Kaylor One Shots

Nightmares

Taylor quietly and slowly opened the door to the bedroom. She saw Karlie, who was sitting up in bed and squinting as the light from the hallway cut into the room. Taylor closed the door, immersing the room in darkness again. The only light came from the digital clock on the dresser: 2:45 am. Taylor felt her way over to the bed, her eyes still adjusting to the darkness.
"She had that bad dream again." she said, before Karlie can even ask where she had gone. Karlie quickly turned her head to face her.
"And you sent her back to bed?" She responded, a mixture of disbelief and confusion in her voice.
"I don't like it either," Taylor said as she got into bed "but she can't just keep sleeping in here with us every time she has a bad dream. It's a bad habit."
"She's a baby." Karlie argued.
"She's almost five."
"She's a baby." Karlie repeated adamantly, refusing to accept the difference. She sighed. "She needs to know she can come to us when she's scared or when somethings wrong."
"She did. And I waited for her to calm down and took her back to her own bed." Taylor said, her voice sounding more combative than reassuring. Karlie didn't respond. She knew Taylor was right. But it didn't change the fact that her overwhelming first instinct was to try to fix everything. When she woke to the sound of small bare feet on the hardwood and quiet whimpering it was hard to let the child fight her own battles. In those moments, anything other than holding her all night just seemed cruel. She was sure Taylor felt the same way.
Karlie thought about when they first brought their daughter home. Taylor had carried her around so cautiously when she was a newborn, going up and down the stairs much slower than normal. Taylor always seemed to get up and check on her in the night even before a cry came through the baby monitor. And then there was Taylor's extensive and well, probably unnecessary baby proofing of the house when she started walking.

"You probably don't need to put locks on those cupboards. They're really high up." Karlie had suggested casually, as she watched Taylor stand on a chair in the kitchen. She was struggling to install a safety lock on the cabinet door.
"Look, Karlie," Taylor sighed. "I'm being thorough." Karlie smiled. As ridiculous as all seemed to her, she couldn't fight the fact that she found Taylor's overprotectiveness so endearing.
"You can't even reach up there." Karlie responded, half laughing as she said it. "It's a bit excessive."
"Well, when I'm collecting my mother of the year award, I'll be sure to mention you." Karlie threw her head back and laughed. "Mostly, I want to thank my wife." Taylor stared off into the distance, holding a piece of the safety lock close to her chest as a makeshift award. "She was always the irresponsible one, so I knew I had to step up." Taylor quickly returned to her battle with the lock. Her mock acceptance speech earned another laugh from Karlie, who pulled a chair over from the island in the middle of the kitchen and placed it next to the one Taylor was standing on. Taylor held out a hand to help Karlie onto the chair.
"Better safe than sorry, right?" Karlie offered, before turning to the lock. Taylor rolled her eyes when Karlie figured out how to install it with ease. She jumped off the chair she was standing on and looked up at Karlie, smiling a bit too sweetly.
"Well, have fun." Taylor gestured to the row of cabinets lining the wall of the rather large kitchen, before walking out of the room. Karlie furrowed her brow, unsure of how she got roped into this. But she happily installed the locks on every kitchen cupboard, regardless.

Taylor's voice pulled Karlie out of her daydream.
"Sorry?" Karlie asked, turning her head to look at Taylor.
"We'll go check on her in a little bit. Make sure she's okay." Taylor said before leaning over to kiss Karlie's shoulder. Karlie sighed. Maybe this was the happy medium between coddling and tough love. They waited about fifteen minutes before quietly making their way down the hall and to the door of their daughter's bedroom. The door was slightly ajar as it always was, to allow some light to enter the room. Taylor slowed pushed it open, Karlie right behind her. They peered into the room and saw their daughter curled up under a comforter, fast asleep. Karlie gently put her hand on Taylor's back and Taylor carefully closed the door. They walked back to their bedroom, both silently wondering if they'd ever get a solid night's sleep again or if they were going to spend the rest of their lives worrying about her. They were both exhausted and seemed to have been exhausted since the day they brought her home. When they reached their bed they both collapsed onto their respective sides and sleep hit them almost immediately. The house was quiet. Even the cats slept peacefully at the foot of the bed. They remained undisturbed until around 6 am that morning. They woke to the sound of bare feet happily pattering across the floor, quickly followed by giggling and jumping on the bed, letting them know it was time to get up.