Break Me One More Time [McLennon]

in which there are casualties

A/N: well it's Thursday so, as promised, here's a chapter. I'll probably edit and have the next one up on Saturday!

~~~

     Two days later was a Thursday and it had now been two weeks since Paul got a restart on his life. He and John didn't resolve their fight, but they didn't speak of it again. Everything went back to normal.

     So Thursday. It was around one thirty in the morning and John was asleep in his bed (well, on his mattress, anyway). Paul couldn't sleep though. He was in the kitchen, just waiting...

      "How'd you know I was coming?" Barney said.

      "I didn't," Paul said. "I was just kind of hoping."

      "So, I'm assuming you wanted to talk to me?"

      "Yeah," Paul nodded. "John wrote a song that isn't supposed to be written until next year. Late next year, too. We wrote it when we were preparing for the album?"

      "Please Please Me?" Barney said.

     "Yeah, how'd you know?" Paul sighed. "Did you change that, too?"

      Barney laughed. "No. That always happened. But now what I've done is I've made sure that John and Cynthia broke up and he had a realization while in Hamburg and that realization is now affecting all of his decisions."

     "Yeah, about that realization - " Paul said but Barney put a hand up to stop him.

     "I told you, you've got to figure it out on your own," Barney said. "Now, anything else? I've got places to be, you know."

     Paul sighed. "Okay, well, there was another thing; a few nights ago John had this really terrible nightmare. He woke up and he was just so...scared. He said my name when he woke up, he asked for me. I don't know, something just felt off about it all."

      Paul wasn't sure how he thought Barney was going to react - frowning, furrowing his brows, saying something about how he couldn't tell Paul what the nightmare was all about because he'd already said too much - but he most certainly did not expect him to smile and say, "Perfect! That means my plan is working!"

      Paul stared at him, mouth agape. "What?"

     "It all has to do with what he realized in Hamburg," Barney said, waving off Paul's question. "You don't need to worry about that for a little while."

      "Well, is it going to keep happening?" Paul crossed his arms.

     "Oh, definitely," Barney nodded.

     Paul scoffed. "He's my best friend and I have never seen him so...so vulnerable. He was scared and I don't ever want to see him scared."

     "But, see, you won't know about it, Paulie." Barney shook his head. "In all the times I've dealt with John Winston Lennon, I've learned that he's particularly good at three things; singing, playing the guitar, and suppressing his emotions."

      Paul frowned. "How many times has your work involved you dealing with John?"

      "Including right now? Three." Barney said.

      Paul stared at him, waiting expectantly.

      Barney rolled his eyes. "One time in 1967 I asked him for directions so that I could get a chance to shake his hand and we got a DNA sample from that. Then on December eighth of 1980 I met him again. I was meant to divert him from going home but I failed."

      "Wait, so you've met John...twice? And this isn't the first time you've tried to save him?" Paul said. "Isn't that, like, really dangerous?"

      "Not when you can change your face," Barney smirked.

      "You're kidding me," Paul deadpanned. "You are so not serious."

     Barney laughed. "The day you got here was so not the first time we've ever met, Paul."

      Paul furrowed his brows. "So right now..."

      "Oh, this is my real face," Barney assured him. "I have to show you my real face when recruiting you for work. If I used a fake face around you without informing you as soon as possible, I would be fired."

      "Oh," Paul said. "Okay. Good."

     "Anyway, is there anything else you've noticed?" Barney asked.

     "Well, I was thinking about johns be Cyn and I realized something," Paul said. "If they're not together...Julian will never be born."

      "Casualty of war, I'm afraid," Barney shrugged.

      Paul narrowed his eyes at Barney angrily. "This isn't a war!" He  said. "This is my best friend's son being erased from existence!"

      Barney looked Paul dead in the eyes and for the first time in the two weeks since Paul arrived in 1961 and met Barney, Paul was suddenly aware of how powerful Barney truly was. He had known all the while that Barney had magic, tremendous magic that could do tremendous things, but he was suddenly so extremely aware of the raw power that Barney truly possessed. As his eyes lit up with anger and what looked like despair, Paul suddenly realized how easily Barney could rip him apart with a snap of his fingers.

      "Would you bet your life on that, Paul McCartney?" Barney said, his voice no longer light and playful. His voice was hard, cold. His eyes said that his knowledge extended far beyond his years. "This is war. This is a war between those who want to break the universe, and those who want to protect it. A war that is as old as time, yet new every day. So if Julian Lennon is a causality of that war, then I'm sorry, but I have no choice. I have to look out for the greater good."

      Paul frowned.

      And just like that, as fast as it had come, the coldness and anger that surrounded Barney melted away and was replaced by the forever smirking and joking Barney. "Well," he smiled. "I'd better be off. Nice chatting, Paulie."

     Paul watched him carefully, nervous to say anything. But before Barney could go, he spoke anyway. "Wait," he said. "Who have I met you as before?"

     Barney laughed. "Trust me, you really don't want to know," and then he was gone.

~~~

     Paul and John were laying on the floor in the sitting room later that Thursday, around noon. "Any ideas for a song?" John said.

      "Nothing," Paul sighed. In reality, Paul had plenty of good ideas, but those would have to wait until they were the Beatles - the real Beatles.

     John sighed. "Do you ever miss Hamburg?"

     Paul closed his eyes and smiled. "Every day of my life," it wasn't a lie. He had longed for his teenage years, his time in Hamburg, his few years before the band took off.

     "It was so much simpler," John sighed and Paul nodded in agreement. "I just want to turn back time."

     Paul nodded slowly. "Yeah, turn back time.."

      "Well, that's enough brainstorming for one day, I think," John said and stood up. "It's been fun."

      "Yeah," Paul said, but he wasn't really listening. He was lost in thoughts of Hamburg...

      What the hell did John realize in Hamburg?

~~~

A/N: you I am seriously such a nervous flyer I got this all done on the plane ride to Portugal.