It just so happened that keeping the secret of an entire engagement ring was really fucking hard. Especially for someone who loved to share everything with her partner like the animals native to the area they were visiting on tour and exactly how many steps it was from the stage entrance to the dressing room.
Keeping secrets was very difficult for Grace, who had to train herself to stop keeping them in order to protect her relationship. She had remodelled her brains ways to make herself a more open person, so knowing that there was that velvet box in a safe deposit box at her bank... it drove her a little crazy.
She'd managed to keep it a secret for two months. She had been plotting but nothing felt right. She knew there was no right away to propose but the timing and the places and the schedules... it was all just so exhausting. It was approaching their two year anniversary which was starting to feel like maybe it would be a more suitable time according to societal norms but then again, Grace didn't really like societal expectations anyways. Not when she'd never felt like she fit into any of the boxes they expected her to.
They were in New Orleans and tensions were somewhat high amongst the team. Taylor had sent out an email about wanting to get involved with politics and it had been quickly shut down. She had continued to push and sent the statement she wanted to make publicly to them to review. They pushed back harder, and that had led them to be sitting in the dressing room before soundcheck with Andrea, Scott and a couple other members of her team.
What they didn't seem to understand was that the woman Taylor was trying to speak out against was opposed to nearly everything Taylor stood for. She didn't want to worry about her and Grace not being able to look or act like a gay couple in Tennessee for fear of being kicked out of a restaurant or for officials not to take her seriously when a stalker broke in and slept in her bed. She wanted someone who actually stood with good values in office in her home state.
She felt like she couldn't afford to not get involved. She'd wanted to years before but wasn't in a place to do so. She didn't care if they wrote bad things about her anymore, she wanted to do what she knew was right. Grace had been supportive to that, so she was roped into the conversation once again.
Taylor sat on the sofa with Andrea next to her. In an attempt to not garner too much attention on their relationship, Grace took a seat in an adjacent chair with Meredith because the documentary crew were around. It had become quite common for her to sit off to the side or behind the cameras when it was feasible to do so, but it wasn't really an option here.
"Yeah, but this is on the home front. And also, back in the presidential election, I was in such a horrendous place that I wasn't gonna pop my head out of the sand for anything," Taylor explained to her father with exasperation. She wasn't going to back down.
"Why would you?" Scott sighed, "I mean, does Bob Hope do it? Did Bing Crosby do it? Does- Does Mick Jagger do it?"
"Honey, what the hell! Come on!" Andrea scoffed.
"Scott, I have no idea who those people are so obviously they are not important," Grace furrowed her eyebrows at him as she finally spoke.
Taylor glanced at her girlfriend with a face that could only mean what the fuck is he talking about? Grace continued to scratch behind Meredith's little ears as he continued to argue.
"What I'm saying is—"
"Bob Hope and Bing Crosby?" Andrea questioned if he had really just said that.
"First of all, these aren't your dad's celebrities and these aren't your dad's republicans," Taylor shook her head in disbelief.
"Imagine if we came to you and said hey, we've got this idea that we could halve the number of people that come to your next tour."
"The other thing, just from a security standpoint, Taylor Swift comes out against Trump—" Scott began but Taylor was quick to cut him off.
"I don't care if they write that! I'm sad that I didn't two years ago, but I can't change that. I'm saying right now that this is something that I know is right and you guys, I need to be on the right side of history. And if he doesn't win... then at least I tried."
"Taylor, here's the problem," Scott began again but Taylor wasn't having it. She wanted to talk and be allowed to finish. She wasn't going to get walked over again.
"I just want to read you what I wrote, and I'm gonna try to start- I just want you to know that this is important to me. This is—"
"I totally agree with the issue but let me explain to you—"
"Please let her finish speaking!" Grace widened her eyes at Taylor's father's apparent death wish.
"Have you heard her?" Andrea inquired a little more softly than Grace had spoke.
"I've read the entire thing and the bottom line right now is that I'm terrified. I'm the guy that went out and bought armored cars," he tried to use like it was an excuse to stay quiet.
"I worry for her safety as much as anybody does," Andrea swallowed harshly, "Maybe more."
Taylor's eyes flickered towards Grace's for comfort and the brunette offered her a watery smile. No one worried about Taylor's safety more than Grace but Andrea didn't need to know that. Grace was the one that had been checking windows and doors every night and making sure the security guards were properly qualified for months.
"It really is a big deal to me," Taylor shakily began again, the words were hard for her to say as she was becoming frazzled, "She votes against fair pay for women, she votes against the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, which is just basically protecting us from domestic abuse and stalking. Stalking! She votes— She thinks that if you're a gay couple or even if you look like a gay couple, you should be allowed to be kicked out of a restaurant. It's really basic human rights, and it's right and wrong at this point and I can't see another commercial and see her disguising these policies behind the words Tennessee Christian values. Those aren't Tennessee Christian values. I live in Tennessee sometimes. I am a Christian. That's not what we stand for."
Grace studied Scott's expression curiously as everyone fell silent for a moment. She glanced at Taylor and could see the nervous expression growing heavier on her face so she reached her hand out and placed it over the blonde's gently.
"I need to do this. I need you to... Dad, I just need you to forgive me for doing it, 'cause I'm doing it."
"Have you looked into the research?" Scott asked Grace after he cleared his throat.
"It doesn't matter what the research says. This is what Taylor wants and I stand behind that a hundred percent. As someone who has been kidnapped four times and is in a homosexual relationship, this is important," Grace said confidently.
"Four times?" One of the team members asked.
"Yes," Grace sighed, "It is besides the point."
The chatter and back and forth continued until eventually everyone was on the same page. It was happening whether or not they wanted it to and there was no talking Taylor out of it. Scott hugged Taylor on his way out of the dressing room and Grace waited until most of the people had left, the cameras still rolling, before she got off the chair and pulled Taylor into a standing embrace.
"I'm proud of you for doing what you know is right," she pressed a kiss to Taylor's cheek as Taylor wiped away a few stray tears.
"Thanks for having my back," Taylor squeezed her tightly so Grace wouldn't let go yet. She buried her face in the smell of Grace's perfume, some things never changed and that smell while in Grace's arms always reminded her of Christmas and warmth.
"I'd kill for you if I had to."
"Yeah... but don't."
"Okay," Grace chuckled and retreated to Meredith's chair again, "You have twenty minutes until you need to be on the move. What can I do to help you destress?"
"Can- can you guys step out? Sorry," Taylor told the camera people that hadn't stopped rolling. It took them a minute but once the door was shut behind them, Taylor got off the couch and made herself comfortable on the younger woman's lap, "I just need you to tell me everything is going to be fine."
"It is going to be fine," Grace assured her, "We've been talking about this for weeks and you already said that anyone who has an issue with this isn't someone you would want to call themselves a fan or a friend. You've already defied the odds time and time again. Even if you get more people to vote and pay attention, darling, that's a massive victory in itself."
"Do you really think it'll halve the amount of people for the next tour?"
"No, I think he's being a prick."
"I hope you're right."
"I'd bet my left kidney on it."
"Why the left?"
"I like the right one more."
"Seriously?"
"No...?"
A handful of days later, Grace was woken up from a short nap on the couch of the home apartment by Taylor. She had fallen asleep with a book on her chest, her eyes sleepy as they began to focus on the blonde hair above her. Taylor had started to pull the book off of Grace's frame but she'd accidentally woken her up and felt terrible about it.
"I'm sorry, sweetheart," she said softly, "You can sleep."
"I fell asleep?" Grace rubbed her eyes groggily, "I didn't mean to."
"It's alright, you're obviously tired," Taylor smiled warmly. She pulled a blanket off of the other couch and draped it over Grace, tucking it under her chin sweetly so she would be warm.
"We were supposed to go out for dinner," Grace looked at the time, "Oh, I was only asleep for twelve minutes."
"Yeah, I know. I just came in to ask if you wanted to watch a movie first but I'll go read in the other room and you can rest."
"No, no, c'mere," Grace's speech was blurring together as she yawned. She opened the blanket up with her arm and waited expectantly for Taylor to sit down with her. The singer surrendered and cuddled into Grace's left side.
"You're so soft looking when you wake up, it's the only reason you're getting away with this. I have things to do."
Grace handed her the book Taylor had just tucked the bookmark into and said, "Mhmm, reading to me. It's our two year anniversary, I've earned it."
"You're the boss," Taylor teased her as she opened the book. She had to double take the cover, "Conversations With Friends?! You told me you weren't interested in reading it."
"I wasn't until I was on Twitter and saw a tweet about it and then I went and took it off the shelf."
"You finally made a Twitter?"
"No, it's Taylor Nation's."