Chapter 1

Megan Richards was in the middle of a dream ... at least she thought it was a dream. She was soaring through clouds like a bird; only she couldn't feel the wind nor see the ground ... nothing but clouds and blue, blue sky. Then a haunting guitar melody that she vaguely recognized began to play and she saw scenes from her life being reflected in the clouds. And as they flashed past her, she heard a male voice begin singing with the melody...

I close my eyes ... only for a moment and the moment's gone.
All my dreams, pass before my eyes with curiosity...
Dust in the wind ... all they are is dust in the wind...

Megan tried to sigh as she felt a certain truth in those lyrics. What was her life in the grand scheme of things? What good did it do to have dreams when they could so easily be shattered to fall to the ground and blow away just like dust in the wind...

Same old song ... just a drop of water in an endless sea.
All we do crumbles to the ground though we refuse to see...
Dust in the wind ... all we are is dust in the wind ... ohhhh ohh ohhhh...

She tried to laugh ... the lyrics just seemed to keep proving that she had nothing worth holding onto. She was just another drop of water in an endless sea of talented people with useless dreams. Her life was meaningless...

Now, don't hang on ... nothin' lasts forever but the earth and sky.
It slips away, and all your money won't another minute buy...
Dust in the wind ... all we are is dust in the wind...
Dust in the wind ... everything is dust in the wind ... the wind...

Megan felt free as she saw the last scenes of her life flashing by ... Jonnie yelling at her about how much she'd hurt him, but she didn't feel the pain of that any more and she didn't want to. She was soaring toward the sun, feeling absolutely nothing but peace ... when a gust of wind suddenly threw her aside from her course and she heard Jonnie's voice again...

MEGAN ... DON'T YOU DARE LEAVE!!! I'LL NEVER FORGIVE YOU IF YOU LEAVE ME NOW!!!

She tried to turn around but was finding it difficult to alter her course toward the sun. Then she suddenly heard another voice she didn't recognize at all. "Megan ... do you really want to go back?"

She looked around trying to see who was speaking to her, but she didn't see anyone. She tried to say yes, but she couldn't figure out how to make her voice work, so she screamed it inside her head.

The voice spoke again, sounding like it was coming from the sun, and it said more loudly, "Good ... because your destiny has not been fulfilled. You have to teach Jonathan how to handle his gifts. Teach him wisely and he will help to save your world..."

She almost wanted to laugh, but she still couldn't figure out how to make any sounds with her voice. So she let her thoughts speak for her. What are you talking about?!! How to handle what gifts?!!

The voice sounded again but was fainter as if whoever was speaking was moving away from her. "This is not for you to question. You will know when it is time ... just remember what I have told you..."

Her confusion was causing her to lose concentration on soaring through the clouds and she suddenly realized she was falling. As she picked up speed, she started to become aware of feeling a lot of pain and being very frightened as she saw the ground rushing up to meet her. She opened her mouth to scream but still no sound came out ... there was only a rush of air into her lungs that hurt worse than anything she'd ever felt...

"CLEAR!!!" the emergency technician yelled as he placed the paddles on Megan's chest once more and set off the shock mechanism of the defibrillator. Her chest heaved upward and her eyes popped wide open as she gasped in pain, but everyone heaved a sigh of relief when they heard the machine beep, indicating that her heart had started again.

Megan immediately passed out again from the pain, but her heart continued to beat erratically and she was breathing. The paramedics prepped her as quickly as possible to be transported to the hospital. They had determined that the bullet had nicked a major artery and she was in danger of bleeding out if they couldn't get more blood into her quickly enough and into surgery as soon as possible. The hospital had already been called and they would be ready to take her as soon as the ambulance arrived.

Jonnie North was upset that he couldn't go with her. He had to stay behind to talk to the police and give them the details of what happened. His father arrived just after Megan was taken down and loaded into the ambulance. Jon, Sr. immediately got on the phone and called Tom and Lynda Seldon to tell them what had happened and asked them to go to Megan's parents, Charles and Diana, and take them to UCLA Medical Center where their daughter was being transported for surgery.

Jonnie gave a very clear account of the incident and his father and the other officers on the scene assured him that he had handled everything very calmly and professionally. The whole thing had lasted less than five minutes and, in the space of that short period of time, it had become crystal clear to Jonnie that Megan was his life ... she loved him more than she did herself and she trusted him. And he trusted her ... he'd trust her with his life...

He broke down sobbing as he realized she'd proved that to him without him even asking. He'd tried to protect her because he couldn't stand the thought of losing her and then she'd turned around to do the same thing with him! Kris was going to kill him just because she didn't want Megan to have him and Megan had valued his life above her own.

There was no greater love than what they shared ... that they'd give up their lives for each other...

Jonnie went into the bathroom of the hotel room and washed Megan's blood from his hands and face as he tried to calm down. He watched as a couple of police officers escorted a practically catatonic Kristina Davidson from the room in handcuffs and he felt sick. How could he not have noticed how sick she was?!! What could possibly have happened to the girl to make her behave so irrationally?!!

His need to know the answers to those questions just reinforced his belief that he was destined to work toward hunting down and stopping people like her. He tried to convince himself that it was a good thing the first time she had a breakdown had been with him so he could stop her. If she'd pulled this on some other guy, they might not have been so lucky and she might have gotten away with it. At least now she wouldn't...

Megan was in surgery for a couple of hours, during which she had to be given three units of blood before the doctors could repair her artery. Tom and Brad Seldon, as her biological father and half-brother who were both the same blood type as her, had immediately gone down to the hospital's blood unit and donated as much as they were allowed and instructed them it was for Megan. Tom even went so far as to follow the hospital technician all the way to the OR entrance to make sure it got to her.

The OR waiting room was packed full by everyone who'd been having Thanksgiving dinner with Megan and Jonnie earlier that evening ... except, of course, Kristina Davidson. No one mentioned her, but questions were still floating around in Jonnie's mind and he was determined that he was going to bug the cops about checking into her background because he was sure there had to be something in her past that had triggered this incident...

The surgeon finally came out to tell them it had gone well and that they'd even been able to remove the bullet from where it had lodged against her shoulder blade. The doctor said it was a good thing the bullet had entered at the angle it did because, other than nicking her artery, it had done very little other internal damage. He even mentioned that if the bullet had not been stopped by the thickest part of her scapula, it might have gone right through her...

And into Jonnie. Everyone turned to look at him when he sat down sobbing as he felt that Megan must be his guardian angel as well as his soul mate ... Barbara went to him and held him as she silently prayed for and thanked Megan yet again for saving her son.

Everyone waited around until the OR recovery personnel notified them that Megan was stable and was being moved to a room. Then most of the group went home ... the only people who stayed were Jonnie, her parents ... and Tom. They took turns sitting with her during the night ... no one wanted her to wake up alone.

At about three o'clock, Tom was sitting next to her bed when he heard a faint moan. He looked up and saw her wincing as she tried to move her arms. "Megan, sweetie ... don't try to move. You're OK, but it's going to hurt like a son-of-a-bitch for a while."

She frowned and spoke without opening her eyes. "Daddy? Is that you?" she asked weakly.

Tom hesitated as a lump formed in his throat, and then he cleared it and replied, "No, sweetie ... it's Uncle Tom."

Tears sprang to his eyes when she smiled slightly and opened her eyes to look at him as she murmured, "No, not uncle ... Dad. You're my Dad ... but I'll keep calling you Uncle if you want me to. And my father will always be my Daddy ... But how lucky could a girl get to have two Dads?" Then she winced and moaned, "Ohhhh ... you weren't kidding about this hurting like a son-of-a-bitch! How did you know?"

He blinked the tears out of his eyes and chuckled slightly as he stretched the opening of his polo shirt across his left chest and pointed to a scar he thought she'd noticed vaguely at times over the years when she'd seen him shirtless. "I took a bullet during the war in pretty much the same way you did ... trying to save someone else's life. I never realized how alike we are ... And I'm proud of you, Meggie ... so damn proud..." he whispered hoarsely as tears gathered in his eyes and ran down his cheeks.

Tom wiped the tears from his cheeks when he saw her tear up. He didn't want to start her crying ... that would just make her hurt worse. So he grinned at her and said jovially, "Hey ... do you feel up to seeing anyone else? There's three other people outside who've been here all night waiting for you to wake up!"

Megan nodded slightly as she winced again, so Tom went to the door and opened it and looked down the hallway to the chairs where Charles, Diana and Jonnie were leaned back trying to rest. Charles looked up first and Tom smiled widely at his best friend and long-time FBI partner and waved for them to come. He saw Charles nudge his wife and Jonnie and they all jumped up and headed his way.

Megan smiled softly as she saw the tears of relief in her parents' eyes when they both leaned down to kiss her forehead. Then her father put his hand over her right one laying next her and squeezed it gently as he tried to make a joke to relieve his leftover fear. "Megan, sweetie ... promise your Dad that you're not going to go jumping in front of any more bullets any time soon!"

She looked at her soul mate and grinned as she replied, "I don't plan to ... as long as I never see anyone point a gun at Jonnie ever again!"

Jonnie wanted to cry ... again, but he didn't want to upset her, so he expanded on the joke, but then he realized he wasn't joking. "You won't need to jump in front of any more bullets because I'm going to make sure you always have a gun on you so you can just shoot whoever points a gun at me instead!!"

Megan tried to chuckle at the serious look on Jonnie's face but it made her flinch and moan in pain just as a nurse came in. The woman looked around and said, "I'm sorry ... but I'll have to ask all of you to leave soon. The patient needs her rest and I'm going to give her some pain medication that will probably put her out again for a while. So now would be a good time to tell her good night and for all of you to go home and get some rest yourselves!" Then she busied herself with readying the dose of pain medication to be introduced into Megan's IV tube.

Tom left first, after kissing her forehead and saying he'd be back from time to time to check on her. Then her parents kissed her cheeks and told her they'd be back sometime in the morning with some personal items for her. Then Jonnie moved up next to her and stared at her, his intense aqua eyes swimming with so many emotions, but only one thought still in his mind...

My God, Megan ... I don't know what I would've done if I'd lost you...

She smiled softly as she heard his voice inside her head and felt the effects of the pain medication kicking in, giving her a floating feeling, and she vividly recalled the strange dream she'd had. She murmured sleepily, "I couldn't leave, Jonnie ... you said you'd never forgive me. And besides ... I have to teach you how to ... handle your gifts..."

Jonnie stood staring down at her as he realized she'd fallen asleep, wondering what on earth her last statement had meant. Handle my gifts ... What gifts? He thought perhaps the pain medication was just messing with her head, but he'd understood clearly what her first comment had meant ... she'd heard his desperate plea to her while her heart was stopped.

He'd called to her in his mind and she had heard him ... even though she'd been at death's door. Her heart had been stopped for over three minutes before they'd been able to revive her. And he couldn't help but wonder what happened inside her head during those three and a half minutes ... Was there just nothingness or was she still aware? She must've been aware ... she'd heard him call to her.

Jonnie leaned down and kissed her lips gently for a moment, feeling no response from her, which was utterly strange to him. Then he lifted his head and stared at her pale but beautiful and peaceful face as he whispered, "Yes I would've forgiven you, Megan ... but if that's what brought you back to me, then I'm glad you believed it..."

The hardest thing he'd ever had to do was to leave her at that moment. He never wanted to be away from her again...

Megan recovered more quickly than the doctors had expected and she was out of the hospital by the end of November. Jonnie had spent every minute of every day with her, making sure she ate properly and got plenty of fluids as well as vitamin supplements. And he'd gotten the nurse to show him how to gently remove the bandage from her surgical wound, make sure it was clear and cleaned with antiseptic, apply some healing ointment and replace the dressing. He continued to do all that for her every day after she was released from the hospital...