best thing that's ever been mine - a Kaylor story

Chapter 36

Taylor has only been back in New York for a few days when everything suddenly blows up in their faces.

Karlie's on her way to the day's second meeting when her phone rings. She glances at the display to see who is calling before picking it up, but her brain doesn't quite register who it is.

"Hello?" she says, somewhat preoccupied with trying to cross the street.

"Um, yeah, hi, this is Jamie," Taylor's youngest security guard says, and Karlie can hear a touch of nervousness behind his words.

"Hi Jamie, what's up?"

"We kind of have a situation," he says, "and I, that is, we need you to come down to the hospital right away."

"The hospital?" The words catch in Karlie's throat as she stops dead in her tracks. Why the hospital? Taylor... what?

"It's nothing bad," Jamie says hurriedly, "but Taylor wanted to get out of the house and had it arranged to go visit the children's ward, but the issue right now is that she seems to be having some sort of a panic attack and she's locked herself into the ladies' room and refuses to come out."

"Jamie, for God's sake, lead with that next time, will you?" Karlie almost sneers into the phone, her pulse racing from the shock. "You can't scare me like that! I thought something serious had happened to her."

"I'm sorry, ma'am. I will most certainly lead with that if the situation ever occurs again. Do you need us to send a car to come get you?"

"No, it's fine," Karlie sighs, the adrenaline still pumping through her body. "I'll take a cab. Tell her I'll be there soon."

"I will, ma'am."

***

Jamie meets Karlie in the hospital foyer half an hour later and leads her to Taylor.

"I'm really sorry we called you," he says quietly while they're walking through the long hallways. "We just didn't know what to do or how to get her out of there and we couldn't exactly kick down the door either."

"Breathe, buddy," Karlie says and pats his shoulder lightly. "It's okay, you did the right thing."

"Yeah, well, she's in here." He stops in front of a door and stands to the side so Karlie can go in.

"Okay, we'll be out soon," she says and sends a small smile his way before opening the door.

She opens the door to reveal a room with five doors and five sinks. The door all the way in the back is the only door that's closed, and she sighs as she closes the door behind her and walks down towards it. "Taylor?" she says and knocks on the door. When there's no answer, she knocks again. "Taylor, I know you're in there. Please just open the door."

A few more silent seconds pass before the door is finally opened, revealing a trembling Taylor staring up at Karlie.

"Oh babe," Karlie mutters as Taylor buries her face in Karlie's chest. Karlie instinctively strokes Taylor's hair and holds her until the trembling dies down.

"I'm sorry," Taylor mumbles quietly into Karlie's shirt.

"Hey, it's okay," Karlie soothes, "it happens. Do you want to talk about it?"

Taylor loosens her hold on Karlie and finally meets her gaze. She shakes her head but starts talking anyway. "I don't know what happened. I just... I wanted to do something nice for the kids, get out of the house for a while, but then I got here and I suddenly felt like a million pairs of eyes were staring at me, judging me, and it just got to be way too much. I feel so stupid."