A/N: Wow, I can't believe I finished this so fast! It's pretty good too, at least I think so. I'm not even sure if anyone is really interested in this story anymore except for a few but I'll keep writing. This story is shaping up to be pretty long but I can't really predict the number of chapters. Things get a little weird in this chapter but if you read it through to the end I think you'll find it interesting. The theme of this song is "Stand in the Rain" by Superchic(k).

To: The Nobody Prince- Sorry I didn't reply to your review but there was no reply link and I'm really bad with computers (I know fifth graders who know more about computers than I do) so I couldn't think of an alternative way to reply other than this. Thanks for the review and I'm glad you liked the Christmas interlude, it's the goriest thing I've written to date and it wasn't even that gory but I'm glad you liked it. Actually for all I know you're the only one reading this story but I'm more than happy to keep writing even if it is just for you. Thanks again for the review.

READ AND REVIEW, as any responsible should if they like a story enough to keep up with it and it's my New Year's resolution to do just that myself, com to think of it EVEN SHY OLE ME ISN'T THIS BAD ABOUT R&R-ing pre-resolution like whoever is still reading this story is.

Most of all, though, ENJOY :)


Chapter 7: Stand in the Rain


So stand in the rain

Stand your ground

Stand up when it's all crashing down

You stand through the pain

You won't drown

And one day, what's lost can be found

You stand in the rain…


Home, Graverobber wasn't sure when he'd started calling Shilo's house home but after Kell left him he knew he needed to head home and see if Shilo was any better. He knew he'd made all the money he could that night. Usually after a visit from Amber Sweet that resulted in a fight between herself and Graverobber people cleared out of his territory which really served to upset him. On his walk back home he kept wondering who would want him dead but would make it clear he didn't want to get anyone else involved in his attempts to kill the Z peddler. There were plenty of people who wanted The Wolf dead, he'd ripped apart a lot of families but few knew the face behind the mask. There were also a lot of people who wanted The Graverobber dead but none of them were likely to care whether or not someone got hurt in the process. He unlocked the front door and walked in where he was immediately assaulted by the strong odor of disinfectants and cleansers. Myrna had been busy.

"Oh, Graverobber," she called as she bustled down the stairs with a smile on her face, "I've got such good news! Shilo has woken up!"

"That's fantastic!" He replied then asked, "Is she up for a visitor?"

"Yes, and she's been asking for you. She's in her room right now."

"Thanks for watching her, Myrna," he said, "If you want you can go home now."

"I probably should, Marvin likes to do a countdown to when dinner is served and he simply won't stop counting after he's gotten home until dinner is on the table. Then he starts counting how many times he's chewed his food. You take good care of that girl, you hear," and with that the old woman scurried out of the house.

Graverobber took the stairs two at a time before running the short distance down the hall and stopping at Shilo's door to politely knock.

"Come in," she called from the other side.

When he opened the door he half expected to see her face still blank and frozen. He was pleasantly surprised to her sitting at the head of her bed with her knees tucked under her chin frowning and looking like she'd been crying, that was something at least.

"Hey, Kid."

"Hey," she rasped weakly.

"How you doin', did Myrna tell you what happened?"

"Yeah, I'm sorry if I scared you. My Dad used to tell me that sometimes I scared him to death."

"I was worried but I knew you'd get through it," Graverobber said as he took a seat on the edge of her bed, "How're you feeling, emotionally that is?"

She sighed heavily and looked over his head at the holo-portrait of her mother that sat above the piano then side snidely, "Like I've been emotionally hit over the head with a four-by-four plank."

"Descriptive. Maybe you should talk to a umm… professional."

"Do I have to?" She asked irritably

Was it something I said? "Not if you don't want to," Graverobber placated her, "I'm not gonna force you to do anything you don't want to do."

She breathed a sigh of relief, got off her bed and stood in front of him, "I'm going to take a shower then I guess we'll have dinner."

"Dinner? What're we gonna eat, furniture?"

"What do you mean?" She asked with a hand on the hip that jutted out by the way she stood.

"You've been out for a day and half, I had to eat what was left because I didn't want to leave you to go shopping."

"That explains why I'm so hungry. If you didn't want to leave me why was Myrna here when I came out of that comatose state I was in?"

"I had to go out for a few hours to sell zydrate."

"I'm hungry, Graverobber," she said matter-of-factly.

"Then let's go shopping."

"After I shower and get changed and we're going out to eat first then we shop. I don't feel like waiting to get the shopping done to eat."

"Okay, fine by me," Being hungry must make you kinda moody.

While she showered and changed so did Graverobber who replaced his usual shirt with a black long-sleeved one and changed into another pair of pants, the same kind and color he usually wore but these pants were recently washed, and he traded out his boots with the multiple straps for black combat boots. Then he added a faux leather vest to complete the look. He had completely forgone his gloves in the process. They were just about to leave, Graverobber had been waiting in the hallway after showering and dressing and she let him back in her room after she put on some clothes. Suddenly she threw the black wig she'd placed back on her head after her shower next to the wig stand covered with butterfly pictures and took the blonde one with the bob cut off its stand and put it on. In fact that wasn't the only difference from her usual look he noticed as he looked her over. What she was wearing was unusual for her, at least he thought so. She wore a dark purple mini skirt, a halter top that was the same color, and black open toe stiletto heels.

"Um, Kid, what's with the outfit?"

"What do you mean? Do you not like it?"

"No, it's okay," he was still confused but he had to remind himself that he'd only known her for a little over a week, "In that outfit I better take you someplace respectable where you won't get flirted with, though."

"What wrong with that?" She asked cheekily and placed a hand on his chest.

"Well, word on the street is that you're my girlfriend."

She giggled and removed her hand but said nothing.

"You ready to go?" Graverobber asked.

"You bet I am," she replied and started for the door, "Aren't you supposed to open this for me, y'know, chivalry and all that."

"Ah, of course," he said and opened the door for her, she exited and he followed her out and down the stairs where he repeated the same action at the front door. She turned to look at him after she walked out and he gave her one of his trademark bows before closing the door behind him.

"Where to, baby?" She asked and snaked her arm around his waist.

"You'll see," he said and put his arm around her shoulders. He spent the semi-long walk to Nathan's car with devil and angel versions of himself on his left and right shoulders, Matt and Wolf respectively.

The angel Matt asked, Baby? Since when does she call me baby?

The devil Wolf said, I kind of like it coming from her.

The angel Matt asked, That outfit makes her look like she should be standing on a street corner, why would she wear it?

The devil Wolf said, She does look pretty hot in that outfit though.

The angel Matt asked, She changed to that blonde wig, why did she do that?

The devil Wolf said, It looks good with the outfit.

The angel Matt asked, Is this just a side of her that I've never seen before?

The devil Wolf said, Yeah, that's it.

The angel Matt asked, Could that really be it?

The devil Wolf said, Of course it is.

It ended on that note, and the general consensus that this was just a side to Shilo he'd never seen before and that he liked it, when they got to Nathan's car. He opened the passenger side door for her and she slipped inside. He got in on the driver's side and started the car up by typing in the password that Nathan used for everything since Shilo was born, marshi39, onto the computer screen and pressing the button labeled "start" on the touch screen that popped up after the password was accepted. Shilo didn't even ask how he knew what the password was.

"I was thinking we should go someplace nice, not 'every individual item on that plate costs fifty dollars' nice but nice, y'know what I'm saying Kid?"

"I think so, baby. You go wherever you want to go. I won't complain," she said with a smirk and placed a hand on his knee that was nearest to her.

He didn't ask, he really wanted to ask but he didn't. The drive was spent with the news playing on the radio he'd turned on to distract her. She didn't say anything when they talked about her, somehow the Genetic Opera Incident was still big news, but it was probably a subject she wanted to avoid. He'd let her for now.

The restaurant was just nice enough that it had a host that took them to their table and a waitress that was there to take their drink orders in seconds, it helped that one of the owners was one of his customers and wouldn't call the GENcops on him. If there was one thing he learned from Rotti Largo it was that to make it in this world it helped to have "friends". The store would be fairly safe too but in that case it was because most of the employees were clients and the owner was too busy in his office with "paperwork" named Mia that kept him from getting home until after his wife went to bed. He knew where he was safe and where his head would be served to the Largos' on a silver platter. After taking down the drinks they wanted the waitress left them to peruse the menu. He put down his menu when he found what he wanted and waited until Shilo had done the same before calling the waitress back, who had at some point slipped them their drinks without him noticing, and he placed his order. Shilo told the waitress hers after he was done and then he thanked her as she walked away.

"So, Kid, how're you holding up being out for the first time in a week or so?"

"It's a little surreal, it doesn't feel like I'm out here it feels like I'm watching a movie of someone coming here and sitting here and ordering and all that."

"The last time was pretty bad, I'm not surprised that that's how you feel."

"Bad?" She asked incredulously.

"That's understating it, huh?"

She nodded solemnly, "But y'know, I'm having trouble remembering exactly what happened."

"It'll come back to you, stuff like that always does," the floor was suddenly very interesting. When he looked back up after a few seconds though she was smiling at him, he had so many questions but for once he didn't just blurt out whatever he wanted to ask or say. Graverobber was a different persona from either Matt or The Wolf. Matt would have politely moved into asking the questions, Wolf would have interrogated her until he got answers, and apparently Graverobber was turning into coward. That's not what he'd intended The Graverobber for but this whole situation was affecting all three of them in ways beyond the main self's control, whoever the main self was. When he'd divided himself he couldn't remember but he knew at some point he'd stopped hating masks and started using them. He looked around in an attempt to find another subject to talk about. As he scanned the left half of the restaurant he spotted a face he thought looked terribly familiar.

Danil?, "Stay here Kid. I gotta go say hi to an old friend." There was no doubt in his mind that this was Danil Charnell, the detective who Matt and Wolf had long ago befriended. He'd put on a few pounds and his hair was graying but the way he grabbed at his shoulder, a nervous tick he had picked up after being shot there, was too distinctive to miss. Danil was sitting with a woman, a much younger woman, who he was having an animated conversation with. He crossed his arms over his chest and said, "Good evening Mr. Charnell, cheating on your wife now, are you?"

Danil turned with a start and stared at him with wide eyes, "Matt?"

"Keep it down, don't call me by name."

"Look at you," he said, "Time really has flown, hasn't it? How old are you now anyway?"

"Thirty."

Danil shook his head then stood and shook Graverobber's hand, "You remember my daughter, don't you?"

"You mean this isn't your paramour, and here I was thinking you'd gotten interesting."

"Would you like me to tell that to your girlfriend over there?" Danil asked and inclined his head in Shilo's direction.

"She isn't my girlfriend," Graverobber said adamantly.

"Yeah, right, if she isn't then who is she?" Danil shot him a look that clearly said that he didn't believe the drug dealer.

"You remember the head repo-man I told you about, Nathan?"

"The one who died at the Genetic Opera, don't tell me that's him."

"Very funny, but no. That's the Opera Girl, his daughter. The one everyone thinks is missing."

"So you and your only family have reunited?"

"She doesn't even know it and I don't have the heart to tell her I left her. Let's get off that subject," Graverobber dropped his voice so that it was even less audible then when he'd initially began talking to Danil, "Look, I hear someone out there wants me dead. I was wondering if you could look into it for me."

"Sure. There are only a handful of people I can think of that would be able to connect all three of your personas. Do you think it's…?" Danil let the question hang.

"No, he disappeared around the same time I became Graverobber. Not that we parted on great terms."

"Speaking of word on the street, if she isn't your girlfriend than why is she pregnant with your kid?"

"That's something Kell spread around cause' according to him this guy specifically said he wants the only casualty to be me."

"So her being pregnant with your kid and being with you is Kell's idea of protecting you? Actually it's not a half bad idea. The pregnant angle's extra insurance just in case he decides he doesn't mind getting her hurt. Good luck repo-boy, you call me, alright?"

"Alright, Danil, and thanks for the help," said Graverobber before shaking his hand to say good-bye. He walked back to the table feeling a little lighter and heavier at the same time.

"Who was that?" Shilo asked the minute he took his seat. Their food had been brought to them and Shilo hadn't waited for him to return to start eating.

"An old friend of mine, he's a detective. I just figured I'd say hello."

"That's nice."

They ate their meal with short conversations in between, paid, left a generous tip for the waitress and left. The store, one of the few supermarket chain stores on Crucifixus not owned by GeneCo, was one Graverobber was familiar enough with that he knew he could make short work of their shopping trip. At least, it would have been a short trip if Shilo hadn't decided since she hadn't been in a store since she was five she wanted to explore the entire place. She did just that, going down every aisle, looking at every item, at one point he had to keep her from going into the men's bathroom. Her excuse? She'd never seen a urinal in person. At that he'd simply laughed. Somehow even the most domestic jobs could be taken with less harm to his ego and dignity if he was doing it with and for Shilo. Had anybody else wanted or needed him to go grocery shopping for them he'd have said "no" flat out.

"C'mon, Kid, I've got everything we need. Let's go check out."

The cashier was clearly new to the job and her slow work was grating on Graverobber's nerves. He bit his tongue instead. After all, he'd been… what was her name… Annie a couple of times, new to the job and not moving as fast as the people who'd been there awhile so he could sympathize not that it stopped him from being irritated with her slow progress.

"Oh cool," said Shilo and Graverobber turned to see what she was talking about, she addressed the cashier, "you and I have the same name."

Graverobber didn't say anything. He didn't know what to say. The cashier and Shilo exchanged a few words as Graverobber finished putting the bagged groceries into the cart. The two women said goodbye and he and Shilo headed to the car.

"What was that all about with cashier, Kid?"

"What do you mean, baby?" She asked as they arrived at the car.

He knew what it was and he was really hoping that it wasn't what he was sure it was so he asked, "What's your name?"

"Annie. Baby, what's wrong, how can you not know the name of your wife? Maybe you should stop calling me kid so much. Or are you playing games with me?" She put her hands on her hips and studied him for awhile before nodding her head, "Yep, that's it, you're playing games with me," after saying that she got into the passenger's side of the car.

Graverobber had just put the last bag in the trunk and had closed the lid when it really hit him. Shilo was going to need professional help to get through this after all, even if she didn't like it. The ride home was torture, Shilo chattered endlessly about things he didn't even remember but he did get some important information about Annie. She didn't remember the Genetic Opera or who Nathan, Marni, Rotti, Mag, or any of the Largo siblings were. The only thing she could really say for sure was that the last time she went outside was really bad and she only had some vague memories of lying in a pool of blood, walking out of building with confidence, and five minutes after walking out of the building breaking down in hysterics and somehow finding her way to him. He didn't add that before she found him he sent one of his clients to go get the will and bring it back to him for a free hit or that he'd read in the newspaper what had happened to her before she'd found him. She'd also told him about their marriage, how they'd just gotten back from the honeymoon, where she got these "memories" he had no idea. She even went into detail about the dress she wore, how it was just them, a minister and a witness. Nice and simple seemed to be her favorite way of describing it. Actually, it didn't sound like a half bad wedding at all, except that it never happened. She knew she'd inherited the house from her recently deceased father but had no clue who her father was. She remembered meeting Graverobber in the graveyard and he mentally tacked on that it was the first meeting they had where she'd remember him, he'd made sure to make a lasting impression just in case he never saw her again, not to mention to just plain impress her. It hadn't been something he'd planned. He hadn't even known Miss Marni was buried there, maybe there was such a thing as destiny just not a destiny tied to genetics. It was something more, but what? Those were musings for later, right now Shilo was his main concern. He needed to get her home, get the groceries put away, and then he needed to figure out who to call about Shilo's… identity crisis because there was no way he'd admit to himself what was really wrong. He thought the comatose state would be the end of it but it turned out it was the calm before the storm.