Author's Note: We've made it to the final chapter! Raucous applause and hysterical tears may now ensue. Worry not! There is a three-part epilogue coming your way. Enjoy this chapter :) and thank you for sticking with me this far.

***

"Right," Tessa said to Paul and George when they arrived at the Council's new headquarters.

"Whoa," Paul said. "The things you people can do with a day."

Tessa rolled her eyes, laughing. "Right, yeah. It's been a couple months for us. Now, I've got a small team assembled, including you two and —"

"Hey, what's up, idiots?" Someone said.

"Hey, Mr, McCartney! Mr. Harrison!" Someone else said.

They frowned deeply.

"Billy?!" Paul cried.

Billy Joel walked up them, grinning and waving. "Oh, right. Sorry. George, and Paul. How are you doing?"

"How are you here?" George said, blinking.

"Yeah," Paul said, wheeling around to face the first Someone that had greeted them upon their arrival. "How did that happen, Yoko?"

"Why do you always blame me?" Yoko huffed.

"I hardly always blame you!" Paul squabbled with her.

Yoko rolled her eyes.

"Okay!" George shouted. "Billy... Explain how and why you are here, please."

"Well, see, I got attacked by this crazy lady with like a laser gun?" Billy Joel said. "And she left some note about you, and then I woke up in a hospital in the future. They explained everything, of course..."

Paul groaned. "Of course, they did."

"So, I've joined up." Billy stuck his hands on his hips.

"You've what?!" Paul cried.

"Don't even get me started," Yoko sighed. "I keep trying to talk him out of it."

"You can't join up," Paul said.

"What do you mean?" Billy said. "I've already done it. Sounds important as hell, don't you think?"

"You've got no idea," George groaned.

"Yeah, and I've put up with it for twenty bloody years!" Paul huffed.

Billy raised his eyebrows. "That long? Damn."

"Yeah, and let me tell you, you do not want to join up!"

"But —"

"Can we hash this out later?" Tessa interrupted. "I'd like to get this over with. I've got a dinner date."

"Ooh," Yoko said.

"What, is this just like a day job for you?" Billy laughed.

"Yes," Tessa said. "Now off we go. I'll explain what we're doing on the way."

Paul tensed, and Billy grew excited, at the idea of what kind of adventure they could possibly be going on. Then Tessa started to ramble on about some wedding, of all things, that was going on among the Council members that evening. Paul and Billy seemed to be the only ones who weren't already in the loop and so they exchanged confused glances.

"Wait, is that really all that's going on here?" Paul stopped short and asked them. "We're going to a wedding?"

"Oh, no, it's much more serious than that," Tessa said. "Darren and Marbella are getting remarried."

While this came as a sort of shock to Paul, he still didn't understand what required a task force.

"We've got to find Marbella something to wear," Yoko said.

Paul tried to remember if he had ever seen Marbella dressed in anything but a pantsuit or a battle uniform. He tried to imagine her in a stark white, ballroom gown and couldn't help but laugh a little.

"We also need to set up," Tessa said. "Darren insists on having a decorative reception and Marbella insists they're tacky and unnecessary. So, we need to host a reception and decorate... carefully."

Billy raised his eyebrows. "Who are these people exactly?"

Tessa explained briefly about Marbella and Darren and why they headed the Council, as well as about how they had once been married when Darren was a part of the F.H.O. and before Marbella began the group known as the Shadows. Billy looked even more confused than before but he seemed to decide that he should just go along with it all.

The next couple of hours consisted of hanging simple decorations with George and Billy while Yoko and Tessa rifled through a wardrobe trying to find something acceptable for the event, but also something that Marbella wouldn't throw in their faces.

By the time they were finished decorating, Marbella appeared in a form fitting, floor length black satin dress. Her hair, usually completely pinned up in an attempt to keep her aggressive curls at bay, was only partially pinned up at the crown of her head while the rest of it fell down her back. They all oohed and aahed appropriately and Marbella looked pleased to see them — or at least that's what Paul thought Marbella looked like when she was pleased, though he had no point of reference to be sure.

"I guess this isn't so awful," Marbella said, regarding the reception room with only slight disdain. "If it makes Darren happy, I guess it'll do," she shrugged.

Guests soon arrived for the ceremony. It wasn't a very large party, consisting only of the Council members, a few Unknowables who had yet to have their memories wiped, Paul, George, Billy, Roger, and Deaky.

"Apparently Marbella said that Freddie, Brian, John, and Ringo weren't allowed to come," Roger whispered to Paul and George when he sat down next to them. "I think that's a little unfair given what they did in the battle, since the rest of us are here, but I guess it's her wedding."

"But why am I here, then, do you think?" Billy leaned over and asked.

Paul didn't answer him. He was trying to work out a way to convince Billy not to join the Council, or at least a way to convince Marbella or Darren that they could not possibly allow such a thing.

The ceremony was simple but pleasant. Barney and Lilly's daughter, Kylie, carried the rings down the aisle. Marbella and Darren did not exchange long, emotional vows about lifelong devotion and undying love. Paul supposed that made since, given that the two had already been married once and one of them had fled the other in the night, but Darren looked happy and Marbella looked... something akin to happy.

After the ceremony, Paul, Yoko, George, Billy, Roger, and Deaky remained grouped together and they made their way over to congratulate Marbella and Darren.

"I'm sort of surprised I was invited," Billy admitted.

And then it happened. Marbella Giasson smiled, a real, genuine smile. Paul, Yoko, and George were practically floored by this. Even Roger and Deaky, who didn't know Marbella as well as the other three did, looked surprised at such a small gesture. "I was actually hoping you might sing at the reception," she said in the sweetest voice anyone had ever heard her use. "If you're willing, of course."

Billy smiled brightly. "Oh, well, I'd be happy to! Of course! What would you like me to sing? It would be my honor. After all, you are my boss now."

Marbella and Darren exchanged a look. "Your what?" she said.

"Oh, yes, I talked to Tessa about it," Billy said. "I'm joining!"

Beat.

"The wedding party," Darren said.

"What?"

"Joining the wedding party," said Marbella. "Not the Council."

"Oh, but I thought —" Billy began.

"Far too dangerous for you to join," Darren said. "You don't have the proper background. We've only brought on one person without a full background in magical warfare and time travel, and she's a highly special case."

Billy looked terribly let down, but Paul felt brighter, knowing he would not have to solve this problem.

"But thank you for being here," Marbella said, smiling again! "And for agreeing to sing."

"You know," Paul said. "You could have had The Beatles perform at you're wedding if you'd just let John and Ringo come along."

Marbella stopped smiling long enough to look Paul up and down and say, "I'm not really a Beatles fan." Then Lilly came along and whisked her away.

"Oh, wait, you never told me what you want me to sing!" Billy called after her, but she was already gone.

Darren smiled. "I know just the song," he said, leaning in and whispering in his ear.

Soon, the reception party was in full swing. What the guests lacked in numbers, they certainly made up for in spirit.

Marbella and Darren's first dance as husband and wife (well, their second first dance, anyway) was to La Vie En Rose, which brought memories of Paris rushing back to Paul. After they were finished, party music that Paul did not recognize filled the room. He went to find a seat along the wall and wound up finding George. "This seat taken?" he asked.

George smiled and gestured beside him.

"So," Paul said as he settled into his seat. "A solo album."

"I was wondering when you were going to bring that up," George sighed. "I know I'm gonna get a speech about it so you might as well get it over with now."

"You're not getting a speech about it."

"Really? So you don't think I'm breaking up the Beatles?"

"Please." Paul snorted. "John wouldn't do another album right now, not if it would save his life." The irony of this joke made Paul laugh again. "But anyway, no. Do a solo album. I think it's great. You should have had a handful of them by now, anyway."

This made George smile. "Did I really? Were they any good?"

Paul rolled his eyes as if this were a ridiculous thing to ask, and it was. "Of course. They were excellent. Actually, you've put a few of your solo songs on Beatles albums over the past few years. We all have, I was just the only one who knew it."

"Huh..." George said and seemed lost in thought for a while. "You and John never wrote an album just the two of you, though. Did you? That's totally new?"

"Very new," Paul agreed. "I'm excited. It should be good and I... I'm just excited to get some time alone with John without having to..." he trailed off, staring around the room with a melancholy look gracing his features. "It just feels like, for all these years, my time with him has been... it's been great, obviously, but it's also been tainted by all this war, and fighting, and... and trying to save his life, you know? And now... now we just get to..." he trailed off again, unsure of what exactly they were able to do now.

Billy Joel stepped out onto the stage and started tinkling the piano keys and humming the beginning to a melody. Paul was content to just sit and listen to Billy sing, but someone stepped in front of him and held out their hand.

"Want to dance?" Lilly asked.

Paul smiled again. "Of course." He took her outstretched hand and followed her out to the dance floor as Billy began singing:

"She can kill with a smile

She can wound with her eyes

And she can ruin your faith with her casual lies

And she only reveals what she wants you to see

She hides like a child but

She's always a woman to me."

Paul couldn't help but chuckle. What a perfect song choice for Darren and Marbella, he thought.

"I wanted to thank you," Lilly said softly.

Paul looked at her, surprised. "Thank me? For what?"

"For everything you've done over the years," she said. "All that you've given up."

On the contrary, Paul felt that he had been incredibly selfish over the years. He was only in it for John, to save John, and he had always made that abundantly clear. He decided not to answer, focusing back in on Billy's singing:

"Oh, she takes care of herself

She can wait if she wants

She's ahead of her time.

Oh, and she never gives out

And she never gives in

She just changes her mind."

"I know you never cared much about the war, just about your husband," Lilly said, as if she had read his mind. "But how could anyone expect you to? You were ripped out of your own timeline, your home, and you were expected to go along with it all. I'd never expect you to care more about a war that you barely know anything about over your friends and family. I'd never expect you to care as much about my family as you do yours, but you've been there for Barney whenever it counted. You've been there for all of us. So... thank you."

Paul didn't know what to say.

"She is frequently kind and then suddenly cruel

But she can do as she pleases, she's nobody's fool

And she can't be convicted, she's earned her degree

And the most she will do is throw shadows at you

But she's always a woman to me."

"Thanks for the dance," Lilly said and made to head off.

Paul grasped her hand and held her near. "Thank you."

"Me?" Lilly said and she laughed. "Why?"

Paul frowned, regretting he'd said it immediately. Because he couldn't explain it. He couldn't explain that he had no way of thanking Barney now, and the she was the closest he could get, and that she was part of him in Paul's mind. He couldn't explain it, but she seemed to understand.

Lilly kissed Paul's cheek, told him to have a good night, and headed off.

***

The rest of the evening passed in a blur and, soon, Paul and George were returned to Paul's home where John and Ringo were still drinking and chatting amongst themselves. For John and Ringo, Paul and George had only been gone for about an hour.

"How was it?" John asked. "What was it, for that matter?"

"Darren and Marbella got married," Paul said.

"Those two?" Ringo said in shock. "He's a nice guy. She's so..."

"Bitchy," John huffed.

"I was going to say scary," Ringo said.

"Remarried, actually," George said. "They were divorced years ago."

"Bet I know why," John said.

"Bet you don't," Paul said.

Paul and George told stories about the wedding until George and Ringo decided to make their way home at long last. The sun was barely beneath the horizon, but Paul and John were more than tired enough for bed. So much had changed, and so much more was about to change, but for right now they could just make their way slowly up the staircase, hand in hand.

They didn't talk much as they changed for bed, turned off the lights, and climbed beneath the covers. They settled down, holding fast to one another, but sleep did not come.

Paul laid awake, staring into space, his mind moving a mile a minute. The past weeks played in circles inside his head, as if on fast forward, when it finally dawned on him.

"Live," Paul said.

"What?" John, who had also been kept awake by thoughts of all that had happened in the past month, asked in a puzzled tone.

Paul didn't answer right away, and John gave him time, and eventually he explained. "I was talking to George today," he told John, "about all the years I've been back here. It's all been..." he trailed off, as he had earlier, but he went on. "I've just thought about it every day. Saving you. It's what everything's been about. And now... now we just get to... to..."

"We get to live," John said.

Paul smiled. "Yeah."

They settled down again, holding closer yet to each other, and then slowly they fell into a deep, peaceful sleep.