Neverending Peace

Back to December

Taylor smiled as Joe came into her room with a little knock. She reached up from her bed for a hug. Joe obliged, wrapping his arms around her girlfriend and giving her a peck on the lips.

"Congrats on finishing the production video for all the dancers," Taylor murmured.

Joe groaned. "Finally. I feel terrible I couldn't spend more time with you because of them. How are you today?"

Taylor closed her eyes and hummed a bit. "Tired," she said after a very long paused.

"Anything you want?"

Another long moment, then:

"Lay with me?"

"Sure."

Taylor scooched over so Joe could squeeze into the bed next to her. She immediately curled up and placed her head on Joe's chest. Joe ran a hand up and down Taylor's skinny arm.

"Do you want anything to eat?" he asked.

"Mmmm... no..."

"Anything else I can do?"

"Joe?"

"Yeah?"

"Stop nagging. I'm not dead yet."

There were some days when Taylor had a lot of energy they were few and far between, but when it finally came Joe knew he had to do something special. So, here they were in the middle of nowhere just them and their love keeping them warm in the winter wonderland.

"No Joe I am not doing it"

"Come on Taylor it'll be fun"

They had been sat in the truck arguing for 10 minutes now. Joe had decided to surprise Taylor with a date, she was very much excited for it and had kept guessing where they were going the whole drive but when Joe had pulled up at the ice rink her excitement had quickly disappeared.

"No it won't be fun it will end with me falling over and being embarrassed" Taylor complained, hitting her head back against the headrest.

"No you won't, I'll be with you the whole time holding your hand and i won't laugh promise, and it'll be fun I promise" Jay said, leaning over to gently hold her left hand and brush his thumb over her knuckles.

"If you laugh at me you are dead" She said with a raise of her eyebrows.

"Alright"

They got out of the truck and walked towards the rink and booth. As they waited in the queue Joe intertwined his hand with Taylor's causing her to look up, smiling at him and he simply smiled back. No words were needed they understood each other. It will all be okay.

They made their way to the front of the queue and collected their ice skates before making their way to the edge of the ice. They found a spot to sit and put on their skates. Joe managed to put his skates on with ease but when looking to his left he could see Taylor getting frustrated with her skates using her little bit of strength to pull them on.

"Need some help there" Joe chuckled

"No, I can do this" She stubbornly responded, still trying to put the skates on.

Jay sat there with a smile on his face happily amused by the pure frustration and stubbornness of his girlfriend. After a few more minutes she reluctantly gave in.

"Fine you can help me" She huffed out.

"Thank god I was starting to get worried that the ice rink was going to become a lake" Joe chuckled, earning a punch to the arm.

They were quickly ready and Joe took Taylor's hands helping balance her as they stepped onto the rink.

"I don't like this"

"Tay you've literally been on here for 10 seconds"

"And? I still don't like it"

"Okay how about I actually teach you how to skate"

Joe tucked them into a corner out if the way of the other skaters and begun teaching Taylor the basics like how to move and how to stop. She was actually doing well and he could slowly see that she was enjoying it.

"Okay I think we are ready to try and skate around the rink"

"What? No I'm going to fall"

"You won't I'll be holding your hand the whole time"

Joe slowly pulled her out of the corner and started to move into the main part of the rink. Taylor was wobbling all over the place and was tightly holding onto Joe's arm. Despite the circumstances Joe was enjoying the public display of their relationship, him and Taylor always limited their public display of affection as they were still early in their relationship and hadn't told the public yet.

After a few laps around the rink Taylor was finally getting the hang of it and was no longer wobbling or needing to hold onto Joe's arm instead she held his hand. She looked beautiful in this moment, her blonde hair blowing in the breeze, her blue eyes being lit up by the Christmas lights as she displayed a carefree smile.

As they came to stop Taylor suddenly began to fall over but Joe's lightning quick reflexes kicked in and he caught her just in time. He could see the embarrassment in her eyes and knew what he needed to do to make her feel better.

He spun them around and lifted her up pulling her into a tight hug and passionate kiss. It seemed like a moment from one of those Hallmark Christmas movies the two of them pulled in close, kissing as small snowflakes began to fall and Christmas lights glowing in the background and they were oblivious to anyone else.

When oxygen became necessary they pulled apart, staring at each other. As Taylor looked up at him she had a large smile plastered on her face.

"Hi" Joe whispered as he looked down at her smiling face.

"Hey"

"See I told you I wouldn't let you fall"

"Mmm but you lied, I did fall. For you" Taylor whispered the last part as she looked up at Joe and saw that he had heard her comment, his eyes showed so much love for her in this moment she thought she might melt.

"That's so corny Tay"

"Yeah but you love me for it" She grinned and  nuzzled her face into his chest to cover the blush that was covering her cheeks.

"Yes I do"

"Thank you" Taylor mumbled into his chest

"I'll always catch you, now come on let's get off this ice and go to the second part of this date"

"second part?"

"Yeah the pizzeria I'm starving and then we can go back to yours and snuggle watching whatever you want"

"Mmm sounds perfect let's go" Hailey said, grabbing his hand and turning them to face the direction to the exit.

They started making their way off the ice but somehow as he went to step off Joe lost his balance and ended up falling backwards straight onto the ice on his ass. He didn't have someone to catch him as Taylor had already stepped off the ice. When he looked up he could see Taylor hunched over clutching her stomach laughing.

"Hey I thought we said no laughing" Joe whined, trying to get up.

"Yeah at me but we didn't say you Mr Expert-Ice Skater" Taylor continued to laugh as she watched Joe struggle to stand up on the ice and exit the rink.

Together, once Jay had safely made it off the rink, they returned their skates and walked back towards the truck, Taylor tucked under Joe's arm to protect her from the snow that had began to fall faster. As they approached the truck Joe pulled her closer and kissed her forehead taking in the scent of her lotion and shampoo, vanilla.  Ice skating on a Tuesday afternoon came his final realization he didn't want anyone else to have her heart, kiss her lips, or be in her arms because that was his place. Forever and Always.