She came down the stairs the next morning, after having slept much later than usual, still dressed in her pjs. Her hair was haphazardly thrown into a bun, and her face was washed clean. She entered the kitchen and the low voices of her mother and stepfather stopped. She noticed the quick glance they shared before her mother rose and walked towards her with open arms. Anxious as to how much Dave had shared with his wife, Kara tried to steal a glance at him behind her mother's embrace. Unfortunately, he had turned to retrieve coffee for the three of them, and their eyes did not connect.

"Oh, honey, are you alright?"

"Yeah, mom, I'm fine." She sat at the counter and accepted the drink put there for her. She hugged the hot cup and felt the tension rise in her shoulders.

"Tell me what happened," her mother said, sitting next to her.

Kara stole another glance at Dave, "Didn't Dave tell you everything?" Dave's eyes quickly found hers at the mention of his name, but did not reveal anything.

"He just told me you were at a party and a boy died. Fill me in on the rest. Where were you?"

The next few minutes were filled with Kara telling her mother what had happened, trying to be as nonchalant as possible. Her mother was tough; she had been through a lot and seen a lot. Both of the adults in front of her had witnessed some of the worst that life had to offer. As she retold her story for her mother, she became increasingly self-conscious and felt immature for her emotions the previous night. Dave must think her a fool. She felt the heat move through her body and became very uncomfortable. She needed an escape and she needed it fast. It felt as if her breathing was too loud so she held it for few moments, hoping no one would hear it. Of course, this action only caused her to gasp for air in the next breath. She tried to stand but faltered, and the stool she was on kicked out behind her. Luckily, she grabbed the counter in time to catch herself from falling, but the harder she tried to control herself, the more out of control she felt. There was a sense of movement around her, and her parents' voices sounded distant. Time seemed to stand still, and move really fast all at the same time, until she felt his hands on her face. Gradually, sound started to return to normal as she focused on his strength supporting her, both physically and emotionally.

"Kara," he called, "Kara, honey look at me." She heard him clearly, but found it difficult to follow his direction. His voice became more demanding the second time the instruction was given. "Kara, look at me." Her eyes had no choice but to find his that time. "Good girl. Keep your eyes on me and breathe deeply. That's it. You're doing great. Just keep looking here. You're having a panic attack, but it will go away soon." Her breathing did start to slow and she moved her hands up to top his and did not move her line of sight. As she began to calm down, she felt his arms relax and move from holding her face to encircling her body and she melted into him for the second time in less than twelve hours.

He smoothed her hair and kissed the top of her head before passing her to the waiting arms of her mother. The motion was so seamless that Kara did not even realize it had happened until she found herself in the familiar hold of her mother. The realization of how well these two worked together crossed her mind for a moment, and then her embarrassment kicked in full force.

She pulled away from her mother, but didn't get too far as Erin wasn't quite ready to let go. "I'm sorry," she said. "I don't know what just happened."

"It was a panic attack," Erin said as Dave stepped up and handed a glass of water to Kara.

"I've never had one of those before." She was still trying to regain control. Her mother was rubbing her arm and that seemed to help ground her. She returned to her seat on the stool and tried not to gulp her water. "Why did that happen?"

"Well." Dave said. "you were telling your mother about what happened last night when it happened. Do you remember what you were thinking at that time?"

Kara remembered precisely what she was thinking, but was not ready to share that information. "I don't remember," she said while averting her eyes. The motion was not lost on either of her parents and they exchanged a look, acknowledging the lack of honesty in her answer.

Dave tried a different approach, "Kara, remember what I told you last night. You need to lean on your mother and me right now."

Erin picked up from that comment that there was much more depth to her husband and daughter's conversation the previous evening then she realized. But she let it rest for the moment. Kara remained silent, so Erin said, "Honey, talk to us. What's going on?"

"I can't," Kara stood and broke away from her mother's touch. "I need to really just not talk about any of this right now." She smiled at her mother in what she hoped was a reassuring manner and continued, "Mom, it's ok. I think I'm just going to go take a shower. I will feel better after that." She kissed her mother's cheek and retreated up the stairs.

"You know 'not talking about it' is the exact opposite of what she needs, right?'" Dave asked.

"I know. But what are we supposed to do?"

"Just be patient. She will come around."

About an hour passed before Kara came back down the stairs, and in that time she had transformed herself. Her hair was flowing down her back again and she had deftly applied a fair amount of make up. She was wearing jeans and a top with short boots, and, with her purse and phone in hand, had a "ready to go" demeanor about her.

"Where are you going?" Erin called to her from the kitchen where she was putting together some lunch.

"Shopping with Rachel. I have to meet her in half an hour at the mall."

"Oh, honey, I don't know if that's a good idea. You have been through so much, and we still haven't really talked."

"Mom, please, I'm fine," she said with a smile. "I told you what happened. There's nothing more to talk about."

"But you should rest today."

The smile now fading, "Rest? No. I've made plans and I'm going out."

"But you haven't even eaten anything."

"Mom, stop. I'll grab something at the mall and be home by dinner time. But just so you know, I have plans to go out tonight, too, so I won't be here for long."

"Kara."

"No!" she hadn't expected her volume to go up as much as it did, and knew from her mother's slight flinch at it that she was going a bit too far. She couldn't remember a time when she had raised her voice to her mother. "I'm going. Good-bye."

Kara turned to leave and froze at the sight of her step father leaning against the doorway. She hadn't realized that he had been standing there and, from the look on his face, he had heard everything. "Dinner is at 6," was his only comment, but the tone of his voice and his hard expression made it clear to Kara that she was to be home on time. After a slight hesitation, he stepped aside and she passed by him and out the door.