Ok so i don't remember when i said i'd get this chapter up. I honestly can't remember anything i said during the last chapter. All i know is that i've been struggling to continue a chapter for at least a week and haven't had any luck. Stupid lack of focus. DX I'm hoping this can change that a little since there is a bit of Chaylor shortage right now and we need a chapter like this. Pretty short and simple but still some coupley time with them. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter Twenty-One

As soon as she left her sister, Taylor drove to Chad's house. She didn't know what she was going to say to him or even where to start. But she knew she had to apologize for the fight and make things right with him.

"Hi," Chad said when he saw Taylor. He stepped aside and let her in. "I called you before."

"I know. I went to see Cassie after work," Taylor replied.

"Hi Taylor," Mrs. Danforth poked her head out from the kitchen. "How are you doing today?"

"I'm ok, thanks Mrs. Danforth," Taylor nodded.

"Um, Mom we're gonna go upstairs and talk," Chad said.

Mrs. Danforth raised an eyebrow. "Just to talk?"

Chad rolled his eyes. "No, I'm lying. We're really just gonna sit on the couch and watch TV naked."

His mom stared at him. Even with her sense of humor, even Mrs. Danforth had a line drawn between humor and something potentially disgusting.

"Yeah, we're just gonna go upstairs to talk," Chad said quickly. He led Taylor upstairs and closed the door, not wanting his mom to listen in on their conversation.

Taylor glanced at Chad and folded her arms. "Really? Sit on the couch naked? That's the best you've got? We wouldn't even do that if we were the only ones in the house."

"I was working off a moment's notice," Chad said. "So…. Yeah."

"Yeah," Taylor nodded.

It just got awkward in the room. Taylor wasn't quite sure how to start. This always seemed to be the problem after an argument. It was a matter of whether she should come straight out and apologize or if they should make small talk and ease into it. No matter how long they got together, the fights and the aftermaths never got any easier.

"So how's it going?" Chad broke the silence.

Taylor didn't just want to come out and say sorry. It was either too awkward or she just let her pride get in the way. So she just said the first thing that came to her mind. "Cassie's pregnant."

"Really? "Chad asked.

"Yeah. Five months along," she nodded.

"She is?" Chad replied, shocked. "I just saw her yesterday, she didn't look it."

"I know," she said.

"Well, congrats. You're gonna be an aunt again," Chad said.

"And this time I won't have to turn down a date with you because I have to babysit," Taylor pointed out.

Chad chuckled. "Didn't you sneak me into your house one time?"

"I remember that," she nodded. "February in junior year, about a month after you won the championships. I had to turn down three dinner dates from you because Mom wanted me to watch Kari those nights. I couldn't take it anymore and finally asked you over while I was babysitting."

"Yeah, what was that excuse we used on her?" Chad asked.

"I was helping you study for an English test," Taylor answered.

"You know I actually bs-ed all that English stuff I told your mom that night to make her think we were telling the truth," Chad admitted.

"But she bought it," Taylor said. "I think it was the fake English accent that won her over."

Chad chuckled. "We picked a good night to watch 101 Dalmatians."

"It was a good night," Taylor said with a smile.

"You know what that means we have to do now," Chad said.

"And what's that?" she inquired.

"When you babysit the new baby, I have to sneak into Cassie's house and watch 101 Dalmatians with you," Chad said.

"Ok so it's a tradition now, is it?" Taylor joked.

"Oh yeah. We're gonna do the same thing if we get to babysit Troy and Gabs' future babies, too," Chad nodded.

Taylor smiled and shook her head. Even when they were mad at each other, neither could resist the little moments they shared together. Even she couldn't help but look back and laugh at a few things. It was nice to reminisce about these things and take a break from their arguments. She almost didn't want to bring up the fight again.

"Cassie also told me about you," she stated.

"Here it comes," Chad sighed. "Chad's irresponsible', 'he talked back a lot', 'he fell asleep', 'he's a pain in the ass to work with'…am I forgetting anything?"

Taylor raised an eyebrow. "You fell asleep?"

"I didn't get a lot of sleep the night before. I needed coffee," Chad said defensively.

"Actually she didn't say any of that," Taylor said.

"Oh…" Chad paused, "…never mind then."

"She was actually telling me about you applying to grad school," Taylor said.

Chad nodded. "Yeah. For the winter semester. She's gonna do some research for me and find a good school here."

"Why didn't you tell me that yesterday?" she asked.

"We were too busy saying other things," Chad replied.

"Things that should have never been said," Taylor admitted with a sigh. "I'm sorry I snapped yesterday."

"I can't say I blame you though," Chad said. "I should've known you were gonna turn everything around on me and I shouldn't have put you on the spot to Ryan's dad that way. And if I knew he was gonna call you and talk to your boss, too, I would've taken the offer."

"But it was wrong of me to go behind your back in the first place. I should have just agreed with you and left it at that," she said. "And it was especially wrong of me to say you were doing nothing around the house when I know you were doing chores or job hunting or even just relaxing and taking a break from everything."

"I get it. You say things when you're mad," Chad said sitting on the bed.

"I say things that aren't true," Taylor replied. She sat down next to Chad and put her hand over his. "I'm still trying to learn how to control my anger. And I still don't think when I'm mad. We both have things we need to work on but the one thing I know I have to work on more than anything is to stop hurting you."

Chad smirked. "Seriously, you gotta use more than words to hurt me. I keep telling you, if you wanna hurt me then cut off my hair."

Taylor couldn't help but giggle.

"Look, we're gonna keep having these fights about anything. There's no stopping it," Chad said. "So instead of worrying about it and trying to stop them, we might as well just accept them and learn how to deal with it better. As long as we have all the other bases covered then we have noting to worry about."

She nodded. "It's just part of who we are and what make us a couple. And if it's something that makes us special or brings us closer, then I'll take every one of those fights. I wouldn't change it for anything."

"Me either," Chad said with a smile. "But if we could try and cut back on them, that'd be great, too."

"Agreed," Taylor nodded. "I'm just glad that I have someone who cares so much and is willing to give up so much and jump through hoops for me. And whatever happens, whether you do find something or you go back to school, I'm proud of you either way."

"And I'm still attractive?" Chad asked hopefully.

Taylor smiled. "Extremely attractive."

"So we're talking…?" he wondered.

She giggled. "Ok so maybe you are low on confidence right now. But that doesn't mean it's not going to change. I know when you find something you're going to feel better. But just because it's one thing that made me attracted to you, it doesn't mean you're any less attractive. You're still funny, charming, loyal, encouraging and fun. And that makes you more attractive than confidence alone ever could."

"So I'm hot," Chad smirked.

Taylor thought for a minute. "Among other things."

"Can we talk about these other things over dinner?" he asked with a smile.

"There still a lot of work to go," Taylor sighed. "Just one week left to see if we could save the Albuquerquian. It's crunch time. I'm not sure how much more free time I can make until then."

"Anything I can do?" Chad wondered.

She shook her head. "Trust me, you've done more than enough. I can make it one more week." She thought for a minute and then smiled. "Actually, one of the other writers was saying if this works out we need to celebrate. If we do end up having a party at the office I could really use a date."

He smirked. "Is Taylor McKessie asking me out on a date to a possibly fancy paper party?"

"I don't know about fancy, but yes," she nodded with a smile.

"And me without anything to wear," Chad joked. "It's a date. But we need to have our own date once this is over, too."

"Only if we get our own date when we get good news for you, too," she agreed.

"Good," Chad smiled, "cause I've got plans for those."

This is normally the part here where i say what i was thinking when i was writing the chapter or what i'm doing right now or what my plans for other chapters and updating are. But right now…i got nothing. :/ It's just past 12:30 am as i'm posting this and maybe if i had some candy and soda instead of ice cream i'd be more awake and focused now but i'm not. Actually i think i'm just about to fall asleep. So if you guys like this must shorter, less detailed a/n at the end then awesome and i'm glad i didn't bore you. If you actually like me blabbing about stuff, sorry to disappoint and when i get the next chapter up (which will hopefully be soon and hopefully i can finish that stupid other chapter)…wait where was i going with this? Oh yeah. When i get the next chapter up i'll try to be more talkative down here if that's what you like. So, as usual, thank you to everyone who's still following this story and can put up with my unpredictable updatingness…uh…ness and also thanks CreativePenguinLover for reviewing just about every chapter. Does that cover everything? I think so. Ok then. Good night everybody!