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Brennan was having trouble concentrated on the food in front of him. He surreptitiously kept glancing at Emma, sitting in front of him. She was not saying much, seemingly content to just sit there and bask in the fact that they were all together again. Nevertheless, she looked . . . *~wonderful ~*. It was the only word he could use to describe her.

She still seemed tired and a bit aloof, as if she was watching and cataloguing all of them for some future date. But her face was calm, more peaceful than Brennan had seen for a while. She seemed to radiate tranquillity, as if she had faced her inner demons and won. and her eyes . . . her eyes . . . *~ so blue. There are so blue. I wonder why I have not noticed before. I wonder what happened to her? Will she tell me if I ask? ~*

And as if she had heard him, Emma looked straight at Brennan, into his eyes. Brennan gave up pretending to eat and stared at her. He completely forgot what he been thinking of or even why? He just drowned in Emma's eyes, looking at her, drinking her in. He had been denied this for so long that he had forgotten how much he enjoyed looking at her. Emma blushed slightly, a light rose dusting her cheeks. Brennan smiled, seeing her colour felt like coming home.

With their gazes still locked he quietly asked, "What happened last night Emma? What brought you back to all off us?"

At his question, all the meaningless chatter around the table ended, blanketing the room in complete silence. Everyone looked at Emma, hoping that she would answer, but understanding if she chose to say nothing.

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Emma felt the prattling wash over her, not really listening to what they were saying. She didn't feel any need to, more than happy to stay in the background and watch her friends. *~ Life should always be this simple. ~*

She picked at her eggs, not eating much. *~ Great, I'm out for a few days and everyone forgets I don't like eggs. Well . . . at least they didn't try to feed me bacon. ~* It struck Emma as very ironic that after all she had been through she should be back to worrying about food. *~Life had truly brought me full circle,~* Emma thought, smiling slightly.

Still smiling she looked across the table, only then realising that Brennan was staring at her. She forgot about the eggs, forgot about the rest of the people at the table. She couldn't look away from Brennan. And if she was honest with herself, she didn't want to turn away. All her fears about confronting him just melted away. She could not even recall why she had been so apprehensive. She could not think of anything else except how much she had missed feeling Brennan's eyes on her.

He just kept looking at her; Emma wasn't complaining but she could feel herself blush. *~ Why is he staring at me? I hope no one else noticed me blushing. ~* Emma was too flustered to think clearly, and she was not risking any sort of mental contact with Brennan yet. *~ I'll think about it later, as soon as he stops looking at me. He has such attractive eyes. ~*

With their gazes still locked Brennan quietly asked, "What happened last night Emma? What brought you back to all off us?" Emma thought she heard him add, *~ brought you back to me ~* but she decided it was just her imagination.

She considered the question, not knowing where to begin or how much to say. How much would they understand? How much did she understand herself?

"I am not sure myself. I don't understand what happened or why, but this I can say, I am much better now." Emma hoped that they would accept that and drop the subject. Wishful thinking.

"We are very glad you are better now, but still . . . something must have happened to help you." Brennan insisted. *~ Tell me . . . trust me . . . please. ~*

Emma heard that silent plea, and found herself unable to resist it. "I really don't know. All I know I was in pain." Emma closed her eyes as she remembered, swaying slightly. Brennan leaned forward, feeling the memory of her pain, even though not understanding the cause of it. She opened her eyes to look at him again, and he forgot to breathe because of the pain he saw in her eyes.

Emma took a deep breathe and continued, "It was terrible . . . the pain. I thought I would die but then . . ." She stopped to consider how to put this, knowing instinctively that her friends would be incredulous.

Brennan took her hands in his, squeezing them gently, giving her silent support she needed. She looked at him gratefully, "But yesterday . . . yesterday, I met someone." *~ And he helped me when no could. He said 'trust me' and I did. ~* "He helped me."

"Who was he?" Brennan asked, a shade of urgency in this question. *~ Emma MET someone?! How? How did he help her when I . . . we obviously couldn't? ~*

"I . . . I don't know." Emma replied in a small voice, not being able to meet Brennan's stare, which was getting more aggressive by the minute. He was pressing her hands too hard, she tried to free them, but Brennan just tightened his grip. "But he helped me." she repeated.

"So, do you know who he is, where he comes from? . . . His name?" Adam quietly asked, getting more worried at each negative reply.

"But he helped you, how?"

Emma shook her head again, "I don't know but he did. You can ask him all these questions when I meet him."

"Meet him!" Brennan stood up abruptly, and started pacing the room. He didn't like the idea of Emma going off to meet some stranger. His distrust was starting to infect her as well. She looked at the rest of the team, hoping to get some support from them.

Shalimar steeled herself against that mute entreaty and said, "Emma, I know that you think this guy helped you but you can't be sure. He could just be taking advantage of your weakened state. You said yourself you were not sure what happened to you, then how can a stranger know."

"Shalimar is right," Jesse piped in. "You don't know anything about this man. He could be an agent from the Strand or some psycho. You know what happened last time you met a stranger at a bar. You . . ."

"Say it, I know what happened. I died. But this man is not like Caleb. You don't understand. This man helped me, he would never hurt me." Emma was in tears now. Her friends did not understand, they were making everything worse. Emma felt the calm she had fought so hard to find, slip away from her. She could feel the wall this 'stranger' had helped her to construct totter.

"Emma, please be reasonable. You can't know that. You don't know anything about this man."

"I know I trust him, I know he can help me. I know I have to go to him." Emma got up, determined to leave before she lost her sanity. The scepticism in the room was eating away at her faith, and thus eating away at the defences the man had put in place.

"Emma, please." Adam caught her before she could run out the room. "I think you should go to bed. Everything will be better after you get some rest. You are overwrought, maybe suffering from some form of manipulation."

Emma yanked herself free, "I am not some baby Adam. I know what is best for me."

"So what you are saying that you trust some stranger over us, your family." Brennan heatedly said.

"No, . . . I didn't mean that." Emma was getting confused now. Maybe her friends were right; this man could be using her. After all, what did she know about him? Her doubts assailed her, bringing the already fragile fences crashing down. With these safeguards gone, the whole vicious cycle started again. First, her friends' emotions struck her, causing her to sink further, leaving her completely exposed.

Emma swayed, beginning to lose awareness. Brennan jumped forward to catch her before she fell to the floor. Cradling her in his arms, he looked up, alarmed.

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