"SHAL!"

Brennan's eyes snapped open in the darkness as his body jerked up into a sitting position. Trapped somewhere in between the worlds of fantasy and reality, panic rose in Brennan's chest as he struggled to recall where he was. It was only when a bright light suddenly flooded into the room that Brennan realized he was home; he was safe.

"Brennan?"

Brennan looked up – right into Shalimar's beautiful face. He was completely unaware of the look of pure panic on his face; he was quite startled by Shalimar's sudden outburst of concern.

"What's wrong, what happened?"

"Nothing. Nothing happened, I…" Brennan's eyes fell away from Shalimar's. He… He what? He had had a bad dream. A nightmare was all it had been; but how could he bring himself to admit that to Shal? How could he bring himself to tell her that if he had not shaken himself free from is nightmare, he would have seen her die not a moment after?

"Brennan?" Shalimar sat next to Brennan, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. She leaned closer, gazing into his eyes; searching. "What happened?"

Brennan shook his head. "Like I said – it was nothing."

Shalimar smiled. "What, you think I didn't hear you call my name? It was kind of hard not to, I mean you called me loud enough to wake the dead." Shalimar chuckled softly, but the laughter died as a shiver shot through Brennan's body. Shalimar blinked; had she imagined it? She couldn't remember a time where Brennan had shivered in such a way - it was as if he was scared; but that just wasn't possible. Brennan feared nothing. Well, nothing that he had bothered to tell anyone, which happened to be more than good enough for Shalimar.

"Brennan…?"

Brennan sighed and roughly passed a hand through his already tousled hair. He was breathing rather quickly; the effects of the nightmare had not yet completely worn off. It had seemed so real... Far too real for his liking. It had been so long since he had had a nightmare like that; he had believed that he was past that stage of life.

Well, apparently he wasn't. Not yet anyway.

He turned to look at Shalimar, eyes wide. "Shal, I… uh…"

"What?" Shalimar frowned, growing increasingly worried. Brennan was acting peculiarly, as if there was something he was holding back; something he didn't want to tell her. It made her feel extremely uneasy; she hated being kept in the dark about things, especially if they concerned her or someone she cared about.

Sighing, she decided it best to make him tell her. "Don't make me beat it out of you," she said, though by her tone of voice Brennan could tell she was joking. Sighing, he forced a smile.

"It was just a bad dream, okay? Nothing to worry about."

"Aww, is Brenny still having bad dreams?"

Brennan and Shalimar looked up to see Jesse standing in the doorway, smirking. He chuckled as he gazed over at Brennan.

"So what did Brenny dream about that was so, so bad?"

Brennan fought the urge to plant his fist into Jesse's face. Instead he tried to count to ten; he had nearly reached two and a half when his eyes flashed open, false barrier of calm control shattered.

"Look Jesse, I'll give you three seconds to stuff it and get the hell out of my room before I zap your ass out."

Jesse let out a soft whistle. "Woah, must've been some really bad dream you had, huh?" Smiling, he added, "Was it about Shalimar?"

At that moment it was impossible to determine who had turned a deeper shade of red: Brennan or Shalimar. Shalimar opened her mouth to protest, but Brennan was already at his feet.

"Get. Out."

Jesse frowned, firmly planting his feet in the soft, blue carpet. "I'm just trying to care here! You look pretty shaken up, I just-"

"I don't think I could have made myself clearer, but obviously you need some clarification in the words GET OUT!" Brennan was yelling at this point, both anger and patience well through the roof. Shalimar found Brennan rather scary like this; on the contrary, Jesse seemed to enjoying himself.

"Oh no, I got what you meant. I just don't see what you're going to do about it."

"You just hit the wrong switch, Jess." Outstretching his arm, Brennan balled his right hand tightly into a fist; when his fingers uncurled, electricity flowed from their tips into a concentrated ball of bluish energy in his palm. He withdrew his arm and held his hand above his shoulder, snarling.

"Just say one more word and-"

"Brennan, stop it!"

Overwhelmed with anger, Brennan had failed to notice Shalimar come up behind him. Stepping around him, she placed herself directly between him and Jesse. She looked up at him, frowning.

"Hey, whatcha up to?"

Brennan craned his neck to get a glimpse of Jesse, who by now was nearly rolling on the floor, shaking in bouts of laughter. Brennan's fists shook – if only he could send Jesse a good high-voltage shock… He would change his attitude. Of that Brennan was dead sure.

"Uh, Brennan…?"

"What?" Brennan looked down at Shalimar and realized electricity still flowed freely in his right hand. Muttering a curt "Oh", he snapped his fingers into a tight ball; all signs of electricity vanished into thin air.

"Thank you." Shalimar flashed a smile before turning to Jesse, who had retaken his position of standing in the doorway. He sighed and smiled.

"Ahh, thanks Shal. You seem to be the only one who can keep Brennan's temper in check these days."

Brennan took a threatening step towards Jesse, but Shalimar held him back. Sighing, she glared at Jesse. "Jesse, how about you go bark up Emma's tree and leave Brennan alone, hmm?"

Jesse's smile fell as his cheeks flushed a deep shade of red. Mumbling incoherently, he turned his back and stomped quite loudly down the hallway. Brennan laughed joyously and slammed his left fist into his right palm.

"I hope God's around to help him when you're not here to save his ass, Shal. He'd get what's coming to him… I'd give it to him."

Shalimar smiled. "Yeah, and if you did, we'd be short one team member for about two weeks."

"So?" Brennan shrugged. "I for one couldn't care less."

Shalimar hit him playfully in the arm, laughing. "Oh stop it, Brennan. We both know you'd be lost without Jesse."

"And Jesse would be lost without me. Come on, I've heard it a thousand times, Shal. Spare me."

Sighing, Shalimar decided it unwise to push Brennan further. She did, however, make a mental note to inquire about the morning's events sometime later on in the day.

"What time is it?"

Shalimar rolled her eyes and stole a glance at her watch. "It's 7:43. God Brennan, don't you have a clock or a watch in your room?"

Shaking his head in response, Brennan replied, "Nope, nothing electrical in here. Can't take any risks, you know?"

Shalimar nodded her head to show she understood. She threw Brennan a playful smile and said, "Hey, how about we get a head start on training today?"

Brennan blinked, puzzled. "This early? I haven't even had my coffee yet!"

"Oh right, I forgot; you need your spark in the morning, right?"

Sticking his tongue out, Brennan brushed past her and headed towards what one could call the kitchen. Sighing, Shalimar let herself fall back onto Brennan's bed. She smiled as she inhaled his exquisite scent; another thing that caused her to fall head over heels for him. She frowned as she replayed the morning in her mind. Something had deeply troubled Brennan; she had felt it. Not only was she going to get it out of him, but she was going to help him through it – whatever it was.