Taylor was out on the balcony of their hotel, strumming his guitar gently as he looked out on the city.
It had been a welcome break to get away from Tulsa again. Even more welcome to get out of America for something other than work or going to the space station.
He started humming a tune he'd been working on lately, almost completely off in his own world.
Natalie
Natalie walked out of the bathroom with the towel wrapped around her, havng just had a shower. She smiled as she heard Taylor playing.
"Hey," she said softly, walking over to him.
Taylor
"Hey," Taylor replied just as soft, continuing to strum as he looked up at her.
He leant up to kiss her when she got close enough.
"How's the shower here?"
Natalie
Natalie kissed Taylor gently.
"It's adequate," she shrugged. "At least it doesn't fluctuate too badly between hot and cold when you're in there."
Taylor
"Better than the last one then," Taylor mused, putting his guitar between his legs.
"Ready to order dinner yet?"
Natalie
"Sure," Natalie replied.
She headed over to the menu and opened it up.
"Anything in particular you wanted?"
Taylor
"Nope, I'm cool with anything."
He stood from the chair, grabbed his guitar, and made his way back inside. He closed the glass door behind him and went to settle on the large couch instead.
Natalie
Natalie ummed and ahhed for a bit, then called room service and made the order.
"It'll be half an hour," she told Taylor, then looked down at the towel. "I should probably get dressed."
Taylor
"You don't have to if you don't want to," Taylor looked up with a cheeky smile.
"We are on holiday after all."
Natalie
Natalie chuckled.
"I think I'll be more comfy in my nightie than a towel when room service arrives," she grinned.
She opened up her suitcase to find said nightie.
Taylor
"True," Taylor shrugged, nonchalantly.
He strummed the guitar again for a moment before looking over at her.
"You know with this whole... 'Ezra going to school thing'," he began carefully, "I really wanted him homeschooled so that you guys could come on tour. Because you know, otherwise, you couldn't. You know?"
Natalie
Natalie was silent for a moment as she let the towel drop and pulled her nightgown over her head.
"Well, that's true enough," Natalie replied once her head was free. "And I suppose... who's to say what the best education is anyway?"
Taylor
"Really?" Taylor's eyes lit up a little, but the rest of his face didn't seem to catch on.
"You mean... you'll consider it?"
Natalie
Natalie caught his eyes and nodded.
"We have to come to a decision one way or another eventually," she said. "And in either case, powers are going to be an issue - Ezra could quite easily end up at shcool with other aliens or mutants even. At least if we homeschool him we'll have the advantage of that particular piece of information."
Taylor
Taylor nodded.
"Very true, I hadn't even thought of that."
He sighed, laying the guitar horizontally across his lap.
"I honestly never thought any children I had would have such a complicated power," he admitted, "I mean, in some instances we're going to have to monitor his friends and who he goes out with. It's going to be hard, and I can already see him resenting us later..."
Natalie
Natalie sighed and sat down next to him.
"I hoping it'll be just until he's becomes aware and in command of his power. Then if we can just instill some soft of 'time and a place'... I don't know. I just don't know. I guess we're going to have to play this one by ear."
Taylor
"Until he gets to the disobedient stage, and then the wild teenager sage..." Taylor pointed out.
"Even now we've got what... six years until he understands the concept of good versus bad?"
He hesitated.
"I'm sorry, whenever I start thinking about it it just spirals."
Natalie
Natalie chuckled softly.
"Now we know how our parents must have felt?"
Taylor
Taylor chuckled as well.
"Yeah, I guess so," he nodded.
There was a knock at the door, and Taylor quickly put his guitar aside.
Natalie
Natalie walked over to the door and opened it.
"Room service," said the young man in a thick Italian accent and Natalie held open the heavy door while he brought the tray inside.
"Thank you," Natalie replied.
Taylor
Taylor pulled on a thin white button up shirt and left it open over his jeans as he made his way over to the tray.
"Molto bene, grazie," he nodded.
Natalie
The young man gave a surprised smile and a nod in reply before departing.
"Oooh, smells so nice," Natalie said, sitting down at the little table.
Taylor
"It does," Taylor agreed, sitting with her.
"And don't gorge yourself, but I might have a surprise for you when we're done."
Natalie
"Ooh," Natalie replied, her eyes lighting up. "I love surprises!"
She lifted the lid off her plate and began to eat. Not gorge.
Taylor
Taylor chuckled at her enthusiasm, and settled down to join her.
Around twenty minutes later Taylor gathered their dishes and set them up for room service to collect.
"So," he grinned, dusting his hands off, "ready for that surprise yet?"
Natalie
"Eagerly awaiting with high doses of intrigue," Natalie nodded in reply.
She grinned at him.
Taylor
"Great," Taylor looked more exited than her.
He took her hand and led her to the couch, before grabbing his guitar again and sitting opposite.
"It's not... much. But I wrote it after one of those schooling arguments," he shrugged, making sure the guitar was in tune, "I hope you like it."
And he went straight into the song.
"Georgia... you know that you've been on my mind
Georgia... we've both learned to compromise
I'll be there for you
When everybody's coming unglued
I'll be there for you
I won't say you have to choose...
'Cos I don't want to let you go
And Idon't want to lose you slowly
I just want to let you know
That it's only just, a little back and forth
Lately...
Georgia... I'll be chasing you the rest of my life
Georgia... welcome to the roller coaster ride
When I come to you
I know that you'll help me get through
I'll be there for you
We both know we could never choose..."
Natalie
Natalie listened intently, feeling tears pricking at the corners of her eyes.
Taylor
Whe Taylor finished the song, he bit his bottom lip and put the guitar aside.
"So...?" he looked across at her expectantly.
Natalie
"That was beautiful!" Natalie exclaimed. "I love it."
She leaned over and kissed him.
"But who's this Georgia girl?" she teased.
Taylor
"Oh ha ha," Taylor smirked sarcastically, pulling her into his arms.
He leant in and kissed her passionately.
Natalie
Natalie would have giggled, except, y'know, she was busy kissing Taylor back. And putting her arms around him.
"I'll be there for you too," she said when they came up for air.
Taylor
"You're amazing, you know that?" Taylor bit his lip and stood up, pulling her by the hand to the bedroom.
"Come on!"
Natalie
"You're amazing too," Natalie insisted, as she followed him in.
She kissed him hungrilly, pulling them both on the bed.
Taylor
And so began a long night of heated, marital passion.