Tomorrow Never Knows - Chapter Thirty-One
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.
It was their first quiet evening at home since returning from India. John was sprawled out on the bed reading, and Maggie was finally getting around to unpacking their suitcases. Dot had already taken most of the laundry away, but Maggie had a ton of souvenirs she wanted to unwrap herself. She had stuck a few things in John's shoulder bag, so she grabbed it and shook it out on the bed.
A few newspaper-wrapped bundles plopped gently out, as did a spray of colorful postcards. Maggie picked them up, curious. The postcards didn't appear to be souvenirs of India, they all had pictures of England on the front. That was strange. She turned them over, and then her vision tunneled – all she could see was the signature.
Yoko.
She flipped through the postcards. Every single one was from Yoko.
"What are these," she said in a brittle voice, before she could stop herself.
"What are what?" John looked up absently.
"These." She held the stack between two shaking fingers, as far away from herself as she could.
He got up and took them from her.
"Just a few postcards from Yoko," he shrugged.
"Just a few? There must be more than thirty of them!"
"What's the big deal?"
"What's the big deal? Do you really have to ask that?" Maggie's voice rose despite herself.
"I told you, luv, we're just friends." John thought they were past this, but clearly they weren't. How many times did he have to reassure her? What did she want from him?
"If you're just friends, why did she send you a postcard a day?" Maggie struggled not to sound hysterical. She knew that would turn John off instantly, but it was hard to control of the rising panic. John and Yoko had exchanged postcards throughout his stay in India in her original timeline. Then he had come home and dumped Cynthia.
"How many postcards did you send back to her?" She was afraid of what the answer would be.
"I dunno, a few."
"What, did you sneak out every day to mail her one, to tell her you were thinking of her and missing her?" Maggie was unable to keep the paranoia out of her voice. She cringed listening to herself.
"Luv, you are being irrational." He warned her, his voice cold. "I've told you a hundred times I'm not interested in Yoko. I'll say it one more time, if you like. But it'll be the last time. I'm not going to talk about her with you again after this."
"You can't do that, you can't just refuse to talk about this."
"I can and I will, if it's clearly not something you can be… sane about."
"I can't help it," Maggie said, the tears starting to come. Now, her brain scolded her, tell him now why Yoko scares you so much. He'll understand.
Maybe it was time. Actually, it was past time. She opened up her mouth, but John cut her off. "You know, you're with George all the time. Alone. Maureen keeps whispering poisonous little bits of gossip to me, but I've never believed them."
"That's because they're not true!" Maggie wiped the tears away. "Besides, it isn't the same."
"How isn't it the same? You see far more of George than I do of Yoko. I didn't even go to our damned exhibit." John winced. That had been a poor choice of words.
Maggie's head snapped up. "Our exhibit? OUR exhibit? What do you mean by that?"
"Never mind that."
"No, tell me – what exhibit is this?" she demanded.
"Fine. Yoko needed money for a show, and I provided half of it. She wanted to put my name on it, but I knew you'd get upset and it would look bad, so I just had her call it 'Yoko and Me'." He crossed his arms defensively, daring her to challenge him.
"'Yoko and Me?' Really? How could you? You... you sound like a … a couple." They were a couple once, she reminded herself. She knew it. It would always be John and Yoko. There was even a song.
"I'm not going to even dignify that. You know very well I'm interested in her art, and that's all."
"Art? Her 'art' is not even art! What about that crappy postcard mailing she did? 'Breathe at dawn'? That's not art."
"Wait, how did you know about that?"
"Because I took in the mail, that's how." Maggie felt herself grow cold. She realized that she'd said too much.
"I signed up to get the postcards, but I never got them, so I thought they were lost," John said slowly. "But you saw them… wait, did you do something with them?" He sat down in the chair, rubbing his head tiredly.
Maggie looked guilty.
"I don't even know what to say to you right now, that you could be so bloody disrespectful," John said quietly. "Yoko has done nothing to deserve this kind of treatment, and neither have I. I know you're friends with George, and I've never stood in the way of that. But if you want that to continue with him, you'd better give Yoko and me the same respect."
"If I want that to continue with him? What the hell does that mean? You'll forbid me to see George?" Maggie was so indignant that she forgot that she really had been wrong to destroy John's mail even if it was THAT woman. Her voice rose to a shout. "You don't own me. I'm not some meek 60s woman you can control. I'll see whoever I want!"
"Then I'll see whoever I please too, if that's the way you want things," John said, his voice still low.
"That's not what I meant…"
"If you're going to be jealous for no reason, maybe I should give you one. Will that make you happy? If I go and fuck Yoko?" John threw his hands up in the air in frustration.
Maggie stepped in front of him, hands on her hips. "You wouldn't…"
"Push me far enough, luv, and I can't make any promises." John jabbed his index finger at her angrily. "It'd be what you expect of me anyway, wouldn't it? I'm just an arsehole who's cheated on his wife too many times to count. Why should you expect anything better?"
Maggie just gaped at him.
He turned abruptly. He'd had enough and he was done. "I'm going to the studio. Don't bother waiting up." He stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind him.
A/N: Thanks for reading! The next update will hopefully be next Sunday! We love comments, so please tell us what you think!