by Nancybe

"I hope that he makes her happy, Quentin. Carolyn deserves some happiness after all she has been through."

"He knows that he has us to answer to if he doesn't, Barnabas," Quentin replied with a serious expression. He was going to say more but stopped when he realized that his cousin's attention was no longer with him. He curiously followed Barnabas' gaze and was less than surprised when he saw that it lingered on a certain redheaded doctor who was wistfully fingering the bridal bouquet that she had caught after a wild toss by the bride.

"Why don't you ask her to dance?" the tall, handsome man said with a lopsided but knowing grin.

"Hmm?" Barnabas asked distractedly.

"Julia. Why don't you ask Julia to dance? I think she's danced with every man here - even Willie- except for you." Quentin nudged him in the ribs and earned a look of disdain from his elegant cousin. "Go on," Quentin urged.

Barnabas drew himself up with dignity in response to Quentin's taunts but found himself on his way over to Julia nevertheless. He had barely been able to keep his eyes off of her all night. It must be that dress, he thought to himself with assurance. I've never seen her wear anything like that before.

Julia was indeed wearing a very un-Julia-like dress. A coral chiffon skirt flared out from beneath a strapless beaded bodice that left her neckline and back bare except for the long matching chiffon scarf that was wrapped around her slim throat. The color was the perfect complement to her chestnut hair, which was piled high atop her head. To say that she looked elegant would have been an understatement, and many of the men who regularly ignored her when she wore her usual outfit of white labcoat had flocked to her side throughout the day and evening. Eliot and even Roger had twirled her around the dance floor more than once that night. It did seem that every man had asked to dance with her except for Barnabas. He had stood aside and watched her looking so different from his good and loyal friend. Barnabas had never known how to take Julia - she was so beyond his frame of reference - but he had finally gotten used to that Julia. Now the picture that she presented was entirely different; she was now beyond his frame of reference for the woman he had come to know as Julia. It made him feel unsure of himself and of her, and he had tried all day to reconcile this Julia with his Julia.

She looked up from the bouquet at his approach and gave him a familiar smile. "Hello, Barnabas."

"Would you care to dance with me, Julia?" he asked in a soft voice.

"Why, yes, I would," she answered with surprise. She had given up hope hours ago that he would ask her to dance. She went into his open arms gladly and looked up into his solemn face.

"You look absolutely lovely tonight, Julia," he said in his rich velvet voice.

"Um, thank you Barnabas," she said slowly. "You don't usually say things like that to me," she teased with a small smile.

"Perhaps I should say them more often," came his reply, and before she could look at him again, he drew her closer to him as they danced slowly around the floor. Julia relaxed in his arms, enjoying the feel of him but wondering why he was acting so strangely. She decided that he was probably feeling a little sad tonight after watching Carolyn go away with her new husband. He had been so protective of Carolyn during the past few years and had almost been a father to her. In fact, they had become so close that she had asked him to walk her down the aisle and that was why he wore the black tuxedo that made him look so handsome tonight.

The orchestra had segued into the next song before Barnabas realized that his thoughts had drifted off into a world of mere feelings rather than conscious thought. It wasn't until this moment that he realized that he had done this with Julia held tightly in his arms. It felt so natural to hold her this way, and her body seemed to fit his so well as he pressed her against him. He could smell the clean fresh scent of her hair and the light lily of the valley scent that she wore. Her skin was warm and silky where his hand lay against her bare back, and he longed to draw her to him more tightly. What in the world was going on?

The music stopped, and Julia drew back from him with a smile. "It's so wonderful to hear your heart beating again, Barnabas," she said so only he could hear. "I'm-" she stopped speaking as she noticed the strange look on his face. She moved closer to him and looked at him with alarm. "Barnabas, are you all right? Are you ill?"

"I don't know," he answered her. "Julia, could I speak to you privately?"

"Of course," she replied with concern as he quickly but firmly took her arm and led her out of the ballroom and down the hall into the library.

Barnabas closed the doors behind them and turned to find Julia next to him, reaching to take his pulse and feel his forehead for fever at the same time. Before she could complete the movement, he had gathered her into his arms and pressed a warm kiss against her lips.

Julia froze, dumbfounded at his actions, but allowed him to kiss her with a great deal of emotion. When he released her lips, she pulled back to look into his face, a million questions racing through her mind.

"Barnabas-"

"Shh," he whispered. "Don't talk now, Julia. Just kiss me. Just…kiss...me," he murmured, and his mouth had covered hers again.

The questions still swirled through her head but were halted by those most amazing of words: Just kiss me. Just kiss me? Had he really said that? Had Barnabas really just said that to her? Knowing it was true, she did as he had commanded, her arms going tightly around him, her lips tilted to meet his with enthusiasm.

The kiss seemed to go on forever, and Julia felt herself grow lightheaded from the intensity of it. And her lightheadedness increased at Barnabas' next words.

"Julia, I realized tonight, looking at you, holding you, that I do not want to spend another night, another day apart from you. Julia, will you marry me?" He looked deeply into her eyes, and she could see the love that shimmered in his. "You did after all catch the bouquet, and we wouldn't want to break a time honored tradition," he finished with a smile.

"Yes," she said in a near whisper trying to control her emotions. "Yes, of course I will. When?"

"Soon," he answered with a wide grin.

"How soon?" she asked perplexed by the look on his face.

"Tonight."

"Tonight!"

"Yes, Julia, tonight," he said in his matter-of-fact tone. "The minister is still here. It is just a matter of clearing it with Elizabeth-"

"But Barnabas, we can't get married without a license, and that takes at least several days-"

"Julia, my dear, you forget that I am a Collins and that this is Collinwood and that this is Collinsport. I am sure that the minister could be convinced to dispense with the formalities until we are able to get down to City Hall." He gave her a seductive smile, and she wondered for a moment, but just for a moment, what she might be getting herself into. Collinses always got their way in Collinsport, it was true.

"All right, Barnabas," she sighed with a small smile. " I will marry you tonight, right here and right now." She gazed up into his smoky eyes and brushed a kiss lightly over his lips. "But I need to go to my room for a moment first."

"I shall speak to Elizabeth and Reverend Simpson right away," he said excitedly, giving her one last squeeze before releasing her. "I'll meet you in the ballroom in a few moments." She nodded her head not trusting her own voice. He stopped a moment to look at her and said, "And Julia, don't change your dress."

As she watched him leave, she wondered if she had fallen into another one of the many strange portals at Collinwood. Was she really about to marry Barnabas Collins or would she turn to find that she had conjured the whole scenario in her own mind?

To Barnabas' delight, Elizabeth was thrilled that he and Julia wanted to wed that night in front of the already assembled guests. She quickly went about making the arrangements while the groom-to-be took Willie Loomis aside to tell him the good news and to send him off on an errand. Barnabas didn't notice Elizabeth slip from the ballroom to intercept his Best Man before he could leave to fulfill his employer's instructions nor did he see the happy grin on Willie's face as he hurried out of Collinwood.

The room was abuzz when Julia re-entered the ballroom several minutes later as the guests learned that they were to attend their second wedding of the day. Julia joined Barnabas and Quentin, the latter's face wreathed in a satisfied smile at the turn of events.

"It must have been that dress, huh, Barnabas? Looks like you should have worn that dress years ago, Julia," Quentin drawled as his cousin scowled in his direction.

"This dress?" Julia asked in genuine confusion, looking from the man of the 19th century to the one of the 18th century. "What do you m-" To Barnabas' relief, her question was interrupted by Elizabeth who clapped her hands with authority as she approached them.

"We're all ready, you two," the elegant matriarch announced, taking both of them by the arm. "Now if you'll just stand over here in front of the Reverend, we can begin."

Julia looked at the makeshift altar in astonishment. Centerpieces and baskets of flowers borrowed from Carolyn's wedding had been beautifully arranged at the front of the room in such a way that no one would have guessed that this wedding was a spur of the moment affair. Julia and Barnabas took their places among the white and pink roses as the guests gathered closer to hear the couple exchange their vows. As Barnabas had requested, Julia still wore the dress she had worn to the previous wedding, and she carried as her bridal bouquet the flowers she had caught from the toss of the earlier bride. As the Reverend Simpson began the simple ceremony, Julia handed the bouquet to Elizabeth, her matron of honor, and then turned to face the man she had loved unequivocally for so many difficult years. Barnabas took both of her hands in his warm ones, and she had to bite down hard on her lip to keep from shedding the tears that sparkled brightly in her emerald eyes. She smiled crookedly when she saw the same sparkle echoed in Barnabas' eyes, and her smile allowed one tiny crystal tear to escape from the corner of one full eye.

The couple exchanged their vows in clear but trembling voices, and as the Reverend called for the rings, Julia watched in surprise as Barnabas turned first to Willie and then back to her. Her eyes widened as he slid a diamond-encrusted ring onto her slim finger while repeating the Reverend's words, "With this ring, I thee wed…." Seeing her shock at the ring, he mouthed an explanation to her, My mother's. In the next moment, it was Barnabas' turn to be surprised when Julia took a thick gold band from Elizabeth and placed it on his finger. She smiled up at him, pleased that it fit, and mouthed, My father's.

The room grew very still at the minister's next words, and Julia was sure that everyone must be able to hear the thundering of her heart over the subtle strains of the orchestra. "I now pronounce you husband and wife. What God has joined together, let no man put asunder." Reverend Simpson stopped and smiled at the man and woman before him and thought that he had never seen two people so in awe of each other on their wedding day. He leaned a little closer to Barnabas and whispered loudly, "You may kiss the bride." And as the wedded couple's lips met in their first married kiss, the guests burst into a sustained round of spontaneous applause.

Grabbing a bubbling fluted glass of champagne, Willie tearfully toasted his dear friends in a prolonged speech that left Roger Collins rolling his eyes. This was followed by the cutting of the wedding cake which was borrowed from the top of Carolyn and Sebastian's cake. Julia had protested that the young couple would want to save the cake for their first anniversary, but Elizabeth was adamant that Carolyn would be proud to share her happiness with her cousins.

The groom cheerfully tolerated these traditions and fervently hoped that his bride was not disappointed that they had not had the time to plan their own wedding in the way they would have wished. But as they twirled around the dance floor for their first dance as husband and wife, Julia could tell that her new husband was growing restless. She looked up into his deep eyes to silently ask what was wrong.

"How much longer do we have to stay to make this respectable?" he murmured to her.

"Why, Barnabas, you reminded me earlier tonight that you were a Collins and that you could do anything you liked," she purred with a sweet smile. In the next few minutes, the new Mr. and Mrs. Barnabas Collins had thanked their hostess and bid their wedding guests goodnight, and Julia suddenly found herself on the front steps of Collinwood being soundly kissed by her husband.

"Take me home, Barnabas," she whispered urgently, and he needed no more encouragement than the husky note in her voice to make her wish come true. A moment later, they were at the front door of the Old House, and Julia felt herself being lifted off of her feet and carried swiftly up the stairs to her new bedroom.

Barnabas nudged the door open with his foot and was amazed to find the room warmed from a glowing fire that lazily lapped at the logs placed in the fireplace. Lit candles placed around the room cast dancing shadows on the darkened walls and the scent of fresh flowers wafted on the warm breeze created by the fire. A bottle of champagne, accompanied by two crystal glasses, sat chilling in anticipation on top of the dresser. Barnabas set Julia down in front of him, and they looked at each other in surprise until the truth occurred to them at the same moment. "Willie!" they said together with a little laugh.

Barnabas drew Julia against him while one hand wandered to her hair to let it down. "I hope you weren't disappointed that we had rather a borrowed wedding, my love," he said softly as his fingers began to brush through her hair.

"Barnabas, I cannot imagine a more perfect evening than the one we have just had." She stopped and pressed a quick kiss against his mouth running her tongue lightly against his lips. "Unless you can convince me otherwise, " she finished in a seductive tone.

"I think I could be persuaded to do just that, my dear," he said as his fingers found the cool metal zipper at the back of her dress, the dress that had made him want to dance with her, that had made him want to kiss her, that had made him want to marry her, that had made him want to….

And Barnabas Collins spent the rest of that night convincing his new bride of just how much more perfect the evening could be.

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