A couple days passed, and Seb broke it to Gunner and Anna that he'd have to go to court with Serena. Anna had agreed to come along without hesitation but Seb understood it was more difficult for Gunner. He'd been placed at the Academy for a reason and that reason was a good one. Seb was happy to see that Gunner and Anna were no longer completely avoiding one another and actually were bothering to speak again but it was still strained... Two years away from each other and a drastic change in one of them was creating a difficult bridge to cross.

Anna had been in the gym more and more lately, pushing herself to the limit when she trained. She knew Gunner was right, she knew that most Dhampirs had the same past history and that it shouldn't get to her... She felt stupid, she knew what their world was like. Either you were tough and you got over your daddy issues or you got stuck in the commune in a never ending pity party. She knew Jace was in her past, Serena had suffered a lot worse than she had and moved on... Anna decided she needed closure, she needed to prove to herself that she COULD be strong. So, without telling any of her friends about it she'd sought out Jace. He'd been surprised by her request but it seemed like he was genuinely regretful for what had happened between she and Rae... He'd changed. She'd seen the way he fawned over his Guardian and though she brushed him off quite often he was like a puppy who couldn't help chasing after her... It was obvious how he felt and despite how flustered the redheaded girl seemed by his advances... it wasn't hard to see she felt the same.

So, she and Jace started practicing... He'd compel her and she'd fight it. It had only been three days but she'd already gotten the hang of erecting the mental wall... it was just keeping it in place when Jace amped it up a notch that was difficult. With her pushing herself so hard in her physical training and driving herself full force at her mental prep, she'd had very little time or energy for anything else. However, she'd made a point to practice with Gunner once or twice. They hadn't sparred like they used to but he ran her through some moves he'd learned and helped her on her technique. Today though, was a day to celebrate.

She'd managed to hold her walls up against Jace for over fifteen minutes. Granted, she'd gotten a splitting headache, was extremely dizzy, exhausted, kind of nauseous, and her vision was dancing with spots at the moment but she'd managed. He'd left a few minutes ago to head to the feeders, apparently she'd worn him out too. She ran a hand through her hair with a triumphant smile... She was going to tell Gunner what she was up to, what she'd accomplished, and she was going to invite him to a movie like they used to do... Not a date, no romance implied, but just as friends. Right now, Gunner was right... Anna couldn't handle a relationship and Gunner deserved her the way she used to be.

She leaned against Seb and Serena's door a moment, letting the spots die down, before knocking... 

~*~

Seb had been busy trying to talk a sick, semi-grouchy Serena into letting him give her a bath... No, she wasn't anywhere close to big enough to need him to do that but he'd wanted to do something to help her feel better... So, he'd ran her a hot bubble bath and lit some candles... He'd ordered her some grapes, a sliced orange, and a banana nut muffin from the cafeteria along with some red wine... The nurse had said that a glass on occasion would actually be good for her and help prevent some of the issues that came along with pregnancy. However, getting Serena to relax for him long enough to let him pamper her was a chore sometimes.

Before he could push further there was a knock on the door and he sighed before casting Serena a look that said, 'you aren't getting out of this yet', and then answered it.

It was Anna, and she looked kind of like hell. She was pale, shaky, and looked like she might pass out at any minute but she also was grinning ear to ear and her aura was brighter than he'd seen it in a while. "Anna, what the hell happened to you? You look like hell..."

Anna waved him off, "I'm fine... just a little dizzy. Have you seen Gunner? I wanted to brag about something and I can't find him... What good is he if I can't rub some of my success in?"

He smiled, Anna was sounding a bit more like Anna today. "I'm not sure, have you tried the gym?"

"Not yet..." She poked her head past Seb and waved, "Hey Serena... What do you think of a girls night tomorrow? Just me and you? I know we talked about it but maybe now we can actually hang out a little. We'll see about getting you some you time."

She NEEDED to talk to a girl, especially Serena. She had a feeling the other Guardian would understand her emotions better than nearly anyone could and because of that, Anna felt like her advice could do her a lot of good right now... Also, she just really needed to spend some time with her friend and she knew how overbearing Seb had been lately... A little too over protective and super set on pampering Serena. Anna was sure it was nice sometimes but she could imagine being treated like she was going to break on a regular basis and Seb's over doing gifts and everything else was probably flustering the ever loving crap out of the italian girl.