Jordan faded in and out of consciousness throughout the night. For once, monsters didn’t plague her dreams. No, this time she was bathed in pleasant nostalgia. She was comforted by dreams of her parents and BTS. She helped her father with his students’ assignments and peered over her mother’s shoulder in the study room. She roughhoused with the BTS crew in their old hideout. Everything and more, all tinged with a vaguely familiar blue. In Jordan’s subconscious, she wasn’t quite certain if she was alive or dead. It seemed to her as if she was flickering between the two, a lone audience to both the living and the dying. The anxiety ate at her; all Jordan wanted was for her body to pick one.

    The next time Jordan woke, she got the bleary impression of radiating heat against her back and wrapped around her waist.

    The frigid air nipped at her front, raising goosebumps on her skin. She didn’t like it; she wanted to be warm. She turned over abruptly, ignoring a stabbing pain in her shoulder. She didn’t hear the startled mumble that rumbled from her personal radiator. Jordan pressed her hands against the odd furnace, warming her palms and fingers. Once settled, She pressed her cheek against it with a soft smile.

    She shifted again, but this time it was not by her own doing. Instead, the warmth embraced her, enveloping her in heat and comfort. A light humming sound reverberated by her ear, reminiscent of a purr, but deeper and rougher.

For the first time in a very long time, Jordan felt safe.

    JiYong woke up early that morning feeling like he was forgetting something. He knew that someone was going to be pleased by his news, but he couldn’t quite put a finger on it. The memory failure continued to bother him as he waited for the other team members to wake.

    The nagging feeling disappeared when he saw YoungBae in the camera room. He had been in charge of the night shift, and upon seeing the team leader, stood to switch his shift. From his eyes it was clear that he was ready to sleep, and sleep he would until forcibly woken.

    “Any new developments?” JiYong wondered.

    “Nothing.” YoungBae grinned. “I took notes. They were cuddling all night. It was damn cute, let me tell you.” He stretched his arms out and headed up the ladder. JiYong mentally wondered when his team members began speaking so informally in the office. He didn’t mind, it made the space seem more personal. He picked up the tablet underneath the camera screens.

    Few movements. Werewolf kept subject warm during the night. Chance of recovery: 95%.

    Human subject’s heart Rate: 85. Blood pressure - Systolic: 100. Diastolic: 75.

    JiYong promptly submitted the report to the central database, pleased with YoungBae’s consistent objectivity. He really was a promising researcher; JiYong was happy with his choice. The team leader moved about the room, booting up the other systems. A shuffling noise from upstairs informed him that the other team members had woken. Despite the nagging feeling that he was forgetting something, the team leader was in good spirits. YoungBae’s positive report set him off on a good note, and a further examination of Jordan’s vitals had him positively beaming. She was near-completely healthy. Granted, she was malnourished, dehydrated, severely underweight, and had a mild concussion, but it was much better than they could have hoped. She could have been dead.

    At long last, JiYong captured the thought that had been evading his grasp all morning. The date put a smile on his face.

    “DaeSung?” He called over his shoulder. DaeSung responded from the bedroom area upstairs.

    “Yes, Team Leader?”

    “Your vacation week starts tomorrow. You can start packing.” JiYong expected to hear excitement at his words. He was met instead with silence. He cast a questioning glance upwards at the ceiling.

    “I have vacation days?” DaeSung’s head poked out from the top of the ladder. “Since when was that a thing?” JiYong shrugged.

    “I specially requested it from the executive board. We each get a week off at different times this month. I told them that we’ve been working overtime for nearly half a year. With our recent successes, I convinced them that a vacation would further help our progress. You know, give our brains a break.”

    “Will it?”

    “Probably not.” JiYong smirked. “I just thought that we deserve some vacation days.” DaeSung chortled at his team leader.

    “You sneaky bastard.” He chirped and left to go get ready. Within a moment, he emerged again. “Just kidding about the bastard part. Don’t fire me.” Once DaeSung disappeared, JiYong slapped a palm against his forehead, grinning at his foolhardy subordinate.

Jordan opened her eyes to prickly pines towering above her, the white morning sunlight trickling between the lush needles. Her ears picked up the chittering of squirrels and the chiming of birdsong. Where she had expected blood, pain, and terror, she instead found peace. Still laying down, Jordan took in her surroundings. Immediately, confusion permeated her thoughts.

She’d moved. She wasn’t encompassed by the dark pines of the deeper forest. The earth underneath her wasn’t coated in a layer of pine needles, but fine silt. A cursory self assessment told her that her shoulder was no longer a ragged, torn lump of flesh. It was now an itchy, carefully bandaged battle wound. Her first thought was that medics had cleaned her up, but the idea seemed implausible in the context of an experiment.

How did she get there? This was several minutes away from where Chen had attacked her-

Chen.

The name triggered fear. Scarlet splattered across her vision as she felt jagged teeth pierce into her shoulder. Her shoulder twinged at the memory. She recalled the dark terror of the woods, her terrified breaths ripping through her lungs, and the feeling of rapidly approaching eyes searing holes into her back. She shut her eyes, trying to lose the memory to the black of her eyelids. It offered no relief. Held in his powerful jaws, she felt him shaking her, the motion shredding her muscles. She could recollect the overwhelming terror, the splintering pain in her back as she slammed into the tree, and the blinding darkness. All of her memories of that moment were forgotten as the pain was shoved into the forefront of her mind. The pain that he caused.

Where was the wolf? Where was he?

Though the movement was difficult from her laying position, she whipped her head left and right, utilizing all of her peripheral vision to find him. She fleetingly noticed that her backpacks, both of them, were hanging from a tree branch to her left, but she didn’t see the werewolf. She searched for multi-colored fur and blue eyes, but found nothing weaving amongst the trees. She narrowed her eyes and scrutinized the lake shore.

She found him.

He was human now. His shoulders were drooped and his head was lowered.  He didn’t pay attention to the small waves that rolled into the dirt, or the trout that had gathered close to the shore, curiously studying him with unblinking eyes.

Jordan struggled to rise, trying to prop her hands under her. A biting pain ripped through her shoulder, wrenching an unwilling cry from her raspy throat. In the corner of her eye, she saw Chen turn at the sound. He clambered to his feet and dashed over to her, hands outstretched to help. Crouching down, he slipped his arm around her shoulder.

Jordan flinched at the contact. It wasn’t substantial, just a twitch, really. Even she barely registered it. But he felt it.

He paused, closing his eyes with a silent sigh. Chen noiselessly propped her up in a sitting position, avoiding her eyes, and turned back towards the lake.

Jordan stared at his retreating back, heart full of roiling emotions.

She was split. Her revulsion and fear of the wolf conflicted with the camaraderie she still felt with the human side. Jordan gazed at his slumped shoulders and bowed neck with something resembling guilt, but couldn’t get the image of the snapping teeth out of her mind or purge the sound of guttural snarling from her ears. She was terrified, but she wasn’t.

Chen continued to avoid her for hours afterwards. Jordan managed to drag herself over to the trees, suppressing the shooting pain behind gritted teeth. Exhausted, she leaned against a sturdy trunk. She closed her eyes and focused on breathing in deep breaths of air to soothe the pounding in her skull. The snap of a twig sent a jolt through her heart. Her eyes snapped open to see Chen offering her the water bottle, head turned away. She took it, hesitantly. She considered him for a while, but after finally coming to the conclusion that he was trying to help, she motioned towards the backpacks. Chen obediently brought them over with one hand, the fingers of his free hand trembling. Jordan ignored it, and searched through the larger backpack. She opened the iodine bottle and let the droplets of iodine fall into the metal container. She didn’t look at him, and after a few moments, he left.

She looked up again when he was a safe distance away. He sat by the lake again, seemingly doing nothing. She didn’t want to think about him. Instead, Jordan focused solely on assessing her bodily damage. She sighed thinking about all that her body had endured of late. Her head throbbed. If she touched the back of her skull, she could feel a slight scab from where she struck the tree. She didn’t even want to begin thinking about the state of her skin. The bite wound was a new addition to her tapestry of twenty-odd rusty red knife wounds. The marks marred her body, a macabre abstract painting.

Chen only remained still for an hour or so. He broke from his trance and leaped to his feat. Jordan tensed, watching his every movements, anticipating a moment where he would strike. Silently, he approached her and snatched one of the backpacks without a sound. Once it was settled comfortably across his shoulders, he disappeared into the forest without a trace. Only when his form disappeared amongst the dark tree trunks did Jordan let herself relax.

Throughout the day she took brief, fitful naps. She got no rest, only recurring nightmares of blue eyes and vice-like teeth. She woke gasping for air, sweat dripping in beads from her forehead. After a fifth attempt at rest, she gave up, and searched the surroundings to check if he had come back. He hadn’t.

The sun was high in the sky when he emerged from the trees again. Chen stalked out from the trees. The sight only fed into her nightmares. Blood was caked on his fingers and smeared across his face and torso. Jordan shivered at his figure, but refused to look away, glaring at his expressionless face. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she inferred he must have gone hunting; he needed food too. She forcefully shoved the thought farther back into the recesses of her subconscious.

He quietly set the backpack down next the shore and crouched down next to the water. Methodically, Chen splashed the mountain water across his forearms, scrubbed his hands, and rubbed at his face. Once the gore was gone, he turned back to face her. She glared at him as he trudged over. Slowly, he ped the backpack, revealing a bounty of the yellow berries that Jordan loved. Her eyes widened, and saliva immediately began to pool underneath her tongue. She looked back up at the werewolf, but found that he was already gone, back to his place on the shore.

The little voice in the back of her head shoved its way forwards again. He must have been the one to take care of her when she was injured. It was the only explanation. Semi-reluctantly, she reached into the bag and popped a few berries into . She let the sweet juice burst across her tongue.

The berries lasted the entire day. Jordan’s stomach didn’t seem to hold much anymore, and her head pounded as the time ticked by. She let her eyelids close and relaxed behind the dappled peach curtain.

Later, a light tap on her shoulder jilted her from her semi-conscious state. She didn’t jump this time, she knew what she would see. She opened her eyes to see Chen, eyes looking fixed on the tree behind her. He gestured at the bandage on her shoulder, and held up a large bundle of leaves in his other hand. Jordan carefully navigated her way from the tree, and gave Chen space to do his work. He unwound the torn t-shirt from around her shoulder with trembling hands. He left to wash them in the mountain water, returning to dab her wounds clean again. She felt his presence disappear as he washed the cloth once again, and draped it over the nearest tree branch. She couldn’t see what he did next. She could barely even feel it. She didn’t feel even a sting of pain, only his feather-light touch and the ticklish brush of leaves on her skin.

She could see it. Chen had changed. The formerly ever-present smile had disappeared, replaced with a flat line that constantly seemed to hold back unspoken thoughts, even the upturned corners of his mouth seemed to have disappeared. He changed her bandages with quivering fingers and averted his eyes. Back in the observation room, he used to make an effort to hold her gaze. Now, he avoided her eyes with deliberate intention. When he worked in front of her, his eyes didn’t raise once, only focused on his work. His shoulders and head, formerly held high, drooped towards the ground.

She couldn’t see the menace in him. Not in this defeated figure. Chen’s guilty emotions emanated from him in waves. She could feel the apology oozing from his every pore.

Chen, however, was not the only open book. Similarly, Jordan’s suspicions exuded from her. He could feel her fear and uncertainty. He was aware of how unsure she was of his true nature. Unbeknownst to the other, both were equally aware of each other’s emotions.

Once the leaves were set, and the bandage wound, Chen moved away, leaving both to their own conflicting emotions.

When night came around, he wandered over, hesitation oozing from every pore. He sat next to her, close enough for their elbows to brush. Jordan would have objected, had the night not been so cold. Her breaths puffed out in steamy clouds. She could basically feel the heat coming off of Chen in waves. But they didn’t look at each other. Though there was no physical gap, the mental distance was endless.

At night, some of the separation went away. The heat was irresistible, and she found that within minutes, she drifted to sleep. Chen held her close to him and puffed unspoken apologies into the crook between her neck and shoulder, into her hair, into her new scars.

DaeSung left the laboratory bunker in the late morning. The other team members waved him goodbye as he jumped into the military vehicle, leaving the people that shared his company for the majority of the past few months. It was odd, knowing that he would miss them.

The first thing he did once he arrived at his upscale apartment was collapse into bed and sleep. Keeping an eye on Chen and Jordan a couple nights a week had immensely messed up his sleep schedule. He slept through lunch and dinner. When he woke, the nightlife of the city had begun, and booming music could be heard from outside his glass walls. Daesung grumpily moved himself into his couch, scanning the shining surfaces and rarely used furniture. It seemed that his mother had hired someone to clean his place while he was away. It was too quiet.

Within minutes, he was out the door to visit his favorite bar.

“DaeSung! It’s been a while!” The bartender, a tall, good-looking man, called from behind the counter. “What can I get you?”

“Work, Takuya. It’s killing me.” He responded lightheartedly. “I’ll have my usual.”

“Coming right up.”

While he waited, he scanned the rustic bar. It hadn’t changed at all, even the customers were the same. There were the scattered lone men, each drowning their sorrows. In the corner, DaeSung saw the group of old men in the corner, exchanging war tales like usual. Only one woman, sitting in the booths, was different. She was pretty, with raven hair and preoccupied eyes.

“There’s going to be a new war, boys. Lemme tell you.” One shouted, breaking through DaeSung’s thoughts. “These Variants are going to attack any day now, I betcha.” The researcher sighed at the conversation.

“I still think we should attack first.” Another man grumbled. “They’re dangerous, I tell you! Those damn animals are going to kill us all. They know they’re better than us. Barbarians, they are.”

Takuya handed him his drink, which he accepted gladly. Through the drink, DaeSung tried to calm the irritation rising in his chest.  The public was tragically uninformed about the Variant-Human situation, and the wild calls of the media did much more harm than good. Variants were depicted as feral, barbaric beasts, foaming at the mouth like rabid dogs. They didn’t reveal that they were creatures capable of sentient thought and emotions. DaeSung used to believe them, but he knew now more than ever what Variants were capable of.

“Ignore them.” A voice interrupted his thoughts. He turned. The voice belonged to the woman who used to be sitting in the booth. She looked less mysterious up close. She had bags under her eyes and an exhausted slump to her shoulders that suggested she was professional woman who wanted a break from work.

“Do you know much about the conflict?” He asked. She snorted.

“Oh do I.” She signaled Takuya and ordered a whiskey on ice. DaeSung’s opinion of her automatically shot up. “I’m a field nurse for JYP. I’ve seen my fair share of Variants and the blood they spill.” DaeSung’s eye twitched at the new information. He wondered why she was sharing the information so freely. Normally people who worked in that business were sworn to secrecy.

“And your opinion?” He queried. She looked at him with a smirk.

“Do you really want to know?” She sat on the bar stool as Takuya handed her the glass. “I don’t have a popular one.”

“I’m an open-minded man.”

“I’m sure you are.” She raised her glass, and the two toasted. She took a sip. “To be honest, I think they just want to be left alone.” The woman had a sip and swirled the whiskey around . “Out in the field, I never once saw a Variant attack first. They only retaliated. And who can blame them? We’re shooting semi-automatics and tranquilizers at them. It’s always us who starts .” DaeSung nodded, fascinated. “What about you?” The woman turned the conversation to him. “What do you know?”

“Not much.” He lied.

“Liar.” His eyebrows flicked upwards at her accusation, though correct. “You’re Kang DaeSung. Why do you think I was spewing top secret information to you?” The aforementioned man gaped at the woman. She chuckled at his expression. “You and your team are very famous in the Variant Research world. JYP has had zero success with the centaurs. Our researchers basically worship you. ” A dry edge to her voice told DaeSung she didn’t share her colleagues’ opinions.

“You don’t agree with our work?” He asked. She looked at him from the corner of her eye.

“I don’t agree with your methods.” She elaborated.

“Killing hundreds of inmates wasn’t exactly our idea.” DaeSung muttered. “But we didn’t want to send innocent people into what basically turned out to be a killing chamber.”

“I didn’t say there was an easy way to fix this mess. The YG teams have extraordinarily hard jobs.” The woman let out another dry chuckle. “Let’s get off of the work topic, why don’t we? It’s not every day I get to meet someone like you. I don’t want to talk about business.” She smiled at him, eyes curving into half-moons. “The name’s Michelle. Michelle Wang.”

“Well,” DaeSung awkwardly looked down at his glass. “You already know me-”

“Introduce yourself again.” Michelle interjected with another grin. A smile lit up her face, erasing the evidence of exhaustion. DaeSung extended a hand.

“Kang DaeSung.” She took it and shook his hand vigorously.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Kang DaeSung.”

The next few days turned into routine. As the days passed, Jordan watched as the savage wolf faded from her memory and transformed into the guilty, caring man that painstakingly replaced her bandages every day. She couldn’t associate him with it, the thing that attacked her. Every morning, he meticulously combed the woods for those soft leaves, promptly returning to her to make her new bandage. Every afternoon, he would always go out to hunt and gather for them, and every evening he sat down in front of her to help her eat.

With every gentle bandaging, each bag full of berries, each guilty look and trembling finger, each night enveloped in warmth, her fear of Chen ebbed away.

After a few days, Jordan’s shoulder had regained enough functionality for her to strike flint and steel. She’d had to adjust, of course, she now had to hold the flint in her right hand and strike it with her left. All morning she’d practiced, and she figured it out with several hours of painstaking practice. The sun was beginning to fall, and Chen, under Jordan’s mimed instructions, helped her to gather firewood and pine needles. Between the two of them, they built a roaring fire pit.

    Jordan tended the fire during the day while Chen hunted and gathered in the forest.

Chen had returned that night with a doe. It astounded her, how much he could eat. He hunted every day, and brought back a deer or an elk nearly every time, and at the end of every night, it was gone.

The last time she had meat was the salty stuff they had received back in the observation room. But frankly, as nasty as the memory of the stuff was, she was craving it. Unfortunately for her, she didn’t have a werewolf’s digestive system, and couldn’t eat it raw. Before, she would have ignored the longing to avoid interacting with Chen. But the peace of the last few days had dissipated her reluctance. So this time, before he began eating, Jordan mimed cutting off a bit with the knife. Chen understood, and took the blade from her.

She avoided looking at the doe’s dead eyes when Chen sliced off three portions from its shoulder. Jordan sent a thank you to it, a meager acknowledgement to a massive sacrifice.

The fire was still roaring, the venison steaks turning on a makeshift spit. Chen sat on the opposite side. While Jordan had been engineering a spit, he had already eaten, washed and buried the deer carcass in the forest. He stared into the flames, the orange flares flickered in his eyes. Jordan sat close by the fire, openly drooling, occasionally turning the spit. To distract herself, she took inventory and immediately discovered that the firewood pile was gone. She should have anticipated that the wood would burn quickly with a fire that large. Jordan uttered a soft sound. Chen immediately looked up. Jordan pointed  at the wood and then the woods with her good arm, hoping she didn’t seem too imperious. He understood immediately and entered the woods, brushing his fingertips against her arm when he passed by. Jordan took it as a sign that she hadn’t come off the wrong way.

It was peaceful. The birdsong was dying away with the darkness, but one remained, singing light into the encroaching night. Something was singing a ballad to the night. The whisper of wind swept across the flat land. The fire crackled merrily, sending bright sparks into the air. The fiery flares ascended towards the heavens, hoping to join their celestial brethren, but soon their lights flickered, and the cinders fell back to the earth.

In the woods, Chen searched for fallen boughs and branches. He remembered Jordan shaking her head at the ones on the trees. She didn’t want green wood. Further along, he found a dead pine, conquered by pine beetles, and prepared to disassemble it.

He was nearly finished when he heard it. Chen heard it. The shouting.

He bolted, dropping the branches with a clatter. Chen sprinted towards the stressed shouting. He ducked under branches and hopped over tree roots, eyes searching for the spot of light that indicated the fire.

As he got closer, he smelled it.

Bear.

    Panic further flooded his system when he thought of Jordan, still weak, barely able to even feed herself. The thought only spurred him to move faster. Chen burst from the trees, chest heaving from exertion, expecting the worst. He expected a fire in shambles, a roaring opponent, and a mauled body. He was instead surprised by an onslaught of verbal abuse from a livid girl.

“Get the out of here!” Jordan’s shouting resonated meaninglessly in his ears. “This is mine! My land! I was here first-okay maybe not. You were definitely here first. But for now, this is mine! Not yours!”

Jordan stood defiant, a flaming branch clenched in her right  hand. The bear stood on its hind paws only feet away from her. She swung wildly at it with the branch, screaming again.

Chen stood to the side, awestruck. She was beautiful.

She was backlit with fire, the brilliant light in her eyes had returned. Stance wide, she stood large and tall, her fist clenched at her sides. As the light of the roaring flames dappled her skin, Chen saw the battle scars of a true warrior marking her arms. Her hair was wild, skin crusted with dirt and dust, and she was beautiful.

Inside, something innate stirred. An instinctual link began to form.

Where he found beauty the bear found intimidation. It lowered itself back onto its four feet and slowly backed away from Jordan.

Chen dashed after it, releasing a growl whenever it turned back. Only when he made sure that it was a safe distance away did he return to the lake. He noted to himself that he would need to scent mark Jordan and the entire campsite. he was not sure how he was going to tell her what he was doing. After a moment of internal deliberation, he decided that maybe just marking the campsite was enough.

Jordan was still fixed by the campfire, burning bough welded to her hand. Her heart pounded with fear and adrenaline. Chen slowly shuffled over to her, pried the still-burning branch from her hand, and tossed it back into the woodfire. She gaped at him, startled by his appearance. Chen delivered a chastising tap on the side of her head with his knuckles, eyebrows crinkled in concern. While Jordan rubbed her head with mock pain, Chen closely inspected her hand for burns. There were none, and he sat down with relief. Jordan sat a few feet from him with a huff. She let the tension slide from her shoulders and adrenaline fade from her system. However, one thought sent her flying back to her feet.

“The meat!” She exclaimed as she peered into the flames, all thoughts of the bear forgotten. “Oh no, is it burnt?” She removed the spit from the flames with her good hand, inspecting it with an untrained eye. “ I hope it’s not burnt.”

She jumped as she felt a tap on her shoulder. Jordan looked to her left, and saw Chen standing here. She couldn’t get used to how silent his movements were. He gestured towards the spit. Jordan handed it to him. He lifted the spit to his nose and carefully sniffed at the meat. He handed it back to her with an affirmative nod.

Jordan returned a confused stare and a raised eyebrow. Chen threw his head back in frustration. He mimed an eating motion and pointed at the venison.

“Oh! I can eat it?” Jordan asked him. He only stared blankly in return. “Right. You don’t understand me.” Jordan huffed. “This language barrier is a .” She sat back down and ravenously tore into the meat. She offhandedly noted that Chen sat down a few feet from her. The rest of her attention was trained on her food. The venison was tough and extremely gamey, much worse than the over salted chicken back in the first stage of the experiment. It didn’t matter to Jordan; she savored it as if it was filet mignon.

She finished the first steak in a frighteningly short period of time. Jordan sat back in contentment, patting her stomach. Chen, from his place by the flames, wasn’t sure if he should tell her that she was going to get stomach cramps later. He chose to stay motionless and let her enjoy her moment. He wouldn’t have been able to convey his meaning anyways. Jordan was on the verge of sinking her teeth into the next piece when she paused with a new revelation. She hadn’t noticed before, but she was freezing. The temperature had dropped, and now without the presence of adrenaline, she was suddenly painfully aware of the cold.

She inched dangerously close to the fire, but was sent reeling back moments later when sparks rained into the air. Jordan pointedly turned her back on Chen to ignore the snickers he unsuccessfully tried to muffle. Beneath the mortification, she felt a hint of satisfaction she had managed to induce a positive reaction out of him.

Faced away from the werewolf, she let her uncertainty be on full display. She had three options: risk slow-roasting by overexposure to fire, suffer in half-freezing, half warm discomfort, or endure the awkwardness of sitting next to a living breathing heater.

In a burst of spontaneity, Jordan strided over to Chen and plopped down next to the werewolf. He gaped at her in surprise, then quickly turned his head to contemplate the fire again. She scooted over until their shoulders touched, her face arranged into a masterful mask over a hurricane of nerves of social incompetence. To dissolve the tension, Jordan turned her attention back towards the meat in her hands. She tore off a chunk, paused, and hesitantly, offered the spit to Chen. He eyed it for a moment before taking a bite and returning it. The corners of his lips pulled upwards in a way that made heat flush across Jordan’s cheeks. She looked back into the fire.

They shared the remainder of the venison. Chen felt his guilt slowly burn away with the wood in the fire. Jordan’s fears seeped away, replaced by the combined warmth of the flames and the werewolf next to her.

Jordan interrupted the peaceful silence. She turned herself with her good arm so she was facing Chen. His eyebrows darted upwards at her actions. She exhaled in preparation. She pointed at herself.

“Jordan.” She stated slowly, making sure to enunciate clearly. She looked fixedly at Chen, scanning hopefully for a sign of understanding. He responded only with a confused head tilt. Jordan huffed out an unsettled sigh. She wasn’t sure how to approach the situation. Translating names into another language was one thing. Trying to teach someone who didn’t speak at all was another obstacle entirely. She made another attempt, pointing at herself again.

“Jor-Dan.” She articulated. “Jor-Dan.” She was still only met with a tilted head. The process repeated several times, each time only made Jordan more exasperated than the last. Finally, she smashed her face into her palms; she gave up. She searched the darkness of her palms for answers.

“J-Jor...Dan.” A weak voice voice caused Jordan to snap upright, eyes round like an owl’s. She beamed at the man across from her, whose head was tilted, confused at the sound of his voice. Enthusiastically, she pointed towards herself and then gestured towards him.

“Jor...Dan.” He repeated. His voice was slightly stronger now, still quiet, but it was all Jordan needed. She jumped to her feet, cheered, and raised her arms to the sky. That action was soon cut off with a yelp of pain, however, as she tweaked her injured shoulder. Immediately, she lowered her right arm and cradled it against her chest with the other. Her excitement was contagious, and soon Chen found his back straightening and a minute curve returning to his lips.

He didn’t have time to savor his newfound contentment, though, he had to save Jordan from her own excitement. Gently, he reached up and tugged on Jordan’s uninjured elbow until she sat down again. They sat for a few minutes, until Jordan felt Morpheus tugging at her eyelids. She didn’t bother to move away from the fire, she just stretched out on the ground and let her eyelids fall shut.

After a moment, Chen joined her. As per usual, he wrapped his arms around her and pressed her against his form. Jordan snuggled further into his warmth.

It was odd, that the closer they were, the less awkward it became. Tucked into his chest, Jordan could more easily ignore the side of Chen she didn’t like, and only thought about the gentle nature of his character and the calming effect he had on her dreams. She hid a smile against his skin, and let herself succumb to sleep, sleep that she no longer dreaded.

Chen stayed awake long after her breaths had evened out. Something was bothering him. It was not as prominent when he was trying to understand what she was voicing to him, but now it became rose to the forefront of his thoughts again. It was a foreign feeling, almost a trembling in his chest. It had a pull, a tug that was stronger hours before, but barely detectable now.

He tried to ignore the fluttering nuisance. He curled Jordan closer to him, being cautious of her shoulder, and rested his cheek against her hair. His eyelids closed, breath evened, and imperceptibly, the tugging in his chest faded away.

***

Hello Everybody! I hope you like this chapter. It was beta'd by the breathtakingly beautiful HunHan623 as well as the magnificent and marvelous Shooka24. My many thanks to you, my darlings, you are my saviors.

Special shoutouts to: MyDarkAngelLove, adorable_colours, yongguksgirl20, FanficPixi, Baozihasabubblebutt and Minki_Locket_NL for upvoting this story! I really appreciate your support. You guys are so awesome. :) :) *fistbump *bows.

As always, leave a comment, I love reading them! Constructive criticism is welcomed and encouraged (though you all seem loathe to give it to me...Lay on the critique! I want it alllll.)

See you next chapter!