Stand By Me

Seven

Taylor had just sat down to enjoy a cup of hot chocolate, when she spotted Matt approaching her and groaned as she saw the clipboard in his hand. Without a word, she took it and headed out to the truck to start on the inventory. She had just slammed the door to the halligan's compartment shut, when her phone vibrated and she grabbed it from her pocket to find a text from Greg.

'I need that rent money as soon as possible'

Her stomach churned at the mere thought of dropping the money off after shift, but she knew that it had to be done and finished her duties without responding. The rest of the shift was relatively quiet and Taylor arranged to meet everyone at Molly's, before walking the half an hour journey to Greg's place.

Not wanting to see him, she posted the envelope through the letterbox and made her way home to shower. The others were already sleeping by the time she got out, settling on the sofa and turning on the television.

Unsure of when she drifted off, Taylor woke up to the sound of something smashing and someone cursing softly under their breath. Giving her brain a moment to fully wake up, she peered over the back of the sofa and watched as Kelly cleaned up whatever it was he'd broken."Need some help over there," she called with a hint of amusement in her voice.

"I think I've got it covered," Kelly replied with a chuckle, "Sorry for waking you up."

"Don't worry about it," Taylor stated, checking the time and noting that it was a little after noon, "I needed to be up anyway, Boden's roped me into baking some stuff for the barbecue and I still haven't decided what I'm doing."

"Peanut butter cookies," she heard Shay shout from upstairs, "Plus some chocolate chip ones for anyone allergic to nuts..."

"Any other requests?"

"If you're offering, I wouldn't say no to some of those s'more cookies you baked for my birthday," Shay added as she appeared on the spiral staircase that led to her room, "Please."

"I suppose so," Taylor agreed, padding barefoot to the kitchen and making a list of what she needed, "I need to pick up some ingredients from the store, do you guys want anything?"

"I'll take you, if you fancy some company," Kelly offered, earning a nod from Taylor and grabbing his jacket.

The trip to the store was quick and Taylor soon found herself in the kitchen, working on the first batch of chocolate chip cookies with Shay's help. After nearly four hours of baking, she placed the final batch on the cooling rack and got ready to head to Molly's.

The small bar was surprisingly busy for a weekday, but they didn't find it hard to locate the others in their usual corner and joined them. Smiling as Otis handed them a drink, Taylor leaned against the bar and listened as everyone started talking about the shift.

After a couple of beers, she decided to call it a night and headed home. Waking up early the following morning, she got dressed and made her way to the kitchen where Kelly was already sitting.

"Morning," he greeted with a smile, pouring a cup of coffee and handing it to her.

"Thanks," Taylor replied, sorting the cookies to take to the barbecue and grabbing herself a cereal bar from the cupboard.

"Shay said that she'd meet us there," Kelly informed her as he washed up his breakfast bowl.

With a nod, Taylor slipped on her jacket and collected the Tupperware boxes from the side as she followed Kelly out the front door. Everyone had already arrived by the time they climbed out, greeting the chief with a smile and placing the cookies on the table.

Not wanting to interrupt the conversation that Kelly was having with Matt, Taylor went to get them a drink and handed him a beer as she returned. Unsure if Shay was already there, she scanned the small crowd of people and smiled as she spotted the blonde approaching her with her girlfriend Corrine in tow. They had been talking for nearly an hour, when she heard Otis call her name and looked over at him questioningly.

"Someone is looking for you," Otis said as he reached them, motioning back in the direction he had just come from and continuing, "The guys on shift told him that you'd be here."

Taylor glanced over to where Otis had pointed and stood up, immediately recognizing who it was. There was a brief moment of hesitation, before she took a deep breath and made her way over to where the man was standing.

"Hi, Taylor."

"What are you doing here, dad?"

"Come on, tater tot, don't be like that," her dad stated, "I heard that there was a family barbecue and thought I'd stop by to see my daughter..."

"Don't call me that," Taylor mumbled, feeling anger rise in her chest and tears form in her eyes, "Just tell me why you're really here.""I need to borrow some money."