At this point, I was admittedly sucked pretty deeply into Paul Land. For the next couple weeks, Paul and I went out every night and spent just about every waking moment of the day together. There was a part of me that knew it was becoming excessive, even a little obnoxious. But every time I heard his melodious voice call my name, any and all sense of judgment I had flew out the window.  

"We have such a promising future together, Gail!" Paul proclaimed as we entered the studio.

"I couldn't agree more, Paul..." I giggled, in a daze. 

"Just think of all the good things we could have if we close our eyes!" Paul continued excitedly.

I heard George groan in the background. I looked over; he was shaking his head and rolling his eyes hopelessly as he absentmindedly strummed his guitar.

"Hell, we could get married! I've always wanted to move out to the country! We can raise goats and horses, Gail. Doesn't that sound delightful?" Paul mused, beaming to himself.

"Anything you want, sweetie..." I gazed at him in a trance.

Just then, John and Ringo came ambling in. Once again, Ringo let out a big yawn. Yawning was something he had been doing a lot of lately. 

"Ahh, good morning all!" he managed to say as cheerfully as he could.

John, who was walking right behind him, shot us a quick glance but said nothing.

"Hey, John..." I greeted anxiously. 

John scoffed, "Oh, 'hey John', that's two words you've said to me in two bloody weeks! Must be a new record..."

I sighed and rolled my eyes, "John..."

"Don't listen to him, ducky, John's just an ass when he's not the center of attention..." Paul reassured me as he narrowed his eyes at his songwriting partner. He then leaned forward and gave me an affectionate peck on the lips.

"Ducky..?" I saw George mouth in confusion as I lifted my head back up.

I was scared to look back over at John. I could sense he was seething, it was like I could hear the kettle whistling from his ears. In fact, that was the kettle. I hurriedly served Paul the tea I was making him.

Utterly exhausted, Ringo nearly collapsed at his drum set. 

"You alright, mate?" Paul asked his bandmate with the raise of an eyebrow.

Ringo moaned, "I'm up all night every night with Mo tending to the baby. That darn little tyke has got me plumb tired..."

"I can take him off your hands for one night!" I offered sweetly. 

Ringo looked up and raised his eyebrows curiously, "Really? You'd do that..?"

"Sure! You and Mo can have a nice night out for yourselves, I'll take care of everything!" I assured him.

"Are you sure? You don't have to do this..." Ringo insisted with a vigorous shake of the head.

"I want to! Trust me, you both deserve this..." I said with confident conviction.

Ringo was nearly in tears, "Oh, thank you, Gail! You have no idea how much this means to me!!" he kissed my hand gratefully.

"No problem," I smiled back at him.

When I looked up, John appeared to be in the middle of an eye roll, but he also appeared to be a bit concerned. A moment or so later, Mr. Martin called in George, John and Ringo to do a few overdubs on one of Paul's songs.

With the room left to ourselves, Paul and I continued to discuss our future as we had been doing earlier.

"We can get a dog and play with it on the farm! You know, I've always wanted to have an English Sheepdog. Not too big a dog, of course..." he winked at me.

I chuckled, "That sounds great, Paul! It warms my heart to see you have so much hope for the future..." 

"Of course! You're my gal! I knew from the moment I saw you that you were something special..." he remarked with an adorable grin.

He then suddenly pulled me in for a big hug, grasping me tightly. "You're not gonna leave me to become the next Hemingway, are you..?" he asked uneasily.

At that very second, I felt a pit in my stomach. Is Paul trying to possess and control me the same way Issac did?

***

"Thank you so much for doing this, Gail, I don't know how on earth we'll make it up to you!" Maureen gushed. Though her brown eyes sparkled with gratitude, I could vividly see the dark rings encircling them.

"Don't worry about it," I stated simply.

"Don't hesitate to call us if you need anything. All the supplies and instructions are in here," Ringo handed me a hefty bag.

"Thanks!" I replied.

"Goodbye, my little pumpkin!" Maureen bubbled emotionally, kissing the infant's forehead.

"We'll be back real soon, champ!" Ringo added cheerily. 

"Uh, make sure he gets his bottle every hour, on the hour! Make it every half-hour, just to be safe!" Maureen urged nervously.

"Alright, let's leave the poor girl to it," Ringo smirked as he took Maureen by the hand. Having said their sufficient goodbyes, they were off. 

As soon as they left, I instantly regretted my proposal to take care of baby. Zak was already screaming and crying in my arms and he didn't stop for hours. I changed his nappy at least a dozen times before he finally drifted off to sleep. 

***

Laying in my own bed, I found myself feeling similarly restless. I was unable to relax or find a comfortable position. My mind drifted to Paul. As vehemently as he had stated that he wouldn't change a thing about me, it seemed he was sneakily trying to do just that. And though I knew that he cared about me, his constant parading of me to John and the others was still something that didn't sit quite right with me. 

John. He's always running hot and cold with me; one moment he's positively moonstruck over me, the next he's spouting out angrily at me. I thought back to the ripped entries he had given me, staring at them from across the room as they sat upon my dresser. Did John really feel this way about me this whole time? How did I not notice sooner? Maybe I was so preoccupied with Paul that it never caught my attention.

With all these thoughts swirling in my head, my mind became fried and my eyelids became heavy...

Suddenly, I'm at the sandwich cafe with Paul. 

"Paul, you're a songwriter," I began. "Do you have any tips I can use for my own writing?" 

He looked at me intently for a moment, "Well, you said yourself that you would write what's in your heart. What does your heart tell you, darling?"

His question echoed inside my head. And all of a sudden, I found myself in front of John.

"John, you are also a songwriter," I iterated. "Do you have any writing tips for me?"

He smirked at me and chuckled, "Just write, love, all the right ideas will come to you! What does your heart tell you?"

Again, his question echoed; this time, a bit louder, with Paul's voice intermixed in. Then, all these scenes began to flash rapidly before me: John and I dancing closely at the banquet, John touching my arm right after Neil had come onto me, John patting and winking at me as he left me with the torn out pages, John and I laughing and talking before Ringo had interrupted us. There I was, reliving all of these moments, feeling the same overwhelming sensations all over again. John's voice then began to overpower my subconscious...

"You like what you see, love?"

"You're gonna be the death of me, Abbie Greene..."

"I think about you so much I can't sleep, Abbie..."

"You're one in a million!" 

Suddenly, I awoke with a jolt. Zak was crying again. With a pained moan, I got up. Then, my eyes widened. I rushed over to my phone and dialed his number. John.

***

NOTE: Okay, so, shorter chapter. However, I'm pretty sure I can have another one uploaded by tonight. I hope you guys like where this is going. It's not over yet... =^_^=