My Heart Belongs to You

Deciding to head over to Dylan's house, Taylor followed him up to his room and took a seat on the bed. Spotting a bunch of pictures on the wall, she made her way over to them and smiled as she looked at them.

"Those pictures represent some of the best moments in my life," Dylan said as he wrapped his arms around her from behind and rested his chin on her shoulder, "We were so happy back then..."

"I'm pretty happy with how things are right now," Taylor mumbled, leaning back into him and looking up with a small smile, "I obviously wish that my dad was here, but that doesn't mean that I'm not happy..."

"I know."

Settling on the bed, Taylor curled into Dylan's side and watched as he browsed through Netflix. Putting on Teen Wolf, Dylan put his arms around her and kissed Taylor's head as the first episode started. They were on episode three by the time Taylor began to doze off, allowing her eyes to close and darkness to consume her.

'Waking up in her garden, Taylor knew that she was dreaming and looked around to find that she was alone. Shielding her eyes from the sun that was beating down on her, she pushed herself to her feet and turned as she heard voices from somewhere behind her. Approaching the far end of the garden, Taylor saw the tent that was set up and sat down against the fence as her dad's voice reached her ears.

"So, whenever you miss Cody or grandma Florry, just look for the brightest stars in the sky and that's them looking down on you."

"Do you think they are happy up in the sky, daddy?" A small voice replied.

"I think that they'd want nothing more than to be down here with us, but they were needed up there and it's our job to keep their memories alive... to remember that they're never far away."

The scenery soon faded from around her and was replaced by another, causing Taylor's heart to clench. She remembered this day as if it were yesterday, it was the day that her world crumbled and she realized that her dad wasn't going to get better.

"Taylor?" Her dad said, reaching out his shaking hand and holding her tight as she threw herself into his arms with a broken sob.

"You can't die," dream Taylor cried into her dad's neck, clutching the back of his hospital gown, "I won't let you."

"I don't think we have a choice in this, Firefly."

"There's still stuff that we have to do... stuff that I don't want to do without you," Taylor mumbled, her voice showing just how vulnerable she was feeling in that moment, "You're the only person that truly understands me, I'm not ready for you to be gone... I'm scared, daddy."

"Oh baby," he whispered, pushing her back a little and cradling her face, "I'm scared too, there's so much that I still have to do as your dad... so much that I'm going to miss out on."

"It's not fair," Taylor replied, causing her dad to pull her into a tight hug and kissing her hair as tears soaked into her t-shirt.'

It was still dark out when Taylor woke up, untangling herself from Dylan and moving over to the window. Staring up at the stars, Taylor searched for the one that shone brightest and couldn't stop the small smile that forced its way onto her lips.

Heading over to her house early in order to get ready for school, she met back up with Dylan and smiled as he entwined their fingers. Meeting Tammy at her locker, she said bye to Dylan and led her chattering best friend towards their art class.

"Okay guys, I informed you last week that I would be setting your end of term project sometime soon and today is that day," Mrs. Lawrence announced as she entered the room, "The subject for this project is your life, so I want you to get creative and let me see your life through your art."

It only took Taylor a few minutes to decide what she was going to do, pulling out her notebook and jotting down a few ideas that she already had. Entering the cafeteria at lunch time, Taylor followed Tammy over to where Dylan was sitting with the team and kissed his cheek as she took the seat next to him.

"You're suspiciously peppy today," Jared commented, raising his eyebrow in question and taking a bite of the apple he was holding in his hand, "Any particular reason for the sudden change of mood?"

"Not really," Taylor stated with a shrug, "I miss my dad every second of every day, but after he died I think I kind of forgot about all the other good stuff in my life and he wouldn't want me to be sad forever."

"He used to go out of his way to make sure that you were always smiling, even when he got really ill and couldn't leave the house," Dylan added.

"Well, I guess now that's our job," Jared said, earning a collection of nods in agreement and grinning at Taylor.

Listening to the conversation the team was having, Taylor silently watched the people around her and felt a strange sort of warmth in her chest. Losing her dad had been the hardest thing she'd ever had to go through, but for the first time in a long time, she didn't feel as though she was drowning in her grief and she knew that her dad would be okay with that.