Break Me One More Time [McLennon]

in which george and ringo already knew

     "Hey, Georgie," Ringo greeted as he slid into a chair beside George the morning after they were awoken by Paul screaming in his sleep. There was an untouched bowl of cereal sitting in front of George and Ringo frowned. "What's wrong, mate? You seem a bit down.. Why haven't you eaten?"

     "Not hungry," George shrugged.

     Ringo laughed. "Good one, Georgie."

     George looked at him with a hard stare.

     Ringo's face fell almost instantly as he realized George was serious, and he clamped a hand down tightly on George's shoulder. "Oh, God, are you okay? Are you sick? Do you need me to drive you to a hospital?"

     "No, I'm fine, just..just listen.." George said and he told Ringo about the night before, when they had gone to John and Paul's room to investigate the horrific screams coming from within. He told him how he'd seen John kneeling at Paul's bedside, his fingers intertwined with the bassist's. And how John had looked directly at him and seen him looking.

     "What do you think it means?" Ringo furrowed his brows.

     "Don't know," George shook his head. "Well, I've got an idea, that's for sure, but I just don't know. I mean..John and paul don't really seem like the type, do they?"

     Ringo shrugged his shoulders. "I mean, Brian doesn't necessarily seem like 'the type' and he's gay, so... Maybe they are?"

     George opened his mouth to say something, but Ringo quickly shushed him when he heard footsteps coming toward the kitchen. He looked up to see John entering the room. "Morning, Johnny," he said. "How is he?"

John just shook his head in response as he began making tea. "I don't know.. I mean, he's not very good, that's for sure. He's got a pretty high fever, still, and he just keeps saying these weird nonsense things like..like he keeps insisting that I died and that nothing has been normal for a long time. It's really weird."

"It'll probably stop once his fever breaks," George said.

"Yeah, he's probably just having hallucinations," Ringo nodded in agreement. "I mean..what else could it be?"

John shook his head again and put some bread in the toaster. "Nothing else, I suppose. You're right, it's just that I'm worried about him. I don't like seeing him like this."

"Neither do we, John," George said. "But he's just sick. He'll get better."

John nodded. "Yeah, I know." He sighed, putting a tea bag in a teacup and pouring the water he'd just boiled. The bread popped out of the toaster, now crispy on the outside and golden brown. John put the toast on a plate and picked up the teacup. "Well, I'm going to look after him."

"Okay," George nodded.

"Let us know if there's any change," Ringo said.

"I will," John promised, then left the kitchen and headed back to the bedroom he shared with Paul.

     The moment he was out of earshot, George and Ringo dipped their heads low once more, leaning in toward each other. "I guess it's possible they're dating.." George admitted. "Really very possible, actually. They've lived together for a while, after all. They're inseparable, practically joined at the hip."

     "Yeah," Ringo agreed. "So..should we say something?"

     "No," George said quickly. "No no no. What if we're wrong? Then what?"

    "Yeah, you're right, we should just keep quiet for now." Ringo said. "Until we're certain."

~~~

     Hours and hours later, in the dead of night, Ringo woke up with a dry throat. He got out of bed and tiptoed out of the room, so as not to wake George. Out of the room and down the hallway he went, but when he was halfway there he heard something.