5 (jaylor) forever fearless nights and a mirrorball spotlight

chapter twenty four.

"You mean we get to go to the ballet?" Luca exclaimed as he bounded down the stairs as if he could fly. "The ballet?" He'd been begging his parents to take them all to see the Beauty and the Beast ballet for what seemed like months.
"And that's why you need to go and put your shoes on!" Joe exclaimed. "Otherwise, we're going to be late."

Taylor had spent the whole afternoon getting the kids ready. Elena had lost one of her shoes and was in the middle of the living room screaming about how someone had hidden it. She hadn't even gotten herself ready yet - that always came last. Gone were the days of spending hours in a dressing room. These days, she was lucky if she had ten minutes to get out the door.
"Mom!" Taylor had just found Elena's missing shoe (it was sitting in the bottom of her pyjama draw, and Taylor had absolutely no clue what it was doing there) when she heard Nora calling out for her. "I don't want to wear a dress. It's itchy and it's not at all comfy."
"Nora, sweetheart, I've told you three times already that you don't have to wear a dress. You can wear whatever you want." Taylor told her as she peaked her head around the door. "You look lovely."
Nora was wearing her science fair shirt that she'd won, and Taylor wasn't surprised. They were lucky if she didn't wear it almost every single day.
"You don't think I look silly?" Nora had inherited Joe's soft, straight, dirty blonde hair. Thea always argued about the fact that she wished she had Nora's hair.
"Of course not," Taylor smiled at her daughter in the mirror. She bent down and kissed her cheek, before she continued. "If that's what you want to wear, then you wear it. So long as you like it - that's the only important thing."
"Does that mean you're gonna wear your cat slippers?" Nora asked and Taylor tickled her.
"Silly billy! I can't wear my cat slippers!"
"But if you wanted to you could, right?" Nora beamed.
"Of course." Taylor grinned. "Alright you, shoes and socks on."

"Are you alright?" Taylor asked Lizzie as she left her room.
Lizzie had her auburn hair pulled back in a ponytail, and was wearing a dress that Taylor had gotten her. Taylor still remembered Lizzie's tears as she opened the package that was addressed entirely to her.
"Yes," Lizzie smiled. "I just wasn't sure how to do my hair and now it's sticking out funny at the back!"
"Would you like me to fix it for you?" Taylor asked gently. She was always careful not to put too much pressure on her, careful not to push her too far.
"Yes please!" Lizzie told her. "You do hair so much better than me."
"I've had a lot longer to practice!" Taylor grinned. "I'll just check on Thea - you get your hair brush and meet me in my room?"
Lizzie nodded, slipping back into her room.

Taylor passed Joe in the hallway, and the two of them took the moment to press their lips together, relishing in this single moment of quiet. Quiet, in a house of five kids was rare. It was also rare to have a moment where one of the kids wasn't crying ew or something of that sort.
"I love you," Joe murmured against Taylor's lips.
Taylor smiled. "I love you too."
"I can't wait to get to bed tonight," Joe told her honestly as he kissed her cheek before he took Elena's shoe out of Taylor's hands and began descending the staircase to find her.

Thea was looking in the mirror when Taylor peeked around the corner.
"Your eyes look so lovely with that colour." Taylor had tried really hard not to compliment her daughter in a way that wouldn't trigger her. She knew that Joe had always complimented her eyes, her smile, the way her hair curled naturally, the way he thought she looked so great in the colour blue. It had worked for her when she was in the depths of an eating disorder, and she was doing her best to help Thea by using that strategy too.
"I doesn't look as good on me as it did on you." Thea had inherited most of the clothes that sat in the attic, and was wearing one of Taylor's old dresses.

It was designed to look like a two piece - and Taylor smiled when she looked at her daughter in it. The dress had been one of Taylor's favourites and she'd worn it during her 1989 era. It was a soft peachy colour, but was more on the pinker side.