IT WAS 20,000 YEARS AGO TODAY

Chapter Fifteen

Pepa sat in his chair and gave a little sheepish smile to everyone as they stood around him, glaring at him silently.

"I…thought I fixed the ship," he said nervously.

"Well, obviously not since we're not in Pepperland," the Doctor said, pointing out the window.

Outside the window there was a field filled with purple grass. Paul was momentarily amused when he heard John comment about how he was sure the acid he took earlier had kicked up a notch. Paul informed him that no, it wasn't the acid, there was actual purple grass outside. John looked at him.

"See lots of purple grass travelin' with him, Paulie?" he said, gesturing to the Doctor. "Seem pretty calm about it all."

"I've seen lots of things since the Doctor's entered my life and yes, it's become de rigueur with me now."

"Ooo, listen to him with the French," he said to George and Ringo, "apparently our Paul wasn't the only one who read heaps of books so he could improve himself."

Paul ignored him as he looked out the window. Besides the purple grass, he could see rocks that looked like any rocks you would find on Earth, some large, some small. There were a few trees with leaves that matched the color of the grass and a sort of pale pinkish sky that provided an odd contrast to the purple grass and foliage. One sun hung in the sky and at the moment there were no signs of wildlife. Paul tried to look for something else outside of the window but there was nothing else that he could see with his limited range of vision. He looked around at everyone, half expecting them to be toddlers at any moment. Then it occurred to him that he couldn't see any hourglasses or Father Time clock statues. He wondered how the Doctor arrived at the conclusion that they were in the Sea of Time. He moved around the group and stood beside him while he was talking to Pepa who was sitting in his pilot's chair. He leaned his head forward and his eyes widened when he spotted a ten foot hourglass just barely visible outside the window.

"Damn," he murmured.

"What is it?"

He looked back at Bill and beckoned to him. Bill leaned up in front of him as he pointed out the hourglass. Bill jerked back up and Paul chuckled when he started to examine himself and everyone else.

"Yeah, already had the same thought, mate."

"Are we though?" Bill said to him. "I really don't wanna regress back to my childhood."

"Yeah, well, I don't wanna end up an old codger with my beard down to my shoes," Paul replied, leaning back up. "But I'm not concerned for us so much as for Tya. If we regress, what'll happen to her. I mean, she's only…"

Paul frowned.

"Wait, exactly how old is she?" he said to Bill. "I mean, we never really determined that and I doubt Tya would know. I wonder if there's a way we can find out for sure."

He felt a tap on his shoulder and turned to see Ten smiling at him.

"Sorry, couldn't help but overhear. There is a scanning device in the TARDIS that works like an X-ray. It would scan her body and measure things like bone growth to give you an exact age."

"Thank you, I'd like to know since I want to give her a proper birthday and…oh hell, I'm sure Tya doesn't know her birthday either."

"Why not make today her birthday?" Bill said, "this is the day you adopted her."

"What day is it?" Paul asked him.

"Um…August 25th," Bill said.

"Perfect, August 25th it is then, be right back, gotta tell Jane. Just…don't become a baby on me."

"I'll try very hard not to, believe me," Bill said as Paul snickered and patted his shoulder.

While Paul went to talk to Jane, Ten came up beside Bill.

"So…no aging happening yet then," Ten said.

"Yeah…what about you? I mean, you said you had multiple lives, right?"

"I don't. I'm human, remember. If I age, I'll age in this body. Now he…" he said, pointing to the Doctor. "No telling what he might do, we'll just have to watch."

They fell silent when Pepa finally got up and excused himself, telling everyone he was going to try to determine what the problem was. He hurried back to the engine room while everyone watched him leave.

"Well, gee, why don't we just pull out the motor and go find Jeremy," Amy said. "That was the problem in the film, yeah?"

"I just wonder how long it'll be until we start becoming babies," Rory said, leaning back against the wall.

"And you lot are so sure this whole aging thing will happen?" George said.

"No, but that's what happened in the film and Bill's right, so far, a lot of the things that have happened in the film have happened in real life," the Doctor said. "Having said that, I better make sure your William is going to stay unconscious. I don't want him doing something to us the moment we become babies."

"Yes, make sure the wanker stays out of trouble," John said. "The last thing I want is to be a baby and have that bastard standing over me gloating before he knifes me to death."

The Doctor walked back towards the sleeping quarters.

"We oughta leave him outside the door and go on," John muttered to George and Ringo. "I seriously doubt that Doctor will be able to fix him, Bill or no Bill."

"Give him a chance, John," George said. "If the Doctor can get him to act like their Bill, I wouldn't mind having him around."

"All the same, I hope the Doctor can keep him unconscious," John said.

He felt a tug on his trouser leg and smiled when he saw Tya smiling up at him.

"Hello," Tya said, letting go of his trousers.

"Hi, you're Paul's little girl, eh?" John said, squatting down beside her. "You're a cutie."

Tya walked over and kissed his cheek.

"Awww, you're a little flirt, you know that?" John teased as Tya stepped back.

John glanced up when Paul stepped up behind Tya.

"Quit that flirtin'," Paul teased as Tya looked up at him, "you're too young to be makin' advances on Lennon. Shame on you."

"Paul!" Tya said happily as she reached for his hand.

John smiled as he leaned back up and watched while Paul took her hand.

"She's very cute," John said.

"She is. She's going to be spoiled rotten if I have anything to say about it," Paul replied. "She's gonna be my little pretty pampered princess. Maybe I'll teach her to play guitar. I'm teaching Bill since he went on to have a solo career before the Doctor changed things. I heard the solo stuff and I don't want most of the songs and I figure I could teach Bill to be a singer and let him have a bit of success."

"You really do like him, don't you?" John said.

"John, you've seen him. Surely you know by now that he's nothing like your William. He's not a threat to me. I want to help him. He's had a rough life and we have reason to suspect he was abused as a child. He has repressed memories that the Doctor's gonna look at when he gets a spare moment. He doesn't want to be me but he said he would like to give a singing career a try using his own name so I'm gonna take him under my wing and turn him into a superstar."

"So in other words you're the rock and roll Henry Higgins," John said.

"Yes, I'm Henry Higgins and this is My Fair Lady, Beatles style," Paul said. "Bill is my Audrey Hepburn!"

He giggled when Bill jerked his head over towards Paul.

"I'm what?" he said, coming over to him.

Paul explained what they were talking about and Bill rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, I'm Audrey Hepburn and you're Rex Harrison," he said dryly while everyone laughed.

"Yes, you are, Bill. Now repeat after me, the rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain," Paul said.

"No, thanks," Bill said.

"How about this then," Amy said, walking over to him before she broke into song. "Someone's knockin' on the door, somebody's ringin' the bell!"

"No, that's one of the songs of mine I don't want," Bill said while he and Paul laughed. "That's one of the most idiotic things I've ever heard in my life. You want that song for your own, you're welcome to have it!"

"What about it, Pond? Told ya that you could be a singing sensation, I could still ask Brian to sign you up when I ever get back to my time."

"If you get back to your time," Amy said.

"Okay, IF I ever get back to my time, I'll ask him and once he signs you up, I'll give that song to…"

Bill tapped him on the shoulder and Paul shut up and looked at him. Bill nodded at the Beatles and he saw the pained look in their eyes and realized why they looked so anguished.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have mentioned Brian," he said, holding up his hands.

"No, It's alright," John said. "You shouldn't have to censor yourself around us. But…just out of curiosity…what we told you about our Paul's death, is that what happened to you…or don't you remember since you were saved?"

Paul paused in thought. He continued to think while Tya tugged as his sleeve and he bent down to pick her up.

"Um…see, I'm not really sure because actually Amy here became part of events. I do know that Brian was nowhere near us the night it happened…"

He gave them a brief explanation of what happened to him and Amy. The Beatles flinched when he described Johnson being beheaded. Once he finished, he shrugged.

"That's how it happened to me. It may have been different if Amy hadn't been around but the only similarity with your Paul is the car being run off the road. Amy ended up saving my life though, I'm sure they would have beheaded me if she hadn't begged them. So actually, in gratitude, I made her my adopted sister so she's my sister and Bill's my brother."

"So in other words, you have your family here with you on this little excursion," John said.

They laughed as Paul grinned and shrugged.

"Yeah, sister, brother, brother-in-law, wife and daughter. I'm on a family outing here," Paul said. "And it's fun. There is danger but it makes me feel like I'm back in the Hamburg days, fun and danger and new experiences. I still want to be a Beatle and my Beatles want to come with me but they're helping their wives and families and my dad settle in on another planet in a new house and…"

He shut up when they suddenly heard someone banging on the hatch door.

"Hey, someone's knocking on the door…" he said, pointing off in the distance.

"Somebody's ringing the bell," Amy sang. "Someone's knocking on the door, somebody's ringing the bell, do me a favor…"

She laughed and ducked when Paul tried to smack her head. The knocking continued and everyone glanced at each other.

"What do we do?" Rory asked.

The knocking continued, becoming louder and more insistent. Finally, Ten shrugged.

"What the hell, I'm curious enough," he said, walking away.

Everyone glanced at each other and followed him as he walked towards the doorway.

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