Tomorrow Never Knows - Chapter Twenty Three
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.
Maggie peeked her head through the door of Studio 2. For once, she wasn't late. It'd been exactly an hour since she'd talked with John on the phone.
"You're just in time!" John called over to her when he spotted her.
Maggie waved at the other guys in the studio as she made her way over to John. "What are you up to?" she asked, looking at him fondly. He was propped up on a stool, with an acoustic guitar in his lap.
"A new song – inspired by you, of course. Though it's not exactly a love song, I'm sorry to say. I'll have to make that up to you later." He winked.
She laughed. "I look forward to hearing it! I wonder whether it will be for the first time?"
"Ah, will this one be new to you or not? That's the question!"
"We'll see – either way, I will love it, I'm sure!" She kissed him, intending it to be a quick peck. He didn't let her go, though, and the kiss deepened.
"Animals!" Paul said, good-naturedly as he walked past. "Get a room!"
Maggie and John broke apart from each other. John gave Paul a grin. "Jealous, are we, Macca? Don't worry, I have a kiss saved for you!" He made a grab at Paul, who neatly avoided John with a practiced dodge.
"I'll take a rain check, thanks, John luv," Paul grinned back. He ran up the stairs to the sound booth and disappeared.
The distraction gone, John turned back to Maggie. "Shall we record a demo, then?"
"By all means!" she said, amused.
George Martin signaled from the booth to start a sound check, and John strummed and made silly noises into the mic. Finally, they were ready, and Maggie took a seat to watch John play his new song.
"Words are flying out like
endless rain into a paper cup
They slither while they pass
They slip away across the universe
Pools of sorrow waves of joy
are drifting thorough my open mind
Possessing and caressing me…
Jai guru deva om
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world
Images of broken light which
dance before me like a million eyes
That call me on and on across the universe
Thoughts meander like a
restless wind inside a letter box
they tumble blindly as
they make their way across the universe
Jai guru deva om
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world
Sounds of laughter shades of life
are ringing through my open ears
exciting and inviting me
Limitless undying love which
shines around me like a million suns
It calls me on and on across the universe
Jai guru deva om
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world
Jai guru deva
Jai guru deva"
The gentle strums of the guitar faded out and Maggie was speechless. It was indeed a song she knew well, but now the song was put into a new context for her. She still didn't get (and maybe would never get) the appeal of meditation and eastern religion, but she couldn't help but be touched by the poetic lyrics.
Maggie did have a romantic side. After all, it was what had made her attempt time travel in the first place. However, she was, ultimately, a trained scientist with a naturally logical mind. The unusual situation she'd been in the last few years had stretched her ability to use reason, but it hadn't completely dissolved it. Even if the thought of John and Yoko together made her completely illogical, she still had a sharp sense of skepticism. She felt she had to. There were too many people out there wanting to take advantage of the Beatles' good will, natural curiosity, and money. Maggie knew Magic Alex was a total and complete charlatan, but she wasn't sure what to think of the Maharishi. She wasn't sure he trusted him, and he was a little too quick to use the name of the Beatles to promote himself.
Despite this, she really did understand John (and George's) search for answers. The Beatles had started out thinking that if only they could achieve their dreams of money, fame, and success, then life would make sense. In reality, it only made everything more confusing, complicated, and empty.
After hearing John's song, Maggie was again reminded of why John felt this need to grasp the mysteries of life and to believe that love wouldn't end but would continue to flow even to the very ends of space and time. Yes, that she understood. After all, Maggie's very existence with John was inherently unexplainable. The connection between them had pulled them together through space and time, and more than once.
"Well, luv?" John asked Maggie quietly; he had seen that she was being slow to react to his song, which was a little unlike her. Normally, he could read her enthusiasm immediately.
Maggie got up slowly and gave John a hug. "I've heard that song at least a hundred times, but I think I finally get it now."
"That's what counts, isn't it?" He gave her a relieved smile. She had liked his song. And more importantly, she had understood it. Music was his language, just as science was hers, and there was no reason why the two couldn't intertwine to express ideas of a higher order. Maggie had once told him that people were made from the dust of the stars, and he thought that was the most lyrical thing he'd ever heard.
"I may better understand your quest for the big answers…" Maggie paused to see if anyone else was paying attention to their conversation and then moved closer to John, as if she had a secret to tell. He leaned in, and she said quietly into his ear, "….but I still think meditation is boring. And while we're in India, I'm going to do my best to distract you from it." To emphasize her point, she ran her fingers gently up his back to the nape of his neck.
"How are you going to do that?" John asked, though he already had a pretty good idea. Her fingers were gently massaging his neck, and he was struggling to remember what it was they were talking about.
Maggie leaned closer still and grazed his earlobe with her lips, which caused him to nearly drop the guitar. Softly she said, "I guess you'll just have to wait and see!"
Before he could fully process her words, she pulled back, ruffled his hair, stuck out her tongue at him, and marched away. She had to get back to Apple. After all, if she was going to take a couple of weeks off to go to India, she had work to do.
Maggie glanced back at John when she got to the door and gave him her cheekiest smile.
"You'll pay for that tonight, woman!" he growled at her, shaking his fist playfully. It was a good thing she was standing as far away as she was or he'd have her on the floor now, audience or no.
"You're all talk, Lennon!" she called back to him.
"We'll see about that!"
"Get a room, you two!" Geoff Emerick called from the booth. "Ready for another take, John?"
Maggie laughed, waved up at Geoff, who waved good-naturedly down at her, and headed back to her office.
With Maggie Sue gone, John was able to focus on the business at hand. His song. John called up to Geoff, "What can we do to make the vocals on this sound less like me?"
Geoff came down the stairs to conference with John. "John, you sounded great singing it as you were, but I guess we can come up with some effect for your voice if you really want."
"I can hear the song in me head, but it never comes out that way I want it to sound." One take and John was already frustrated. He was gratified that the song spoke to Maggie, but he wanted to be happy with the song too. That satisfaction was so elusive sometimes.
Numerous takes later and John was still unhappy. There were so many words in the song that the phrasing was difficult, and he ended up having to take breaths that broke up the flow of the song. At the end of the day, John decided to just shelve the song and pick it up again later.
Geoff thought John was being too…John. The version they'd recorded was beautiful and he hated the thought that it might be shelved indefinitely. He decided he'd speak to Maggie Sue and see if she could talk some sense into John. She usually could. In fact, Geoff had never seen anyone else who had such skill in handling the Beatles. She was the only one the Beatles would let interfere in the way they did things. EMI didn't quite know what to make of it sometimes, though by now they knew the Beatles' ways were unconventional. It was the little things that won Geoff over in the end. Unlike other bands, the Beatles had never included the EMI staff in dinner orders, and kept to themselves entirely during meals. Then Maggie had shown up, and without even consulting the boys, she'd made sure that the EMI staff was included and treated like friends instead of employees, and with that she'd won Geoff over. He'd been uncertain if the band would accept her changing the established order of things, but they didn't put up even a token protest. The Beatles were a tight club, but somehow she'd broken in, and Geoff was convinced that things were the better for everyone for it. Feeling better about their night's work, he puttered about the control booth, cleaning things up for the evening.
George Harrison left the studio trying his best to conceal his smile. He knew that his song, "The Inner Light", might have a good chance at being the B-side to Paul's "Lady Madonna" if John couldn't finish "Across the Universe" in time for their next single's release. He knew they'd never give him an A-side, but a B-side was a step in the right direction.
***
Three days later…
"Hey Mags, got a minute?"
It was George on the phone.
"Sure, George. I was just trying to make a list of some last minute stuff I need to buy for the big trip. Maybe Pattie will want to help?"
"I'm quite sure Pattie would love to go shopping with you for things for India. I'll make sure she calls you when she gets home. She's out with her sister right now."
"I bet Jenny is excited about the trip too."
"Very much, but then who wouldn't be excited for an exclusive chance to hang out with the Beatles for several uninterrupted months? There are fans all over the world who would sell their right arm for this opportunity!" he teased.
"You Beatles are so humble!" Maggie laughed.
"I know, but it's hard when you're as great as we are."
"Well, you're cuter than the Stones, but as musicians…?" She laughed, because she knew that George knew that she was a Beatles fan through and through.
"Hey, they were only doing covers before we came along and taught them how to write their own music!" George protested.
"Fine, fine, The Beatles are awesome and way better than the Stones in every way!" she said sarcastically, though she meant every word she said.
"That's better. Now do you want to hear my news or not?"
"I'd love to. What's going on?"
"We had a little visitor to the studio today. Do you want to guess?"
"Not really."
"All right then, it was Yoko," George said, and then he pulled the receiver away from his ear, because he didn't want to be deafened by the shriek he knew would be forthcoming.
"What?! That bitch! You tell her …" Maggie couldn't stop the string of invectives that passed her lips.
"Hold on, hold on. Let me tell you what happened! I think you'll like how this story turns out," he said.
"Okay, go ahead." Maggie forced herself to calm down and listen.
"As you may remember, none of us are big on guests at the studio while we're working."
Maggie remembered Paul's treatment of her the day she'd met the Beatles very well in fact. "Uh-huh," she said.
"Well, John had apparently invited Yoko to come by the studio, and she stopped by today while we were working on a new song called 'Hey Bulldog'."
"Oh, I like that one!"
"Okay, it's still weird that you know our songs before we even finish writing them." George paused. "Anyway, we were really having a lot of fun with it - you should have seen John and Paul making all these funny barking noises! And then…Yoko showed up. After listening to us work on the rhythm track for five minutes, she wanted to know why all our songs 'use exactly the same rhythm' and why we didn't 'attempt something more adventurous'."
"She didn't!" Maggie gasped.
"Oh, she did. John was not too happy about it either. He brings a guest to watch and she criticizes our music? While it's still in progress?"
"Wow. She's got quite the nerve."
"And that's not the worst part!"
"Oh?"
"She stole some of my biscuits on the way out!"
"That bitch!" Maggie said for the second time.
"Yep, she and John got in an argument and she left. But before she did, she walked right past my amp, where I had the package of biscuits, and helped herself."
"She's got to be stopped, George."
"I know. This biscuit stealing is reprehensible. Though I can't say I wasn't warned. In any case, it looks like she's on the outs with John. He didn't like her criticism of his song or of our band in general. And, in three days, we leave for India, and we will be Yoko-free 'til at least March."
"Words cannot express how happy that makes me."
"You and me both. My biscuits are off-limits," he said firmly.
He said this so seriously that Maggie lost it. She laughed so hard she started to hiccup.
"What? What did I say?" George asked, laughing helplessly himself at Maggie's reaction.
Both of them were in good moods when they rang off. They would soon be in India, away from Yoko, and away from all the other obligations that could make being a Beatle so tiring. George couldn't wait. Surprisingly, neither could Maggie. India would give her time with John apart from the million other distractions that they had to deal with on a daily basis. Maybe this time away would be good for them all.
It wasn't until later that George remembered that he hadn't ever told Maggie about John funding part of Yoko's art exhibit. Oh well, it probably wasn't important now anyway, not after the ugly display he'd witnessed this afternoon. No, he was sure John and Yoko were done for good.
A/N: Thanks for reading! The next update will hopefully be next Sunday! We love comments, so please tell us what you think!