A few days later, Paul woke in the middle of the night to the sound of a guitar being played and a voice singing softly and sweetly. He sat up slowly, careful not to make any noise, and he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes.

    Was able to make out John's silhouette through the dark, sitting at the end of the bed with a guitar.

    Paul smiled as he listened to John singing.

    "To lead a better life I need my love to be here...

Here, making each day of the year
Changing my life with the wave of his hand
Nobody can deny that there's something there

There, running my hands through his hair
Both of us thinking how good it can be
Someone is speaking but he doesn't know she's there

I want him everywhere and if he's beside me
I know I need never care
But to love him is to need him everywhere
Knowing that love is to share

Each one believing that love never dies
Watching his eyes and hoping I'm always there

I want him everywhere and if he's beside me
I know I need never care
But to love him is to need him everywhere
Knowing that love is to share

Each one believing that love never dies
Watching his eyes and hoping I'm always there

I will be there and everywhere
Here, there and everywhere.."

    "I love it," Paul smiled.

    John jumped and quickly looked around. His features quickly softened, though, and he smiled back, "Didn't know you were awake.. Do you really like it?"

    Paul smiled again and nodded. He crawled to the end of the bed and hugged John. "Yes," he kissed his cheek. "I do."

    "Thanks," John smiled. "I used a tune you were humming the other day. I didn't recognize it, so I hope it isn't from some other song."

    "Really?" Paul said and John nodded.

    Whoops.

     "Well, I don't recognize the tune," Paul said. "I don't remember humming it.. I think it's lovely, though."

    "Oi."

     Paul and John looked up to see Ringo standing in the doorway.

    "I know we said that you need to be quieter when you're having sex," he said. "But could you, like, be quieter over all and maybe not play the guitar at three in the morning?"

    John laughed. "Yeah. Sorry, Ringo."

    "No worries, mate," Ringo said and turned to go back to bed, but before he did he looked back at John and said, "It's a great song, though. We should add it on the next album." And then he was off.

~~~

    Barney did his best to cover up his bruises and cuts using his magic so that no one at the F.H.O. would be suspicious. He dove right back into his job, continuing to transfer more and more files over to the Unkowables.

    It wasn't an extremely tough decision, deciding who would go to the meeting with Marbella Giasson. Darren was more or less the leader of the Unknowables, so obviously he would be going. He that that Tessa was an obvious choice for someone to bring along with him because she was very involved with Paul and Barney who had both been taken by the Shadows.

    "Shouldn't we bring more people with us?" Tessa said to Darren as they were preparing to leave. "We have no idea what to expect. We don't know if she's coming alone or with guards, and if she is coming with guards then we have no idea how many she'll have with her. We are going into this blind, Darren, we need more than two people."

    "There'll be a few people there undercover in case anything goes wrong," Darren assured her. "I know it must be nerve wracking to be facing the president of Shadows. I'm nervous, too. Probably more nervous than you."

    Tessa chuckled. "I doubt that."

    "I don't," Darren said and Tessa thought that he looked a little out of it for a moment. "Anyway, let's go, shall we?"

    Tessa nodded.

~~~

    Paul was curled up on the sofa late in the afternoon on a rainy Sunday. George was in the kitchen, making some tea. Ringo was sitting in a chair a few feet from the sofa, nose buried in a book. John had run out to got some cigarettes — much to Paul's dismay.

    He'd begun thinking about the smoking a lot more as of late. He really wanted George to quit, of course, seeing as he'd died of lung cancer. And John, well, he'd been shot. Who knows what the smoking would have done to him if he'd lived to inhale more tar into his lungs..

    Paul pushed the thoughts from his mind for the time being.

    He picked up his song journal and a pen and began writing, aimlessly, but soon he was faced with lyrics that he recognized. Lyrics that he recognized, perhaps, better than the lyrics of any other song that he'd ever written.

    "Baby, I'm amazed at the way you love me all the time,
And maybe I'm afraid of the way I love you.

Maybe I'm amazed at the way you pulled me out of time,
You hung me on the line.
Maybe I'm amazed at the way I really need you.

Baby, I'm a man, maybe I'm a lonely man
Who's in the middle of something
That he doesn't really understand.

Baby, I'm a man,
And maybe you're the only woman who could ever help me.
Baby, won't you help me to understand?
Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh.

Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
Oh, oh, oh,
Oh, oh, oh, oh,
Oh.

Baby, I'm a man, maybe I'm a lonely man
Who's in the middle of something
That he doesn't really understand.

Baby, I'm a man,
And maybe you're the only woman who could ever help me.
Baby, won't you help me to understand?
Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh.

Maybe I'm amazed at the way you're with me all the time,
Maybe I'm afraid of the way I leave you.

Maybe I'm amazed at the way you help me sing my song,
Right me when I'm wrong-
Maybe I'm amazed at the way I really need you."

     Paul read the lyrics over and over and over again until he felt a soft kiss placed to his cheek. He smiled. "Hello, John," he said.

    "Hello, love," John said. "Working on a song?"

    Paul sighed. "Yeah," he said, closing the book and tossing it onto the coffee table. "I don't think it's going to turn into much, though," he lied.

    He hadn't thought about Linda in so many years. He couldn't bare to think about Linda! It was too painful. Because as much as he loved John — and it truly was a hell of a lot — he couldn't ever deny the fact that he had loved kinda very much. He still loved Linda very much. He would always live Linda very very very much and that hurt because he was never going to see her again.

     Sometimes Paul would find himself thinking that he was back in time and he had a chance to see her.. And then he remembered the article his father had told him about back in 1961, just months after he'd arrived over fifty years back in time, and he it dawned on him...

    He had John back. He had George back. He had Brian back. But he would never ever get Linda back.

    Then and there Paul promised himself, he made a silent vow, to never ever sing Maybe I'm Amazed again. It didn't belong there, in a world where Linda was dead. Or, rather, in a world where she would never hear it.

~~~

    Darren and Tessa walked into the Jetson Cafe, side by side. They spotted Phoebe in the back corner of the room and Gabriel was standing in line. Lola and Edward were at a table in the middle of the room, deep in conversation.

    Their eyes continued scanning the room until they found Marbella Giasson seated at a table beside a window. They strode over and dropped into the seats across from her.

    Marbella looked genuinely surprised, and completely taken aback, when her gaze fell on Darren. "Darren?" She said. "Darren Birchwood? Is that really you?" Her voice, surprised as it was, was still cool, calm, and collected.

    "Yes," Darren sighed. "Hello, Marbella. Good to see you again."

    She laughed. "My, my," she said. "What a small world it is."

    "Sorry, do you two..know each other?" Tessa asked, puzzled.

    "Yes, we do," Darren said stiffly.

    "Oh. Uhm. How?" Tessa raised her eyebrows.

    "Well, believe it or not, there was a time when Darren and I were young and stupid.." Marbella said, seemingly unable to take her eyes off of the man who sat across from her. "And, as it so happens, in love."

    Tessa snorted and both Marbella and Darren looked at her sharply. "Wait, you're serious?" She asked and they nodded. "Oh..well, then."

    "Anyhow," Marbella said airily. "I'll keep this brief, Darren. I have places to be, and people to see, you know."

     "Oh, don't try to feed me that bullshit," Darren rolled his eyes. "You can time travel. Now, why am I here? What do you want with me and the Unkowables?"

    "I want to work with you, of course," Marbella said as if this were the most obvious thing in the world.

    "No, seriously," Tessa crossed her arms.

    "I'm dead serious," Marbella looked her dead in the eyes for several seconds before returning her gaze to Darren. "I think we'd make excellent allies. You know, Darren, my goal has always been to leave history to its own devices, but I have to take the F.H.O. down first."

    "We're doing both at the same time," Darren said.

    "I'm perfectly aware," Marbella nodded. "Remember, I did get inside Barney Lynch's brain."

    "Oh, how lovely," Darren crossed his arms. "I wonder why everyone would ever break up with you."

    "You didn't break up with me, darling, I broke up with you. Remember?" Marbella arched one perfectly sculpted eyebrow.

    Darren mumbled something unintelligible and shifted in his seat.

    "Now, I'd like to combine our forces and become one organization." Marbella said matter-of-factly. "I want the Shadows to return to their old, more peaceful ways."

     "How can I ever trust you?" Darren asked. "How can I just believe that you'll stay true to your word?"

     "Oh, Darren, even though I broke your heart you still know that you can always trust what I tell you," Marbella said.

     Darren narrowed his eyes. "Even if that is true, you want John Lennon dead and that is completely and utterly unacceptable."

    "I'd say that the topic of John Lennon's fate is...negotiable," Marbella shrugged her shoulders.

    Darren crossed his arms. "You really want to join us? You really want to work with us, and play by our rules?"

     "Absolutely," Marbella smiled.

    Darren stared at her for a long time, and Tessa looked at him and could tell that he was actually considering saying yes to this woman. "Darren!" She exclaimed. "You can't seriously be considering this!"

    He pretended he couldn't hear her, and he leaned two the table placing his elbows there. "You follow every one of our rules."

    "Every single one."

    "I will remain in command."

    "Of course."

    "You will not be second in command. Or third in command. Or even fourth in command. You will be nowhere in the list of 'in commands'."

    "Whatever you say goes."

    "We keep our title. I'll have none of this 'Shadows' ridiculousness."

    "I would expect nothing less, Darren."

    Darren stood. "I'll speak with my team."

    "Here's my number," she handed him a card. "Call me when you've made your decision."

     "Yeah, maybe." Darren huffed, snatching the card out of her hand and stuffing into his coat pocket. "Come on, Tessa. Let's get out of here."

    "Darren!" She said. "You can't really be — "

    "Now, Tessa!" He snapped, striding toward the exit with Tessa at his heels.

    "Darren — " she began once they were outside, but Darren quickly cut her off.

    "Don't talk to me right now, Tessa." Darren said coldly, and they walked for a long time in silence.