𝐍𝐨𝐰 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐧

6 - A Group of Hungry Young Men

6 May, 1961

Fiona, Meg, George, and John had shipped into Hamburg over the course of the final two days of March, and Paul and Pete had arrived two days later. The boys had unintentionally become aware of their reunion when a sleepless George had gone out for a cig at three in the morning and found the once-invalids shivering in their wraps in the Top Ten foyer. After shaking them awake he'd brought them in, and the band's ensuing reunion had kept them all awake for the rest of the morning.

It was so good to know that everything had finally worked out; thanks to Astrid and Stu pulling some strings, Paul and Pete's travel bans had been revised and they were free to start fresh. It had been beyond amazing to have all the boys back together in the place where they thrived; the energy had been palpable from the minute John and Paul had seen each other and grinned.

And the boys together, by god they were a spectacle. Take all the skill and experience they'd brought back with them to Liverpool last winter, plus about a thousand times more energy, and you had the Beatles in Hamburg. There were truly no limits to the antics they could get up to on stage in a single night. They were playing between six and seven hours now, weeknights running until two or three in the morning. Tonight, Saturday night, they'd play till four.

Since they'd settled into Hamburg, Fiona and Meg spent their evenings going to shows with Astrid, then headed home with her and Stu after – as such, they'd adopted the boys' lifestyle of staying awake all night, not getting back to Astrid's flat till near sunrise, and waking up mid-afternoon. On weekends when the boys played even later into the night, the girls had taken to just staying up in the attic – both because the streets to the bus stop were dodgy, and because there was no point in going home to bed when breakfast would be in a few hours' time.

On those nights Paul and Meg would always share one little bed, Stu and Astrid another, and John would move to share with George so that Fiona could have his. She didn't share with John, of course, because it wouldn't be right. Besides, she had Lewis now, so soon she wouldn't even have to sleep alone.

She'd hoped his arrival wouldn't hurt the progress she'd been making with John. Over the past month they'd slowly learned to look at each other again, to listen to each other, find things to laugh about. It was more than she'd thought possible in such a short time; she had to admit it was nice to be able to exchange words again, even reclaim some of that witty intimacy they'd had before. And, despite how she'd longed for Lewis those first few days she'd been lonely, now that he was actually here she came to grieve the end of her time with John. Once again, John was walking out and Lewis was walking in.

Though tonight, Lewis didn't look in any mood to spend any more time in this club than he had to. Fiona wasn't really sure what he'd expected; this was the Reeperbahn, surely he hadn't expected a palace? It wasn't like the boys were world-renowned superstars, he knew that. Still, he looked around at the club as though it shouldn't have been allowed to exist. By no means was it the nicest club in Germany, but Fiona had been here a while before Lewis had, and being here every evening through all the intimate hours of the night this past month had forged some sort of bond between her and it. So now, she almost felt like defending it.

He'd loosened up a bit once the boys had started playing. Now that he knew how, he'd twirled Fiona round and round to the manic rock and roll the boys stomped out. The sight of her enjoying herself seemed to be enough for him, though he himself just didn't click with the scene. He kept his head down for most of the songs, avoiding looking at the boys he was already so wary of. And when they had left stage for their 2AM break Lewis had wrapped an arm firmly around her back and led her to the hallway near the loos.

"Shouldn't we be heading soon?"

She shook her head. "Till four tonight, remember?"

"I mean for us. Don't want to miss the last bus." He carried the unmistakable London accent, not pronouncing the u in 'bus' so heavily the way she and Meg and the boys all did.