"Wake up you lazy clod" Lou was beside herself, the letters had rained down over past last week, all slotted through the gate, all delivered to her by the security guard slash driver.

All read...

Scrunched up, cried over, flattened out, re-read and screamed about. She did it all in the stillness of the bedroom, in the quiet of her wing of the house as the nanny ran about on the lawns of Kenwood with Eve.....

While John was, reportedly, absconded in the studio.

The tours were over now, too many fans yelled too loudly. Too many police and security guards shoved them roughly. Too many death threats
Too many old songs played when newer, better songs were being recorded.

Kenwood~ regal, stately, remote.

At first it was bliss, the endless noise of traffic of the street outside the old flat now gone, the fans no longer knocking upon the door.

Open space to wander and roam, gardens to sun in, a pool to frolic.

At first it was a novelty ~ Louise the lady of the house, John the lord, a small staff of cleaner, gardener slash security guard slash driver, nanny.

Louise cast her eyes around the room, the bloody knights armour was looking tarnished yet again.  However did they keep it clean in the days of King Arthur she mused. A bear stood tall and scary in the opposite corner. Eve hardly ever liked coming in the sunroom because of the ghastly thing. Too many nights Louise had clutched her own chest and near screamed thinking an overweight extremely tall slob of a robber was standing in the corner.

"John!" Louise understood the need for sleep but John now seemed to spend most minutes of the day, when home, exercising his right to be unconscious in it. "Come on wakey, wakey Win"

His eyes were still closed to her but nevertheless John responded "How many times do I tell you not to call me that, Maybel?"

"Not enough to stop me, Win" Lou pushed John a little and sat beside him as he lay on the mustard coloured couch. The old thing was in dire need of a spring clean... if ever Win got off it. "Look at these. Do you know her. She says she knows you"

"Bloody hell Lou, the entire population of earth seems to have my name and number"

"That's a bit of a stretch, don't you think. Can't see the pigmy's of New Guinea having heard of the great John Lennon" Lou rustled the sheets of mail, making John blink a smidge and spy on her as he pretended not to care to open his eyelids. Why on earth did she need to wake me to look at bills, bloody woman.

"Never underestimate a traveling salesman luv" John spied again, no not bills. What is she clutching ... fan mail? God, she's gone potty.

"John come on, eyes open, this is important. She says stuff... intimate stuff. You're not, you know......"

"Geez Louise, one woman's enough problems for a fella, why would I need fucking two"

"Thanks very much" Lou pouted, glancing down at John sadly. Worry etched about her eyes.

This one, this woman writing these letters, was attacking John through his brain, knocking on his thoughts.

The words on the page intrigued Lou, so this females pen-womanship that she addressed to John, with all this artistically odd and different views surely intrigued him too.... Lou shook her head to try and banish the thoughts. He loved her, he did, he must to put up with me, to put up with my bad days, to kiss me intimately often, he must love me.

"You look nice" John templed his fingers on his stomach and watched her battle wage inside.

She finally managed to spend a little money now without him pushing for her to do so. She was always banging on about getting a bargain but that was ok, at least she had some nice gear that she actually wore and didn't hide it in the back of the cupboard like George said Pattie did. Yeah Pattie seemed to be a bit of a bloody shopaholic, always lugging parcels and fancy bags back to the studio for Mal to pile in George's motor. Nice girl but her wardrobe must encompass half of East Anglia by now.

"Don't change the subject with your fancy flirty talk Mister Lennon" A prim and proper sounding Louise retorted with a grin, three tiny bloody words but she loved that he would think to say something, anything.

John sat up, clicking his fingers, simultaneously kissing her cheek and taking the letters from her limp hand that now sat on her knee.

Reading the first letter John grinned then laughed.
The second he scratched his nose.
The third page had him shoot a surreptitious glance at Louise.
The fourth he scrunched up.
"I know her"

"I knew it!" Louise jumped up but not quick enough for John to miss grabbing her and pulling her back down to his side. He dearly wanted to run his hand high up the skirt she was currently yanking down. It had ridden up her thigh when he grabbed her back from taking off and losing her lolly, but perhaps now wasn't the best time to warm his digits.

"Not like that Lou, come on you know me. This is business-"Lou scoffed but John held her hand and tilted her chin to get a glimpse of the worried face "She came to Apple wanting money, you know the type.." John imitated Oliver Twist "Please mister Beatle, please.... may I have moreeE"

Louise stared out the window, the day was nice and warm, summer just around the corner, maybe he wasn't playing up. Oh, she knew he had the odd dalliance here and there and they hurt but she understood him, knew he always came home.

But this woman, in these letters, was determined.... Oh yes, Louise could feel it through the words, the prose, the questions, the tilt of the pen even.

And truth be told it scared her that she was closeted away at Kenwood now. No not just 'round the corner any more..Now she was miles and miles and nights and nights away. A shadow passed by the window and Lou glanced over, Eve waved at her parents and Lou had to smile, just had to grin at the cherub through the glass, nose pressed, hands now splayed flat. Nanny Jean must have called her away because no sooner was she there, was she gone.

His palms ran smooth, soothing over her back and arm closest to him. "She tried it on luv, but I'm happy here"

"Really?"

"Really Lou. Come on you know I come home, every single time"

"She just seems so........ so determined.... and different.... She makes me feel...." Lou shrugged; What words did she require to show him where her addled thoughts were at. Lou couldn't even fathom the way she felt.

This time they struck different.  They were mere words on a page but they seemed to claw at her very heart.

"She's bloody different I'll pay her that compliment but no other" John frowned.

This one, was different, he moved his brain back into the moment "Lou... do you want to spend some time in town, we'll lark about like the old days. I still owe you that recording session remember?"

"What recording session?"

"The one you won when we had a bet in St. Moritz" John grinned at the astonished look on her face, the realisation of him remembering something so seemingly trivial from years ago.

"You remember that!?"

"I remember everything about our times together"

"Do you remember what I wore to Strawberry Fields when you tried to weasel what was wrong out of me all those years ago after the, the-"

"Purple peacoat, black knickerbocker thingy's"

"Capris, John" Lou beamed happily for the first time in their conversation "You were so nice to me"

"I'm always nice to you, Maybel"

"Hmmmm" Rolling her eyes Lou then smiled coyly, eventually smirking at his cheeky face within inches of her own. He was sat up now, the colourful shirt she had made him unbuttoned and showing a good bit of cream skin and a smattering of his bemoaned freckles which he got from Tahiti she had decided. The freckles she shushed him about, the ones she pretended to count in the middle of the night when he relaxed beside her. Lou fiddled with the buttons but never did them up. He bopped her nose with his finger, drawing closer he placed a sweet kiss on her lips.

"Writing a song about that"

"About knickerbockers and peacoats?" Louise dropped the mail on the floor by her feet, it was trash, it was of no import, it was to be forgotten. John moved over a smidge and let Lou snuggle in beside him on the mustard couch that was in dire need of spring cleaning.

"Nah, Strawberry Fields, a bit surreal-like but sounds good" John nudged Lou to get his next point across "How about it .... You, me, Abbey Road, twenty odd fellas, an orchestra... what do ya say? A date?"

"Can I sing?"

"On the album?!" John let his fingers drift southward, Lou let him she always let him, he always had the nicest fingers, the slight roughness of his guitar playing hands making the whole sensory excursion just that little bit more titillating and wonderful.

"Yea like background, la la la or tit tit tit stuff"

"I guess I could use a good tit here and there" John grinned and kissed her forehead, her hair tickling his nose as he breathed her in. arrrr vanilla and coconut. She'd tried another, Heaven Scent was the name of the perfume, but he had sneezed every time she came close.

"Johnnn"

"We'll find you something hun"

"Promise Johnny?"

"Promise"