~~~

Paul stood there for a long time after Barney had disappeared into thin air, blushing madly, his cheeks red as could be.

It wasn't like Paul was a prude. He'd had sex in his life, of course. And when I say had sex, I mean he's had plenty of sex - I mean, come on, he's Paul McCartney! So no, he wasn't a prude by any means.

But the thought of having sex with someone (Linda, Heather, Nancy, Jane, Dot - anyone), and the thought of having sex with John were two very different things.

Paul loved John. He was totally and completely head over heels in love with John Lennon which was something he'd never seen coming in his life, but all the same, he'd come to terms with the fact of the matter. But he hadn't considered how it would work when they actually decided that they were at a sexual point in their relationship.

Now, if Paul was a girl then he was sure that he and John would have already had sex at this point. But John, who Paul was sure was still coming to terms with the fact that he was in a gay relationship, wasn't ready for that... And Paul sure as hell wasn't either!

How would it work? He kept wondering.

It was John, and he couldn't help thinking that going into something like that with John would feel...odd. But then again, it had all felt so natural so far. To kiss him, and sleep wrapped in his arms, and to just live a relationship kind of lifestyle with him. But to have sex with him?

A million questions were running through his head - questions that only made him blush more. When is John going to be read to move into something like that in our relationship? Paul thought. And for that matter, when will I be ready to move into something like that? How will it happen? Where is it going to happen? Who's going to be on top?

Paul pushed the thoughts from his mind because he couldn't bare to think about it any longer.

He went to his and John's room and crawled into bed beside John, but as much as he tried to force himself to sleep, all he could think about was what Barney had implied and all the questions that were still spreading through his mind like wildfire.

~~~

The next day, Brian woke all four members of the band up bright and early. "Tony is going to be here in forty five minutes to pick you up!" He said and John, George, and Ringo all groaned while Paul sighed. "You're going on a boat tour, Tony said something about seeing dolphins and whales - it'll be nice, and you should enjoy the scenery while you can because rehearsals for your performance start bright and early the day after tomorrow!"

So the four of them got dressed and ready and made some breakfast. The house they were renting - or, rather, that was being rented for them - was actually quite nice. It had a private pool outside that they had yet to explore, and Tony had stocked the fridge and cupboards for them. The bathroom was stocked with towels so they didn't have to worry about that. It was really nice.

When "Tony" came to pick them up, they all piled into his car and set off for Horta. Horta was the city in Faial and it was pretty much the only place on Faial where you could go shopping.

Tony parked the car outside a tiny restaurant called Pete's Cafè and they all headed down to the dock where they'd be getting on the boat. Tony signed them in at the Dolphin and Whale Tours station.

Within the hour they were getting their obnoxiously orange life jackets on and boarding the boat. George looked as if he were going to be sick right then and there.

The boat was no more than twenty feet long and look more like a raft with a hard bottom than a boat. It seated ten people plus the driver at the back. The seats for the passengers were stood in five rows of two, facing the front of the boat.

In the first row, Ringo sat down beside Brian, talking about something that involved drums. Behind them sat John and Paul, and Tony - who was staying all the way in the back so that he could chat with the captain - shouted, OH, HOW YOU SAY, THOSE TWO ARE TWO GRAPES IN ONE POD!" referring to John and Paul (Paul rolled his eyes and John looked a bit pissed off). George sat behind John and beside him, a boy who couldn't be older than twelve or thirteen dropped into the seat.

"Andre!" A woman called in a Portuguese accent and the boy turned to look at her. "I'm going to sit back here!"

"Okay, mom!" Andre called back, also in a Portuguese accent, rolling his eyes as he faced front again. He looked sideways at George, who was beginning to turn an odd shade of green, and frowned. "Are you all right?"

"Ye-yeah," George nodded. "I'm great. Just great."

"So, where are you from?" Andre asked.

"England," George said, swallowing hard as the driver pulled the boat away from the dock.

"Lucky! I've always wanted to go to England," Andre grinned. "I hear it's beautiful there! I'll get there one day. Is it as nice as everyone says it is there?"

"Uh, yeah," George nodded.

"What part of England are you from?" Andre asked.

"Liverpool,"

"Huh, I've never heard of it," Andre said. "But now I'll have to check it out when I finally get to go to England."

The boat began to gain speed as they headed out to sea and George swallowed hard, looking at Andre with wide eyes.

"Are you okay?" Andre asked.

"Yeah," George said. "Your English is really good... Good job. And your hair...it's so blonde!"

Andre blinked.

Paul turned around in his seat. "Don't mind him, he gets like this when he's nervous. Our friend Ringo says that during the whole flight form England, George here kept complimenting him on how blue his eyes were. When he's a nervous wreck, he really is a nervous wreck."

"Oh," Andre said slowly.

Soon, they were a good mile out to sea and the waves were gaining height. Before long, the boat was going up a wave, flying off of the water, and crashing back down onto the ocean.

By the time they were four miles out, George was screaming and Paul was hoping that they'd see some damn dolphins already so that they could go back to land - oh sweet, sweet land.

It wasn't too much longer before the clouds above their heads turned black, rain poured down, the sky was lit only by bolts of lightening, and all of the passengers were nearly deafened by the rumbling strikes of thunder.

"TURN BACK! TURN BACK!" Someone shouted.

"YES! PLEASE TURN BACK!!" George cried.

"THE WHEEL IS JAMMED! I CAN'T TURN BACK!" The driver exclaimed.

Paul looked at John and he felt his stomach drop... He had a very bad feeling that he knew exactly what was causing this. Barely moments after he came to that realization, Tony came up behind him, clinging to chairs to steady himself, and whispered in Paul's ear, "The man sitting in front of me is a Shadow. He caused the storm and jammed the wheel. I'm trying to fight him but his magic is a lot stronger than mine."

"Keep trying," Paul hissed.

John leaned in to whisper in Paul's ear. "What did he say?"

"He - he said this is the worst sea storm he's ever seen," Paul lied shakily.

Just then, the boat soared off of a particularly large wave and it was suspended in air for several seconds. Most people screamed as they slammed back down against the water. George clung to the back of John's seat. "We're going to die, aren't we! This is how we're going to die!"

John looked at Paul, and Paul looked at John, and though realized in that moment that it wasn't completely unlikely. They could just die in that boat.

"IT'S GOING TO BE FINE!" Andre said, just loud enough for George, Paul, and John to hear. "THIS ISN'T EVEN NEARLY AS DANGEROUS AS THE MOST DANGEROUS THING I'VE DONE!"

John looked around at him and furrowed his brows. "KID, YOU NEED SOME NEW HOBBIES!"

"MAN OVERBOARD!" Someone yelped.

Then, a lot of things happened at once. As the boat was traveling thirty knots over these waves that range from five to thirteen feet, and a man had just gone overboard, John and Brian leapt up and looked over the edge. George also leapt up, leaning over the edge and throwing up over the side of the boat. And as Paul watched John standing unsteadily near the edge of the boat, he knew why there was a Shadow in the boat, and why he was on the same boat as John Lennon... And Paul wasn't going to let anything bad happen to John.

He jumps up and tried to run for John, but he got stuck. Something was caught on his seat...

A moment later, he felt the strap holding his life vest on his body snap, and then he found that he was tumbling over the edge of the boat and into the water.

Falling into stormy waters off of a boat traveling thirty knots is, let's just say, extremely unpleasant.

The last few things that Paul could remember were seeing someone fall over the edge with him and shouting, "JOHN! NO!!" Then he was underwater and he couldn't breathe and his eyes stung but he kept them open long enough to see a hand reaching for him...

Then the world went black.

~~~

"PAUL!" John screamed as he watched his boyfriend, the person he loved more than anyone else in the whole world, tumble over the side of the boat into the treacherous waves. He looked around to see that Paul's life vest had gotten caught on his seat and snapped off. Paul is in the water... John thought. With no life vest. Oh god!

"GEORGE!" Ringo yelped a moment later as George was thrown into the water by a particularly string jolt. He and John were barely able to stay on, themselves.

"Brian!" John yelled. "We have to go back! We can't just leave Paul and George there to die!"

Brian looked to John with one of the deepest, saddest, and most sincere and sympathetic frowns that John had ever seen in his life. "I'm sorry, John!" He shouted over the sound of the wind, and the rain, and the thunder, and the engine. "The wheel is jammed! There's nothing I can do!"

John was ready to break down into sobs when by some miracle the driver shouted, "THE WHEEL IS WORKING! THE WHEEL IS WORKING! WE'RE GOING BACK!"

John, Brian, Ringo, and Tony (who, though no one knew it, had just fought the Shadow's magic and fixed the wheel) stared out at the water, looking for any sign of Paul or George.

Then, they heard the sound of a whistle. The scanned the water and there, they saw an orange something that just had to be George's life vest. "THERE!!" Brian shouted. As the boat grew closer to him, they could see that George has the whistle in his mouth and with both of his arms, and all of his strength, he was holding Paul up. He was trying desperately to keep his head above water while keeping Paul's head above water to. Paul's head, John noticed, was lolling to the side.

No, he can't be dead, John said to himself. It's Paul! He's not dead. He could survive anything.

The driver stopped the boat when he couldn't get any closer without sending splashes of water out that would surely drown George. "YOU HAVE TO SWIM TO THE BOAT, SIR!" The driver called to him.

George spit the whistle out of his mouth. "I CAN'T! I WON'T LEAVE HIM HERE!"

...to die, John added in his head. He won't leave him here to die. He's not dead!

"YOU HAVE TO HOLD HIM UP WITH ONE ARM, GEORGIE!" Ringo yelled. "USE YOUR OTHER ARM TO SWIM! COME ON, YOU CAN DO THIS!"

"RINGO IS RIGHT!" John called. "YOU CAN DO THIS, GEORGIE! I KNOW YOU CAN! I BELIEVE IN YOU!"

George stared at all of them, then took a deep breath and let go of Paul with on arm, still supporting him with the other. And as fast as he could with one arm and Paul's dead weight, he swam. He swam and he swam and he swam until he was at the edge of the boat and John and Tony reached into the water and pulled Paul out. As there were laying Paul down on the floor of the boat, Brian, Ringo, and Andre all reached down to help George out of the water.

"Is he breathing?" George asked breathlessly when he was seated and being wrapped in a blanket that came from who knows where.

Tony pressed his ear to Paul's chest and shook his head. "He hasn't got a heartbeat," he said. Then he plugged Paul's nose and before the whole boat, he gave Paul mouth to mouth. After a few breaths he started pushing on Paul's chest.

Ringo sat down beside George and laid a hand on his shoulder. George leaned into Ringo as tears began to fall and he murmured, "He's been my best friend since I was twelve... Can't lose him, Ringo.."

The third time that Tony pushed on Paul's chest, trying to force him to breathe...it worked. Paul spluttered and began to cough violently, but he was breathing. "John!" He cried.

"I'm here," John assured him.

Paul sobbed. "I th-thought you'd gone - gone over, t-too."

John shook his head, blinking back tears. "I'm fine."

"But wh-who - " Paul began but Tony shushed him.

"Just rest, Paul," Tony said worriedly.

John knew exactly what Paul was going to ask, though. "George went overboard right after you," he said shakily and Paul's breath caught in his throat. John quickly placed a reassuring hand on Paul's shoulder. "He's fine... He saved your life, got you both back to the boat safely."

Paul tried to look and find George but he couldn't.

The boat sped back toward Faial, back to safety.

They never found that first man who went overboard.

~~~

They had a doctor come to check on Paul when they got back to their rented house. "You very narrowly escaped death, Mr. McCartney," he said. "You should feel very lucky... You shouldn't get out of bed for a few weeks. There could still be some water in your lungs and if you exert yourself before it's worked out of your system, you could still very well die."

Paul could barely move. He felt numb all over.

But John nodded to the doctor and thanked him for coming and then the man was off. John sat down beside Paul, running his fingers through his hair. He was shaking and staring into space. "I love you, Paul. You know that, right?"

Paul nodded. "Love you, too," he said slowly.

"I thought I was going to lose you today," John swallowed hard. "I...I don't know what I'd do with myself if I lost you, Macca. I don't think that I would be able to go on without you."

Paul's mind was racing. This wasn't like John. He had thought about how John was always himself when he was alone with Paul, but this was a whole new level of craziness... John never acted like this around anyone! It was so weird.

But Paul just brushed it off because after all, love was complicated and that's all it was, surely...right?