Here we are with another chapter. I hope you are going to like it! Let me know, and thanks all for the reviews, knuckles99heidi, newtonks, Romantic in Denial you guys are amazing (:

Small town

(S01x03 – Part 2/3)

"So, what are the odds that you, just passing through, happen to be here on the day that an unprecedented, possible supernatural even occurred?"

They were taking a walk in the morning and Julia seemed to be in a much better mood than the day before. Actually they pretty much spent the night with avoiding each other and keeping some distance. It was only the third day under the dome but they have done this back and forth, letting quiet moments fill with sexual tension and then hurriedly taking their minds off of it and taking steps back away from each other so many times that he didn't even cared to count. But it ended always the same way, them together. So here they were taking a casual walk together on the streets of Chester's Mill and it felt so damn right. He looked at her with a half-smile.

"God, I swear you ask more questions than anybody I have ever met" He said but his voice lacked any real annoyance he would have felt with anybody else asking so many questions about him. What annoyed him in everybody else, he actually found sweet and cute in her. On some level… he still did not feel like giving too much away. She already knew much more than most people did about him.

"Well, you know you are pretty good at evading them." She looked at him with searching eyes. "And asking questions is my job." She added matter of factly.

"That's just your way of keeping people from asking you anything." He said folding his arms in front of his chest with a smug smile on his face. There were two sides of that coin. She for some magical reason saw right through him, but he could read her pretty well too. She did not like to give much away either and there was just so much he wanted to know about her.

"All right. It is your turn." she said suddenly, for a moment surprising him. She was giving in to him. The surprise quickly faded away and gave place to excitement. He finally could ask some questions. He wanted to know as much as possible about the woman standing in front of him.

"How does someone as ambitious as you end up here in Chester's Mill?" He asked his eyes running quickly over her body. The small gesture of affection did not go unnoticed by her but she did not look away in embarrassment this time.

"My husband grew up here." She said as if it would have explained everything. Barbie raised an eyebrow. That was just not it and they both knew it. "And uh.." She said glancing away from him for a moment. "circumstances shifted," she looked up into his eyes again, her voice a bit hesitant as she carefully formed her next words. "and it just made sense for us," she trailed off again. This whole story started to sound more like something she tried to convince herself with. "you know, uh… to come here and start over."

He was not buying it at all. She was uncertain and all this starting over gave him more reason to think this marriage was not that perfect at all. He was about to push on the subject when suddenly he noticed a familiar face across the street. Phil… damn it. He had several encounters with that guy, he owned a small fortune to his boss. He tried to casually turn away, the last he needed was for Phil to recognize him.

"That is our DJ Phil." Julia announced. Of course she noticed his abrupt shift of focus from her to Phil. "You want to meet him?"

The question surprised him so much he turned back towards Julia. "Uh, no. I will let you guys get to…work." Crap he needed to get the hell away from there. " I'm gonna get a bite to eat at the diner." He added as an excuse and hurried away. He sounded as uncertain as Julia had sounded moments ago and he winced silently. With his luck and Julia's observation skills she must have picked up on the change in his mood. He had to be more careful. First the dog tags and now Phil. He had to come up with some kind of explanation before Julia could jump to any kind of conclusion, or started to dig around to find out what exactly was going on.

A few minutes later he was actually sitting in the diner staring ahead. That at least was not a lie he would have needed to cover from Julia. Some guys next to him were rumbling about how they thought the government was trying to find a way to talk with them. He wasn't that sure it was the case, but against all odds, he hoped they were right. He listened half-minded as a woman appeared asking random people in the diner if they had seen her daughter. She was showing pictures of two women and a teenage girl together. The good people in the diner immediately picked on the fact they were a lesbian couple with a daughter. How typical for a small town. Barbie had to suppress a growl. Under normal circumstances this would have given the town people another topic to chew on for a few weeks. And even now that they were facing bigger issues they were still grabbing on the opportunity to pick on it, to pick on people who were strangers to them. That was exactly why he hated such small towns. No secrets, no life, no hiding.

Rose, the owner of the place just appeared a few minutes later to refill his cup of coffee.

"Thank you." He said honestly grateful for it.

"Do you mind?" She asked suddenly and without waiting for an answer she took the seat next to him.

"Hey, it is your joint." He offered not wanting to be rude. So much about wanting to stay low to sort out his shit.

"All mine it seems. Had a girl, Angie, working the lunch counter, but I haven't seen her since the Dome Day." She started chatting. Barbie gave her a forced smile only half listening. He did not care one way or another. Most importantly he did not want to get in touch with anyone. No casual talks, no active role in the town's life.

"So, how's it been staying over at Julia's? Nice and comfy?" Now that grabbed his attention. He picked immediately on the hidden message. Slowly he turned her way careful that his face gave nothing away. Yes, she was definitely implying on possible affairs and oh so carefully tried to dig out some information. He never talked about himself if he could avoid it and Julia and him, well that was really none's concern.

"Small town, kiddo. It's only gonna get smaller." She said before she stood up and left.

So what do you guys think? I hope I managed to keep everyone in character and the feelings got through (: