So just as I promised. The last part of episode 2. I hope you are going to like it!

Fire inside and outside

(S01x02 – Part 3/3)

Barbie just couldn't believe it! Life or the dome or fate or some god damn thing was determined to mess up his life. He had never believed in destiny or any mysterious stuff like that, but he honestly started to think it was some bigger force pushing him towards Julia or maybe pulling her his way.

Once Julia had left in the morning all pissed and angry he had walked away with the clear decision he was not going to go back to her. He wanted to grab his dog tag and stay the hell away from her before it was too late. Now after everything, after kicking some sense into that crazy boy they called Junior and letting out some of his irritation, a good fight was as good as ever; it always had helped to make sense to his crazy world again; he had found himself in front of a burning house with the whole town around him. Including Julia.

He saw her arrival in her car, the journalist in her ready for action, her camera already in her hands, her attention focused on the event in front of them. He tried to walk away, before she noticed him, he really did, but the moment she called out his name, his body reacted on its own, answering to her call without hesitation and he turned to walk up next to her.

"It hasn't rained in weeks." She said matter of factly. "We are inside a damn tinderbox. If those flames spread, to any of these other houses, it is gonna take Chester's Mill and us with it."

Barbie looked around and had to realize that she was right. All of a sudden he found himself giving out orders to the people standing around them. They needed water, a lot of them. They needed to be organized to be able to prevent the spreading of the flames. Finally this was a situation he could handle. It was just like in military, solving an emergency situation. He was giving orders and surprisingly the people around him immediately obey. Even Julia turned around after she had taken a few more pictures to grab a bucket and help. As she run away from the burning house, Barbie found himself automatically reaching out towards her lower back to guide her away from the house, from the danger. But he stopped himself before he could actually touch her, making a fist. The crisis he could handle, her and everything that came with her… that was a way different story. At the moment however he had no time to analyze his or her reactions, as the flames spread on first to a fence then to a car. It seemed like no matter what they tried to do, it was in vain, actually it just got worse with every passing moment.

That was when Big Jim showed up with a bulldozer. Barbie only needed a second before he realized what Big Jim was up to. He quickly guided the people out of the way giving Big Jim the necessary access to the burning house. Once the house finally collapsed there was no much left to do. They could quickly extinguish the fire and with a sprinkler he poured some more water on the ruins to make sure there was nothing left from the fire. As he stood there with his back to everyone he tried to take in everything that had happened a few minutes before. Such relatively small thing like a house catching on fire was dangerous under this dome. How the hell they could survive this?

"Bucket brigade." The now so familiar voice came from next to him pulling him from his thoughts. "Pretty clever." she added and her voice was not mocking at all.

"You weren't too shabby either." He said with a small smile and just with a hint of flirt in his voice.

"Why thank you." She responded with the same flirtious voice catching his attention immediately. He turned to look at her finding her eyes just as bright and alive as his were and he could not look away. He didn't even notice when she reached out towards him to grab on his dog tags around his neck, her fingers soft like a silk against his chest, causing his heart to skip a bit and his breath to catch in his throat.

"Dale." She said reading his name from the pendant. His name had never sounded so powerful, so right and special as it did at the moment. He was unable to look away from her, she completely mesmerized him. Her voice, her eyes, her soft fingers on his chest. Everything in her called out to him and his body and mind were not his anymore to control. His lips parted ever so slightly and he knew his eyes must have turned dark with desire.

"Dale Barbara. I am guessing that is you." She said, finally letting go of the dog tags. She glanced quickly away from him, her eyes filled with a mixture of want and confusion. Barbie let out the breath he was holding finally breaking from the spell, she casted on them.

"Guilty." He said, hiding the dog tag under his shirt and turning away. Julia was defending him, destroying every carefully build wall around him without even trying, without even knowing. He usually was very careful and cautious when someone was entering his private space. But just when he realized she was reaching out to him, he did not feel the usual and immediate defense of his body, instead of pulling away it craved her touch however light it was. And his name. He did not give it away easily. It was better people did not know him. Especially under these circumstances under the dome, he did not want anyone to know him. On some level it scared him that she found out his name, that he let her find it out so easily. But somewhere deep down he did not regret it, as shocking as it was he cherished the fact she knew something about him that only few others knew.

"Where'd you find them?" She asked once she turned away to take some more photos. She sounded casual but Barbie had learned already she had an eye for details.

"Uh, you know what, they were actually just right there, where I left them, just hanging over the mirror in your bathroom." He said. The sooner she got the answer the sooner she could let it go.

"Huh. That's the first place I checked." She said turning to him with raised eyebrows, her eyes filled with suspicion. "I must have missed them." she added. Again she sounded matter of factly but she was watching him carefully.

Barbie took a deep breath smiled a small smile before he turned to walk away not really knowing how to repeat to that. Damn it. He should have stuck to his story about finding them in his car. He desperately tried to look into her mind to see if she really believed she had just missed seeing the dog tags in the bathroom or if she knew there was something more going on. He was halfheartedly listening to Big Jim's talk, his mind elsewhere. He had to roll his eyes on the speech the councilman was giving. He was a pure politician, he could talk about honesty and bravery but he was still shaggy as hell. Well not that Barbie cared. This town was not his home and the moment the damn dome was down he was out of there.

The next thing he knew was a collective gasp coming from all around him. As he turned in question he saw one of the policemen holding a gun in his hands rambling about how everyone was going to die. It did not take a moment for Barbie to realize the poor man was instable. A crazy man who lost his mind holding a gun at them. The military educations kicked in immediately. He focused on the guy, analyzing all his steps and movements. He needed to be unarmed as fast as possible without risking innocent people. He looked quickly around, checking the possible targets nearest to the guy. With a sinking heart he had to realize Julia was just in the front line… it shouldn't have surprised him, when was she not…

"This thing… is never gonna go away, and we are all gonna die!" The policeman, Paul, shouted and fired the gun two times aiming on the wall behind him.

Suddenly Freddy, another policeman standing in the crowd, collapsed with a gunshot right on his chest. It shocked everyone, including Paul. Thanks to his experiences in war field Barbie recovered much faster than anyone else and using the opportunity he sprung into motion and with one calculated jump he knocked Paul to the ground, taking the gun from him and pointed it at him. All in one precise movement. Paul did not even have the chance to fight back.

He could hear Linda's high pitched voice crying out for Freddy but one glance at the poor guy proved him right. Freddy was dead. He threw a glance towards Julia, his focus slipping from Paul to her. She was alive and breathing. Shaken up from all that happened, but she was all right. He turned his attention back to Paul and sat his jaw. Would they be in Iraq now, he had been most likely dead by now. It was the biggest no, letting your focus slip when you were pointing a gun at the enemy, but thank God they were not in Iraq, because even there he would have turned to check up on her, somehow her safety becoming his highest priority.

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