TW: Mentions of sh, r*pe and suicide
January 25th 2024
Kansas City, Missouri
A promising young woman. That was what they used to call her.
It had all changed now; everything had. Now she was no more, or less than a slut. A serial dater and a man-eater. Taylor always knew that people would have something to say about her love life, but now this was a whole new court. Hell, a whole new ball game. She guessed that she shouldn't have been shocked; people these days went to great lengths to hurt others. But never in her wildest dreams had she expected this. Curled up on the sofa in the house that she and Travis shared, Taylor began to contemplate everything she had seen and been told that morning, and everything that she had ever known.
Downtown, the love of her life was oblivious. Travis had spent most of the past week training at the Chiefs Training Facility for their upcoming game. This game would be the biggest game before the Super Bowl: The AFC Championship game, this time against the infamous Baltimore Ravens. They were the top seed that year and were the fan favourites for the AFC spot in the Super Bowl. And with the Chiefs shocking many that they had made it this far in the playoffs, even making it to the playoffs, Travis and the rest of the team were more than keen to prove the rest of the world wrong. Travis was also keen to show that his high profile relationship with Taylor was not having any sort of effect other than positive on his ability to play. Nothing motivated him more than seeing his girl up them cheering for him; when they won, they not only won for themselves but for their wives, kids and families.
Travis had been hard at work when he felt a hard pat on the back to alert him of somebody's presence behind him.
It was Pat. "Coach has called for you, asked for you to come see him in his office. Sounded kind of urgent Trav!" He quickly dropped his hat and ran off towards the locker rooms to drop the rest of his stuff before making his way up to Andy Reid's office.
"Hey Big Red. What's up?" Travis was confused. His coach rarely interrupted in that kind of way during practise sessions. This was the time they usually spent with the individual coaches for each part of the team: offence, defence, special teams etc. Something big must have been up for him to pull Trav off of the field during a time where every moment of practice was vital.
"There is a phone call for you Travis. A woman called Tree Paine, she has been calling everyone apparently and couldn't get hold of you so she called me. Sounds like something serious has happened!"
Travis' eyes widened like a deer in headlights. Tree calling him meant only one thing: something had happened to Taylor. And something serious. Tree never bothered him about minor things. Normally sending him a quick text or relying on Taylor to tell him anything important. His heart palpated fast against his chest as he heard the monotone phone dial out its tune.
Three long dials and a familiar voice picked up.
"Travis?"
"Tree?" Tree had been Taylor's publicist for over ten years and had been with Taylor through the bad times and the good times. She was known for her 'no bullshit' approach but also for her fixer behind the scenes sort of approach to Public Relations. She rarely ever bothered him or Taylor unless it was for opinions on media headlines or statements and to organise public events such as Red Carpets. It was rare for her to contact him, and this worried him even more.
"I am sorry to bother you at work. I know you are really busy at the moment." He could hear the haste and panic in her voice from down the phone.
"Don't be silly! What has happened, I know something has happened!" Travis said down the phone, his hands shaking as he sunk down into his coach's big red swivel chair behind the desk.
"It's Taylor!" His heart dropped. "Something has happened and nobody has been able to get in contact with her all day. I have had Scott and Andrea on the phone with me multiple times this afternoon, her friends, Jack. Literally everyone. Nobody has heard from her since earlier this week."
"I don't understand. She was fine when I left this morning. We had breakfast together and then I left for practice. She made me lunch and everything and gave me a kiss goodbye saying she would see me later this evening. I didn't think anything was wrong!" Travis wracked his brain to make sense of it all. He just couldn't seem to understand how things could change so suddenly.
"She would have been Trav. This all came out late this morning. There have been some umm images let's just say of Taylor circulating the internet and social media all day." Travis could note the rising panic echo down the phone as the beating of his heart slowly increased, getting to a point of concern. "I called her earlier but she was hysterical. Nothing she was saying made sense."
Travis looked down at his phone. No message alerts or missed calls. She hadn't tried to contact him.
"Has she tried to call you?" Travis asked.
"No. Everyone has been trying but she just won't answer. I can get flights and planes sorted for her parents but that still takes time. I am afraid that time isn't on our side." Tree warned, a serious tone growing stronger.
"When you say images. What are we talking?" Images could mean a whole lot of things, especially with Taylor. Travis had seen her spiral once before, early on in their relationship when a news department speculated on her weight and if she was pregnant. After watching her Miss Americana documentary it became clearer to him why she reacted so drastically. But it was when Taylor went silent; that is when he worried most.
"They are images of an explicit nature Travis. I would go as far to say some of them are pornographic." He felt his stomach flip. "But these are not photos of Taylor. Well they are but they are clearly AI generated and photoshopped. Sadly technology has only gotten better and these days they look so realistic, you could easily mistaken it for the real thing."
"WHY ARE THEY STILL UP THERE? WHY HASN'T ANYONE DONE SOMETHING?" Travis shouted down the phone. He hadn't meant to scare Tree or to yell at her but she was the only person there he could direct his anger towards.
"Travis they are everywhere. Even with the best will in the world I am only one person and it takes time. I have spoken with some people to get these photos taken down and I am dealing with as many newspapers and media agents as humanly possible right now. Even the White House has called for a statement. I'm trying my best Trav." He knew that she was trying hard and he appreciated her for that. He couldn't deal with what she warned him about after that. "Travis, you need to find Taylor". Any form of negotiation in her voice was out of the window.
"I'm going now." He hung up on the call and rushed out to warn Coach Reid and the rest of the coaches that there had been a family emergency and that he needed to go home. They had initially been reluctant but when he eventually warned them through gritted teeth that Taylor was in danger, they let him past without a second thought. In any other instance, he would have been jealous of such treatment. But not today.
He stepped into the locker room to change and gather up his things when he decided that curiosity had got the better of him. If he knew what they were up against and dealing with, he would have a better chance at helpful Taylor through it. He opened hip his phone to a flurry of text messages but went straight to Twitter or X whatever it was called.
And there they were. In Black, White and all other kinds of multi-colours. Taylor with men that he had never seen before, Taylor at Arrowhead, Taylor with his teammates. It took all the strength he had to hold himself together before collapsing in front of the toilet, this morning's breakfast that Taylor had so loving crafted and created for them staring back up at him from the once white and pristine porcelain. It made him feel sick to the bottom of his stomach that he had to see Taylor in such a way. In a place that was like home to him. And to her. But he couldn't think about that now. The task in hand was to get home to Taylor; he couldn't leave her alone for another second.
He jumped into his car, most likely breaking the speed limit and self road traffic laws in a bid to make it home in time. Hi phoned buzzed against his leg from its place in his back pocket. He pressed a button on his radio system to hear his brother come through the speakers of his convertible.
"Trav, have you seen the internet." He heard the worried tone in Jason's voice. Even though he had only just met Taylor the week before, they had FaceTimed loads and he already thought of her as his little sister, just in the same way Travis felt towards Kylie. Taylor was a member of their family and this made him feel just as physically sick.
"Yes I have seen it Jas. I think the whole world has seen it by now. I Amin the car now, I am on my way home!"
"Like this is fucked up. What sort of person would do this sort of thing." Travis brow creased and furrows. He tried his best to breathe and focus on the road: the last thing any of them needed was a car accident.
"I don't know, but whoever did it better count their minutes because I am going to fucking kill whoever did this to Tay. I need you to do something for me bro."
"Anything Trav. What do you need?"
"I need you to contact Mom and Dad and tell them to keep away from social media. I don't know if they have seen anything yet, my guess is they have but I want to shield them as much as possible. I haven't received any texts or calls yet so I am hoping that it is a good sign. I don't want them seeing any of that!" Travis felt more tears collect in his eyes as he heard and felt himself begging for his brother to shield his parents from this. They hadn't asked to be famous or to have their private live spot on display for the world to see, but they took it in their strides. But they wouldn't stand for this. And Travis didn't need the next time he saw his dad to be through a blurred screen with telephones at either end. The worst part would be it could equally be either of them doing the time.
"I promise Trav. I'll tell them right now. Give Tay our love from Kylie and Me."
"I will" He said goodbye to Jason and hung up the phone just in time for him to swerve into the driveway. Travis quickly text both of Taylor's parents and Tree before unlocking the front door of the house. It was darker than it had been when he had left this morning; the happiness and the light had been sucked through the drainpipes as if there was no longer signs of life.
"Tay?" He called out, but no reply. He tried again, this time louder... "Taylor"
Still nothing.
"Tay, where are you darling?" Nothing but silenced filled the rooms.
"TAYLOR!"
He must have searched their house top to bottom, down every hallway and curve. And still no sign of her. There had been no alerts of movement from the cameras surrounding the property. Security had said that she had not left the house since he had left for practise that morning. She had to be in that house somewhere.
But where?
And thats when he heard it. The soft sounds of sniffling coming from one of the empty rooms of the far side of the West Wing of the house. Nothing was in those rooms yet apart from his office and area where he would film the new season of New Heights when the 2024 football season restarted in August-September. He gently pressed the door open further and there she was..
Sprawled out on the bare floor, knees hugged up to her chest and tears still flowing. How long had sheen been there? He rushed over to her, wishing to hold her and comfort her but as soon as Taylor retested his presence in the room, she sprung up and scurried away into a corner of the room, scitish like a spider.
"Tay darling its me. Please I am soo soo sorry."
"Get away from me." He could hear the despair and anguish in her voice. It was pouring out fast then the teardrops falling from her eyes. her face was blotchy and red, new teardrops falling down the cracks of old ones, rivers forming pools of sadness at the balls of her feet.
"Taylor I love you ok. I am not going to hurt you. Please." Travis reached out slowly to try and touch her and yet she still flinched away. Not as quickly this time, but still with hesitation.
"Please don't touch me." She was now backed up fully against the wall. Travis slowly crawled across the carpeted floor towards her, careful not to touch her in the process but simply coming to rest beside her. "I'm sorry!"
"Sorry. What do you have to be sorry for. None of this is your fault, do you hear me!" Travis watched as she shook her head again to look away from him and down at her lap.
"No Travis it is. I have brought nothing but trouble to you and your family. Gosh what must your mom think of me. Your parents, Jason, Kylie, Pat and your friends looking at pictures of me like that. I know I deserve it but you don't Trav, I am so sorry." Travis' heart broke to see his girl so upset. He realised nothing he said in these moments would make her feel any different but he had to try.
"Taylor none of this is on you. My parents haven't even seen any of those photos and they certainly wouldn't think any different of you or hate you in any way because of it. They love you Taylor, so much, and so do I. I couldn't imagine my life without you in it."
"You have to!" She pleaded, looking up into his eyes for the first time since he returned home. "You will be better of me without me. And I don't want you to touch me because I am dirty. I am dirty and disgusting. I just want to fucking disappear. I wish I could just be gone!!!"
Travis ignored every sentence that had just erupted from her mouth and against her fits of anger and rage grabbed onto her, pulling her into him. He felt her pleads and retaliation begin to flitter as she sobbed into his chest, the white Cleveland heights shirt he had put on this morning slowly mixing with Taylor's tears. He rocked her back and forth slowly, uttering soothing sshh's and softly stroking the top of her curled frizzy hair, just the way he loved it.
"I don't see you in anyway differently from this Tay. Listen I love you, and nothing is going to change that. No photographs or newspaper headlines or rumours. Nothing, do you hear me."
He felt her softly nod her head as she softly whispered something. "I love you Trav."
"I love you too Tay, so much."
They stayed lying on the floor before something weighed up on Travis mind. "Why were you were hiding in here Tay?" Travis asked softly, rocking her slowly rubbing soft circles on her back as they laid curled up on the floor.
"I didn't want your last memory of me to be this." She sobbed. "I didn't want you to be the one who found me!" And with that Travis' heart broke a little more, something he wasn't entirely sure was even possibly. Threads of heartstrings torn at the seams, bursting out onto the tearstained, blood soaked carpet. He noticed the small red marks that looked unmistakably intentional, neatly formed in uniform rows against her inner legs and hands. The brightness of the hues and the sting of red told him they were new. Freshly picked today. Whilst he had not been surprised, he was still heartbroken.
"I always thought this room would be a nursery Trav." He heard Taylor utter, her hysteria calming slightly as she clambered up into a seated position, Travis following suit.
"Yeah?"
"Yeah. I could imagine us in here together. You building furniture and getting frustrated and me telling you we should have gotten a real man in to build it."
"Hey!"
"And then us bringing her home for the first time and sitting in a rocking chair feeding her. Reading her books and placing bows in her hair. All of things I wished for. I think that is why I came in here."
"Her?" Travis asked, cocking an eyebrow at her. "So you think it will be a girl?"
"Oh I know it. If we ever have a child Trav, it will be a girl. You were destined to be a girl dad." Taylor smiled, falling back into his chest which he gladly reciprocated, placing his big muscular arms back around er petite frame.
"Not if Tay, when." He replied, placing a soft kiss on her head before resting his head on hers. The sun was beginning to set.
"I don't know if I can come to your game on the weekend Trav. I want to, so much, but I just don't think I can face it." Travis attempted to mask his disappointment. He always enjoyed it when Taylor came to watch and support him with his family. It always made hm feel he had a reason to play well and win. He would always win for her. But he couldn't't be disappointment because deep down he didn't want her to be out either. It was too dangerous for both of them, but Taylor especially.
Neither of them would eat that night, or go to bed. Travis would quickly momentarily break their bliss to let various people know that they were ok but swiftly return to his previous position beside her. They sat together in that room watching as the sun slowly set as they were encompassed under a blanket of moonlight. Sleep came easy for her, but not for him. Travis sat awake thinking of the million reasons why people seemed to hate Taylor Swift, and the million reasons why none of that mattered.
Because he loved her, and that was enough. And when you know, you know. And that night Travis realised something special. Something he had never believed he would think or ever feel. The feeling of everything finally being where it is meant to be. Because even as she cried that afternoon in his arms and slowly drifted off into peaceful sleep tearstained in his arms, he couldn't imagine anything more beautiful, or anywhere else he wished to be besides there, beside her. That night, under an Aquarius moon, Travis Kelce decided that he would marry Taylor Swift... for better or for worse....
AUTHORS NOTE: Sorry I teased the happiness continuing lol.