Ringo Starr Smuts & Maybe Sometimes a Little Fluff

Dear Emily (a semi-requested short story)

Ringo rubbed his eyes vigorously after hearing a knock at the door in the dead of night. With a yawn and a frown, he reluctantly removed himself from the warm comfort of his king-sized bed.

As he angrily stumbled down the stairs to the foyer, Ringo cursed under his breath. He wondered who the hell would be coming over this late at night. He thought to himself that if this was another one of George's pranks he would completely flip his lid. He was in no mood for games at 3AM.

He unlocked the deadbolt, then the knob, then opened the door slowly and saw her standing there in the pouring rain. The wetness of her tears mixed with the raindrops made her makeup smear black lines down her cheeks. She looked like a complete mess.

"Ritchie?" She sobbed, dropping her purse into a puddle on the concrete. Without another second passing she hurled herself into his already open arms and wept.

"Emily, you're soaked!" He said into her shoulder, his voice still gruff from being woken up.

"Shhhhhhhh...it's alright." He whispered with a kiss on her ear as she cried for what seemed like an eternity. He held her in his arms as tight as humanly possible, gently massaging her back up and down as she breathed heavily into him.

Several minutes passed as he held her close, her head buried deep into his chest. Eventually she removed herself from his embrace and he led her inside of the house, grabbing her purse off the ground and closing the door while she went to sit down on the sofa.

He gave her a bit of time to calm down, allowing her to weep in a fetal position on his couch by the fire while he got her some water in the kitchen.

"What happened, love?" He spoke up, handing her a glass of water and urging her to drink it. As she sipped she kept hyperventilating and nearly choking. It wasn't until Ringo sat right next to her and rubbed the small of her back that she began to calm down.

"It's Josh." She muttered, and that was all he needed to hear to put the two and two together.

"What did he do now?" He asked, his voice laced with underlying fury.

"I...I..." she began, still stuttering due to the paralyzing emotion.

"Breathe, love. Come on, do it with me." Ringo began taking deep inhales through his nose, then blew the air out of his mouth. He continued to do this until she was doing it with him and her breathing became steadier.

"Okay, now try again. What happened?" He asked, still touching her back in a reassuring way.

"I went to his house. I thought I'd surprise him when he got home from work." She said, her voice still incredibly shaky.

"And there he was. With her." As soon as the word "her" left her lips Emily began unraveling again, falling into Ringo's arms just as she did before.

"Ritchie it was awful! I could hear them- they were-"

"Em, it's alright. You're safe here in my arms. I've got you." He cut her off before she got even more worked up. Ringo didn't know what to say to make her feel better, he just knew he never wanted to let go of her.

In the midst of holding her it hit him, she had to be freezing. Even with the heat of the fire her clothes were soaked from the rain.

"Love, why don't you go change and take a shower. I'll get a t-shirt and some boxers for you and lay them on your bed."

She sniffles against him and musters a smile as she reluctantly breaks away from their embrace.

"That does sound nice." She says.