YES IT IS Stories: A Surprising Development

Authors: pennylane_fic, jenny_wren28 & lovelyrita_mm

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.

September 1966, In Spain with John.

"If you ever leave me, I'll be sad and blue…Don't you ever leave me, I'm so in love with yooooouuuuu…." John drew the last syllable out to comic proportions, making Maggie giggle. He leaned over his guitar and kissed her.

She loved when he sang "Bad to Me" – it was one of the many songs the Beatles had written and given away for free. This one had gone to Billy J Kramer. Maggie couldn't imagine just being handed a Lennon/McCartney original so thoughtlessly. And freely.

Loyally, Maggie had always preferred the Beatles versions of these songs. She knew a few of them from before, like "I Call Your Name" and "I Wanna Be Your Man", but John had once dug up some acetates of song demos he and Paul had recorded before handing them off. They were gems, completely new to her – rough, but that was what made them so charming. She had fallen in love with this particular song, and since the intro spoke to their personal situation, he sang it for her whenever she asked for it.

Currently, they were sitting on the bed in their hotel room, the windows open to the tropical night, a gentle breeze blowing through the curtains. They were in Spain where John was filming "How I Won the War" and he was not altogether enjoying it.

Maggie had just arrived earlier that day. They'd only been apart a couple of weeks, but still, John had swept her off her feet into a hug the second she'd stepped off the airplane Clearly he'd missed her, and she him.

"Thank God, luv," he said, "I've been bored out of me skull!" He continued to hug her tightly, pulling her body flush against his.

Ringo, feeling left out, interrupted their reunion with, "When do I get my hug?"

John immediately released Maggie and leapt at Ringo, giving him a playful bear hug and a smack on the cheek. Maggie laughed, used to the boys' antics by now, and fully expecting it to be there at every turn in their life.

"Oh, save it for Paul!" Ringo said with a grin, pushing John away. Holding John at arms length, Ringo finally got a good look at his friend. "What happened to you, did you lose a fight with the barber?"

John grinned and ran his hands through his short hair. "This is what they do to you when you enlist, son."

"And you're wearing glasses – is this the sad end of Paulie leading you around the clubs blind as a bat, and propping you up in front of the first available bird?"

Maggie cleared her throat. "I'm still here, you know." She glared at Ringo half-seriously, knowing he was just teasing.

"I think I'll go see about our luggage!" Ringo said brightly, quickly extricating himself from a potentially awkward situation.

Maggie laughed at him. She knew John wasn't picking up birds in bars anymore – at least not to her knowledge. She trusted John – but at the same time, she knew the history of the Beatles very well and knew that none of them had let marriages or relationships get in the way of a good time. But she tried not to think about that, focusing on better things, like John. Who was standing right in front of her grinning like a lunatic.

"Do you like the new glasses, then?" John asked her eagerly, wanting to know what she thought, and also happy to get away from the subject of his infamous past. He had made every effort to stay faithful to Maggie, right down to drinking himself into a stupor at night, so he'd avoid the temptations of the local nightlife. She was special and he'd screwed up too many things in his life to want to give this one a reason to leave him. He was afraid of slipping up and just hoped he'd be able to overcome a lifetime of bad habits and doing whatever he wanted with no thought as to who it affected. He was belatedly feeling some guilt over his treatment of Cynthia these days. Wanting to stay good was one reason he'd wanted Maggie here in Spain – besides the mind-numbing boredom of movie sets.

Maggie looked at him – he certainly did look different from the last time she'd seen him – but at the same time, he looked so familiar. Maggie hadn't wanted to say anything to him beforehand, but she had known that once he went off to Spain, he'd never really look the same again. He was at the cusp of the Sgt Pepper period that would mean matching mustaches and bright clothes. And for John, an LSD addiction. She knew he had already tried it and liked it. How long he would stick to his promise to not use it, she didn't know. Nor did she know how it would affect the Sgt Pepper album. After all, John had a fanciful imagination and she half suspected that none of the band needed drugs to come up with the imagery contain in the songs they would write in the next few months. Of course, she couldn't truly delude herself into thinking drugs weren't going to be a huge part of the culture of the 60s and of rock. Sgt Pepper was only the tip of the iceberg.

She put up her finger and touched the rim of John's famous granny glasses gingerly. They were iconic and she almost couldn't believe she was touching them. It felt a bit forbidden, like touching a museum piece – except they were worn by a living, breathing person – someone so dear to her. Most of the time when she was with him, she was able to forget that she was with an icon - not just of rock music, but of the 60s, of the counter culture, of the peace movement. So many things, whether deservedly or not, were associated with John Lennon and his music. It was moments like this that brought it all back to her. She was engaged to THE John Lennon. Oh God.

"What's wrong, luv? You look like you've seen a ghost!" He peered at her through the round lenses. Her once flushed cheeks had suddenly taken on an almost sickly pallor. "It's only me."

She blinked and looked at his familiar face. Was it familiar because it belonged to her fiancé, or familiar because that face had once upon a time peered at her from the calendar hung on her office wall?

"Luv?"

Maggie blinked again and his face came back into focus, the two images blending back into the one person she loved more than anyone.

"Sorry, just a weird flashback. Or, rather, forward." She shook her head.

"You knew, didn't you?" John looked at her accusingly. "You didn't seem surprised by the new hair and glasses because you already knew!"

"Of course, I did, John. How could I not?"

"And you didn't say anything?"

"What, and ruin it for you? I couldn't do that! I do like the hair, by the way." She ran her fingers through it tentatively, at first, and then gave it a good ruffle. Grabbing her, John pulled her in for another hug.

Letting her go, he looked at her over the rim of his glasses. "I wanted to surprise you with it. But it's hard to surprise someone who's already witnessed your whole life, isn't it then?"

"Well, I expect my being here will change a lot of things in your life." She said, silently thinking at John, You will never meet Yoko, if I can help it. And you will never be shot, if I can help it. "Hopefully it won't be for the worse because of me." It was something she worried about a lot. From being able to prevent John's murder to how curtailing John's drug use might affect his music, to the fact that she might have caused Sean not to be born. She still didn't know if she had been selfish to stay, or if her leaving would have been more selfish.

"How could it?" he asked, kissing her. There was so much he didn't know, she thought sadly. It was a burden sometimes.

Trying to reassure herself as well as him, she smiled up at John, "There will be lots of surprises for us, I'm sure of it. Good ones."

"That's the best kind, luv," he said. He meant it, but she could tell that his mind had already left the conversation, and was on to the next. That was John. "Have you been on a movie set, then?" John said, "Will a tour of it tomorrow hold any surprises for you?" he teased.

"I'm sure it will, though I have seen pictures of you in your costume. Does that count?"

"Did I look good in those pictures?"

"Very. In fact, you were doing obscene things to a lollipop. You should have seen all the comments when those got posted online." She raised her eyebrows at him, trying to imitate his leer.

[Editor's note: . ]

John choked with laughter. "Oh, Miss Margaret of the Future, how I've missed you."

He grabbed her hand and they started walking to the terminal to find Ringo and their luggage. "I have a new song to play you. I started being all nostalgic for home, and I felt like writing about it. Something new, you see."

Maggie had to hide her excitement, so as not to ruin yet another surprise.

"I can't wait to hear it!" she smiled fondly at him.

He looked down at her, "Naughty girl, you already know which song it is, don't you?" He shook his head.

"I've got a feeling - but I won't know for sure until I hear it, will I?" She stuck her tongue out at him.

* * *

After dinner with Ringo, they had retired to their room early. Ringo, sensing that they wanted to be alone together, had excused himself pleading tiredness from the flight. She was sure Ringo was heading to bed – but that on his way he'd stop by the hotel bar to pull some birds. One more thing Maureen would find a way to blame her for, she was sure. Maureen needn't feel threatened by me, she thought. She's got bigger problems.

John pulled her into their room, kissing her as he shut the door behind them, instantly blocking out any further thoughts of Maureen and Ringo.

Stumbling backwards, their lips still locked, Maggie allowed herself to melt into John. It had only been a few weeks, and yet she felt as if it had been years. There were always hundreds of worries and they were worse when he was away. She tried to fight them logically, one by one, but it wasn't always easy.

Her newest worry had hit her in the middle of the night just recently. What if she accidentally sent herself back to her own time, just like Christopher Reeve had at the end of Somewhere in Time? She'd used the same means of time travel he had, only it hadn't lasted in the movie. It was ridiculous, really – she hadn't suddenly disappeared when she'd brought out her 21st century iPod, had she? Maybe these silly thoughts were just trying to disguise her biggest worry – John getting distracted and moving on to someone else. Leaving her. He had made promises and she was sure he meant them when he said them. But where would she be if he got tired of her? What if he moved on to Yoko?

These nagging thoughts always seemed unimportant when she was in John's arms and so it was a relief to have him hold her so tightly to him.

Then again, her need for him could really just stem for the fact that this was John Lennon she had in her arms. And he was really cute! Maggie bit back her laughter but couldn't help it as a small giggle escaped her throat.

"You know, you really need to stop laughing at us right before we do this. It's giving me a complex," he said between kisses.

Running her fingers up and under his shirt, Maggie shrugged and smiled at him. "I have a feeling you'll get over it."

"I don't know," he said, pushing her back towards the bed. "What if I can never perform again? What if I'm permanently inept at satisfying you for the rest of my life?"

"Then I'll tell Paul and he and the boys will call you 'limpy'."

John pulled back from her. "You'd laugh at my insecurities?" He threw his arm over his face to muffle his very loud and very fake sobs.

"Of course," she said, trying to keep a straight face.

"Well, in that case, I'd better not give you a reason to bring the others into this!" Then he leered at her, "Unless, you're into that?" He waggled his eyebrows to emphasize the point, and Maggie was unable to stop her laughter. "No, no, you're more than enough for me." John looked smug for a minute, so she couldn't help adding, "Besides, I hear you've had Paul already and he's no good."

"That's my line!" John protested.

With a grin on her face, she pulled him back down, muffling his protests with kisses and enjoying the feeling of his body settling on top of hers.

* * *

Later that evening, the guitars had come out, and John was in such a good mood from their reunion, that he played all her requests. Maggie loved singing harmony with him – she knew she wasn't a real Beatle, but she loved to pretend she was. When Paul wasn't around, of course. But here, she had John to herself and they played their way through all the old favorites.

"How about the new one, then?" John asked.

"Yes, please!"

He riffled through some papers, where he had jotted down his lyrics.

"Now, it's not finished, so it might be a bit rough. I think I might want to have Geoff do something with it, like slow it down, so it doesn't sound as much like me."

"Hmm." She'd always hated the final version of this song – simply because it didn't sound like John. But she sat patiently and waited for him to begin, expecting to hear those lyrics she had long ago committed to memory. Living is easy with eyes closed…

"You know you are better than a song

You are where I belong..."

Her own eyes snapped open before he had even made it through the first sentence. "That's not 'Strawberry Fields Forever!" she exclaimed! She panicked for a moment – would he never write it because she had interfered in the timeline? But then, wait – she had never heard the song he had just started to play for her!

New Beatles music?

"Strawberry Fields, eh? You were expecting it, weren't you, luv?" He bounced up and down, excited, "Well, old Johnny has a few surprises in him yet!"

"What?!" She was confused and nearly speechless, her mind trying to logically catalog all the possibilities inherent in this new development.

"Well, I have had a lot of time to think, and I did get nostalgic for Liverpool and the old days – so I did write a song about it. It's good, I think. I couldn't wait to play it for you – but then, I figured you probably already knew it, and that it was probably little Maggie Sue's favorite song from when she was babe in the cradle. Am I close?"

She scowled, because he was half-right. "Actually, 'Octopus's Garden in the Shade' was my favorite when I was little. I developed a rather late appreciation for 'Strawberry Fields'. Because it doesn't sound like you!" she said pointedly.

"Oh really, well…wait, Octopus's ….what?" his curiosity made him lose track of his comeback.

"Never mind," she grinned.

"No, wait – did I really write a song about Octopuses? Was I, you know…?" he mimed smoking a joint.

She punched his arm. "No, it's Ringo's song – don't you remember, I think I even mentioned it to you all once! If he ever comes in to the studio with that song, you'd better record it! I have to preserve my childhood love of the Beatles, or we'll hit into some terrible time travel paradox that ends up with me becoming a passionate Rolling Stones fan, traveling back in time, and falling in love with Mick, and then where would we be?"

He pondered that for a minute, and then made a menacing fist and comically punched at the air, nearly dropping his guitar in the process. "I might have to cripple Mick, is what I'd have to do!"

"And then you'd club me over the head and drag me back to your Beatle cave?"

"Exactly!" he set the guitar aside and tried to grab her and kiss her, but she stopped him.

"Wait, a minute, we're off track now. We were talking about your new song. Or songs? You did write something to do with Strawberry Fields?"

"I did that very thing. Lots of strawberries. And fields." He nodded vigorously, making her laugh. "And then I got to thinking how irritating it can be not being able to surprise you. Now, I'm no NASA scientist, but I thought I might be able to trick the time traveler by writing about something that only just happened. So I wrote a song about that conversation we had on the flight back from San Francisco. Do you remember it?" he looked at her eagerly.

She gaped at him for a minute. "That song was about…"

"And you'd never heard it before, had you? Well, what you let me play of it before you made me stop!"

"No! It was completely new to me!" She didn't know what to think or what to say. To hear something completely new, by a band that had broken up before she was born – that was a rare treat. But it also meant that they were now in completely new territory. All she had to protect these people that she now loved was her knowledge of the future – her memory of what would happen and when. But that was all breaking down, by the virtue of her being here.

If she could save George and Linda from disease by forcing preventative medicine on them – that was one thing. If she could stop John from going to that art gallery and meeting Yoko, that was another. Those were all established things. But what if her being here somehow made it so that Mark David Chapman wasn't lying in wait for John outside the Dakota in New York City on December 8, 1980? If that didn't come true, then she'd have no idea how to protect John. And she had no way of knowing if it would, now that she was here. And what if her actions brought John into the path of another dangerous psycho? She tried to quench her fear and push it deep inside her.

She spent so much time worrying, that she hadn't considered an unexpected positive outcome like this. Like new Beatles music. She had hoped she might be able to keep the band together long enough for them to keep creating music past 1970, but she had never really considered that her life with John might inspire new music. She'd learned that John had written songs for her in the two years they'd been apart – but they had ended up all being ones she already knew. That was mind-blowing in and of itself – and it gave them new meaning. But they weren't new.

New songs.

And now, smiling, she handed the guitar back to him. She wanted to hear the new song all the way through. Her surprise. One of the many she knew was in store for her. It was terrifying. And wonderful.

* * *

A/N:

A Bit of harmless fluff this time and OH NOES!!! MAGGIE SUE IS CHANGING THE TIMELINE!!!!! BAD MAGGIE SUE BAD!!! WHAT ELSE ARE YOU GONNA CHANGE????? I SUPPOSE YOU'LL WANT TO RUN APPLE NEXT!!!!!!!111!!!

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