On Loving Paul [McLennon]

Rest

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

Paul slowly opened his eyes to find himself in a sterile, sickeningly white hospital room, hooked up to wires and needles stuck in his arms. He tried to sit up, but was immediately hit with a new round of agony and the memories of his father beating him senseless and punching him and kicking him came flooding back.

"Hey," a familiar voice made it's way gently to Paul's ears. "Take it easy, there."

Slowly turning his head to the side, Paul saw that there was a chair placed at his bedside and it was occupied by none other than John Winston Lennon. "John," he grinned.

"Hey there, Paulie." John smiled.

"How long have I been out?" Paul asked, frowning deeply.

"Three days," John said somewhat sadly.

Paul sighed heavily.

"The doctors say you'll be perfectly fine," John informed Paul. "They say it'll take you a while to recover, but you'll be back to normal eventually. They also said you've probably been asleep for so long because you're mentally exhausted which - they say - was probably caused by your dad having abused you for months now while you kept it a total secret."

Paul frowned. "I don't want to talk about it, John."

"Well, we have to talk about it eventually." John huffed. "You lied to me, Paul. Now, I don't care about that all too much but you lied to me and in doing so you put yourself in danger!"

"I am not going to discuss this right now," Paul snapped. "Is Mike okay?"

John sighed, then decided to let Paul drop the subject for now and nodded. "Yeah, he's fine. He ran out of the house around three in the morning the night everything happened and came and got me and George."

"Speaking of George," Paul said. "Where is he?"

"He took Mike and went to go get lunch for the three of us about twenty minutes ago," John stated. "He should be back soon."

Paul nodded slowly. "Did they arrest him?"

"Yes," John gave a single nod and he smiled as Paul's face broke into a wide grin. "You won't have to deal with him anymore. I promise."

"Where are Mike and I going to live?" Paul looked at John.

"I'm going to try to convince Mimi to let the two of you come live with us, but I haven't been home for three days." John said.

"You haven't left in three days?" Paul furrowed his brows.

"I've barely left your side, never mind the room." John chuckled. "So, guess what I found out recently?"

"What?" Paul questioned.

"Mimi doesn't like George," John laughed. "Can't stand the sight of him."

"What?" Paul's eyes widened. "Why not?"

"I believe her exact words were 'he dresses even worse than you do, John!'." John just shook his head and laughed again. "I told George I made the right decision letting him into the band because anyone who can get on Mimi Smith's bad side like he can by just walking into a room is just fine in my book."

Paul chuckled and slowly closed his eyes, suddenly feeling very tired and drowsy. "I'm - I'm feeling sort of s-sleepy,"

"Get some rest, Paulie." John stroked his cheek gently, eyeing his cut lip and bruised jaw with a sigh. "I'll see you in a bit."

Paul drifted off and left John staring at the bandages that were wrapped around Paul's torso once more. John pulled the white blanket up so that the bandages were covered and he had to admit that aside from the cuts bruises on his face, the bassist looked peaceful, pleasant, and as if nothing had happened at all....but John knew what had happened, so it hurt him anyway.

Three weeks later, Paul was allowed to go home. John, George, Pete, and Stuart had worked together to move Paul's bed from his house to John's and up into John's room. Then Mike's bed into the downstairs practically empty study which had only ever been used by John's Uncle George.

John and George both helped Paul get from the car up to the room he and John would now be sharing and Mimi scowled at George as they made their way up the stairs. Paul couldn't help but laugh as he noticed it now that he knew.

Once Paul was resting, George said he was going home and that he would call to check in how Paul was doing that night and then he headed out.

It was July fifth, the day before the one year anniversary since John and Paul met. John and Paul were living together with Mimi and Mike. As far as they knew, nobody suspected a thing as far as them dating. They had a wonderful band with Stuart and Pete and George. Paul and Mike no longer had to worry about their father. The two musician weren't really worried about the fact that they were dating. Everything was looking up for John and Paul.

But that was just not meant to last for very long.