Safe & Sound- (A Taylor Swift AU)

~prologue~

"Well that's all of it," He says with a sigh looking around the living room, his things missing. He takes a seat on the couch next to me and I snuggle up to him. We are quiet for a moment before I let out a sniffle followed by a soft sigh. "Do you really have to leave?" I ask, running my hand through his soft golden hair. "We want different things Taylor" he says softly, looking into my eyes, "I want the white picket fence, and you want the fame." He was right. I loved him, and I loved us. But who would I be if I gave up my career for him? My music, my fans, my shows, they're everything to me. I can't give up my whole career for a guy. So instead of arguing, I simply nodded. He kissed my cheek before standing up and grabbing his last bag. "I love you Taylor," I heard him say softly as he walked out the door.
I never wanted it to come to this. I never even thought of my life without Joe. This was our home and now he just walked out leaving it as "my home." He's really gone. Without even thinking I grab my phone and call Pizza Hut. I know I probably shouldn't eat my feelings, however I don't think I could ever hurt this bad.
Tears are pouring from my eyes and my heart is numb. How am I ever going to perform the opening night of the Era's Tour tomorrow?
I wrap myself up in a blanket and call my mom.
"Hi baby, what's up?" Her voice says softly. "Mommy, Joe just left..for good" my voice cracks and I wipe away some tears. I hear my mom let out a long sigh, "Let's look at this positively," she says. I frown, "And how am I supposed to do that?" I can practically see her smile through the phone, "You don't like the private life, you like the fame, without him holding you back you can go in public and be you again." I sigh knowing she's right, "thanks mom, love you." I hang up and let out a loud tired scream. My security comes inside, "everything okay miss?" they ask. "I'm alright thank you."

It's now morning and my eyes flutter awake as I rise with the sun. I flew out to Glendale a couple hours after my breakup. I stayed in a hotel and I got about 2 hours of sleep and I have to perform for 3 hours tonight. Nice! I rub my eyes and groan. Someone knocks on the door to my suite.
"Come in!" I say groggily. My mom walks in. "Morning, sweetheart," she gives me strawberry pancakes. I smile for the first time in a while, "thank you, mom." I take a bite. "Are you ready for tonight?" She asks me. I shrug, "How am I supposed to go on stage and act like everything is okay?" My mom puts her palm against my cheek, comforting me, as she looks into my eyes, "You're human, its okay to not be okay, it's okay to hurt. You just have to go out there, and give your fans everything you got. They're there for you, they love you. If you mess up, if you cry, if you're a little tired, who cares? All that matters is that you try." I know she's right, the corners of my mouth threaten to smile. "I love you, mom," I smile. "I love you more."

"I have so much to do right now," I say as we finally walk into the stadium. 8 hours before Gayle goes on stage. "Relax Taylor, it'll all get done," my team assures me. I see a small shadow run through one of the gates into the stadium. Nobody is supposed to be in here other than my team. I walk over to the commotion and find a little girl sitting down, crying and panting. I kneel down in-front of her. "Sweetheart, I'm Taylor, can you tell me where your mommy is?" I ask calmly. The little girls eyes go wide, she's super tiny, and she's almost all skin and bones, she's very banged up. She shakes her head, "Don't make me go back there! No! No!" Her breathing gets heavier, her voice shaky. "Okay, okay, I'm not. Does your mom know you left?" I ask. She shakes her head, "My mom died while giving birth to me, I live with my dad, but he is really mean to me because he says I'm a mistake and I killed my mom." My heart breaks for this little girl. "What's your name?" I ask her. She looks at me for a minute, probably debating on whether or not she can trust me. "Chloe Louise Margins," she says softly. "How old are you Chloe?" I ask her. "4," she mumbles. This pour baby, she can't go back there. "Do you know your dads name?" I ask. "Are you going to get him in trouble?" She panics, "He said if I get him in trouble he will kill me! Just like he killed my big sister!" She sobs.
"I will make sure that never happens, but in order to keep you safe, I need you to tell me his name." She studies my expression for a moment, "Joseph Ryan Margins." I nod, "Thank you."
I pull out my phone and make a call.

20 minutes later I'm with police and CPS, backstage. Chloe is terrified and won't let go of me. "They're from New York, and it looks like she's been using his bus pass for 3 days traveling all the way here. Joseph has 3 warrants out for his arrest," The police say, "2 for neglect, and 1 for selling drugs." I sigh. "Looks like this is a 3rd for neglect so I'm definitely going to have to take Chloe away," a CPS worker says. "What will happen to her?" I ask. "She will go into our foster system, and unfortunately that means she will probably bounce from family to family until she's found her forever home, or until her father is able to care for her," the worker sighs. Chloe squeezes her stuffed cow close and cuddles into me. I look down at the girl in my arms, before I can even think straight words come out of my mouth, "Is there any way I can foster her?" The cps worker thinks for a minute, "Well your car, lifestyle, and home would have to be approved, and you're a very busy person, I mean we're literally backstage at a huge stadium right now. Can you tell me a little about how you'd make things work?"
"Well I only tour on the weekends so we would be at my home in New York City during the week, which means she could either go to school or be homeschooled whichever she's more comfortable with, no problem, and while I'm on stage my parents will keep her safe and hangout with her, any other time she will be with me, most of my songwriting and meetings is done from my house so I'll have no problem watching her, and I have security outside my house at all times, and with me in public." The CPS worker nods. "If you sign some paperwork she can stay here with you until we have a proper meeting in New York, does Monday work?" I nod and do everything they tell me to. They make sure Chloe's okay with this before they leave, and I'm left with a 4 year old girl to care for at least until Monday.

I go find my mom and dad. "Mom, can I talk to you for a minute?" I ask. She nods. I put Chloe down and I squat down in-front of her. "Chloe, I'm gonna go talk to my mom for a minute, can you stay here with my dad? His name is Scott and he's really nice." I say calmly. The little girl looks at me a little scared. "Are you gonna send me back or leave me?" She asks. "No," I shake my head, "I'm gonna be just outside that door, do you want me to leave it open so you can still see me?" She nods, so I leave the room with my mom but I hold the door open while talking to her quietly. "So that's Chloe she's 4 years old, and she ran into the stadium through a tiny area of open fence, I talked to her and found out she's neglected and abused, and so I talked to CPS and the police and they found out she had been using a bus pass to get here, all the way from New York, and then found out her dad had lots of warrants out for his arrest, and she told me her dad murdered her sister, and it's bad mom, it's terrible, she's just a little girl, so without even thinking, I decided I would foster her," I say.
My mom hugs me tight. "You're doing the right thing Tay, breathe," she says. I nod.