In Between

This isn't who we are part 1/2

The morning started off fine. Taylor was in town and that always got his day off on the right foot. With their busy lives, any day he got to linger between the sheets, his arms wrapped around the woman who had come to mean so much to him was going to get off to a good start.

He was up before her, which wasn't all that unusual. She tended to spend her nights somewhat restless and wasn't always up to peopleing in the morning. He thought about waking her up with peppered kisses across her bare back or spending a few extra moments cuddled up beside her, taking in the view as she slept, her eyes peacefully closed as soft breaths escaped her barely parted lips. His stomach grumbled however, and he took that at his cue to start his day.

Swinging his legs over the edge of the bed he lifted himself gently, not wanting to disrupt her, knowing she could use the rest. Travis rubbed at his eyes as he scanned the room, finally his gaze landed on his boxers and he tugged them up before heading downstairs to the kitchen.

In his thirty-four years of life, he'd learned his limitations in the kitchen, and they were many. Breakfast however, was something he could manage. After a few minutes of digging through his cabinets he finally gathered everything he needed to whip them up a batch of french toast. He was just plating the last slice when movement caught his eye and Taylor joined him. She sidled up to the island and dropped down on to one of the bar stools there. A yawn escaped her before she looked to him and offered the sweet smile that always got him.

"Mornin' sleeping beauty." He said, stepping around to her side of the island and stealing a quick kiss to her cheek as he placed a plate in front of her.

"You been up long?" She asked around a her first bite. "God, this is delicious, Trav."

"Nah, just long enough to make this. You got any plans for today?"

She thought for a moment. "Pretty sure just a meeting about some album stuff later but I have to check with Tree."

"I've got practice in an hour but I should be home by two if you wanna do something later."

"Can 'doing something' be vegging out on bad reality TV and takeout?"

"Whatever you want baby."

"It's a date then." She leaned over for a proper kiss as he headed back up to his bedroom to grab his things.

*

A few hours later he pulled his black Range Rover back into the garage of his new house. He winced as he exited the SUV. He'd taken a weird fall at practice and his knee had been giving him hell ever since. He'd stayed after practice for extra physical therapy time but the pain still lingered. Pain was basically a part of his every day life, it was part of the job. It didn't mean it was a part he particularly liked though. When he realized he was going to be longer than expected he had shot off a text to Taylor but she had never replied. He figured maybe she had taken a nap but then again maybe that should have been the first sign for him that things weren't quite right.

"Tay, you here?" He called out.

"Yep." Came her reply. Something about the shortness and her tone however had him immediately on edge. He felt his eyebrows lift as his stomach plummeted while he moved in the direction from which her voice had come. He found her in the living room, laid across his sectional, a blanket draped across her lap as she flipped through the channels on TV. Usually she met him at the door with a smile and a kiss so this nonreaction to his arrival defintely caused his hackles to rise.

"Everything okay?" He tried again. She didn't answer him and alarm bells continued to ring in his head. Occasionally she got like this, quiet and unresponsive and typically it took her a few hours before she'd come around and talk things out with him. Almost always her mood shift was related to something she had conjured up in her own head. It just sometimes took her a bit to work her way out of whatever she was feeling. 

He made his way around the couch and finally he could see her face. Her pale complexion was tinged red, obvious tear tracks staining her cheeks. 

Oh fuck. Whatever it was she was upset about, he evidently was in deep shit.

Things never got better when they festered so he figured it was better to deal with whatever this was sooner rather than later.

He settled in beside her, groaning from the weight shift and the discomfort if caused his aching knee.

"What happened?"

"Shitty practice. Landed weird on my knee."

"Oh." Was all she offered.

"You wanna tell me what's up with you?" He asked, trying to keep his voice even. "Why've you been crying?"

She turned ever so slightly to face him, her lip trembling and for the first time in their relationship he felt real fear about losing her. 

"Tayyy.." He said, hoping she could hear his desperate desire to make whatever it was better in his voice. It wasn't lost on him that she hadn't leaned into him like she usually did, that there was a space between them that seemed small in distance but felt insurmountable. "Is it because I stayed late at practice?" He questioned, racking is brain and coming up with that as the only thing he could think of that might have upset her. 

She shook her head and he watched her throat work, her eyes shutting while she took a calming breath before turning to face him. Her knee brushed against his thigh and even that minuscule amount of contact helped soften some of his worries. 

"I—" She started but quickly had to stop, clearing her throat before trying again. "I got bored while you were at practice." She started. He kept his attention on her, trying to decipher where this was going. "I got on my phone and—" "Oh God, Taylor." He interrupted, hating that he could hear the annoyance breaking through his usual calm and collected demeanor but they had been through this shit before. 

"I know, I know. I know better and usually I avoid this shit but I messed up and got on there and I saw some stuff that fucked with my head."

He exhaled through his nose, trying his best to keep him temper under control. Usually he was good at it but today he could feel the then veil of control slipping. He had an inkling at this point what this was going to be about. 

"She's online j—" "Why are you worried about her, Tay?"

Her mouth closed quickly and he saw the momentary look of hurt flash quickly through her eyes. Surely he should have felt bad about that but at the moment his patience was hanging on by a very fine thread and he just didn't have the mental capacity for this. They'd been through this before. People from his past doing whatever they could, saying whatever they could to seem relevant. And her giving them that power in their relationship pissed him off. 

"Have I ever once given you reason to worry about her? Or fuck, anyone?" His words were gruff, hard and daring. Challenging her to think of a single time when his loyalty to her could be called into question. Travis was a lot of things, but unfaithful? She might as well have stabbed him in the back. It would have hurt less. 

Maybe he was being too defensive but this line of questioning was getting tired. He'd tried to reassure her every other time something like this had come up but he was getting a little irritated having to constantly defend himself.

"You don't see me bringing up your shit with Joe every other week." He knew as soon as the words were out of his mouth it had been the wrong fucking thing to say. If he didn't, the way she jumped to her feet and retreated to the bed room they shared, the door slamming behind her surely confirmed it. 

He thought about going after her but thought better of it. His blood was still boiling and he knew if he tried to say anything to her now it would come from a still hurt place and would only make things worse. He leaned back against the cushions of the couch his hand rising to let his fingers pinch the bridge of his nose. Sooner or later he knew he's have to fix this, but not right now. 

AN: There will be a part 2 of this one!

Feel free to hit me with any requests you may have!