1. shimmer (a taylor swift au)

-chapter thirteen-

Taylor was sitting in the bathroom waiting for Ellie to finish in the bath before she'd blow dry her hair and get it looking all pretty for tonight's concert. It always made her proud that Ellie seemed to enjoy bath time to a certain extent.

Ellie was humming to herself, and Taylor was busy painting her fingernails. They'd gotten a little chipped over the last week and she still very much enjoyed painting them. Ellie had lined all the nail polishes up on the bathroom counter for her, and Taylor loved that Ellie knew the order of each of the albums. She also loved that Ellie had suggested that she should add some sparkles to the top of them - Taylor was waiting for a sparkly top coat to arrive next week.

She was anxious about getting on the stage today. Usually, it excited her and she could let it go... but today was different. Something was off, maybe it was the fact that Joe had leaked the breakup without talking to her, but then again, what did she expect? She was a little angry that even Patrick hadn't reached out, no, it was more than anger. It was hurt. She'd gotten so close with him, but then... he was Joe's brother and she respected the distance he'd put between them. Even if it felt like a stab in the back.
"Taylorrrr!" Ellie squealed, catching her attention. "Look at all the bubbles!"

Taylor grinned over at the eight-year-old, at the bubbles she'd put on top of her head. Ellie wasn't so afraid of baths anymore, but she was still petrified of showers, and even rain seemed to trigger memories that caused her to have a little meltdown.
"Woah, Ellie! You're the bubble queen around here!"
Ellie giggled.
"Are you sure you want to come tonight?" Taylor questioned. "You're more than welcome to stay here with my Mom."
Ellie shook her head. "I wanna go!"
"That's okay, bee. I just wanted to double-check."
"I love going with you," Ellie chanted. "It's like the best time ever and I love the confetti and seeing everyone dressing up and I love dancing to The Man and I love Bejewelled and I love Fearless and I wanna see you sing all of them! Like it's the best time ever ever ever!" Ellie blew bubbles at Taylor, who grinned, scooping some up and blowing them back to her.

She'd never imagined that she'd be okay with spending an hour on the bathroom floor while Ellie had a bath. Most of the time the two of them would talk, or sing, or Ellie would occupy herself by playing with the bubbles that Taylor always ensured she packed. Ellie couldn't have a bath without bubbles - Taylor knew that would make it hard for her, so it was a challenge she avoided at all costs. There were things that Taylor pushed Ellie to do, like having baths and drinking water and having her hair out of her face, but there were things that she wouldn't force the kid to do until she was ready to face them.

Taylor had read Ellie's folder the night after they'd washed Wendy for the first time - and she'd been absolutely heartbroken to read what was inside.
It turned out that Ellie had been in the foster system before - when she was really little. Her mother had been using drugs right up until Ellie was born, and pretty much for the first two years of her life, she was shipped off to different foster homes. Taylor didn't know if Ellie remembered this or not - so she hadn't mentioned it.

Taylor had read those words and almost cried at The thought of a little girl with no home, no stability, and no family. No love.

Ellie had been to the hospital twice in her life, when she'd had a terrible case of the flu when she was eighteen months old, and again when she'd found Taylor. That made Taylor angry because there were scars on her body that weren't new - they'd healed a long time ago. It had been clear that there were other times where she should have gone to the hospital but was neglected.
By the sounds of it, Ellie had been enrolled at school but her parents never saw to it that she went, and Taylor knew Ellie had taught herself pretty much everything she knew. She'd had a few problems with kids bullying her - so Taylor could understand why she hadn't wanted to go to school now. Kids could be so mean, especially with everything going on in Ellie's home life... it made sense as to why she didn't feel safe there either.