This time when Gabriel looked at her, he wasn't looking for anything around her. It still took him a few minutes to understand what the problem was, and it was only the crack in her voice which made it register.

"And you say I can't take care of myself," he muttered, finding his water canteen and pushing it into her hands while nodding toward the maybe-trees. Hey, no reason to wait until they got there for a maybe. He didn't want to have to drag her ass back. "Let's go check it out."