Taylor x Travis: In Every Life

it's always been you

Taylor's POV

"Auntie Tay, Auntie Tay!" I heard the little girlish shrieks echoing down the hallway of my apartment and smiled to myself, looking up from where I was working at the table just before the brown haired toddler catapulted herself into the room. "Auntie Tay!" She yelled, bolting across the room towards me.

"Hey my little bird!" I got up just in time to scoop Jessie off the ground, swinging up and around to rest her against my hip. "That's a very pretty dress." I told her, and Jessie grinned.

"Daddy got it for me!" She grabbed the skirt of her blue sundress to show me the little white flowers patterned on it.

"Well you're a very lucky girl."

"She just knows how to get what she wants." Travis said as he came in, and I laughed at him. "Sorry we're late, I had to drop Cara at her friend's place because her car's still in the shop."

"No problem." I shrugged.

Cara was Travis' girlfriend, and had been for about four years. They'd only been dating a couple months when Cara had found out she was pregnant since apparently they'd been useless at using protection, and little Jessie had been born soon after. Cara and I didn't get along amazingly well since she wasn't the most responsible adult and I judged her parenting, and she didn't like how close I was to Travis. But Travis and I had been friends since the first day of school and our friendship wasn't going to change for anyone.

It had been a little rocky last four years ever since Cara had appeared. I wouldn't call her an alcoholic, but she drank a lot and had really struggled not to drink while pregnant. As soon as Jessie had been born, she'd been back on the bottle, so they'd had to bottle feed Jessie in case the alcohol affected the breastmilk. She wasn't the most involved parent, and Travis did a lot of the work while Cara acted like she didn't even have a daughter a lot. But I knew he loved her, so I kept my mouth shut. And her uselessness meant I got to spend a lot of time with my 'niece', since I had super flexible hours at work and Travis didn't, so I took care of her so much I was almost like another parent.

"I put her bag by the door." Travis told me as Jessie jumped down from my arms. Since she stayed with me so often, Jessie had claimed my spare room and we kept a few basic things here for her, so Travis only had to bring a small bag along every time.

"Great." I ran a hand through my hair with a yawn. "Anything new on the won't eat list?" Jessie was a pretty picky three year old so I often had to check with Travis to avoid her refusing to eat meals.

"Umm...she's having a broccoli aversion at the moment but other than that just the normal stuff." He told me.

"No broccoli, got it." I winked at Jessie, who giggled. "You'll love it one day little bird."

"No!" She pouted her lips and Travis shook his head fondly at his daughter.

"Okay, I should get going. Thanks for taking her tonight Tay."

"Anytime, you know I love having her around." I told him, moving to walk him back to the door. "So I'll drop her back sometime tomorrow afternoon?"

"Yeah, Cara said she'll be home about noon and I'll be home for dinner so anytime you want to get rid of her after twelve." Travis said.

"Cool, hey say hi to Jason for me." I said as he stopped in the open doorway. "And have fun."

"Thanks, and call me if..."

"I know, call you if anything happens. Nothing ever does." I rolled my eyes and Travis laughed. "Okay, get out of here. Let me spoil your daughter."

"Alright, bye." Travis moved to hug me quickly, and he placed a quick kiss on my cheek before letting me go and jogging over to his car. I leaned against the doorway and waved goodbye, waiting until his car had vanished before turning back to my apartment.