatos engaged to Fox…” Broadway drifted off for a moment, “No last name, just ‘Fox’.”
“Why does that sound familiar?” Angela asked, looking to Broadway for confirmation.
The sound of the front door closing and running feet stopped the conversation for a moment, as the room full of humans and Gargoyles turned to face the sound.
“Sorry I’m late,” Brooklyn huffed breathlessly. “I had a thing, and it ran late.”
“A ‘thing’,” Angela said, making air quotes with her fingers.
“Yeah,” Brooklyn said with a smirk. “I had a thing.”
“What’s her name?” Lexington asked, crossing his arms and giving Brooklyn a knowing smile.
“Okay, so I had a study session with the new student,” Brooklyn said. “Her name is Katara, and she just moved in with her aunt here in the states. She speaks English great, but Shakespeare is giving her trouble. Turns out, all this Shakespeare talk on the weekends is coming in handy.” He grinned, “She thinks I’m brilliant.”
“Uh, huh,” Broadway said, offering up the news article on Lexington’s phone. “Alright, Mr Brilliant, help us with this.”
Brooklyn frowned, looking at the screen. “Fox… wait.” Brooklyn asked, incredulous. "You mean that crazy lady from that crappy "Pack" show on tv? Yeeeaaaah,” he drawled out, handing the phone back to Lexington. “Good luck with that one, man. She’s a little crazy."
“Angela?” Robbins called from the kitchen. “Would you be able to help me a moment?”
Angela jumped to her feet and hurried to help their host.
“Hey,” Brooklyn asked, leaning forward intently. “How’s Angela doing, anyway? You know… with the whole Demona thing?”
“She’s doing okay,” Broadway said, sending a glance to the kitchen to make sure they weren’t overheard. Angela wasn’t making a big deal of it, and it wasn’t a secret, but… “Goliath is wanting her to maybe find someone to talk to. A therapist to help her, but,” he shrugged, “Angela is concerned, because how can she really talk to someone about her mother turning into a gargoyle?”
“Ooo, yeah,” Brooklyn said with a wince. “I can see how that’s an issue.”
“How can we help?” Lexington asked.
“Just treat her like normal,” Broadway said. “And be available in case she needs to talk, okay?”
“Done,” Brooklyn and Lexington agreed in unison.
“So, do you think that his engagement had something to do with him helping Goliath out last week?” Broadway asked, redirecting the conversation as Angela entered the room with an armload of canned drinks.
“Possibly,” Angela shrugged. “Dad didn’t tell me a lot about it, but did mention that Xanatos was trying to keep out of jail for some reason. Maybe that was why.”
“Love makes people do weird things, man,” Brooklyn said, sinking down in a chair.
“Speaking of which,” Angela said, leaning forward and dropping her voice. “My dad and Elisa are spending a lot of time together lately.”
“Yeah,” Lexington said, confused. “They’re working together, like they always do.”
Angela looked around and noticed that Broadway and Brooklyn looked as confused, and she sighed. “Boys. You’re all hopeless.”
“Sometimes they are,” Robbins said, entering the room with a large bowl of popcorn and navigating the room by memory. “But don’t worry, Angela. They’ll get it someday.” Placing the bowl on the table for the teens to snack on, he settled into his favorite chair and smiled. “So,” he asked the room at large, “You’ve finished Hamlet, Elisa. What’s next?”
Elisa stood and hurried to sit in front of Robbins. “I chose a new book a few days ago, Robbins.” She held it, grinning proudly as she announced the title. “I’ve already started on it and have a few questions.”
“Alright,” Robbins chuckled. “What are your questions?”
“Well,” Elisa began with a grin, “I have a question about the character of Puck…”