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

[ NINETEEN ]

"Where's Mom and baby?" Selena asked as she came into the house from the basement door. She wore a smile on her face, with balloons and flowers in hand. She had left the girls downstairs with Brittany and Chris, all of them vowing to take turns coming up to check in on Taylor and Travis. 

"Everyone is asleep," Jason answered as he took a bite of the sandwich he had recently constructed for himself. It was nearly noon, and he was confused as to why Kylie was also still asleep, given that she had most likely slept all night, just like he had. 

"Oh, well, I'll come back later," Selena said, leaving the balloons and flowers on the kitchen table before she disappeared back downstairs. Jason just nodded his head at her and shrugged as the door closed. 

"Morning," Kylie said as she dragged her feet into the kitchen. She made her way over to the fridge and grabbed an orange juice. 

"It's almost one in the afternoon, sunshine," Jason told her, taking a bit of his sandwich as she opened her orange juice and took a long sip of it. "Why are you so tired? Wasn't like he had a baby," Jason said with a little chuckle.

"I was up with Tay and Trav, helping out. She didn't have the baby until almost seven this morning." Kylie smiled, thinking about witnessing her friend give birth to her daughter mere hours ago. "It was so beautiful. Her strength, his support. It was so amazing." She took another sip of her juice. 

"Okay?" Jason questioned, confused as to why she was telling him this information. He couldn't care less about what was going on in the house while he was asleep. He was happy to get a night of sleep without the girls being in bed with them, kicking and fighting for space. 

"She is the most adorable baby. She's so little, long, but so little, and she reminds me of when Bennie was born," Kylie continued to gush, ignoring Jason's sour attitude towards the birth of his niece. Even with him trying to "change," glimpses of his prior self still reared their ugly heads. She was growing more and more sick of it as the days went on. She was so sick that she was contemplating divorce. But how could she divorce him while keeping the rest of her family, her chosen family, safe from him? He had been around their world for too long now, and he knew far too much for them to simply let him go. With his hatred towards Travis that still lived deep within him, there was no way Kylie believed he would keep their secret. The man she once thought she could tell anything to, who she trusted with her and her kid's life, was now someone that she couldn't stand. Even with Travis and the other boys forcing him to be a better man, it wasn't enough for her. She knew it wasn't genuinely him. It didn't feel special.

"Ky, I love you, but I do not care," Kylie's face dropped at his words. "I'm just happy Taylor didn't wake me with her screaming in the middle of the night." Kylie looked at him with a look of pure disgust on her face. She turned on her heels and, left out of the kitchen, and headed upstairs to check on Taylor, Trav, and Kali. 

She reached their bedroom door and knocked lightly before opening the door slightly and peeping in. "Hey," she whispered when she noticed that Travis was sitting on the edge of the bed. He looked up at her, a tired smile appearing on his face. 

"Hey, come in," he told her. She slipped into the bedroom, closing the door behind her. She sat down in one of the chairs placed in the corner of their bedroom. "I want to thank you for all the help yesterday. You made everything so much easier on me, and I was able to be there for Taylor more. I appreciate it."

"It's really not a problem," Kylie told him. "I've missed so much of all of your lives, this was the least I could do. It was an honor to even get to be a part of the whole process."

"Taylor has always wished you were there. Something I wonder if she regrets not allowing herself to reach out to you after we found your dad," Travis said. He turned his head to look over at his sleeping wife. He knew how much of a toll not having Kylie in her life fully until a couple of months ago was on her. Even not having seen the woman for over 20 years, Taylor still considered Kylie her best friend, her friendship soulmate. 

"Sometimes things happen for a reason," Kylie said, also directing her eyes over at a sleeping Taylor. Maybe this was just how life was supposed to be. Maybe the universe separating them months after they started dating as preteens was for the best. Maybe they weren't meant to be in a relationship and only meant to be best friends. The way that things ended between them was forced by circumstances and not by any wrongdoing of each other. They were brought back together all these years later when they were both in relationships with kids to hinder them from trying again. This was how it was supposed to be. Kylie stood up from where she was sitting. "Do you two need anything? I can get it."

"No, not right now. Thank you," Travis told her. Kylie nodded and exited the room, closing the door behind her. She went down the stairs, passing Jason as she reached the bottom. She rolled her eyes, annoyed that he existed before she made her way to the basement door and went down the steps. She walked through the hallways of the conjoined basements until she reached the steps that led up to Selean and Chris' home. 

"Hey," she said, walking into Selena's kitchen and seeing her standing over the stove, making lunch for the kids. 

"Hey, how are they over there?" Selena asked, turning slightly to look over at Kylie. "What's wrong?" Seeing Kylie's face, she could tell she was annoyed by something and needed comforting. 

"They're great; mom and baby are sleeping. Kali is beautiful, I can't wait until you guys see her. She looks exactly like both of them. I can't get over her," Kylie gushed, a smile appearing on her face as she spoke of her new little niece.

"I can't wait to meet her," Selena said, taking the Mac and Cheese she was making off the burner. "But what's going on with you? You look like you need a hug," Selena told her, turning to face her friend completely. 

"I do," Kylie said. Selena opened her arms, and Kylie walked right into them. "I think I want a divorce, but he knows too much, and I don't want him harming this family. I feel like I'm stuck with this man that doesn't give a fuck about me, our kids, or this family. I hate that I brought him here." Kylie said as tears started to stream down her face. "I put everyone in danger by thinking he would change his ways. I thought getting him away from his parents might have been the solution, but it's not. It's him. It's always been him."

"I know someone that's been dying to do something to him," Selena said, which caused Kylie to laugh. 

"Pop has hated him since the second he got off the plane," Selena released Kylie from their hug. Kylie wiped the tears from her eyes. "There has to be some other way out of this other than killing him, right? He's still the girl's father."

"That is a conversation for Travis," Selena said. Regardless of what everybody else wanted, things still had to go through both Travis and Taylor first, and since Kali was born less than 6 hours ago, there was no way anyone was about to bring drama into their happy little bubble. 

"I will just have to deal with it, the way I've been dealing with it for the last four months, until I can tell them how I feel," Kylie said. "But, it also felt good to say out loud finally."

"Well, luckily, that's what I'm here for," Selena said. She turned to her cabinets, getting bowls out so that she could dish up food for all of the hungry children patiently waiting for their lunch in the playroom.