[ FAMILY ] t i e s. - a tayvis story.

[ SEVEN ]

Opening the suite door, Koa ran inside and climbed into Taylor and Travis's bed. "Nope." Travis told her as he walked in after Taylor, Kylie, and Wyatt. Wyatt and Koe were still awake, while Khi, Elliotte, and Bennett had already fallen asleep. Travis walked over to the fold-out bed that the girls had been sleeping in together for the duration of the trip. With Elliotte still in his arms, he turned the couch into a bed once again. Once the bed was unfolded, Taylor walked over and placed Khi down into her spot. she removed her shoes and covered her. "Get in your bed," Travis told Koa, who folded her arms and pouted as she climbed out of where Taylor and Travis were sleeping and got into the bed she had been sharing with her sister. "Thank you. You're such a big girl." Travis praised his oldest daughter. That was one way she was like her mother. Koa thrived off of being praised and told she had been doing great.

"You're welcome, Daddy," Koa replied with a smile. She removed her own shoes and socks and got under the covers next to her sister. "Wait," she said, get out of the bed again. She went over to where the toys had been neatly placed in the room. She grabbed her favorite stuffed animal and her sister's blanket, which she normally slept with. She went back over to the bed and climbed in once again. She tucked the blanket under Khi's arm and then got under the covers again, cuddling the stuffed animal Andrea had given her only a few days after she was born. Ever since Andrea's death, Koa had been more attached to that stuffed bunny rabbit since it was given to her. 

"Alright, Pretty, I'm going to walk Kylie and the girls back to their room," Travis said, moving over to Taylor. He placed his finger under her chin, and as if they were magnetized, she moved closer to him. He kissed her lips, and Taylor scrunched her eyebrows at him once they parted.

"Have you been drinking?" Taylor asked. Travis leaned in to kiss her again.

"Yeah, why?" Travis asked, kissing her again.

"I can taste it on your lips," she told him, pulling back a little bit. "What's wrong?" Her face held a look of concern. It wasn't like him to drink if she wasn't.

"I'll tell you once I get back," Travis told her, kissing her one more time. She nodded, the look of worry still on her face. She rubbed her thumb over his beard. She could tell from the look on his face that he was mentally somewhere else. His eyes looked sad and puzzled by his thoughts.

"I love you," she whispered to him.

"I love you more, pretty girl," he responded, kissing her on her head quickly. They separated, and he walked away from her, scooping up Wyatt in his other arm so that she didn't have to walk herself.

"Good night, Tay," Kylie said with a smile. "Maybe we can hang out for a little bit tomorrow before we have to get off the boat. I really miss you guys."

"That will be great," Taylor replied. "We miss you too, Ky." It felt weird calling her something other than Lele, but over the course of the days they had been spending with each other, they had dropped the childhood nicknames. It didn't feel like them anymore. They were grown women, and those names were who they use to be, it didn't accurately depict who they were now. "See you tomorrow."

Travis nodded to Kylie as they approached the door, and they left, leaving Taylor to get ready for bed.

"Are you sure you want to carry both of them?" Kylie asked as they started to walk down the hallway in the direction of the room she and Jason were staying in. "Wyatt is perfectly capable of walking."

"I've had to carry Taylor and Koa at the same time on a bunch of occasions." Travis let out a small laugh. "I think two small kids are fine." Taylor had the tendency to be clingy from time to time, which Travis was obviously fine with. But when both Taylor and Koa were clingy at the same time, life could be difficult for him. He loved it all the same, however.