⇾𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐖𝐁𝐄𝐑𝐑𝐘 𝐅𝐈𝐄𝐋𝐃𝐒 𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑 | 𝐉𝐨𝐡𝐧 𝐋𝐞𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐧 𝐈𝐈𝐈

Chapter Seventy: Substitute

Lmfao it's been so long since I've actually put a picture at the top of one of these chapters

I need to do that😭

May 27, 1967

"I like it," I told Brian with a bright smile, turning in a circle to take in all of the huge country house around me that he'd finally finished decorating.

"You do?" he asked breathlessly.

I nodded and smiled at him. John had gone with George and Ringo to pick up Derek and Joan Taylor from the airport. The couple had just flown in so that they could attend a housewarming party Brian was having tomorrow. I didn't want to go with them. I hadn't been feeling well all day, so I decided to instead go and inspect Brian's house and see what he'd done with it.

"You'll be here tomorrow, won't you?" Brian asked me excitedly.

"I'm planning on it," I said to him with an encouraging smile. "Only time will tell if I'll be able to."

"Right, of course," he said. "Only come if you feel up to it," he added, putting on his stern, fatherly voice.

I laughed. "I'll keep that in mind, thanks, Bri."

"I actually did want to talk to you about something," he said to me, twirling his thumbs together out of nervous habit.

"Y-you did?" I asked apprehensively, having almost no idea what he wanted to say.

"Yes, I did," he responded, more confidently now. "About, you know, work and th-the pregnancy."

"Oh no," I groaned. "You're laying me off, aren't you?"

"It won't be forever," he said desperately.

I nodded, looking down at the floor and fidgeting with the ground. "Oh, I know. I knew it was coming, so I don't know why I'm surprised. Guess the timing just caught me off-guard."

"It'll be okay," Brian assured me. "I can find someone to fill in for you until you have those babies and can come on back and join us again," he said with a broad smile in regards to his grandchildren.

"Oh, you're replacing me?" I teased.

"No," he answered. "We're finding a substitute."

"Yeah, substitute those lies for fact," I remarked, grinning at him to make sure he knew I was only joking. We fell quiet for a moment. "So, what now?" I asked somewhat sadly.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"I just sit at home all day alone?" I asked pitifully. "What if I work at NEMS? I sit down all day so it wouldn't be an issue. I'll stop as soon as I hit thirty weeks," I offered hopefully.

"Donna, I—." Whatever he was going to say was caught off when the front door opened and John, George, and Ringo piled in with their guests.

"They're replacing me," I quipped to John as he came to my side.

"Huh?" he asked. "Don't our guests get a hello?"

"Oh," I responded, looking down at the ground before I went up to meet Derek and Joan. I was surprised when I found that Joan herself was also heavily pregnant. "H-hey, guys," I said to them.

"I warned John," Derek laughed to me.

"Warned him," he answered. "I told him he wouldn't be childless forever at the rate he was jumping at."

"Oh—right," I murmured before looking down at my belly, suddenly feeling self-conscious. For a moment, no one spoke. "I'm going to the bathroom," I told them, looking around to see John also looking embarrassed at Derek's statement. I turned slowly and started towards the hallway where the bathroom was.