Are We Out Of The Woods Yet?(A Taylor Swift Adoption Story)

Nashville Trips and Ulterior Motives

Amara's POV:

         I googled a little too much. By a little too much, I mean that it's reached the point where I'm now convinced my inability to sleep was caused by dust mites, and I'll soon face a risk of heart attack if this keeps continuing. You've got to love the internet... although I'm about 99.9% sure what I researched is fake I'm now thoroughly freaked out.

Just as I'm deciding what to do next, I hear the door open softly and Taylor enters the room as I scramble to close the tab. The tab closes to reveal the CNN home screen. In typical Taylor fashion she's half-asleep and I'm thankful. She eventually makes her way to where I'm sitting and glances at the CNN homepage of the computer screen before narrowing her eyes and snapping out of her drowsiness.

"Amara why are you..."

She trails off and looks at me with an expression of concern as I turn my head slowly and check out the CNN homepage. It's showing death rates in Syria and the Syrian refugee crisis as the front page. Oh great... Just my luck... now I have to explain to an overly concerned Taylor exactly what I was doing "looking" at this stuff.

"Um.. I was just.. you know.. catching up and checking out the news"

        I say this in my most nonchalant voice and try to play it off with a shrug but to say that Taylor isn't convinced would be an understatement. Good job Amara! the timing of this is simply perfect(not). I glance up at her and almost roll my eyes when I see that the concerned expression is still on her face. I don't want her to think of me as the poor little scared refugee with nightmares, but so far that's all I'm coming off as. Much to my relief, she doesn't say anything and I think she's about to leave but she leans down over the office chair and wraps me in one of her hugs. This lady can hug. Her chin is resting perfectly over my head and her arms are wrapped around me. As per usual I make a feeble effort to struggle, but I'm met with fierce resistance as she holds me in place quietly "shh"ing. Maybe its the lack of sleep or the stress, but the next thing I know tears start sliding and my nose gets runny. For probably the thirteenth time in the last three days I'm crying, more-so sobbing and I'm trying to hold it all together but I'm coming undone little by little. I'm still facing away from her and she can't see my face thankfully. Slowly but surely I manage to control my tears, but there's no controlling a runny nose. A small sniffle escapes me and almost immediately Taylor swings the chair around just in time to see my red blotchy face. Great. Just Great.  She reaches out like she's about to hold me, but I furiously wipe away any remaining tears and sit up straight in the chair; politely but firmly refusing her request.

"Taylor I'm fine".

She smiles a half smile and after a moment answers back:

"I know you're fine Amara, I'm just letting you know that I'm here if you're not fine whenever that may be"

She grins at me and I smirk back at her. Swiftly she changes the subject:

"So I was thinking that.. well maybe in two days.. my parents are leaving to go back to Nashville and I'm thinking it would be fun for us to go too.. as a vacation type thing"

The look on my face must express hesitation because she wraps an arm around me before continuing:

"Come on! cheer up! It'll be fun!! we'll only be gone a week and it'll be nice to get a break from everything".

Congratulations Amara!! you've officially become a burden on Taylor. It was right when she said 'it'll be a nice break from everything" when everything snapped into place. She's doing this because of me. Everything I've reacted to in the past three days is coming back to me in an instant. My consistent reaction to the paps, the breakdown because of Maxine, my breakdown right now... my breakdown in the car last night. So many breakdowns. I'm tempted to scream "NO" and run from the room but I hold it together and manage a smile for her benefit. Two can play this game. I'm so so glad I haven't told her about last night.. she'd probably have suggested we head to Nashville immediately. Where even is Nashville? I know it's far because Taylor's parents came by plane, but I know little else. Turning my attention back to Taylor I put on an expression of shock and excitement while bobbing my head up and down. She beams back pleased by my reaction and starts talking about her apartment there but I'm not paying attention whatsoever. I don't know how to react to this, Nashville is so far away and what if the CIA.. WAIT.. I've just found the second ulterior motive. She wants to get me as far away from Maxine as possible. I can tell Taylor hates her but I didn't think it was to the point of fleeing New York. I need to figure this out... Anddd do some research on Nashville andddd take a nap or something to hold me over until tonight.... But if she's taking me to Nashville anyways what if I tell her about the sleeping thing? Tied to my internal struggle I see Taylor head out to her parents room and begrudgingly I tread downstairs to the delicious smell of pancakes.

Taylor's POV:

I head to my parents room to see if they're up yet and not only are they up, but they both are playing chess? only my parents. I kiss both of them good morning before my mom gets up from her position on the floor and says she needs to talk to me. I don't think anything of it while I follow my mom to the bathroom, but when she finally shuts the door and turns on the lights I start to get a bit nervous.

"Taylor honey, your father and I simply love Amara. She's very polite and she's such a sweet, smart, and beautiful little girl. Adam told us about her IQ and the Syria situation which I'm sure you're aware of, but is there anything else we should know?"

She looks at me expectantly and I rack my brain for anything else about her, but I come up with nothing.

"Sweetheart, last night I woke up at around two to get some water, and when I peered through your door she was up and awake just staring off into space.. Your father woke up at 4:30 and said he saw the exact same thing.."

I don't know what I'm feeling. Shock? Concern? mixed into my wide berth of emotions is also a little bit of sadness and anger. She did truly flat out lie to me this morning.. It wasn't just an innocent mix-up. As per usual my mom basically reads my mind and reaches out to tuck a stray piece of hair behind my ear.

"Taylor! don't blame yourself for this.. I've been a mother all these years.. it's come to a point where I know when something's up. You've just started..fostering? is it? and as time passes you'll get better at this whole parenting thing. Even though I must say..although this is hard it's nothing compared to dealing with the average six year old".

I shoot her a confused look and she laughs at my reaction.

"Taylor she's more a teenager in the sense of her independence. I remember when you were six you never left my side.. you latched onto me like superglue constantly! You lucked out here in the regards that she truly is easier to take care of and sweetheart you are doing a wonderful job. I can see that she adores you. I have to ask you though.. how are you going to address this?

I honestly have no idea but I'm thinking along the lines of a confrontation directly after breakfast. I tell my mom and she shakes her head disapprovingly.

"That would be what I would normally suggest but something tells me she lied to you out of fear of your reaction.. she doesn't want you to worry about her otherwise she would have woken you up. She has to go to Karlie's at 3:00 PM right? How about right after breakfast you both head to your room and watch a movie. She's probably exhausted and I'm guessing she'll fall asleep in the first 15 minutes-"

I see where she's going with this and I but in:

"I'll bring a book and I'll stay with her to make sure she at least gets 7 hours of sleep.. it's 7:00 am now isn't it?"

We both grin conspiratorially and I go in for a hug. What in the world would I ever do without my mom? We unlock the door of the bathroom and my dad just rolls his eyes. He's probably used to this after witnessing us doing this a lot throughout my teenage years. I grin at the pair of them and mom says that she'll be down along with dad after their chess match. Sighing I make my way downstairs towards the delicious smell of pancakes.