The Answer (Paul McCartney/Beatles Fanfiction)

broken

'but you seemed fine?'

"ah see but there's that word 'seemed'. Yes, I may have 'seemed' fine and yes there may be a smile on my face at each passing day, or a wave hello in the halls, but I can guarantee you with every inch of flesh in my being that there is absolutely nothing 'fine' about me. Seemed is a tricky word you see because things aren't always exactly what they 'seemed' to be." ~Julie Martinez 

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City of London Magistrates' Court, London, England, 20 December 1963, 1:24 pm.

"Mr McCartney, the jury has come to a verdict. You will not receive custody of Eleanor Crawford. We have several reasons for this verdict. You are requesting parental responsibility of Eleanor Crawford. That requires the consent of the mother and father. Since you are not the biological father of Eleanor Crawford, and the mother is missing, and we cannot contact the biological father, you have no way of gaining custody of her.

 We also find that you are in no position of taking care of the child, as proven by your outbursts during this court time today. You are young, immature and unskilled in childcare. The mother of the child has never given you permission to look after her child should anything happen to her. 

I'm sorry Mr.McCartney, this case doesn't comply with the law and we simply cannot do anything besides waiting until Joan and Glenn Maxwell are found.", the judge concluded his statement. 

"Forgive me for misunderstanding my lord. But, Mr McCartney had been meeting with Joan and her child ever since he found them with Mr Lennon. Mr McCartney had mentioned that she had told him that she never trusted men with her child and that he was the only man she'd ever let touch her child. Doesn't that say something?", Gregory questioned. He tried to prevent Paul from intervening but found it getting difficult as time passed. 

"How do we know that Mr McCartney is speaking the truth? We have no witnesses present in the room who can attest to this dialogue between Joan Crawford and Mr McCartney. He could very well be pulling our legs just to try to fool us to grant him parental responsibility. 

I must repeat again. Mr McCartney is not above the law and the law requires both biological parents' approval and consent. He is too young and unqualified to care for a child. Eleanor Crawford will be staying at the orphanage by Penny Lane. She will be taken care of until she is adopted by a family who can actually care for her.", the judge furthered his point. He could see the glare that Paul was giving him and tried not to make eye contact. 

Paul's blood was boiling in his brain. He wanted to scream and shout. He wanted to bang his fists against the cold, worn table and knock some sense into the cold-hearted judge, who couldn't even understand the pain that this was causing him. The pain that he went through these past months to even acquire a court date. 

He realized that he couldn't hold it in anymore. The kettle was about to whistle and steam. 

"Do you have any idea as to what I've put myself through these past months?! And now what?! I find that I've wasted precious time?! The time that I could have spent actually working and not stressing out and pulling my hair out over court cases and pleading cases! I've not been eating, I've not been sleeping, I've not been recording singles! I'm going to get bloody hell from my manager when he finds out what I've been up to these past few months! All this time I put in so that I could guarantee custody of Eleanor has gone to waste--", Paul was interrupted. His face was red and splotchy with tears. He could feel the heat in his head being released as he panted loudly and slowly. 

"Mr McCartney, you signed up for this! I never told you to stop sleeping or stop eating or stop working! This is your problem. Not mine.", the judge huffed and looked down at Paul. 

"Case closed.", the judge ended the court session with the sound of the gavel on the sound block. 

"You've broken me.", Paul stood up and walked out of the court yet again. Gregory, John, and Chloe walked out slowly. 

"Paul...", Chloe reached out to place a hand on his shoulder. Paul swatted it away and ran to the car, fleeing the paparazzi. 

Paul slammed the car door shut and placed his head in his hands. 

He lost. He lost the battle. 

And that broke him. 

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A.N: Pretty short, but this chapter was needed! Time dictated me today. It told me that I had to update today! So I did! Sorry for the big break! Hope you still enjoy the story! This chapter was okay, but at least the court case is over...for now. Keep voting, commenting, and recommending this story if you enjoyed it!

XO,

S.