★彡ᴅᴏɴ'ᴛ ʟᴇᴛ ᴍᴇ ᴅᴏᴡɴ | ᴘᴀᴜʟ ᴍᴄᴄᴀʀᴛɴᴇʏ彡★ ✅

★彡[ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ 18]彡★

As soon as they were far enough away from the room that Abby was sure they wouldn't be overheard by her new employer(s?), she stopped.

"Paul."

"Come on, Abs, I want you to meet the boys -"

"Paul." He stopped and turned, looking at her. She looked quite upset and so he walked back down the corridor until they were standing face-to-face.

"Is everything alright?"

"You didn't tell me that I would be getting a job." She paused, her eyes watering. "I look a mess! I didn't put any makeup on today -"

"You don't need makeup, luv," Paul said softly as he put his arms around her slowly, expecting her to stop him. "You're beautiful."

"You're just saying that -"

"I'm not." He promised. "You really are beautiful. You're gear and fab and all of those other stupid words that the kids are using these days -"

Abby giggled, looking at Paul as he tried to cheer her up. "We are the kids." She reminded him.

"No," he said softly and simply, but with a note of teasing in his tone, "we're not. We're the old granny and grandpa that keep saying how things were better in our day."

Abby giggled again and Paul wiped her tears away before he placed a kiss in the middle of her forehead. "Please don't cry. I just don't want you to be stressed about finding a job - and with you working here, we can drive to and from together, and leave to get Mollie everyday."

"I can't believe you did this for us." Abby said in a voice barely more audible than a whisper.

"I did this for you. I just want you to be happy, Abs. You and Mollie have had such a rough time of it already and I just want to make it better for you both... don't I?"

Abby nodded, "you do, Paul." She looped her arms around her neck and hugged him tightly, burying her head in his chest.

Paul loved the feel of her against him, and knew that he would treasure this moment between them forever, even if they never went any further than they had done up until now.

But he wanted to experience everything with her, and not just physically.

No, Paul wanted to feel love with her. He wanted to feel the excitement of watching his beautiful bride walking down the aisle, and the slightly nervous feelings that he was sure came when somebody was told that they were going to be a father. He wanted to take care of Mollie and have lots of his own children with Abby, and when they were both old and grey he wanted them to pass away in each other's arms.

He wanted it all...

And he hoped that she did, too.

"Now come on," he said, holding out a hand for her. "I want you to meet the lads."

Abby took Paul's hand and let him lead her to the rest of the Beatles.

"Lads!" Paul said by way of a greeting as soon as he walked into the room, Abby coming in just milliseconds after him but still holding his hand.

"Thought you'd forgotten about us, Macca." John drawled without looking up from some new lyrics he was working on.

Paul let go of Abby's hand. She stood beside him, feeling stronger and braver because he was beside her.

"Didn't forget, just had... something important to take care of."

"Who's the bird, Paul?" Ringo asked as he looked up from the newspaper that he had been reading. He closed it, uncrossed his legs and stood up, placing the paper on his seat. Ringo walked over to Paul and Abby. "What's your name, luv? I'm Ritchie."

He held out a hand and she shook it.

"She's Paul's bird from the cafe." George answered for Abby in a bored tone. "Surprised you don't recognise her, Ringo, you've usually got an eye for faces."

Ringo shrugged, "must be a fluke." He smiled kindly at Abby, "nice to see you again."

"And you." Abby breathed out a small sigh of relief because the Beatle was being so nice to her. "And my name's Abby."

"Lovely." Ringo went to sit back down, picking up his paper before doing so.

John was eyeing Paul and Abby thoughtfully, and didn't say anything.

"Abby's going to be our secretary, now." Paul said, addressing the other three.

"Get the sack from your last shit job?"

"George..." Paul said in a low, warning tone of voice as he narrowed his eyes at the guitarist.

"No, it's okay, Paul." She looked at George, "George, is it?" He nodded. "I didn't get the sack - I quit. And I quit because I didn't like how my boss spoke to me. And if I don't like the way you speak to me then I'll do the same thing, and then Paul won't be very pleased with you... will he?"

Paul smirked, Ringo looked impressed and John snorted.

George was silent.

He was flabbergasted.

When nobody said anything else, Abby looked at Paul. "So what exactly do I do as a secretary?"

Paul shrugged, "secretarial stuff, I s'pose. Answering fantail, filing stuff, taking notes," he paused, "I dunno exactly, luv, but we'll work it out as we go."

"You'll be on tea duty, can tell you that much." John said, making Abby and Paul look at him. "Plenty of milk, plenty of sugar. Ta."

Abby smiled. John was a character, she could tell that much! "Anyone else want a cuppa?" She asked, looking around at all of them and letting her eyes settle on George when she had finished. "George?"

She really didn't want to argue, and she wanted this job to work out - for herself and for Paul. He had done so much for her, the least she could do was to get on with his friend who was also her boss!

Feeling ashamed of how he had behaved - and slightly in awe of the girl for standing up to him, George nodded and said his order as he looked at the floor. "Drop of milk, no sugar. Thanks."

Abby took Paul and Ringo's tea order and then went to find the kitchen.