Disclaimer: All characters, except Rose, are not mine.
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“And they lived happily ever after. The End,” I read from a storybook. Looking down, I saw Alex and Rose fast asleep on a blanket, side by side. Fox and I smiled at one another.
“They get along so well, don’t they?” Fox whispered.
“Yes. It’s hard to believe that we introduced them to each other just this past Christmas,” I whispered back.
“I’ll watch our children. Why don’t you go and see why Elisa wants to talk to you?”
“Sure. It probably won’t take long,” I walked out of Alex’s nursery. Elisa had called out to me earlier and asked to speak to me after I was done with Rose. I told her okay.
I found Elisa, standing next to Goliath on the tower that Goliath usually sleeps on. I went up the stairs to their tower.
“Jasmine, done with Rose already?” Elisa greeted.
“Yes, all done. What did you want to talk to me about?”
“Well, actually Goliath and I also have some news, promise not to tell?”
“I promise,” I said, crossing my heart.
Elisa smiled, “Goliath and I are going to have a child.”
“Congratulations! You must be happy.”
“We are. Now, what I wanted to talk to you about was so I could give you this,” Elisa tossed something in my direction. I caught the object. It jingled. Opening my hands, I looked down at them. In them, was Elisa’s car keys. I looked at Elisa.
“You’ve been going into the city so much, that I figured you could use your own transportation. Bus tokens get expensive every year. Besides, I won’t be able to use my car. I want you to have it.”
“Elisa, I couldn’t,” I protested.
“No, I insist. Call it a gift.”
“Thank you. Thank you, so very much.” I excused myself and headed back to Alex’s room. Along the way, I kept looking at the keys I held. Elisa gave me her car because she couldn’t use it, and bus tokens cost so much. Amazing.
When I entered the room, only Rose was there, dancing with Fox.
“Where’s Alex?” I asked.
“Owen took him. Said something about walking with him around the castle,” was Fox’s reply.
I, on the other hand, thought differently. He was probably giving Alex another lesson. Fox left me with my daughter. I played with her alone for awhile. Then, Brooklyn came in to watch her. I walked down to the TV room and spent some time with Lex and the Internet.
Hours later, it was almost dawn. Everyone went outside to prepare for a long day’s sleep. Except me. I placed Rose on a roost and kept her there. The sun rose, turning everyone to stone. I changed to human form. I looked at Rose and saw her stone form sitting on the roost. To her left was Angela and to her right was…
A human Brooklyn! He was standing on his roost, looking at his hands. He turned around, hopped off his place, and went up to me.
“Jasmine, how did this happen?” he asked.
“I…,” I paused, thinking about Alex’s lesson earlier before. “OWEN!” I yelled.
The stiff assistant appeared in the doorway. “Yes, Ms. Jasmine?”
“What did you do?” I demanded.
“I do not know what you are referring to,” Owen replied dully.
“Owennnnn,” I growled the best I could.
Owen’s face paled, and one minute later, Puck appeared in his place.
“Alex performed the spell better than I thought. Though, I expected Goliath to be chosen.”
“Well, he wasn’t,” I snapped. “Why did you teach Alex that spell?”
“Hey, I needed to teach it to someone, and you refused to do magic on anyone, remember? Besides, it’s just for the day. At sunset, Brooklyn will be a gargoyle again.” With that, Puck disappeared.
I turned back to Brooklyn. “So, what do we do now?”
“Maybe you could…take me on a tour of the city. You know, the way humans see it?”
I smiled. “Well, you’ll need clothes and I have to get a few things.”
“He can borrow some clothes from me,” a voice spoke up. Turning around, we saw Xanatos where Owen/Puck was before.
“Oh, um, thank you,” Brooklyn said.
“If you’ll come with me, we’ll go look in my closet.” I watched Xanatos and Brooklyn disappear through the doorway. Then, I went to my room to put my coat and shoes on.
Brooklyn and I met in the main hall of Castle Wyvern a few minutes later. He was dressed in a pair of blue jeans, a nice t-shirt, and a pair of shoes. He was handsome for a human. I was a bit nervous about going around the city with Brooklyn, even though we were mates. The two of us went down to the bottom floor of the Eyrie Building.
Brooklyn was appalled by the ground level of the building. I just smiled and led him outside to where Elisa’s car was parked (I guess the car is mine now, since it was a gift). I told Brooklyn to get in.
“Are you sure?” he asked.
“Elisa gave it to me,” I answered.
“She gave you her car!”
“It’s a gift.” We climbed in and I buckled myself in. I pointed out Brooklyn’s seatbelt to him, and he figured out how to fasten it.
“Where do you want to go?” I asked.
“How about somewhere for breakfast?”
“You got it.” I put the key in the ignition and started the car. The engine roared to life, and we drove onto the streets of Manhattan.
An hour later, Brooklyn and I were seated in a formal restaurant, each of us holding a menu.
“So many choices,” Brooklyn muttered.
“Just pick one,” I told him.
A waiter appeared at our table and we gave our orders. The waiter scribbled on a pad, took up the menus, and left. While we waited, Brooklyn looked around the place. The restaurant absolutely fascinated him, which made sense because he had never been in one, at least from what I know.
“Brooklyn?” I whispered.
“What?”
“Maybe you should pick a human name that we can use, in case someone asks for introductions,” I said. “Like Demona.” I thought.
“That’s easy. Brooke.”
“Brooke?”
“Yeah. Is that okay?”
“It’s perfect.” Just then, our food arrived and we lapsed into silence.
Once back in the car, we fastened our restraints, but before I could start the car, Brooklyn placed a hand on my own. I looked into his warm, loving eyes. Brooklyn closed his eyes and leaned forward. I did the same. Our lips met and remained locked for several minutes. Our first, true kiss in four years. All those kisses under the mistletoe just didn’t count.
When we released (our lips), we stared at one another. I broke the look, when I started the car and drove down the street. After five minutes, I asked Brooklyn where he would like to go. He said Central Park. And we did.
Later on, we were walking together down a busy sidewalk. A few people smiled warmly in our direction, but kept going. I paid so much attention to Brooklyn, that I almost didn’t see Dominique walking towards us. When I did, Dominique had also spotted me.
“Jasmine, it’s nice to see you again,” my mother greeted.
“Hi, Dominique,” I answered back. That was when Dominique noticed Brooklyn.
“And who is this young man?”
“Dominique, I would like you to meet my friend Brooke. Brooke, this is Dominique Destine.”
“Charmed,” Brooklyn said, shaking Dominique’s hand. I could tell he was disgusted by this.
“Likewise,” Dominique replied, equally disgusted, but not showing this.
The two of us left (after saying goodbye) and returned to the car.
“I’m glad we had lunch an hour ago, I might have thrown it back up,” Brooklyn remarked.
“Brooklyn!” I scolded.
“I’m sorry, Jasmine. I just don’t like Demona. She probably knew who I was,” he explained.
I shook my head. “No, she didn’t. She thought you were just another human. Is there anywhere else you want to go?”
“No, how about we go back to the castle?”
We arrived at the Eyrie Building and rode the elevator up to the castle. Once at the top, Brooklyn led me down the hall to…my room.
He pushed the door open and pulled me inside. He closed the door, then led me to the bed.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“Do you think we could…you know,” he replied, meaningfully.
“Oh,” I said, catching on. We laid down on the bed and fell asleep for the rest of the afternoon, our clothes tossed aside.
I woke up with a start and looked at the time. It was fifteen minutes to sunset. I got dressed, then approached Brooklyn.
He looked so handsome, asleep on the bed. I leaned down and kissed him. He opened his eyes and smiled at me.
“Hi. Is it almost sunset?” Brooklyn asked.
“In about ten minutes.”
“I wish we could spend every day like this.”
“Me too.”
Brooklyn put his loincloth back on. When we opened the door, we saw Puck on the other side.
“Did I hear you say that you wished you could spend every day together? Like you did today?” he asked.
“We did,” Brooklyn admitted.
“How about a spell to make you human during the day? The same spell I used on Jasmine.”
“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” I asked.
“Yes. Don’t worry, he won’t be part fay. You could do the spell if you want to be sure.”
“I don’t know. I mean,” I turned to Brooklyn. “What do you want?”
“Do it, Jasmine,” he said softly. “Do it.”
I swallowed and turned back to Puck. “All right. I’ll do it.”
Five minutes later, we were outside. Sunset was occurring. The two of us changed to gargoyles and watched the others wake up.
Elisa asked if I went anywhere. I told her yes and that Brooklyn and I had a story to tell them. Scooping up Rose, we headed inside for the TV room.
