A/N: The next couple over chapters get really good, this one is alright, I suppose. Stay tuned!
BTW: Thanks for the reviews! :) They help a lot!
Rachael's P.O.V.
I woke up around 9, doing my usual routine, then getting Holly all ready. I had already phoned Nan about watching Holly for a few hours while Paul took the older kids and I into the studio. She wholeheartedly agreed, I could truly tell she loved having little kids around to keep her occupied. Something had been on my mind quite often though, Nan was getting older, and we were depending on her quite a bit to care for the kids. I phoned Maureen with my concern, and she quickly handed me off to Marianne, Zak and Jason's nanny.
"Well actually, I might have someone you want to meet. My nephew Jude brought his American girlfriend, Lucy, with him back home. She's actually looking for a job right now, maybe she'd be a good fit, I can have her stop by today, if that's alright with you?" I thought about it for a moment,
"That would be great, when can I expect her?"
"Actually she can be down there in half an hour, will that do?"
"Yes, that'd be perfect, thank you Marianne!" She hung up, I was surprised with my good luck. I went upstairs and woke up Will and Lily,
"Hey guys, mommy has a friend coming over to meet you, okay?" They nodded sleepily and ate their cereal.
Exactly on time the gate rang and I let the visitor through. A bubbly blonde girl walked up to the door confidently,
"Hi, I'm Lucy Carrigan!" She introduced. I shook her hand,
"Hi, I'm Rachael Belter, I heard you were looking for a job?" She nodded eagerly,
"Yes I am, Marianne told me it was a part-time nannying position?" I nodded,
"Come on and meet the kids." I led her inside and into the kitchen, immediately both Lily and Will looked up interestedly,
"Guys, this is mommy's friend Lucy." Lily and Will got up to meet her, instantly I knew they were going to be a great fit. They led Lucy over to their toys in the living room and she got down to their level playing with them. I watched for a moment, knowing she was exactly what I was looking for. I looked at my watch, it was nearly 10 and time to drop off Holly,
"Lucy?" She looked up with a smile. "I have to go drop the baby off, can I leave the kids here with you for a trial?" She beamed,
"Take your time." Then she got back to their level continuing the game. I took Holly and dropped her off at Nan's, when I arrived home the kids were still having a great time with Lucy. I motioned her over,
"So, do you think you'd like a job?" She smiled,
"Of course, they're such great kids!" I noted her accent,
"You're from America, right?"
"Yeah, I'm from New York. I came over here with my boyfriend, Jude, to see his family." I instantly liked her just a bit more knowing she was an American. Prejudiced, I know.
"Fantastic, listen, you know the 'situation' we're in?" She nodded, I was talking about the whole Paul being Lillian's father, and stuff,
"Yes, it's all over the papers back home, and here. It's a bit hard to miss." I nodded,
"Do you think you can handle that?" She grinned,
"Of course." I let out a sigh of relief.
"Alright, thank-you, can I call you later to make a schedule?" She nodded and grabbed her coat,
"Talk to you later! Bye kids!" The kids waved spastically to her before turning back to the toy cars. I let her out and returned to the living room to get the kids ready.
Paul rang at the gate as I was pulling a shirt over William's head,
"Lily go press the blue button next to the door for me, please?" The naked little girl nodded and ran over to the door. A moment later I heard Paul walk in,
"Where are your clothes, love?" He chuckled.
"Mum has them, she's in the living room with William." Not a moment later Paul walked in carrying Lillian. He gave me a grin,
"Hello." William wiggled out of my grip and ran over to him, Paul put Lily down trading kids with me. I pulled a dress over Lillian's head.
"Hey." He chuckled as William began telling him what we had done today. So far I had dropped Holly off at Nan's and had had an interview for a nanny. Not a full time one, just someone to help out when things were getting a little cramped.
"A nanny?" Paul asked William, he nodded.
"Yeah mum had her come over earlier, she's real pretty. Her names Lucy!"
"Yeah, she even talks like mummy too!" Lily piped in. I giggled and raised an eyebrow,
"What do you mean she talks like yer mum?" Paul asked. In unison both Lily and Will pinched their noses and put on their best American accents. We both laughed and I went back to work readying the kids. I braided the front of Lily's hair in to sort of a head band. As soon as we were done, Paul took charge,
"Go get into my car, okay?" He asked addressing Lily and Will, they both raised an eyebrow,
"Where are we going?" They asked simultaneously.
"You're coming to work with daddy today." Lily looked back at me,
"Are you coming too, mummy?" I nodded,
"Go get in the car, we'll be out in a minute." William grabbed her hand and the pair scurried out the door. I started picking up the mini mess in the living room,
"Nanny?" Paul asked handing me a discarded shirt,
"Yeah. Just to help out when we're both busy. She's really sweet. American too." He nodded taking the information in,
"Did you already drop Holly off?"
"Earlier." I took the pile of clothes into the laundry room and threw them into the basket. Before we left I packed two sippy cups for Lily and Will, and we rushed out the door.
When we arrived at the studio both of the kids were asleep. When the car stopped Will woke up and scooted out of the car. He held my hand as Paul picked up Lily. We got inside and the secretaries cooed over the kids,
"They're precious, Paul!" An older one said before nudging him, "You need to start bringing them around more often!"
A rather nice looking Aston Martin pulled up to the front of the studio, William turned his attention to the door when George walked in,
"Hello!" He called before coming over to great Paul, Lily and I. He then noticed William whose eyes were still focused on the car,
"Is that your's?" The boy asked never taking his eyes away from it, George got down eye level with him,
"Yeah, Mate, are you William?" The little boy nodded. "You're Lily's uncle?" George nodded,
"You like the car?" Will nodded fiercely,
"Yeah, it's gear." Paul and I watched them completely dumbstruck. George and the boy began discussing it in detail, I had no idea William was into cars that much, after a few minutes George looked up at me,
"Can I take him for a spin?" I shrugged my shoulders,
"Sure." George picked up Will, scurrying out the door, and I looked up at Paul who was chuckling,
"Geo really does love that car more than life itself." I sighed, Lily was still asleep. We bid goodbye to the secretaries and Paul led me over to studio two. We crept in John was sitting there with a rather small Japanese woman, that must've been Yoko.
"Hello!" Paul greeted, Lily wiggled down from his hold and ran over to John,
"Uncle John!" She shouted, John pulled her up into a hug, and I walked over.
"Hey." He smiled,
"'ello Miss Rachael, long time no chat." She looked over to the woman beside him, "This is Yoko." I smiled and shook her hand. I couldn't see why Paul disliked her, yesterday he had made a few snide comments about her, honestly she seemed like a nice woman.
"Rach." Paul called me over and patted the seat next to himself on the piano bench. I listened as he began messing around. Ritch came in a while after, followed by George with William. Will and George were still discussing the car, attached to one and others hip, while ignoring everyone else, I looked over to Lily who was now sitting in Yoko's lap having a discussion with her. Paul nudged me in the side and I looked over at him, he was smiling. Lily hopped off of Yoko's lap and toddled over to me,
"Sippy cup." She said. I reached into my purse and handed it to her. She walked back over to Yoko and the two continued their talk. Paul raised an eyebrow,
"They seem to be getting along." He observed quietly. I nodded. John came over and he and Paul started going through songs, apparently their new album, 'Yellow Submarine' was going to be released soon. I got up and went over to Yoko and Lily taking a seat next to them,
"I have a daughter, about her age." Yoko said turning to me with a smile, I nodded,
"Really?" She smiled even wider,
"Yes, her name is Kyoko. She is with her father right now." I smiled, Yoko actually was a very nice woman. Lily crawled back onto Yoko's lap, leaning against her,
"If she's bugging you-" I started, Yoko turned to me,
"Oh no! She's just fine. She can stay here with me." I nodded and went over to Will and George. George had him seated on his lap holding the neck of the guitar in a G chord,
"Okay, now strum." George instructed. Will made an attempt and was surprised when the noise came out, he looked up at me with wide eyes,
"Mum. I played." He stated completely proud of himself, I laughed,
"Good job, Willy." The pair went back to their conversation and I continued on my journey to Ritch.
"All over here by yourself?" I asked. He looked up from the drum kit with a smirk,
"I'm not alone anymore, you're here!" I giggled and took a seat next to the kit,
"How've you been?" I asked,
"I should be asking you that question!" Ritch chuckled, "I haven't seen you since we were in Greece. Mo keeps givin' Paul and I shit 'bout talking to you." I giggled, you have to love Maureen.
"Sorry," I giggled, "Things have been busy lately." He nodded and handed me a tool to hold while he fixed a part of his equipment,
"Paul told me you two have been going through a rough patch." Ritch said. I nodded,
"He's been a wreck lately." Ritch informed me quietly, "He 'nd John 've been goin' at it." I looked over at the two men who were seated at the piano bench discussing something privately.
"Really?" I said weakly,
"Yep. I'll be happy when we get out of 'ere next week for break. Literally, all they've done is argue. I try t' keep out of it." I felt a little guilty. I had been so wrapped up in the kids, that I hadn't even asked Paul how the whole Beatles thing was going.
"What are you and Mo doing over break?" He chuckled,
"Shaggin'" He muttered, I swatted at him, and he chuckled, "Nah, well yeah… but probably just goin' on holiday or something, what about you and Paul?" I shrugged,
"We just started talking again yesterday." I confessed quietly, he looked over at me with an eyebrow raised,
"That explains why you 'aven't been round." He reached for the tool which I handed to him, "What happened, if yer don't mind my askin?" I figured I could tell Ritchie anything, he was trustworthy. I doubted he would go around spilling it to others,
"Well… you know I left Greece."
"Yeah, Paul said you were feeling unwell." I shook my head,
"No we had an argument." He glanced at me with a look of surprise waiting for me to go on, "It was a bad one. So we didn't talk for about a month, he got Lily and Will part time." A sudden realization crossed Ringo's face,
"That why he kept havin' to duck out early." He looked thoughtful, "Why did you start talkin' again?"
"I got sick and you know… he dragged me to the hospital and all that. So I guess we're kind of in a weird place now." Ritch let out a sigh finishing his repair,
"He cares 'bout you." He sat back up on his stool behind the drums, "He wouldn't be after you if he didn't. Give 'im a chance, and take care'v yerself missy." I got up and gave Ritch a peck on the cheek,
"Thanks Ritch." He nodded and I went back over to the piano. Paul looked up at me expectantly,
"You were over there for a long time." I shrugged,
"Just had a talk. Ritchie's still my favorite." He let out a sigh and smiled,
"Just keep breaking me heart Rach… just keep breaking it." I looked for the kids again. Lily was still with Yoko and Will with George. It was around 4 now, time had really flown.
"What do ya think of this?" Paul asked playing out a melody, I listened carefully,
"It's nice, what is it?" He shrugged,
"I thought about you when I wrote it." He stated softly, a flash of embarrassment touched my cheeks, thankfully Lily toddled over and crawled onto Paul's lap.
"Play." She demanded. Paul began playing and then stopped,
"Now you." He instructed. He touched a few keys and then waited for her.
Paul's P.O.V.
He watched as Lily copied his exact movements touching each key he had.
"Good." He played a slightly trickier one, she did exactly as he did. He went a third time. She played it a little slower due to her tiny hands and short arm's, but sure enough she did it perfectly, he looked to his side at Rachael who had a surprised expression on her face. Paul was amazed that the little girl could copy him to a point. He was proud, and grinned with another feeling of love washing over him. He pecked the top of Lily's head, breathing in her still-baby scent of honey and lavender. He remembered the first time he had met her, and how he never knew how much you could love a person until that moment.
Rachael's P.O.V.
After a while the boy's had finished up their session, it was now around 7 and we were saying farewells. I nearly had to rip William away from an equally as reluctant George,
"Bye Uncle Georgie!" Will called from over my shoulder, George waved,
"Don't listen to yer dad, okay?" George said sarcastically, William put a smirk on and giggled naughtily,
"Thanks Geo." Paul chuckled. Lily was in his arms waving goodbye to Yoko.
The four of us got back into the car, Lily spoke up,
"Mum, we want pancakes for dinner." I looked over at Paul. He smiled,
"What kind of pancakes?" I asked turning my head,
"I want you to make them." I giggled,
"Honey, I've never made pancakes for you before." She let out a sigh looking out the window,
"I want a sandwich then." Paul chuckled,
"We can get a sandwich. Will, what do you want?" Paul asked,
"I want a car." Paul and I busted out laughing,
"You can't eat a car, honey." I reasoned, the little boy looked unconvinced,
"I want a sandwich, too then."
Paul pulled into a restaurant parking lot and we went inside. Ordering quickly Lily and Will went back to their own conversation. Paul looked over at me,
"Where did we leave off?" He asked quietly.
"'64." He nodded,
"You first." I messed with the napkin in front of me collecting my thoughts.
"My parents… died in January. I got divorced… you already know that. Then Tessa called and told me to move here, so I did." I let out a breath, it was hard talking about the past. He had his chin in his palm listening intently,
"Rach, what happened to your parents?" I sighed, we did have to get everything out on the table.
"Dad was shot." Paul nodded that story had made headlines, I cringed remembering it. Some lunatic pulled a gun out on him, and went to town. "Mom had cancer." Paul tilted his head to the side,
"What kind?"
"Breast cancer." A cloud came over his eyes, I knew exactly what he was thinking, his mom had died from it as well.
"Horrible disease." He added quietly. I nodded, fidgeting with my hands. I wasn't one for making a fuss over death. I knew it happened to everyone, whether it was their time or not. Deep inside I still wanted to kill the man who had shot my dad, but doing that wasn't going to bring him back. My mom on the other hand was sick for a long time, and had told no one. After dad died, she jut went on peacefully knowing he was waiting for her. It comforted me a bit to know that they were both together.
"What happened, happened." I shrugged, "What about you?" He came back into reality.
"'64... We had the American tour. And the Australian tour. We were really busy. We did the movie." He looked around,
"Wasn't too bad. No one got hurt." He let out a sigh, the waitress came back with our food. Lily and Will shared a sandwich, I had soup and Paul had Pasta. I picked at mine, still listening to his account of the year. He glanced up at me,
"You eating?" I looked down and noticed my soup was still untouched. I took a spoonful and he continued talking. After a while he had finished the year. Neither one of us had noticed but Lily and Will were fidgeting in their seats,
"Mum, let's go." They whined. I pushed my soup away, and helped them with their coats, then looked back at Paul, he got the bill. And we went back out to the car.
We picked up Holly and the way back and finally pulled back up to my house, and we got out.
"Bath time!" I sang. Both Lily and Will high fived ripping off their clothes not even through the door yet. Holly was wiggling out of my hold eager to join the older kids. She had a bit of trouble considering she wasn't that great of a walker yet, and she couldn't figure out how to unbutton a onsie.
"Here." I said as we got through the door, I handed her to Paul and he held her up as I unbuttoned her. Once thoroughly unclothed he steadied her on the floor and she wobbled off into another room. Paul chuckled,
"Why are they always naked?" I rolled my eyes,
"I swear to the lord they're all going to be nudists when they grow up." He busted out laughing.
I gave Lil and Will a quick bath before ushering them off to bed, Paul came in with Holly and gave them kisses good night. I took Holly and went back to the bathroom refilling the tub for her bath. I put her in and kneeled next to it watching as she played with the toys. Paul came in and knelt next to me,
"So are we done with '64?" I nodded,
"'65 then?" He took over telling me about his year. I listened as I splashed water on Holly then finally took her out putting her in a dry towel, he followed me talking as we went downstairs.
"Mo and Ritch got married, we still were performing…" He got quiet for a moment, "Can I tell you a secret?" He asked seriously. I finished putting a diaper on Holly and looked up at him.
"Sure."
"That was the first time I took LSD." I nodded. I had secrets of my own,
"And?" He looked thoughtful,
"It was pretty. But scary. Definitely wouldn't do it again." Holly was chewing on a stuffed elephant. He got serious again,
"Rach.. Have you ever…" He trailed off and I nodded. He looked surprised, I knew exactly what he was getting at.
"Well you obviously know about the pot… we did that together. And as for LSD, yeah, I did it once." I shrugged, "Didn't like it." He focused his attention back to Holly who handed him elephant,
"Ta, love." He said. She crawled over back to the toy pile and played around, Paul looked over at me,
"How was that year for you, then?"
"Busy. Lily was walking and talking. A huge handful. I don't know. We were just busy." He nodded, my year had been pretty uneventful. I got up and went to the kitchen bringing a bottle back for Holly. I handed it to her and she made an effort trying to do it by herself. Eventually she was on her back with the bottle held up, seemingly making it work.
"So what did you think about today?" He asked breaking the silence.
"I had fun, thanks." He smiled,
"Lil and Yoko got along swimmingly." I nodded, I couldn't really read the expression on his face. "Well, what are you doing tomorrow?" He asked. I thought about it for a moment.
"Lucy has the older kids. Holly has a doctor appointment." He looked worried for a moment,
"What for?" I shook my head,
"Just a checkup." He looked relieved,
"Rach… has your sister called yet?" I looked down at the carpet.
"No. I'm starting to wonder though, its been nearly 2 months."
"What are you going to do?" I traced a design on the floor and shrugged,
"I guess when the 90 day's pass I'll file for adoption. No one has called with any news about Daniel or Kelley so I assume they're fine." I bit my lip, that had been eating away at me for some time. Holly needed a stable home, and I was willing to give her one.
"Where do you think they are?" He questioned softly.
"Honestly? I have no idea. She wouldn't give me a straight answer on the phone. I guess I'll just take care of the baby until she or Daniel comes back." He nodded. Holly had finished a quarter of the bottle and flung it away. Paul grabbed it and reached out to hand it back to her. She wouldn't take it and instead crawled over to the elephant. The pair of us watched her for a while lost in our own thoughts,
"How about if I picked you two up tomorrow and you came over for lunch?" He proposed. I thought it over for a moment,
"Alright, see you then." He leaned crawled over giving Holly kisses on the cheek and she giggled sloppily. He then got up and I led him to the door, we stood there awkwardly for a moment before he pulled me into a hug,
"See you tomorrow." Paul said walking out.