May 11th 2025
New York City, New York
Those people who had warned them and said that parenthood was hard. They were not fucking joking.
Travis rolled over, peering down at his phone to check what the time was... 5:43am. God he was tired. And as if like clockwork, he heard the familiar still high pitched screams of his daughter from her crib. he heard Taylor awaken from her side of the bed, immediately sitting up, still half asleep, to tend to the baby.
"It's ok Tay, I have got her." Travis sighed, pulling back the covers to make his way round to the still squealing baby. He knew that Taylor wasn't sleeping. Neither was he but he wasn't up at all hours of the night feeding a baby. The whole 'sleep when the baby sleeps, and eat when the baby eats' was a whole load of rubbish clearly thought up by somebody who has never had a baby. Babies, or at least their baby, did not seem to give a damn when or where she woke up or was hungry. Luckily for them Luna was an amazing eater and did not seem to ever have much trouble breast feeding after a few tries in the hospital. But Taylor swatted him away, grabbing the baby up from the bassinet, knowing exact what she was screaming for.
"Honey, you are exhausted. Please go back to sleep and let me deal with her." Travis pleaded with her, coming over to Taylor's side of the bed as she situated the baby against the pillow she used for breast feeding.
"No Trav. You were up late last night with work stuff and she is hungry so I need to feed her. Please, at least make sure one of us has some sleep." Taylor said wearily, pushing Travis away from her. Travis sighed. He knew when he first got together with Taylor that she was stubborn; once she put her mind to something, there was no stopping her. Career wise this had been great for her, but it also meant that anything negative she became fixated on and once the idea was in her head, it was staying there.
"Taylor, there are two parents in this room. Both of whom are very capable of dealing with her. Why won't you let me help you." Travis sighed, beginning to loose his will to live in this never ending battle with Taylor's stubbornness.
"Because I don't need your help, I'm fine. And don't start shouting, you know it will upset her."
"I'm not going to shout." Travis said softly, stroking her arm lovingly. "I just wish you would realise your own stubbornness sometimes." He gave her a small kiss on the top of her head before leaving the room to go to the study. It used to ordinarily be just Taylor's study but ever since they had decided to stay in New York long term for the off season, it very quickly became Travis and Taylor's office, not that it wasn't big enough to accommodate him before. There was just never the need. He still had emails and documents to fill in and send off and so he took a seat, deciding to use his early morning wake up to good use. It not take long for Travis to realise that the baby's cries had been going on for far longer than usual. He sat there and pondered whether he should go in and help. Previously he would have gone in a heartbeat to help Taylor but he had learnt his lesson the hard way that postpartum hormones, sleep deprivation and Taylor's all around ordinary stubbornness was a recipe for putting him a hospital bed himself if he was not careful. He decided he would make his way back to their bedroom, taking a listen outside of the door to be on hand if needed.
"Please Luna, just latch on. You are usually so good at this." He could hear Taylor pleading with the still screaming baby who he could see still in the darkness was rigid in her arms and becoming hysterical. "You are hungry darling, I know but if you don't latch on, I can't feed you."
Travis decided in that moment to put his life on the line, and entered the bedroom once again.
"Baby, what's wrong?" Travis said softly, turning on one of the warm lights they had in the room beside the bed on top of the nightstand. He could see the marks of tearstained and rivers flowing down her cheeks, the purple bags of insomnia and lack of sleep creeping up under her eyes.
Her lip wobbled. "She just won't ffed Trav. I keep trying but every time I try to get her to latch she either refuses and just continues to cry or she latches on wrong and it's so painful Trav. I thought I could push through it, for her, but it is so painful." Taylor moved the baby in her arms and Travis caught sight of her boob, red and evidential sore.
"Oh Tay, why didn't you call for me. That looks so painful." He came round to his side of the bed, crawling in beside her and taking the baby in the crook of his arm.
"I feel like such a failure Trav!" She cried into his chest and it made his heart break a little more to hear it.
"Why ever would you think that. You are anything but a failure." Travis reminded her, wrapping his free arm around her as he attempted to settle the baby still crying in his arms.
"Because I can't even feed my own baby. She needs me Trav, she needs me to feed her but I can't even do that now can I."
"Taylor, you re an excellent mother. You can't feed her at the moment because you body needs rest. She obviously is just being a little madam at the moment, clearly gets her stubbornness from someone I know very well." He eyeballed Taylor, who rolled her eyes in laughter through her tears. "Now I am going to go downstairs and give this little lady a bottle. You put one in the fridge right?"
Taylor nodded. "Yeah, there should be a fresh one from last night in there. I had expressed some milk using my pump but I didn't think we would need it at all."
"Ok, now get some rest."
Travis turned, leaving Taylor in bed as he took the baby downstairs towards the kitchen. He quickly found the milk that Taylor had left in the fridge and warmed it up in the bottle warmer that Brittany had gifted Taylor at her baby shower back in Kansas City. Before long he found himself settled on the sofa, Olivia next to him feeding the baby who instantly relaxed at the first instance the bottle hit her lips. Travis sighed a sigh of relief.
"See you didn't need to make such a big fuss huh. Gosh, you are just like me when you are hungry. No fucks given, just hangry." He laughed as the baby hiccuped but continued to feed, drinking almost the entire bottle before she decided she had enough. Placing her over his shoulder, he lightly tapped her back in an effort to burp her. He knew she would need it after the amount of crying and eating she had just done.
Travis decided to leave Taylor for as long as possible, allowing her to catch up on some much deserved and needed sleep. Baby carriers were a life saver, allowing Travis to cook up a storm in the kitchen whilst Luna watched intently.
"Now mommy taught me how to make these pancakes. I hope they taste as good as when she makes them." Travis said to Luna as even though she wouldn't understand a word that he was saying to her, the sentiment and bonding was there. With Travis not doing many of the feeds, he craved any one on one time he had with Luna to bond with her. She was quickly becoming much of a daddy's girl, despite the fact she was 100% the spitting image of Taylor when she was a baby. It was as if Travis wasn't even at the conception at all.
"Wow, who is the hot with the baby cooking pancakes in my kitchen. Do I need to call security?" He heard a voice echo from the bottom of the staircase. Turning around he saw a much brighter Taylor, dressed in a pastel yellow maxi dress and white loose cardigan. She looked like a whole new woman and Travis guessed she must have slept and then taken a shower, based on how she came dancing into the kitchen like it was Christmas.
"Feeling better?" Travis asked, raising an eyebrow. Taylor nodded, coming up behind Travis to give him a huge hug.
"I am sorry I was so stubborn up there. I guess I am just not sued to someone actually wanting to help me that's all."
"Well, now you are stuck with me now so I am all hands on. Happy Mother's Day babe. Luna helped make them but I did most of the work" Travis laughed, serving up the final pancake onto one of the plates, following Taylor over to the dining room table. They had a small little bouncer that Luna laid in when they were eating at the table but that day she refused to leave Travis' side.
"Ooh Trav, she has got you right wrapped around her little finger." Taylor chuckled as she poured some extra maple syrup onto her pancakes that Travis had so expertly and lovingly made for her. "Also, did you remember to send your mom some flowers?"
Travis nodded. "Yes, I called her this morning when you were in the shower. She said thank you and she loved the Mother's Day photos we took of Luna for her."
He passed over a big bouquet of flowers and a card that he had ordered online to be from Luna.
"Oh thank you my baby girl. I love it." Taylor lent over, placing a sweet kiss on the baby's forehead, earning a giggle.
"What about me?" Travis pouted, and Taylor gave in, placing a kiss on his lips too.
"So I was thinking..." Travis began, grabbing at the plates to wash up as Taylor took the sleeping baby in her arms. "Maybe we should go out today. You know, the three of us. We haven't really done that yet and it is such a beautiful day today." Travis suggested, and that was how they found themselves two hours later, dressed and loaded, walking into Central Park.
The place was bustling with people, obviously filled with people wishing to celebrate Mother's Day. They took Luna in her stroller after another feed at home. She was contently sleeping and allowed Taylor and Travis some much needed time to themselves as they pushed the stroller around the various ponds and forest areas of the park. She noticed some fans who were out and about, taking sly videos and photos on their phone but with Luna safely tucked away and covered in her pram, the pair didn't seem to mind as much.
"It's such a beautiful day isn't it?" Taylor sighed as they stretched out on a bench in the middle of the park, luna still sound asleep in her stroller. Taylor thought back to herself over ten years ago, sitting alone on a bench. In that time, she hadn't realised how lonely and sad she actually was. But now, on her first Mother's Day as a mother, surrounded by Travis and Luna, she couldn't feel any more complete and content. She heard Luna fussing from the stroller, Travis getting up from his seat to pick her up. She clearly was just in need of comfort after waking up as she quickly settled in Travis' arm as the two of them walked back through the park hand in hand. After a while Taylor took Luna and placed her into the baby carrier she had attached to herself, Travis pushing the now empty stroller out of the park and onto the open roads of New York City.
Everything about that day had been perfect. Travis had pre approved a mother's day post with Tree to surprise Taylor and uploaded it to his Instagram.
"Aww Trav." Taylor cried, rolling over to kiss him. They had finally settled Luna, convincing her to at least give them a couple of hours rest that night. Taylor had made sure to express some milk and leave it in the fridge, as per Travis' request to make sure they had no more incidents like they had that morning. Nothing could spoil their happiness...
Until..
Taylor's phone buzzed, an incoming call popped up on her lock screen.
'Who is it?" Travis asked, rolling back over from where he was about to turn off the lamp.
"It's Tree." Taylor replied in a worried tone, looking over at Travis.
"Do you know what it is she wants?" Taylor shook her head
"No idea." She clicked on accept, placing the phone on loud speaker. She always did that when Tree called now. She had no secrets to hide from Travis.
"Hi Tree. What's up." Taylor said, trying her best to not sound worried.
"Hi Tay, I am sorry to have to ring you at this time but.. something has happened..."
AUTHORS NOTE: I wonder what will happen next 👀👀👀 Sorry, you know I can't resist a bit of a cliffhanger. I won't leave you waiting too long, I promise.