- 𝓣𝓱𝓮 𝓑𝓮𝓪𝓽𝓵𝓮 𝓕𝓪𝓶𝓲𝓵𝔂 -

Chapter 15: Blackbird

John invited Yoko to their house again one fine evening. Paul was furious, George shut himself in his room, while Ringo hung around and watched as John and Yoko sat in the living room, working on a new song.

"Let's call it 'The Ballad of John and Yoko'," John said.

"And what'll it be about?" Yoko asked with a smile.

"Us." John raised his glass of whiskey. "Our beautiful friendship."

Yoko gave him a playful smack on the arm, while Paul watched, brimming with wifely jealousy. Ringo, being the curious child he was, tried to reach for John's glass of whiskey.

"Can I have a taste?" he asked.

"No, Ring, it's bad for you." John wagged a disapproving finger at him. Then he looked up at Paul. "Hey, Paulie, do you mind bringing him upstairs to his room? Yoko and I can't focus."

"Oh, no, I don't mind at all," Paul said sarcastically, taking Ringo's hand. "C'mon, Ringo, let's leave Daddy and his friend alone."

"Okay!" Ringo happily hopped away without a care in the world.

As they slowly made their way up the stairs, they suddenly heard John actively strumming his guitar, and next they heard Yoko cry out as if she were in inexplicable agony, "Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!?"

Then they heard John whisper, "That's great stuff, Yoko, great stuff...keep going."

Followed by more screaming. "Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!?"

"Erm, Mummy," Ringo tugged on his mother's sleeve. "What are they doing?"

"Making a song," Paul shuddered. "C'mon, let's go. Forget about them. I'll read you a bedtime story, okay?"

"About the walrus again?" Ringo whined.

"I'm sorry, but I can't find the one about the octopus. I must've lost it while I was tidying up your room."

"Mm, how about a song instead?" Ringo rubbed his sleepy eyes.

"You want me to sing you to sleep?" Paul said.

"Yeah." Ringo nodded. "Can you?"

"Well, alright." Paul patted him on the shoulder. "You go on ahead and make yourself cozy in bed, I'll just get my guitar."

"Okay." Ringo obediently ran into his room, kicked off his shoes, and dove straight into his duvet, ready for a nice, soothing lullaby to help him fall asleep. "I'm ready!" he yelled.

"Okay, okay, wait just a minute!" Paul yelled back. As he dug around in his room looking for his guitar, he could still hear Yoko screaming and whining all the way from downstairs, and at this point, he didn't know if she was still singing or if she was already doing something else with John. "Oh, the wench better not be..."

He finally found his guitar under his bed, and he pulled it out and lugged it over to Ringo's room, where the performance was going to take place.

He knelt beside his son and began tuning the strings of his guitar. All the while, Ringo watched with his chin resting on his hands.

"Hey, Mummy," he said. "Why's Daddy always hanging out with that weird lady downstairs?"

"Erm," Caught off-guard by this sudden question, Paul cleared his throat. "Well...they're good friends."

"But they're always around each other!"

"Well, yeah-"

"It's like Daddy's gone crazy about her!"

Paul sighed. "Oh, Ringo," He stroked his little boy's hair. "Ringo, someday you'll be old enough to understand...but for now, I'm going to need you to ignore them, okay?" He pulled his son close and buried his face in his shoulder. "Just forget about them. Just forget about them..."

He could feel tears cloud his vision, but he stopped them from flowing freely and pulled away to look his son in the eye.

"I'm sorry." He smiled sadly. "I'm sorry. I came here to sing you a lullaby, didn't I?"

He chuckled and picked up his guitar, and he proceeded to strum away nonchalantly, giving off the impression that nothing was wrong.

"You promise you'll go to sleep after this?" he asked.

"I promise." Ringo crossed his heart.

Paul nodded and began singing the opening lines of "Blackbird".

"Blackbird singing in the dead of the night
Take these broken wings and learn to fly,
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to arise..."

- - -

Once Ringo fell fast asleep, Paul left his room and made his way downstairs to the kitchen to brew himself a nice cup of tea, but on his way there, he passed by the living room and just so happened to hear John whisper to Yoko these exact words...

"I just want you to know that whatever happens, I will always love you."