Payback, Chapter 4

Disclaimer: Not mine as always

Author's notes: Thank you very much for all your kind reviews :). They really do keep me inspired, even if chapters are a long time coming! (I'm a very slow writer, I know, I'm sorry).

Shilo sat on the steps in the narrow stairway that led up to the hideout. The operation, such as it was, had ended over and hour ago, but she couldn't bring herself to go back in. Couldn't make herself face Graverobber, who for so long had been a representation of strength and stability and yes, maybe even immortality, maimed. She couldn't face him looking, for once, human.

The door opened.

"Shilo?" Heron.

"Go away." Anger bubbled up inside her. Who was Heron to come out and talk to her? How dare she? This was her fault, that Graverobber was this way. She could have tried harder. There must have been something else she could have done!

"Shilo." Heron sat down on the step above, twisting so she was facing the younger woman. "Feeling better? I thought you were going to faint back there."

"I'm fine."

"You don't look fine."

"How could you just do that to him?" Shilo exploded. "You didn't even try! You just jumped right into cutting his leg off! You said you were never a repoman, but isn't that what they did? Just cut first and ask questions later? How are you any better than them?" The last sentence grew in intensity until it was nearly a scream.

Heron looked taken aback, but only for a minute. Truth be told, it wasn't the first time she'd ever been screamed at by someone in pain. She paused, considering her words carefully.

"I'm not going to lie to you," she began. "If we had been at my hospital, there may have been more I could do. But the bone was shattered, Shilo. I don't even know how he was able to walk on it, let alone run. Once a bone is shattered like that, there is very little one can do. Under optimal circumstances, I could operate; put in a titanium replacement and hope for the best. But that's in a sterile environment. I don't have to tell you, of all people, that this place is not sterile in any sense of the word. That leg would have gotten infected by noon tomorrow, if that. The infection would spread so fast, it would be impossible to save him. Better to remove as little as we can get away with; it's just unfortunate in this case that it was the entire leg."

When she put it that way, Shilo had to admit it made sense. But one thing still worried at her. "He said he changed his mind. You heard him say that."

"When they're in that kind of pain, people don't know what they're saying."

"Oh." They fell silent for awhile, until Shilo finally spoke up.

"What's going to happen to him?"

"Well..." Heron said quietly. "I don't know, for sure. He'll get a prosthetic, maybe. He's only lost below the knee; it's entirely possible for him to walk again. But I don't think he'll be able to collect any more."

"Then what will he do?"

"He'll sell, I suppose. If that isn't enough, he'll move on to something else. That's how he is; that's how we all are. You have to be adaptable if you want to survive here.

"One thing is for certain." The physician's dark eyes bored into Shilo. "He's going to need you, now more than ever. He'll never admit it, but he cares for you more than you know. These next few weeks are going to be hard on him. He needs you."

"Me? But I thought you and he were..."

"What? An item? Fucking?" Heron laughed lightly. "No, not at all. He's a very old friend of mine, but just that. A friend." She grew serious again. "Which is why I need you to keep him safe. Can you do that?"

Shilo nodded. "I can."