Barnabas’ smile faded as he remembered the first time he had heard the song he had just played on the record player. It had been such a difficult time for him, for Julia, for his family. They had been dealing with Adam, Nicholas Blair, Angelique….

Barnabas paused for a moment on the last stair watching Julia in the cellar laboratory. Unlike his friend, he wasn’t bothered by the scent of the basement. All he could smell was the faint scent of Julia’s perfume which reminded him of spring afternoons in his mother’s flower garden. It was a comforting smell.

Julia was so focused on her work that she hadn’t heard Barnabas come downstairs. Her back was to him, but he could tell by her stance that she was extremely tired. Standing very still, he could hear that she was singing very softly, so softly that he could only catch some of the words:

"There’s a place for us,
A time and place for us…”

Barnabas smiled a little. Somehow, Julia’s singing provided a small sense of normalcy to this dreadful place with its dreadful secrets. How little normalcy he had known in his life. And when he had lived a “normal” life, he had not appreciated it. He had longed for adventure in exotic places. Now, normalcy, calm and quiet seemed exotic to him. Would he ever know peace again?

He looked at Julia again, how she worked on despite her fatigue. She hadn’t known normalcy either, not since she had met him. She really was a remarkable woman.

“Julia,” he ventured softly so as not to startle her in this dreary place. “What are you singing?”

The doctor whirled around, more in embarrassment than in fear. “Oh, Barnabas, I didn’t hear you come down. You could hear me singing?” she asked sheepishly.

He stepped closer to her, noticing that dark circles were beginning to form under her eyes. “Yes, just barely. It sounded like a lovely song.”

“It’s from a musical,” she began, then explained further as she saw confusion on his face. “Remember that I told you that some movies are called “musicals” - that songs are interspersed throughout the story, even taking the place of some dialogue?”

“Ah, yes, the kind of movie that David considers…um, ‘icky’ I think was the word.”

Julia laughed at both David’s reaction to musicals and to Barnabas’ uttering of the word. “Yes, he thinks that it is ridiculous that people suddenly burst into song and dance. Not to mention that musicals usually involve some sort of romance, and that to a young boy is the ultimate in ‘ickiness.’ ”

“And that song is from one of those movies?”

“Yes, it’s from West Side Story. It’s about two young star-crossed lovers - essentially Romeo and Juliet set in modern day New York City. They played the song on the radio tonight, and I haven’t been able to get it out of my head.”

“I see. Well, Julia, it is terribly late, and you look exhausted. I think you should finish up here for the evening.”

“I can’t deny that I am tired, Barnabas. I’ll be up in just a minute.”

“Very well, Julia.” Barnabas turned and headed up the stairs. As he opened the door to the first floor of his home, he could hear Julia singing again:

"We’ll find a new way of living,
We’ll find a way of forgiving.”

The words stayed with him as he went into the drawing room to wait for his friend, echoing his own earlier thoughts. How he wanted a new way of living.

Without realizing it, Barnabas began to hum the tune under his breath.

~*~    ~*~    ~*~  

As Barnabas’ mind retreated from the memory, he realized that he was still holding onto the album. He glanced at the bold red and black graphics on the front of the jacket and then turned it over, his finger going down the list of songs until he found the one he wanted. Somewhere. He had heard Julia singing this song several times after that first night in the Old House cellar: in 1897 as she prepared his injection, in Parallel Time when she was posing as Hoffman, in 1840 as she tended to Roxanne, and many other times as well.

Barnabas imagined that Julia did not even realize how often she had sung that song. But he had watched her face as she sang it, and it seemed to have an odd effect on her. She would look sad but somehow hopeful at the same time. He had begun to watch her without her knowing it whenever he heard her humming the tune or softly singing some of the words. He was fascinated by her reaction to it.

Laying the album on the table next to the record player, Barnabas moved to stand before the fireplace. In the past, he had only heard snatches of lyrics to the song, but those that he had heard had begun to touch him, to weave a chain around his heart that reflected so many of his own hopes and dreams. Hopes and dreams that seemed to come to nothing. He moved from time to time, century to century, past, present, future, universe to universe. His life consisted of protecting his family from every manner of ghost, demon and witch that could possibly exist. Whatever happiness he had ever found had been snatched away from him. So when he heard Julia’s song and the hopes of a new way of living, of a place of peace and quiet, he could not help but respond as if it had been written for him.

Furthermore, Barnabas had begun to associate the tune with the scent of Julia’s perfume, that soothing smell that also reminded him of his mother’s garden and happier times. Whenever he heard the song, Julia was nearby, and the song and the scent of her became one in his mind, calming and comforting him.

As he watched the flames caper and dance on this cool autumn night, he had to admit to even himself that he had not always been the most perceptive of men, especially when it had come to Julia. Oh, it hadn’t taken him long to realize that Julia sang Somewhere, consciously or subconsciously, when they were dallying in a time and place that was not their own, usually in danger and unsure if they could ever return home. And that realization had given the song even more meaning for him. What he had failed to realize was what the song meant to Julia, herself. That she was lamenting their, his and her, inability to find a time and place for them.

He closed his eyes, still delighted after all these months of being cured with the way the fire now warmed his skin. No, he had not been very perceptive when it came to Julia. Not until now.