'Eutopia? Are you ok?' Jinn was unable to keep the concern from his voice as he knelt in front of the girl, supporting her slightly drooping head with one hand.

'I'm fine, why?' she asked, groggily, pushing Jinn's hand away and sitting up to lean at a more comfortable angle against the willow tree. Jinn settled back down beside her stretching his long legs out in front of him, seemingly at ease in the dark though the sense of apprehension he felt didn't leave him, it was obvious in the way his eyes slid to her every now and then.

Eutopia had fallen quiet for some time as their conversation had petered out, her blue eyes had become glazed and unresponsive as Jinn had crouched directly in front of her, before her eyelids had fluttered closed and she appeared to drift into a deep sleep that he couldn't seem to wake her from until she had stirred herself into consciousness.

'You sort of zoned out for a while,' he said.

'I'm tired, I probably fell asleep. Sorry,' Eutopia shrugged, unconcerned as she rubbed one hand over her eyes. She certainly seemed tired now, her shoulders hunched beneath Jinn's jumper that she still huddled beneath.

'Were you dreaming?' Jinn asked, 'You were saying something, but I couldn't quite catch it.' Eutopia frowned as snatches of broken images and half formed conversations flickered across her memory, remembered like a picture looked down upon through a rippling surface of water, though she could only have dreamt it moments ago.

'I think so… I think it's a dream I've had before, it all feels familiar.' She shook her head almost apologetically. 'I can barely remember a thing about it now though. I think I was in Italy, Rome maybe…' Eutopia tilted her head back more so that she could see the starry sky from beneath the willowy tendrils of the tree they sat beneath, closing her eyes for a moment as she imagined she could feel the caress of a distant sun on her upturned face. 'It's silly because I've never travelled further than Portsmouth,' she said with a little laugh. 'And even then I never got to see the sea. I've never seen the sea, not in real life anyway…'

'Rome?' Jinn asked abruptly, seizing the place name with interest.

'Yes. I'm only guessing it was Rome, it had that sort of feel about it. I used to dream a lot about a place like that when I was younger; people in togas, marble villas, that sort of stuff. I don't even remember studying it at school, when I bothered to go, so I've no idea where it all comes from. I did watch that film once, with that Australian bloke in a skirt and all that fighting?' She clicked her fingers in frustration as she tried to remember the name and Jinn frowned in confusion, one eyebrow raised as he looked at her.

'Gladiator?' he asked.

'With the huge wooden horse all those soldiers hid in?' Eutopia clarified.

'Uh, no. That was Troy, with Brad Pitt. He isn't Australian and Russell Crowe who starred in Gladiator is actually from New Zealand.' Jinn laughed softly, looking up at the sky too. 'I've been to Rome.'

'You have? Did you like it?'

'It was one of my most favourite places at the time. Italy is a beautiful country but I don't think it's somewhere I will ever go back to. It holds too many memories for me and not all of them are good ones.' He was thoughtfully quiet for a moment, before he went on to say, 'I lost someone there who meant more to me than anything,' his eyes drifted back to settle lightly on Eutopia's upturned face as she bit her lower lip.

'I'm sorry to hear that. It's awful to lose someone you love, isn't it? What happened?' she ventured. 'If you don't want to talk about it, I understand,' Eutopia added quickly, flicking her eyes back to judge Jinn's expression in the clear moonlight. She didn't much fancy another trip into the cool water of the lake but she was surprised to find a half smile on his lips.

'It's fine,' he said, softly. 'I don't mind talking about it. I know so much about you it's only fair I suppose. I met a girl in Rome. We lived together for a while; fell in love with each other. There was an accident of sorts. Divine intervention or whatever,' He waved a hand almost dismissively and Eutopia was amazed to find that at some point while they had been talking Jinn's arm had ended up settled around her shoulders without her noticing, she could feel the bunch and pull of his toned bicep as his arm flexed with his hand gesture. It surprised her more to find that the close contact with him didn't bother her, in fact it sent a little electrical thrill down her spine as she looked up to regard his striking face as he spoke.

Despite having dried out considerably from her impromptu swim, the heat from Jinn pressed close to her side was still welcomed, comforting even. 'I was stupid and reckless. I made promises I couldn't keep. If I ever have one regret in the whole of my existence it would be that. This girl, she was amazing. Passionate, kind hearted. Beautiful,' Jinn closed his eyes and a ghost of a smile lit up his face. 'There was an amazing strength about her too that I wish I could have possessed back then, so I could at least have been honest with her from the start instead of trying to protect her with lies that broke her heart. If I could have owned just a fraction of the strength it took for her to get from day to day then maybe things might have turned out a little differently.'

'But you were trying to protect her. Did she know that?' Eutopia asked, hesitantly. There was no distress in Jinn's voice as he spoke; he owned a calmness that comes from reminiscing on happier times.

'I think so. I just wanted to do what was right for us; I wanted to protect her from everyone around us, to keep her safe…. Sometimes though, no matter how hard you try, life has its own ideas.'

'That's awful, it must have been really hard for you,' Eutopia's brows drew together in a sad line for a moment as she thought on Jinn's words. 'I know what you mean about life having its own ideas though. My life definitely has its own agenda from the looks of things; nothing ever seems to go the way I planned it to. I suppose it's just God's way of keeping himself amused.'

Jinn gave her an odd look that Eutopia couldn't quite make out.

'Do you believe in God?' he asked.

'A little bit, I suppose. There has to be something, some sort of great power out there,' she motioned to the huge velvety sky above them, scattered with pinpoints of light that twinkled through the gaps of the branches around them. Eutopia had no idea what time it was but the gentle nocturnal sounds that had been busy around them since they had settled beneath the tree had at some point died down. All she could hear now was the hushed sound of their breathing. 'I'm not sure I believe in the whole bearded man in a white dress thing. I see God as more of a type of energy, like a presence that's just there in all things, does that make sense?'

Jinn nodded. 'Yes, it does.'

'I suppose I believe in fate and destiny,' she said with slow cautiousness, 'When I look back at parts of my life, even the bad bits, I can see how the past affects the future, you know? Everything that's happened throughout the twenty years of my life has made me the person I am now. I think that everything happens for a reason. We all have a journey set out for us and sometimes we might take a different path, but eventually we get to wherever it is that we're meant to be going. I definitely believe in that.' Jinn laughed softly.

'I have a friend with that very same opinion,' he said, dark eyes twinkling. 'I see where you're coming from, though. If I hadn't been out in Covent Garden that night, I would never have met you.' Eutopia couldn't keep the blush from rising to her cheeks as their eyes met and her mind flashed random images at her of that dank, dirty side street and waiting headlights piercing the darkness, she could feel the dizzying sickness that came from feeling scared and alone as sour, cigarette-tainted breath scorched her skin and rough hands groped at the thin fabric of her clothes. Her stomach flipped at the sudden thought of how close she may have come to some other, much more unpleasant ending. Jinn could feel the tenseness that had crept into Eutopia's shoulders and he saw the tightness in her jaw.

'You were my guardian angel that night,' she said, softly, closing her eyes and leaning into the arm that Jinn still had slung casually around her. 'I can see that now. I'm sorry for shouting at you. I just want to do what's right and find my brother. He's the only link to my family, to my mother.'

'You think that finding your brother might help you to make sense of your life so far,' Jinn stated, carefully taking Eutopia's hand to push up her sleeve and dance his fingers across her silver scars, causing her to take a sharp intake of breath as his touch sent little tingles of anticipation racing over her skin.

'Yes,' she breathed, her heart aching as fiercely as though he had reached a fist into her chest and squeezed it, his words summing up what she hadn't quite managed to explain to herself yet. For the past two years she had slaved away mindlessly for minimum wage with only one goal in mind, without really understanding exactly why it was so important. But Jinn could see.

'You feel he owes it to you to protect you now, to make up for the things he couldn't shield you from before.' Eutopia nodded, her lips brushing Jinn's as he leaned in close enough to kiss her and her eyelashes curled upon her wet cheeks. 'I can protect you, if you let me,' he murmured, letting his lips press lightly against Eutopia's. She allowed the sweet warmth of his mouth to linger against hers, his closeness sending dizzying waves of emotion crashing through her. The increased beating of her heart, sent galloping as Jinn had leant towards her, faltered in its rhythm as a thread of realisation clung to her rapidly spiralling thoughts.

'I know you,' she uttered in one hushed breath, eyelashes parting enough to allow her to see the shock that registered in Jinn's eyes. He pulled away from her and Eutopia immediately felt a chill creep into the void where the warmth of his solid frame had been only moments before. Was that a smile she could see on his lips?

'Do you?' he asked, words spoken as softly as their mouths had met, his eyes as black as onyx.

'Yes,' with a hesitant breath Eutopia leant in close to the motionless Jinn, lips parted uncertainly and her eyes open to watch for his reaction and she very gently, cautiously, kissed him. A sharp gasp escaped her as a stream of images passed through her mind's eye as clear as though they were being played on a movie screen and she snapped back from him in an instant. 'My dream… the dreams… It's you.'