Tomorrow Never Knows - Chapter Twenty Two

Authors: lovely_rita_mm, jenny_wren28, & pennylane_fic

Starring: The Beatles and Maggie Sue

Rating: M for language, implied sex (though none of it is explicit) & implied drug use. Characters used in this story are either our creation, or are historically-based (ie, The Beatles).

Disclaimer: We don't own any of the Beatles, this obviously never happened, and is a complete work of fiction.

By New Year's 1968, Jane had indeed forgiven Paul. Citing the need to spend some time together away from London, the two of them went visit Paul's dad in Liverpool for a little while. Paul appeared to have made his choice, and that was to work things out with Jane. Maggie couldn't do much but let it happen, though she wasn't happy about it. She'd already interfered enough. At least there'd been no Christmas engagement like there had been in her original timeline.

Not long after, George took off for a few weeks in Bombay to do some recording for a soundtrack he'd agreed to do for a movie called "Wonderwall." Maggie suspected he'd taken the job just to prove that he could compose a movie soundtrack just as well as Paul could. Plus George was given nearly complete freedom on the project and he leaped at the chance to use some of the Indian music he'd become so interested in.

George came back from India even more excited for the band's upcoming trip to visit the Maharishi's meditation center in Rishikesh, which had been scheduled for mid-February. George also came home with part of a new Indian-inspired Beatles song, which he was calling "The Inner Light". Maggie didn't tell him, but that song was never one of her favorites. She just didn't get it.

In George's absence, the other Beatles had been busy on their own projects. John and Paul had spent some time sequestered in the music room at John and Maggie's house and Maggie heard, among other things, the sounds of Paul plunking out the beginnings of Lady Madonna on the piano. To all observers, Paul seemed to be pointedly staying away from love songs for the time being.

The band's friend Cilla Black was working on her own television show and Paul was helping her out with some music for it, while Ringo had been convinced to appear on the show itself, though that wouldn't be until mid-February.

Once George was home, the band also recorded a cameo for the Yellow Submarine movie. Maggie insisted that she be there as a representative of Apple, purely for business reasons, of course. It was hard for her to muffle her laughter, watching them mug for the camera and badly act their scripted dialogue. Paul's reference to "Fixing a Hole" especially made her laugh.

As Maggie watched, she considered the Beatles carefully, trying to remember how they had originally looked in early 1968. She recalled 1968 as a year of change, though she struggled a bit to remember when they'd all started growing their hair and beards out. Maggie hoped to influence them (and particularly John) away from some of their less attractive looks. Not that all of them looked terrible with facial hair – mostly it was just John's bushy Abbey Road beard that Maggie hated.

For now, she supposed they all seemed to look more or less the same as they had before the Sgt Pepper mustache phase. None of them but Ringo sported mustaches anymore, and their hair was still as shaggy as ever. John kept thinking he might want to grow his out and then changing his mind and getting it cut. Maggie didn't mind the longer hair, but when she asked nicely, he'd abandoned his plans for large muttonchops.

"How was I, luv?" John asked after they were done filming their part for Yellow Submarine. "Was my fear of the impending Blue Meanie invasion convincing?"

He put the telescope up to his glasses and peered at her through it. "Yes, definitely!" she giggled.

"What about me?" George demanded. "They gave me a whirly thing to play with." He held it up for her to inspect.

"That was very convincingly done as well!" Maggie said as solemnly as she could. Sometimes she felt like Wendy, with the Beatles as her Lost Boys. She guessed that made John her Peter Pan.

"I dropped the hole and now I can't find it!" she heard Ringo exclaim somewhere in the background.

"Don't worry, someone will come and pick it up later," Paul replied to him.

"As long as no one falls into it in the meantime!" Ringo said half-seriously. His slightly mournful tone of voice made her laugh, and she once again had to pinch herself to make sure she was really here in the 1960s hanging out with the Beatles.

***

"Looking forward to going to India, luv?" John asked Maggie a few nights later, when they were in bed, each armed with a book of their own. The trip was looming and Maggie needed to start packing soon, especially as they were going to be there for a while.

"That's a loaded question," Maggie smiled back at him.

"You know, you should really give this meditation stuff a try." John put his book aside.

"Oh no, not you too?" Maggie groaned. "George has gotten to you, hasn't he!"

"No, no," he protested. "Well, maybe, just a little. I just keep thinking about the things the Maharishi told us in Wales. It seemed to help me to deal with the whole Brian thing. What if this fellow has the answers? What if we can learn them in India?"

"The answers to what? Life, the Universe and Everything?"

"Sure."

"I already know the answer to Life, the Universe and Everything."

"What is it then?"

"42."

"I don't get it," John said, puzzled.

"Never mind. It's from a book that hasn't been published yet. The point is, I'm not sure there actually is a real answer to any of that stuff. And if you expect the Maharishi to whisper in your ear and tell you the secret to it all, I think you're kidding yourself."

John looked a little disappointed, as if that was exactly what he was hoping the Maharishi would do. "It's still worth thinking about, isn't it? Questioning things and trying to understand them."

"Of course it is! That's the whole reason I became a scientist and an astronomer," Maggie said, "I wanted to understand how the universe works. To understand the rules that govern it."

"Rules? Like love?" John smiled at her. "I hear it's all you need."

Maggie laughed. "There you go, quoting yourself again. I meant gravity, but love will do, I suppose. It's not very scientific though."

"Well, maybe there are other ways of understanding the universe besides science. Science can't explain love, can it?"

"I guess not."

"Ah, so if you'll admit that much, then maybe you'll admit that maybe the Maharishi has something."

"Let's not go crazy," Maggie said dryly. "Look, John, I just don't want to lose you to some sort of cult or hokey religion – that could be nearly as bad as drugs. You seem to need something to latch onto – and the things you want to grasp at sometimes worry me."

"Luv, I can't explain it – it's just my need to find something I can depend on, that's stable, that explains why things are the way they are."

"I'm not sure such a thing exists. I'm not sure anything is really stable or dependable. Except love, of course," she allowed. "And gravity. You can always depend on gravity."

"I don't think that Maharishi is against love…or gravity."

"But I don't really know what else he's actually for. Besides using the Beatles to promote himself."

"Luv, luv, you're so cynical. You need to let go and let yourself see what else is out there - the things that aren't bound by laws and rules and science."

"Tune in, turn on, and drop out? No thanks. And if that was another invitation to try LSD, I'm going to have to pass."

"That's not what I meant. I'm not saying it right, but maybe it will come to me later." John shrugged.

"Do you need inspiration?" Maggie smiled at him.

"Luv, you're always inspiring," John said. With that, he turned out the light, threw Maggie's book on the floor, and pulled her close to him.

***

"What do you say to bringing back Derek Taylor to do press?" Neil asked.

"Tell me about him," Maggie said immediately, jotting down a note on the pad of paper in front of her. "Did you like how he worked? Back when he was with the Beatles in the old days?" She knew the name of course, but she'd never met him.

"He's got a good way with people, and he's trustworthy. I thought that…"

The secretary peeked her head in Maggie Sue's office. "John is on the phone. I told him you were in a meeting, but he said to go ahead and interrupt it."

"Thanks, Jenny, tell him I'll pick up in a minute."

Maggie was indeed in the middle of a meeting, but everyone at Apple knew that a Beatle trumped any meeting, no matter how important. This one wasn't terribly important, but Maggie thought her weekly staff meetings were very valuable. It kept everyone on the same page, everyone knew what was going on, and if there were problems, they didn't get ignored.

It had been almost exactly a year since Brian had put Maggie Sue in charge of Apple Corps, and there had been a great many changes in that time. She'd been careful to choose her battles when making changes because she remembered reading how Allen Klein's heavy hand had nearly destroyed the company and the goodwill that was created within these walls. She didn't want that. But she also didn't want the Beatles to be cheated out of their hard-earned money either. It was a hard line to walk sometimes, and she knew some of her decisions could make her unpopular. There was also the matter of proving that she belonged here, that she hadn't been given the position simply because she was sleeping with John. It had helped to have Brian's backing in the beginning. She'd been on her way to being established when he'd passed away and she'd always be grateful for all he'd done for her.

Now, a year after she'd begun, she had people in place at Apple that she could trust. Peter Brown took care of some of the business and money aspects, and they met almost daily so that he could update her. The Beatles had asked her to put Neil Aspinall to work at Apple, and she'd been glad to do so, as she knew he was extremely trustworthy, loyal, and hardworking. He took care of a lot of the day-to-day running of the company. Peter Asher, Jane's brother, had recently become head of A&R, looking for new artists that the Beatles could record and promote. There were others too – and having this team of people with their heads on straight to help her run the company was a huge relief to Maggie.

Apple could be kind of crazy, especially now that the Beatles had opened things up to new talent. There was always something going on in the building, which had a sort of party atmosphere to it. Maggie didn't mind, as long as things got done, and as long as she knew where the money was going. This was, after all, the music industry, not Wall Street. It was supposed to be fun. She actually very much enjoyed the atmosphere, and thought she balanced the often hippie tendencies of the Beatles nicely. She made sure the atmosphere stayed fun and the band let her talk sense into them over their crazier ideas.

The Beatles themselves did stop in at Apple frequently, and they all had offices here, though Paul was the only daily visitor. Out of all of them, he was the one that took the idea of running a company seriously, and he was always checking to make sure everyone from the receptionist to the top executives was doing okay. She appreciated his involvement, his friendliness, and complete lack of snobbery. John was easily the least interested in the business end of things, but since she was there, John spent more time at Apple than he would have otherwise.

You could always tell when a Beatle was present at Apple. The whole building would be abuzz, and the Apple Scruffs would be stationed outside hoping for a glimpse. Maggie knew by default they would hate her for being with John and taking one of their single Beatles off the market, so Maggie did her best to be friendly, and often when she came and went, she'd give little Beatle trinkets like buttons and stickers to the girls waiting.

Yes, here Maggie was, in the middle of it all. And she had a Beatle on hold on the phone waiting for her.

"Okay, Neil, let's look into the idea of hiring Derek back," Maggie decided. "I'd better take this call. Gentleman, we'll meet again next week. Thanks for your time!"

"Can you stop by when you're off the phone?" Peter Brown asked her. "I wanted to go over this month's invoices with you."

"Sure."

Maggie followed him out and asked the receptionist to transfer John's call to her office phone.

Sitting down at her desk, she picked up the receiver. "Hey, John, what's up?"

"Shame on you, putting a Beatle on hold!" he scolded her. There was laughter in his voice.

"I'm a big important Apple executive and you're just a scruffy Liverpool musician!" she shot back at him.

"Can the big important executive spare some time to come down to the studio? Please? Please? Please?"

"Will there be Beatles there?"

"All four of them."

"Well, I am a big Beatles fan. Do you think I'll get to meet them?"

"I can guarantee it!"

Maggie whispered dramatically into the phone, "I think John is cute. Can you hook that up for me?"

"I don't know, luv, he's got a jealous fiancé!"

"Hey!" she said indignantly.

John laughed. "I mean, he's terribly in love with his jealous fiancé, and he's very, very faithful to her."

"That's better!"

"Can you come now?"

"How about in an hour?" Maggie looked at her calendar again.

"Work, work, work."

"I know, I know!"

"See you soon, luv," John said and rang off.

Maggie smiled to herself, and looked at her watch. She'd better get over to Peter Brown's office so she wouldn't be late. She was curious about why John wanted her at the studio, but she had a feeling whatever it was would be exciting.

A/N: Thanks for reading! The next update will hopefully be next Sunday! We love comments, so please tell us what you think!