Day One (kaylor fanfiction)

9 (all right)

Taylor spent the next morning not feeling sick. In fact, she felt great. She was productive all morning and she still felt the best she'd felt in a long time. It would be jumping the gun to say she felt all better, but she did feel different and in a good way.

Karlie had come home in the early afternoon, not wanting to leave Taylor alone for too long since her emotional purge the night before.

But Taylor felt great. Karlie seemed to have eased some of her anxieties and she was starting to feel happy about all this. Although, Taylor tread cautiously around this new and sudden feeling of ease.

After spending a good portion of the afternoon on the prenatal yoga Karlie had been bothering her to start, Taylor sat on the couch watching Karlie play with the cats.

She picked Olivia up and held her in the air, looking up at her and grinning.

"Olivia, you're going to be a big sister! Are you excited?"

"She's not." Taylor said, nodding her head in the direction of Meredith. Meredith stood in the doorway brooding, not venturing to join everyone. Karlie gasped and put Olivia down. She hurried over towards Meredith to give her some attention but she ran down the hall when Karlie got close.

"Don't feel bad, Kar. It's her rebellious teenage years. She'll grow out of it." Taylor joked as she watched Karlie still staring pathetically down the hall Meredith just ran down.

She picked Olivia up again and walked over to sit next to Taylor.

"Yes, but you'll never hate us, will you?" Karlie asked Olivia, holing her up again.

"Or is Meredith going to be a bad influence?" Taylor asked Olivia. She turned to Karlie and very seriously said, "Karlie, I don't like those two hanging out. Meredith is going to corrupt our sweet Olivia. We need to do something as responsible cat parents."

"God, you're right." Karlie played along. "Olivia, no more hanging out with Meredith, okay?"

Olivia blinked at them. "Good." Karlie concluded.

When she set Olivia down, she curled up right in between them.

Taylor sighed and leaned on Karlie. She turned her head upwards and her lips met Karlie's jawline. She lingered for a moment.

"I love you." Taylor said.

"I love you too, babe." Karlie replied, "So much."

...

Taylor woke squinting and groaning. She swatted at the air in front of her, trying to rid herself of whatever it was that was cruelly disturbing her sleep.

"Sorry, babe." Karlie's voice quietly came to Taylor's attention.

As Taylor slowly came to, she realized she was feeling Karlie removing her glasses.

"You fell asleep with your glasses on again." Karlie explained, still whispering, "It looked really uncomfortable."

Taylor heard the sound of her glasses carefully being placed on the coffee table next to her.

Karlie ran her fingers through Taylor's hair, moving it out of her face and off to the side. She leaned down and kissed Taylor's temple; once slowly, and then a quicker second kiss for good measure.

"Sorry," Karlie said again, "Go back to sleep."

Karlie stood up to leave but Taylor grabbed her by the wrist. With her eyes still shut tight, Taylor shook her head fervently. She pulled at Karlie's wrist, as if asking her to stay. Karlie understood even though no words were spoken.

"I'll stay." Karlie announced. Taylor nodded with as much fervency as before.

Karlie lifted up Taylor's head and shoulders, much to Taylor protest, and slipped underneath her so Taylor's head was in her lap. Taylor quieted when she realized why Karlie was moving her.

"Everyone comfy?" Karlie asked, patting Taylor's head. She took the lack of response from Taylor as a 'yes'.

She pulled a blanket off the back of the couch and threw it over Taylor. Taylor hummed in contentment and appreciation.

Karlie's hand found Taylor's hair again; it cascaded across Karlie's lap as Karlie ran her fingers through it. Taylor could feel Karlie's fingertips lightly graze her scalp as they moved. She hummed quietly again, encouraging Karlie to continue.

Taylor's hair fell through Karlie's fingers easily and lightly like water or air, so soft it was like touching nothing at all. Karlie twirled a shorter piece of hair from Taylor's bangs around her finger and let it drop, before finding another random piece and doing it again.

The room was quiet. The only noise was the normal but hushed sounds of New York outside and relaxed breathing. When Olivia fell off an armchair in the room and made a sort of desperate meow, Taylor was too sleepy to even notice.

The living room was dark; the only true light came from the table lamp Karlie had turned on when she first came into the room. The street lights outside sifted dark, almost orange, light through the windows; it stretched across the floor but didn't brighten the room, it stayed glued to it's spot on the hardwood.

Karlie's hand slowed as it raked through Taylor's hair; she was also lulling herself to sleep as much as she was Taylor.

"It's pretty late, we could just go to bed if you want." Karlie offered. No response.

"You want to go up to bed?" Karlie asked more directly. Taylor groaned and shook her head in Karlie's lap. It was such a lazy shake of the head Karlie wasn't even sure if it was a shake or a nod.

"You want to stay here?" She clarified. Taylor scrunched up her face and nodded. Karlie laughed quietly to herself.

"You want me to stop talking?" She asked. Taylor nodded.

"Okay. That's fine." Karlie said, mostly toherself. She let her head fall against the back of the couch, her fingerstangling with Taylor's hair again. "We can stay here all night."