Lou

"You did wot! With who!?" Lou squawked.

"With whom"

"Don't go all English professor on me now Natalie" Lou's eyes bulged as she nudged into Nat as they hurried down the street. She knew Nat had been out, she knew she'd met someone, she knew she'd stayed over. But she did not know it was Paul McCartney "Paul McCartney, I don't.... Bloody Nora!"

"Stop it, would you"

"This is like BBC world news you know. Women will no doubt be craving every moment of information about your night and... I just..." Lou shook her head, trying to grasp the information she had just been told "Paul McCartney... are you positively sure!? I recall you didn't know a Ringo from a John when Sara was teaching you... nor a George"

"Please don't"

"I don't get you. I would have blabbed it all, and here we are a week later... walking to their concert mind you, and you only now reveal the nob"

"Nob?"

"Yeah nob or nobs owner as it were" Lou laughed at her dirty aside.

"Lou, pleaseeee"

"Are you seeing him tonight? Is he dragging you out of the cesspool of squawkers and into his arms? Will he sing a song dedicated to you?"

"Don't be a drongo"

"I hope you didn't entertain him with your Aussie lingo that would have made his willy lag"

"Louise!"

"What!? Look... if I lose sight of you, I'll assume he has swooped in and carted you off. If you're still next to me at the end, let's get blind drunk"

Nat shook her head. He had said something about some Mal fellow but she couldn't really see the likelihood of being found "You'll be coming with me if I go"

"Ohhh dunk me in tea and turn me pants inside out. He likes that sort of thing, does he?"

"No.. I don't know! NO! I mean to say... Well he said a party didn't he. After the fact" Natalie couldn't help but roll a finger across her lips, he had been an amazing kisser amongst other things. "Come on, lets get in that long line"

****

He was fantastic! Nat shook all over as the adrenalin of the girls and those boys drove the show into the stratosphere. The screaming did her head in and Lou and Nat clapped and screamed at times but mostly they just clung to each other for dear life and let the music wash over them. Paul nodded and the females in their vicinity screamed. Lou shook her cousin until Nat thought her teeth would fall out. Paul had seen them. It was a blink of a moment, fleeting, but she had caught his eye. In a sea of faces, she had caught his eye.

"Did you see!! He looked right at you!" Lou screamed in her ear. Every other girl yelled the exact same thing.

Nat, wouldn't look away. Had he seen her, maybe it was a wish of hers that he did. Yet there were hundreds of them, all moving and bouncing and clutching hearts and photos and handkerchiefs. Could he see her? Nat shook it all away and grappled to hear again. The music had diminished and quelled around her in those moments as she hoped just maybe he had, and just as quickly, she dashed the inconceivable thoughts away again, and the music re-entered her body and mind.

A man was leaning over Lou, tugging at Nat's coat. He was huge, glasses lopsided on his nose. Then she heard it.

"Natalie Snow? Nat?"

"Natalie Snow? Ohhhh!" Louise snickered as she watched the man mountain grabbing at her cousin, her friends, arm.

"What!?"

"Mal. I'm Mal. The governor would like your presence luv"

"Governor? Who?"

"Bond!!! Nat stop larking about Bond wants you!" Lou gripped none to carefully onto Nat and pulled her over her lap toward the man "Off you go"

"Not without you!" Nat yelled and grabbed Lou by the collar, latching on as Mal dragged the girl toward the left-hand side of the theatre. "She's coming"

"Yeah. What?" Mal pushed his glasses up his nose and tried to simultaneously pull random female hands off him and drag Nat to freedom "All right. Just hurry up, lass"

***

An hour and a half later, they still hadn't seen a soul. Bundled into an Austin Princess and ferried back to Pauls flat the girls sat staring at each other wondering what the devil was happening. The door pushed open in that moment and one Pattie Boyd stuck her head in. Lou bounced about like she was on cordial.

"Natalie?" Pattie closed the door and moved closer across the room. "Pauls waiting in a car downstairs. Off you go luv"

"But I've got Lou here too?"

"Off you go Nat! Oh, it's so flipping romantic. You have to go Nat!" Lou pulled Nat up and dragged her toward the door, just as the three other Beatles flung it open hooting and hollering.

"But you're...."

"I'm fine! Look three Beatles to look after me"

"Two actually" Pattie smirked back at Lou.

"Oh yes, of course, two"

"You're sure"

"Positive!"

"Monopoly tonight!" Pattie grinned.

"See, I have a night planned! Go... Go!" Lou pushed Nat through the door and had it almost shut "Byeeee Nat, have fun"

Nat blinked at the door closing in her face. What was happening, was she really dumping her cousin? Then again, it was like a dream for Lou, three Beatles to chat to. What was she doing staring at a door for then!?.. When there was a handsome Beatle all of her own waiting downstairs.

Nat fled the building like it was on fire.

And there he stood.

Him by the roadway and her on the doorstep tonight.

A few girls surrounded him as he stood signing papers and clothes and albums. He was bundled up and another burst of snow fall had settled a few flakes on his shoulders. Paul glanced up then and blessed her with a bedazzler of a smile. He got back to signing the last of the items, his fringe fell lower, drifting down as his head crooked to see each article offered. Nat stepped forward and heard him letting the girls know he was about to head out again.

With her.

He was driving her somewhere, just her, just them. It was like a snowflake all of its own. Special, unique and wonderful. She thought she was a nobody in a sea of faces and he had thought of her and made plans and now, now it was the two of them.

Together, sparking snowflakes. And like snowflakes the time they were here was fleeting but oh so special.

She hadn't realised snow had fallen while Nat and her had waited in the flat. Another dusting of brilliant white covering everything.

They slammed the car doors shut "Hello" breathed out as they both smiled in unison. Paul turned the key.

"Hi" Nat grinned and dashed a kiss to his lips "Where are we going?"

"Hello to you too luv. Patience darling, you'll see"

"The show was wonderful"

"Ta"

"You looked magnificent"

"You look delicious" Paul tugged the red beret on her head and tapped her nose "Red suits you"

"Thank-you, now... where are we going!"

The car manoeuvred and ferried them along dark quiet streets. And Nat asked once again "Where are we-"

"Here! We're here!" Paul laughed and opened the car door, quickly skirting round to take Nat's hand and lead her out too "You don't have much patience do you luv. Lucky for me this place is close. Don't think I could have handled an hour of are we there yets! And this, my dear, is Primrose Hill a favourite spot of mine that I now share with you"

"Cheeky wombat I didn't even say are we there yet!" Nat took the lead and dragged herself into his coat just like the week before. Snuggling close, kissing his chest through the material. She wasn't missing a second of tonight, not one second. "You smell excellent"

"I try to smell excellent. Not too sweaty from the show then?"

"Nope, just right" Nat twirled away, the lamplight shone on the car and a thin layer of snow covered the roof. The bonnet, being warm, was clear for now.

"Let me get a couple of blankets and we'll set off"

"Are we taking a trip?"

"Just up the rise"

The rotunda was shrouded in darkness, lamplights lead the way. Snow crunched under her feet and Paul shook his head... For every third footstep she had to scrunch the snow underfoot even more and jump up and down to get the full effect.

A triple folded blanket lay under their bums and two fell over their shoulders.

"It's so pretty" Nat whispered. The night's beauty, silence and his nearness all bound together in a whisper-like existence. Secret, memorable, exquisite.

"Yes, you are"

Nat ignored his flirting, for now... "Is that the Tower Bridge and oh.. the Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey!! Oh look, a bo-"

Paul tugged her chin and swallowed her words. All the vistas in the world could fade away with her in his sight. She melted like those snowflakes she so loved, dripped kisses over him til she surprised him with tickling fingers under his ribcage and broke off for laughter... and biting chilly air.

"Boats... look at the boa-"

Paul grabbed her, she talked too much when all he wanted was lips and her and her nuzzling cold nose in the hollow of his neck. His tongue slipped inside and the warmth and taste consumed him. His snow angel, his tonight. Breaking away he slipped his fingers in and around her waist, she was so, so warm. "Lots of Boats, and you see over there..." Pauls free hand rose, a finger led her eyes over the view from the west toward the east "That is St. Paul Cathedral"

"You have your very own Cathedral!" Nat giggled and took his bodys hints and his lips and dragged a moan of want from his throat.

"Are you warm enough?"

"Ahuh" Nat squeezed herself ever closer. She could give the snow a miss if he was the reason.

He gripped her tight, like a possession, like it was his god given right to hold her that way. Like they were more, more than two nights, more than a few hours. Her heart leapt because the road for them would end rather suddenly now. She had days. Not weeks. Not years. Her dream of being a vet at least a year away.... That was a lifetime in the case of new friendships and fuzzy lovely feelings.

"When do you leave me...." Paul nuzzled the words into her cheek, bumping his nose along her jaw gently.

Leave me.

Not leave Britain.

Not leave London.

Me.

Snow fell, and the night closed in.

She didn't want to utter the words only to have him close off from her, to stop whatever this was...

What it could become if they could give their new friendship room to grow and flourish.

His fingers drew her closer, his lips whispered his warm breath over her lips as she stayed silent. He gave in then, sighed at the knowing of what was to come. Where the two of them weren't going.

Tonight, they could have tonight.

Nat found his face with her palms holding him still, waiting for his eyelashes to reveal his wonderful eyes. They fluttered open reluctantly, and she set her lips in motion. Taking his mind to where she was going to now. Right now.

To them, tonight.

Feverish and greedy she took and offered him all in one breath and he obeyed. Taking her, curling his tongue in her warm mouth, making her ache like he ached for her. Chilly noses rubbed, hands sought ever lower... but the location and outdoor temperature bound them to kisses alone.

"Come on, let's go. I need more of you than your lips"

Bundling blankets frantically, slipping down the hillside in a mad dash they made the car. Slamming doors shut, Paul revved the engine and cranked up the heat. She was on him, attacking him with kisses, hands all over, nuzzling him greedily as the car purred. Paul moaned as the gilded sweet agony of begging wanting lust drove her. Moaning with more and more want he groaned for control, for his turn, for his take. He pushed her back gently into her seat, pressed close and did the same to her, until they both needed air and more than cold leather seats in a cramped motor.

They panted loudly as he reversed from his parking spot.

Fingers sat entangled on his knee.

They sought hungry eyefuls of each other at intersections as he waited for the traffic to move.

They remembered the roomful of people at his flat.

He wasn't having it. They were all adults. John, George, Richy..they knew what she was, how long he had. He wasn't letting a bloody monopoly game, and human bodies littering his floor, ruin his night.

He wasn't.

She nodded; she knew what he was thinking. Her chin lifted and a glint of naughty set him on fire. Natalie, wanted him like a tide needs the shore. Like snowflakes falling to the forest floor. She would put up with anything Lou or those other boys put her through as she led him to his bed. No one was stopping her time with him.

No one.

His flat door crashed open in their rush. He was inside shutting it after her as she hurriedly dropped her coat to the nearest chair.

Eight pairs of eyes stared at them, mouths agape at the sight of Paul and Nat blatantly ignoring them. The lovers were speedily making their way through the living room, down the hall and finally were safely closeted in Pauls room, in seconds.

"My throw" John muttered as he went about his turn.

"I was buying tha-"

"Too late George"

"What was that anyway?"

"What?"

"That whirlwind"

"Geez George if you don't know two people in the midst of passion you need sending back to school"

"They weren't kissing"

"No, but they weren't stopping to ask how much ahead of all of you I was in the game either" John gloated as he clapped his hands and toured around the board.

"Are we just continuing on then?"

"Continuing what lad? You do talk in riddles sometimes Harrison"

"The game. Are we just continuing to play on while Paul and Lou's cousin do the nasty"

"I don't mind. Lou?"

"No, I'm fine as long as it's not overly vocal"

"There you go! See; no problem. Oh look! Pay up George you're on my Mayfair"

"Damn it, I thought you had missed that"

"Aren't you all forgetting something... or should I say, someone...." Pattie piped up.

Gloves and shoes fell to the floor and they turned to make haste for the bed.

Richy was flaked out asleep. Arms and legs stretched to the max.

They both burst out laughing then clapped hands over their mouths to be a little quieter.

Both shrugged in comical unison and walked back into the living room to the sprawl of humans on the floor. The monopoly game was in its dying throes. George had liquidated, Lou had started counting out every small note she had to pay her rent. John scratched his noggin and winked at the lovebirds.

"Bed a bit buggy was it?"

"You could say that" Nat grinned and toed Lou to make her lose count and Lou gave her cousin a scowl of annoyance.

"Bugger this.... Put your coat on luv" Paul shoved his hat on in a jaunty fashion and threaded Nats arms back into her coat "We're off for a stroll"

"Don't stand still too long. I'll think you're a snowman and pee on you later"

Errrrrrrr yuck!" Three girls ewwww'd at John.

"What! Come on.. it was funny"

"Just roll the dice. Dogman" Lou shoved John playfully. She was very settled into the Beatley evening Nat observed.

"Dogman that's new" George grinned and had a thought "Usually its just dog" George and John proceeded to yelp and howl like idiots.

"That's our cue luv. Madness" Paul tugged a compliant Natalie out the door. "Don't mind them, uncivilised bunch"

"They're funny. You have funny mates"

"Mad is a much more apt label, but mates they are. I wouldn't change a thing"

****

Back out into the snow and the night they strolled, snuggled and close once more. The evening hadn't played into Paul's hands but even cosying up with Natalie as she smiled and gathered snowflakes on her mitten'd fingertips was a luxury. She glowed, and all that amazing wonderment radiated from her.

"I'm going to miss this when I go home"

"Me?"

"No, the snow...." Nat watched Paul from the corner of her eye, noting the dip in the edge of his smile "... And of course, you, Paul. You made my snowy adventure fun and romantic and even more beautiful. Thank-you"

He wasn't immediately happy so Nat pulled them up and swung him into her arms. So close and his eyes found hers then wandered all over her features, seeking out the freckles and snowflakes that settled on her cheeks as she tilted her face to his. His glove drew down her nose and she smiled carefully. She wished for more time but stood there knowing none would be given. He had his life and she hers and this the nights of snow and silence was as close as perfect as she could get, with him.

Paul nuzzled her nose softly with his then the next remarkable kiss began. So warm and promising and nice. Hands wound around his neck and she was lifted on tiptoes when he straightened, grinning they pecked lips til he fell into the kiss and her deeper, longer. Lingering moments, heating and searing them both. "Wow"

"I'll miss you more than the snow Paul" She whispered and a warm tear turned icy as it slid down her cheek.

Paul slipped a note in her pocket; he shrugged the contents off like it was nothing. "Read it later. I put an Addy in... you know... in case you wanna write or somethin' "

"I could write" She grinned and sighed and kissed him warm again "Come on round the block one last time"

And they walked on knowing it was minutes' til the end, however many hours, if ever, they would touch again. She snuggled, and he sat his head on hers as they strolled in the moonlight and a smattering of snow.

"Hang on" Paul stopped to the left of the entrance to his building. Nat was poised to open the door. "we haven't built you a snowman yet!"

"That's not much snow there beside you for that"

"It will be a very short snowman then"

"Really!?! I'll fetch two twigs immediately!" Nat dashed a few metres down the street to an oak tree, then dashed back unsure "It's twigs right?"

"Yes!" Paul laughed watching her; how childlike she moved when she was excited. Her excitement bailed him up in that moment and tugged him into the childish lark once more. He happily scrapped a pile of crappy blackened snow into a rough base then pulled a small carrot from his pocket and contemplated the vegetable. It was small no doubt about it but not small enough for their miniature creation. He popped it back in his jacket again.

Natalie was back with knees pressed into the snow, patting snow into a ball "This big?"

"A tad bigger, then another that size, I should think. See big, big, and small for the noggin, yeah"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah" Nat giggled and nudged him. He wasn't That boy, he was This boy. The boy that knelt in snow and scratched about for more to make his friend a going away present snowman. Paul pulled her in for a smashing kiss, she had to pull up for air "Yeah, yeah, yeah!" They both grinned and touched foreheads together as she rammed the snow into a funny-shaped ball "OK?"

"Perfect luv, bloody perfect"

The head was rounded up from fluffier, fresher snow-white snow and Nat took her time placing the twigs in the body section for arms, and some small pebbles in the centre front for buttons. The red ribbon she had in her hair she tugged off and wound around the non-existent neck for a scarf. This snowman was nothing but the height of fashion.

"He hasn't a nose. I'll go look for a qualifying twig"

"No, don't, have a go at this" Paul grabbed his carrot back out of his pocket and handed it over.

"Oh, you darling." She kissed him thanks and placed the 'nose' on their little man "Oh it's absolutely perfect Paul. Thank-you" She snuggled into him and his kisses once more.

***

Lou found them kissing on their knees in the snow. John attempted to pee on them in jest as they stood and stole even more warmth and kisses from each other. This was it. Time was up. She was leaving. Neil ducked out the door and clicked his fingers for the Aston Martin keys. The boys were off touring in the morning, the London gig was over. Their time here was done.

They kissed before she got in the idling motor and he leaned in the door and kissed her some more as she tried to situate her seatbelt.

"Remember the note"

"I will"

"I'll always remember our snow strolls.... and our snowman"

"And the snowball fight, don't forget!" Nat smiled with tears glistening then whispered into his lips "I'll always remember you...."

"Goodbye Snow angel"

"Goodbye Bond" Nat grinned as she tried to hold all the tears at bay. She hardly knew him but knew he was special, like gold dust and snowflakes.

Lou burst out in laughter over the two's goodbyes "Goodbye Bond!!" She then leaned over into the front seat and said cheerio to John, George and Pattie as Paul held the door. Finally, Lou passed Paul Nat's address on a slip of paper, snickering as she did so "I bet she forgot"

"Ta luv... I'll see you one day Natalie"

"Yeah... ummm" It was so hard, her eyes hurt from the tears that wilfully disobeyed "... Goodbye, thank-you so, so much for the wonderful memories Paul" Neil seemed to sense the moment. Timing the car pulling from the kerb to perfection mere seconds after Paul carefully closed the door.

Nat whispered "goodbye" once more to herself and promptly burst into tears. Neil pulled off down the street, leaving Paul, George, John and Pattie in the rear-view mirror.

Paul lifted a hand in a salute of goodbye, and all she could do was reach for the side mirror as if it were him.

The End.