Hello! Some quick notes before I begin. This fic starts just after R and Julie hit the pool after jumping from the boneys. If you haven't seen the movie, this fanfic will make very little sense. Watch the movie ;) In this wee universe, zombies don't heal. I know that's suggested in the movie (with keloid scars n' stuff), but it didn't make much sense to me. Also, I thought everyone was just a little cavalier about R getting shot, so this is partly in answer to that! The fanfic is complete, I just have to post it and will do so in bunches. Hope you enjoy. Please comment if you can, I appreciate the feedback.

Warm Bodies belongs to Isaac Marion, with a little side interpretation by Jonathan Levine. I of course, own nada (well, cept my avatar pic I guess)

P.S. I haven't read New Hunger yet, so this has nothing to do with it. Looking forward to reading it now though :D

P.P.S. This was originally rated M. I've stripped some language from it to drop it to Teen, so it's available without filters.

As he sank through the cool water of the pool, R felt something he'd never experienced before.

Peace.

He was dimly aware of his head hitting something hard, shortly after breaking the surface. But now, he was weightless, suspended, adrift. Enveloped in a soundless void where there was no threat, no need to run anymore. Everything was okay. His body was tingling with something it had been building to for a while, something remarkable that the world had never before seen, and it felt... wonderful. The embers of life stirring in a body so long dead.

Arms enveloped him gently. An insistent tugging disturbed his peace, but he ignored it, wanting to hold onto the feeling just a little longer. As he was lifted, and his head broke the surface of the water, sound exploded around him.

"R!"

Julie.

"R! R.. please!" Her voice was frantic, and he didn't understand, not when everything felt so good. Why is she so worried?

"Please!"

R's eyes snapped open and he gasped, suddenly, desperately needing to breathe. His body felt like it was thundering inside, while the world pushed at him from the outside - raw sensation flooding his mind like the fireworks from Perry's memories. The water was cold, running in icy rivulets down his face, against his burning skin. Julie was so close, her hands holding his head, his neck, brushing his face, her touch made his skin spark, and he stared at her in wonder.

"You okay?" she asked, her blue eyes drawn with worry, water droplets clinging to her lips.

Her eyes had him transfixed. Unable to look away, he was drawn into those blue spheres, to the soul underneath. With an involuntary sigh, her lips moved again, and his heart shuddered quickly in his chest, warmth spreading from it in waves, enveloping him.

Love.

They drifted closer and he could feel himself moving effortlessly, with none of the ungainliness that came from being a corpse, to hold her in a tender kiss. Their lips touched again and again, each caress sending cascading sheets of fire through his body. His nervous system sang with light.

They parted, her eyes met his and she smiled in wonder. "Whoa..."

R stared at her with no words, just an overwhelming need to bathe in that fire again, to be so close to her they shared the same breath. He drew into her and kissed her soft lips, and his body thrummed, every cell sparking into glorious life. The erratic trembling of his heart became a drumbeat, strong and unwavering, and life pulsed outward, reaching the very tips of his fingers as he cradled her close.

Finally, they pulled away. She stared up at him and he stared back, in awe of what they had shared, in awe of her. Julie's expression slowly changed to wonder as she looked into his eyes and R felt a tingling there he didn't understand. He smiled at her, wondering what she saw.

Everything was perfect.

An explosion shattered the moment, and his body was flung backwards, twisting from the impact of something he didn't understand at first. It dawned on him quickly that he'd been shot, and that was something familiar, something his body knew. Then his brain lit up with an overwhelming new fire and he gasped, his legs buckling in the water.

Pain. A feeling his body had never experienced, not since he could remember. It was like screaming, and he didn't know how to cope. Words stopped on the way out of his mouth, and he stared down at himself, perplexed and shattered.

"Dad!" Julie's voice was scared, shocked, and he looked up, trying to understand what had happened.

Beyond her stood soldiers, neatly arrayed around the pool they'd fallen into, and before them Julie's father, his face a scowl. They all had guns, and they were all pointed at him.

The Colonel spoke, his voice cold, "Next one's the head. Move away from him Julie."

His heart plummeted. Why did this have to happen now? They could have gotten away, they could have been together and found a way to live. Why did he have to die now? Pain pulsed in R's chest and he stuttered, bringing his hand to the wound, lost in the vivid agony.

Julie was pleading with her dad. R could hear her voice, but wasn't listening to the words, just felt her meaning and understood she was pleading for him, for them all. She turned back to him then, but he wasn't looking at her. He was staring at his hand.

At his fingers. Red.

"He's... he's bleeding?" Julie's words broke through the pain and he looked up at her, desperate for something he could understand.

It was blood. No trickle of black ooze, but a flood of bright red. His blood. The water around them was stained with it. The realization was astonishing, and terrifying.

"He's bleeding Dad!" she cried, "Corpses don't bleed!"

Julie turned back and stared at him in awe, joy lighting her eyes. "You're alive?"

It was hard to get a breath to answer her, but he nodded, frightened and astounded. What happens now? How could he stop this? It hurt!

Julie swung back to face her father, "He's alive!"

R followed her gaze, to stare at the soldiers, at her father ready to gun him down. Something passed through the group, a ripple of shock at the reality of what they were seeing. But would they truly believe it? Was he safe?

Julie returned to him, reaching for him, laughter bubbling from her with sheer joy, "You're alive!"

He tried to smile, words failing at his mouth again, caught up in her joy but thoroughly overwhelmed by everything he was feeling. Never had he experienced anything like this, this constant wave of sensation, the frantic thudding of his heart, the desperate need for breath, this electric scream from his shoulder where he'd been shot.

Julie's brows knitted in concern and disbelief as she glanced at the wound and back to his eyes. "Does it hurt?"

"Y-yeah..." R mumbled, stunned by what that meant. He looked up at her father, wanting so much for him to see, to understand.

A beat, a pause, as the world around them seemed to hold its breath.

"This is Colonel Grigio. The situation has changed," came the Colonel's voice, carried to R as clear as his own new heartbeat.

Something in the air shifted at that moment, like a long-held sigh released in a rush. Someone had chosen to believe. To hope.

Guns lowered around them, and a soldier R recognized from the night before stepped forward to help him out of the water. The man was hesitant at first, unsure, and R couldn't blame him, he felt the same way. It was strange having someone who'd been moments from killing him extend a hand in aid. Accepting it, he winced as the man pulled him from the water, then glanced over at Julie.

The Colonel had gathered her in a hug, and there was something so deeply loving and vulnerable about it, something that made her father so different from the grim soldier of a man who'd shot him moments before, that he watched in awe.

They broke apart and the Colonel glanced at R briefly, his eyes bewildered, before gesturing to the vehicles parked nearby, "Let's get you two the hell out of here."

Then Julie was there, holding him, supporting him as they walked to the car. He held onto her tightly, not only to be close to her, but because he was starting to feel like he would fall. Moving his head too much caused the world to lurch, another thing he'd never felt before, and it disturbed him. His world had always been so solid. Too solid. Rigid and unyielding. Outside of the pain pulsing in his chest, he was troubled by this incredible change, the absolute chaos he felt inside, and how much the world could affect him now. It was all new.

They reached the car, and she helped him into the back seat. Her father took the wheel and she moved to sit beside him. Her face was brighter than he ever remembered seeing, and when he saw her grasp her dad's hand he thought knew why. The connection and love he'd seen as they hugged. Something really important had happened between them, something good.

"Are you still bleeding?" the Colonel asked, glancing back.

He leaned forward, stuttering as the pain flared sharply, "Y-yes..."

"Good," the Colonel answered, and R's heart sank. Wincing, he fell back against the seat, and stared down at his hand. It was soaked now as he held it to his wound, the blood seeping through his fingers and over the back of his palm. He didn't understand. Was this normal? How much of this did he have inside? It wasn't like he had a guide for this stuff, he could only relate it to the people he'd killed, as much as he hated thinking about that. They'd stopped bleeding eventually. Why hadn't he?

"Sorry," her father apologized, nodding back to him, as he caught Julie's disapproving look.

Dimly, R realized that the Colonel had been joking. At least that meant he wasn't going to get shot again. Probably. He looked over at Julie, who smiled back at him with so much hope. He tried to smile, to reflect that hope back to her, but he was scared. There was too much happening inside of him and he didn't know what to do with it all. Never had he felt so much movement, so many subtle pulses and shifts. The constant need to breathe was bizarre, and probably harder than it should have been. Very hard, really. He was worried, and felt absolutely powerless.

Was he overreacting? They didn't seem too concerned, so perhaps he was. Trying to relax, he let his head fall back onto the seat. Weirdly he just seemed to keep falling, and he wondered if he was going to dream again. It'd been such an amazing experience before that he just let go, trusting the feeling, and fell into darkness.