⇾ 𝐊𝐄𝐄𝐏 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐇𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐒 𝐎𝐅𝐅 𝐌𝐘 𝐁𝐀𝐁𝐘 | 𝐉𝐨𝐡𝐧 𝐋𝐞𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐧 𝐈

Chapter Seventy-Eight: A Trip Up To Lübeck

May 11, 1962

Donna's POV

My eyes fluttered open when I heard John's growling voice coaxing me back into life. I felt his hand in my hair, a feeling that felt strangely comforting.

"We're the next stop," he purred, smiling down at me happily.

"We are?" I asked. "Already?" It felt like it hadn't been five minutes.

"Oh, love, you've been out for three days," he said teasingly.

"Oh, shove off, I'm not that out of it," I whined, curling myself closer to him.

He laughed. If he hadn't of kept talking, I would have fallen asleep again.

"We just gonna sit here and miss the stop, or—?"

I swatted his chest lightly, sitting up abruptly and smoothing out my hair as neat as I could, pulling a little mirror I had out of my handbag.

"Love," John said and I looked at him expectantly. "You don't have to do that," he quipped innocently. "Yer beautiful just as you are."

I grinned crookedly, unable to frown, and blushed.

"Flustered little Donna," John mused. "What would I do without her?"

I rolled my eyes and snapped the mirror closed, stowing it away. I felt the train stop with an uncomfortable jolt.

"That's us, love," said John excitedly, taking my hand and practically dragging me out the door.

~~~

"So, what exactly do you plan on doing with me here?" I asked John later. We were sat in a small diner, quite like every diner I'd sat in the past few months. They seemed popular amongst the boys. The walls were glass, allowing me to look around at the beautiful buildings surrounding us. They all looked old, undoubtedly, although exactly how old was a mystery unbeknownst to us.

Nonetheless, they were beautiful.

"Well," said John, folding his hands neatly on the table. "I'm gonna take you on a walk down Obertrave," he began. "Well take a few stops around some historic places and then we're going down the road to Travemunde for some by-the-seaside dinner and a little walk down the beach."

He slumped back against the booth, a smug look on his face. It appeared he'd put much more thought into this than I had imagined. I smiled fondly.

"You've got this all planned out then, don't you?" I asked, cocking an eyebrow.

"I put way more thought into it than I should have, love," he replied, leaving across the table to pat me on the cheek playfully as a lady came up to take our order.

~~~

"This—," John said an hour later, gesturing to the huge castle-looming structure in front of us, "—is the Holstentor, our ticket into the city."

I gawked at the marveling structure for a fleeting moment. John stuck his hand out, standing in front of me. I took it gratefully, my eyes begging to be taken further into the city.

"C'mon," he said happily, dashing down the sidewalk and pulling me after him. The brick archway leading into the city was between two massive towers that resembled the castles in fairytales I dreamt up when I was feeling in need of comfort. I looked up at the roof as I passed through, seeing trimming that formed marvelous shapes on the sloped ceiling.

What lay on the other side was arguably even more beautiful. Along the water's edge was a line of brick homes that looked like they could have been a hundred years old. Straight in front of us were more lines of old buildings. The whole atmosphere of the city seemed cozier than I could have ever imagined.

People were bustling about. You could easily tell the tourists from the people who actually lived there. John stopped to look around with me for a moment before tugging on my wrist and pulling me to the right.

"Come down here, love," he said. "Look at all these buildings and the water."

I followed him, a huge smile plastered on my face. We stopped only for a second to find a hole we could slip across the road through. We walked down to a slope that overlooked the Trave river and stared intently at all of the old architecture across the stretch of water. The buildings were tall and gothic—almost sinister—looking. The windows were all symmetrical and each building was shaped slightly different.

A glance behind us gave way to a line of shops and bakeries and restaurants of all sorts.

"Now," John said, turning to me with a happy grin on his face. "Let's hop in one of these shops and get a map, yeah? We'll make our way to our next destination."

I jumped up and down, clapping my hands jokingly. "Let's go!"

He laughed as I ran off.

~~~

Over the next few hours, we travelled around what seemed to be every inch of the city. We journeyed through St. Peter's Church, a tall building that seemed like it had stood there for hundreds of years. We found our way up into a lookout that allowed us to see practically the whole city.

Afterwards, around one, we made our way to lunch at a restaurant down the road from the church.

"Where to next?" I asked him excitedly.

He smiled, taking my hand in his from across the table. "Next up is an art museum," he told me. A joyful smile tugged my lips up again. I knew he loved art, having attended an art school before settling down and deciding to be in a band.

"Hey, John?" I said after a moment in thought.

"Yes?" he hummed in response.

"Thank you for this." I smiled at him happily. He looked into my eyes and gave a sincere responsive grin, leaning across the table to sneak a kiss onto my lips. I took another bite of the Marzipan candy in front of me when he'd pulled away.

"Well, ma douce Donna, you're so very welcome. I'm glad that you're enjoying yourself."

I snorted. "Enjoying myself? I haven't been this happy in such a long time, John," I admitted, breaking off for a moment.

John's POV

Ecstasy bubbled inside of me at her response. I loved her so much I couldn't see straight. Sometimes the strength of the feeling scared me. I'd never felt this strongly for anyone in my life.

I took in every detail of this moment: the way the breeze ruffled her hair, the beauty of a smile on her face. It was the little things like this that made me want life to move a little slower than it had been these past few months. I knew how quickly it went by, and sometimes I wanted time this just stop and take in every little thing that was happening.

Instead, everything went by in a flash: every kiss, every touch, every gig, and every breath. I'd barely just come to life and I felt like I was running out of time.

I was brought back to Earth by Donna's hand waving in front of my face.

"Love," she said amusedly, the glint in her eyes slightly teasing.

I blinked. "I'm alive," I said jokingly. "Ready to head to see some art?" I asked.

She nodded, bouncing up and down slightly in excitement.

"Well, what are you waiting for?"

I jumped up and dusted myself off, taking her hand and helping her up. With my arm around her waist, we were off.