It took sometime but finally the next chapter is ready. I don't know how much I like how it turned out but I tried my very best. I hope you are going to enjoy it!
Heartbeat
(S01x11 – part 4/5)
Everything was blurry and shaky in his sight as they hurried through the floor. "Put her in the second room." The nurse instructed pointing towards an empty room.
Barbie ran towards the room to his right, his heart beating in his throat. They were finally in the hospital…. Please God let them be in time!
"Yeah, right there." The nurse confirmed the moment he entered the room and placed Julia on the bed. "So it is a through and through then? No bullet to remove?" She asked stepping next to the bed and turning the heart monitor on.
"That is right." Barbie said his voice lighter with relive now that they were finally actually doing something to save Julia. "Sounds like she's taking in air through the wound, so we have got to relieve this pressure or else it is gonna crush her heart and lungs." He explained pressing down on her wound as the nurse started to put the electrodes on Julia's chest. Barbie never had felt more thankful for being in a hospital before then as he was at that moment. They had equipment and staff to save Julia. But that relive was short lived as in the next moment a woman appeared in the open door.
"Please, somebody, a three fell on our garage. My husband was inside! He is not breathing!" She said breathing heavily, panic evident in her voice.
The nurse glanced up at Barbie. He understood the question without words. She was needed elsewhere more. He knew what they needed to do whereas this poor woman had no idea how to save her husband, and even though he felt uneasy and more than annoyed and angry he shook his head in dismiss. Without a word he took the reminding electrodes from the nurse and finished placing them on Julia' chest. At least they were in the hospital… with equipment. The two women left the room but Barbie was not noticing any of it, his sole focus was on Julia.
"Go get me a piece of plastic tubing so we can relieve the pressure in her chest here." He said to Joe. He really owed the kid his life… As the younger boy hurried away to get what he asked for from the nurse station Barbie kept pressing down on the wound with one hand and took Julia's hand in his other one, holding it tight as if he could give her his strength through the simple touch. His eyes were fixed on the heart monitor. Her heart was beating too fast…
"This place is picked clean." Joe turned to him his eyes still hunted with panic.
"I'll make do with a pen, plastic bag. Grab some alcohol." Barbie shouted back his mind running a mile a minute as his instincts started to kick in. He never had been more thankful for it.
"Pen, plastic bag, the alcohol." Joe listed the items as he handed them over to him on by one. "How do you know how to do all this?" he asked. His voice was fading in and out with fear and panic.
"I had to chest tube my team sergeant in Fallujah." Barbie answered out of breath. That memory was not one he liked to remember.
"What happened to him?" Joe asked honestly curious.
Barbie stared at Joe and then he turned to Julia for a moment. What happened to him won't happen to Julia. Not as long as he could help it. He wasn't afraid, he knew as he had known back in Fallujah too, that if he did not do it, she would die. Her life was in his hands now, he needed to do this fast and right. Her life and with that his, was depending on how collected and calm he stayed.
So without answering he grabbed the pen took the top of it off with his teeth all the way pressing down on her wound. He was getting ready, preparing everything he needed to save her, focusing on his task and on the sound of the heart machine beeping. Nothing else mattered.
"Barbie?" Joe sounded confused and lost. Barbie glanced up at the boy. He was staring out the window in wonder. The moment Barbie turned to check what caught the younger boy's attention he immediately had to turn away. The big, old tree standing next to the hospital cracked and swung forward right through the window. Barbie barely had time to act. His instincts kicked in again – like they had been doing, so many times already that day - as he covered Julia with his body as well as he could. In that very moment he didn't care about himself at all. Every fiber in his body crying out and demanding the same: save Julia from the impact. He heard the glass behind him breaking into tiny pieces, Joe hitting the ground with a thud. There was silence for a second. He was half-laying on the bed, his upper body covering Julia's smaller one completely, his hand cradling her face. The first thing he realized was that she was still breathing... Thank God.
Slowly, he pulled slightly away to check on Joe.
"I am okay." The young boy confirmed once their eyes met and he pulled himself up.
And in the next moment the world came tumbling down, it crashed on him and his heart stopped beating as one of the most terrifying sound broke the silence. The heart monitor next to the bed started to beep in alarm. In a slow motion Barbie pulled completely away from Julia and stared wide eyed at the monitor. It felt like hours as he could do nothing else but stare at the flat line displayed on the screen. No heartbeat. He was gaping at the monitor in disbelieve. No. It couldn't be. Surely the equipment was hit by the tree too and was now dysfunctioning. It had to be like that, because there was no way in heaven or hell that there was no heartbeat. He was unable the breath for a moment which felt like eternity. NO.
After a few seconds he started to move again. He had to and fast. Now. Or everything was over. Quickly he placed his shirt back on her wound and pulled her shirt off to free her right side. His hands were trembling. Damn it! He had to get a hold on himself! He could not afford to be hesitant or worried now. He needed stable hands and collected thoughts. Just for the next few minutes. After that, after that he could break down and collapse but not now. Now was not the time. Now, was everything still possible.
"What is happening?" Joe asked his eyes so wide they looked like they would pop out at any moment.
"Her heart stopped." Barbie said still finding it hard to believe it. "Too much pressure." He added out of breath. His voice was husky and tick with fear. It sounded strange even to his own ears. Never in his life had he been so worried, confused or felt such an ice-cold fear before.
He turned to grab the pen and placed it against her soft skin right under her ribs. Against her skin that was already way too cold. He hesitated only for a moment but within this one second thousands of thoughts about the ways this could go wrong ran through his mind. He could very well kill her with his next move… or he could do it right and still not be able to save her or…. The constant alarm coming from the heart monitor made him tremble. He clenched his teeth so tightly, pain shot along his jawline. He could not breathe. A knot formed tightly in his throat; he wanted to scream and cry but he could not find enough air in his lungs to do anything. Instead his heart beat in his hears like war drums. In the next moment he took a deep breath forced himself to focus solely on his task, he steadied his hands and pushed hard. Joe next to him let out a whimper but he could not care less. He bent down and started to soak the air out. All the way his eyes never leaving the heart monitor. The damn machine or better yet what it was showing in the next moment would decide his fate. It had to work… where were those steady lines representing a heartbeat?
"What are you doing?" Joe asked.
"I am sucking out the extra air in her chest." He answered quickly, his voice thin with fear and worry.
He repeated the task several times, his eyes fixed on the monitor. First he was full with hope and faith. He HAD TO save her. He WOULD save her. With every passing moment tough, as the line stayed flat on the screen and the alarm kept beeping, hope, light and life started fade from him… His heart started to beat slower up to the point that it almost stopped completely. Cold, dark despair filled his body, and Barbie felt going numb. Julia was… he was… it was over… He was losing her… He…She… He stared at the monitor and felt the last piece of hope escaping his body as his world turned grey…
He glanced at Julia's cold body. She was leaving him, bringing every hope, everything that was good and warm with her. He felt Joe's scared eyes on him. Slowly he turned to look at him. He wanted to say something, he opened his month but nothing came out. He couldn't even bring himself to look at the young boy. He was utterly and completely lost and defeated. Joe stared at him wide eyed. His expression must have said enough for him to understand.
Turning back towards what was left from Julia he felt his mind shutting down. He was losing it… he was going numb and he honestly had no idea how he would handle this… if he could…
Suddenly there was a moment of complete silence before the heart monitor slowly started to beep again. He glanced up stunned. First he could not comprehend. He saw and heard the heartbeat but he could not understand it. It took him a complete 10 seconds to slowly start to make sense to what he saw. Heartbeat… Julia's heartbeat reflected on the screen. She was… Was she? Surprise, shock, gratitude, hope, LIFE made his cold and still heart start to beat fervently. His jaw hanged open and he wouldn't have been surprised if his eyes would have popped out of their socket. When he finally gathered himself he turned to grab the plastic bag.
"It worked!" Joe cried out confirming his thoughts.
Barbie couldn't say anything. His mind was not completely straight he was still too lame and paralyzed by the possibility of losing Julia. It was pure instincts kicking in as he worked on her wound, his eyes resting on her pale face and shining with gratitude and love. Now, even more certain than ever before, he knew he loved her. She was the center of his world and the possibility of losing her filled him with such pain he had never felt before.
"You did it." Joe turned now to him his voice heavy with relief and wonder.
"I had a little help Joe." Barbie said finally able to form words again. His voice was husky and tired but full with newfound hope. He managed to tear his gaze from Julia to throw a glance at the teenager. He was grateful to him. He owed to the young boy his whole life and he had no idea how or if ever he would be able to repay for it. Without him he would not have been able to save Julia. Without him she would be laying dead on the cold floor at home and he would be suffering from pain he had never known before; pain he had only got a taste from a few second before. Pain he never ever wanted to feel again.
The kid was staring out the window in wonder. Probably trying to work out all the things that had happened in the last half an hour. Barbie let a short, small smile find its way to his lips. He decided to give Joe some space and time to gather himself while he turned his full attention back to Julia.
"Storm's breaking up." Joe murmured but Barbie paid little to no attention to it.
"I gotta go now." The young boy said now with more confident in his voice as he turned to Barbie, looking in awe at the man. "I have to tell them." He added. The way he talked and the way he stared at him, made Barbie frown.
"You have to tell who?" He asked confused.
"You saved Julia. Just like you saved me when the dome came down." Joe said as if it would explain everything. He was staring at him like he was superman. Barbie frowned shaking his head slightly in confusion.
"Maybe you are here to save all of us." Joe finished with stars in his eyes.
Barbie shook his head now with more confident. Him? Saving everyone? That was a joke. Yes, the kid had been idealizing him for some reason from the very beginning on. He was one of those who thought he was some kind of super hero, the good guy… Just like Julia did… But he knew better and now Julia too.
"I don't think so, bud." He said finally turning back to Julia dismissing the topic completely.
"Junior was right. The monarch's a person." Joe kept saying with so much confident Barbie couldn't help but look back at him again. For a moment there was only silent, neither of them saying anything, the only sound being the constant, steady beep of the heart monitor.
"That person is you." Joe nodded and without waiting for an answer he turned on his heels and ran out of the room.
Barbie stared after him for a moment. Him? No. He was just a guy, a normal guy at best but actually the bad guy in reality. He was the villain… Or he used to be, before Julia. He glanced back at the woman laying on the bed and every thought about monarchs, bad and good guys left his mind. Julia was alive… That was all that mattered. And he couldn't thank every God and Angel enough for it.
Soooo one more to go from this episode. Let me know if you liked this.
Romantic In Denial: Thanks a lot and I hope you liked this one. It was really not that easy to write this chapter…
Girlwitharrow: I fully agree! I love the relationship between Joe-Norrie-Brabie- Julia!
yas-m: Thank you! In this chapter it was really not that easy to get into Barbie's head but I tried my best.