Everything Has Changed

After Love

August 21st 2025
Kansas City, Missouri

Things had to go back to normal, what ever that was. Travis had promised himself the night that it had all happened that he would try to be happy. Try to find a way to live, a way to be, no matter what happened. But it had been well over a week, and he still didn't know how to feel. Everything was grey, as if a cloud of haze was permentantly fixated over his head. He laid in bed, staring up at the ceiling, the place beside his bed as cold as ever. It had been vacant for well over a week now but he couldn't get used to it: not having Taylor beside him. They were always so close and clingy when they slept, often found curled up against one another like huddled penguins.

But he had to get up. His parents were coming around later that day to have lunch with him and to spend some time with Luna. The media had of course been speculating that something was wrong. Splashed across every single newspaper and gossip sight had been the photos, of him clutching onto Taylor's lifeless body as she was wheeled into an ambulance outside of their home in Kansas City. It made his blood boil that those photographers thought that it was ok to photograph and document such an incident. A crisis for their families. Any time any of them stepped foot outside the house, they were asked for a comment on the situation, but none of them had given one. Tree had released a statement and done her side of the damage control, very plainly condemning the paparazzi who thought it was fine and normal to photograph and publish such intimate and private photos. To profit off of someone else's suffering. She hadn't said what had happened. And Travis was glad, because he wanted that to be kept private. It was something they would all carry in their minds forever and he didn't want anyone else to know. He knew someone would eventually, but not now. Not when everything was so new. So fresh and raw that it burned to be out in the sunlight. But his life had to go on. It was Taylor's story, and it would be told when everyone was ready.

Travis pulled himself out of bed to pull open the curtains in their bedroom, crossing over into the ensuite bathroom to brush his teeth and wake himself up. Luna was still sleeping peacefully in her bassinet after keeping him up for most of the night. She hadn't been sleeping well and Travis wasn't sure if it had been Taylor's absence or the four month sleep regression that Patrick and Brittany had warned them both about. He got ready quickly, brushing his teeth before deciding on some clothes to wear for the day. He had plans for a gym workout that morning before his parents arrived at lunchtime. It had already been announced that he wouldn't be playing in the first game of the pre-season and no one had been particularly surprised what with everything that had been going on as of late. He threw on some gym shorts and an old new heights shirt he had in a drawer, coming back into the bedroom to grab Luna from her crib as he could hear the beginnings of her waking up. Holding her in one arm, he made his way downstairs to feed her quickly. He found the leftover breastmilk in the freezer that Taylor had pumped and stored away for when her milk supply would start to slow down eventually. He hadn't thought they would have to start using it so soon. He defrosted it in the fridge, warming it up in their bottle warmer in the kitchen before settling down on the sofa to feed Luna. She didn't exactly like being bottle fed all of the time but she didn't have much of a choice at this moment in time. Travis looked around at the living room, it wasn't a mess but it wasn't clean either. Not spotless in the way Taylor always liked to keep it. Immaculate, is what she would have said. He grabbed some of the stray bottles left on the table from the various times in the night he had been awake with Luna, sticking them into their bottle cleaner before placing Luna in the bouncing chair with some toys whilst he worked out. Ordinarily, Taylor would have looked after Luna whilst he worked out and vice versa when she had things to do or was recording in the studio, Travis would take her. He didn't have that option that morning. So he had to entertain her as much as possible, making funny faces as he lifted weights and practised his sprints on their treadmill.