Fearless

Chapter 2- You And Me Forevermore

June 28th

Taylor

"Are you ready to go home, little one?" I smile at my baby as I lie her down in her car seat. "You look so cute." I coo as I pull the little mitt back over her hand. She's only wearing a pale pink onesie and a hat that matches, but it's the first time she's been in her own clothes. My parents are still very against me keeping her, so I had to send Abigail over to my house to pick up some of Violet's things.

"There we go." I stroke her cheek as she watches me in front of her, tucking the blanket around her small body. "Are we ready to go?" There's a knock on the door and I smile at the tall figure standing in front of me. "You didn't have to do this, Paul." He approaches the side of the bed where I'm shuffling around, getting ready to take her home. "Come on, Tay. You really think I was going to leave you and this little munchkin without a ride home? I may only be a guitarist but I have a heart." He makes a heart with his hands over his chest and I laugh, "I really appreciate it. I just wish my parents were so considerate." I sigh and he smiles sadly as he lets Violet grip his finger with her tiny hand.

My parents left shortly after Abigail got here the day Violet was born, and then the rest of the night proceeded of my team telling me how they were going to announce my news to the world, and me sitting in the bed not caring because my whole world was in my arms already. It was announced on Good Morning America the next morning and that gave me barely enough time to tell friends and family before it aired. My band came in to visit yesterday and they all fell in love with Violet, everyone who's spent more than a minute in her presence has, except for my parents. They haven't been back to the hospital since I told them I was keeping her, and when I found out last night I was getting to go home today, they wouldn't answer my phone calls and that's when Paul offered to take us home.

"They'll come around, kid." He sympathetically smiles and I nod as I look into the car seat. I hope they come around, for Violet's sake.

"You ready to go home?" He asks again and I nod, "more than ready." He lifts the baby's car seat and I grab my bag as well as the diaper bag and we start making our way out of the hospital.

"Taylor, did you know about them?" Paul stops as we reach the front doors, the flashing lights of camera's already visible. "I had no idea." I sigh, panic starting to bubble up in my stomach. I grab the blanket covering Violet and drape it over the car seat, trying to avoid them getting any pictures of her. "Take the baby and I'll clear a path for you to get through." The man sighs, neither of us were prepared for this and I certainly didn't wanna expose such a small baby to it yet. I take the car seat from him and hook it over my arm, holding tight with both hands, just in case one of them tries to get a little too close.

I pull my hood up and he leads me out of the hospital doors, both of us almost instantly blinded by the camera flashes. There's a huge commotion as we try to get through and Violet starts crying in her car seat, but Paul keeps a protective arm wrapped around my shoulders as he fights the way through the bodies, how many? I have no clue. He opens the car door for me and helps me get into the back, trying to ignore the paparazzi still behind us. I manage to secure the car seat and then get somewhat comfortable before Paul climbs in the front and drives away towards my parents house.

I take the blanket off and try to calm the baby the best I can in the moving car. "Do you want this, sweetie?" I frown as I try and push the pacifier passed her lips and she fusses but eventually accepts it. "I'm so out of my depth." I sigh as her hand wraps around my finger. "You're still new at this. It'll get easier, and until then you have loads of people around you willing to help." He smiles at me in the mirror and I smile back. "We're still going ahead with the tour. How I'm going to cope, I don't know, but she's probably going to be on the road with us a lot of the time." I sigh, I know that's not the best life for a new baby, but my team already pushed the dates back until after I was due and I have to prove to my fans that I'm worth having their support.

"You have months before you have to worry about that. Just take some time to get used to being a mom." I nod, looking back to the baby. She's my priority, and I would give everything up for her in a heartbeat if I had to but I've worked so hard to get to where I am and I don't want that to be my reality.

I just watch my daughter in awe as Paul drives, every little movement and development captures my heart and over the past three days I've found myself constantly awestruck by her. "Are you ready for this, baby girl?" I sigh as he pulls into our street, "you wanna meet Grandma, Grandpa and Uncle Austin?" I bite my lip nervously, trying to stay calm but inside I'm freaking out.

We're outside my family home, but all of the cars are gone apart from mine which is still sitting on the street where I parked it almost a week ago. Paul pulls into the empty driveway and I frown, it's a Friday morning so it's not unusual for my dad and Austin to be gone but my mom's car is gone too. "Madam." Paul opens my door and helps me out, a cheesy grin on his face. It's the middle of summer but for comfort I decided to dress in sweats and my favourite Uggs, but as the day starts to heat up I realise how much of a mistake that was. He kindly grabs my bags from the trunk and I open the other door and lift Violet's car seat out of the car. "Look baby, we're home." I coo as I reach into the car seat to slip her pacifier back into her mouth.

"Taylor? Honey is that you?" I hear someone calling my name and turn to see who it is, my eyes landing on our neighbour standing on her porch. "Yes, Mrs Hastings, it's me." I call back and she signals me over which elicits a gentle sigh from me. I hook the baby's seat over my arm and slowly walk out of our driveway and up to her porch. "Oh dear, who's this?" She puts her glasses on to look at the baby and I spin her seat around to face the old woman. "This is Violet, my daughter." She looks at me in shock but quickly seems to recover. This isn't really the place that sees a lot of teen pregnancy.

"Congratulations, dear. She's precious." I smile and thank her, wanting to end this conversation and get into my house as soon as possible. "Your mom left these with me, she said to give you this and then give you these because she wasn't sure if you had your key." I frown as she hands me an envelope and a set of house keys. "Thank you." I mumble as I start to walk away from her, a frown on my face as I get back to Paul who's still waiting in the driveway. "What was that about?" He asks and I shrug, "I'm not really sure." I look back to the old woman as I walk up to the front door and she's shaking her head as she goes back into her house.

I unlock the door and push it open, expecting the rush of animals that usually comes but there's nothing. I shuffle into the house and Paul follows me, dumping all of my stuff in my room which thankfully is on the bottom floor of the house.

"Thank you so much for helping me today." I smile and share a quick hug with the guitarist and he shakes his head, "anytime, kid." He chuckles as I start lifting Violet out of her car seat. "You're awake this time, huh?" He laughs as I lie her against my shoulder, her bright blue eyes wide open and staring at him. She slept through the entire visit when my band came in yesterday, but she spends most of her time sleeping so I wasn't surprised.

"Do you wanna hold her?" I offer and he happily agrees so I hand the baby over. She squirms a little at first but quickly relaxes and stares up at the man with big eyes. I perch on the edge of my bed and open the envelope that Mrs Hastings gave me, pulling out a note penned in my mom's cursive handwriting.

"They're gone." I mumble as I read through the letter, tears filling my eyes. "What do you mean they're gone?" Paul sits opposite me and I shake my head, "she said that if I thought I was responsible enough to have a baby then I'm responsible enough to live alone. They're giving me three weeks to find a place and move out." I blink back tears as I look up at him, out of all of the things I was expecting this isn't one of them. "They're in Pennsylvania visiting family, I'm all on my own." I sigh, the reality of this whole situation hitting me. "Oh god, how am I meant to raise her alone." My tears finally spill over and I can tell he doesn't know what to do. "Taylor, we're your family. Everyone loves you and would do anything to help you out. You're so far from alone."

I sigh, shaking my head at myself. Now on top of learning how to be a mom I have to find somewhere to live and somehow pack all of our stuff up and move before my parents and brother get back. I have no idea what I'm going to do or how I'm going to manage, but what I do know is now? It truly is me and Violet against the world.