If You Believe (George Harrison/Beatles FanFic)

Chapter 31

Hi my sweet Beatlemaniacs! Finally an update. I'm slower than molasses in January. I know. And I want to thank all of you who commented--I'm absolutely horrible at answering and I'm so sorry. I love everything you write and you frequently crack me up! So thank you for taking the time to read and comment---I truly appreciate it! Enjoy. Love, Lara xo

George sat up, closed his eyes and tried to take a few cleansing breaths as he listened to his beloved Annie's cries from the bathroom. He knew in some alternate universe, this might be called irony. In his universe, this was called a fucking mess. But he couldn't simply let her cry in the bathroom when it wasn't really a life-ending disaster. George reasoned that Annie was just screwed up by Steven and he needed to be a bit more understanding. So much of this could have been avoided if Annie had been honest with him, unfortunately, Steven was still a bigger presence in her life than he had suspected. He wasn't a woman. He'd never been abused. He had, however, been stabbed to near death, and carried more than physical wounds from the act. His wife and baby were abducted by a lunatic and he had wounds from that. And the turmoil left over from his Beatle days were enough to bring anyone to their knees. Maybe this all pointed to his need to heal just as badly as Annie.

Maybe Dr. Robinson wasn't such a bad idea after all.

George stood and headed for the bathroom. His knock went unanswered, so he tapped again and warned her he was coming in.

She was sitting on the marble floor against the tiled wall, her knees drawn up, her face red and her eyes teary.

"Baby, come on. Let me help you up," George said gently, reaching for her.

"Don't be nice to me when you don't want to be," she sniffed, looking up at him. "It's not like I'm suicidal or anything."

George puffed out a laugh. "Good. One less thing to worry about."

Annie rose by herself and still hugged the wall. "Don't be nice to me, George. I am a selfish narcissist. Just like Steven. Totally swimming in my own swamp water."

"Uh huh," he smiled easily and extended his hand to her. "C'mon beautiful girl. Get out of the swamp and come back to me."

"I don't deserve you, George. I don't," Annie hiccupped as tears fell from her eyes.

"I'll be the judge of that, Miss Annie," he said flatly with a raised eyebrow. "Listen, I'm a little shit myself. I could have told you sooner what I was feeling. I didn't. I thought I was supposed to handle it, even though I knew I wasn't. I'm a Brit and a man. What do you expect? True confessions?"

Annie looked at the humor behind his eyes and tried to suppress a slight smile. "Don't make me laugh. This isn't funny. I fucked up really bad."

"You know what, baby? The sun will shine in the morning. The earth is still spinning on its axis. Our baby is asleep in the next room after a warm bath and mom's breast milk. I love you more than ever. What more can there be?"

"But Dr. Robinson...."

"Yeah, well, if he's helping, I'm all for it."

"......And I invited him to Ava's party....." she croaked.

George winced and slammed his eyes shut. "Fine," he choked out. "But please, no more. I can't take any more. If there are any other explosive revelations, please send me a memo."

Annie wiped her eyes with a towel and let a small laugh escape from her throat. George brought her several tissues and had her blow her runny nose.

"C'mon, we're missing a perfectly good fire."