In which the illegitimate granddaughter of Beatle Paul McCartney finds herself in Liverpool in the early 1960s, falling hopelessly in love with John Lennon.
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1st November, 1960
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"What do you mean you're not coming, Stu?" John asked desperately. It was mid morning and the new couple had not been awake very long - but they had rushed straight over to Stu and Astrid's to break the news that they would all be leaving.
Ruby could tell by the fraught tone in John's voice that this piece of news from his friend was bothering him quite a lot and it was taking a lot of effort to hide how hurt he was by Stu, even though she was sure that the older boy had not meant to hurt his friend. "W-we can't be a group without you."
Stu shook his head, "yes you can, John. I'm a rubbish bass player and we both know it; I'm only holding you all back. You'll get on a lot better without me."
"B-but who will share the flat with me?" John was floundering like a fish out of water. He would feel quite lost without Stu and that was a fact.
"You've got two bedrooms, and two flatmates, John," Stu shot a look at Ruby, who smiled sadly at him. She liked Stu quite a lot and she would miss him - she wanted him to go back with them for John's sake, but she knew that this was the way everything had to be. She had messed with the timeline enough already, hadn't she? By breaking up John and Cynthia, she had almost definitely ensured that Julian Lennon would never be born. That thought was quite painful for her because she was fond of his music career - but she wanted his father, and wasn't afraid to admit that. "Not," Stu continued, "that I think you'll be needing the second bedroom. Why not ask Paul if he wants to move in with you?"
Ruby, as fond as she was of Paul, didn't want that. She imagined her grandfather in the next room when she and John fucked and had to resist shivering in horror.
"B-but Stu -"
"I love Astrid, John." Stu interrupted, "please don't ask me to choose between the two of you, because you won't come out on top."
He didn't like showing weakness, even to one of his best friends. John, angered by the fact that somebody had told him no, turned on his heel and strode out of the flat, slamming the door behind him.
That left Ruby and Stu alone.
Stu looked torn in two.
After a few seconds, he looked at her desperately. "Look after him, will you?" Ruby nodded, "and make sure he doesn't do anything stupid between now and home. It's a bit silly to ask you to make sure he never does anything because we both know that nobody could guarantee that with John... but just look after him, please."
It almost sounded like he was saying a final goodbye - like he didn't intend to see her - or indeed John - again.
Ruby wondered when Stu's headaches started, and if they were at that point in time already. Did Stu know the fate which awaited him? Surely he couldn't, or he would go and seek medical attention, wouldn't he?
She didn't know.
"I'll try," Ruby promised, meaning every word. "Bye, Stu."
"Bye, Rube." She hugged him and he hugged her back. She tried to hold back her tears - Stu had been one of the first people she had met in 1960, and the thought of leaving him in a foreign country (Hamburg or not) was terrifying. "Stay safe, yeah?" She nodded and Stu let go of her. He showed her out of the flat and watched her down the staircase of the block.
When Ruby got outside, she noticed John standing with his back against the side of the building, a lit cig in one hand and his other balled up and resting on his leg. "Hey," she said quietly as she went over and stood beside him, settling for just resting her head on his shoulder instead of holding his hand like she wanted to. Had she reached for his hand, she would have been burnt by the cigarette. John was silent, instead sucking on the unlit end of the cig. "We'll be back, y'know -"
"I don't know if I will, Rube," John replied thoughtfully, staring ahead of him. She knew roughly what he was referring to, but he didn't know that she had heard his and Paul's conversation the previous night... so she played dumb.
"Oh?"
"That German fucking bastard last night... I chased him, and caught up to him. I fucking battered him, and would have kept on if Paul hadn't have got there when he did. He took him to the ozzy, and apparently he's in a bad way. My blood's all over him, too... that's why we're going - so I don't get arrested over here."
Ruby was silent for a few seconds, biting her bottom lip. John tipped his head and looked at her, watching how gorgeous his girl was when she did that. Well, she was gorgeous all the time, but there was something extra perfect about her when she nibbled her bottom lip.
"John," Ruby said, "you did it for me. You did the right thing - no man should be able to say things like that -"
"Not to a lady, Rube." John agreed, finishing his cigarette and then throwing it onto the floor and stepping it out with the heel of his black cowboy boot. "I respect you as much as Mimi, y'know?"
She was oddly touched by this. She knew how much John loved his aunt, even if they sometimes had a complicated relationship.
And then he paled slightly. "Christ," John muttered, "what's she going to say when I take you to see her? You remember what she did last time."
Ruby took his hand in her's now that there was no cigarette to burn her, "it doesn't matter to me, John. She's your auntie, and I'll never disrespect her because of it."
They began to walk to the train station. George, Paul and Pete were getting a train home in the next few days; they weren't (technically) wanted by German authorities, so they didn't have to rush and so could afford to wait and get the slightly cheaper train tickets.
John was silent all the way to the station, letting Ruby talk and just nodding or humming in reply in the right places. It was scary how good he was at it; how many times had he feigned interest when Cynthia was saying something?
"I want you to meet my sisters, y'know." That surprised Ruby a bit, she had to admit.
"Your sisters?" She fished about in her purse for the money for their tickets, handing it over to the person behind the desk. John nodded.
"Jackie and Julia. They live with my Aunt Harriet and Uncle Norman. They, um, mean a lot to me but I don't get to see them very often."
Ruby beamed, "I'd love to meet them, John. Let's get our seats and then you can tell me all about them, hm?" John looked relieved that she had had such a positive response to his words, and so he let her lead the way onto the train and to their allocated seats.
