Golden Lockets

Love is All You Need

Months pass, as months do, and Serenity grew up in the Beatles' house. She was completely oblivious to all the worries that went on daily for her dad (George) and her "uncles" (John, Paul, and Ringo). Brian kept his promise and let Serenity stay. George was completely thrilled when the other lads told him and couldn't wait to start his new life as a father.

"More like a mother!" John said, laughing at his own stupid joke.

"Oh, John!" Paul said huffily, then he suddenly leaned over to John and whispered, "We could have our own babies, John."

John's head jerked, "What the fuck are you talking about, Paul?"

Paul realised what he had and cleared his throat, bright red in the face. "Nothing." he muttered.

Now, two months after Serenity made her debut, life as the band knew it changed for good. George wasn't used to getting up six times every night to tend to a bawling baby, and some really dreadful nights he was tempted to hurl his screaming daughter out the window. But he always manged to keep calm and not act irrationally. George decided he quite liked having a baby around the house. For the first few days the other lads did too, but after a week they had grown tired and agitated. This began to show on one Tuesday morning in particular.

Serenity had been up half the previous night, practically shrieking the house down because she had a bad cold. George had accomplished lulling her back to sleep but it had taken a while. She finally nodded off at around three in the morning. The other lads, including Ringo who was usually a very understanding soul, thought this was ridiculous. Now they were gathered around the kitchen table in their night things, clear signs of sleep deprivation visible on their faces.

"How long did you guys sleep?" Paul asked miserably, putting butter in his tea and pouring milk on his toast. He was so tired he had no idea about what he was doing. 

"Hmm?" John mumbled, his face buried in his bowl of cornflakes.

"Don't sleep in your cornflakes, John. You'll drown." Paul yawned.

"Don't care. At least I'd get some rest." John slowly lifted his head. Cornflakes adorned his hair like hair-clips, and milk was dripping from his eyebrows. Paul wrinkled his nose in disgust and complained bitterly about the mess John was making. John ignored him, muttering swear words under his breath. Ringo strolled into the kitchen, wearing his pink toweling dressing-gown and bunny slippers. He was smiling despite the lousy night's sleep he'd had.

"Morning, lads." he said cheerfully. "How did you sleep?"

"Not at all." Paul grumbled, swatting at John because his head had fallen back into his bowl of cereal. John's head jerked, sending the cornflakes stuck to his face flying. One landed in the cup of tea Ringo was holding with a small plop!.

"Oops." said John, nibbling his lip. "Sorry, Ringo."

"That's okay." Ringo sighed, fishing the cornflake out with his finger. "That Serenity can really scream, can't she? Did you guys hear her yelling last night?"

"I think the whole bloody neighborhood heard her!" said John, spooning soggy cornflakes into his mouth. He wasn't watching what he was doing and half his cornflakes ended up on his face rather than in it. "This is ridiculous. Can't George get rid of her? Just for a little while?"

Ringo reacted as if John had suggested they drown the baby in chocolate pudding and dump her in a ditch. (It was a very mixed reaction - a combination of shock, outrage, and "that's just plain silly".) 

"We are not getting rid of that baby." Ringo whispered darkly, "George loves her, and I love her, too. And, I bet, you two imbeciles love her as well. All babies cry and keep its parents up til all hours, so that's completely normal. You have no right to complain."

"All right, all right." John mumbled, rolling his eyes, "She can stay."

"Good." said Ringo, wrapping his dressing gown further around him. He smiled slyly. "I bet you and Paul want to get rid of her because you would just wake her up with all the banging you do!"

"Banging?" Paul repeated, blinking rapidly. "What do you mean?"

"You know. Pretend I'm you, Paul." Ringo put his teacup down and proceeded to demonstrate what he meant. He wrapped his arms around himself, pretending he was hugging someone else, and made the silliest, slurpiest noises you could imagine. "Oh, John! Oh, John, that's so good! Mmm, hmm, I love it! Harder! Harder! I want it so bad!"

Paul went as red as a beetroot. He glanced anxiously at John, waiting for a reaction but no being quite sure what type he was going to get. John was very tired and very cranky so Paul expected him shout at Ringo, telling him to bog off and stop being such a poof. 

"Don't be silly, Ringo." John muttered, his eyelids drooping. "Paul and I aren't bloody queer and you know it. And even if I was then he's the last person I'd want to fuck with."

Paul felt relieved and hurt all at the same time. Relieved because John hadn't flown at Ringo and attempted to kill him, and he was hurt because he wasn't on the top of John's "fuck-it list". Paul slumped down further in his chair, pretending to read the back of the cornflake box. Out o the corner of his eye, Paul noticed John was staring at him, a strange, almost curious expression on his face. When Ringo's back was turned John leaned over.

"I was lying, Paul." he whispered directly into Paul's ear.

"Lying?" Paul raised an eyebrow. "About what?"

"I would fuck with you."

Paul's eyes bulged. "John!" he hissed, nodding at Ringo's back. "He'll hear you!"

"Don't care... It's the truth..." John sighed heavily then let his face fall back into his cereal. The milk overflowed the bowl and made a puddle on the table, but Paul didn't care. He patted John on the back, humming a lullaby in his ear. He thought about what John had said, wondering if he had just been gabbling nonsense or if he'd really meant it. Paul sighed and placed his head in his hands. A sudden scream rang out from down the hall. 

"Whoops!" Ringo said, laughing,"That'll be Serenity. I'll get it."

As Ringo rushed out of the room to tend to the baby, Paul glanced at John. He was snoring loudly, despite being face deep in cornflakes. Paul leaned over and gently petted his friend's long brown hair, as if it were a kitten.

"I'd sleep with you too, John." Paul said softly, "Maybe one day we'll get to do it."