One month later...
Taylor's POV:
I packed all my bags for Argentina because tomorrow I fly there. I'm so excited, this is the first time that Amelia and Travis are going to join me and be in the audience, this is also my first time in Buenos Aires or Argentina and I'm happy to play for as many fans as possible. Travis due to constraints will only join me for the second night. I can't believe this is happening, I'm really really excited and I also know the fans will go crazy.
I finished all the chores and folded Travis's, Amelia's and my laundry while Rambo and Meredith played next to me together..it's a little weird but Mer kinda likes him and he likes her too. Like really weird, she doesn't like anyone expect Amelia so we don't wanna talk about dogs. I almost don't live in New York anymore, my home is not a place, it's the people. And those people are Travis and Amelia, So I'm not that pessimistic that now I also fold the laundry for them because we really get along great and I assume that soon we will also take another step in our relationship and buy a shared house. I heard Travis walk in the door of the house with the key. I put Amelia to sleep so I hoped he wouldn't make too much noise.
I heard him coming up the stairs and then I saw him sweating in his uniform on the door.
"Hi babe!" He came and kissed me.
"Haven't you heard of a shower? You always take a shower at the end of the training , what happened now?"
"Ah.. they are doing work there and have started renovations"
"Want to take a shower and go down to eat? I made bolognese for you and cut vegetables".
"Hell yes you're the best! I'm starving!" He kissed me again and took off his shirt and I laughed.
"I can imagine,now go away you stinky one!" I laughed.
"I love you, you know that?"
He stole another quick kiss from me as he took off the rest of his clothes and turned around.
"Uffff what an ass you have, Kelce! I'm so jealous of your girlfriend right now!"
I laughed looking at him and he was shaking his ass.
"Will you believe me when I tell you that I'm jealous of myself that she's my girlfriend?" He asked and I laughed more.
"I love you!".
He closed the door behind him and I put Amelia's folded clothes in the laundry basket and put mine and Travis' clothes back in the closet. After that I put my bags in the living room and went back to bed. Travis finished his shower, went to eat the food and got into bed to hug me and that's how we fell asleep. Tomorrow is a big day!
A few hours later..
In the middle of the night I felt two small hands touch me and moved my shoulder. I woke up so quickly with my eyes wide opened from what people call the typical motherly "instinct" because I immediately recognized that it was Amelia.
I saw her a little pale with vomit on her shirt. I started to worry and moved Travis' arms away from me to grabbed her hand and take her out of the room so as not to make a noise, Travis is still sleeping. The truth is that I'm a little flattered that she considers me the honor to wake me up and not Travis, it means she trusts me.
"What happened sweetie?"
She didn't said a word and grabbed my hand even tighter and led me to her room. I saw vomit all over her sheets, on her bed and even on the floor. My face was more worried than ever. I can't imagine such a small girl throwing up that amount of vomit. It really hurts and she looks exhausted. I checked her forehead after I put one hand there and it was burning.
My baby has a fever.
I hugged her tightly and picked her in my arms. She started throwing up on me even more than before I could say anything. I was very disgusted but on the other hand I developed a deep mechanism towards her so nothing related to her disgusts me, at this point I just felt terrible for her.
"It's ok honey , let it all out" I told her and moved her hair.
"We need milk for the cats" she said out of nowhere with her eyes closed . She started shaking and saying unrelated things, I know people say these things that they start hallucinating from the fever.
"Let's have a good shower shall we?" I told her and took her to the shower.
I carefully put her in the bath and washed her hair and body. I don't know how long it was from the time she threw up until she called me but she looked exhausted and tired. Her eyes almost closed. I wanted to leave her alone in the bath for a moment to clean everything but I was afraid she would close her eyes, fall asleep and drown so I wrapped her in a towel well and warmed her up. We went back to the room together and I turned on the air conditioner on heating and changed for clean sheets and my clothes too. I brushed her hair and braided it, put on a long and clean pyjama. After that I washed the floor with soap that would smell clean and good and went downstairs to make her hot tea. I went upstairs and saw that she was still waiting for me and of course I couldn't leave her alone, she wants and needs me. I put the tea on the dresser and climbed on the bed. I brought her close to me and rested her head and arms on my chest.
"So I guess I'm not coming with you and dad to Argentina". she said with a sad face.
"Honey I'm so sorry! I know how long you've been waiting for this, but I also want you to rest and it's clearly that you won't come and fly when you have a high fever".
"I can't believe it!" She started crying. Poor girl, she had been waiting for this moment so long that she could join. I really wanted too, but I can't risk her health like that.
"Don't worry there will be many more opportunities, the tour is still long and there is still the next year" I said trying to comfort her.
"We need to call grandma to stay with me"
"Sure I'll call grandma Di"
I said but She shook her head.
"No..I want grandma Andri"
"My mom?"
I asked and she nodded. It's really strange to me that she calls my mother grandma. All this is so new to me and this title to my mom and hearing it from a little girl is just weird... sure it excites me but it's still weird. Travis and I have been together for a good few months now but the bond she has developed with my family is so fast it feels like they have known each other forever. My mom almost added her to her ID I swear. Their bound is really special and strong and I don't think it is possible to separate them already at this stage. This is probably another sign that Travis and I are for life. There is a little girl in the middle...she may be the connecting and strengthening thread between us that makes me think that maybe he's my End game. My luck is that my mother came to visit us on the weekend so she stayed to sleep in a nearby hotel. I guess it won't be a problem if she just stays a few more days with Amelia at home. I caressed her and we cuddled together and every few minutes I kissed her head. She kept saying strange things because of the fever until just before she closed her eyes she said something I thought I wouldn't hear in the near future or at all.
"I love you mom"
She said mumbling.
what?? I heard right ,right? did she say mom? Oh my goodness. No, no, I probably didn't hear correctly...but in the same time, I heard well. She probably said that because she was hallucinating. Sure sure this is the reason. I tried to convince myself as not to freak out. I froze in place and my heart skipped a beat. I was shocked and couldn't think of anything else but that. Guilt washed my throat thinking about Anna who didn't get to hear her daughter call her that. I know Amelia is old enough to call me Taylor and doesn't see me as her mother, or does she? I know that from the outside it looks a little strange and confusing but Travis and I spend a lot of time together and I spend every day with them together just like a real family. I take care of her, cook for her, take her to school and return a back, put her to bed and even play with her. She really became an inexplicable part of my life that I understand that maybe she has already started to see me in a different light. I'm no longer the Taylor she knew...I look like something much more than that and she sees me as a mother? I'm so scared and terrified right now. I can't be her mom right? I wanted her to give me answers but when I looked down I saw she was already asleep. I have to tell Travis about this. I feel like I need to.. maybe it's really because of the heat and the hallucinations but it also felt so real for a moment that it just freaked me out.
I guess she's right,now it's just me and Travis flying to Argentina and she won't be. The truth is that I'm happier this way, of course not in circumstances that cost her health, but I prefer her to be as little exposed to cameras as possible.
3 days after ...
I was in the dressing room waiting for my second show. We postponed it and I moved it from yesterday to today because of the weather which is great because Travis spent with me the night in a restaurant. A lot of cameras was taking pictures of us but is was fine. now he will come and be with my dad in the tent. I can't believe he will be present in the audience! It's official! It's getting more real! There will be thousands of cameras there to record it and that's exactly why I planned surprises for this evening and some of them are also what the fans chose and I'm attentive to them on social media, they want a certain surprise song and I know exactly which one I want to dedicate to him.
Amelia and I talked all these days on FaceTime and I made sure she was okay and I told her I love her so she remembers that she is always in my heart even though I'm far away from her. I still haven't told Travis about that night, he knows she was sick but he doesn't know about her calling me mom. She also during all these days avoided calling me 'Taylor' which is even more strange. Anyway , I preferred to concentrate on today's show and I just saw my dad walk into the room and it was the perfect moment to ask him.
"Dad can I talk to you for a sec?"
"Sure what is it?"
He asked me and put his hands on my shoulders as I sat in front of the mirror and he came from behind.
"Any chance that you can please record Travis's reaction when Karma is gonna sound?"
"Why?"
"You'll see... Let's just say I made a slight change in the words"
I winked at him and then he came, my man. So me and dad immediately stopped the conversation and he left so I could be alone with Travis. He hugged me from behind and kissed my neck and then bent down on his knees to take my hands to kiss and caress them. I'm smiled and stroked his hair.
"Are you ready for tonight?"
"I'm more than ready. Thank you for doing all this for me, thank you for traveling so far for me, thank you for being here, not hiding and supporting me. I love you" I said to him and kissed him.
"See you in a few hours my love, I'm proud of you!" He said and gave me one last kiss before he went to the tent with my dad. As soon as he came out I realized that he was catched by the screams in the crowd and I smiled to myself.
Travis's POV:
From the moment I walked out Taylor's fans spotted I was in the audience. I know from Taylor's past that her exes weren't the most supportive let's just say...and that's what caused her insecurity in relationships all these years. I want to be the cool one. I'm not like that and I want her to know that. I started raising my hands and cheering her on so that the audience watching me would start clapping hard and cheering her on a few minutes before she went on stage.
She sang The Archer and some fans let me hold a really cute sign that they was making for her. I proudly held it up and Scott near me couldn't stop smiling and being happy. I'm sure he knows how important his daughter is to me. Later in the concert , Taylor kept looking at me and pointed at me or at least towards the tent and everyone took pictures of me and smiled and I sang all her songs with pride as she deserves.
One of the surprise songs was End Game and as soon as the audience heard the first notes of the song they started screaming louder and shaking the ground. I smiled straight because I saw in Taylor's eyes that she was dedicating it to me. And so they had many more magical moments in the concert until the song Karma started playing. I was dancing and suddenly out of nowhere Taylor started singing.
"Karma is the guy on the chiefs, coming straight home to me"
She sang and giggled right after she said it.
The crowd went wild and loud and the lights turned golden and red probably as a signal for my team symbol. I saw Scott taking a picture of me and I didn't understand at first what she said, yes I did but it took me a while to understand that it really happened. I put my hands on my face and smiled the biggest smile I couldn't believe she actually did that.
I waved goodbye to everyone and went with Scott to wait for her outside the stage. I'm so excited to see her that I started walking in circles. Scott made room for me and let me be the first to greet her. I put my hands behind my back and waited for her to come. She is the one who has to decide how public she wants it to be. Here she is, the love of my life that I'm so proud of and made me the happiest man today. Coming off the stage with the biggest smile in the world, waving and sweating in her outfit at the fans and right after she caught me she started with a light running straight to wrap her hands behind my neck and kiss me. I put my hands behind her back and continued the kiss because I understood that this is what she wanted and I smiled during the kiss. I moved her a little to the side anyway so we could have privacy and we went inside the tent still kissing.
"Karma is the guy on the chiefs?" I asked and laughed and so did she.
"Oops..I probably got the words a bit wrong" she said and laughed ,I kissed her even harder.
"I love you and so proud of you!"
She was already exhausted and I brought her a bottle of water to drink. I covered her with a coat and we got in the car on the way to the hotel. She leaned on me and I stroked her. She opened her phone and already noticed that they started uploading videos of us on Tiktok and edits. She saw all the actions I did for her tonight, like the sign or videos that show how I looked at her and it moved her, I saw it in her eyes.
"You did amazing! Really I'm so proud of you!"
"I have so much to talk about with you.. about all the videos about everything that happened this evening and I'm still in a storm of emotions, when we get to the hotel we'll talk about it. This is not over big guy. But...I need to talk to you about something" she sighed and I got worried. It is never good.
"What happened?"
"Remember a few days ago Amelia called me in the middle of the night and I took care of her?" She asked and I nodded "So I don't know if it's because she was hallucinating from the heat or because it really happened but she called me mom".
"Oh wow..."
"Yeah..."
"I'm sorry I'll talk to her"
"No! I won't lie to you, it was nice to hear it roll off her tongue...I feel a huge connection to this girl, something I haven't experienced before and it's fine for me that she call me that if she sees me that way...but Anna. I feel guilty that it's not really me, she has another mother".
She said I could see the guilt on her face and that she was uncomfortable but I immediately shook my head.
"Taylor, If there's one thing I can tell you is that the last thing Anna asked of me in the hospital seconds before she died was that I find a new partner and supportive mother for Amelia. She wanted it for herself and believe me if she knew it was you she would be more than happy. Happy...small word, probably jumping in heaven. Amelia is very mature for her age but equally experiences the innocence of that age. She connects with people very quickly but not enough to call you Mom. Believe me, if she chose to call you that, it's because she felt protected enough with you and connected to you".
I told her and she looked at me, she was about to cry so I hugged her before it could happen.
"After all these years I really think you're my karma...I mean the guy on the chiefs"
She laughed and stroked my beard.
"Coming straight home to you"
I wrapped my hand on her chin and pulled her closer for a kiss with my tongue. She didn't resist and continued with the kiss. She add her tongue too and we started having a war . When we got to the hotel we showered, talked to Amelia and talked about everything that happened today.
Then we fell a sleep with her in my arms.