{Skylar }

Light bled through the thin curtains onto Skylar's face. She groaned and pulled the covers over her head, turning away from the large window. After a couple minutes, as she was drifting back to sleep, a hand was placed softly on her shoulder and shook her off of the boat slowly taking her to dreamland.

"Dad... what?" she mumbled, shrugging his hand off of her.

"Wake up," Gold whined, bouncing likes a child. "I made you breakfast."

"You mean you burned toast and put a bunch of jelly on it?"

There was a pause. "Maybe..."

Skylar laughed and pushed her covers off, stretching up and waving Gold away. "Okay, I'll be there in a minute," she told him with a yawn.

Her dad flashed his white teeth. Despite being fourty-something, he sure did look young. Sometimes Skylar wondered if he was really in his thirties. "Alright. Oh, and Sky?" he said as she stood up, raking her fingers through her hair.

"Mhmm?" Skylar replied sleepily, meeting Gold's grey eyes.

"We need to have a talk at breakfast," he told her seriously. She had never heard him talk in such a deadpan tone. Slightly confused, she nodded, and he left the room.

Shrugging it off, Skylar went to go get ready. She put on some shorts and a T-shirt and walked out of her room to the kitchen.

There were two plates of burned toast with loads of jelly sitting on the bar that acted as their table. Gold was getting two glasses of Apple Juice, singing the Toast Song, when Skylar sat down. The Toast Song was literally just the word "toast" over and over, but Gold sang it all the time as if it was the catchiest song on the charts.

"So, what did you need to talk about?" Skylar asked as Gold sat next to her, biting into his toast. Skylar began eating one of her pieces as well - she was used to her dad's "cooking."

"Oh," Gold said as he swallowed a bite, already done with his first piece. "I wanted to talk to you about your 'cousins.'" he put air quotes around the word "cousins," making a glob of jelly fall onto his sleeve. He let out a weird, overdramatic shriek and got up to get a napkin.

"The ones coming in a few days? What about them?"

"One of them's a guy. He's three years older than you. Now, when I was a little older than him, I was a perv."

"You still are a perv, dad."

"Am not!"

"You wolf-whistle at random girls and make comments about their butts. It's nasty."

Gold rolled his eyes. "Well, this is different!" It was my turn to roll my eyes. "It is!" He insisted, furiously wiping at the jelly on his sleeve.

Skylar could see where this was going. "Dad, I'm not some kind of whore or something," she told him, finishing her last piece of toast.

"I know, I know," Gold said, alost to himself. He looked up from his jelly stain and met Skylar's eyes. His grey orbs were full of ferocity.

"But if he makes a move at you, you come and tell me and I'll personally shoot that boy in the man bits with my shotgun."

"Dad!"

"I'm serious, Sky. I'm not letting any guy lay his hands on my daughter."

"I'm fourteen!"

"And he's seventeen!"

"Fine, okay!" Exasperated, Skylar gave up with the arguing. She knew it was useless. Her dad might act like he was half his age, but he sure could argue.

Gold eventually gave up on his sleeve. "Ah, whatever," he growled, rolling it all the way up to his shoulder.

As Skylar passed him to put her plate in the sink, something on his arm caught her eye. She thought it was just jelly at first, but at a second glace she realized it was far from that. She realized she had never seen her dad wear short sleeves, and in that moment it all made sense.

She quickly deposited her plate into the sink and snagged Gold's arm as he started walking back around the counter to his plate.

"Woah, what?" he asked in suprise as Skylar held his wrist firmly, turning his arm up toward her so she could see the countless faded pink-red slits that covered every inch of his skin. Gold yanked his arm away, shoving his sleeve back down.

The silence was thick enough to cut with a knife as they stood and stared at each other. Despite the fact that Skylar was only five foot and a half inch, Gold seemed to cover before her green gaze, holding his arm to his chest.

"Dad...?"

He turned away, and she saw pain in his eyes. A sigh made its way to her ears and he shook his head as if to clear memories out of his head.

"Why?"

"I don't want to talk about it..." his voice was soft, fragile, vulnerable. "Especially with your aunts and uncles coming."

What did they have to do with it?

Skylar said nothing, but instead hugged him from behind. He tensed, but then relaxed and put his hands on hers.

"They're old," he assured her, his voice still quiet. "I haven't cut since I was about seventeen. I promise."

She didn't press him. Whatever made him cut that much, to the point where almost his entire arm was covered, would definitelty reopen old woulds, and she had never seen her dad upset or cry.

"Okay, dad," she replied, her voice muffled as she pressed against his back.

Gold wriggled out of her grip and turned so he could hug her back. "I love you, Elf."

Skylar laughed at the nickname that she heard on a daily basis. "I love you too, dad."

They pulled apart and Gold retreated to finish his breakfast. Skylar wandered into the living room that connected to the kitchen, deep in thought. How many more secrets was her dad keeping from her? Were there more cuts on his other arm? His thighs? How many were there in total? Is he telling the truth about not doing it lately?

She wasn't sure how she ended up laying on the couch, but when she snapped out of her thoughts, that's where she was.

"Hey, I just got a text from the others. They met up and they're driving here in an RV. They should be here in a few days," Gold told her, flopping into the recliner that sat next to the couch.

"Neato," Skylar replied, shifting so she was laying on her stomach and facing Gold.

The blonde was holding the TV remote. He pressed the power button and the screen came to life, flashing the TV company's logo before showing them a random horror movie.

"Dad!"

Gold just laughed. "Sissy! You scared?" he asked.

"Yes! Change it, dammit!"

"Okay, okay, watch your language," he said with a chuckle and flipped it to a different channel. He propped up his feet on the coffee table and sighed loudly and dramatically.

Skylar made herself comfortable on the couch, her eyes on the screen, but her head elsewhere. She wondered what her cousins were going to be like.