He's Leaving Home

Chapter 12: Christmas Time Is Here Again

"I don't have it yet. I have to pick it up from Brian and Jax in the morning. They had Paul's mother's wedding ring and I asked if they thought Paul would be okay with me fashioning the band and diamond into a ring for him. They agreed," John laughed, "and also gave me their blessing to marry him. I had the ring melted down and the diamond broken apart and put back into the ring. Costed me my entire savings to have it done, but I know it will be worth it."

"Christ, John...didn't think you had it in you to be a big sap. But in all seriousness, there's no way he'll say no to you and to that."

The garland seemed to be very interesting as John fiddled with the red fluff. "I sincerely hope you're right."

"I always am."

"You sound like Paul."

"Had to learn from somewhere. Come on, loverboy, let's put up some Christmas spirit!"

The short drummer proved to be very Paul-worthy as he was just as bad about singing Christmas songs. But he took it a step further and started composing his own. Some of the highlights include I Wanna Be Santa Claus and Ringo the Red-Nosed Reindeer. The latter of which John actually found to be rather humorous. They hung the lights on the outside and completed the decorations around the house. Ringo inquired about the tree but John left that for Paul. He knew Paul would want to pick out the tree.

"Why don't you just get a fake one. It's easier." Ringo offered.

"It's not the same, Rings. There's something about a real tree...I suppose it's the smell, really. The pine smell and the sap makes it feel like Christmas. When Uncle George was still alive, we'd go and chop one down ourselves. Mimi'd make a fuss about the pines being all over the floor where the cat would eat them. You know, that's how we lost our first cat..." John rambled on about his childhood. Things that Ringo didn't know and probably could have lived the rest of his life without knowing. But, he had to wonder if this is what it was like with Paul. John just rambles and Paul clings on his every word. He could see why John was so endearing to Paul and why Paul so endearing to John. They were meant for each other. Where Paul was lacking, John was strong and vice versa. Ringo could also tell that John really missed Paul. Sure, they hadn't been away from each other that long, but John hadn't had anyone to talk to during the nights.

Smiling to himself, Ringo focused back in on John's mindless talking.

"...and then Stu flung the paintbrush across the room by accident and hit the professor up front. I miss Stu sometimes, he died not long after we started to become friends. Actually, it wasn't long after I broke off our relationship that-"

"Hang on, what?" Ringo had to make sure he heard that right.

"What? The relationship? Yeah, Paul knows. Didn't look me in the eyes for a couple days, though. I made him realize that I don't want to sleep with anyone else but him. Eesh, that sounded bad. I made it clear that I didn't want a relationship with anyone else but him. Then we were fine. This was a couple months ago, mind you."

"So...you cheated on Paul when you guys were first together?"

"Regrettably, yes. It took a lot of groveling to get Paul to forgive me."

"Hm. You should write a novel about your relationship with Paul. It'd be a bestseller."

John laughed loud. "That it would, son. That it would."

~~~~

John had to admit he was a little excited to have Paul see the house. It did look pretty good. So, he thought he'd blindfold Paul so he couldn't see it.

That morning John did pick up the ring and he could tell it would work by the look on Brian and Jax's face. According to Jax, Brian had already tried the ring and agreed that Paul wouldn't say no.