Julie had to wait several hours until Brian came back from visiting his family. She was glad that Howie did not drop in to check on them that night, she really had no idea how she would explain Brian being gone. Maybe she could have convinced him he was on a late night ice cream run? It was a good thing she did not have to use that or any other excuse. When Brian did return he asked her anxiously if anyone had dropped in while he was gone. His sigh of relief was apparent when she shook her head.
It had been a couple of hours since Brian had told her that he was going to head to bed, he was worn out and his eyes refused to focus on the words in the book any longer. Julie had echoed his intent to sleep and followed him downstairs, turning at her room and wishing him a good night. Now she sat on her bed waiting, her realization of where AJ was had wired her up enough that sleep wouldn't come even if she wanted it to. She looked at the alarm clock on her nightstand and decided it had been a sufficient amount of time for Brian to fall asleep.
Quietly she sneaked out of her room and down the hall to Brian's room. She listened at the door, his slow steady breathing confirmed that he was sleeping. She tried the door hoping that he didn't lock it. She was in luck, she wouldn't have to practice her lock picking skill that night. Slowly she pushed the door open and let her eyes adjust to the darkness of the room. She scoured the room searching for the device, smiling when she saw the device on the dresser nearby.
She grabbed his device and left the room as quickly as she could without making a sound. Once the door was shut behind her she let out a deep breath. Part of her knew she should have shared the information with Brian, told him what she figured out. The other part, well it wanted to rescue AJ, it was her fault he'd been stranded in Rome to begin with. She needed to make things right.
She crept down the hallway and dialed her device. If she set it correctly she should end up in the room with the women's costumes. She closed her eyes and pushed the button, hoping it was quiet in twenty-thirty or this was going to be a short trip. She arrived and peeled her eyes open slowly. When she found that she was in a dark room with clothing all around her, she released the breath she didn't know she'd been holding.
Fumbling around in the dark room, Julie mentally kicked herself for not bringing a flashlight with her. She managed to find the light switch and when seeing no one when glancing out the plexiglass window she flicked it on.
The room illuminated to show all the different outfits for the different time periods. She started to wonder how they found all these authentic outfits but then stopped herself when she remembered they could travel through time. Smirking, she started walking the racks running her fingers over the material of the different outfits. This was a costume room that would make Edith giddy. Julie almost laughed out loud at the thought of Edith giddy.
She found the area she was looking for and pulled out an outfit. Her fingers traced the birds that adorned the red silk of dress that reminded her of a sleeveless robe. She knew from her reading that night that the outfit was not called a kimono, worn by the Japanese, but rather han fu. She laughed a little remembering that most people would call these outfits kimonos even though the Japanese were the ones who borrowed the clothing idea from the Chinese.
She was halfway undressed when voices outside the door caused her to freeze. She ducked below the level of the window and crawled along the floor until she was against to the wall next to the door. She listened carefully for any signs that the person or persons were going to enter the room.
“I don't know how to handle it Howie.” Kevin's voice rang through the door. Julie's heart skipped a beat and she longed to throw open the door and run into his arms even with Howie standing right there.
“You better think of something. You know she can't stay here.” Howie replied.
Julie's lip curled at Howie through the wall. She was talking to Kevin about her, about how she didn't belong.
“She won't give me her first jump information. I can't force it out of her.” Kevin paused for a minute and Julie's heart beat faster. They were talking about her and it sounded like Howie had Kevin convinced that Julie didn't belong as a volunteer, didn't belong with him. “Is that prototype for the mind eraser ready?”
“It was ready last week but there was no one to test it on. It's not like we can randomly erase people's memories to test the thing.” She could hear Howie laugh over his own comment. His laughter made her hate him more. They were discussing testing a prototype of something that would mess with her mind as casually as they would discuss the winner of the last football game.
“Let me use it on her Howie. We already know she will be going back, it's better if she doesn't remember anything. I will erase her memory and then return her to her own time. It's the best and only solution I can really think of.”
Julie gasped horrified that Kevin would actually agree to do that to her. Brian must have told her what he told her to convince her to let him visit his family! She fought back the tears as she waited for the two to travel further down the hallway.
When their voices were sufficiently distant, Julie proceeded to climb into the tan under dress. It amazed her the size of the sleeves. She read about women carrying items including small dogs in those sleeves and now she could easily believe it. She slipped on the silk robe and fastened the collar off to her left side, flinching slightly as she touched her wounded side. She knew she wasn't completely healed but it wasn't going to stop her. She was going to finish what she promised, she would save AJ and then she would leave. It was obvious Howie and even Kevin didn't want her around. Remembering what he had said about wiping her memory brought a new set of tears to her eyes. Using the sleeve of her dress she wiped away the tears and looked at herself in the mirror.
She would not pass as a native Chinese but at least her clothing would fit. Glancing around at the room her mind floated back to Edith and it hit her. After she was done with this mission she would return to nineteen sixty and return to help Edith on the set of Blue Hawaii. Afterwords she would be Edith's assistant on whatever her next movie was. At least she felt needed and wanted there.
Strapping an elastic belt to her inner thigh she tried not to let her mind return to that moment with Kevin strapping the belt on her. She looked at herself one last time in the mirror, dialed her device and hit the travel button hoping that AJ would be there and her heartbreak could end.
