On Loving Paul [McLennon]

Come Back To Me

Christmas came and went, as did New Year's Day, and before The Beatles knew what was happening it was 1961 and they were playing gigs at the Cavern every other night and Jim McCartney was, once again, nowhere to be found.

In the middle of January, Mimi was invited to stay with a friend in America for a couple weeks at the same time John was invited to go see Pete (Shottan) for the weekend.

"I've got to stay with Mike," Paul said when John brought up the matter.

"He's almost fifteen, you know." John argued.

"Yeah, but my dad." Paul sighed and shook his head. "I can't leave Mike all on his own while he's running freely. And you are not going to just cancel the trip, I'll be fine."

John knew it was useless to argue with Paul and he also knew that Paul could handle himself, so he finally agreed.

The day before John left, Mimi having left a couple days earlier, Mike fell rather ill. Paul and John called a doctor who came over and checked him out and said he would be fine. He just needed lots of fluids and rest and they needed to keep the house warm. He gave Paul a bottle of pills for Mike to take twice a days and reassured him that his brother would be absolutely fine once more.

"I'll be back Sunday afternoon," John said early Friday morning, before he we t to the train station.

Paul nodded. "I'll be fine,"

So John left.

Once he was gone, Paul went to the kitchen and filled a glass with water then went to Mike's room and woke him up. "Hey, Mikey." He smiled. "You've got to drink some water."

Mike groaned. "I don't want to,"

"I know, but the doctor said you need to keep yourself hydrated." Paul sighed and helped his brother into a sitting position. He placed the glass of water in his brother's hand.

Mike grunted, but drank the water all the same. Paul sat there beside him and made sure that he drank every last drop. When Mike was done, he brought the glass to the kitchen and put it in the sink then returned to his sibling's room and helped him out of bed.

The two of them slowly made their way to the sitting room where Mike curled up in a chair with a blanket wrapped tightly around his body. Paul flipped the radio on and turned it to a station playing Elvis Presley.

"Do you need anything?" Paul asked.

"No," Mike shook his head. "Thank you."

Paul offered half a smile and ruffled Mike's hair. "No problem, buddy."

"Don't call me that," Mike whined and hid his face beneath the the blanket.

Paul rolled his eyes and shook his head as he walked to the kitchen and began doing the dishes. He scrubbed them and rinsed them and dried them and out them away, then returned to the sitting room where Mike was staring into space.

"Can we talk?" Mike asked eventually.

"Sure," Paul nodded and turned the radio off. "What's up?" He asked, sitting down on the couch and looking over at his little brother.

"I just - well.....I figured you should know that I - I kind of know about - about you and John," Mike finally blurted out the words that he had been keeping bottled up for two and a half years.

Paul blinked several times, the sighed. "Does everyone know? Seriously? Does every person we've ever met know about us?"

Mike furrowed his brows. "What do you mean?"