Chapter Text
There’s a vibrant, colourful place a whole world away, where no one has to worry about death or taxes (or cellulite). In this quirky, ever-expanding paradise that always smells as sweet as it looks, there’s an Ordinary Barbie.
Three years ago, she was an idea pitched to the CEO by a mother who had come out of a personal crisis and learned a lot about herself, her daughter and what they both wanted to see in their world as women. By nature of her design, Ordinary Barbie is a more mature doll with dark hair and a wise smile, who becomes a maternal figure to the many Barbies and Kens around her. Thanks to great sales, she’s here to stay.
Her designer (who now has a seat on Mattel’s board) also happens to have an Ordinary Barbie and an Ordinary Ken in her own world, but they’re not quite like this Barbie - no, they’re human after all.
Barbie, for her part, has recently been promoted to a full-time fashion designer at her job. In the meantime, she’s been running a successful blog where she shares her own fashions and discusses topics that are important to her. She knows she’s not looking to be an all out activist, but doing her part to help make positive change with what voice she has matters to her.
As for Ken, he’s been living a busy life in his own way. He still works as a lifeguard, and for the most part he loves his job, but there’s something there that leaves him feeling unfulfilled (not even yoga or wellness classes are filling this anxious void). He volunteers at the local ranch once a month, and he’s even leading a strenuous weekly fitness class for him and his fellow lifeguards.
With the holiday season comes less time at work for him, and he’s once again reminded of how much he loves being at home. He would spend hours cooking, cleaning and exercising in his mini home gym with a classic rock playlist Ryan curated for him. One really cool thing about the real world, he decided, was getting to know music in a way that he never hoped to in Barbieland.
It made it even better when his beloved would come home, and he could bask in the praises of having done such a good job with the house that day. Seeing her content and happy in their home, despite how tired or stressed she could get outside of it, made every hour away from her worthwhile.
He’s thinking of her now, as he stands in the kitchen cooking breakfast. She looked so peaceful that he decided he would surprise her with something to eat, and thus left her to sleep a bit longer. It’s Christmas Eve, and they’ll be going over to Gloria’s today to celebrate with her and the family. A busy time, for sure, and she’s been so tired lately that he wants to make sure she gets every second extra of precious sleep that she can.
Soft footsteps alert him to her presence and he looks up from the stove to see her in the doorway.
“Hi, husband.” Barbie smiles, a twinkle in her eye.
“Hi, wife,” Ken grins slowly, “did you sleep well?”
She hummed noncommittally, twirling a strand of hair around her finger. He regards her curiously as she gnaws her lower lip in thought, eyes sizing him up from the short distance between them. Just as he turns down the heat on the stove she rushes him, her mouth on his before he can even let out a squeak of surprise. Her kisses are breathtakingly needy, fingers scraping and tugging his hair before she wraps her arms around his neck. Getting the hint from how she pushes onto him, he lifts her and carries her to the counter nearest to the doorway.
“Ken.” She breathes as his lips travel down her neck, her wanting voice sending shivers down his spine.
“Is that bacon burning?”
“Hmm? No, it’s fine, I turned it down.” He assured her, his hands roaming her body as he leans in for another kiss.
Her hands slip from his neck and grab weakly onto his arms. He chances a glance at her, to see she’s suddenly very pale.
“Barbie?”
Unable to speak, the smell of bacon seeming to overpower her, she pushes Ken away from her. He watches, dumbfounded, as she slides off the counter and runs to the nearest bathroom to be sick.
Barbie is slumped beside the toilet, completely mortified, when there’s a soft knock at the door.
“Sweetheart?”
She’s allowed him to call her select pet names, and the way he says this one with such earnest concern chokes her up a bit. Ken waits patiently, his hand on the door.
“I’m fine, must be something I ate or stress or something.” Came her evasive voice.
“Maybe you’re coming down with something.”
There’s a pause.
“Maybe.”
“We should call off tonight.”
“What? No!”
“Barbie, you’re sick!”
“I’m fine, Ken! It’s just a one off, I’ll be fine once I’ve actually eaten something. Just… maybe not bacon?”
Knowing he’s unconvinced, Barbie spends much of the day from there acting as fine as fine could possibly be. Still, her disappearing into the bathroom again right after breakfast does nothing to dissuade his concerns, though he doesn't hear her throwing up that time.
The car ride to Gloria’s is led by Barbie’s singing, the festive songs on the radio filling the space with loud, cheerful music. Ken can’t help but sing along, infected by her enthusiasm, but every now and then he glances at her nervously, unsure of if she actually has bounced back from that morning or if she’s putting on a very good show. If he’s given her food poisoning or something, however mild, he’ll never forgive himself.
Sasha started at an out of state college in the fall, which has been hard for all of them. Not to mention that Kevin has been on missions set by the FBI abroad (typically in Australia) for months at a time, only returning for events like their wedding before setting off almost straight away afterwards. Still, both of them were home for the holidays (though Kevin is tentative about if he’ll be there for New Years) and they all wanted to make the most of it.
Surprisingly, Sasha is the first at the door to greet them, only to be immediately scooped into a joint bear hug by the couple before she can utter a word.
“You guys!” Sasha whined as they fussed her, but there was a bashful smile on her face.
Ryan appears then to help Ken bring in their bag of gifts and Ken’s offerings of desserts, and Barbie takes that as her cue to find Gloria.
“Where’s Kevin?”
“Stuck in traffic.” Sasha replied, picking up Boo before he can trip anyone up (especially Ken).
The smell of spices and steaming tamales warmed the house. Barbie finds Gloria in the kitchen, engrossed in her cooking, hips swaying to the music as she stirs something in a pot. She shouts something to Ryan in Spanish, and he replies to her like a complete natural - it’s crazy what motivation and over two years of intensive learning can do.
She turns then to see Barbie and a huge, beaming smile lights up her face.
“Oh, honey! There you are!”
“Here I am!” Barbie laughed, hugging Gloria tightly.
Glancing around for any sign of the men first, Barbie looked at Gloria seriously.
“That thing we discussed before,” she said in a hushed tone, “I tried again today, just like you said.”
“And?”
She couldn’t keep the grin off her face and Gloria clasped her hands together gleefully.
“Does he know?”
“Not yet.”
“Barbara.”
“Tonight, I promise. I just wanted to be extra sure.”
“Alright, I trust you.” Gloria placed a hand on her shoulder, “Come on, you can help plate some of this up. Sasha! When did Kevin say he’d be here?”
“He’s just pulling up now!”
“Great.”
At Barbie’s puzzled look, she laughed.
“He swung by the store on his way; we needed some fireworks to go with the sparklers.”
“Oh.”
Dinner turns out to be a grand affair, with so much selection that they can’t fit all of the feast on the table. Sasha and Gloria took charge of the cooking, relegating Ryan to cleanup duty, and their hard work had certainly paid off. There was a selection of dishes with all sorts of different flavours and textures, such as pozole, turkey buttered with chipotle, mashed potatoes and menudo. Sasha had even made some buñuelos as part of their desserts, which Kevin was particularly fond of.
The fireworks Kevin brought were spectacular. Ken stared at them with childlike wonder, his mouth slightly agape. He never knew silent fireworks existed, but apparently they did, and he had to admit he didn’t miss the noise that came from banging fireworks one bit. Between singing songs, sipping champurrado and lighting sparklers, he’d almost forgotten his worries about Barbie’s health.
Until he realised she’d slipped away into the house while everyone was watching the last of the fireworks, including him.
Gloria noticed him glancing about, a nervous look on his face, and placed a comforting hand on his arm.
“It’s okay, she just needed a moment.”
“Oh. Right.” He knew he should respect her space - she’d be back, right?
But, what if she was sick again?
“She might be in the guest room.” Gloria said, turning her attention back to the fireworks.
Shooting her a grateful look, Ken turned and went into the house to find Barbie.
As she’d predicted, Barbie was sat on the edge of the bed in the guest room, a white box wrapped with a bow on her lap. Her gaze lifted to meet his and he hoped she wasn’t annoyed at his hovering. To his surprise, she seemed relieved that he’d come after her.
“I didn’t want you to be alone when you’ve been sick.” Ken explained hastily anyway.
She just smiled and patted the space beside her. Immediately, he was at her side.
“I’m just nervous,” she admitted, “I needed to take a minute to think of what I want to say to you.”
“To me?” He echoed, tilting his head curiously.
“Yeah,” her fingers twiddled the bow on the box, “I brought this with me for you, but I didn’t know if I wanted to give it to you here or at home. I have another one for you to open here, but this one is special.”
“You didn’t have to go out of your way like that.”
She chuckled softly, took a deep breath and held the box out to him.
“I’ve kept this a secret for some time, because I wanted to be sure. Don’t be mad, please?”
He took the box from her carefully, shaking his head.
“Barbie, I could never be mad at you.”
It’s true, really. Sure, they had their moments of being annoyed at one another, or maybe a bit grumpy, but they never fought. The worst they ever did was bicker, which they were teased for on numerous occasions by friends.
Ken tugged at the bow until it came loose, then lifted the lid of the box.
Inside the box was a tiny cream oodie and a pair of equally tiny matching slippers. His heart beat faster in his chest as he lifted the oodie - it was so small in his hands. Hidden underneath the oodie was a blue and white stick with one word written on it clearly.
Pregnant.
He choked a gasp, bringing the tiny piece of clothing close to his chest, his heart, and closing his eyes tightly. Everything was just so overwhelming that he couldn't think, could hardly breathe, all he could see in his mind was all of those daydreams replaying over and over in quick succession. Distantly, he felt Barbie’s hand rubbing his back, and he let out a soft, happy sob.
“Is this real?” He whispered.
“It’s real, I promise.”
His tearful eyes met hers, and he was just so full of love for her that he thought he might burst.
“I’m- I’m gonna be- we’re gonna be…”
She reached up and stroked his cheek lovingly.
“Parents.” She breathed.
He took her hand in his and kissed her palm, and then her knuckles.
“I’ve wished for this for so long. I can’t believe it.”
She scooted closer and the two embraced.
“Since the day we saved Barbieland,” he took a sharp intake of breath, they didn’t speak of Barbieland much anymore, “I’ve wished for this too, someday.”
He pulled back to really study her gaze, his brow furrowed with concern.
“But are you ready for this?”
They’d only spoken about this properly once before, after all, shortly after their honeymoon. Ken, with his usual hesitations, didn’t want to seem too eager and Barbie was also a little nervous and evasive about it, though both agreed it was something they’d like to happen whenever the time came from then on.
“I’m ready,” Barbie nodded after a moment, “it’s a bit scary, not knowing how it’ll all go, but I want to try. I want this, more than I’ve wanted… almost anything, really.”
Grinning like a fool, Ken kissed her sweetly.
“You’re a wonder to me.”
From downstairs, they heard everyone coming back in, with Gloria calling up that it was present time.
“Do they know?”
“Only Gloria,” Barbie admitted, “I wanted to make sure everything was right, because she’s got the experience and I don’t.”
Ken nodded, placing the oodie back into the box.
“Good call, she knows best on this one.”
Barbie felt another wave of relief wash over her at the pleased look on his face.
“You’re not annoyed I told her?”
He glanced up at her, confused.
“Why would I be? She’s, like, our sister right? That’s how I feel, I guess. Besides, like you said, she knows about the whole pregnancy… thing.” Ken said, gesturing to her awkwardly.
Barbie huffed a laugh, her hand instinctively coming to rest on her stomach. Ken’s eyes softened in awe at the sight of her.
“Can you feel anything yet?”
“Not yet.”
“Hmm.”
“Hey! Lovebirds!” Sasha was shouting now, “Quit making out and come back!”
Barbie laughed as Ken’s ears pinked.
“Come on, I think we have something to share with everyone.”
Ken took Barbie’s hand, the box tucked under his other arm, and let her lead him down the stairs to their family.
At last, that secret wish was coming true.
