A/N: Hey guys -- I apologize once again for taking so incredibly long to update! Between the site's repairs and a roller coaster personal life it's been a tad hectic! It should get better now though, and I'll update really soon! (promise!)
Thank you so much to future mrs. jim halpert, aranel25, frankenstein is me, marteloise, o0MissBennet0o, Serienjunkie 91, EternalConfusion, jemb, angel6 aka trinigyal, BonesDBchippie, Bellabun (loony!!), Sally Boat, ataralasse, fbiwoman223, HolidayArmadillo, bb-4ever, Austin B, CalleighDelko, phi4858, and pagan-seijou for reviewing the previous chapter!! Your messages mean so much to me, and I hope you'll let me know what you think of this chapter!

Disclaimer: I don't own Bones…sigh… just this storyline and my laptop!

CHAPTER FOUR

"Hydration, Bones!" Booth said as he chucked a water bottle at his partner, who was left with barely enough time to react.

"Ow!" she grumbled, picking up the jug where it had crashed on the seat beside her. Booth and Brennan had been driving for nearly nine hours and were thoroughly exhausted and were taking the time to fight with each other at every chance they could.

The bus was making its way North, near the central African planes, and thus thoroughly secluded from civilization. The familiarity of Cape Town had long since dissipated into long stretches of empty land. The sun had set a few hours ago, and the bus was lit only by its dim headlights and the clear night of the moon. Leedo had pulled off the road about an hour ago to take a break, and the travelers had munched on pieces of dried bread, fruit, and bottle after bottle of water. Other travelers had hopped on and off the bus, but no one seemed to want to go as far as Booth and Brennan.

Brennan sipped from the bottle greedily and rolled her eyes at Booth, who was playing with a chicken feather – one of many which had been strewn around the bus. Booth put the feather down and sighed, utterly bored. "Let's play a game." He said, rubbing his hands together and turning his body towards hers. He was sitting in the seat in the row opposite to her own, and he pressed his back against the window so that he could see her better.

Brennan looked at him skeptically, "A game? Don't you think we should be sleeping?"

"We're stopping to sleep in an hour or so anyway. We're playing a game."

She took another sip from the bottle, "What kind of game?"

"Ever played 'I Have Never'?" he asked, waggling his eyebrows. When he received a blank stare from Brennan in return he continued, "Didn't think so…"

"How do you play?" she asked, finding herself partially intrigued – even if the feeling was only a consequence of being on the road for nine hours with nothing else to do.

"Okay. I say something random and revealing that I've never done, and if you've done it then you stick out a finger. First one with ten fingers out wins."

"So basically this is a test of who, out of the two of us, has done more 'random and revealing' things? This sounds somewhat backward; it's a well known fact that ---"

"Nope, no no" Booth said, putting up a hand to silence her. "No analyzing. This is a game. Okay, I'll start." He said, clapping his hands once.

"I've never had sex in the Pacific Ocean." He said bluntly.

"Booth, is this some kind of a way to gain access to knowledge about sexual exploits, and in so doing ---"

"Ahh Bones, just stop! Let your fingers do the talking, alright?"

Brennan stopped talking immediately and stared at Booth. She slightly raised one eyebrow suggestively and her lips quirked into a grin. She stuck out a finger.

"Oh... I mean… okay." Booth said, staring at her index finger. He cleared his throat, "Your turn."

"I've never shoplifted." She said.

"Do grapes from the grocery store count?" Booth asked.

"Grapes, Booth?" she said with a laugh, clearly the heat was getting to both of them.

"Yeah, you know. Like you're in the grocery store and you want to buy grapes, but you stealthily eat a couple of them to see which ones are the sweetest. Grape-stealing."

Brennan knotted her eyebrows in confusion, "I don't think that counts Booth…"

"Fine." He said giving up. "My turn – I've never cheated on anyone."

"Me neither." Brennan said, shaking her head. "I've never been to Antarctica."

"Come on Bones, you've got the random part down but this has to be revealing. Wildly uncomfortable… you know."

"So you've never been to Antarctica?"

"Well… uh no. Okay, my turn. I've never slept with my professor…" he said, waggling his eyebrows.

"Oh come on, you set me up." Brennan grumbled, pumping out another finger. "I don't like this game, it makes me sound easy…"

Booth let out a loud laugh, "Nice Bones, nice. Okay your turn."

Brennan sighed, "I've never been in a serious relationship that lasted more than a year."

Booth looked thoughtful for a moment, and then stuck out his index finger. I bet he's thinking about Rebecca… Brennan thought to herself, judging his face.

Honestly, Booth was thinking that he wished he didn't have to stick out that finger. What he had with Rebecca had, at the time, seemed serious but paled in comparison to what he wished he could have… with Bones? He pondered this for a moment and wondered if she would ever allow him to cross that line with her – ever take that leap and deal with the consequences later.

"Planet to Booth" Brennan said, waving at him. Booth returned to reality and shook his head with a smile, "It's Earth to Booth…" he said, loving the expression Brennan had on her face.

"Okay, it's my turn. I've never been on a sweaty, rickety bus in the middle of Africa with a beautiful woman before."

He thinks I'm beautiful? Brennan said over and over in her head, trying to gain any shred of insight from his facial expression. He looked completely serious. She felt slightly uncomfortable under his stare, yet strangely excited. Rather than wrestling her inner feelings, she decided to point out the obvious, "You do realize that there's no way I can reciprocate that statement since you are not, in fact, a woman."

Booth let out a low noise somewhere between a laugh and a groan. "Remember what I said about analyzing?" he said, shaking his head.

"Fine, my turn. I've never had an irrational fear of chickens." Brennan said coyly.

"Shut up."

The game quickly dissipated mindless banter, which in turn dissipated into mindless bickering. Neither Booth nor Brennan really took it seriously, they were just looking for an outlet for their… energy.

About an hour later, the bus pulled off the road into the middle of a field. It was dark out and very difficult to see anything at all, but it was still quite obvious that there was no sign of life in sight.

"We stop here for night, yes?" Leedo said, cutting out the engine and stretching his arms over his head. "We leave again in 6 hours. Too many animals, so we sleep on bus." He continued.

"Sounds good to me." Booth said as Brennan nodded her head and fished inside her bag for her travel sized pillow and a blanket.

Leedo made his way to the middle of the bus and sprawled out on one of the seats, drifting off to sleep quite easily.

"Alright Bones, this is where I come in." Booth said, getting out of his seat.

"What do you mean?" Brennan said, the lack of interest in her voice was quite apparent and it was clear all she wanted was sleep.

"I'm sleeping up by the door, and you go sleep in the back seat." He said, pointing to the back and gathering up his stuff.

Brennan groaned "Booth are you afraid I'll make a move on you?" she asked teasingly, closing her eyes and pretending to fall asleep.

Don't I wish… Booth thought to himself, and then quickly chased those thoughts out of his mind.

"No, but I'll watch out next time I'm near the Pacific Ocean…" he said without thinking, and then preparing to defend himself against her fury.

"HEY!" she shouted, flinging her travel pillow at him and smacking him in the side of the head. "Don't even start with me!" she said, clearly annoyed. Leedo, who was pretending to be asleep, curled his lips up into a slight smile. These two people had been, by far, the most entertaining passengers he'd ever had the pleasure of driving.

"But seriously, move to the back. I'm sleeping by the door. Secluded areas like this are prime territory for highway thieves and any number of people who'll see a bus as a sure sign of –"

"Tell me you're not going to be like this the whole trip…"

"Oh what? Like look out for you and protect you?"

Brennan rolled her eyes and then got up – deciding that she was too tired for more bickering. She deliberately brushed her body up against Booth's as she walked past him in the narrow walkway.

Booth felt her brush by him and held his breath. He grinned at her stubbornness and then walked to the front of the bus. "Night, Bones…" he whispered as he lay down in the small seat.

Behind the mask of the seat, Brennan smiled to herself – basking in the thrill that came from Booth bidding her goodnight. She knew she shouldn't feel this way, and she reasoned with herself that it's most likely the jet lag making her pulse quicken whenever he smiles her way. Either way, these next few months were certainly going to be interesting.

"Goodnight, Booth."

Awww….
Next chapter to follow soon -- Please review! (Haha or I'll send the chickens after you… bawk bawk...)