TNT Short Fics

The brink of a wrinkle in time

They are sitting at the dining table one Wednesday night in LA when Taylor asks, "Can we go home? Just for a day?"

They have been laughing about something that had happened on the set of the commercial he is shooting with Travis doing an impression of the gruff director as he tells the story. So she knows he won't read into her question. That it's nothing bad, just something she wants.

"Yeah baby, of course," he replies. "Any particular reason?"

She loves that he knows exactly what she means when she says "home." Home is the place where she more and more considers their future. The place away from bad memories and the false fronts of the cities she's inhabited over the past 14 years.

"There is something I want to show you. And it needs to be there," she states.

It is cryptic but she needs to just get him there and show him. Something tells her that this one requires it to be shared in the place that inspired it.

"Then we'll go."

She brightens at his agreement, and continues, "Okay, this weekend? The weather will be nice and we can go when you're done for the day on Friday. I need to show you before things get busy with the album. Does that work?"

"You already know it's good with me, Tay. Let's go."

Friday arrives and the moment they walk into the house, she feels her shoulders relax just a bit more. She loves their life no matter where they are and they are making amazing memories together in LA. But something about being here in Kansas City, where they fell in love and where they laid the foundation of everything to come, is on a different level. It is the place where people may look but they let them be. Where they can stop in and grab food without a riot. Where she once giggled in disbelief the whole way through a spontaneous trip to Target on a random early weekday morning because no one seemed to notice them. It settles into her bones and clicks something back into place that feels like a piece of her she lost long ago but found again here in this ordinary, midwestern city—normal.

It's late so they settle for ordering dinner from their favorite pizza place and eating out on the deck with the Christmas lights they forgot to have taken down twinkling above them.

Later that night, he loves her slow and sweet just like their first time in this oasis from the noise. After, he holds her tight and whispers promises into her hair. About how they'll be back here soon. That they'll have adventures across the world but will always end up back here together.

"Thank you for bringing us home, Tay," he murmurs. "I was kind of bummed that I'd have to come back for training camp later this summer and not have gotten one more glimpse of you in this bed before August to tide me over."

She kisses him in response and pulls him closer. Feels the weight of him over her and memorizes everything she can about their bodies together. So that just like him, she'll have this moment to call back to when they are apart.

The next morning, she wakes up to a perfect, sunny Spring day, as if she's ordered exactly the weather she needs. She pulls him from sleep with coffee and silly kisses across his rough cheek. And once he's sufficiently awake, she suggests a drive.

He's happy to oblige, understanding that this is what they have come here for. They are quiet on the way out of town, just sitting in each other's company. She wonders if he notices the nerves in her hand as she passes it across the back of his neck from time to time.

Once they hit the deserted two-lane highway out of town, he lowers the top and shifts them to a higher speed. She grins at him. He knows she likes it fast just like he does.