It was as if shadows and light opened up and deposited her there. There was nothing. Just nothing stretching for miles with no end. She couldn't see very well. Everything was colorless, smokey, and foggy. There was a smell, but how could nothing smell? It stung her nose. She reached up to rub it. Then they came; the hands and fingers that weren't there pulling, yanking, scratching at her arms and she was falling, falling, falling...until she was just...poof.

The soundless tornado of movement slipped away, leaving her with spinning vertigo, wobbly legs, and an explosion of color and light. The heels of her palms pressed and rubbed into her eyes, trying to clear the grit and sand of imaginary travel. And where was she?

It was the middle of a summer afternoon. The sun shone brightly down on the city, its rays vivid and heating the streets mercilessly. But every now and then a strong breeze swept through, cool and sweet and offering the citizens a moment?s reprieve from the baking of the sun. Jin was in his apartment. Only this apartment wasn?t the one from the marketplace. It was larger for one. The entryway alone was about the size of his previous apartment?s kitchen, wide open with a small table next to a wall. A painting hung over this table and on top of it rested a set of keys and a detective badge for the Rhy?Din Watch.

Once the apartment opened out of the entryway, it led into a large and flat living room. In the center of it was a small semi-circle consisting of two couches toward the center and two chairs on its outer edges. Set in between them all was a large wooden coffee table, upon which rested a few books and pictures. There was a television mounted on the wall in front of the group of furniture. To the right of the television was a sliding glass door that opened onto a balcony, which afforded one a pleasant view of the city. The balcony was fairly large, all manners of plants put into several gardens and all growing healthily for the time of year. A few feet away from the balcony door and the right wall was a dark and well polished and taken care of baby grand piano.

Backtrack a bit?Just to the left of the opening from the entryway was an archway that branched into the kitchen. The kitchen was shaped like a large L, with the refrigerator closest to the entryway and the stove closer to the second archway that branched into the living room via the southern wall. On the left side of the living room was a hallway that led the way to the rest of the apartment?s rooms. There were five doors in the hallway, two on the left and two on the right with the fifth being a set of double doors at the very end of the hall, which lead into the master bedroom. The two doors on the left were guest bedrooms, the first one on the right was a bathroom and the second one after that was a study.

The master bedroom itself was also a large space. On the wall directly opposite the door was a king sized bed, well made and taken care of. Nightstands with lamps waited on either side of the bed. The left wall had two very large windows and the right had another set of double doors that opened into the bathroom, which had a stand-alone shower, a large tub and the bedroom?s roomy closet. The entire apartment smelled clean and earthly, with the mixture of the plants inside and outside and the clean air that blew in from the opened door to the balcony.

Backtrack yet again?Jin was sitting on the piano bench. He wore a white shirt, the top few buttons left unbuttoned and his sleeves rolled up to his elbows. Over that was a simple black vest. The shirt was tucked into black slacks with a dark belt around the waist, feet covered in his usual pair of scuffed shoes. His hair was a disheveled mess as always, his face covered in a thin layer of stubble as he?d forgotten to shave again. His hands and fingers danced and contorted with relative ease of the instruments keys, feet coming into play when necessary. His head was bowed slightly, a look of concentration on his face as his eyes danced beneath their lids and a concerto filled the apartment with music.

A cat rested on the back of the couch, with blue-grey fur and grey eyes. Amadeus was slightly larger than the kitten Aoife had received from Jin not long ago.

Aoife was on the balcony tending to her plants?

So there she stood, on a balcony holding a small watering can mid tip. After squeezing her eyes shut and several head shakes later she finally focused, which pretty much scared the bejesus out of her. The watering can dropped with a thud on the metal, sloshing water spilling over its edges and all over her bare feet. She turned then toward the sound of music.

Jin's senses were purely that of a human's, but of a human at the very physical peak. He heard the drop of the metal can and blinked, the music coming to a sudden halt.

"Aoife?" He asked uncertainly, eyes now very open and brows lifting as he pushed the bench back a few inches and stood.

She stood there, in the doorway in all her lime green and blue striped pants glory staring at Jin. There was a rapid succession of blinking.

?Jin?? And then she noticed Amadeus. He was very much bigger than he had been about ten minutes ago in her world. That was just it, though. This wasn't her world.

"Everything alright?" He asked before giving her a once over. "When did you change?" That look was incredulous then. Aoife was receiving one of Jin's stares. Some things remain constant regardless of whose world it is.

?I...I...I...? She was speechless. So really all she did was stare back at him, moments only. Then she took in the surroundings of the room. Her eyes were hungry for detail. She took it all in, not just with a grain of salt but the whole shaker of it actually. To him she appeared to be looking at the place like she'd never seen it before.

Jin blinked again, then stepped around the bench and walked toward her. "What's wrong?" He was frowning. That was also a familiar look.

?Uhm...nothing.? Of course she had no idea that she's just inhabited her own body in his dream. ?Where is this? Where are we??

The detective stared at her again, flat and incredulous. ?Did you hit your head??

Aoife frowned and rubbed the back of her head. ?No. I don't think so. Can you just humor me??

"This is home." He replied simply, motioning to the apartment in general. "Are you alright?"

?Home? Whose home?? This was all said very slowly. And she was staring at him again, like that's something new.

?I think I need to sit down.?

He was staring back. "Ours." Simply. Nodding, he reached out, touching her arm and motioning toward the couch. "Come, have a seat. Should I call a doctor?"

She stepped into the living room at his urging and walked very slowly over to the couch and Amadeus, who was lounging across the back of it. ?Ours?? This was said as she lowered herself to sit on the very edge of the cushion.

"Ours." He repeated, frowning as she took a seat. "Wait here, rest. I'm going to call the doctor, are you thirsty?"

She shook her head and held up a hand. ?No, no. No doctor and no water.? Her lids slipped closed and she gave herself a good mental squeeze down before opening them again. ?I'll be fine.?

"Are you sure? You don't even recognize your own home." Jin eyed her skeptically, arms crossing over his chest.

?I do...I'm?maybe I'm tired. I'm tired. Right.? She rested her elbows on her knees, palms opened to receive her head as she lowered it. ?Can you answer one more question for me??

"Of course. What is it??

?How long has this been my home?? It'd be a surprise if he even heard that she said it so quietly.

He leaned forward a bit, brows furrowing as his ears strained. "Going on three years now."

?Three years!? This time it was a squeak and her head shot right up, so fast actually she nearly fell off the couch. Her hands flew to grip the cushion on either side of her legs.

Jin leapt back at the outburst, eyes widening in a brief moment of surprise. ?Yes.? He said, nodding slowly. ?Three years.?

?Three years.? She repeated this again. That would explain Amadeus and his size. Ok. Check that off the list. She was looking around again, maybe a little wildly. ?How did this happen??

?We?moved in??

?We??

"Yes. We." Jin nodded. "It is our apartment after all."

"That's it,? Jin added, ?I'm calling a doctor." And then he turned, walking around the couch.

?No!? Aoife jumped off the couch and nearly hurdled over it. Instead, she knelt on it, gripping the back and staring at him. ?No doctors. Uhm...? She sank back onto her heels. ?I must have had a...moment. Sorry.?

He paused at yet another outburst from Aoife, frowning again as he turned to look at her. ?But you can?t remember anything. Something?s wrong, you need a doctor.?

?Nothing's wrong. I'm just...I'm tired. Where's....? She was about to ask where the bedroom was but that would have started a whole new round of questioning. ?Can you tell me a story??

"What kind of story?"

She folded her arms now on the back of the couch, staring ahead, above, at the floor. Anywhere but him. ?About what happened...how we got here??

"Uhm..." He trailed off, pausing for a moment as he considered her question. He wasn?t entirely sure if she remembered anything yet, but he humored her regardless. He was rather fond of the story, after all. "Well. We met three and a half years back at the Red Dragon, as you know. We became friends soon after, though at times our relationship was rocky at best." He paused yet again and thought for a few moments about the next line.

"I'd admired you for some time, but you seemed unaware. After a few months of back and forwards, awkward moments and the like, I managed to push my fears aside and was upfront with you. Now, here we are." He waved his hand through the air again, motioning to the apartment.

She was really doing her best not to mash her face into the back cushions of the couch. ?When did it happen exactly? Give me an event, something, time of year...?

"What? When we started dating?" He stared, and then frowned again. "You don't remember." It was a statement that was filled with infinite disappointment, shoulders slumping. "June 16. We moved here later in September that same year."


?June sixteenth.? She was looking at him now; working this date through the events. That would be technically three days from now this would have happened. ?Was there something going on around then??

?What do you mean? Like an event??

?Yeah...something big?

"No. No event that I can think of." He shook his head then. "It was shortly after we arrested Judah though."

She blinked and looked at him then, this being the first time since he started talking. ?What happened to him??

"He was found guilty of several crimes, murder being one of them, and was imprisoned for life."

?Murder? Whose murder??

"Several different people. I don't know the names off the top of my head, the case was three years ago and I wasn't allowed to work on it past a certain point." Jin shook his head yet again. "How can you not remember any of this?"

?Is that something I should remember?? Aoife asked; Jin had to have considerable patience, because she'd have called in the people with white coats by then.

"That Judah was imprisoned for life? Yes." Jin nodded, frowning. "And let's not forget the whole three years missing. It's obvious you remember some but not all."

Now she was covering her face with her hands. It must have been quiet a site to see. Lime green and blue striped pajama pants, crouched backwards on the couch with her face in her hands. She remained that way for nearly a minute before peering at him through splayed fingers.

?Are you happy??

"We both are. Have been." He frowned more despite his words, deeply disturbed by the turn of the conversation. So bewildered and flabbergasted was he, that he'd forgotten all about doctors and ensuring that she was all right. And Jin was hardly a forgetful person.

?We have. Okay.? She dropped her hands back to the couch again. ?And this is what you want??

"This is what we both have wanted."

?Right. Both of us.? There went the fingers worrying at each other. ?And uhm...? She was looking now at the pictures scattered around the place, like specific pictures with white dresses and tuxedos and things of that nature. ?We like this.?

He nodded slowly, glancing over to inspect the wall as she does. There were several pictures of them and other people, some she'd recognize and some she wouldn't. But none with dresses or tuxedos. But if she pays attention to his hand, there's a ring on his left hand.


She didn?t notice any of those pictures, which came as a huge relief to her, but she sure did notice his hand. This had her looking at her own left hand. ?You?re married.?

"We are." Jin replied, glancing down at her hand. ?Where?s your ring??

?My ring?? She blinked, looking between him and her hand again. ?I have a ring.?

?Of course you do.?

?This is what you want.? She was still looking at her hand because she couldn?t bring herself to look at him. ?I'm sorry I'm acting this way.?

Jin frowned again, a recurring theme. ?What?s wrong, Aoife??

She pushed up off the couch and stood. ?I think I bumped my head on,? she motioned to the sliding door. ?The door. I should probably lay down. On a bed.?

He nodded, motioning down the hall. "Come, lay down then." He reached out for her again but paused, quite uncertain of things by then.

She was looking at his hand then, debating. But after a few moments pause, Aoife decided to give him this one thing and reached out with her own. Her skin was entirely too cool, but he shouldn?t have noticed because she made it so. ?Ok. You lead.?

Jin nodded again, curling his fingers over hers. Turning, he began to walk down the lengthy hallway, a hand lifting to push open the double doors that wait. The bedroom was revealed, the bed waiting on the opposite side of the chamber from them, large and welcoming.

She paused in the door with him, staring at the...large bed. Oh boy. Her brow furrowed at the mental images she was getting. A quick shake and they were gone again. She pulled her hand from his and looked over and up.

?I'm sorry.?


He nodded. "It's okay." It really wasn?t, but Jin was fairly good at lying. He motioned toward the bed. "Go on then, lay down. Get some rest. I'll have some tea and honey waiting for you when you wake up."

Aoife looked away quickly. He may have been a good liar, but she was good at reading it. She crossed the room and stopped next to the bed, staring down at it. She probably stood there a good thirty seconds before crawling on top of the covers and curling onto her side, fingers twined into each other and tucked in a fist under her chin.

He watched her for a moment, forcing a smile. Then he stepped backward and closed the doors, leaving Aoife to rest.

She closed her eyes. No scratch that. She squeezed them shut as soon as she heard the latch catch. Then she was swallowed by that same tornado that brought her there, leaving nothing behind but the sleeping form of the girl who'd never come to be.

((The above text is a scene played out between AoifeDuggan and myself, edited and posted with permission.))