When we finally get out of the shower, the doorbell is ringing. John quickly throws on his clothes and runs his hands through his hair before heading downstairs to grab the door.
While he does that I quickly dry my hair and put my clothes back on grabbing Emmy on the way down. As I arrive in the kitchen I hear John talking, "She'll be down in a minute she is getting Emmy up."
I grin and come around the corner with Emmy who is rubbing her tired eyes. "What about me?" I question once in the room.
John smiles, "Nothing." I take Emmy and place her in John's lap and I prepare her some Chicken Nuggets. John takes her and holds her to his chest where she is still trying to wake up.
"She is so stinking cute." Austin says, looking at Emmy who is still clinging to her daddy.
"Yeah, she is adorable, just like her momma." John replies.
"And you ruined it." Austin says getting up and walking away causing everyone else to laugh.
After a couple minutes and chicken nuggets Emmy is wide awake and ready to play. So John places her down and she runs off in the direction that Austion went a moment ago.
I chuckle, "Why don't we all head to the living room?"
Mom and dad are the first two to leave and I go up to John before he gets up and I straddle his lap.
He grins, "Hey baby, What's this for?"
I smirk and lean in kissing him for a moment before I get up and high tale my way out of the kitchen into the living room with my family. After a couple minutes John follows and sits down beside me.
I place my hand on his leg and lean into his shoulder as he wraps his arm around my back. He smiles and kisses my head before turning back to watching Emmy play with Austin on the floor.
"How was your morning?" My mom asks, while looking at Emmy which happens to be my luck.
I go a bright shade or red and quickly answer, "It was great."
After a minute my face color dies down and she looks over at me. "That's good. What are y'all gonna do the rest of the day?"
"I thought we would just chill out and let Emmy open her presents. Maybe grill some food for dinner." I respond.
"Well that sounds fun. How are your parents doing, John?" My mom asks, grabbing John's attention.
He looks at her and smiles, "They are doing great. Thank you for asking. How has your Christmas been so far?" He asks.
"It has been different without Taylor this morning, but not bad." She says almost like she is throwing shade at John for being the reason her Christmas is different. However, John ignores it.
"I bet, It must be weird now that she has grown up and moved out." He responds by placing a kiss on my cheek while trying to prove a point that I am an adult.
"It's almost as if she grew up too fast." My mom responds with a fake smile causing the vein in John's neck to start popping as a sign of his frustration.
"Emmy time for presents." I say interrupting their bickering so I don't have another bill.
Emmy smiles and waddles over to my dad and takes the present from him.
"What do you say Emmy?" I prompt.
"Thwank wou."
I smile and squeeze John's leg giving him a look asking if he is okay to which he nods.
I sigh and lean back as my mom begins interacting with Emmy. While she is interacting with Emmy my dad and John are talking about my dad's truck that is having trouble starting up. I get up and move allowing John to move closer to my dad before grabbing some cookies out of the kitchen.
I bring them back in and place them on the table and John reaches over to grab one. I chuckle as he brings it to his mouth and chomps down on it. My dad repeats this in his own way as they continue talking. As they do this I talk to Austin.
"What is up between John and Mom?" He asks, confused about the situation earlier.
I sigh, "It is a long story." I responded.
"So shorten it."
"Well John got me pregnant, I left and had a baby as a 'baby', John came back, Mom hates John, Mom put John in the Hospital, John refused to come here because of mom, John came anyway, Mom is mad. I think that is as short as it can go." I responded looking at him.
"Ehh..She'll get over it. Besides, without help from John she would not have her grandchild." He responds with a grin from ear to ear."
I hug him, "You make my day so much better, I hope you realize that."
"I make everyone's day better," He snarky replies before Emmy pulls his shirt wanting him to go back and play. I smile as I watch Emmy drag him off towards her toys.
After a minute I turn back to John who is looking at me with a questioning look. I just smile to show him I'm fine before scooting into his side.
He immediately wraps his arm around my shoulder and places a kiss on my cheek. This in turn makes my mom groan in disapproval. Hearing this John sighs, pulling away and I glare at my mother.
After a minute of glaring at each other I turn and pull John towards me placing a kiss on his lips. He freezes as if he is uncomfortable but I continue to make a point. He responds for a second before pulling away blinking and looking into my eyes silently saying, "What the f*ck, Taylor? She already hates me." I smile at his cheek to calm him down.
A moment later, he releases his breath and turns back towards my parents. I look over to see that my mom is as fired up as a hornet, and my dad is hiding a smirk under his hand that is strategically placed under his nose. I smile and look at my mom with a look that says, "Say something."
As if a bomb goes off my mother starts yelling, "I can't do this! I still hate him! I can't stand you being with him! He is a no good, blacklisted, sadistic, bastard!"
John sighs, "I'll tell Austin to take Emmy outside." He says going to get up only for my mom to stick out her leg and trip him on the way.
He stumbles for a second and falls into the TV, breaking it. He looks over at me, before heading over to tell Austin to go outside.
"Mom, you have got to stop!" I yell, fuming once John is out of the room.
"No, I am standing up for you! You are just too naive to see it!" She continues screaming.
"Yeah?! I hate to break it to you but standing up for me does not mean you have to hurt the people I care about!" I scream back with tears escaping my eyes.
At this point John walks back in and sees me crying; he immediately runs over and pulls me into a hug at the sight. This just angers my already fuming mother. She grabs the stuff next to her, which wawa my Grammy for Album of the Year, and chunks it at John. However, John didn't know and moved to sit beside me. As a result the Grammy hit me in the face.
-John's POV-
I sigh going to tell Austin to take Emmy outside. Why did Taylor have to instigate her? I mean we already know she hates me. She didn't have to rub it in her face.
I sigh finding Austin in the other room coloring, "Hey can you take her outside to play for a few minutes?" I ask while rubbing the back of my neck.
He nods and pulls Emmy outside. After making sure they were good, I head back into the living room and see Taylor crying. I quickly run over and bend down in front of her, whispering, "Hey you, okay?"
However, she didn't hear me and was too busy looking over my shoulder. I sigh and move to the side to sit next to her when something shiny flies past my head. I immediately turned back to Taylor to see her holding her eye and blood coming down her face. I quickly grab the napkins off the table and hand them to her before turning around to face her mom.
"Haven't you had enough!" I scream. "You hurt your own daughter!"
She goes to say something but I interrupt her, "Get Out of Our House!" I demand.
She goes to say something snark but Scott slaps her across the face. I look at him and he nods, dragging Andrea out of the house. I turn back to Taylor who is crying and kneel down in front of her.
"Tay, baby I need to see." I say pulling her hands away. She whines and I kiss her clean cheek before checking her eye. I go to touch her other cheek and she flinches.
"Shh.." I comfort her by rubbing her arm. "It's okay." I place a hand on her cheek and wince seeing a couple cuts around her eye. I sigh, "We are going to need to go get that checked out. I don't know if anything went into your eye, but you do have a bad cut right outside of your eye." I get up and go grab a clean towel. "Here. Hold this to your eye. I am going to tell Austin he is babysitting. I will be back in a second." I quickly get up and run to the backyard. "Austin I need you to babysit Emmy. I do not have time to explain and do not let your parents back into the house." I quickly tell him and he nods his head. I run back inside and go to Taylor who is still crying.
I walked over to her, "I'm gonna pick you up, okay?"
I get no response but pick her up anyway, and grab my keys heading out the door making sure to lock it behind me.
I carry her to the car and place her in the passenger seat all while ignoring the pleas of Andrea. I hop in the car and drive off to the hospital, again. I sigh and lift Taylor's hand to my lips before placing a kiss.
After a few minutes, we arrive at the ER and I rush her in. They immediately take her back, while I go park the car.
-Taylor POV-
I can't believe my own mother hurt me. It doesn't matter that it was an accident, she hurt me. Even if it hit John it still would have been the same. I don't think that this is ever going to work itself out. She is never going to forgive him, even if he is a good man.
I sigh, leaning back in the ER bed. A few minutes later John comes in and places a kiss on my hand.
"Hey baby, you okay?" He asks.
I go to smile but wince, "I'm okay, they gave me some IV pain meds and said I am dehydrated."
He smiles, "That's good. It'll at least take the edge off. I called Tree on the way back and they are working on crowd control. She told me to tell you to not worry and focus on getting better."
I nod my head and the doctor comes in, "Sorry for the wait." He places his clipboard down and comes over to the bed. "Okay, I need to check your eye darling. I'm gonna lay you back and I need you to open your eyes.
I lean back and do as he says. He flashes a light in my eye a few times, and asks me to sit up. "Oaky can you tell me what happened?"
"I got hit in the face by my Grammy..." I respond looking down.
He nods his head. "Does it hurt anywhere else?"
"No." I respond.
He writes something down, placing gauze over my eye. "Ok, Your eye appears to be fine, no scratches or anything to suggest extreme trauma. But you do have a subconjunctival hemorrhage or simply a blood in the white of your eye. That should heal in a couple weeks. You also have a cut above your eye that will need to be closed so I have paged the plastic surgeon to come and get that done. They will be here in a few minutes. If you experience any more pain you can take an ibuprofen. However, if you experience dizziness, loss of sight, blurry vision, or confusion, you will need to come back in. Do you have any questions?" He asks.
I shake my head no and he nods walking out. John smiles and sits on the bed near my feet. "It's good that your eyes are okay. It was still bleeding bad though."
I lean back and let both eyes rest before another doctor walks in. "Hi, my name is Dr. Avery. I am here to close an eye injury?" He asks, looking around.
I smile and John moves back to the chair. After he moves Avery comes to my side with the injury, and pulls away the bandage. He quickly wipes away the blood before looking at the injury.
"This is not too bad. It seems bad because lacerations on the face and lead tend to bleed a lot. However, this is not very deep and I can close it with glue and little to no scarring." He says, smiling and grabbing the glue off the counter.
"The glue does sting a little bit, so try not to wince." He says as he starts using the glue on my face.
After a minute he backs away and wipes away the excess blood with a towel. "Okay, you are good to go. I recommend an eye patch overnight so that your eye can rest, and you will probably have a gnarly black eye in the morning." He says taking the gloves off and throwing them in the garbage.
"Thanks." I respond.
"No problem." He says walking out.
John walks back over and checks my eye. "It looks better, but I agree you are probably gonna have a bad black eye. Some of the bruising is already starting to come out." He says placing a kiss on my cheek.
A minute after Dr. Avery leaves, a nurse comes in with the discharge paperwork and we head out. After a thirty minute drive home in silence, we get home and I head up to bed while John checks on Emmy and Austin.
After a few minutes he comes up and lays down in bed, "Emmy is in bed asleep. Austin is staying in the guest bedroom. I gave him some sweats but they are going to be way too big." He says pulling me into his side. I turn and place a kiss on his cheek.
"What are we going to do about my mom?" I ask, placing my head in his neck and climbing on top of him.
He in return wraps his arms around my back and lets out a sigh. "I don't know, but this can't keep happening." He pauses before continuing, "She can't keep injuring us and getting a slap on the wrist."
I sigh and kiss his cheek. "I guess she won't be baby sitting this tour then. Guess we need to find someone."
"We will figure it out. If I have to cancel a day or two to watch her, I will." He says, yawning in the process.
"No, that's the last resort. Maybe, Tree or Scott could watch her on those days. Besides then we will both have our show ready and will know what's happening and could trouble fix."
He silently nods his head, however, before he falls asleep he says, "Merry Christmas, Tay."
I smile and respond, "Merry Christmas" before cuddling into his chest and falling asleep.