All I've Ever Known

8. Some Things Change, But My Love For You Won't

"Once you've finally come to truly love someone, the fear of losing them becomes inevitable."

-Terry Mark

I dropped the phone to the counter and dropped to the floor. I hugged my legs and reached up to grab my phone.

"Hhhhowwwhattttwhhhhyy?" I stuttered.

"He's in the hospital in critical condition," his mother breathed, "He wasn't the only one shot though, I've been told there are at least 8 security guards dead, 15 on their way to the hospital, and 7 other actors and actresses that are barely hanging on."

"I'm coming out there," I announced through tears.

"Oh Taylor," she blubbered. I could hear the tears in her voice.

Within hours, I was arriving at LAX. A good friend of mine, Sara Hyland, picked me up and drove me to the hospital to visit Taylor. She held my hand all the way there. Then hugged me as I got out and asked me to call her with any news. I promised I would.

Taylor's mother met me at the front desk and wrapped me into a tight hug. Then she raced to Taylor's room with me right behind her.

Once we got to his room I dropped to my knees by his bed and grabbed one of his hands with both of mine and squeezed. I silently cried into his hospital gown.

Finally, a doctor came in and informed us that, yes Taylor would survive, but he would most likely walk with a limp for the rest of his life considering he had been shot in the legs. I jumped up and wrapped both of his parents into a big hug and cried some more.

After a few hours, Taylor finally woke up. His parents had gone to get something to eat, so I was sitting alone in a chair next to his bed.

"Hey Taybae," he said softly.

I jerked my head up and started crying again.

"Hey, don't cry love, I'm here, I'm fine, I'm..." he trailed off.

I reached over and gripped his hands. We stayed that way for a long time. Crying together. Thinking about what was going to happen next.

I stayed at my house that week. Sara and her boyfriend Matt Prokop and other friends of mine in LA supported me all week. When the time came to finally bring Taylor home, Sara was with me every step of the way.

I helped Taylor up to the front door and sat him down on the couch next to me. He laid back and wrapped his arms around me.

"Taybae, what are we gonna do now?" he whispered into my ear.

I took a deep breath and whispered back, "I don't know hun, just take it one day at a time I guess."

And that's what we did. I took him to physical therapy every day. We walked to the café twice a week. When the weather was nice, we would go outside to his backyard and have water gun fights when it was really hot and some days just lay in the grass and look at the sky. We would talk about the future and what it might hold for us.

After two months, I decided I had to go home. I had a new album and a whole career that had been put on hold. As much as I wanted to stay with Taylor, I had fans to please. So on a cloudy day, I flew back to Nashville.

On the flight home, I wrote a few songs for my fifth album. This album was going in the direction of true love and how to keep it and learning from past experiences. And according to the media, I've had plenty of those. But still, I was excited for it to come out.

I daydreamed of being on red carpets for awards shows with Taylor. Of sitting with him in the front row. Of him moving in with me. Of him asking me to marry him. Of announcing I was pregnant. Of starting a family with him. Of growing old with him. Sure, I had thought of these things before with other guys, but this time it felt like it could actually happen. That all of this could be real. I unlocked the front door of my penthouse and fell asleep on my bed the minute I fell down onto it. My last thought before I fell asleep was sometimes love treats you right.

A/N: eh this was sappy and boring to me, but let me know what you think:)))