This is me trying

Safe & sound

~Just close your eyes, the sun is going down
You’ll be alright, no one can hurt you now~

~Grace's version~

I get woken up due to the bed dipping in, so I immediately sit up and move myself away from whoever it is. "Hey, it's just me, you're okay. You're safe." Taylor. I should've known.

I relax slightly, but I still feel very on edge. "I wanted to wake you before I left, this way Tree won't just randomly be walking around." "Okay, thank you."  I respond before pushing myself out if the bed and walking over to the closet.

Taylor stays seated on the bed as I pick out an outfit. I settle on some brown pants with a white knit sweater. I turn to Taylor. "Do you mind if I just go change in the bathroom?" "Yeah ofcourse! Whatever you're comfortable with. Would you like to wait for you downstairs?" "No it's okay, I just-" "I understand honey, you don't have to ask." I nod and quickly walk into the bathroom.

I change as fast as I can, not wanting to make Taylor wait for me and soon walk back out of the bathroom. I find Taylor scrolling on her phone, but she puts it away as soon as she hears me enter the room. "I like your outfit!" "Thank you," I say looking at the floor.

I sit down at the mirror and quickly do my make up before brushing my hair. "Would you like me to do hair?" Taylor's voice startles me, it's been such a comfortable silence, I almost forgot she was here. "It's fine, I can do it." "Well, I didn't ask if you could do it, I asked if you wanted me to do it." She responds.

"If you would like to do it, I don't want to be a bother." "Ofcourse not honey, that's why I offered, come here." I grab a couple of hair ties and my hairbrush and walk over to the bed, sitting in front of Taylor. "What would you like me to do?" "I don't know, anything is good." "Alright, what about two braids into a half up half down ponytail?" "Sure!"

As Taylor is braiding my hair I get lost thinking about wether this is something normal for people with a family. Wether people actually love their kids enough to braid their hair for them. Taylor's voice soon snaps me back to reality and I hum in a questioning manner. "I asked if you're okay?" "Yeah, I'm fine." Her face tells me she doesn't believe me, but she doesn't ask anything further.

She grabs the hair tie and secures the ponytail in place. "There, why don't you go see if you like it." I quickly get up and walk over to the mirror. "I love it, it looks so good, thank you Taylor." "No problem honey. Would you like to have some breakfast now? Or would you rather have some with Tree?" "I'll eat now, if that's okay?" "Yeah ofcourse, come on, I'll make you something."

We walk downstairs and even after telling Taylor she doesn't need to make anything for me, she's still insisting on doing so, so I'm sitting at the dinner table, watching Taylor cook as I try to figure out what she's making.

Just as she places some sort granola like smoothie bowl in front of me, the bell rings. "That must be Tree, I'll go let her in really quickly, you can just start eating." I nod as I feel some nerves bubbling in my stomach. Tree is nice when Taylor is around, but I don't know how she is when she's alone.

~Tree's version~

Taylor opens the door seconds after I rung the bell, a happy look on her face. "Tree, hi!" "Hi Taylor, how are you?" "I'm good! Come in." I step in and place my bag on the little table next to the door. "How are you?" "I'm good to thank you." "Thank you so much for doing this, I know she's old enough to be home alone for a couple of hours, but I just want to be sure she's safe, I'm not letting anything happen to her anymore." "I understand, it's my pleasure, plus I would love to get to know your kid." I say, winking. "I guess she is, isn't she? A foster kid kind off is an actual kid." She responds, a smile creeping onto her face.