A/N: So here's the next bit for you guys. I'd have to say with confidence that this book is more than halfway over...maybe just half. I hope you're enjoying it. There is a little French in this chapter and I just want to apologize for any native French speakers out there if my conjugation is wrong. I haven't taken French class in about 5 years... Anyway, enjoy.
Chapter Thirty Six:
I slept late the next day. No one came to wake me up, so I assumed nothing was going on. When I finally got up for the day, it was 11:00 in the morning. I had gotten to sleep the second I got back to my room the night before, I did feel better and no bad dreams plagued me for the rest of the night. It was another lovely sunny day when I looked out of the window, but I didn't feel overly keen on going back to the beach...I'm sure the others weren't too excited by the idea either. I showered that morning, pulling sand out of my hair and trying to get rid of the smell of seawater. When I finally got dressed for the day, it was close to noon, so I decided it was time to track the lads down and see what was what. I was hungry too, so I was hoping they had lunch plans. As I fastened the beautiful necklace from John around my neck, I was grateful I hadn't worn it when I was in the water the day before. After living through nearly drowning, I'm sure I would have lost it. I then left my room with my bag and disguise in it in case we went out, I ran right into Paul.
"Oh! Sorry." I chuckled, actually glad to see him.
"I was just about to come see if you had surfaced yet or not." He replied with a smile.
"Well, I have. I didn't mean to sleep so late..." I trailed off.
"Oh don't worry about it. We did too." Was his lighthearted answer.
"Long day for everyone yesterday, I guess." I lowered my voice.
"Well...yeah. I heard you had a talk with John last night." I blinked a few times. Had John really confided in Paul what took place between us the night before? I knew they were close, but I didn't think John would be the type to disclose anything and everything.
"How much do you know?" I asked, biting my lip. I still felt bad about getting angry, though it had all worked out for the best in the end.
"About a much as you, I assume. John came in pretty late last night and I was still up. He told me everything." So I guess I was wrong...
"Oh... was he okay?" I asked, wondering briefly if John was still mad at me.
"He was fine, just told me what happened and...how stubborn you can be. But I suppose that sort of thing runs in your family." Paul cracked a smile but I shushed him quickly and looked around.
"Don't talk about that out loud..." I warned.
"Why?"
"The walls have ears. I trust you to keep my secret, but you can be the only one who knows right now." I said, feeling bad though that I was putting such a responsibility on Paul.
"When are you going to tell him?" Paul asked after a few moments. I sighed.
"I don't know. I almost did last night after we reconciled... but I froze." I admitted.
"Well I'm not entirely sure what you're so afraid of. If he's your flesh and blood from your future, what would be the harm in telling him? The worst that would happen is when you finally did return to...your time, he'd have a long while to wait until he met you again." Paul must have been thinking about that a lot since I told him. And it all made sense, except for one small technicality that he could not know about. I felt my heart drop to my stomach. I longed to tell Paul what was to come... I knew by 1980, he and John led very separate lives and weren't overly close anymore but maybe if I told him...he'd remember and prevent it.
"But then what would happen?" I thought. I was reminded of my previous thoughts on the matter, that time had a way of making up for what was supposed to happen by causing another accident. John could still die even if that night in 1980 was prevented. He could fall ill, step out in front of traffic, overdose on God knows what... or have some other freak accident. I was nearly getting a panic attack just thinking about it.
"It just is... I don't know what I'll set off if I tell him." I concluded.
"Is this like the thing where if you step on a butterfly, then somehow the entire future is changed?" Paul joked.
"Something like that... I guess." I tried to see the humour in his statement. Paul seemed to drop the subject as the other three suddenly came down the hall toward us.
"Are we leaving or what? I wanna grab something to eat before we have to go to that interview." George piped up. Well he seemed perfectly fine despite what had happened the day before. I mean, I did too but I would have thought maybe George would have been shaken just a little.
"Yeah, we should go." Paul nodded.
"You guys have an interview today?" I asked, recalling the last interview they did, where I wasn't allowed in.
"Oh, we forgot to tell you. Yes, we have an interview today and then a meeting back here with Brian. You're welcome to come to both, we made sure and checked this time." Paul explained. I nodded.
"Sounds good." I agreed. So we headed out. John was quiet for the first time in...a while. I lagged behind the other three and made pace with John down the stairs.
"Hey." I greeted cheerfully.
"Hi." He answered simply.
"You okay?" He turned and gave me a faint smile.
"I'm fine...just slept funny." He admitted to me. I raised an eyebrow.
"So you have a sore neck?" I asked, unclear. He shook his head.
"No, no. I just... had the strangest dream." I loved that he was being so open with me, but I didn't want to push him. Still, I was curious about his dream.
"Do...you wanna tell me about it?" I asked slowly. He paused.
"I'm not sure if it would make a lot of sense. I was in New York City near that old Dakota building we were at a few days ago." He told me, absentmindedly. My heart froze. My step faltered as well, but I tried to keep calm.
"Oh? That's strange."
"Yeah and this man and woman were walking down near the building and I see this man run up to them and pull out a gun. So I'm trying to yell at them to run, while I try and tackle the gunman, but it was like my feet were glued to the ground." He explained, a look of puzzlement sweeping across his face. My heart was pounding in my ears. Why would John be having the same dream I had been having for weeks? He was dreaming about himself in the future and he didn't even know it. How did that happen?!
"D-Did you watch them both die then?" I dared ask.
"Just the man was shot. But he died." Was his answer. My mouth went dry.
"Did you see his face? Any faces?"
"No. They were all faceless like in a horror film." I allowed a little relief for that; at least he wasn't aware then that it was his future. But I was still extremely confused as to why he would be having my recurring nightmare.
"Well, hopefully it's not a recurring thing. Dreams can be strange." I let out a lighthearted chuckle.
"Yeah, I'm sure it's nothing. Just kept me awake for a bit..." He trailed off.
"What are you two going on about back there?" Ringo asked as we reached the lobby.
"Oh nothing, just small talk." I fibbed with a smile as we caught up. The car was waiting for us outside, so we all piled in as I fixed my disguise into place.
"Hey, where'd Ashley go?" John joked, returning to his old self as if the conversation we had never happened. I smiled though, at his antics. The chatter picked up again as the car took off and I was active in the conversation, but my mind was elsewhere. One big question loomed large in my head in neon lights. How?
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Try as I did, I could not get what John had told me out of my head. Most of me was in a panic, while the rest of me was still wracking my brain. It shouldn't have been possible that he would have had the same dream that had been plaguing me since I arrived here.
"Maybe we have some kind of mental link..." I thought. That was crazy! But then again, this entire situation was in essence, crazy. I had no answer even by the time we got to the building where the lads were to be interviewed. I tried to contribute to their conversation, but I was quiet, too busy trying to figure this out!
"Ashley, you've gotten quiet. Everything okay?" Paul was the first to notice, making pace with me into the building.
"I'm okay." I smiled.
"Just thinking." It wasn't exactly a lie.
"You do a lot of that, you know." He teased.
"Well... there's a lot to think about." I replied.
"Thinking about yesterday?" I had nearly forgotten! Funny, because I had nearly you know... died.
"No... no just personal stuff." I wasn't gonna talk about it obviously. While Paul knew the most, even he didn't know about the future... John's future. He paused before continuing.
"Well I was going to ask if you wanted to try our date again tonight, but if you're not up to it..."
"Oh no, no that sounds lovely. Of course I'm up to it." I pasted another smile on my face. He seemed glad to hear that.
"Oh good, it'll be nice to have some alone time." He smiled. I felt a little giddy for a moment before reality returned. It would be nice, maybe it would get my mind off the other.
"Hey slowpokes! We're on a schedule here!" John called from a few feet ahead of us in the lobby. I laughed lightly and broke into a jog with Paul on my heels.
"Relax, we're here." I answered in a lighthearted tone. I couldn't let John know I was in mental turmoil over what he'd told me; he'd never open up again to me. As promised, I was let past the lobby this time and was glad for that. My alias as the assistant Molly Jones was still holding strong, though it had become more of a show than an actual job. I didn't mind though, I really wasn't a fan of paperwork. We were ushered right in and I tried to focus on the moment at hand. Immediately, I saw television cameras armed and ready to go, so I knew I had to keep out of the way. That was just as well, as I said my mind was in a tizzy. The lads got right to work as I took a seat in a nearby chair out of the camera's view. They were chattering on to one another as I took out my journal. The only way I'd have any peace of mind with this was if I wrote it out. As the interview lady entered the room and sat down, John looked over at me and gave me a goofy wave and expression, I think just to let me know that they could see me. I laughed to myself and waved back before turning my attention to my writing.
The weirdest thing has come to pass. I wouldn't have thought it remotely possible, but then again this whole experience itself is impossible, so who am I to judge? What happened? Well john confided in me this morning that he had a strange dream last night, in which a man and a woman were outside the Dakota building in New York City and he watched as the man was shot to death. He was dreaming about his own death in the future. The same dream I have been having since I got here. So I'm completely losing my mind right now! Luckily, he has no idea who the man and woman are...he says they had no faces in his dream. What does this mean though? It shouldn't happen! I can't begin to figure this out and it scares me. It also makes me think I should come clean to him about me, about everything. If he's getting subtle hints through a dream... as insane as it sounds, then maybe there's a way to prevent it. I don't know, I'm just grasping at straws here, I really have no idea what to do. I could just forget about it, but who's to say it won't happen again to him and the next time he'll see that it's himself in the dream. I still have no idea how I would go about telling him when and if the right time came. It's not just saying 'I'm actually your granddaughter from the year 2015'. That would be so much easier, but it's the fact that I would have to explain that he isn't alive then because he gets murdered on December 8th, 1980 outside the Dakota building in New York City while returning home from the studio with his wife to see his son; my father. And who is to say that even if I did tell him about his death that it would work? Or he'd believe me? It's just all too much...
I went on writing for a good forty minutes, about John, about the beach yesterday and how George and I both almost drowned, about my date tonight with Paul. I didn't realize the lads' interview was over until someone tapped me on the shoulder and I snapped my notebook closed. It was sweet George.
"Ready to go?" He asked me. I gave him a gentle smile.
"Sure thing." I replied, standing as the other three came over.
"How were we, Miss Ashley?" John smiled.
"Amazing as ever, you're all superstars." I replied, though I really hadn't been paying attention to the interview. I followed them out and knew our next stop was back to the hotel for a meeting with their manager. I did feel a little bit better having written down my feelings and worries, but I didn't even think about what I had done absentmindedly. I had left my notebook on the chair.
Third Person POV
John was the last to leave, but as he was about to, something caught his eye. It was the notebook Ashley was always writing in.
"She must have forgotten it." He thought, scooping it up.
"Hey, Ashley!" He called ahead as they all got outside. Ashley swivelled her head toward him and he handed her the book.
"You left this inside." He said. A look of panic swept over her face and he was puzzled.
"You didn't read it, did you?" She asked. John shook his head no and that seemed to relax her.
Ashley's POV
I couldn't believe I would be so stupid!
"He totally could have read anything out of that." I thought as I stuffed the book into my bag.
"He said he didn't though, so you're safe." I just wasn't ready.
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When we got back to the hotel, I followed the lads to their suite where Brian Epstein was waiting.
"How did your interview go?" He asked them as I just entered and removed the dark wig from my head.
"Oh wonderful. I love answering the same handful of questions over and over." John replied, his voice oozing with sarcasm. I tried not to laugh. Mr. Epstein didn't touch that one and changed the subject instead.
"I hear George and Ms. Bunting nearly had an accident yesterday." I looked up. well of course he'd find out.
"It's fine, we're both fine." I piped up, trying to brush it off.
"Yeah, Ashley was trying to rescue me when I went under. But we're both okay." George added.
"So why did you want to meet with us?" Paul then spoke up, changing the subject once again.
"Well I figured you boys should be aware of where you're off to next, though I'm sure you all would love to stay in Miami." Mr. Epstein said.
"I thought we were going back to London." Ringo stated. I perked my ears. I wanted to know this too; it determined what would happen to me next after all.
"Not yet. I've arranged for a little holiday for a few weeks. There'll be a few things you will need to do as a band, but for the majority you'll have the time to yourselves." Was his reply.
"So where are we going?" George asked.
"Paris. France." My jaw nearly hit the floor. Paris?! In all my life, in all my travels with my parents I had never been to Paris; which was kind of funny given that it was so much closer than any of the other places I had been. Paul looked over at me and I must have just been goggle eyed.
"Is Ashley welcome to come?" He asked.
"Well, she's come this far with all of you, So I don't see why not." The lads were ecstatic.
"How's your French, Ashley?" Paul asked me with a wide grin.
"Je ne suis pas sûr. Pensez-vous que mon français est bien?" I replied, without missing a beat. John gave a low whistle.
"That's impressive, Miss Ashley. Where did you learn French like that?" He asked.
"From school." Was my smug answer. It was hilarious how awe struck the four of them became just by the one foreign sentence.
"Well I hope you got an A. What else can you say?" George asked.
"Depends. What would you like to hear?" I smiled.
"Say something dirty!" John piped up and they all laughed.
"Of course you'd say that." I rolled my eyes. Mr. Epstein stood.
"I'll leave you to your excitement. We leave tomorrow at 1pm sharp." He told us.
"We'll be ready." I assured him. The second he left, the four of them began hounding me again to speak more French.
"Fine, fine." I chuckled, searching my memory.
"J'ai voulu ce matin te rapporter des roses; Mais j'en avais tant pris dans mes ceintures closes Que les noeuds trop serrés n'ont pu les contenir.
Les noeuds ont éclaté. Les roses envolées Dans le vent, à la mer s'en sont toutes allées. Elles ont suivi l'eau pour ne plus revenir.
La vague en a paru rouge et comme enflammée.
Ce soir, ma robe encore en est toute embaumée . . .
Respires-en sur moi l'odorant souvenir." I recited. It was a poem I learned in school called the Roses of Saadi. It was very pretty, but I was pretty sure they had little to no idea of what I was saying.
"It's got something to do with roses..." Ringo guessed.
"It's a poem. The Roses of Saadi." I replied.
"So what did you say?" John asked. I chuckled.
"how are you guys gonna make it in Paris if you don't understand French?" I asked.
"We know French... well the words that count." George snickered. I knew what that meant.
"Tell us, Ashley. What does the poem say in English?" Paul asked.
"I wanted to bring you roses this morning; but I had closed so many in my sash that the knots were too tight to contain them.
The knots split. The roses blew away. All blew off to the sea, borne by the wind, Carried to the water, never to return.
The waves looked red as if inflamed.
Tonight, my dress is still perfumed.
Breathe in the fragrant memory." I translated.
"That's beautiful." Paul mused.
"Yeah, I learned it in school, we had to recite it for a grade." I told truthfully. We all fell silent for a moment before like a chain reaction, the five of us grinned.
"We're going to Paris." I stated, almost in disbelief.
"We're going to Paris!" We all chorused in delight. I seemed to forget all about what happened earlier, it being replaced by genuine excitement. All of us were excited and rightly so. I knew in my heart that Paris would be amazing and I'd make wonderful memories there with the lads. What I didn't know...was that Paris would be my last adventure with them.