Leia could feel her heartbeat in her fingertips.

Taylor sat at the piano in the center of the stage, silhouetted by warm, gold floodlight. Her hair was curling slightly at the ends from the Tennessee air, stuck a little to her neck, her eyes scanning the stadium like she could feel every single person - every scream, every breath - and still somehow find just one.

Leia hadn't moved in three minutes.

She'd known the surprise song section was coming. Everyone around her had. Georgie was to her left, holding back her always overwhelming excitement already. Riven was somewhere behind them, arms crossed and unmoving, but Leia could tell by the way his foot had started tapping that he was bracing for something too.

Taylor touched one hand gently to the keys as she moved on from the guitar segment, the crowd screaming and roaring around them as she shot a grin out towards them all. And her gaze lingered - a little too long - in the direction where Leia stood.

Leia's stomach twisted as they locked eyes for a split second, a soft grin falling across her lips as she leaned back against Austin who had swung an arm around her shoulders.

Taylor dropped the eye contact and leaned in to the mic, voice soft and easy as she addressed the crowd again.

"I was trying to think about what to say before this next song," she said, voice soft but clear, warm in the hush. "And I guess what keeps coming to mind is... how grateful I feel tonight. Not just for this show. For everything. For right now. For where I am."

The crowd swelled with noise. Taylor smiled and nodded, but there was something else in her eyes - something quieter that only those standing in the VIP tent really knew well. She was being truthful to the fans, and they'd all see that emotion in her since Leia and her had reconnected.

"I know I've said this before, but I mean it tonight more than I ever have," she went on. "I'm the happiest I've ever been. In my life. Like... in a way I didn't know was possible."

Leia felt the breath catch in her chest. There was movement beside her - someone reacting, maybe Georgie cheering again, maybe someone else turning - but she didn't look. Her eyes were too busy focused on her girlfriend, that little knowing smile on her lips as Taylor chuckled to herself at the piano.

Taylor looked down at the keys, fingers grazing them gently, and then looked up again. Right toward Leia. She smiled like a secret again.

"You know when something feels so good and so rare that you almost want to keep it to yourself?" she said, and the crowd made a soft sound, a collective "aww",  like they were picking up on something just below the surface. "But then you realize that part of joy is letting it glow. Letting it be seen."

Leia's throat tightened. She didn't blink.

Taylor hesitated, just a moment, then added, "I feel lucky. Every day. Because someone I love reminds me what it's like to feel... safe. And challenged. And alive."

The crowd erupted - not with confusion, but with euphoria. The kind of noise people make when they believe in something bigger than themselves. Fans started screaming things from every corner of the stadium.

This was the first time Taylor had even hinted at a relationship or even something of the sorts since the news had broken that her and Joe had been broken up for almost a year. Sure, the fans had speculated hundreds of different relationships she potentially was having behind the scenes, but to get a confirmation like this? That was new.

Leia's stomach turned with emotion again - that slow, blooming ache of being seen, even when no one else quite knew what they were looking at. Taylor glanced down. Laughed lightly into the mic and regained control of the stadium once more.

"This is a song I wrote a long time ago. It feels different now," she said. "And I love it more because of that... and because of her."

The stadium lost it. Screams like fireworks, thousands rising to their feet, an explosion of joy so loud Leia almost forgot how to breathe.

"The way you move is like a full-on rainstorm..."

Taylor was electric, lit from within, voice sharp and sweet and undeniable. She was smiling like her heart couldn't contain the feeling anymore. Like it had nowhere to go but out. Her voice carried across the stadium like a promise.

Leia couldn't stop watching her. Every movement, every note. Her body swayed slightly with the rhythm, fingers twitching like she could feel the chords in her skin. Tree passed her a water bottle without saying anything, her other hand gently pressing to Leia's arm - steady, quiet.

Austin leaned over, whispering under the music, "You okay?"

Leia didn't look at him. Just nodded.

"Yeah," she whispered. "More than okay."

Because on stage, Taylor was singing a song she hadn't performed in years, smiling like she had a secret, and every beat of it was threaded with unspoken truth. This wasn't just nostalgia. This wasn't just a love letter to the past. This was a woman singing about a love that had survived storms and silence. A love that still made her glow.

And Leia - standing half in shadow, heart in her mouth - knew exactly who Taylor was talking about.

The crowd didn't. Not yet.

But they would soon.

______

"This is a first," Leia breathed out, her head looking up from Taylor's thighs with a sick grin on her face, one hand still resting on Taylor's thigh and the other... well... "I don't think we've ever done this in the back of the car like this before."

Taylor rolled her eyes, flickering slightly to where the partition had been raised and Drew was blasting music from the front section of the car that he shared with Azul. The tinted windows of the SUV were fogging slightly, the rain outside providing perfect cover for their impromptu detour. They were supposed to be heading back to Taylor's place after the show, but somewhere between the arena and home, Taylor had caught Leia's gaze in the rearview mirror, and the air had changed.

One look. That's all it ever took.

The partition button had been pressed. Drew had turned up his music without comment. And now here they were, tangled together in the back seat like teenagers, Taylor's post-show jeans unbuttoned, Leia's lipstick smudged beyond repair as she kneeled in the footwell.

"Behave," Taylor whispered, but her voice was thick with want, her fingers tangled in Leia's hair. The car swayed gently as they moved through late-night traffic, streetlights casting fleeting golden patterns across Taylor's flushed face. "We still have exactly seven minutes until we reach the hotel."

Leia raised an eyebrow, challenge sparking in her eyes. "Is that a dare?"

Taylor bit her lip, trying and failing to look stern. "It's a timeline."

"I've always been good with deadlines."

Taylor bit her lip, glancing toward the partition before leaning down to capture Leia's mouth in a kiss that tasted of adrenaline and promise. The leather seats creaked beneath them as Taylor shifted, her body responding to Leia's touch like a familiar melody.

Taylor's breath hitched as Leia's hands found their way back to where they'd been moments before, her touch confident and sure. The post-show energy that always coursed through Taylor's veins was transforming into something else entirely - something electric and desperate and completely focused on the woman kneeling between her legs.

"Leia," Taylor whispered, her voice barely audible over the music filtering through the partition. Her fingers tightened in auburn hair as her head fell back against the leather headrest.

The car took a gentle turn, and Leia steadied herself with one hand pressed against Taylor's thigh, never breaking her rhythm. She could feel Taylor's pulse racing beneath her fingertips, could taste the salt of her skin, could hear the soft sounds that escaped Taylor's lips despite her attempts to stay quiet.

"God, you're incredible," Taylor breathed, her voice breaking slightly as Leia's tongue found exactly the right spot, the right pressure, the right rhythm that made stars explode behind her eyelids.

Taylor's back arched off the seat as pleasure crashed over her in waves, her hand flying to her mouth to muffle the cry that threatened to escape. Her body trembled as Leia worked her through it, gentle now, soothing, until the aftershocks faded and Taylor collapsed back against the leather, breathless and glowing.

"You're beautiful," Leia whispered against Taylor's throat as she slid upwards a little, her voice reverent. The words were barely audible over the hum of the engine and Drew's music, but Taylor heard them - felt them vibrate against her pulse point.

Taylor's hands found Leia's face, pulling her up into a kiss that was soft and desperate and tasted like devotion. The windows were completely fogged now, creating their own private world in the backseat as the city lights blurred past them in streaks of gold and red.

"We're almost there," Taylor murmured against Leia's lips, but she made no move to separate them, her fingers still tangled in auburn hair.

Leia smiled, that lazy, satisfied grin that made Taylor's stomach flip every time.

"Good timing then." She helped Taylor straighten her clothes, her touch gentle and careful, fingers rebuttoning jeans with the same reverence she'd used to undo them.

The car slowed, and they could hear Drew's turn signal clicking through the partition. Taylor ran her hands through her hair, trying to tame the post-show curls that had become even more disheveled. Leia wiped the remainder of her lipstick away with the back of her hand, settling back into her seat just as the vehicle came to a stop.

"Presentable?" Taylor asked, though her eyes were still dark with satisfaction, her cheeks flushed pink.

Leia reached over and smoothed down a particularly rebellious curl. "You look like you just performed for eighty thousand people and then had the best seven minutes of your life."

"Six and a half, actually," Taylor corrected with a smirk that made Leia laugh.

The partition lowered halfway, and Drew's voice filtered back... a ever so slightly disappointed tone in his voice. "We're here, ladies. Take your time."

Taylor reached up and cupped Leia's jaw in her hand, pulling her face close enough to kiss her passionately. Their mouths moved together hungrily, fueled by the intensity of their shared release and the thrill of their secret tryst. Taylor's heartbeat slowed to a more manageable pace as Leia's fingers gently combed through her hair, soothing her back to earth.

As they pulled away for air, Taylor rested her head against the headrest, her eyelids heavy with contentment. Leia's heated gaze lingered on her flushed face, a look of wonder and desire in her eyes.

"I love you," Taylor said softly, a grin tugging at her lips.

Leia's eyes met hers, a wealth of emotion swirling in those emerald depths.

"I know," she said, with a cocky grin that made Taylor's heart skip a beat. "And I'll never get tired of hearing you say it."

_____

A week went by, and Leia found herself knee-deep in online theories, chaos and long think pieces about the nature of her friendship with Taylor.

The stadium around her was still pretty empty, but the bones of the night were already in motion. Lights were now being tested in sweeping arcs as crew members crouched in headsets along the perimeter. The iconic catwalk into diamond stage - colossal, glinting, half-dressed in cables - was alive with quiet purpose. Dancers were scattered across it, some stretching, some scrolling like Leia.

The kind of pre-show rhythm Leia had grown to love: loose, limber, electric.

She was in casuals and socks on the diamond extension, pacing in a circle like a tiger let loose in its own private kingdom as her shoes sat on the side. Her phone was clutched in one hand as her thumbs clicked and scrolled. Her laughter - sharp, delighted, borderline maniacal - echoed across the empty stadium as she stopped short and whipped around to face the others.

"Okay, no, listen to this one," Leia said, breathless, eyes gleaming with mischief. "@fearlessnotfoolish says and I quote 'Guys. My best friend calls me the love of her life all the time. It's called GIRLHOOD. Leia and Taylor are friends and nothing more.'"

She broke into laughter so hard it doubled her over. Tree, seated cross-legged on a flight case just off-stage with a clipboard and an iced coffee, almost cracked up, clapping her hands once in amusement.

"Oh my God. The denial is bordering on beautiful."

Leia spun back toward the red-head, mock-serious.

"Tree. These people think I gave up my own album tour to follow Taylor around like a supportive roommate."

"You did, though," Tree reminded her, sipping. "You're basically her travelling houseplant."

From further upstage, one of the dancers - Nat - called out, "Houseplant is generous. You're like a very emotional pet. With great shoes though."

Leia snorted, nearly tripping as she kept pacing. The dancers all chuckled as they continued to warm up, preparing to run through a few of the moves before they'd do a quick soundcheck and then would move so that the venue could start to let fans in.

Leia liked these days - there wasn't much going on since it was the second night and the stage was built, so the dancers would usually run through three or four songs instead of the entire show (because who had time for that?), and she enjoyed watching. These were people that knew Leia and Taylor's deepest secret, so Leia liked learning more about them too.

One of the dancers laughed so hard she fell out of her stretch. Across the stage, two other dancers - Sydney and Jan - sat on yoga mats, scrolling on their own phones. Sydney held her screen up, gasping between giggles.

"Someone commented on my TikTok and said: 'Why does Leia Hudson in the background look like she's about to pounce on stage during vigilante shit?'"

Leia nearly dropped her phone. "That's so embarrassing."

"Was that from night three last weekend? Yeah, your face that night..." Jan chimed in. "You looked like you were about to launch yourself over the barricade. We were all watching from side stage like-" he mimed grabbing binoculars, eyes wide. "'Is this allowed??'"

Tree coughed delicately. "It's not, Leia."

Leia waved her off with regal indifference. "Let me have this."

Another tweet came up. Leia's voice dropped into exaggerated drama.

"@traumastaylor said: 'Leia has been at every single eras tour show so far like a Victorian wife pacing the widow's walk.'"

That set off a new round of laughter from everyone. Even the lighting tech paused mid-ladder to chuckle.

"I'm sorry," Tree said, shaking her head. "These people are losing it."

Leia grinned so hard her cheeks ached. The sun was slanting through the open edge of the stadium roof now, spilling warm light across the massive screen that would soon project every flick of Taylor's wrist to eighty thousand people. But for now, it was just them. A tight circle of laughter in a sacred place.

She dropped down onto the edge of the stage, feet swinging, her fingers flicking through her phone again. The sun moved a little higher. The dancers stretched a little deeper. And Leia sat there in the middle of it all - her body still loose with joy, her chest full, her mind humming.

She thought about Taylor, somewhere deep backstage, getting ready. She thought about how this had all started in whispers and stolen glances and restraint wrapped in silk ribbon. And now? She was here. Beloved, roasted, half-worshipped by the internet.

Her phone buzzed. A new message.

are you still pacing like a feral dog up there?

Leia grinned, thumbs flying.

feral? how dare you. i am majestic. like a very elegant fox stalking its prey.

that's what you call what you did during vigilante shit?

Leia cackled again. The others looked up.

"Taylor?" Tree asked knowingly.

Leia didn't answer - just stood, spun once on the heel of her sneaker, and shouted toward the woman: "Tell your boss I want a raise in serotonin!"

"Tell your girlfriend she's making this entire crew emotionally unstable!"

____

Thirty-six hours later, Leia slipped through the heavy black curtain into the VIP tent just as the first synth pulse of Karma dropped, the vibration thrumming through the floor and straight up her spine. The roar of the stadium beyond was overwhelming, especially from here - tens of thousands of voices rising like a wave, chanting along as the final act of the show began.

The tent smelled faintly of champagne, sunscreen, and fabric warmed by stage lights. Leia's heart was still racing from the rush to get here, but her steps were steady now. She tugged at the hem of her jacket, adjusted her pass, and let herself breathe for the first time all day. She was here. Just in time.

"Well, look who decided to show up," came a familiar voice near the front railing as she made her way through to lean beside him, his voice half teasing and full of warmth. Scott Swift turned to greet her with a grin, drink in hand, the glow of the stage lights catching the rim of his glass. "You had your girl worried. Everything okay with Tate?"

Leia smiled despite herself.

"Yeah. He's alright now," she said, brushing a loose strand of hair out of her face. "He swallowed one of her socks this morning - the socks, by the way, one of the pairs of the stupid sparkly Christmas ones she wears to bed - and I didn't want to leave until the vet said it was all clear." She exhaled. "He's back at the hotel with Azul now. Totally milking the drama."

Scott chuckled.

"That dog's got timing, I'll give him that." Then he tipped his chin toward the stage. "You made it for the right moment."

Leia followed his gaze, her breath catching. Taylor was striding across the runway in that deep-blue sequinned bodysuit Leia had zipped her into just last week. She owned the stage, commanding it like she was born beneath spotlights - but in the middle of a lyric, something shifted.

Taylor's gaze lifted toward the VIP tent, scanning instinctively, and then paused. Her eyes locked onto Leia's through the haze and lights and distance like it was the easiest thing in the world. The smile that bloomed on her face wasn't part of the show. Her voice didn't falter, but her posture changed - lighter somehow, like whatever weight she'd been carrying had just slipped off her shoulders. And when she sang the next line, it wasn't to the crowd anymore.

It was to Leia.

Leia hadn't realized Tree was beside her until a hand brushed gently against her elbow. She turned, startled for a second, but relaxed the moment she saw Tree's familiar, composed expression. The publicist leaned in slightly to be heard over the music, her voice low but clear.

"I think it might be time," Tree said, nodding once toward the stage. "Maybe not tonight, but soon. Maybe even this week."

Leia blinked, still catching up. "You mean-?"

Tree gave a small smile.

"You've been seen. That little soft launch the other week gave us breathing room, but this is different now. I'm thinking we talk in the car on the way back. Figure out the right way to do this." She glanced meaningfully at Taylor, then back to Leia. "You're not exactly hiding anymore."

Leia's laugh was light and breathless. "Was I ever?"

Tree just raised an eyebrow, as if to say not convincingly.

They turned back to the stage together, just as the tempo kicked into high gear. Leia leaned over the railing, her whole body leaning into the music now, cheering so hard her throat already ached. It didn't matter. Nothing did, except the girl in glitter and blue, commanding the universe with a flick of her wrist.

As the breakdown hit and the crowd echoed the line back to her - Karma takes all my friends to the summit"- Taylor's head tilted toward the VIP tent again, a mischievous sparkle in her eyes. Her grin was full, wild, hers, and this time there was no mistaking it. She was singing straight at Leia.

And Leia knew exactly what was coming next.

"Karma is the girl with the streams, coming straight home to me."

Leia heard it before she understood it. The words floated out with such confidence, so woven into the rhythm of the show, that for a split second her brain refused to register what had just been said. She blinked, staring at Taylor, who was still grinning at her - still looking at her - with that same playful, burning kind of joy she used to give Leia when they were still a secret.

The crowd didn't hesitate. They erupted.

It hit Leia a second later. And when it did, it wasn't subtle - it was a lightning bolt straight through her chest.

Her hand flew up to cover her mouth. She let out a tiny, stunned noise, part laugh, part gasp. The world around her had gone completely unhinged... fans were screaming, jumping, pointing, recording... but all she could see was Taylor, eyes bright and locked on hers across the lights and chaos and music. Her voice rang in Leia's ears, seared into her like a permanent tattoo.

She'd said it. In front of everyone.

And she'd meant her.

Leia's heart swelled so quickly it almost hurt. That lyric - their lyric now - was never supposed to be anything more than a whispered joke between hotel sheets, or something she scrawled on the corner of a notebook while waiting backstage. Taylor had teased her with it, months ago, eyes mischievous as she sang it into Leia's ear, arms wrapped tight around her waist. Leia had laughed and rolled her eyes and said, "Yeah, maybe in an alternate universe."

But this wasn't some alternate universe. This was real. Taylor had sung it in front of seventy thousand people, and now the world was shifting in real time.

Beside her, Scott threw his arms into the air like he was celebrating a touchdown, practically bouncing on his feet.

"She did it! Oh my god, she actually did it!" he crowed, grabbing Leia's shoulders and giving her an enthusiastic shake, as if to jolt her out of her shock. Leia couldn't stop laughing - stunned, delighted laughter that bubbled up and spilled over like a glass that had been too full for too long.

Even Tree, who lived for slow-burn reveal plans, was clapping her hands with a kind of wide-eyed disbelief.

"Unreal," she muttered, half-laughing, half-impressed. "She's insane. I love her. But she's insane."

Leia couldn't speak. Could barely even breathe. Her eyes were starting to sting. Not from sadness but from the overwhelming, stupid, impossible happiness of it. The kind that hits you in your chest and wraps around your ribs and makes you feel like the only person in the universe who knows what this moment actually means.

Out on stage, Taylor twirled again, throwing her hair back and dancing like she'd never been lighter. The dancers around her were laughing now too - a few glancing toward the VIP tent with playful looks of delighted confusion, clearly aware that something had just happened. That someone had been sung to.

And Leia? Leia just stood there, hand still over her heart, cheeks burning, grinning like her body couldn't contain the feeling inside her. Because how do you hold something like that?

How do you stand still when the person you love just chose you - out loud, in public, in a moment designed to be permanent?

She couldn't. She didn't try. She just beamed, mouthing "I love you" toward the stage, too far for Taylor to see it clearly, but knowing... somehow knowing... that she'd catch it anyway.

"You're joking," Georgie breathed, somewhere behind Leia but it was the tone that made Leia finally turn. Her sister looked completely unhinged, clutching the edge of Gigi's jacket like it might ground her to reality, eyes wide with equal parts disbelief and glee. "Did she? Did she just?"

"She did," Gigi confirmed, already halfway through a delighted scream. Her hands grabbed Leia's shoulders like she was about to shake her into another dimension. "She did, babe! You're the fucking lyric now!"

She was laughing, eyes glossy with excitement, and didn't even seem to notice that her champagne had sloshed out of the flute in her hand and onto someone's designer shoes.

"I swear to God, I'm going to frame this moment in my brain forever."

Leia couldn't stop laughing. Her face hurt. Her whole body felt lit up from the inside.

"I think I'm in shock," she said, voice shaking with adrenaline. "Actual, real, I-need-a-medical-team shock."

"Oh, I can confirm," Georgie said, still breathless, gesturing wildly toward the stage as if trying to summon the proof into the air. "I felt it happen. It was like an earthquake but emotional. Like a sapphic meteor just struck Earth and now nothing will ever be the same."

The group around them - friends, family, a few familiar crew members - were buzzing like someone had spiked the air with electricity. Phones were already out, videos replaying the lyric, catching Taylor's grin and the exact moment she looked toward Leia. The ripple had started, and it was growing.

Leia barely noticed the cameras. She wasn't thinking about what would be online in thirty seconds, or what the headlines would read. All she could focus on was the way her heart refused to slow down, the way her hands kept trembling like they needed something to hold, like they still hadn't processed that the thing she'd dreamed about, feared, longed for... had just happened. Not as a press release. But here. Now.

"She's going to give me a heart attack one of these days," Tree muttered with an affectionate groan, pinching the bridge of her nose even as her lips twitched up in an undeniable smile. "All those emails. All that planning. And she just sings it.Like it's nothing."

Leia let out a half-hysterical laugh. "It's not nothing."

"No," Tree agreed. "It's everything."

Out on stage, Taylor was basking in the roar of her fans, body moving in time with the dancers, hair loose and flying with every spin. But every few beats, her eyes would find Leia again. Not lingering too long. Not obvious. Just there... tiny, glancing confirmations in the middle of the chaos. Leia could feel it. Like a secret line connecting them across the distance.

"She's never gonna live this down," Gigi said, still holding onto Leia like she might float away. "This is going to break the internet."

"I don't care," Leia whispered, a little stunned at how true it was.

Leia barely had time to catch her breath before the curtain to the VIP tent was pushed aside again and Drew came striding in with purpose, headset slightly askew and his lanyard flapping against his chest. His expression was somewhere between amused and frantic which meant, Leia knew instantly, that something was happening.

"There she is," he said, pointing at her like she'd been missing from a lineup. "Alright, Hudson, if you want to see your superstar as she comes offstage, we need to go now. Like, right now. Come on."

Leia blinked. "What?"

"She's got three minutes before the final bow, five before she's backstage and in that golf cart," he said, already moving back toward the exit flap. "And if you're not there when she walks off, she's going to give me that look. You know the one. Like I'm the human embodiment of a scheduling failure. Let's go."

Gigi let out a dramatic gasp. Georgie nearly shoved Leia toward the curtain.

"Run! But like, in a hot, composed way!"

Leia let out a breathless laugh and started after Drew, cheeks still aching from how much she'd smiled in the past ten minutes. As they stepped out into the private corridor behind the tent, the bass of the final chorus still thrumming through the stadium, she looked up at him with mock suspicion.

"You planned this with her, didn't you?"

"Me? Never," Drew said, feigning innocence. "But between you and me..." He gave her a sideways glance, clearly delighted. "I had a bet with one of the audio guys that she'd break script for you before the tour was over. He owes me twenty bucks, but honestly? Worth it."

Leia shook her head, laughing. "Unreal."

Drew gave her a grin. "You should've seen the lighting team's faces. Half of them thought it was a cue change and nearly had a collective heart attack. The other half were just screaming. I think someone in pyro actually dropped their headset."

Leia could still hear the crowd behind her. Still feel the energy pulsing through the air like it was stitched into her skin. But now there was only one person she wanted to see.

"She really did it," Leia murmured, more to herself than anyone else. Her fingers closed around the edges of her pass, as if grounding herself. "She really said it."

Drew's voice was gentler then, teasing gone soft. "Yeah. She really did."

The final beat of Karma thudded like a heartbeat through the concrete, and the stadium roared with a kind of joy that felt bottomless. Fans were still on their feet, still screaming, still holding up phones as the lights began their slow fade, the echo of the last lyric ringing out into the humid night.

Leia stood just beyond the backstage barricade, a few paces from where the platform ramp met the corridor, heart hammering like she'd been running for miles. The security team formed a loose semicircle ahead of her, calm and professional but even they were glancing toward the stage with barely contained smiles. On the far side of the barricade, a wall of fans still lingered in their seats, trying to catch a glimpse of the moment that always came just after the end.

Leia kept her hands at her sides.

She didn't cross her arms. Didn't fidget. Didn't reach out. She just stood still. Letting the weight of the moment settle in her bones. Letting Taylor make the next move - if she wanted to. If this wasn't just adrenaline. If the lyric hadn't been a fluke.

But it hadn't been.

Leia knew it. She felt it, the way people feel the sky before it breaks into rain.

She could still feel the heat of Taylor's voice in her ears, that look in her eyes like she'd been holding something in for far too long. Leia's chest was full to the point of bursting, not with fear, but with something deeper, quieter. A stillness that only came when something inside you finally stopped running.

Then...

The curtain at the end of the ramp lifted.

Taylor stepped out, sweat-slick and radiant, her bodysuit glittering like a galaxy. Her team followed at a respectful distance, instinctively peeling away when they spotted Leia. The light caught Taylor's face just enough for Leia to see the exact second her eyes landed on her.

Everything stopped. For one breath.

And then Taylor ran.

She didn't walk. Didn't pause to grab water. Didn't nod to anyone else. She just ran the last few steps like something had snapped inside her, like the gravity between them had finally pulled too hard to ignore.

Leia's hands stayed right where they were. Her heart in her throat.

And then Taylor was there.

She didn't speak. She didn't need to. She just crashed into her, arms wrapping around Leia's waist, fingers fisting in the back of her jacket, and kissed her. Fully, fiercely, with every ounce of pent-up silence and stolen glances and unsaid things between them. The kind of kiss that tasted like sweat and summer and truth.

Leia inhaled sharply against her mouth, the sound breaking into a gasp as her own arms finally moved - one hand slipping into Taylor's hair, the other pulling her in like instinct.

For a moment, there was nothing but the two of them - the world condensed to Taylor's mouth against hers, the press of sequins against her chest, the taste of triumph and exhilaration on her lips. Leia's fingers trembled against Taylor's scalp, anchoring her there as though she might disappear if she let go.

Taylor's mouth against hers and the thunder of the crowd and the press of her body and the way her heart had finally stopped aching.

It had found its place.

And it was coming straight home.

When they finally broke apart, Taylor was breathless, her blue eyes wide and searching. There was vulnerability there, mixed with the euphoria of performance and the adrenaline of what she'd just done. Leia linked their hands together, both of them blushing as they looked up to thousands of phones pointing at them from the stands, waving as they ducked behind the curtain and towards the awaiting cars.

"You changed the lyrics," Leia whispered, her voice barely audible over the ambient noise of the stadium breaking down around them as they moved with Drew close behind.

Taylor's laugh was soft, almost shy. "I did."

"In front of seventy thousand people."

"Don't forget the extra thousands on the livestreams," Taylor's hands were still gripping the fabric of Leia's jacket, as if afraid to let go. "Was that okay?"

The question hung between them, so genuine that Leia felt her heart clench. Even now, even after everything, Taylor was checking in. Making sure.

Leia paused, cupping Taylor's face between her palms, thumbs brushing over her cheekbones.

"Okay? Taylor, it was..." She shook her head, words failing her. "I don't even know how to describe what that was."

Taylor bit her lower lip, a glimmer of uncertainty crossing her features. "Too much?"

"No," Leia said firmly, pulling Taylor closer until their foreheads touched. "Not too much. Perfect. It was perfect."

The tension visibly drained from Taylor's shoulders. She leaned into Leia's touch, her eyes fluttering closed for just a moment.

"I didn't plan it," she admitted. "I've been thinking about it for weeks, but tonight... I saw you rush in during Karma and I just..." She shrugged, a helpless little gesture that made Leia fall in love with her all over again. "I couldn't not say it anymore."

Drew cleared his throat gently from a few feet away, his expression apologetic but urgent.

"Ladies, I hate to interrupt this beautiful moment, but we really need to get moving. The cars are waiting and security says there's already a crowd forming at the main exit."

Taylor pulled back slightly, her hands sliding down to capture Leia's. "Come home with me?"

"Always," Leia replied without hesitation.

"Well," Taylor said, squeezing Leia's hand as they approached the waiting SUV, "I guess there's no going back now."

Leia stopped walking, tugging Taylor to a halt beside her. The parking garage was dim except for the headlights of their car, but she could see Taylor's face clearly in the amber glow.

"Good," she said firmly. "I don't want to go back. Do you?"

Taylor's smile was radiant, transforming her entire face. "Not for a second."

As Drew opened the car door for them, Leia caught sight of her phone buzzing incessantly in her jacket pocket. No doubt the internet was already exploding, social media dissecting every frame of video from tonight's show. Tomorrow there would be articles, think pieces, probably emergency meetings with publicists and lawyers.

But tonight, sliding into the backseat next to the woman she loved, watching Taylor's face light up as she pulled out her own phone to see the chaos they'd unleashed together, Leia felt nothing but peace.