Safe and Sound

18

(A/N - I've decided that Taylor did not release 'Bigger Than The Whole Sky' with Midnights, in fact the song hasn't even been written yet. I have a plan for that song)

*A few nights later*

Taylor sighed as she rolled from her side onto her back and rested her head on the fluffy pillow. She glanced at the clock on the bedside table. It was almost 2 am. She turned her eyes upwards and let them rest on the ceiling fan in the centre of the ceiling. The fan wasn't on but the singer found herself wishing it was, the soft whirring noise and the spinning motion might actually help her fall asleep. Her thoughts were interrupted by the soft snores coming from her husband beside her. She let her eyes fall away from the motionless ceiling fan to the man beside her. She watched his chest rise and fall as he breathed and the way his eyes fluttered as he dreamt. She wondered what he was dreaming about, was dying to know what kept him in his peaceful slumber while she lay awake beside him.

Normally, the singer would disappear into her home studio if she couldn't sleep, play about with a few notes on her piano or guitar while her husband slept and in the morning he'd wake up to find her hunched over the instrument, fast asleep. But they weren't at home. Occasionally, Travis would wake up if he felt her moving and they'd curl up in each other's arms, watching reruns of Friends or Grey's Anatomy until Taylor's insomnia finally let her sleep. The singer would have woken the football player had they not been leaving Nashville in the morning for their long drive back to New York City. Travis needed all the sleep he could get, especially since he wouldn't let her take over when he was too tired. It would have made their journey there and back a lot quicker. They wouldn't have had to stop for as many breaks as they did.

Taylor, Travis and Hannah had had a great week with Taylor's family. They'd been busy all the time, spending as much time together as possible. Family walks, nightly movie sessions or game nights, cooking together, just regular family activities. If it hadn't been so cold outside, they'd have been out in the back yard playing sports. Taylor was sure Travis would have taught Hannah how to play football. They really were a normal family, despite Taylor's famous name. Hannah had really come out of her shell, especially when they took her back to Jazz's Ranch and she got to ride on a horse for the first time. The horse's name was Pete and he was around seventeen years old, a small black horse with white socks and a white stripe on his face. The smile that crossed Hannah's face as she sat on the horse's back was so wide that the corners of her lips could have touched her earlobes and the smile definitely reflected in her eyes. This was the first time Taylor and Travis had seen Hannah smile properly and it warmed their hearts. Taylor took some photographs and set a reminder in her phone to get them printed off for Ashley. She didn't want the redheaded woman to feel like she was missing out on her daughter's life. That would have made the singer extremely guilty.

Taylor had grown extremely attached to Hannah over the past few weeks. She knew the day would come that Hannah would return to her mother. The singer was dreading that day. She hoped that when it did come, that she and Travis would still be allowed to see Hannah. But part of her also didn't want Hannah to return to Ashley. Hannah was apart of their family now, always would be. Did that make Taylor a bad person? Probably. She knew how it sounded and she'd never voice her thoughts aloud, but that was how she felt and she'd spent too many years in the past denying her feelings and suffering in silence because of it. The little voice of doubt inside Taylor's head began to speak and she shook her head from side to side a little too hard to get the voice to shut up.

The singer needed a distraction. She reached out onto the bedside table and picked up her phone, muting the volume and notifications so the noises didn't wake Travis, she turned on the wifi. 2:11 am. This felt like the longest night of Taylor's life. She was growing impatient with herself for her lack of sleep. She scrolled through social media for a while on her anonymous accounts and when she got bored of that, she checked the messages on the group chat with her closest friends: Blake, Abigail, Hayley, Sabrina and Selena. Hayley was the least active on the group chat, opting to be more of a lurker, Taylor understood why. The chat could get a little, okay a lot, chaotic. Taylor had muted the chat while she was with her family. In the last week, the singer had missed so many conversations that her head was spinning just trying to catch up. She honestly didn't know how Hayley was able to lurk and understand what was going on.