The Gargoyles and all related characters belong to Disney/Buena Vista.
Don't sue I have no money. Raina and company belongs to me. They're MINE,
MINE, MINE! I'm ignoring "Genesis Undone". This story is recommended for
mature readers due to language . You have been warned. This is the
beginning of a series, I hope, that will feature Onyx, Raina, and the
Manhattan Clan.


Learning To Live Again 
By Montanna of  Moonsong


Raina Star exited her Scottish Keep to watch the sun set behind the lake
that bordered her Wyoming ranch. She wrote some of her best novels while
sitting on her balcony. Here she had all the peace she needed. She heard a
roar and glanced to her left. She smiled at the inspiration for her last
two novels. 
	"Good evening Onyx."
	"Good evening, Raina"

Manhattan, One year ago…
	"Hurry up Rainy, we're gonna be late!"
	"Head on out without me Cade, I'll meet you at the party around midnight."
Raina called. She hated these formal affairs and publicity dinners. It
wasn't that she begrudged her fans a chance to meet her, or the autographs.
It was just that she felt like a critter in a zoo.
	Cade grumbled as he left. As her brother and agent, he felt responsible
for her career. He took this job very seriously.

	2 hours later Raina drove past an old abandoned barn just in time to see a
dark form plummet to the earth. She raced over and gasped. It was a
gargoyle, a BIG, gargoyle. 
	"Are you okay?"
	The creature groaned and rolled over.
	"I… I…"
	He passed out again and she cursed. 
	"Just what I needed, an unconscious gargoyle…"
	She grabbed his shoulders and heaved him up. "Come on, You need help and
we've got to get the hell out of here." 
	She helped him into her Jeep and quickly drove back to the little cottage
that the tour leased to her for the duration. Easing him down onto the huge
four-poster, she winced at his faint groan. He had obviously been in one
helluva fight. There was a number of gouges, bruises, and even a couple of
laser burns decorating his body. As she tended his wounds, she quietly sang
a lullaby her mother had taught her. 
Once he was resting quietly she sat down. What in the hell was she gonna do
with a gargoyle in her bed?

Present…
	Onyx smiled down at his pint-sized savior. He had awakened in her bed two
days after his fall from the sky. With his injuries healed, he would have
gone his way. The letter he found open on her desk however, had changed
that plan.

Manhattan, 11months ago…
	
	I'll get you bitch. 
Whores who write 
filth will always get 
what they deserve.

	The note was unsigned. The gargoyle looked at the shaken woman before him.
	"Who sent this," his growl was, strangely enough, comforting.
	"Who knows, it's probably some kook. All romance writers get these things
from time to time," she flashed him a grin as she answered.
	"I will stay with you until this threat has passed." he stated.
	Raina pushed her white bangs back into black mane of hair and smiled. "Hey
you don't need to make up reasons to hang around. I like the company."
	He frowned. He had given her no reason to trust him. Why was she accepting
him so easily?
	"Well, I need to call you something. How about Onyx?"
	"Yes, I like that. Onyx" He had no intention of using any of his aliases.
	She  had underestimated the threat that kook had presented; Onyx had not.
When the dust had settled Martin Sloar was arrested for attempted murder
and Raina had 24 stitches from a knife wound to her back. The battle and
its aftermath had cemented his place in her life and his friendship with
her brother Cade. 
Once the police had carted Sloar to prison; Onyx told her everything about
his past.   His battles with Goliath, how he suckered Xanatos and Severius,
his plots with Demona and that final battle at the amusement park. 
"I have no excuse for what I did… I'll leave if you wish."
"Oh no you don't! You're stayin here. I don't care what you did before we
met. I know who you are now. That's all that matters."
It was a long road they had traveled. Onyx's fear of his darker, corporate
raider, yuppie tendencies made him cautious. But he eventually found a
balance between gargoyle instincts and human business skills.

Present…
Onyx sat next to Raina and folded a huge, black wing around her shoulders.
These quiet evenings had a comforting quality. Here he was simply Onyx, not
Thailog. Raina didn't expect him to be anyone else.


Raina and Onyx's battle with Sloar and our hero's revelations of his past
will be told in "Second Chances"