Title: Forever
Rating: T for some language and normal adult behavior
Disclaimer: Under the Dome and its affiliated characters do not belong to me. I mean no copyright infringement. I only use them as a means to de-stress myself.
Summary: We've heard Barbie say "I love you" to Julia, but haven't yet heard Julia say it to Barbie. This is my take on how/when that happens. A Jarbie one-shot immediately following the end of the episode, "The Fall."
Spoilers: Through episode 2x10, "The Fall" (especially the ending). Don't read if you haven't watched it!
Author's Note: This story came to me immediately after I watched the episode "The Fall." I just had to write it down. Quite honestly, I would be happy if the entire series only featured Julia and Barbie. I hope you like it. Please don't forget to review!
Forever
Julia and Barbie made their way through the tunnel, running as fast as they could. The light from the small flashlight Barbie held bounced along the ground, lighting their way. They both skidded to a stop as they neared the edge.
"He's gone," Julia said.
They looked over the edge, expecting to see the darkness that they had grown accustomed to. Barbie shown the light down below, but was immediately shocked by what he saw. Instead of darkness, there were sharp rocks jutting up like stalagmites.
"What the…" Barbie began, not sure if he was seeing what he was really seeing. "There's a bottom now." As the flashlight beam moved around, it landed on Phil's body, speared by one of the rocks. "The egg's gone. Our passage closed."
"We're stuck here," Julia stated.
She glanced over at Barbie, the weight of her words sinking in. Julia silently linked her fingers with Barbie's, holding his hand.
"We're not stuck here. We can't be stuck here."
"We lost the egg. It's…angry with us. It created a bottom. There's no way out."
"Then we'll find another way out," Barbie replied, hoping he sounded more convincing than he felt.
"Barbie…"
"We will find another way out. We have to."
"This is Big Jim's fault. He's only ever looked out for himself. He's never cared about the best interest of this town. We have to do something about him."
"We will. But first we have to get Phil's body."
"And risk going down there? No, Barbie, it's too dangerous."
"We can't just leave him down there."
"And what if something goes wrong and you land on one of those spikes? What if there's that...pull like there was last time and it pulls you down onto one of them and you end up just like Phil? "
"I don't think that's going to happen, Julia. The egg destroyed the passage."
"You don't know that. What if...somehow...you….you end up back in Zenith? What if the passage isn't closed? They'll kill you, Barbie, to get what they want."
"The passage is closed, Julia."
"You can't know that with one hundred percent certainty! I don't want…"
He took her other hand and stood in front of her, facing her. He looked into her eyes. He could see the tears threatening to fall. She blinked them away. He knew she was strong. That was the first thing he learned about her. It was one of the things that most attracted him to her. But he knew she couldn't be strong all of the time. He knew he had put her through hell. He could only imagine how it felt for her - thinking he was dead. He knew if it had been the other way around, if he had been the one who watched Julia go over the cliff, he didn't know how he'd have gone on if he thought she was dead.
"We have to do what's right," he said.
"I don't want to lose you again. I can't."
"I'm sorry."
"When you cut that rope...when you went over that cliff…"
"I know."
"No, you don't know!" She shouted. "You don't know how badly I hated you for cutting that rope! How badly I wanted to yell and scream at you for being so stupid!" Barbie let her rant, knowing she had to get it all out. "I thought you were dead! I thought I had lost you!"
"I'm sorry," he finally said. "I'm sorry for putting you through that. But, Julia, you know if I hadn't cut the rope, you and Rebecca would have gone over that cliff with me. I couldn't let that happen. Not when we didn't know what was at the bottom. You know that. You would have done the same."
She looked down at the ground. "I know," she mumbled. "It's just...I thought you were dead. I felt my world stop. I didn't know what I was fighting for anymore with you gone. But then Joe shows me this video of a playground that this…robot took when we sent it over the cliff and he tries to convince me that you could still be alive. I wanted to believe him. I wanted to hold onto that, but it was too hard, Barbie. It hurt too much to hope that you were still out there somewhere. So I didn't believe him. And then that e-mail…" She paused. "That's twice now I've thought I've lost you. I can't go through that again."
"You won't have to. I promise."
"You can't promise that. You live for danger."
He smiled. "If I recall, you were the run towards the fire girl." He leaned in and brushed a quick kiss against her lips. "It's going to be alright."
"You don't know that. We could be trapped under this thing forever."
"At least we're trapped together," he said. She managed a weak smile. "We will figure out a way out of this."
"Let's hope so."
"I'll get Junior and some of the guys to help me get Phil. Why don't you go back up and tell Joe and Norrie what happened and check on Melanie. I'll meet you back at home later."
She nodded. "Ok. Please be careful."
"I will."
"That's what you said last time."
He snaked his arm around her waist, pulling her close. He kissed her long and hard, pouring every ounce of love into the kiss.
"I will always come back to you," he whispered when the kiss ended.
"I'm going to hold you to that."
"Good."
He squeezed her hand before she turned and began making her way out of the cave.
Later that night, as the sun was just beginning to set, Julia stood on her front steps, looking out to the outside of the dome. The guards were still there, pacing outside the invisible barrier. Whatever happened to the egg, it clearly hadn't changed the fact that someone thought she and Barbie needed some extra looking after. Julia pulled her sweater around her more tightly. It had grown colder as the day had worn on. With the sun gone, it was even worse. She shivered and was about to go back into the house when she saw Barbie walking towards her down the sidewalk. Relief flooded over her. As he got closer, she looked him over carefully. He didn't appear to be any more harmed than he was when he had gone in to retrieve Phil's body. He was, however, significantly more dirty. His clothes were stained, his skin caked with dirt.
"Hey," he said, stopping in front of her. He folded his bare arms, trying to conserve body heat.
"You got Phil's body out?" Julia asked.
"Yeah. Took a little effort, but we managed to pull him out. We buried him in the cemetery."
Julia nodded. "You're a good man for doing that for him. Phil deserved a proper burial. He wasn't a bad guy, you know."
"I know. How's Melanie?"
"Better, but still a little weak. She's staying with Sam. We thought it was better not to move her."
"I'm glad she's better."
"We'll have to keep a close eye on her."
Barbie nodded. "What are you doing out here in the cold?"
Julia pointed to the guards on the other side of the dome. They were practically staring right at them. "They're still here."
"You think the egg didn't make it to Zenith?" Barbie asked.
Julia shrugged. "I don't know. If it did make it, I don't think they'd still be here. They're still…watching us, you and me. It's the only part of the dome they have guards at. If they had the egg, the one thing they wanted, you'd think they'd leave us alone. You'd think they wouldn't care what happens to us."
"Unless it's my dad who's watching us specifically."
"Maybe."
"What do you think happened to the egg then?"
"Maybe it...died. Or maybe it's trapped somewhere in between. Maybe it did make it, but it's not doing what they thought it would do. I don't know, Barbie. The possibilities are endless. Maybe we'll never know. It's just...weird having them watch us. Like we're their entertainment or something."
"Well, if they're going to watch us, let's give them a show."
Barbie pulled on her arm. She collided into him, her body pressing against his. He crashed his lips to hers, giving her a bruising kiss. He buried both hands into her red locks.
As Barbie's hand began to drift down to her ass, he felt her shiver. Despite the fact that he could feel desire stirring within him, causing his body to heat up, it was still freezing outside. Breathing hard, with the feel of her lips still imprinted on his own, he pressed his forehead against Julia's and took her hand. He glanced over at the soldiers on the other side of the dome. They were staring at them, jaws dropped. Barbie winked at them before walking towards the house. Julia stood, staring at the guards. Her cheeks turned pink.
"You coming?" Barbie asked, a few steps ahead of her.
She followed him into the house.
"Maybe we shouldn't have done that," she said as soon as she shut the front door. She brushed past him, walking into the kitchen in search of something warm to drink. The house wasn't that much warmer than it was outside. With it being the middle of the summer, the heat wasn't turned on.
"Just wanted to shock them a little," Barbie replied.
"I know, but…" she trailed off.
"But what?"
"Maybe we shouldn't provoke them. We know your dad was trying to use you to get me to give him the egg. He would have let them beat you to death if he thought it would get me to do what he wanted. If they know we…care about each other, they'll use it against us."
"They already know, Julia. My dad knows all about you and about I feel. I stupidly trusted him. It's too late to hide how we feel from them."
"I just don't think provoking them is the way to go."
"I wasn't provoking them. I was just having a little fun. They can't touch us in here, Julia."
"Of course they can!" She yelled. "They know everything. You said that playground was under surveillance. I don't know what their end game is, but they sure as hell want to keep tabs on us. Maybe cooling it down in front of them wouldn't be such a bad idea."
"So what do you propose we do? Stage a public breakup in front of the guards to convince them we mean nothing to each other?"
"That's not what I'm saying."
"Then what are you saying?" He asked.
"We just need to be careful."
"I'm not going to live my life in fear!"
"Fear has been running our lives since the dome came down!"
"Maybe I'm tired of being afraid."
"Fear is what keeps us from being careless," she said. "This isn't just about us, Barbie. This is about doing what's best for the whole town."
"You think I don't know that? You think everything I've done, every decision I've made, hasn't been about the town?"
"I know you have the town in your best interest, but…"
"Maybe you'd rather be on Big Jim's side."
"That's not fair!"
"Sure sounds like you're not on my side, Julia."
"I don't want to argue, Barbie."
"Too late," he said, angrily.
Julia sighed. Barbie ran his hands through his hair.
"Barbie…"
"I'm gonna go take a shower. Unless you think they'll see me using the bathroom in your house as a sign of us being too close."
"Barbie…"
Barbie headed for the stairs, not bothering to turn around.
Julia was sitting on the edge of the bed, wringing her hands in her lap. She had changed into his grey tank top and a pair of his boxer shorts. It was her favorite outfit. She had claimed it as hers a few days earlier. At the time, he had complimented that the clothes looked better on her than on him. The memory made her smile.
She kept glancing at the bathroom door, expecting Barbie to step out at any minute. She had heard the water turn off from the shower almost twenty minutes before. Barbie wasn't the type of man who spent significant time in front of the mirror so she wasn't quite sure what he could be doing, aside from avoiding her.
Finally, the door opened. Barbie stood in the doorway, a towel wrapped low around his waist. He made his way over to the bureau where he had been keeping his belongings, without so much as looking at Julia. He scooped up an armful of clothes.
"What are you doing?" Julia asked.
"Moving into the guest room," he answered.
Julia stood up. She made her way over to him and put her hand on his arm.
"Barbie, stop."
"Isn't this what you wanted, Julia? For us not to be together?"
"You know that's not what I meant. Please, just talk to me."
He dropped the clothes onto the ground. "I don't care if they think they can use our feelings against us. Maybe it's not the smartest thing to do, but I am not letting them come between us. I'm not going to be afraid of what they might do."
"I don't want them to come between us, either. And I don't want to be afraid, but I am, Barbie. I'm scared. And I hate being scared."
"I know."
"And I'm not on Big Jim's side. I'm on your side. Always."
"That was unfair of me to say. I'm sorry."
"We both said things we shouldn't have said."
"That's because we're both stubborn," she said with a smile.
"You can say that again."
She sighed, wrapped her arm around him in a tight hug. She needed to feel close to him. He rested his chin on the top of her head.
"I can't help but worry," she admitted. "What happens when we run out of food? Or if this weather continues? Or what if something worse happens? It's like every day there's some other problem for us to solve. What happens when we can't solve them anymore?"
"As long as we're together, we can solve anything. I truly believe that. I love you, Julia."
She stepped back so she could look in his eyes.
"I love you, too," she said.
He smiled. "You've never said that to me before." She looked down at the floor. A tear escaped and fell down her cheek. Barbie caught it with his thumb. "What is it?"
"I've been in love with you practically from the day we met."
He could sense there was something else she needed to say. "But…"
"But I was afraid to tell you."
"Why?"
"I've only ever said those to one other man. My husband, Peter."
"Oh Julia…" he said, caressing her hair. "I'm sorry. I know that it's difficult for you to talk about him and if I could take back what I did…"
"No. That's not what I meant. I did love him, but we got married so young. He swept me off my feet. But things with Peter were different. We weren't...partners. He never asked my opinion or cared about what I thought. It's like we lived our separate lives. With you it's so different. And I know it's only been a few weeks and I keep trying to tell myself that this isn't real or we're only together because we're in this high stress situation..."'
"That's not why we're together. Maybe it was at first. Maybe we were both just looking for a little comfort, but it's so much more than that now."
"I know. It's different with you. This love I feel is…stronger. Being with you feels so...right."
"That's because it is right. I was meant to be here when the dome came down and it's all because of you, Julia. I never saw my future with anyone, but now I see it with you. I want to be with you," he said, trying to cast any doubts in her mind away. "In the dome or out of the dome. Today. Tomorrow. Forever. No matter what happens. We'll always find each other because we belong together. That I can promise."
"Kiss me."
"With pleasure."
He pressed his lips against hers, feeling her immediately reciprocate. Their tongues dueled as their hands roamed each other's bodies. Julia began walking backwards towards the bed, never breaking her connection with Barbie. As she tumbled onto the bed, he fell on top of her. They kissed as if it were the last kiss they'd ever share. Barbie attached his lips to her neck, kissing a trail down to her collarbone. He pushed the strap of his tank top away, peppering her bare shoulder with kisses.
"You are so beautiful," he murmured.
His hand slipped under her shirt, tickling her stomach. She giggled. It was the most beautiful sound he had ever heard.
"I love you," she whispered.
"Forever?" He questioned, his face lingering just centimeters above hers.
"Forever," she agreed.