"You're sure about this?" Brian regarded her skeptically.

Anna sat on a thick blue mat on the weight room floor, her legs crossed Indian fashion. "Trust me."

"You said that when you asked me roll around like a man whose clothes had caught fire."

"Now I just want you to crawl like a baby."

"How much longer before I can walk on the parallel bars?" He eyed the set she'd brought in.

"Not long, I promise. If you want, I'll test you for strength today."

"No." He shook his head, and Anna could all but taste his disappointment.

"Don't push yourself so hard. You're doing remarkably well."

"But the progress is so slow."

"It isn't," she replied. "Look how long you sat in that chair -- months. You can't expect to be out running again in a matter of days."

"Tell me what's next."

Anna must have repeated the procedure to him fifteen times, but she didn't hesitate when he asked again.

"Lying to crawling, crawling to kneeling, kneeling to standing."

"From there to the parallel bars, the walker, and lastly the cane," he finished for her.

"There's a light at the end of the tunnel."

"I'm just beginning to see it."

"Good," she smiled brightly. "I knew you would."

"Should I pretend I'm a dog and bark?" He asked as he moved into the crawling position.

"Go ahead," Anna laughed. "It'll give Charity a good laugh."

Brian gave an Academy Award performance that left both Anna and Dennis laughing.

"Mr. Carter's here. Ain't seen Nick in nearly nine months."

The laughter drained out of Brian's face and his eyes turned icy cold. "Send him away. I don't want to see him. Is that understood, Charity?"

"But Mr. Carter's been your friend since you was a boy."

"It doesn't matter. I don't want to see anyone."

Anna tossed a glance at the obviously flustered Charity, then back to Brian. Angrily Brian reached out from his position on the mat and grabbed the side of his wheelchair. With a violent shove he sent it crashing against the wall. The chair titled onto its side and fell over.

"What's wrong?" She asked quietly, and knelt at his side. "Who is this guy?"

"A friend."

"You have a funny way of showing it."

"When I want your advice, I'll ask for it." He growled at her.

"That wasn't advice, that was an opinion." Anna returned defensively.

"Then keep those to youself."

"Fine." She stood and wiped the grit from her hands. Walking across the room, she uprighted the chair and brought it to his side. "I want you to transfer yourself today."

"I can't."

"Don't give me that, Littrell."

"What is this? Put the cripple in his place time?"

"Figuratively speaking, I think that's it."

"Get out of here, Anna, before I say something I'll regret."

Anna's mouth formed into a humorless smile. "Gladly." Arms flying at her side, she stormed into the kitchen, plopped down on a chair, crossed her legs, and took three deep breaths.

"What's with that man lately? Mr. Carter and Mr. Littrell have been good friends a lot of years. Friends shouldn't treat one another like that. It's not right, just not right. But no one pays attention to me. No one," she said.

"What's the matter with me lately?" Anna answered Charity's question with one of her own. "I used to give as good as I took."

Charity apparently decided to ignore Anna. "I told Mr. Carter that Mr. Littrell wasn't feeling well today. I said that because I know later Mr. Littrell is going to want to see his friends again. No need to offend them. I did right, didn't I?" Charity's look was eager.

"You did fine."

Charity laughed, and let out a sigh of relief.

"Are you sure there isn't any reason Brian doesn't want to see his friends?"

"Mr. Littrell sent all of his friends away after the accident. He didn't want to see anyone. Mr. Carter came around for a long time, but Mr. Littrell wouldn't see him. Same as now. It's not right to treat friends like that."

"What's not right?" Brian entered the kitchen and boldly glared at the cook.

"To send friends away," Anna answered for Charity.

Briefly, renewed anger flashed from his eyes. "You two are beginning to sound like henpecking wives."

"Mr. Carter's been your friend for a long time..."

With a burst of energy, Brian wheeled himself out of the room, apparently not wishing to become involved in a heated argument.

Anna didn't see him again that afternoon. After his time with Dennis, he met with his father and spent the remainder of the day in his room going over papers his father brought.

Anna sat on the beach with L.J. until dinner, wondering if she should press this thing with Brian. She understood what he was doing all to well. She'd done it herself. Friends, especially ones who were whole and well, were a reminder of things that would never be again. Even Rachel, her best school friend, the one person who knew her so well, couldn't help understand the adjustment Anna was making. In some ways, Rachel hurt more than she helped without knowing it. She came to visit, eager to share tidbits of news and gossip from school. Anna hadn't wanted to know or hear any of it. School, boys, teachers were so far removed from her life then that it only served to widen the gap between them.

Rachel and Anna decided to take a weekend trip to Boston. There, they danced in all the hottest club, and became friends again. It was after that weekend, that Anna introduced Rachel to Dr. Kevin Richardson, and from that point on, they were inseparable. They married not long after their first date, and looking back on it now, Anna remembered what a great couple they made. A great couple getting ready to celebrate their sixth wedding anniversary. She sometimes wonders if she would be happy like that, with Brian, and realized only time will tell.

Brian met Anna that night on the verandah. She was sitting watching the sunset, a fiery ball of orange lowering into the ocean.

Brian pulled up beside her, "Beautiful isn't it?"

Smiling, Anna nodded. "I don't think I'll ever get tired of looking at it. The whole world seems so peaceful and serene. It's hard to remember the tragedies reported on the evening news when everything's so calm here."

"I often feel that too."

She felt at ease with Brian, relaxed, so unlike their first days of constant confrontation. Those times seemed a million miles away now. She turned to him and smiled and noted the signs of stress around his mouth. His blue eyes looked tired.

"You're strung out from working all day," she whispered. "You should go to bed."

Teasing warmth kindled in his gaze as he smiled slightly. "Now that, my dear Anna, sounded suspiciously like an invitation."

The gibe was a gentle one and Anna couldn't take offense. "No. When I issue an invite there will be no room for speculation." Anna had hoped to sound breezy and sophisticated, but it came out all wrong. She could feel Brian's puzzled gaze all over her.

"You're blushing, which leads me to believe you're still a virgin." His short laugh was soft, almost caressing.

Anna straightened. "I don't like the sudden turn of this conversation," she said stiffly. "Let's go back to what a beautiful sunset it is."

"Your cheeks are nearly as bright as the sky."

"Would you stop?" She demanded.

"No," he chided, and linked his hands behind his head, obviously enjoying himself "Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why haven't you gone to bed with a man?"

"Honestly Brian, you're embarrassing me. Don't, please." She hung her head and pretended to be studying her fingernails. The sound of his moving drew her gaze. Brian had turned his chair around and parked himself beside her so that only a few inches separated them. A finger under her chin turned her face to him.

"For most of my life I've stayed away from girls who didn't know the score. I wanted a woman with experience."

Anna swallowed uncomfortaby. His eyes were tender, infinitely gentle.

"That was until I met you," he went on. "I'm pleased you are who and what you are. I wouldn't change a single thing about you for anything." His hand slid behind her neck, urging her mouth to his.

Confused and unsure, Anna stiffened; she knew what would happen if she him kiss her. It would be like lighting a match to gasoline. The feelings Brian produced in her weren't a small spark, but a forest fire. She wanted him so much, but at the same time was all too aware of where it would lead.

He dropped his hand at her resistance. The puzzled look in his eyes deepened into pain. "Is it always no with every man?"

She looked away and nodded, because speaking was almost impossible.

"Is it the scars?"

"No."

"Then why?"

One shoulder was lifted in a halfhearted shrug, urgently hoping he'd change the subject. "I'm not exactly a sex goddess."

"There's never been anyone I've wanted more."

Bounding to her feet, Anna walked to the far side of the deck. "Stop. Please. I find this whole conversation extremely embarrassing."

"If I promise not to mention it again, will you come back and sit with me?"

Anna didn't find the teasing light in his eyes encouraging. "Promise?"

"Scout's honor." Solemnly he raised his index and middle fingers.

Anna returned to the cushioned wrought-iron chair and relaxed.

"But then I never was a Boy Scout," he inserted.

"Brian!"

"I promise, I promise."

Anna sat, and brought her knees up, resting her chin on top of one. "Tell me about Carter." Anna could sense him drawing away from her, not physically, but mentally.

"He's a buddy," Brian returned in a tone that discouraged further discussion.

"A good friend?"

Irritably, he expelled his breath before answering. "At one time."

"Not now?"

"I know what you're doing, Anna," he breathed impatiently. "And I don't like it."

A gentle breeze ruffled the soft curls about her face and Anna laught lightly. "I love turning the tables on you."

"I don't want to talk about Nick or any of the others.

"Why not?"

"Because--" he hesitated "--because I'm not the same person I was before the accident."

"Nick knows that. He doesn't need a psychology degree to realize you've changed," she explained in a patient voice.

"The only friend I need is you."

"But I couldn't possibly hope to meet all your needs."

He cocked his head, and a teasing smile flirted at the side of his mouth. "You could try."

Anna ignored the glint in his eyes. "I did the same things to my friends. Looking back, it's easy to see that my ego was involved, because I didn't want people to see my like that. Nor did I want to hear who was going out with who and what couple ahd broken up. My life had gone beyond that, and it seemed trivial and petty. They'd come with pitiful looks and talk as if I'd had brain damage."

"Exactly," he agreed.

"But I didn't consider the fact that they needed me. I was their friend, and they loved me. It hurt them to see me the way I was, and desperately my friends wanted to do something, anything to help. For a long time I wouldn't let anyone near me. Then one day Rach--"

"Rach?" Brian questioned.

"Rachel, for real," Anna supplied.

"Not the old friend Ray you had dinner with not so long ago?"

"One and the same," she supplied with a puzzled look.

Brian went completely still and she watched as the muscles worked along the side of his jaw. "You little devil. You did that on purpose."

Too late, Anna realized exactly what she revealed.

"Purposely you let me assume that you were going out with a man."

"Yes...well," Anna floundered.

"I sat here half the night going crazy thinking about you in the arms of this Ray. You should suffer for what you put me through." He wheeled around so suddenly, Anna was caught completely off guard.