This is what you came for

[Min Yoojin]

"I'm leaving, Mr. Bailey! I left the depositions on your desk! See you tomorrow!"

Yoojin couldn't grab her things fast enough, shoving in keys, phone, makeup bag--she had to fix her face before Jem got there!--and other sundry items that a girl needed throughout the day. Everything was a terrible jumble inside her purse, and inside her stomach, but it was a good kind of chaos that reigned.

Imagine--Jem Wilson, here in Hazleton! It was just as he said, what a small world!

Before she moved back home to take care of her ailing mother, Yoojin had settled in New York. It made sense, with all of her doctors there. Plus, the thriving LGBT community there helped her to settle into her new body--as a woman. She connected with plenty of girls who had made a successful transition, as well as ones going through what she was going through. They were mostly very sweet and supportive; without them, she didn't think that she would have made it. If nothing else, it helped to be with people who didn't judge her because she happened to be born in the wrong type of body.

While there, she worked two part-time jobs. One was a boring waitress at a chain restaurant, but the other was her real passion. She did small-time gigs at cafes, under the name Vanessa. It was in some dimly lit bar one night that she ran into Jem. He seemed to blend in with the crowd at first, and she didn't notice him among the sea of faces while she performed. She transformed when she was Vanessa, out there with the lights shining on her and all eyes on her. She wasn't Yoojin the waitress, or Yoojin the secretary, or Yoojin the girl from a nowhere-town like Hazleton. Vanessa was confident and bold and unafraid.

That bar was frequented by New York's booming supernatural scene, though, and soon Jem stood out as one of the few humans there.

Really, she thought he might have wandered into the wrong place. It was easy to do that even here in Hazleton; humans either turned a blind eye to the magic around them, or they chose to ignore it because it didn't make sense with their view of the world. Whatever the case may have been, when she finished her set and made her way to the bar, he was there. It wasn't hard to strike up a conversation, to have a few drinks together, and one thing led to the next...

That whole weekend stood out vividly in Yoojin's mind. Jem was... different. They did connect on a deeper level than just the mere physical chemistry. (Though there was plenty of that too!) It was easy to be with him and once she got past that serious work-focused demeanor, he turned out to be unexpectedly charming and funny. And sweet. He seemed like one of those guys who had a tough time showing their emotions, but he wasn't emotionally stunted. Maybe there just hadn't been many opportunities for him to show off that softer side.

And now he was here! Downstairs!

Making eyes at Janey!

Not on her watch though! In the elevator that took her down to the ground floor, Yoojin tried to inspect her reflection in the metal elevator doors. She frowned. Her outfit really was quite plain. A cardigan over a white button-up and a plain skirt. Hmph! Not so much sexy secretary as wallflower librarian. (But then who was she going to dress up for here? The creepy intern? Mr. Bailey, who was closing in on 60?)

After some debate, Yoojin rolled up the skirt at the waist so that it didn't dip so depressingly low past the thighs, and unbuttoned a few buttons off the top of her blouse. She wiggled her bra around in a very unbecoming fashion until there was decent cleavage, shook her hair out and... Well it would just have to do! The things a girl had to do to land a man! Jesus H. Christ!

As soon as the elevator doors opened, the butterflies exploded. She could have sworn her hands shook as she pulled her purse up higher along her shoulders. "Jem!" Yoojin ran over to him and flung her arms around him, knowing that Janey was watching beadily. Janey could get her own man! This man was hers!

Jem Wilson

[Jem Wilson]

Ness. Vanessa. It had been a while since Jem last saw her but he was anticipating this reunion now that it had landed in his lap. Of course, Jem visited clubs and bars all over the world and he met all kinds of women but Vanessa stood out amongst them. She wasn't just all the things he'd mentioned over the phone with her. She was bold, too, and Jem really liked that in a woman, he found.

But he was starting to wish he'd come up with a better cover story for himself. Travel writer? What if she found out about the others that he associated with? That could end up being a problem if she remembered any of them from New York. Maybe he could get away with saying they were work partners. (Well, they were.) Associates. Others that wrote articles. Editors. No, no, that didn't make sense. Why would he have editors trailing him around the world when they lived in a digital space? He could just email them his work.

Friends, then. Friends that he offered to bring with him on occasion.

She's not going to ask about them, idiot, he told himself. Chances were, she wasn't even going to notice their presence. Not when he was around! He shook his head at himself, thinking of their exchange about family and kids. Moving fast, weren't they? But it was just talk. Chatter. Nothing more.

So yeah. There was that. There was also the fact that he almost flirted with and grabbed the ass of a woman who didn't even know him. Luckily, he didn't. That wouldn't have made sense, anyway. The woman he almost flirted with wasn't on the phone so how could it be his Vanessa?

Instead, he smiled at her and waved and she smiled and waved back. Then the elevator chimed its arrival, along with Vanessa herself. Jem had to admit; there was no better feeling than having a woman that beautiful so happy to see him. As she threw herself at him, Jem enveloped her in his arms and even swept her off the ground as he twirled her in a circle. None of the games that other women seemed to play, Vanessa was plain with her feelings. Another reason Jem was so attracted to her.

"Ness!" he said back, kissing the side of her head in greeting. "It's good to see you!"

[Min Yoojin]

Twirled around in the air, Yoojin felt like she was flying. She felt lighter than she had in weeks, and her stomach swooped and her head was spinning and--oh, it just felt good to be genuinely excited again! There wasn't much of that lately, with how her friends had been cursed by some creepy obsessed witch, and their memories erased.

But--uh uh. Jem was so not getting away with a grandma peck to the side of the head! Once her feet touched ground, she slid her hands to either side of his face and pulled him down for a proper kiss. Not too heated, but just sultry enough. No grandma pecks here, thank-you!

"It's good to see you too," she grinned as she pulled back to take a good look at him. There couldn't be any doubt about it--Jem was a fine, handsome man. He was practically perfect! And, instead of trading in on his good looks to become just a model, he was doing something fabulous--traveling the world and writing about his experiences, so that others could share in his happiness, too.

What a guy!

[Jem Wilson]

Ah yes, this was exactly the bold woman he recalled from NY. Lem grinned at her after the kiss.

"Good to see you, too," he told her, without a hint of sarcasm. She looked good, despite telling him not to judge her by her clothes. They were work clothes but she still managed to wear her skirt pretty high up and did he spy a button or two opened at the top of her blouse? His grin grew wider.

What luck! If it hadn't been for his stupid VISA giving him grief again, then he never would have had this opportunity. He could practically kiss the damn thing at this point. Sliding his hand down to Vanessa's hand to hold it in his--her hand was so tiny in his!--he led her toward the car he'd been renting whilst in Hazleton.

"Let's leave work behind, hm?"

[Min Yoojin]

"What? You don't want to hear all about the reports and depositions and forms I filled out today?" Yoojin laughed as she made a gleeful escape from the lobby, and breathed deeply of the fresh outside air. Leaving work was always an amazing feeling but having a hot date, as they say, made it feel so much better.

She wasn't shy in appraising Jem in the light of the evening sun, which cast everything into golden tinged warmth. "You look good," Yoojin said sincerely, and gave his hand a squeeze. Off and on, she would think of him. What happened in New York was nothing serious and she knew it, but the heart knew what it wanted and it wanted Jem—sometimes.

Nothing was set in stone, though. Nothing was ever set in stone. They talked about marriage and waiting and kids but all that really did was confirm that they were on the same page about certain choices in life. Marriage, kids, those were conscious choices to make. And Yoojin couldn't give birth to a child but there was always adoption! Kind of fitting, actually, given that Jem was adopted himself. Maybe it would be poetic for him to give someone else a chance at happiness, with a family of their own.

"So! Back to my place?" She smiled at him as she let go, in order to duck into the car. But then her phone rang and... ick. Talk about throwing a bucket of cold water over someone. "Or... Eagle Ridge? I know I wanted to change, but we might catch a beautiful sunset if we go now. If you don't mind taking a frumpy secretary out on a date."

[Jem Wilson]

"Nope."

Her work sounded like a nightmare to Jem, who was more accustomed to being on his feet and getting his hands dirty. Sitting behind a desk would never have worked out for him, even had he never been adopted into a hunter family. But he smiled when Vanessa smiled at him. He wondered what she might have been, had she grown up a hunter, too. She would have made a good one, with her bold tenacity.

"You look good, too," he said. She was practically glowing. Back when they first met, he felt like there was some kind of... adventure in her eyes. She felt wild and free and he liked that about her, especially since most of the people in his life were so strict, stiff, and centered. It was nice to just... let go and be himself for a while.

Once they were in the car, she seemed to change her mind. Jem eyed her phone. Somebody made her not want to go home, was that it? He understood that well enough, especially since right now he was sharing a place with a couple of his hunter buddies.

"Eagle Ridge sounds like a plan," he said, starting the car and pulling out into the meager traffic. His investigative instincts were still kicking, though. "What made you change your mind?"

[Min Yoojin]

God, Lyd just wouldn't let it go. Yoojin didn't know what else she could say to get her sister off her back and at this point, her transition and sexual identity were the last things that she wanted to be reminded of. Especially with Jem beside her, and what felt like a decent chance at happiness.

Things weren't serious with Jem now, so Yoojin was trying to put off telling him. She probably should have said something back in New York, to be honest, but there was always a part of her that was terrified to death of rejection. She'd been rejected a lot—as a man and as a woman. People here were closed-minded and they couldn't comprehend the sort of complicated feelings that Yoojin experienced.

It wasn't only Hazleton, either. New York, with all of its people and all of the bustle and activity of a major metropolitan city, had a similar stigma against people like her. At least out there, she wasn't alone. She had a network of support there that she couldn't find here. If anyone in Hazleton felt the way that Yoojin did, they were too afraid to come out and say something.

"Just my sister," she sighed as she tucked her phone away. It didn't make her feel good to shut Lyd down, when she was only trying to repair their fractured relationship. Before the transition, they were a close-knit family. But after...

Yoojin turned her face away to look out of the window. "I left home. Here. Without saying anything. It just felt like... it was time to go. Hazleton's... It's too small. I was never going to be happy living here my whole life, you know?" She sighed as she glanced at Jem. "I guess it'd be hard to understand if you didn't grow up in a small town like this."

[Jem Wilson]

Jem listened with a knowing look in his eye, though his gaze was fixed on the road ahead. He didn't want to take his eyes off the road too much, especially in a place like this. The thing was, his heart was right there with Vanessa. After a moment of mentally debating and arguing with himself, he cleared his throat and cracked a small half smile, glancing in her direction.

"Actually, I know exactly what that's like. I grew up in this tiny place called Dingle, Ireland," he admitted. It became their hub, their base of operations, their HQ. Home, he supposed. He could still remember the green hills, the smell of wet sheep, the sound of the old truck on the back roads. He remembered the training areas. Imagine growing up in a small town and learning to kill things, he wanted to say. But they all had their demons. Vanessa had hers, like her drama with her family.

"I never planned to stay there, though. I got out of there. I think you'll get back out of here eventually, too--and your family will eventually understand."

[Min Yoojin]

"Ahahahahahahahahaa!"

Yoojin laughed long and hard, doubling over in her seat. "Dingle?!" What kind of a whacky doodle name was Dingle?! It sounded so cartoonish and so funny that it caught her off-guard--hence the sudden burst of laughter. She straightened, still laughing to herself. The name wouldn't go away; it kept bouncing around and around in her head.

Dingle.

"Sorry! Sorry! I'm--it's a hilarious name though!" Hopefully her outburst wouldn't offend Jem--some people were when their birthplaces were mocked. Only Yoojin wasn't mocking the place itself, just its silly silly name. But it was also kind of cute. Dingle. Dingle, Ireland. She tried to compose herself and wiped the smiles off of her face--but they kept coming back and eventually she gave it up.

"I want to go see it! Dingle, Ireland!" So Jem was a small-town boy too, was he? Yoojin looked at him fondly and the smiles grew softer and less amused. "I thought there was something different about you when I met you. You didn't act like a big city guy." There was a kind of charm about him that the typical prissy, fussy, high-maintenance New York metrosexual man lacked. Jem was a bit rough around the edges, but Yoojin liked that about him because growing up here in Hazleton, that was the sort she was accustomed to. It was attractive; it reminded her a bit of home, but not in any of the bad ways.

He seemed genuine, that was all. And only small-town boys seemed to possess that particular trait.

"We sure have a lot in common, don't we, Jem?" Yoojin half-laughed to herself. Funny how the universe threw them together now. Or, God, really. She wasn't a fanatic about religion but she believed in a higher power. Her family wasn't religious, either, but Yoojin found the most forgiveness and the most acceptance in Hazleton's tiny church, with that gentle, kindly minister who became one of her confidantes--after her best friends, of course.

(Let's say this was a day before the brothel raid? Just for timelines.)

[Jem Wilson]

(That's why I'm having troubles writing him--since he's in another line right now! *HEAD SPINS*)

"What?"

Vanessa began to laugh hysterically and despite his bewilderment, he half smiled because the sound of her laughter was infectious and made his heart feel light and warm. Ah, Dingle. His smile turned to a mischievous grin. It was a hilarious name for a town if one didn't grow up in it, he supposed.

"Are you sure about that?" he asked. "In a place called Dingle..." He let the word dangle purposely, the mischievous smile still on his face. Vanessa seemed to soften now that she knew where he was from. Maybe it was the hilarity of the name or maybe it was the kindred spirit sort of feeling--knowing that he was also from a tiny weird town just like hers.

"It wasn't the accent that gave me away?" he asked, since he sincerely doubted he sounded like a real New Yorker even when they met.

"But yes... I think we have a lot more in common than we thought." He reached over to gently tuck her hair behind her ear.

[Min Yoojin]

(Lmaoo let's try to end this one so he's not stuck in a time paradox!)

Yoojin blushed and she hated how she was acting like a schoolgirl with her first boyfriend, but... goddamnit, Jem was sweet. The tenderness in his touch made her heart skip a few beats. It had been a long time since anyone had treated her like this—like she was priceless. She was a tough girl and she could stand on her own two feet in most circumstances, but nevertheless, it was nice to be treated well. Everyone wanted to feel as if they were treasured, didn't they?

She reached up to catch his hand as it began to fall away and squeezed it. Pressed a soft kiss to the inside of his palm, then let go. The moment felt too good to be true, but it was. It was real. She wasn't imagining the way that he looked at her and she wasn't dreaming up the way his fingertips slid against the shell of her ear. Her own feelings for him were beginning to blossom again, as familiarity took root and the seeds of affection sprang to life.

"Up there, see that rock? You can drive around it." Her secret spot wasn't really secret-secret; Ry and Alva both knew about it. There was a small path just wide enough to accommodate a car which led up to the very top of Eagle Ridge. The view was magnificent, overlooking the entire region. Yoojin and her best friends used to come up here often and later, when they found significant others, they'd frequently burst upon each other in compromising situations.

She smiled to herself as the familiar landscape flashed by and as the car rumbled to a halt, Yoojin hopped out. Leading Jem by the hand to the edge of the sheer rock face, she pointed. "See? Down there, there's the lake! And... isn't that sunset beautiful?" Just off in the horizon, a half-globe of molten gold and red and orange was sinking down into night. Yoojin leaned against Jem, resting her head lightly against his shoulder.

"Jem, tell me about Dingle. And your parents. Were they nice to you? Did you have brothers and sisters growing up, or were you all alone?" She looked up at him, with his face illuminated by the rays of the setting sun. Something in her ached terribly. Something in her chest panged. She squeezed his hand again. "I want to know more about you. Tell me everything."

[Jem Wilson]

"I didn't know you could," he said, when Vanessa mentioned a turn but she was right. They were able to turn around the rock and up ahead was the lake that Vanessa happily pointed out. Her happiness was contagious; Jem felt his heart beating faster and the headiness of anticipation welling up in his chest and stomach. Smiling as he stopped the car, he followed her as she led him by hand. It felt like a sweet, romantic interlude in the battalion of war that had been his life so far.

Normally, Jem was no charmer. He was witty and intelligent and he could be charismatic, he supposed, if he wanted to. But normally, he eschewed relationships in favor of quick one night stands. The kind of women into that sort of thing were bold and adventurous like Vanessa but not nearly in the same way. Not in the way one might say... she's a keeper and imagine themselves having an actual life with.

So despite Jem's self imposed rule to create distance and not to get too close, he drew closer to Vanessa. And he found himself spilling his guts to her. About how he'd been adopted into a pretty strict family that had very specific goals for him. How he was their only son, adopted as he was. They put a lot of stake into him and had he turned out the way they wanted? Jem said he thought so and he did think so; there was no disappointment in his father's eyes. But he thought sometimes that maybe his mother wanted something else for him. Maybe... somebody like Vanessa, actually.

"Now it's your turn," he said. "Tell me about you..."

[Min Yoojin]

As Jem began to speak, she led him over to a tall, flat piece of rock that usually served as a seat for her and her friends when they all came up here to watch the sunrise or sunset. Yoojin kept her hand in his as she listened attentively, taking in not only his words but the expression on his face and the changes in his tone.

When he finished, she was frowning softly. It didn't sound like a family in the traditional sense, what he had described. He spoke about duty and obligations. About expectations and meeting goals. But that told her nothing about his home life. Weren't there birthday parties where his parents surprised him with a puppy or with a football-shaped cake? Weren't there disappointing Christmases, unwrapping books and socks instead of toys and sweets? Were there scraped knees, and a mother's hand on his brow when he was sick, or a father's proud pat on the back?

Slowly, Yoojin turned her gaze away. She looked at the setting sun, now a blazing orange-gold, and the sight that usually lifted her spirits only made her feel a little more sad. She was sad for Jem and she thought that maybe she could understand his mother's desire for him to have something different. Something a little more like a family of his own, and a little less like an army bootcamp.

She could give him that, she thought.

But Jem didn't seem to be distraught about the way that he grew up. Maybe he was used to it, or thought that that was how things were. Yoojin slid her free hand overtop of his, holding it in both of hers. "My real name isn't Vanessa," she began as she leaned all the way into him. "It's Yoojin. Vanessa is my English name. My stage name."

She told him about her own childhood, about the father who abandoned them when she was only a baby. About growing up poor in a small town, working odd jobs to make rent and to buy groceries. It wasn't all bad, though. There were plenty of good times. They made do with what they had and they still had each other. That was worth more than all the money in the world, she thought.

Her mother eventually remarried and things got better, but by then Yoojin was already on her own. She didn't get along well with her step-father. He wasn't an abusive man or anything, and he loved her mother, but he was strict and stubborn, and unfortunately his views were too old-fashioned to be reconciled with what Yoojin was—a progressive woman living in a progressive age. And Yoojin, she had big dreams. She wasn't going to be deterred.

She told him about her half-sister and half-brother, and about growing apart from them when she left for New York. And she skirted around her mother's sickness, having to pause briefly to stop the tickle behind her nose. "My sister was the one who texted me earlier. She wanted to talk." Yoojin wrinkled her nose slightly. "I don't want to go home. You have to give me an excuse not to go back!"

[Jem Wilson]

"Stage name?" Jem asked, curious. That was a weird way to frame a name. Yoojin, though. Jem privately preferred Vanessa but maybe that was because it was easier for him to remember. It was pretty, too. It reminded him of a princess. Maybe... Well, he brushed that thought off for another time.

"Yoojin, huh?" He repeated the name to try and get used to it. "I suppose you've come to realize by now that my real name is James. Jem's just a nickname." And a way to differentiate from his father before him. People tended to do that a lot not only where he came from but in the hunting business in general. It was important these days to leave a legacy.

He listened to what her life was like and he didn't realize how it painted such a picture of who Vanessa--Yoojin--was and who her family was. Jem didn't really do the same, he thought. He kept most of that to himself. He spoke of family as if mechanical while Yoojin had a genuine connection. It made Jem think of some of the other legacies and how they were with their families. Deep down, he knew he was jealous. Jealous of their relationships, their closeness. But he could have that. There was time enough for family. Jem was young.

And Yoojin seemed so perfect.

"So tell them you're staying with me for a while," Jem said. "Why did you come back here, anyway? If they stifle you so much?"

[Min Yoojin]

"Vanessa is... She's like... a different me. A better version of me." The bold woman who feared no one, who was self-assured and proud of her identity, that was who Yoojin had always wanted to be. She was the woman that a young, confused boy who felt trapped in his own body wished that he could become.

"You can keep calling me Vanessa, though. Yoojin's kind of hard to say." For anyone who wasn't accustomed to Asian names, it could throw someone off. Anyway, it wasn't as if it mattered; it was just a name, after all. She smiled and nudged him lightly in the ribs. "Oh really? You don't say?" Well, she had his case file from the law office, so she knew his name was James! But Jem sounded better to her ears, too--more friendly, more relaxed. One more thing that they had in common, she supposed--both of them eschewed their legal names for something less formal!

Her face fell slightly, though, and she looked off into the dwindling light on the horizon. "My mom. The doctors say that she doesn't have much time left. We've tried to get her to specialists but they can't do anything for her. And my brother and sister are too young to know how to take care of her. My step-father works... The hospital bills have to be paid off and medicine is expensive. You know how it is."

Hospital visits and stays and visits to specialists and tests were all expensive; they weren't rich by much, either. Yoojin contributed whatever she had in the bank, but they were still in debt. Her siblings were also in school, so the only person left who was able to take care of their mom was her. She took in a deep breath, and then sighed a long sigh.

"To be honest, I haven't had a night out since I got back into town." There was no time to relax and have fun, when her friends were in trouble and her mom was slowly fading. She couldn't be Vanessa, who was spirited and carefree and who lived as if there were no consequences. Here in Hazleton, she was Yoojin--she cared for her mother and looked after her family, and tried to help her friends.

But sometimes, it was all too much to bear. Sometimes she wanted to run from all of those responsibilities and just... be free. This was one way of doing it, she supposed. And one night wouldn't hurt anyone. Turning to Jem again, she slid a hand up to cup his jaw, her gaze on him soft and fond. He was handsome, no one could deny that, but his empathy was what really made him attractive to her. His ability to listen without jumping to solve all of her problems was a welcomed change, too. "Can I really stay with you tonight?"