Debra Webb - Guardian Angel

Four whole years. She hadn’t had a full-blown panic attack in four years.

“Damn it.”

That first case she’d consulted on for the Bureau she’d suffered an episode, but she’d caught it in time, had headed it off. No one had been the wiser when it was over. But this…this had sneaked up on her.

Today she’d lost all control.

Today the adrenaline had taken over.

She knew the cause. She’d suffered with panic attacks for a dozen years. But then, her last year of graduate school, they’d abruptly stopped. Granted, she’d worked hard to recognize the aura before the full-blown attack hit, but her life had done a major turnaround and that had been the significant factor in moving past those debilitating episodes.

She’d taken charge of her life.

No way was she going to let the irrational fear take over again. Not now. She’d only just gotten started in her new career. This was right where she wanted to be. She had to regain full authority over her emotions.

Starting this minute.

She pushed away from the wall and took a moment to splash cold water on her face. Her reflection told her just how much power this episode had wielded. Even now the terror lingered in her eyes, attempted to steal the air right out of her lungs.

“You have to be stronger than this. Don’t let those old demons back in.”

Squaring her shoulders, she looked again, deep into those jade eyes she’d inherited from her father. There was her confidence. It hadn’t deserted her. This case had tipped the scales against her, but that wasn’t what had started this whole plunge into the past.

It was those damned reports about the Guardian Angel. He had haunted her dreams for weeks now, though she had refused to admit it. She’d tried to block the crazy fixation developing, but she’d lost that battle. On a purely intellectual level she understood her interest in this so-called hero. But on all other levels she resented his intrusion into her life.

He represented the loss of hope and the major disappointment that motivated far too many of the fears she had suffered so long ago; all that he stood for fueled the bitterness she still felt at times even now. None of which was completely rational.

“No living in the past,” she told the woman looking back at her. “No obsessing. No fear. Encounter, learn, overcome .”

That was her motto. Life wasn’t always kind. But she wasn’t the only one who’d suffered. Not by a long shot. In fact, she was damned lucky to have survived the worst fate had thrown in her path.

All she had to do was remember her motto. No matter how bad things got as she adjusted to the evolving demands of her new career path. No matter how terrifying the case she was assigned. She could handle anything that came her way.

Encounter , learn , overcome .

It was the only way to defeat the demons.

Past and present.

It was the only way to move on.

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