Gnik Nus

Chapter 16

It was the 26th of October, a day quite like no other. A Monday, the boys were taking a few days break in their UK tour. Yesterday they performed in Brighton - in two days' time they were to be in Exeter. Although it was a little out of the way, the boys had come back up to London for the day before making their way to Exeter tomorrow. These days it was a rarity to have everyone in Brian's apartment at once, and today was one of those rare days. John and George were jamming in the lounge (our beds had been stowed away), Jenny and Ethel were making cups of tea for everyone, Adam, Ben, Paul and Jack were at the playground, and Brian, Ringo and Peter were watching John and George muck around on their guitars. The apartment was quite squished and I occupied myself by going to find Kylie, whose whereabouts were unknown to me. I found her in Ethel's room after a very short search, sitting cross-legged on the floor apparently doing nothing.

"Hey," I greeted.

"Hello," she replied in an almost-dead tone, looking up.

"What's the matter?" I asked, sitting next to her.

"Nothing."

"Are you sure?"

She nodded and smiled at me. She leaned sideways and laid her head on my shoulder, biting her lip.

"Soph," she wailed.

"What is it?" I laughed, looking down at her.

"I think... I think..."

"You think what?" It seemed she was finally going to tell me what was wrong.

"I think I'm pregnant."

I froze. I was not expecting that. She lifted her head up to look at me coyly. She didn't seem upset or angry, but that was probably just from the shock and eeriness of it. We were stranded in 1964 and we knew The Beatles – this situation kept getting weirder and weirder.

"Uh, is it even possible?" I asked and she just nodded.

"Who?" I asked, my eyes going wide, though I already knew. She shook her head and buried it back in my shoulder.

"Kylie, tell me," I pleaded. It was either Ringo or John - we were fucked either way. She was pregnant to a BEATLE. She airily lolled her head around and closed her eyes before slumping over onto my lap.

"Kylie," I shook her and became increasingly worried, "Kylie!"

I deduced that she had fainted. It was probably a mixture of factors – the (possible) pregnancy, the shock, and the weirdness of this whole situation, which we had still not gotten fully used to. It was probably also due to the possibility that Ringo or John was the father of her possible baby. It would be shocking no matter who it was.

"Guys!" I called out, "Guys! Anyone!"

Jenny, Adam and Paul (the latter two who'd evidently returned from the park) came running into the room.

"She's fainted," I told them, looking up at them worriedly.

Adam and Paul each grabbed an end of her (legs for Paul, upper body for Adam) and carried her to the lounge.

"Why did she faint?" Adam asked, sounding concerned.

"I don't know, she just did. She's... not really herself at the moment," I explained without giving anything away. Jenny ran into the bathroom and came back with a wet face towel, which she draped over Kylie's forehead, and a glass of water. After a few moments, Kylie eventually came back to the land of the conscious. We all breathed a sigh of relief.

"Are you okay?" Adam asked, "What was that about?"

"I'm just not feeling too well," Kylie said, struggling to sit up.