Hey yall!! Chapter 7 is up:) (shortest chapter intro ever!)

"Why don't you have boyfriend?"

The words hit Brennan like a bucket of ice water early in the morning. She didn't expect them at all, as they were walking to the meal tent from the grave site, and it had been completely silent up until this point. It wasn't as if she didn't want to answer, it was that she honestly did not know the answer. She'd asked herself the very same question many a time on those Saturday nights when Angela had burst into her office.

"Come on, Sweetie, let's hit the town!" She would exclaim, grabbing her by the wrists, trying to pull her out of her desk chair.

"No, Angela, I have to work! I have…things to do!" She would fib. Angela would roll her dark eyes and then, seeing that it was getting late, would decide not to argue because there was little to no point in doing so.

"Okay, Bren. Your call." She'd say in her 'Your-missing-out-on-this-limited-time-offer-of-a-social-life' voice.

Deni stared at her expectantly.

"Elaborate." She answered in turn. Deni gave her a stern, 'your-trying-to-dodge-my-question' look, but the muscles in her face relaxed.

"Fine." She gave in, "You're in your thirties, you're smart, you're attractive," She grinned,"and yet, you're single. Why?" She inquired for the second time. Brennan stared into the sky. Deni gave an impatient sigh and began to scoop her long hair into a ponytail.

"I don't know." Brennan finally answered, lying through her teeth.

"No." She shook her hair out, "You know what? Forget trying to answer, I'll answer for you." She gave Brennan the same look Angela would shoot her when she was trying to put her life into perspective. Serious eyes, a lowered head, a woeful half frown, the works.

"You don't want to put yourself on the market for two reasons. The first is pretty obvious." Deni finally threw her hair over her shoulder and stopped walking, as they were almost to the tent and she didn't want the conversation to stop just because they'd walked into a room full of people (all of them men who, incoincidentaly, had been hitting on Brennan persistently since the moment she'd set foot on the site).

"It being that you are afraid of solid relationships. You build up barriers to keep people out and you're terrified of getting seriously involved with someone. Normally, trust issues arise from being abandoned or seriously betrayed at some point in life. What you're afraid of is that you'll fall in love, be happy and carefree and all that crap, then as soon as you're able to fully commit yourself to the other person, he'll leave you standing in the dust with nothing but a broken heart and two eyes full of tears." Deni finished, beginning to walk again. Brennan folded her arms across her chest and furrowed her brows.

They were almost to the tent when Bones spoke up.

"What is number two?" She asked, looking up from her feet, the location her eyes had been planted to.

"What?" Deni looked at her as if she was crazy.

"You said that there were two reasons and you only told me one." Brennan stopped in front of her just as the reached the opening to the meal tent. Deni grinned at her.

"Number two is that you secretly consider yourself taken by…whoever you mystery man is." She waggled her eyebrows teasingly, than pushed past Brennan and entered the tent. The anthropologist's brows almost folded over each other as she ran to catch up with Deni inside. She didn't have to go too far, as her friend was in the line, filling her plate with boxed mashed potatoes and a spam sandwich.

"I don't know what that means." She said simply, taking hold of for her own tray. Deni looked at her and then went back to reaching for the spoon for the canned corn.

"Of course you do. I mean, it's pretty self-explanatory."

"I'm not one to understand teasing, sarcasm, pop-culture references or puns." She answered. Deni squinted up at her.

"You're one weird woman, Dr. Brennan." She answered, putting a plastic fork on her tray and turning to find a seat.

Brennan followed her.

"Are you suggesting that I subconsciously have already selected a mate?" She asked, incredulity rising in her voice. The two sat down on a blanket that had been laid out for them.

"That's exactly what I'm saying." Deni smiled, her green eyes flashing. Brennan cocked her head ever so slightly to the side.

She has a point… She said to herself. It was quiet again, as everyone had already eaten and the men were headed back to their respected tents. Brennan didn't eat anything, just picked at her mashed potatoes and thought what about the whole 'Afraid of commitment' and 'worried about abandonment' thing. On any other occasion, she did not at all buy into psychology, but for whatever reason, Deni had opened a whole world for her inside her own mind.

It made sense that she was afraid of commitment and abandonment. In fact, it was a logical, pragmatic theory. She'd been hurt so many times in her past that it was highly possible…

Suddenly voices filled her thoughts,

"Will you ever betray me?" She heard herself ask. There was a pause.

"No." She heard the strong, comforting, deep voice respond. She knew the voice. Quite well, in fact. It was the same voice that haunted her dreams, made her melt from the other end of the phone, made her look up in excitement, made her laugh in spite of herself.

And at that moment, in the empty mess hall, in the middle of Africa, everything clicked.

Well, there you have it folks! Chapter seven:) I think I might do the next chapter as an 'Angela' side of the story, why? Because I find Angela awesome!

~Rhea~

Hodgins: "Phooku."

Sweets: "Thats really not nice.." (walks away)