1. shimmer (a taylor swift au)

-chapter fourteen-

Ellie had been planning this for weeks now. It was her first Mother's Day and she wanted to make sure it was perfect. She'd never gotten to have a Mother's Day before, and hadn't even heard of the day until James had started talking about what they'd planned to do for their Mom. Ellie had spoken quietly to Blake - asked her about what Mother's Day was. Blake had smiled, telling her that it's a day for celebrating your favourite grownups in the world.
"So I can do something for Taylor?" Ellie had asked, her smile glowing.
"What would you like to do?" Blake told her. "I can help you figure something out if you'd like!"
"I know she's gonna be busy because she's on tour but I wanna do something nice for her."

So, Blake and Ellie had spent three hours making a special project just for Taylor. Ellie had been spending a lot of time with Blake and her kids because James and Inez were the closest things to friends she'd ever had before. And because Taylor was often out and about doing things. Ellie was warming up to the idea that she didn't need to be around Taylor all the time - she knew that Blake and Ryan wouldn't hurt her, and she loved being with the other kids so much that often she barely thought about the fact Taylor wasn't there.
Ellie had firstly, drawn a picture with her and Taylor - it was one that Blake had taken of the two of them a few weeks ago as Taylor was about to climb onto the stage. Taylor's hands were cupping Ellie's cheeks, her lips on her forehead. It was Ellie's absolute favourite photo, and she didn't think that Taylor knew it existed.  So Ellie had drawn it, and Blake had helped her to print the actual photo out and frame it beside her artwork.

So here it was, Mother's Day. Ellie's first Mother's Day in her life, and she was lying awake with butterflies in her stomach. Taylor was asleep beside her, and Ellie knew she was super tired from tour, so she crawled out of bed and went into the lounge. With Wendy clutched in her little hand. Taylor had painted her nails last night - just like hers. They were painted a different colour for each finger - Ellie had never had her nails painted before. She felt like a Princess. She felt like she was a Queen, like she was a super important person.
She grabbed a piece of paper, found a pen in Taylor's bag, and began to write. She'd been working on poetry with her homework - and she wanted to write a poem just for Taylor.

Ellie stood back, admiring her work.
"Do you think this is how Taylor feels when she finishes writing a song?" Ellie whispered in Wendy's ear. "Because I reckon this is exactly what it feels like."
She pulled her knees up to her chest, and glanced around the room, when something caught her eye. It was sticking out of Taylor's suitcase by the kitchen. She'd ignored the bag completely until this moment, but this was something that didn't look like it belonged in Taylor's bag. It was a brown cardboard file.
She peered into Taylor's room, and saw her still sleeping soundly. Tiptoeing over the the suitcase, she saw her name.
Eloise Thompson.

It was jarring, seeing it in permanent marker. Seeing the capital letters that formed her name. Her father's last name. She hadn't known that Taylor had this - and the eight year old couldn't help but feel curious as to what was inside.
She could read enough of the words to know it was about her life until she'd been brought to Taylor's home. It was about her life - the bad parts of it. The parts she wished she wouldn't dream about.
Had Taylor been reading it? Had she been planning to send her back? Was she too annoying to have on tour?
Ellie's heart jumped when she heard footsteps from behind her.

"Oh," Taylor said sleepily. "Good morning, Ellie," She knew Taylor could see the file in her hands.
"Are you planning on sending me back?" Ellie asked sharply, before getting annoyed at herself for making that the first thing Taylor heard on Mother's Day. But her anxiety was kicking in, and she didn't know if she would be able to tame the beast.
Taylor shook her head, but Ellie didn't believe her.
"I got given that file when you came to live with me, little bee. I didn't even look at it for ages, because you told me most of what I needed to know." She crouched down in front of her, taking the folder from Ellie's hands. "But none of what is in this folder would ever make me want to give you back. I wanted to know when your birthday was, or whether you'd been to the dentist, or whether you had a doctor who had cared for you when you were little. What school you'd been to, all of that kind of stuff. That's what I wanted to know. Just so that I can find a doctor for you, or a dentist, or plan a birthday party."