September 2022

Jimmy grinned from across the desk, his pen tapping once against the cards in his hand.

"Okay, so," he said, leaning forward slightly, "last time you were here, you kinda dropped a lot on us."

Leia laughed, tipping her head back slightly. "Did I?"

"Oh yeah," he said, eyes wide with mock betrayal. "You just casually told me that your album was actually about someone you'd been dating in private. Like, boom. You just said that."

Leia grinned, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "I did say that."

The crowd let out a collective ooooh, sensing where this was going.

Jimmy raised his brows dramatically. "So... now that it's been a few months, and your fans have been very calm and chill about it..."

Laughter from the audience. Leia gave the camera a look that said he's lying.

"...are you ready to give us more information?" Jimmy pressed. "Like, just a little bit more? Come on. This is a safe space."

Leia paused, her smile stretching a little wider, eyes dancing with mischief. 

"We're getting there."

The crowd roared again, and Jimmy clutched his chest like she'd just wounded him personally.

"We're getting there? That's all I get?"

Leia shrugged, looking entirely too pleased with herself. "What can I say? I like a slow burn."

He groaned playfully, and the interview moved on - to life updates, the music video she'd co-directed, and a behind-the-scenes story from her latest shoot involving Tate getting into the craft services table and devouring six slices of turkey before anyone noticed. The energy stayed light and warm, but that small moment - we're getting there - lingered in the air, like static. Like potential.

Later, the greenroom felt blissfully dim in contrast.

Leia sat in front of the mirror, still in her suit, a water bottle resting on the table in front of her and her phone beside it, screen lit with a stream of unread texts - Georgie, Riven (who was supposed to be here but had caught the flu and taken out Azul with him in the process), a selfie from Taylor captioned that suit looks criminally good, followed by I'm proud of you. She hadn't opened that one yet. She was saving it.

She had just started to unfasten her cufflink when the knock came - soft, two short raps.

"Come in," she called, voice half-lost in the quiet hum of the dressing room lights.

Jimmy stepped in with his usual warmth, still in his blazer, a bit of his cue cards peeking out of his back pocket. He smiled like he was walking into a friend's apartment, not a post-show greenroom. 

"Hey."

Leia straightened slightly. "Hey. Thanks again for tonight."

"No, thank you," he said, stepping closer and resting one hand on the back of the empty chair beside her. "You're one of my favorite guests. Always make my job easy."

She smiled, loosening the second cufflink now. "You say that to everyone."

"Only the ones who are secretly dating my other favourite guests," he teased, then held up a hand as she gave him a look. "Kidding. Mostly."

Leia rolled her eyes, but her smile didn't falter. Jimmy had known her for years - back when she was barely holding together interviews, too fragile to smile for real and too raw to fake it. He'd always handled her gently. With grace. Never pushed. Just nudged.

He lingered by the chair for a second longer, then leaned forward slightly, voice lowering with that casual edge he used when trying to pretend he wasn't asking something huge.

"So... just out of curiosity," he said, eyes flicking to her reflection in the mirror, "does this private someone special happen to be a blonde friend of yours I've got booked next month?"

Leia paused, caught mid-button.

The room felt still for a moment. She turned her head, giving him a cool smile. 

"She can answer that question when you ask her."

Jimmy blinked, then let out a low, impressed laugh. "Wow."

Leia stood, reaching for her phone. "You said slow burn."

He shook his head, grinning. "You are annoying."

She tossed her water bottle into the recycling, then looked back at him. As he turned to leave, he glanced back once more, tone softer. 

"Whenever it happens... just know you've got a seat at the desk if you want to speak about it. Both of you."

Leia nodded, the words settling gently in her chest.

"Thanks, Jimmy."

____

October 2022

The UMG boardroom was colder than it needed to be with all white walls and mirrored surfaces, not to mention the long rectangular windows that framed the skyline like moving paintings. Outside, the city was humming as usual, but inside, everything was focused, strategic, tightly wound.

Leia sat two seats down from Taylor at the obsidian glass table, her legs crossed, hair loosely braided back, hands folded around a paper coffee cup she hadn't sipped in over twenty minutes. Around them, the room pulsed with low voices, tapping laptops, and the rhythmic shuffling of slide transitions from the ceiling-mounted screen.

Taylor sat straight-backed in a structured navy blazer, one of her favourites, the collar crisply folded, sleeves cuffed just once at the wrist. Her expression was composed, businesslike. But Leia could see the tension in her shoulders. The way her fingers traced the edge of the notes in front of her, almost unconsciously. Little circles. Little tells. She was nervous too.

Tree was standing near the head of the table, her voice calm, her stance relaxed but direct. The digital calendar behind her was projected across the back wall, casting faint reflections onto the table like constellations made of dates and obligations.

"We'll drop the tour announcement nine days after album release," Tree said, flipping to a new slide. "November first. Mid-week drop, early pre-sale incentives already secured with the album release. Dates begin March."

Leia nodded, listening, half-listening, letting the structure settle into the back of her mind like scaffolding. It was all happening fast - and yet, everything felt timed to the second. A machine rolling forward with flawless precision.

Tree turned slightly toward Taylor now. "The Grammy nominations announcement will follow two weeks later. Fifteenth. Industry whispers are predicting at least three. Possibly four."

There was a subtle shift in the room... a small intake of breath, like someone bracing for impact. No one said it aloud, but it lingered there, unspoken: 

Best Music Video is almost guaranteed for All Too Well (Taylor's Version). Leia was probably going to win more than Taylor this year.

"And," Tree added carefully, flipping to the next slide, "People will run the exclusive on the seventeenth."

The silence that followed was uncomfortable.

Leia felt the shift in temperature as surely as if someone had opened a window. There it was: the date. The sentence that would be read around the world. The story that would finally catch up with the truth.

"The piece confirms the breakup happened months ago," Tree continued, her voice even. "It'll frame it as amicable. No third party, no scandal. The phrasing has been carefully approved. Usually, I'd be planning to coordinate with Joe's team but that novelty is long gone now - they can find out when the rest of the world does, as per the terms of the agreement conditions."

Another small silence. Longer this time.

Leia didn't look at Tree. She looked at Taylor.

Taylor, who was staring at the slide like it might change if she focused hard enough. Her jaw was set, but not tight. Her shoulders drawn back, but not rigid. She looked... older, somehow. Not worn down, just full of the kind of quiet anticipation that came with knowing the storm was coming and choosing to walk into it anyway.

And then, slowly, Taylor's gaze shifted across the table.

Their eyes met.

Taylor didn't say anything for a few seconds. She just looked at Leia, the way she always did when the noise of everything else started to press in, like she was reminding herself where the ground was.

It was brief, a flicker of connection in a room otherwise humming with deadlines and data, but it held. Taylor's gaze was steady, more searching than anything, like she was asking a question without using words and checking that Leia was still there with her, still tethered to the same quiet truth they'd been building between them for months.

Leia didn't move. She didn't smile, didn't blink. She just let Taylor look, and gave her everything in return with a small nod.

Then Taylor turned back to the table, her voice soft and even.

"When can I tell the world I love her?"

There was no dramatic pause. No flourish. She just said it like it was the next logical question... like it was already true, and she was only asking for the when.

The shift in the room was instant.

One by one, heads lifted from laptops. The tour ops manager froze mid-swipe on her tablet. A publicist in a black turtleneck blinked twice and looked up slowly, like they weren't sure if they'd heard her right. No one spoke, but the silence said enough - the collective stillness of people who had suspected something for a long time but had never heard it confirmed.

Leia felt the air around her tighten slightly, but not in a bad way. Just dense with the weight of things changing. There was no embarrassment or fear and only the knowledge that everything was starting to turn.

Tree didn't even flinch. She just set her pen down and glanced at Taylor like this was the line on the agenda they'd all been circling for weeks.

"We'll go over some options later today," she said, her tone calm and low, no rush in it. "Just you and Leia. We've mapped a few routes already... soft story rollouts, teaser posts, or more personal messaging. Whatever feels like you."

Taylor gave a small nod, her face unreadable, but her fingers had curled lightly into the sleeve of her blazer, like she was holding onto something and grounding herself.

Tree continued, eyes flicking briefly between the two of them. 

"And since you already came out publicly in Miss Americana, it'll be simpler. The context is already there. We're not announcing your identity but rather we're just sharing your relationship. That gives us more room to do this in a way that feels right."

Leia saw it then as the faint tension in Taylor's shoulders finally ease. Just a little. The kind of shift only someone close would catch.

From down the table, Selene (Leia was sure she was one of the new tour coordinators) who was sharp-eyed and always two steps ahead flipped to a new page in her binder, changing the topic ever so slightly.

"Is Leia planning to attend any of the shows?" she asked, already typing something on her iPad. Her voice was neutral, professional, but her eyes flicked up like she already knew the answer.

Leia glanced toward Taylor, who was already looking at her.

She didn't need permission to say it. But she wanted Taylor to hear it first.

"I'll be at almost all," Leia said quietly. "If it's possible, I want to be wherever she is."

Selene nodded. "Understood. We'll build that into our guest routing. You'll be listed for full access, all dates."

Taylor's voice came next, clear and direct. "Add Georgie, Riven, Azul, and Adrian to the all-access list too. Across the entire run."

Selene's pen scratched the note down without hesitation.

Leia didn't look around the room, but she could feel it as it crossed them all - the subtle ripple of realisation passing through the rest of the team that this wasn't a maybe or a short temporary fling. They weren't just rewriting the story - they were anchoring it now.

Tree looked up again, tone shifting slightly.

"Let's take five."

There was no resistance. No questions.

Chairs slid back quietly. Laptops were closed, phones tucked away, murmured thank yous shared as people filed out. Someone gave Leia a warm glance, subtle and kind. Someone else whispered something to Taylor that made her smile.

In under a minute, the boardroom was empty.

Only Taylor, Leia, and Tree remained.

The glass door clicked shut with a soft finality, and suddenly the room felt different. Tree sat back slightly in her chair and looked at the two of them, then at their joined hands on the table. The look she gave wasn't clinical. It wasn't even strategic.

It was soft. Measured. Maybe even proud.

"Well," she said, her voice lighter now, "that answers that."

The silence after hung for a second, suspended in the heavy quiet of the boardroom. The walls were still humming faintly from the energy the team had left behind, but now it was just them - no screens, no staff, no scripted timelines. Just three people who all knew how much the next month could change everything.

"There are two options right now," Tree said, tone gentle but not soft. "And before either of you says anything, I want you to hear me out. Fully. No interruptions. No defensive knee-jerk reactions. Just... let me finish."

From the corner of Leia's eye, she saw Taylor shift. Not dramatically. Just the slight tensing of her shoulders. The way her hand squeezed her water a little tighter, like she was already bracing.

"Taylor," Tree said, still calm. "Repeat what I just asked."

Taylor's jaw tightened. Her eyes flicked toward the table, then back up.

"You want us to hear you out before reacting."

"Exactly," Tree said. "So let me walk you through this."

She reached for her water bottle but didn't take a sip. Just twisted the cap slowly, grounding herself the way she always did before saying something hard.

"You both know I've supported you from the beginning - well, most of the time," she said. "Privately and now publicly. I believe in this. I believe in you. I've watched how much work it's taken just to have this again. But I need to speak from the part of my job that has to look at all the moving pieces — not just the heart."

She glanced at Taylor, then Leia. Neither of them moved.

"Right now," she continued, "we're sitting on top of an album release that's already exploding with anticipation. We've got a tour announcement dropping nine days later. Then a week after that, the Grammys nomination list comes out. And the next day, the story about your breakup with Joe goes public."

The words settled like slow-falling dust. Not sudden, but heavy.

Tree leaned forward slightly now, voice low but firm. 

"That is already a lot. It's not just your personal life that's in motion - it's your public identity. Your legacy. Your industry position. Every layer of your image is about to be picked apart by the press, by fans, by people who think they know you better than you know yourself."

Taylor didn't speak. But her shoulders were still rigid, like she was holding back everything she wanted to say behind clenched teeth.

Tree didn't flinch.

"If we add a relationship reveal on top of that, right now - this week, this month - it's going to look like a PR stunt."

Taylor's head snapped up at that, the spark in her eyes immediate. "It's not."

"I know it's not," Tree said calmly. "We all know it's not. That's the point. You love each other. That's real. But the timing? It's chaos."

Leia stayed quiet, her heart drumming steadily in her chest. 

Tree pressed on. 

"To drop everything at once - the album, the tour, the Grammys buzz, the breakup story, and then, oh, by the way, I'm in love with Leia Hudson - people won't absorb it. They'll weaponise it. I'm not asking you to lie. I'm asking you to be smart. We're finally in a position where we can tell your truth the right way. Not as part of the noise. As its own moment."

She let the words settle, not as a threat but as a strategy. As care. Tree didn't speak like someone trying to keep a lid on something volatile. She spoke like someone who knew exactly what kind of storm could hit when the lid came off.

Leia finally exhaled, looking between the two women. The room felt too bright suddenly - all that sterile, polished glass and perfect white lighting pressing in from above. She shifted in her seat, not to interrupt, but just to breathe.

She looked at both of them now - not as a publicist. Just as someone who'd been standing beside Taylor for over a decade. Who'd watched her get carved up by media cycles more times than anyone should have to.

"You get one chance to tell this part of your story. Don't let it get buried under everything else."

The silence that followed was deep - not angry. Just thick with weight.

Taylor leaned back in her chair, arms crossed. She wasn't convinced. Not yet. But she was listening.

Leia reached under the table, gently brushing her thumb across Taylor's hand. Not to convince her of anything, just to remind her she wasn't in this alone.

Tree didn't push.

She just waited.

_____

"I had an instagram story ready to post," Georgie moaned, Leia rolling her eyes and Taylor cracking a small smile.

Leia was sprawled across the couch in their living room, wrapped in one of Taylor's sweatshirts and tangled in a blanket that smelled faintly of their shared shampoo. Her hair was a mess. Her phone was face down. Her eyelids were heavy but refusing to close.

Taylor sat on the couch with her back against the cushions, one knee bent, chin resting in her hand. Her laptop was still open in front of her, quietly cycling through Spotify analytics in real time, not that she was even reading them anymore.

The room buzzed gently with the hum of their Bluetooth speaker, still playing Midnights on low volume for the fifteenth time that day. The lights were dimmed to near-dark. It was just after midnight, and everything had dropped. 

The standard album. The 3am edition. The TikToks. The theories. The chaos.

And, of course, Georgie's FaceTime call.

"You're lucky I'm even calling instead of posting it," Georgie said, sharing her screen on the call dramatically to show Leia the screenshot she'd saved - a candid still from an earlier video, where Leia was sitting on the kitchen counter laughing, socked feet dangling, a mug in her hands.

It was a gorgeous photo. Unintentionally effortless. The kind that made you look like someone's favourite memory.

Georgie had typed a caption over the bottom in white text.

karma is the girl with the streams.

Leia groaned and buried her face in a cushion. "Georgie."

"What?" Georgie said, completely unrepentant. "You are! You are the girl with the streams. I was ready to drop this like a grenade and then Tree sent me that long-winded message about optics and timelines and the universe or whatever -"

"Context," Taylor mumbled from the floor. "She said context."

"Whatever. Point is," Georgie said, waving the phone around, "this was going to be my magnum opus."

Leia sat up a little, rubbing at her eyes. "You really can't post it another time when we're actually public? Or just post it some other time that is less conspicuous?"

"I mean, I could," Georgie said. "But you're not supposed to be the girl in the lyric yet. And I'm not allowed to say karma is the actual girl with the streams because apparently we're all still pretending it's the guy on the screen."

Taylor let out a tired laugh, the kind that said it's late and I wish I could say more and soon. She stretched her legs out in front of her and leaned her head back against the couch.

"We're so close, George, just give it a little longer," she murmured. Leia smiled gently at her.

Georgie sighed on the line. 

"I know. I just hate that you had to bend your own lyric. That line was perfect."

Taylor looked up at Leia. "It still is. I just haven't gotten to sing it the way I meant yet."

Leia reached down, letting her fingers drift through Taylor's hair. Her hand moved slowly, comfortingly, and Taylor closed her eyes beneath the touch.

"You'll get there," Leia said.

"Damn right she will," Georgie agreed. "And when she does, I will be posting this photo with that caption. And no one's stopping me. Not even Tree."

Taylor smiled with her eyes still closed. "I look forward to it."

Georgie hung up a few minutes later, still muttering threats about scheduling her "karma is the girl with the streams" post in advance. 

Leia tossed her phone somewhere near the edge of the couch and curled tighter into the blanket, her head now resting in Taylor's lap as the last notes of Sweet Nothing faded out through the speaker.

For a second, there was silence - the soft, glowing kind. A release night sort of stillness.

Taylor's hand moved lazily through Leia's hair, absent-minded and rhythmic, like she was keeping tempo with her own pulse. Her other hand was holding her phone, screen casting faint light against her face.

Leia tilted her head to glance up. "You watching the stream numbers again?"

"No," Taylor murmured. "TikToks."

Leia raised a brow. "Without the sound on?"

"Subtitles," Taylor replied, "didn't want to interrupt Georgie. I'll unmute now so you can watch now."

Taylor smirked and angled the screen so she could see.

A girl in a lavender sweater - one that Leia noticed was from her ethereal merch drop - was sitting cross-legged on her bed, voice breathless with excitement. 

"Okay so track two is obviously about Leia Hudson, and I know everyone thinks it's about Joe, but like - did you hear that line about the rust between telephones? That's not about a man, let's be serious. That's sapphic."

Leia let out a small snort. 

"You know what, I kind of see her point."

Taylor cackled. "They don't need to know that."

She scrolled to the next one.

Another video, this time with dramatic slow motion edits over Sweet Nothing, intercut with old Rep tour clips of Leia and Taylor on tour, and newer photos of Taylor leaving her apartment in New York, hair up, dark lips without anyone by her side. 

Leia groaned. "They're so close and so far at the same time."

Taylor chuckled, thumb tapping to the next one.

This one opened with a stitched reaction: "Okay, I know people are saying Midnight Rain is about a certain actor, but hear me out," a girl whispered conspiratorially. "What if it's not about one person... but about the pattern of all her relationships?"

Leia blinked. "Okay. That's actually kind of-"

"Not wrong," Taylor admitted, mouth curling into a lopsided grin.

Leia reached out and gently stole the phone from her hand. 

"You need to stop. This is how you end up spiralling into fan cam hell at 3 a.m."

"But they're so creative," Taylor protested.

"You are two videos away from a fancam edit with purple lighting and a lyric breakdown thread pinned to your own burner account," Leia warned, sitting up and curling her legs underneath her. "Don't think I won't catch you."

Taylor leaned in with mock-seriousness. 

"Exactly."

Leia sighed, but her face softened. She took Taylor's phone again and reopened the app, fingers scrolling idly now.

The algorithm had caught on quick now that Taylor had watched a few of those videos - every other video was a breakdown, a theory, a meme about the album. Voices whispering about the sapphic undertones of "Labyrinth," about the bridge of "Question...?" being far too pointed, about the very specific kinds of longing that haunted the back half of the tracklist like shadows.

Leia watched Taylor as she watched the world try to unravel her.

There was a stillness in her now - the kind that didn't come often. A strange kind of peace, even as strangers combed through metaphors and tried to decode the coded.

Because they didn't know yet. Not really.

And somehow, that made it sweeter.

Taylor looked over after a while, her eyes warm and amused. 

"They've got theories for every track."

Leia shrugged, scrolling again. "Let them."

"You're sure this is okay?"

Leia grinned slowly. "You kidding? I live for this."

Taylor leaned her head on Leia's shoulder, breath warm against her neck. "God, I love you."

Leia smiled, phone forgotten in her lap, voice soft. "I know."

_____

DID MIDNIGHTS END A FRIENDSHIP? FANS THINK THERE'S BAD BLOOD BETWEEN TAYLOR SWIFT AND LEIA HUDSON

October 22, 2022 – TMZ Staff

Is there a storm brewing between pop royalty?

Taylor Swift's highly anticipated tenth album Midnights dropped just hours ago, but fans are already deep in theory territory - and this time, it's not about boyfriends or easter eggs in her nail polish.

Several TikTok creators and Twitter sleuths have latched onto the emotional ballad The Great War as evidence of a potential rift between Taylor and close friend and fellow artist Leia Hudson, whose own album  ethereal dominated the charts earlier this year.

The track, which features imagery of betrayal, survival, and reconciliation, has sparked viral theories that Taylor may be referencing a private fallout with the 'ends well' singer. One fan on TikTok, @swifttheorydaily, posted a breakdown of the lyrics, captioning it, "You're telling me this ISN'T about Leia?? #thegreatwar #midnightsclues." The video has over 1.2 million views and climbing.

Some Swifties are also pointing to timing - Midnights has officially ended Leia's uninterrupted chart reign, with industry predictions confirming that Taylor is projected to take the No. 1 spot on the Billboard 200 next week, knocking ethereal from the top after months-long run.

"It's giving unspoken tension," one user wrote on twitter. "They've been oddly quiet about each other lately."

But both camps are shutting down the rumours quickly - and with a surprising amount of grace. 

Leia's representative told TMZ in an exclusive statement:

"Taylor and Leia have been through a lot over the years, and Leia has nothing but love and respect for Taylor. Like all friends, they've had struggles, but they are stronger than ever, and Leia is excited for Taylor's success with Midnights. There is no drama here - just mutual admiration."

Taylor's team also responded swiftly (pun intended) when we reached out:

"Any competition between Taylor and Leia in the charts is always friendly — both girls love to see the other thrive, and this is no different. Taylor loved ethereal and is incredibly proud of Leia's success. Cheap attempts at making up drama between them takes away from the incredible art they have both created."

Sources close to both singers insist that not only is there no bad blood — the two were spotted having dinner together in New York just last week. So, is The Great War really about a falling out? Or is this just another case of fans over-analyzing poetic lyrics?

One thing's for sure: both women are winning - and they're doing it on their own terms.

Stay tuned, Swifties. There's always more to uncover.

____

Leia was curled into the corner of the sectional, knees tucked beneath her, one of Taylor's sweatshirts swallowing her frame in soft navy cotton. Tate had draped himself across her shins like a weighted blanket, snoring gently, his tail twitching now and then like he was chasing something in a dream. 

Taylor's voice cut through the quiet.

"Want to go get lunch?"

Leia blinked. She looked up from the article she hadn't really been reading, expecting a continuation of their usual post-release hibernation - movies, sweats, scrolling through memes of Taylor's lyrics taken out of context.

Instead, Taylor was standing by the front door, hair pulled into a low braid, coat draped over her arm, looking almost ready to go. She was in proper clothes - not just sweats and a t-shirt like usual, and Leia eyed her suspiciously for a second. She looked ready to go out. Not like someone hiding from headlines. Not like someone waiting for the storm to pass.

Leia narrowed her eyes, suspicious. "Out?"

Taylor nodded, casual. 

"Yeah. Just walk down to one of the brunch spots at the end of the block. Eat something. Be seen."

Leia sat up a little straighter. "Be seen? Like... intentionally?"

Taylor gave her a small smile. "Tree thinks it wouldn't hurt."

There was a stretch of silence between them - not cold, just cautious. Leia studied Taylor's face for any trace of irony, of reluctance, but found none. Just that calm determination that came over her whenever she was about to do something that wasn't entirely comfortable but felt necessary.

"You want to be photographed with me," Leia said slowly, "the day after TMZ implies we've had a friendship breakup and you wrote a war-themed song about it."

"I mean," Taylor said with a light shrug, "if we're already in the story, we might as well write the next chapter ourselves."

Before Leia could respond, Taylor's phone buzzed across the kitchen island. She glanced down at the screen. Tree. Taylor answered on FaceTime, setting it gently on the counter as she leaned forward on her elbows and waved at the screen.

"Hey," she said.

"You look nice. Tell me you're not doing something reckless," came Tree's voice, already in motion, the sound of papers shuffling faint in the background.

"I think we might go get lunch."

"Lunch," Tree repeated. "In public?"

"Yes."

Leia stood now, padding across the hardwood to join her at the counter, arms crossed. Her bare feet were cold, but her skin felt oddly warm, like the conversation itself was heating the air. She smiled at Tree as she brushed shoulders with Taylor, the redhead smiling back for a second before looking back at Taylor.

"If it's to counter the TMZ thing," Tree continued, "then fine. But if you're doing it to get emotional revenge for lyric misinterpretation, we'll need a longer call."

"I'm not," Taylor said calmly. "I just think it makes more sense for people to see we're together - like normal. Not as damage control. Just... existing."

"Uh-huh," Tree said, unconvinced. "If you go, you need to look like friends. No soft-focus stares. No 'did-you-see-that' glances. You walk, you talk, you order food. You do not act like you're five minutes from making out over a panini."

Taylor's smile twitched. "Got it."

"I'm serious, Taylor. And that includes you, Leia. I know your face when you're trying not to laugh."

Leia raised her hands like a guilty teenager. "I'll behave."

There was a pause. Then Tree sighed. 

"It's not the worst idea. The fallout rumors are annoying, but they'll fade if people see you acting like yourselves. Just... the edited-down version of yourselves."

Taylor glanced at Leia, then back at the phone. "Understood."

"I swear," Tree added before hanging up, "if either of you ends up in Deuxmoi by sundown with a blurry photo captioned 'Did they just touch fingers across the salt shaker?' I'll throttle you both. Leia, I mean this with love, but please also put something nicer on - you have a ketchup stain on your sweater."

The call disconnected.

Leia stared at the darkened screen for a second, then looked up at Taylor. "Are we really doing this?"

Taylor met her gaze with a softness that belied the media noise surrounding them. "I want to be seen with you," she said simply. "Even if I can't say what you are to me yet, I want them to see I didn't let you go."

Leia's heart folded in on itself just slightly. Not painfully. Just enough to feel it. She nodded, then pushed herself up to go change.

Fifteen minutes later, they stood at the edge of the sidewalk, coats buttoned, scarves wrapped loosely, sunglasses in place even though the sun had yet to fully break through the clouds.

The wind carried the smell of wet concrete and roasted chestnuts from the food cart at the corner. Taylor adjusted the cuff of Leia's sleeve wordlessly before stepping forward.

The first camera shutter clicked half a block away.

____

The air had that crisp, pre-November bite - the kind that crept under your sleeves and cooled your lungs with each breath. Central Park was scattered with golden leaves and joggers in varying states of motivation. Leia moved through the winding paths with the easy rhythm of someone who wasn't chasing time, just trying to move through it.

Her headphones played something instrumental and ambient. She didn't want lyrics today, too many of those already were living in her head right now in between studio sessions with Jack, despite having only just dropped her album. And besides, her thoughts were full enough on their own.

Two more days.

Taylor's Eras Tour announcement was practically already here - the countdown clocks, the speculative Reddit threads, the backroom emails. Leia had read the PR deck herself. She knew the plan: the dates were locked, the visuals were breathtaking, the venues booked and ready to be announced. The opener list looked like someone had printed out her playlist and set it on fire in the best possible way. Paramore. Gracie. Haim. Phoebe. MUNA. Girl in Red...

It was everything Taylor had dreamed of since Loverfest was cancelled, and it was finally about to be real.

And Leia was happy. She was. 

But the ache was still there.

Because with every piece of brilliance added to the tour, another piece of their quiet life was packed into storage - Sunday mornings in bed, coffee on the balcony, late-night walks with Tate... it was something that wasn't going to be happening for however long the tour ended up being. 

They were still to finalise the international dates, and Leia had been warned already that it wasn't just going to be a short leg like on the rep tour. They were looking at a Europe leg, including an extended UK section that actually visited Wales and Scotland this time, dates in Asia and South America too... it was going to be a long tour.

Taylor was maybe only announcing twenty-seven dates this week, but Leia had a gut feeling the tour was going to expand and end up being a lot more than that.

She slowed as she reached one of the lookout points in Central Park, where the city skyline broke through between trees like something stitched onto the horizon. A couple stood near the railing, arms linked, clearly taking in the view. They looked young, but not college-young - late twenties maybe. Comfortable in that way people get after a few years together, like they'd long since stopped asking permission to lean into each other.

Leia was about to jog past when the girl turned, waving lightly.

"Hi, sorry, would you mind taking a picture of us?"

Leia blinked, surprised, but nodded. "Yeah, of course."

She took the phone offered to her, stepping back a little and lining them up with the skyline. The guy made a funny face. The girl rolled her eyes fondly. Leia snapped a few. Then a few more when they asked. Neither of them seemed to recognise her - or if they did, they didn't let on. And honestly, it was kind of nice.

No lingering stares. No polite recognition creeping in. No questions about ethereal or whispers about who she was dating. Just a girl in a hoodie and leggings, no makeup on, hair tied back, flushed from running - asked to take a photo because she happened to be passing by with kind eyes and steady hands.

Leia took the phone and stepped back a little, letting the autumn light filter through the branches above. The skyline behind them shimmered slightly in the haze, muted gold against the steel blue of early afternoon.

"Alright," she said, lifting the camera. "Say something like... cheesy."

The guy leaned in with an exaggerated smile. "New York, baby!"

His girlfriend rolled her eyes with a laugh. 

"We've been here twenty minutes and he's already insufferable."

Leia chuckled, snapping a few more. "You're visiting?"

"Yeah," the girl said, brushing windblown hair out of her mouth. "First time in the city together."

The guy stepped forward to take the phone back and gave Leia a grin that was all unfiltered joy. "She's been planning this for like a year. I was supposed to come out last fall, but... life."

Leia shrugged understandingly. "It happens."

"We're doing all the tourist things," the girl added. "Statue of Liberty, Top of the Rock, that bakery from the show with the cupcakes..."

"Magnolia?" Leia offered.

"Yes!" The girl's eyes lit up. "Do you like it?"

Leia smiled. "It's classic. My girlfriend loves it."

She almost froze up at that coming out of her mouth, but then remembered that even if this couple did know who she was (which she doubted now), she'd told the world she was in a secret relationship when she had been on Fallon, twice now. That wasn't ground-breaking.

"Good," the guy said, slinging his arm over his girlfriend's shoulder and breaking Leia out of her momentarily panic. "She's got our itinerary colour-coded. I'm not even kidding."

Leia laughed again, genuinely this time. 

"That's impressive."

The girl grinned. "He's mocking me now, but he'll thank me when we don't miss our museum slot."

"Are you long distance?" Leia asked, shifting the conversation gently as she handed the phone back.

"Yeah," they both said at the same time, then laughed.

"Three years," the guy said, adjusting his backpack. "Baltimore and Chicago."

Leia raised her brows, genuinely impressed. "That's not nothing."

"We make it work," the girl said, shrugging, but there was something proud in the way she said it. "It's not always fun, but... you figure it out. You just do."

Leia nodded slowly. "What keeps you doing it?"

"He's it. That's the whole reason." The girl looked over at her boyfriend like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "And we're almost at the end of it," she added, eyes shining a little. "He's moving next year. No more planes. No more FaceTime dinners. Just... us."

Leia exhaled, something soft shifting inside her. "That's amazing."

"It is," the girl said. "Because if there were any way we could wake up next to each other every day, we'd do it in a heartbeat. No questions asked."

Leia swallowed around the sudden heaviness in her chest. "Yeah," she murmured. "I get that."

They thanked her again, warmly, and walked off hand in hand, their conversation fading into the sound of rustling leaves and footsteps on gravel. Leia watched them for a moment longer before turning back to the path, falling into pace again.

Her heartbeat had steadied, but her mind was racing now.

The trees blurred in and out of frame as she jogged, boots of orange and rust-coloured leaves spiralling down with every gust. A squirrel darted across the path up ahead and vanished into the brush. Leia barely noticed. Her feet kept the rhythm, but her thoughts had started to tumble out of sync.

The couple's words repeated in her head — if there were any way we could wake up together every day...

That was the thing, wasn't it? So many people wanted that. Needed that. Scraped and bent their whole lives around it, waiting for the day when jobs aligned or cities made space or the distance finally folded in on itself like a letter you could carry in your pocket.

And she had that. Right now. Today.

Leia took a sharp inhale, rounding a bend that opened out into a small clearing with benches scattered beneath a canopy of half-naked trees. A few other joggers passed by, earbuds in, eyes forward, lives unknown. She kept her head down as she moved, arms pumping, breath pushing out in foggy bursts. The air tasted like cold wood and the edge of something about to turn.

It reminded her, weirdly, of something she'd read once - some article about penguins. How they chose their mates and stayed with them. Not just for one season, but life. How they'd follow each other across miles of frozen nothing, through blizzards and starvation, just to be in the same stretch of snow.

She remembered reading that when she was in rehab, curled up in the couch in her room, long before ends well had ever hit a chart. 

And it had stayed with her. The image of it. That stubborn, loyal movement toward the same point on a blank map. Two bodies navigating chaos, storms, distance, and just... showing up. Because they couldn't not.

Leia's legs ached now. Her lungs were starting to pinch at the edges. But her brain wouldn't let go of the thought.

Taylor, night after night, walking barefoot behind the stage, hair damp from sweat, hands shaking from adrenaline. Taylor in a hotel bed with cold soup on the tray and mascara still on her cheek because no one was there to remind her to take it off. Taylor, curled up at the edge of the dressing room couch in her hoodie and noise-cancelling headphones, humming a new melody to herself without realising she was doing it out loud.

Taylor, without her.

They'd talked logistics. She'd told Taylor she'd try to make it to most of the shows. That she'd come when she could.

But she didn't want to come and go.

She didn't want to fall asleep in New York while Taylor was across the country in some hotel bed with makeup still clinging to her jawline and no one there to take it off.

She didn't want to watch the tour from Instagram stories or settle for three-minute calls squeezed between soundchecks.

She wanted the real thing. The unfiltered, up-close version. Sweat and sequins and exhaustion and all.

The ache snuck in - low, but deep. Not because she didn't believe in the tour. Not because she wasn't proud. She was so proud it felt like her chest might split open just trying to contain it. But pride didn't warm a pillow. And admiration didn't reach across the dark at three in the morning to say you're not alone.

She would miss her like breath... she'd done that before. She knew what it felt like. And she never wanted to go back there.

Leia slowed to a walk near a lamppost with peeling paint, one hand pressed to her ribs. Her phone buzzed in her pocket, some alert she didn't bother checking. She pulled out her headphones, letting the sudden rush of city sound crash into her ears.

She reached for her phone. The call connected on the second ring.

"Leia?" Riven's voice came, halfway distracted and half-awake, like he was already three spreadsheets into something.

Leia didn't wait. "Cancel everything."

There was a long pause on the line. Traffic passed behind her, a taxi honking too close to the curb.

"...Everything?"

"All of it," she said. "Every non-essential. Every press thing that can be moved. If it's not a contract I legally have to show up to, pull it. I'll go virtual for what I can."

Another pause. Then, softer: "What happened?"

Leia exhaled, her breath fogging up in front of her as she stared out over the park's edge, where the city cracked open again like a promise.

She could hear it in his voice - he was expecting the worst to come out of her mouth right now. Someone had died, or she'd relapsed or something absolutely unfathomable had happened and she was about to become reclusive and never to be seen again.

"Nothing happened," she said. "But if there's any way I can be next to her every day, then I'm going to take it."

And she meant it.

_____

November, 2022

_____________

@popinmypocket
taylor swift: announces 50+ dates for eras
tmz: leia hudson not touring ethereal
me: so they're doing the "career woman and her retired cottagecore wife" pipeline. okay.

--

@mirrorballmarried
"leia has no plans to tour"
girl just say you're a full time groupie now. we support it.

--

@hudsonhome
part of me is sad she's not touring, but the other part is like... maybe she's protecting her peace.
either way, I'm proud of her. ethereal changed my life and I'll keep screaming it in my car.

--

@musicindustryinsider
Leia Hudson's decision not to tour Ethereal comes as a genuine surprise — not just because the album was a critical and commercial triumph, but because it arrives in stark contrast to Taylor Swift launching the most ambitious tour of her career.

Two women at the top of their game. Two very different paths.

--

@georgiehudson
some of you are upset leia isn't touring. meanwhile I'm thrilled because it means I get to go to every single night of the eras tour instead of babysitting her and her tour-induced breakdowns.

_____________

POPSOUND WEEKLY
November 9th, 2022

Leia Hudson Isn't Touring Ethereal — And Fans Have A Lot of Questions
While Taylor Swift gears up for her biggest tour yet, Hudson confirms she's stepping back — and fans are emotional.

By Jasmine Vale | Senior Culture Correspondent

With Taylor Swift's Eras Tour set to dominate the 2023 touring season (presale tickets launch next week on November 15th) many fans expected that Leia Hudson, one of this year's most celebrated artists, would follow suit.

But following a TMZ report earlier this week that claimed Hudson had no plans to tour her third studio album ethereal, the pop world spiralled into a storm of speculation, disappointment, and hot takes. Now, Hudson herself has spoken out - and she's confirming what fans had feared.

In a rare personal statement shared through her team on Monday, Leia Hudson addressed the situation directly:

"I've seen some of the conversations and messages over the past few days, and I just want to say - I hear you. I know some of you are disappointed about the news that I won't be touring ethereal, and I understand why. These songs meant a lot to me too. They got me through some of the hardest nights of my life, and I poured more of myself into this album than anything I've done before.

That's exactly why I've made the decision not to perform them on tour. For now, they belong to you: in your headphones, in your bedrooms, in your journals. I hope you feel how much I love you, and I hope you'll understand that I needed to protect what this album gave me by letting it live as it is."

The note quickly spread across fan accounts and music blogs, drawing thousands of replies ranging from "we love you no matter what" to "respecting your boundaries queen."

It's a bold move in an industry that often equates success with spectacle - especially given the moment Leia is in. Ethereal debuted at #1 in sixteen countries, earned four Top 10 singles, and is widely predicted to lead the Grammy nominations, which are set to be announced on November 15th - coincidentally the same day Swift's Eras Tour presale opens.

With Midnights falling just outside this year's Grammy eligibility window, Hudson and Swift won't be going head-to-head this award season, but fans have naturally drawn comparisons between the two careers. As Swift prepares to step into a multiple date global tour, Hudson steps back. The difference in approach hasn't gone unnoticed or unappreciated.

"Leia's decision is quietly revolutionary," one fan tweeted. "She's telling us that rest is valid. That art can be complete without performance."

Others, of course, are still mourning the absence of an Ethereal tour. Some had already begun planning outfits. Many were holding out hope for at least a handful of dates. But if anyone was going to bring a little chaotic levity to the situation, it was Georgie Hudson, Leia's sister, who broke the internet with one brilliantly timed tweet:

"some of you are upset leia isn't touring. meanwhile I'm thrilled because it means I get to go to every single night of the eras tour instead of babysitting her and her tour-induced breakdowns."

The tweet has been liked nearly 100k times and quote-tweeted with everything from "give this woman a podcast" to "we need an HBO dramedy about her."

While Hudson may not be hitting the road, fans are holding out hope for something else - perhaps a film, a one-night event, or an Ethereal companion project. Industry sources say Hudson's decision wasn't made lightly, but was rooted in reflection and long-term sustainability.

"She's not quitting music," one source tells PopSound. "She's just choosing how to show up — and when."

And maybe, in a year filled with constant noise, that silence speaks louder than any tour could.

___________

November 15th, 2022

The room was humming with the kind of tension that didn't rattle - it vibrated. High-pitched. Constant. Too much energy with nowhere to go.

Taylor sat on the arm of the couch, legs crossed, one socked foot bouncing rhythmically against the frame. Her hoodie was off. The bun she'd started the day with had long given up, and her hands were locked tight around her phone. She wasn't refreshing Ticketmaster - she was refreshing a group chat that was currently fifteen messages behind whatever disaster was unfolding in real time.

Leia was curled up nearby, sunk into the corner seat of the couch, a coffee cooling in her hands, her legs tucked up beneath her like she'd made herself small to conserve energy. She watched Taylor more than the screens. Watched the way her jaw flexed. The way her fingers had started twitching like she was itching to pull her guitar into her lap just to quiet her own thoughts.

Across the room, Riven was pacing with his laptop open in one hand and his phone pressed to his ear. On the MacBook screen, Adrian appeared in a Zoom box, mid-call, shoulders hunched and annoyed from his apartment in Los Angeles.

Leia made a note to try and see him in person soon. It had been too long.

Leia hadn't planned to be here originally - not when the Grammy nominations were dropping this morning - but when she saw how tightly wound Taylor had been the night before, she'd changed her mind.

Tree, to her credit, hadn't objected. She'd even opened the door to Riven and Leia. 

"As long as they stay out of the way," she'd said. "And don't breathe near me once the tickets go on sale."

Riven, now pacing slowly by the window, wore his anxiety on a loop. His phone had buzzed three times in the last two minutes, but he hadn't checked it yet. Not since 10:00 hit and Ticketmaster began combusting in slow motion.

Adrian looked utterly unmoved by the chaos around him as he looked through his camera at them all. His square on Riven's laptop was propped up on a box of lyric notebooks, and he sat reclined in a hoodie, AirPods in, sipping coffee like he hadn't just watched the internet catch fire.

He raised a brow.

"So," he said. "Are you selling tickets or launching a nuclear defence grid?"

"It was meant to be a presale," Taylor muttered, not sure how to react to what was happening.

"It was a presale," one of her assistants added from behind a laptop. "And it's gone. All of it. Floor, mezzanine, nosebleeds. Gone."

Riven swore under his breath. "They're already being scalped. Ten thousand for two floor seats in LA."

Tree, standing near the door with her arms crossed, didn't flinch. "Keep the tone neutral. We'll draft a thank-you-slash-we-hear-you post. No apologies. Just gratitude and strategy. This is not your fault."

"I told them this would happen," Taylor said again, this time more to herself.

Her voice was flat - not angry, not even particularly surprised - just tired in the way only someone with years of being right about the wrong things could be. She stared down at her phone like it had betrayed her, the glow of the screen lighting her jaw in pale blue.

Leia shifted beside her, setting her own untouched coffee on the low table and leaning in without hesitation. Her hand came to rest lightly on Taylor's knee, grounding, quiet. 

"Hey," she said softly, just for her. "You've done everything right."

Taylor shook her head once, a brittle motion. "No, I should've pushed harder. I knew they weren't ready for this load. They said they were, but-"

"This isn't your fault," Leia interrupted gently. 

Taylor looked over at her, the hint of disbelief flickering through her expression.

"You're not the reason the system failed," Leia said. "You're the reason it exploded. That's not a weakness, Tay. That's momentum."

Riven had gone quiet in his pacing. Adrian, still watching from the Zoom window, sipped his coffee in silence. Even the assistant typing in the corner had paused, fingers hovering just above the keys.

Tree finally stepped forward, her tone calm and steady - not coddling, not minimising, just matter-of-fact. 

"You want the silver lining?" she asked. "This is the single highest demand Ticketmaster has seen in their entire operating history. Not just for a tour. For anything."

Taylor's eyebrows rose slightly, but she said nothing.

"That means we hold the cards now," Tree continued. "Every market wants you. Every stadium will take you. We can add dates, add nights, reroute. There's no city in the world that would say no after this."

Leia gave Taylor's leg a light squeeze. "You did that."

Taylor exhaled slowly, the tension in her shoulders easing just enough to be visible. She blinked once, as if recalibrating, trying to match the room's gentler rhythm.

"Everyone online is just so mad," she murmured. "I didn't want it to feel like this. I wanted it to feel... magical."

Leia smiled, not unkindly. "You sold out the whole tour in seconds. The magic is happening, Tay. It's just loud right now and it sucks that some fans are going to miss out because of Ticketmaster... but it's still yours to be proud about."

There was a beat of silence. 

Taylor leaned back into the couch, letting her head rest briefly against Leia's shoulder, the tension finally beginning to dissolve like sugar in tea.

Tree gave a quiet nod to the assistant. "Let's hold on that statement. Let her have this moment first."

And for the first time since the morning had started, no one moved. The laptops stopped clicking. The phones quieted. The city could be spinning as fast as it wanted outside the glass, but here, Taylor was allowed to exist as a person, not a product.

Leia tilted her head until it rested lightly against Taylor's. 

"It's going to be okay."

Taylor closed her eyes. "You sure?"

"I'm right about you," Leia whispered. "Always."

Taylor had finally leaned into Leia's side, letting the weight of the morning ease its grip on her shoulders. For a moment, it felt like nothing could reach them.

Then two sharp beeps sliced through the calm like a needle through silk.

Tree and Riven both looked down at their phones at the same time. No one else moved. Taylor didn't even register it at first, but Leia did. She felt the sound run like ice down her spine, familiar in that terrible, anticipatory way. The kind of alert that didn't mean someone was texting or calling. 

Tree's gaze flicked to Leia for half a second before schooling itself back into unreadable neutrality. Riven straightened, his thumb already swiping to open the notification.

Leia's eyes dropped to the coffee cup in her hands. It was empty, long cold, but she held it like it still had weight. Like letting it go would set something in motion she couldn't stop.

"Sorry to break it up," Riven said, his voice quieter than usual - softer, even, like he already knew what he was interrupting. "But... the Grammy nominations just came through."

Leia didn't speak. The shift in her body said enough. A ripple passed through her - not visible to the outside world, but Taylor felt it. She sat up a little straighter beside her, their bodies still touching, knees brushing.

The room around them exhaled as one. The assistant behind the desk lowered her laptop screen without a word. Tree glanced at the others, giving a barely-there nod, as if to say: let Leia have this moment.

Leia turned her head slightly toward Riven. Her voice when it came was quiet, brittle at the edges.

"I feel sick."

The admission was raw. Not performative. It wasn't the nerves of someone chasing clout or career advancement. This was the fear of someone who had lived too many lives, carried too many expectations. Someone who had bled for her art and wasn't sure yet if the world would see what it cost her.

Riven took a slow breath, gaze softening as he moved a step closer.

"Do you want to read them?" he asked gently. "Or do you want me to?"

Leia's fingers tightened around the empty cup, white-knuckled. She opened her mouth, then closed it. The question sat heavy on her tongue, too heavy to lift.

"I honestly don't think I can handle it," she said at last, her voice thinner now, almost apologetic. Her jaw trembled just once. She didn't meet Riven's eyes.

Taylor didn't hesitate. She turned toward Leia fully, their knees aligning, her palm already reaching out to cover Leia's. 

"I'll look," Taylor said gently. "And I'll tell you."

Leia nodded once, her throat too tight for words. She didn't look at the screen. Her gaze dropped instead to Taylor's lap as her girlfriend unlocked her phone and began to scroll.

Tree, still standing near the door, subtly angled her body away and raised her phone just slightly. She had seen the moment the alert hit Riven's phone - and she'd moved without thinking. Her camera now recorded with practiced subtlety, the lens tucked just over her wrist. 

She didn't do it to invade. She did it because she knew Leia. She'd spent years watching that girl survive hell and claw her way back to something whole, and Tree knew Leia would want to remember this moment.

Taylor's thumb paused over the page. She was quiet for a long moment, longer than Leia could bear.

Leia shifted in her seat. 

"Oh my fuck, okay please just tell me."

Taylor's mouth curved, but not in amusement. In something that Leia couldn't quite place for a moment until she realised that Taylor was... proud? She looked up slowly, her voice barely audible.

"Nine," she said. Just that.

Leia stared. "What?"

Taylor turned her phone toward her now, a breath of laughter in her voice - shaky, fragile, almost reverent.

"You got nine nominations, Leia."

The silence that followed cracked open like thunder. It wasn't loud - no one shouted, no one clapped. Riven let out a breath that might have been a curse. The assistant's eyes were wide behind her laptop. Even Tree, ever the pillar, lowered her phone and blinked once, slowly, her lips parting in something like awe.

Leia didn't move at first. She blinked. Then again. And then her mouth opened as if to speak, but no sound came out.

"Nine," Taylor repeated, squeezing her hand. "You did it."

Leia exhaled. It wasn't graceful or quiet. It was shaky and human and full of something that might have been disbelief or might have been the kind of relief that makes your whole body ache.

And then the room exploded.

The assistant at the desk was the first to yell, a sharp, joyful whoop that shattered the silence and triggered a cascade. 

Riven threw both arms in the air, nearly knocking over his laptop with Adrian's face on the screen. 

"Nine!" he shouted, as if the number alone could lift the roof. "Fucking nine!"

Even Tree let out a sound - not a cheer, not quite a laugh, but something caught between the two. The tight composure she wore like armor cracked wide open, and her face lit with something close to awe as she shook her head and muttered, "Jesus Christ, Leia."

Adrian's voice came crackling through the Zoom call from Riven's laptop on the floor, grainy but triumphant. 

"I told you!" he barked, his face a blur as he pumped his fist at the screen. "You're a damn legend!"

The energy surged like a wave through the room. The assistant jumped to her feet, clapping wildly. Riven was pacing in wild, gleeful circles, already texting the news to someone - probably Azul. Taylor's head tipped back in a laugh - not the elegant, measured one she used in interviews, but a real one, messy and bright and slightly breathless.

Leia turned toward her, hands shaking and eyes shining, and in that split second there was no hesitation and no pause for cameras or company or caution. She grabbed Taylor by the collar of her sweatshirt and kissed her like her heart couldn't take it for another second. Like everything in her had been holding still for weeks and now it was running, rushing, finally free.

Taylor kissed her back just as fiercely, hands cupping Leia's jaw, laughing into her mouth, the pure joy of it bubbling out between them. Around them, the noise kept rising - claps, whistles, someone hitting the side of a filing cabinet with rhythmic, delighted thumps.

Riven didn't even flinch. 

"They're kissing," he announced. "Again. Can we all kiss someone or is that just them?"

"You can kiss my ass if you don't pick me up off the floor right now," Adrian fired back through the laptop, and Riven scurried to do what he asked.

Tree smiled but didn't interrupt. Her eyes were still on Leia, still holding the memory of that moment where the nominations were just numbers, before they had become hers. She'd watched that kind of thing for years, watched people get what they wanted and forget what it cost. But Leia? Leia was still trembling. Still overwhelmed. Still in it.

The kiss broke, breathless and close.

"You got nine nominations," Taylor whispered again, forehead resting against Leia's. "Nine."

Leia's smile broke wide, impossibly wide, and she didn't care that her eyes were wet now. She didn't care that everyone was looking or that she was just noticing now that Tree had been filming the whole damn thing. She just laughed, too full of feeling to hold any of it in.

"I can't believe this," she said.

"I can," Taylor replied, not missing a beat. "I always could."

From the Zoom screen, Adrian lifted a glass of champagne - where he'd gotten it, no one knew, but there it was - and declared, "To ethereal! To my stupidly talented client. And to everyone who ever said she'd peaked in 2019 - choke on this!"

Tree let out a laugh then, shaking her head. 

"Okay. Okay. Let's all take five before Riven tries to stage dive off the couch."

"Too late," Riven called, mid-pose.

The noise softened just enough for the moment to catch its breath.

Leia looked around at the room - at the people who had carried her through the silence, through the doubt, through every night she'd spent wondering if she was still capable of this. Her eyes landed on Taylor again, who was watching her like she was witnessing something holy.

Leia grinned, slow and real. "Nine."

Taylor grinned right back. 

"And not one less than you deserve."

.

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guys this is my longest chapter yet i think??? just over 10,000 words!!!!

side note: i accidentally published this chapter before the last one, so if you started to read this one first and realised.... no you didn't :))))

side side note: i published the first few parts of my ellie from the last of us book, so check that out!! :)