Break Me One More Time [McLennon]

in which barney is in trouble (part II)

   "Mr. Lynch is right in here," Mr. Erikson gestured to a door. "I'll be in to talk to you all about how the hearing is going to go down in a little while." Paul and Lilly nodded to him, then he opened the door to let them in, and closed it behind them.

     "Paul," Barney said, striding over and hugging him. "It's been a while." He let go of Paul.

     "Yeah, you could say that," Paul chuckled. "How are you?"

     "I'm okay, aside from the fact that they've been keeping me here for two months," Barney shrugged.

      Paul's eyes grew wide. "Seriously?"

     Barney nodded. "They don't want me going into hiding." He turned to Lilly and his daughter. "Oh, Kylie." He took the baby girl from Lilly's arms and his wife smiled. "She's gotten so big."

     Lilly nodded slowly. "She's missed you," she frowned.

    "I've missed her," Barney said, kissing his daughter's forehead. "How are you?" He asked Lilly.

     "I'm okay," she lied, leaning over Kylie and kissing Barney. "I just want you to be okay. I just want you to come home."

     "I know," Barney frowned. "Paul," he turned back to his friend. "Has anything big happened since the last time I saw you?"

     Oh, you mean aside from the fact that I'm pretty sure the F.H.O. is bringing in a Plan B to save John because they don't think that I'll be able to pull it off? No, nothing comes to mind. Paul thought.

     "Nothing too big," Paul shook his head. "George fractured his hand which didn't happen originally, and he has to been able to play guitar in a quite a few months. But we haven't had any concerts to do anyway, and he'll be able to play again by the time we go to America next month."

     "Good, good," Barney nodded. "And no big changes coming up, as far as you can see?"

     Aside from the mystery woman who is supposedly the F.H.O.'s Plan B being brought to the sixties? No, can't think of anything off the top of my head. Paul added bitterly in his mind.

     "No," Paul shook his head, a slight edge making its way into Paul's tone. "We're going to start writing and recording A Hard Day's Night pretty soon, and we're starting to make plans for the movie. Everything looks like it's going smoothly."

     "Great," Barney said. "I haven't been getting any information on the case, obviously, so I really have no idea what's going on."

     Oh, so you have no idea that your organization has no trust in me? Paul thought and he knew that he needed to calm down.
    
     "Yeah," Paul said and he could hear the involuntary edge in his voice growing more prominent. Barney noticed that time.

     "What's wrong?" Barney frowned.

     "Nothing is wrong," Paul shook his head. His tone wasn't at all convicting.

     "It sure sounds like something is wrong.. You seem bitter," Barney furrowed his brows. Lilly was frowning at Paul.

     "I'm not bitter," Paul said bitterly, with a bitter expression.

     "Okay," Barney said, deciding to drop it. It certainly wasn't the best time for Barney to be stirring up an argument with his friend, who just so happened to be the one of the only people there to defend him. "Listen, if something goes wrong today — "

     "Don't say that," Lilly said. "You can't just go forgetting all about me and Kylie, yeah? Don't leave me alone to be a single mum."

     "I'll do my best," Barney smiled. He handed Kylie over to Lilly and turned to Paul. "Listen, seriously, if something goes wrong today and I get fired then..just promise me you'll be really careful around Carlos Vega, okay? He's strict, he's mean..he's not a people person. He's not please to work with."