The next month consisted of Brendon and Ryan practically living at each other's houses. Their wardrobes blended together, not that either of them minded. They wore each other's clothes half the time anyways. Some of Skylar's clothes and toys managed to make their way into Ryan's house also.

Ryan adored the two. He loved taking them out to the movies and dinner. He was grateful when Mrs. Urie would watch Skylar, so he could take Brendon on proper dates just the two of them. He was the happiest he'd been in a long time.

"This game's rigged!" Ryan cried when he looked at his card that sent him all the way back to the beginning of the game. Brendon and Skylar both laughed at him. 

"Maybe you're just terrible at Candyland." Ryan grumbled as be moved his gingerbread man to the plump tree character. 

"You pick up a card and move a piece of plastic. How can you be terrible at this game?" Ryan huffed, crossing his arms. Skylar picked up the next card, moving to the finally square on the board. 

"I win!" Skylar threw her arms in the air. Brendon turned to Ryan.

"You just lost four games of Candyland to a three-year-old." Brendon said with a laugh. Ryan turned to Skylar.

"You totally cheated." He leaned forward and grabbed her. "You're hiding cards, aren't you." He started tickling the girl's stomach as she shrieked out in laughter. "Gimme the cards you cheater."

"No! I no cheat!" Skylar struggled to get out of Ryan's grip. "Daddy! Help me!" Ryan looked up at Brendon who was moving forward. Ryan immediately let go of the little girl, putting his hands up. 

"Woah papa bear. I don't mean any trouble." Skylar crawled into Brendon's lap. Brendon wrapped his arms around her and smirked at Ryan. "You can't call your daddy for help. That's not fair." Skylar stuck her tongue out at Ryan which he teasingly reciprocated. "Brendon, baby, are you really going to side with this little cheater over me?" Ryan tried sweet talking Brendon. 

"Of course." Brendon said with no hesitation. "Sorry, babe. My three year old beats my twenty-six year old in this situation." Ryan huffed and crossed his arms. "Oh come on Mr. Grumpy pants. Don't be like that." Ryan pouted dramatically. "I don't remember having two children." Ryan pushed him playfully.

"Rude!" Skylar giggled as the two pushed each other around. 

"Are you ready to lose to a toddler again?" 

"This time, I'm gonna win." The three began resetting the game board. Brendon's phone buzzed on the nightstand, demanding his attention. He leaned over and answered it without looking at the caller ID. 

"Hello." Ryan glanced at him. "But I wasn't supposed to...Charlie, come on..." Ryan watched as Brendon's light mood shifted as he ran a hand aggressively through his hair. "I'm with my kid... no, but I... Alright... Yeah. I'll be right in." Brendon hung up the phone and sighed deeply.

"Brendon." Brendon looked up to meet Ryan's eyes. "Everything okay?" Brendon's jaw clenched.

"I need to go into work." Brendon looked down at Skylar who was going through the playing cards to find all the ones with characters. "I hope my mom can watch her on such a short notice."

"I can watch her." 

"I can't ask you to do that." Brendon shook his head.

"Well, it's a good thing you're not asking then. I've been around her long enough for her to be comfortable with me. It wouldn't be a problem watching her alone for a few hours."  

"If you don't mind, I'd really appreciate it." Ryan nodded. Brendon moved Skylar from his lap and climbed off the bed. "Sky, daddy needs to go to work. You're gonna stay with Ryan until I get back okay?" She smiled in understanding. "Alright. Be good for Ryan." He kissed her head and turned to Ryan. "Thank you. You have no idea how much I appreciate this."

"It's no problem." Brendon kissed Ryan and Skylar one more time before leaving. Ryan turned to Skylar who ditched her interest in the cards. "Wanna play again?" She shook her head. She scanned the room until her eyes stopped. Her arm came out and pointed out to Ryan's dresser.

"Draw?" Ryan followed her arm pointing to his journal on top of the dresser. 

"Oh no sweetie. You can't draw in that."

"Why?" Skylar pouted when she heard no.

"Well, I write a lot of different things in there. As much as I love your drawings, I can't let you draw in there or else I can't see the words."

"What you write?"

"Um.. music stuff like lyrics, melodies, just songs." 

"Songs?" Skylar sat up straighter in interest. "I hear one?" Ryan was ready to say 'no' out of habit, but her hesitated when he saw her face. She was looking at him with those big, blue eyes. She was biting her bottom lip as she tried to contain her excitement. "Okay, Sky," he heard himself say.

She scrambled off the bed and ran over to grab the book. Ryan got up as she ran to him, hugging the book to her chest. She held Ryan's hand as he led her to his music room. When they got to the room, Ryan lifted Skylar and placed her on one of the stools. 

"Can I have my book please?" She willingly placed the book in Ryan's extended arm. He flipped through the pages, trying to figure out what to play. He stopped at one song and faced Skylar. "Do you remember that story I told you?" He asked hopefully. "About the moon and sun." She nodded quickly.

"The moon loved the sun and made lights." She smiled. 

"Yeah. That's one." He paused with a smile. "Well, I wrote this song about the story. I actually wrote it for you."  He finished, looking down as his face turned a light shade of red. 

"For me?" Her small finger pointing to herself in surprise. 

"Yeah, Sky, for you. I'm not very good at telling stories, but I'm not that bad at making songs." Skylar was bouncing in her seat at the thought of the song being made for her. Ryan sat on another stool, placing his book on a stand and a guitar over his lap. 

He placed his fingers over their first position. His palms dampened as his hands began to tremble lightly. His heart started to speed up and his throat tightened. This would be the first time he'd play one of his songs for another person and he was on the verge of a panic attack.

Being close enough, Skylar placed her hand over Ryan's shaking one. Her hand barely covered the top of his, but it was calming none the less. He faced her, meeting her eyes. She gave him a small smile.

"It's okay. Daddy gets shaky too." Ryan let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding. He was right before, Skylar was one smart kid. Taking one more even breath, he focused back to his hands on the strings then sang. 

"When the moon fell in love with the sun, all was golden in the sky. All was golden when the day met the night." He strummed gently, gradually getting louder. Skylar swayed with the music. By the end, both of them were grinning like idiots. Skylar clapped before shouting for Ryan play again. 

"I'm guessing you liked it."

"Yes! Again?" Ryan shook his head with a smile at the child's enthusiasm. 

"I'll tell you what. I'll teach you the words so you can sing it whenever you want. Is that okay?" He didn't think the child could get any happier. He was surprisingly wrong. She was practically bouncing off the walls. Ryan slowly told Skylar the lyrics and she'd repeat them through fits of cheerful giggles. 

Near the end of the night, Skylar was singing the song with Ryan. Before Ryan knew it, he was carrying the sleepy child to his bed. He laid her down and when he tried moving away, she whined about not wanting him to leave her alone. Ryan settled next to her and she promptly moved on top of him. He moved his hand up and down her back in comfort. 

"You're a lot nicer than dad." Ryan stopped his hand as he looked down at the girl in confusion.

"Why do you say that? Your daddy is very nice." 

"Not daddy. Dad," she repeated as if it were obvious what she was saying. 

"Who's your dad?" 

"Daddy told me his name's Dallon. I don't see him a lot. Daddy tells me to hide when he comes cause he's a meany." Ryan tensed under the girl.

"H-how is he a meany?" Ryan spoke just above a whisper. He really shouldn't be asking his boyfriend's daughter about things that he obviously refuses to tell him. 

"He makes daddy very sad and shaky and when he leaves, he gives daddy ouchies." Ryan's heart dropped as he listened to the ugly truth from an innocent mouth. "It gets loud and scary when he comes. Sometimes I get scared he's gonna find me."

Ryan wraps an arm around Skylar protectively. His eyes begin to fill with tears and spill down the sides of his face. His emotions went into overload, anger and hatred for Dallon, pain for Skylar, and so much worry for Brendon. 

"Does Dallon come over a lot?" 

"Sometimes," she said with a shrug, her sleepiness taking over. 

"Skylar... the next time Dallon comes over, I need you to call me.Okay? Use your daddy's phone and call me. Can you do that for me?" Skylar nodded.

"Okay, Ryan." Skylar's eyes were closed and her words started to slur together. "I like you. You make daddy really happy." Ryan smiled softly and turned to look at the ceiling.

"Your daddy makes me really happy too." Ryan heard the child's even breaths as she drifted to sleep. The room was quiet, leaving Ryan's mind to fill the silence. It wasn't until he heard the front door open that he was knocked out of his thoughts.

Ryan lifted his head, while the child remained motionless on his chest, to see Brendon standing at the doorway. Ryan got an uneasy feeling when Brendon just stood there watching him and Skylar, not moving. "Babe, what's wrong?" Brendon let out a sob that he was holding back, causing Ryan's heart to constrict.