If I Fell (Beatles Fanfiction)

Chapter 6

Pauls POV: ||

I got up from the lounge where we were watching the tele to get a drink.

"Whiskey, John?" I asked

"No no just a beer" He responded lazily, looking back to the screen. I grabbed two beers from the fridge, but before I could get to him the front door flung open. A drenched, sobbing Syd latched herself to me, causing a moment of panic that almost caused me to drop the both of them. Trying to cuddle her against me while still holding them, I looked exasperatedly from the bottles, her, John and back.

"Hey, hey what happened?" I asked, holding her tight, rubbing her back with my forearm. John rushed over to me, taking them from me allowing me to properly hold her. "Shh come on, what's wrong?" I insisted, as comfortingly as I could. She lifted her head from being pressed against my chest, not seeming to notice the episode that had just happened over her. She looked horrible.

"Holy Shit!" John cursed, instinctively taking her by the arm. I quickly made my way over to the kitchen and got a wet rag. We led her over to the lounge where I had her sit on my lap as I cleaned her up. She flinched as I wiped the blood from her nose.

"So what happened?" I asked softly, holding the warm rag against her nose carefully to bring down the swelling.

"I-I went t-to the restaurant a-and Jason wasn't th-there" She croaked. I looked over to John. I could tell he was holding back his words, his jaw was clenched as he looked down at his feet, balling his fists. "I-I went to his place..." She swallowed. "Go on sweetheart" I encouraged. "H-He cheated on me! I-I went there a-and th-there was a-another girl in his b-bed!" She cried "S-So I-I hit him a-and well... h-he hit me" She sniffled, her breath hitching.

"Don't cry Syd sweetheart" I said soothingly, rubbing her shoulder as I leant my cheek against her head "You're better off without him" I said gently.

"I-I'm not crying over him, I-I'm crying because h-he hit me!" She let out a weak laugh.

"Im gonna kill him." John mumbled.

"What?" I looked up, a warning look on my face.

"I'm gonna fucking kill him!" He shouted, standing up, beginning to pace around the room. "Where did he hit you Syd?!" he hissed furiously, running his hands through his hair.

"John don't-"

"Where did he hit you?!" He shouted over her as she stood up, swallowing hard. He walked over to her, softening his expression, "Please, tell me" He said gently as he set his hands on her waist, clearly realizing his tone wasn't helping. She flinched and he responded immediately. "Show me." She pulled up her shirt slowly to reveal the bruise from where Jason had likely kicked her in the ribs. He carefully examined the bruise on her hip as well as her bloodied face. His jaw clenched before saying "I'm gonna kill him" as he stormed out the front door, slamming it behind him.

Paul's POV:|| "Come on let's clean you up" I said with a sigh, delicately putting my arm around her shoulders to guide her to the bathroom. She sat on the edge of the sink as I did my best to remove her make up before cleaning her wounds. Luckily she wasn't wearing much. Even though I was used to the action from when we were younger, her wounds make it a lot more difficult.

"No Paul like this!" She said laughing as she guided my hand gently across her eye. "Why did John do that?" She said, sounding a bit annoyed.

"He just wants to protect you and don't get me wrong, I do too. But Johns a bit tougher than I am, to put it in his words I couldn't fight off a puppy. Really though, he just has a hotter temper." I said with a laugh. Syd laughed too, and it looked a lot better on her face than everything else.

"I know why he went, I'm just annoyed that he went to beat up Jason and didn't take me with him!" We both laughed softly as I handed her a towel to dry her hair. I examined my work of cleaning her up and I'd done a pretty good job in my opinion. Her face wasn't bloody and the cut on her lip was barely visible, unless you looked really close. It was sort of cute really. After we'd finished we went out and relaxed, Syd still being hungry. I did my best to feed her with microwaved rice and tea to wash it down, managing not to burn anything. It started to get late so we decided it was time for bed.

When we reached the top of the stairs she gave me a tight hug "Thank you Paul" she said as her cheek pressed against my collarbone.

"What for?" I said softly, trying to hold her as protectively as I could against my chest.

"For looking after me" she replied, looking up at me with big eyes.

"No Syd, thank you for looking after me all these years" I said before kissing the top of her head. "Now go to bed, you'll feel better."

***

Syd'sPOV:|| I laid down and my bed was comfortable, which was nice but I couldn't fall asleep. John still wasn't home and I was overthinking things with Jason. I should just forget him now! He's filthy and he's not a part of my life anymore. Fucking pig. That's when I heard a noise downstairs, the door opened and shut. I heard John slip off his shoes and throw his keys on the table. Thank God he was home, I was starting to get really worried he'd been hurt as well. I heard him walk up the stairs and go into the bathroom, as the distinctive sound of the tap running and water splashing was audible. His footsteps started making their way down the hall. I saw his shadow stop in front of my door, which Paul had left slightly ajar in case I needed anything.

"John?" I squeaked, holding the sheets to my chest.

"Yes, Syd" he answered dryly as he opened the door. He had stripped himself down to the only dry clothes he had on which, was apparently his singlet and boxers.

"What happened?" I said sitting up, wincing as I touched the bandages wrapped around my side.

"Well" he sighed, making his way over to my bed "I just decided to have a chat with Jason that's all" he said with a tired smile as he sat down next to me and held my hand in his larger, warm ones. Looking closer at his face I saw dried blood around his nose and a cut on his lip almost identical to mine.

"Look, we're matching" I said as I lightly ran my finger over the cut on his lips.

"Yeah" he said tiredly as he fiddled with my fingers.

"What happened though?"

"If you lay down I'll tell you a bedtime story" he said. I did as I was told and laid down on my bed. John pulled the sheets over me and went back to playing with my fingers.

"Once upon a time, in a far off land twenty minutes down the road an angry John ran down the road to hurt a big man who hurt one of Johns best-est friends in the world. So John did to him everything he did to John's friend and more! He may have fought back but he was no match for John" he said in his reading voice, comically accenting certain words.

"How badly did you hurt him?" I said, looking over his face.

He shrugged and muttered "I may or may not have broken his nose" I couldn't help but laugh. "But the moral to this story is" he said before leaning into my ear "That you don't have to worry ever again because I will always have your back, I never want to see you hurt again and hopefully you never will be because you don't deserve it." He planted a kiss on my cheek before letting go of my hand and getting up.

I grabbed at his wrist as he got up "Wait" I squeaked, forcing my voice to work "Don't go" he stopped for a minute before complying and getting under the sheets with me. I wrapped my arms around his torso and he held me tightly against him. I pressed my head against his chest and looked up at him gently.

"Syd, you are so loved" he said as he started to rub my back soothingly, shaking his head "You are so beautiful... and intelligent...and funny and loving. I've known you my whole life and I wouldn't replace any moment of it ... And neither would Paul. Just know Syd...that Paul and I ... we love you so much. " he whispered, leaving a very long kiss on my forehead, nuzzling softly. I looked up at him and kissed him on the nose.

"I love you too" I said almost inaudibly as I laid back down against him, pressing my cheek into his collarbone. Both of us exhausted and injured, it wasn't long till we fell asleep in each others sweet, warm embrace.