2 (jaylor) ethereal daylight and golden epiphanies

chapter thirteen.

Taylor kept herself distracted by helping Joe, by helping him take down the bed and bring in the paint that they'd chosen together. Joe had gone to the shops a couple of weeks ago, and he'd sent her photos of all the colours he liked. They'd both decided on a pale yellow colour, mostly because Taylor loved the name of it. Ethereal Daylight. It was such a soft and pretty colour, and the fact that the walls of their daughters nursery were literally going to be painted in daylight made her happy.
"Are you going to let me help you paint?" Taylor asked as she opened the new packet of paintbrushes.
Joe grinned at her as he finished taking down the bed. "You can - but I'm not letting you get on that ladder." He walked over to her, kissing her forehead. "I'm just going to get a drink of water, would you like one?"
Taylor shook her head, and went over to look out the window. This room was similar to the room that she played the piano in, and the view of the ocean was so perfect. From here, she could see the rest of Rhode Island, she could see the people waiting on the beach for a possible glimpse of her. She closed her eyes, grateful that they couldn't see her. It was so isolating to feel like you were trapped in a box with people staring in at you, waiting for you to do something exciting. It's what it felt like, a lot of the time. The fans that would wait outside everywhere she went, would scream her name in the streets... it was all just so isolating. Some of them tended to treat her like an animal at the zoo, and that was an aspect of her life that she couldn't quite get past. He rest her arms on her stomach, the baby kicking her. It brought her attention away from the beach, and back to her baby. In just over three months, she was going to be a mother. She was so excited for that point in her life, but had never expected it to feel this good.
"I brought you up a drink anyway," Joe laughed as he came into the bedroom, Meredith following along behind him. "Because lately you say no when I ask you something and then you change your mind two minutes later." Taylor laughed. "So I'll just put it on the shelf and then you can drink it when you want."
"I'm sorry," she smiled.
"Don't be sorry," he grinned. "It's cute."
Taylor rolled her eyes, smiling. She stood up, and went to drink the water. "Thank you for bringing some up for me."
"If there's anything else I could get you, just let me know." He opened the lid of the paint and begun to mix it. "This colour is perfect."
"We definitely have good taste." Taylor said as she passed him a paint brush.

The two of them spent the rest of the afternoon painting the walls of the room.
"I love this colour so much," Taylor said as she stopped to take a look at it. Joe was still up on the ladder painting the top of the wall that he wouldn't let Taylor touch. "It makes the room look so much bigger and brighter."
"It definitely does."
Taylor went downstairs to go and get something to eat, when she heard a knock at the door.
"I'll get it!" Joe called out, and she heard him coming down the stairs. She always made sure that Joe answered the door just in case it was someone she didn't want to speak to, or someone who didn't know that she was pregnant.
She heard voices murmuring from the kitchen, and tried not to feel too anxious about who it might be.
If it was something bad, Joe would have let her know already.
"Taylor," she heard Joe call. He didn't sound stressed, or worried, so she took a deep breath, getting a glass of water. "Come here!"
She didn't know what to expect as she walked to the door, but it certainly wasn't that.
"Patrick? What are you doing here?!" She flung her arms around his neck.
"I know that it's a surprise and everything... but I just needed to get away for a while." Something was wrong. Something wasn't right. He wasn't laughing, or smiling. "Long time no see." He finally greeted her with a smile, but it wasn't the same smile that she'd seen the last time he was here. Hell, it wasn't even the same smile that she'd seen a week ago on FaceTime.
"Come in," Taylor said, as Joe helped him with his bags. She waited until the door was shut, before she questioned what was wrong. "Are you okay? You don't seem like yourself..."
Patrick ran his hands through his hair and looked down at the floor. "I'm so sorry to intrude. I just had to get away from London for while. Preferably forever- I never want to go back." Taylor was getting more and more worried about him. He was deflated.
"Come... I'll make you something to drink."
"Do you have any alcohol?" Patrick asked her, half joking but could really do with a drink.
"Of course we do," Taylor linked her arm through his. "The place is a bit of a mess at the moment, so you'll have to forgive us for that. We're painting the nursery."
"I don't care, I just... thank you so much for letting me stay." He sat down beside Joe at the dining table, his head in his hands. Benjamin immediately jumped up onto his lap, but not even he could make Patrick give his usual grin.
"Of course. You're welcome to stay as long as you want to," Taylor said as she poured him a drink. "Do you want one?" She asked Joe. He shook his head.
"Water will be okay, thank you." He gave her a smile.
Taylor took their drinks over to the table, and sat down in front of Patrick. "Do you want to talk about it?"
Patrick looked up with tears in her eyes. "I just feel so stupid, you know? Like... it all just happened so fast..." he had tears in his eyes now. "I guess that I fell in love with a girl with... champagne problems." He told them bitterly as he took a big gulp of his drink. He wanted to drink all of that pain away. "So now I'm here, and I'm never fucking going back."