Author's Note: Hello again! Look at that! A reasonably timely update! Yay! I have the next chapter well in the works so it hopefully won't be long in joining this one. I hope everyone likes it. It didn't go exactly as I had planned but a plot bunny attacked me viciously and insisted the story needed to go a different way. Please review to let me know what you think, ne?

Also, I have just realized that I never addressed the piece of info Sasori gave Sakura bout Sasuke. I forgot all about it until I recently rewatched the rescue Gaara arc for inspiration. There's no way she and Naruto would have failed to act on that so please consider that little conversation to have never happened in this version of Naruto. SO sorry!

Just a reminder: "Blah" = Talking, 'Blah' = Thoughts

Sandstorms and Falling Leaves

Chapter 19: Old Friends and New Missions

Naruto left the conversation with Temari feeling more nervous than he was when he went into it. He wasn't looking forward to talking to Kankuro. Gaara's brother was decidedly the most frightening of the three sand siblings as far as the leaf ninja was concerned. It wasn't that Kankuro was physically imposing, or anymore vicious than some of the enemies the jinchuriki had faced. In fact, Naruto was fairly certain he could beat the puppet master in a fair fight. Unfortunately, he was also fairly certain the sand jonin would not fight fair. Also unfortunately he wasn't facing the hooded teen as an opponent, but as a prospective brother-in-law with the power to prevent him from marrying Gaara. That suddenly made him seem much more terrifying than ever before.

'Maybe he'll just give me his permission to marry Gaara and there won't be any trouble.' Naruto snorted at the unlikeliness of that scenario. 'Yeah, and maybe he'll trade Crow in for a fluffy bunny puppet and do shows for kids.'

Naruto sighed. He had to find just the right way to approach the prickly jonin.

'That is, if Gaara is even interested in getting married.' He thought, nervously toying with the necklace she'd given him.

He wanted to rush over and recruit Hinata to help him figure that out but the Hyuuga heiress was currently training with the one person who absolutely could not know what he was planning, Gaara herself. He'd have to wait until evening when they had finished for the day to ask the blue haired girl for help. That left him with hours to wait and nothing to do, and Naruto hated waiting.

Bored, the blonde jinchuriki wandered along the dusty streets.

His feet took him to the front of Ichiraku without him consciously directing them and his stomach let out a monstrous growl at the savory scents emanating from the small shop.

"Heh." Naruto scratched his head in embarrassment as several bystanders turned to look at him. "I forgot to eat breakfast." He mumbled as he ducked into his home away from home and took a seat on one of the stools.

Minutes later he was happily distracting himself from his thoughts, of necklaces and proposals and weddings and councils and irritable, assassin-trained big brothers, with a large bowl of steaming ramen.

He was halfway through his second bowl when the curtain rustled and a familiar voice came from behind him. "I should have known you'd be here."

Naruto spun around on his stool, noodles still dangling from his mouth for a moment before he slurped them up so he could acknowledge the new arrival. "Sakura-chan! Hey. I haven't seen you in weeks. Has Tsunade-baachan been keeping you busy?"

Sakura put her hands on her hips and glared at the blonde chunin. "I've been working at the hospital." She explained crossly. "Tsunade-sama wants to see us right away. She told me to come get you. I've been looking for you for half the morning."

"Oh...er...yeah?" Naruto scratched his head nervously, not wanting to explain where he had been or what he had been doing. He wasn't exactly sure what Sakura would think of his plan, but he was fairly certain she'd object. She tended to object to a lot of his ideas. Not that that was always a bad thing, but in this case he really didn't need anyone trying to talk him out of it. He was nervous enough without someone telling him what a bad idea getting married at sixteen was.

"Yeah!" Sakura huffed, annoyed that he hadn't provided a proper explanation. "So where..."

Naruto hurried to cut her off. "We should go, ne? Don't want to keep the Hokage waiting now do we?" The orange clad teen paid his bill and jumped up, fleeing the stall before the pink haired girl could finish her question.

Sakura blinked. 'He's definitely up to something.' Her inner Sakura pointed out evilly. 'We have to find out what it is...' Shaking off the voice, Sakura followed her teammate towards the Hokage's tower. There was time to figure out the hyperactive teen's motivations later. For now he was right. It was not a good idea to keep Tsunade waiting.

Shizune showed the pair in as soon as they arrived. Tsunade was sitting at her desk behind a pile of paperwork and she didn't look too happy about it.

"Oi, Naruto." She snapped. "What took you so long?"

"I...um...I was...uh...sorry." He decided to skip trying to explain and go straight to apologizing. "You wanted to see me?"

Tsunade eyed him curiously, her eyes glinting as she caught sight of the sand vial still hanging around his neck in plain sight. "Hmph. Yeah, team Kakashi has a mission." She held out a scroll and Naruto snagged it eagerly.

The new leaf chunin scanned the mission parameters, his face falling into a frown as he read them. "Escort duty for six weeks..." He said finally, with just a hint of dismay in his tone.

"Do you have a problem with the length of your assignment?" Tsunade asked sharply. She hadn't expected the usually eager young ninja to complain. It was a B rank mission.

"Yes...um...no, not really." The blonde changed his mind and scratched his head. He really didn't want to explain his objections in front of Sakura, who looking at him like he'd grown a second head. 'Yeah, I can't go because I'm worried Gaara will stay awake the whole time I'm gone. Oh and it will delay my plans to propose to her. Yeah, that'll go over well.'

"Good, because the client actually asked for you by name."

That distracted the teen from his thoughts and he cocked his head curiously at the older blonde. "Who's the client?"

"His name's Tazuna." Tsunade said, looking over her copy of the mission briefing.

"Tazuna...Tazuna...hm...I know that name..."

"Tazuna the bridge builder?" Sakura asked, dredging up the memories of their first big mission together.

The hokage nodded.

"Oh yeah! That's it!" Naruto bounced happily as he remembered the old man and his grandson. It would be nice to see how they were doing.

"Okay, then you leave at dawn. Kakashi will meet you at the main village gate with Tazuna. Yamato will also be accompanying you, as a precaution." Tsunade leaned back over her paperwork. "Good luck."

Naruto quickly separated from Sakura once the pair had left the tower, and went straight to the training grounds to find Gaara, all thoughts of proposing were on hold for the moment. It would have to wait until he got back from the mission.

'Well, at least it will give me time to work on her necklace without any danger of her finding out about it.' He thought, smiling slightly.

He leapt along through the treetops because it was faster than fighting the underbrush. Finally he came to a halt at the edge of the clearing Gaara and Hinata had been using to train.

The sight in front of him stopped him in his tracks.

Gaara was concentrating hard on a medium sized pile of sand in front of her. It was obvious she'd been training for hours already. Her scarlet hair was slightly damp with sweat, making it curl in all directions and causing her to look even more fey than usual. The sleeveless, knee length, black dress she was wearing was probably one of Temari's cast offs. The pigtailed blonde seemed to delight in having a sister to play dress up with, despite Gaara's resistance. The straight skirt was slit up to her hips to allow ease of movement. The tight red leggings and mesh undershirt beneath the dress highlighted the sand users well toned figure and a white sash embroidered with tiny red flowers kept the kimono styled dress closed. Deceptively slender arms moved gracefully around her, pulling the sand in their wake. Aqua colored eyes were narrowed as she wove the sand into a complex web of strands around herself.

'She's beautiful.' Naruto leaned against the trunk of the tree he was perched in and waited, not wanting to disturb the almost dance like quality of his girlfriend's complex jutsu.

Finally satisfied with her work, Gaara nodded to Hinata who had been waiting patiently off to the side. The blue haired girl seemed to hesitate for a moment.

"Go ahead." Gaara's voice broke the silence of the clearing, sounding slightly sharp.

"Okay, if you're sure you've got it this time." Hinata pulled out a handful of kunai and launched several at the redhead.

Gaara stood perfectly still, crossing her arms and watching the progress of the blades towards her body impassively.

Naruto found himself clutching the trunk of the tree he was standing in. He had faith that Gaara wasn't stupid or suicidal but it wasn't healthy to just stand there while someone threw sharp things at you.

His heart lodged in his chest as the kunai neared the redhead in her sand cage.

Thunk. Thunk. Thunk. Thwack! The sand net shifted neatly to deflect the first three projectiles, but the fourth one slipped through. Gaara was forced to deflect it with her hand at the last moment.

"That was better." Hinata said encouragingly.

"Not good enough." The redhead scowled, letting the sand sift down around her into a pile again as she checked her hand for damage. Finding none, she crossed her arms across her chest sourly.

'She's trying to recreate the ultimate defense.' Naruto realized with a start. 'But how does she control the sand without moving?'

The redhead was glaring at the pile of sand, as if it had failed her on purpose and she was pondering the best way to punish it. Suddenly, she turned and looked right at him. "Naruto." She greeted him quietly, still distracted by her failed jutsu.

"Hey Gaara-chan, Hinata-chan." The blonde hopped down from his perch with a smile and a wave. "I...um...needed to talk to Gaara for a minute. Can I interrupt?"

Hinata nodded. "We were almost done for today anyway." She said, with a meaningful look at the redhead.

The sand ninja nodded. She was at her current limit if she wanted to stay conscious.

"Great." Naruto bounced on his toes, reaching out and catching the redhead by the hand. "We'll see you later, Hinata-chan!" He called out as he dragged the bemused girl away.

Gaara managed to offer the blue haired teen a brief wave before the hyperactive leaf chunin pulled her from the clearing.

Gaara allowed herself to be tugged along Konoha's busy streets. She wasn't sure where Naruto was taking her but she trusted him enough not to be overly concerned. As they walked briskly along, she noticed something bouncing gently against his jacket and her heart lodged in her throat.

'The necklace...he's always kept it tucked in. Why is it out now?' She found her thoughts racing as she pondered the implications. 'Does he know what it means? Should I tell him? What if he gets angry? What if he hates it? What if Temari or Kankuro see it and tell him?' She blushed, glad the yellow haired teen was too intent on their destination to notice.

The redhead was still arguing with herself when Naruto finally came to a stop. Gaara recognized the place easily. They were on the cliff overlooking the village, right above the Hokages' stone visages. She pushed all thoughts of the necklace from her mind when it became apparent from his expression that the leaf chunin had something important to tell her.

Naruto was trying to come up with the best way to break the news about his mission. He considered and discarded several approaches hurriedly before deciding to just cut directly to the chase. Gaara wasn't much for idle chatter anyway.

"I just got assigned a new mission."

Gaara waited patiently for him to continue.

"It's...um...It's an escort and protect job..." He frowned worriedly. "For six weeks."

Gaara's eyes were the only part of her to show any reaction to his words, narrowing just slightly in dismay.

Naruto waited, obviously expecting her to respond somehow. When it became clear she wasn't going to say anything, he pressed on. "I could turn it down if you need me here." He offered nervously.

The redhead blinked, her features softening at the generous offer. She knew Naruto needed the income and furthermore, it was his first mission since making chunin. To refuse it would look very bad. "No." She said simply.

Naruto frowned. "But..."

"No." She cut off his protest with a pale hand over his mouth. "Good luck."

Naruto gently pulled her hand away, placing a kiss on the back of it and smiling softly at her. "You're sure you'll be okay?" He asked, reaching out and placing a hand on her cheek to make sure she wouldn't look away. Gaara's eyes tended to tell the truth when she was otherwise unreadable.

The sand ninja leaned into the touch, relishing the feeling of his warm skin on her face. "I'm not a china doll." She said dryly, her sharp words losing some of their sting as she hesitantly wrapped her arms around him. "I'll be here when you get back."

Naruto wrapped his arms around her in return, holding on as if she was in danger of slipping through his fingers like the sand she wielded. He buried his face in her soft hair.

"Just...come back safe...okay?" The kunoichi whispered into his chest, the words seeming to stick in her throat.

"No problem." The orange clad teen grinned, pulling away from her just a little so he could look into her worried eyes.

Gaara forced a small smile for his benefit. "When do you leave?"

"Dawn."

She nodded, her eyes catching sight of the necklace again. She found herself reaching out to touch the tiny vial without consciously deciding to do so. "I love you."

Naruto leaned down to kiss her gently on the lips. "I love you too."

The pair spent the rest of the day together, just walking around the village, talking about trivial things. Neither ninja wanted to think about the upcoming weeks apart, so by unspoken agreement they avoided the subject.

"Are you hungry?" Gaara asked as the sun was beginning to set.

"Sure." Naruto nodded, wondering where they should go to eat.

The ex-jinchuriki caught him by the hand and tugged gently. "I'll cook." She said with a tiny ghost of a smile.

Naruto grinned and let her lead him back to the apartment she shared with her sister.

Temari shot the leaf ninja a curious look behind her sister's back when the pair arrived, clearly wondering if he had gone ahead and talked to her about marriage after all. The leaf jinchuriki shook his head quickly.

"Hey, Temari-chan." He said out loud as Gaara released his hand to move into the kitchen. "I have to leave on a mission tomorrow. I just found out about it a couple of hours ago."

Understanding and a touch of disappointment flashed across the pigtailed blonde's face, but her voice betrayed none of that when she replied. "You must be excited, ne? First chunin mission."

Naruto shrugged. "Yeah, I guess so." His eyes drifted to the kitchen where Gaara was busily chopping vegetables. "I just wish it was a shorter mission. I only just got home."

"How long will you be gone?" Temari asked, her tone deceptively light as her eyes flashed with concern for her baby sister.

"Six weeks, if everything goes according to plan."

The pair exchanged an understanding look. Missions often had a tendency to take longer than planned.

Gaara did her best to tune out the conversation as she carefully stir-fried the vegetables and put some rice on to cook. As much as she didn't want to admit it, she wasn't sure how she'd fair without Naruto for so long. She still hadn't managed to sleep through the night without his presence and she knew she'd miss a lot of other things about him too. She'd never felt so close to anyone outside of her siblings before. In many ways, she actually felt her bond with the hyperactive jinchuriki was deeper than she had with her family. In the months since her brush with death, her old friend had become so much more than just that. Somehow, without her even realizing it at first, Naruto had become her refuge, her safety net.

'Well, time to start working without a net again.' She told herself firmly.

Temari watched her younger sister for a while. She envied Gaara's confidence in the kitchen. Somehow, the redhead had ended up being the only one in the family with an ounce of cooking skill. It was especially funny because of the three of them, Gaara had been cooking for the shortest time by far. She'd only begun to try such things after the botched Konoha invasion.

The pigtailed blonde smirked as she recalled the first meal Gaara had ever prepared for her.

They were on a mission which was nothing terribly unusual. The Konoha invasion attempt was only a couple of months behind them and Suna was still reeling from the death of their father. The council was giving them mostly simple, boring assignments. Perhaps it was intended as some sort of misguided attempt to punish them for their father's failures. Possibly the council wanted to give them time to recover from the injuries they had sustained, though most likely it was just to keep Gaara busy and away from the village while they decided what to do about the volatile jinchuriki. Not that they could actually do much when it came to really controlling the redhead. What the council didn't see, was that the sand user was beginning to control 'himself'.

Kankuro and Temari were too busy trying figure out what Gaara was going to do next, to worry much about the council or their mission status. Their youngest sibling had been acting strange since Naruto had defeated 'him'. He was more introspective than usual, he actually followed the plan on missions, and he hadn't threatened to kill either of them in ages. He was still having moments when Shukaku got the better of him, especially in a fight, but Temari had noticed that he was occasionally leaving enemies alive and that he would stop his attacks at once if she or Kankuro asked him to.

Neither of the older pair was sleeping well, always feeling the need for someone to keep watch with the insomniac jinchuriki. So it shouldn't have surprised any of them when one of them made a stupid mistake. They underestimated the defenses around a bandit hideout and walked right into a trap. Not only that, but the bandits were harboring several missing ninja that they hadn't spotted in their initial reconnaissance. Kankuro was scouting the hideout when the attack began, but Temari and Gaara rushed in when they heard him call out.

Temari caught up just in time to see the hooded teen drop like a stone, blood staining the ground beneath him. She had hurried to his defense, pushing the enemies back with a burst of wind from her fan and kneeling beside the puppetmaster to check on him. Unfortunately, the enemy ninjas used that opportunity to attack and one just managed to clip her on the side of the head with something heavy. The last thing she saw as her world went black was a flash of crimson hair suddenly between her and the enemy.

The next thing she saw was that same crimson hair framing dark-ringed, aqua eyes that were watching her with something that could almost be interpreted as concern. She blinked and the concern was gone, covered by the redhead's normal blank expression. Choosing not to wander into the minefield of Gaara's emotions seemed wise. Especially while her head felt like someone had set off fireworks inside it, so she focused instead on struggling into a sitting position, fighting off a wave of nausea as she manged it.

She was relieved to see Kankuro sleeping just a few feet away, his wound neatly bandaged and Crow carefully placed within reach. They were still in the bandit camp from what she could see, but the terrain was almost unrecognizable due to the sheer quantity of sand covering the area. The bandits and missing nin were nowhere to be seen and since Gaara had been left to finish the fight alone, Temari didn't really want to know what happened to them. She could guess well enough.

Her musings were interrupted by a pale hand holding out a plate under her nose. Temari blinked at the roasted meat and root vegetables on the plate for a minute.

"You should eat." Gaara's rarely used voice broke the silence softly.

Temari still remembered how surreal the whole evening had felt. Sitting there, eating the slightly dry meat and bland tubers, watching Gaara carefully check on their brother or stir the small fire to keep it going. It was the first time the quiet jinchuriki had demonstrated actual concern for the welfare of someone else. Somehow it made the redhead seem more human than the pigtailed blonde had ever expected. That's when the eldest Sand sibling realized Gaara really was changing. Temari never looked at her youngest sibling quite the same way again.

Temari came back to the present, only to realize Naruto was still talking animatedly to her, something about bridges and gangsters hiring missing ninjas. She couldn't follow his story completely but she got the gist of it.

Gaara finished cooking and set the table in silence. She eyed the resulting meal critically, but was unable to find any major faults with the simple food she had made. Finally satisfied, she took a deep breath and turned to face her sister and their guest.

"It's ready." She said simply.

Temari turned on a bright smile and hurried over. "It looks great, Sis." She patted the smaller girl on the shoulder in thanks as she sat down.

Naruto bounced up from his seat on the couch as well. "Yeah it smells really good, Gaara-chan." He grinned cheerfully.

Gaara blushed faintly at their praise as she took her seat between them.

"Itadakimasu." The trio chorused with varying degrees of enthusiasm before digging into the food.

The meal went smoothly until they were nearly done eating. Temari caught Naruto's attention while Gaara wasn't looking and the gleam in her eye made the leaf ninja decidedly nervous.

"So, Naruto." The fan user began with feigned nonchalance. "That's an interesting necklace. Where'd you get it?"

Gaara's eyes widened, her hand stilled with the chopsticks halfway to her mouth.

Naruto scratched the back of his neck but did his best to sound normal when he answered. His other hand drifted to the pendant in question. "This? Ah, Gaara gave it to me."

"Really?" Temari turned speculative eyes on her baby sister, who was beginning to turn interesting shades of red beneath the curtain of her increasingly unruly hair.

Gaara kept her head down and refused to meet her sister's eyes, knowing the older girl could read her like a book.

"She gave you a necklace?" Temari repeated, trying to provoke the redhead into responding somehow. "Did you know that's how-OW!" Temari grimaced as the response came in the form of a sharp kick to her shin.

Naruto stared at the pair curiously, not sure what had just happened. "How what?" He asked after it became apparent Temari wasn't going to continue. He knew what she was going to say but he didn't want Gaara to know that he knew.

"Oh um...nevermind." The older teen said with a smirk and a sharp glance in Gaara's direction.

Gaara sighed softly in relief. She had the feeling she was going to have some explaining to do later, but at least Naruto wouldn't find out what that necklace really meant. She still didn't know exactly what had made her think making him a betrothal necklace was a good idea. There was no way he'd consider getting married anytime soon, if ever. The redhead didn't have any real experience to draw on but they'd only been dating a short time and most people don't get engaged mere months into a relationship. 'Especially to someone like me.'

Naruto looked from one sister to the other, his head cocked as he tried to figure out what he was missing. Temari had obviously been using the necklace as an excuse to bring up the idea of an engagement, but she had given up without getting Gaara to say anything. It was decidedly weird. Still, Gaara's small reactions were pretty interesting, particularly the blush that still stained her pale cheeks slightly pink as it began to fade.

They finished the meal without further mention of the subjects of necklaces, marriage, or his mission. All of which were topics Gaara was pleased to avoid. Throughout the meal, the redhead could feel a knot of worry growing in her chest. What was she going to do? She could not lie to her sister but she didn't want to admit how stupid she had been to the older girl.

As Temari gathered the dishes, Gaara walked Naruto to the door with forced calm. Once there she hesitated only a moment before wrapping her arms around his neck and leaning into his chest soaking in his presence. Naruto was quick to return the embrace.

"Go ahead." The redhead said quietly, pulling back. "I'm going to help Temari with the dishes."

Naruto nodded and let her go reluctantly. It still amazed him how well she fit in his arms, how right it felt to hold her close to him.

The redhead offered him a small, forced smile as she shooed him out the door and shut it behind him. She leaned against it for a moment, as if she could draw strength from the heavy wood, before moving back into the kitchen with dread heavy in her steps. Temari was now waiting with her hands on her hips, all pretense of nonchalance gone.

"A necklace, ne?" The older teen prodded when the sand user failed to find the words to explain.

Gaara nodded, her eyes cast down and to the side to avoid looking directly at the pigtailed girl.

"And did you make it yourself?" Temari continued to push.

Another small nod was her only response.

"Does he know what it means?" The blonde tried one more time.

This time, she got no reaction from the silent ex-jinchuriki.

Temari sighed. Gaara had come a long way emotionally in the past few years, but she still sometimes fell back into old habits when she was forced to deal with something that made her truly uncomfortable. 'Not this time, Little Sis.' Temari moved around the table dividing them and reached out slowly, turning the redhead by the chin until the younger girl was forced to meet her eye. "Talk to me." She ordered gently, her tone almost pleading.

With that, all the younger teen's carefully rebuilt emotional defenses came crashing down. "He can't find out." She managed to get out before the lump in her throat silenced her. A small sob managed to rip its way past the painful obstruction, only to be followed rapidly by more, though her eyes remained painfully dry. The wracking sobs stole her breath and she dropped to her knees, spots swimming in her vision as her body began to crave oxygen.

Temari stared for a moment. She knew the signs of a panic attack, they weren't uncommon among ninja on dangerous missions. She'd just never seen her little sister have one. 'Send an army against her and she's as steady and immovable as a mountain, bring her back from the dead and she takes it in stride, but being in love...that terrifies her.' Shaking her head at the wrongness of that, the blonde teen hurriedly knelt beside the shaking redhead and laid a hand on one pale shoulder, cautiously, since she wasn't sure the girl would appreciate being touched.

"Gaara, look at me." She ordered softly when the redhead didn't lash out or pull away. "You need to take a deep breath before you pass out."

Gaara tried to comply but her lungs seemed to have grown a mind of their own and she continued to hyperventilate. She shook her head in frustration, squeezing her eyes shut and clenching her hands into fists until her nails drew crescents of blood from her palms as she tried to regain control.

Temari slowly pulled the younger ninja into her arms and rubbed her back in slow circles. "You're fine. You have to calm down. Just breathe." She kept up a steady stream of reassuring nonsense for several minutes until she felt the petite frame start to relax and the erratic breathing begin to finally slow. The older girl fell silent but continued to hold the trembling redhead for several more minutes until she felt the girl try to move away.

Gaara shifted away from her sister, embarrassed by her loss of control. "Sorry." She said finally, still struggling to steady her racing heart.

"Don't be." Temari waved it off, knowing Gaara would feel worse if she knew how much her outburst had worried the older girl. "It happens to the best of us sometimes. Kankuro used the get so nervous he'd throw up before every mission." She smirked, hoping to lighten the mood with a bit of normalcy. "Now, are you ready to talk about that necklace?" The blonde kept her tone gentle, not wanting the redhead to think she was in any kind of trouble.

Gaara shook her head. "Can it wait until tomorrow?" She asked quietly, resting her face on her knees in front of her.

Temari thought about it for a moment before nodding. "Fine, but we ARE going to talk about it." The redhead stood and started towards the door but the older girl reached out and caught her wrist. "...and give yourself a little more credit, okay?"

Gaara's brow furrowed in confusion but she didn't want to lose any more time. This was her last night to spend with Naruto for a while and she wasn't going to waste it. She darted from the apartment in a blur.

To be continued...

Author's Note: Whoa...that one got sort of long on me. It just didn't want to be broken. Sorry if you were expecting the big question or the discussion with Kankuro in this chapter. That was my original plan but my mind kept insisting I needed to take care of some things first. Not to mention, Naruto's been off the mission roster for almost two months now so it was about time he had some work to do. Also, I'm really not sure what happened with Gaara there but I figure if anyone has earned the right to be a little bit insecure about love, she has. After all, most of the people who claimed to love her were either using her or they eventually tried to kill her...or both. I can also say I wrote that panic attack from experience. I used to suffer from them frequently and they suck. You can't catch a breath, you can't explain what's wrong, and worst of all you can't stop freaking out no matter how irrational you know you're being. I just thank the Lord I don't generally have that kind of crushing worry anymore (Matthew 6:25-34). My heart goes out to anyone else who deals with severe anxiety. Okay, I'll climb down off my soapbox now and get back to work on the next chapter. Please read and review! Thanks!