Here's chapter one of the sequel...

They were going to have to leave soon. Shalimar thought it might have worked, being here with her father – she should have known better. He hadn't done anything wrong, or been anything more than accepting. It was, in fact, the opposite. Nicholas Fox was doing everything he could, whether it was something that she asked of him or not. She knew it was because he wanted so badly to make up to her. All of it was for her, and it was too much. She didn't want anything from him, didn't want to owe him anything. She hadn't come to forgive him. She wasn't ready for that yet, and didn't really know if she ever would be. His efforts, under the circumstances, were only serving to push them apart.

There was a part of her heart that was softening toward her father, being around him these last few days. He had done so much for all of them – food, clothes, a place to stay, money even though they didn't want to take it. Better to run rather than let him work his way into her heart, only to hurt her all over again. She couldn't admit her strongest motivation for wanting to go – she wanted to protect him. If she and the rest of her team stayed away, he might be safe from whatever was coming and whoever might be hunting them even now.

"I wish you would come down from there."

From her perch high up in a tree, the same place where she had sought refuge many times as a child, she looked down at Brennan.

"Why? I like it up here."

"You're not gonna like it so much when you fall and break your neck."

She made a face at him. "Never bothered you before."

"Before, you were never up that high, or in a tree. And it always made me nervous."

A giggle bubbled out of her. She couldn't help it, looking down at Brennan the mother hen.

It was his turn to make a face. "Could you at least come down a little closer to the ground?"

Her smile was wicked. "If you say so..."

Without any warning she hopped off of her perch and dropped. Catching a branch farther below, she halted her fall, swinging around and landing agilely in a crouch atop it.

"That wasn't funny."

His voice sounded so stern. It made her laugh.

"Relax, Brennan," she told him, standing up, balancing on the thick branch beneath her. "I'm not going to fall." She walked the length of the branch, arms outstretched, placing one foot in front of the other like a gymnast on a balance beam. She did a pirouette and walked back, leaning against the trunk of the tree. "See?"

Brennan was scowling at her, but she could see his mouth twitching with the beginnings of a smile. "If you fall, I'm not going to catch you," he threatened.

She looked at him, her expression warming as she told him, "Yes, you will."

She felt it spreading through her, the warmth of her newfound feelings for him. They had been there for a long time, and every day they were getting deeper. What she shared with Brennan, it had been more than just sex to her. Try as she might to fight it, she was weak when it came to him. It was one weakness that maybe she was willing to indulge.

She didn't know how Brennan felt exactly. She knew that he cared for her, she had always known that, and she knew the tenderness that he had shown her. But he hadn't said 'I love you'...of course, neither had she, but she had reasons. She was more than just attracted to him – she had made love to him that first night. The way that he'd touched her, the way that he'd kissed her...it had to be more than sex to him, too. But was he in love with her? If she had been in bed with him at that moment, she might have said yes. Looking at him now she couldn't tell. Whatever they were now, they were more than just friends.

"Please come down?"

She sighed, deciding to acquiesce. Fun as it was to tease him, he'd had enough. She was bored with being up there anyway. She smiled at him, getting ready to hop down. It was at that moment that her foot slipped.

Brennan watched with horror as she lost her footing, arms pinwheeling, and fell. There was no way that he could catch her in time. Her head hit a low branch with an audible crack, and her body went limp before she thudded to the ground.

"Shal?"

She wasn't moving.

"SHAL!"

Ill update tommrw--- or tonight if i get enough reviews and time!