written in scars || father lrh (au)

chåpter ëlëvëñ

"Daddy?" I felt two small hands press themselves to my shoulder. Sitting up and bringing my fingers to my eyes, I brushed over my eyelids and opened them to gaze at Leilani. She stood there quietly, but there was a hint of fear in her wide eyes that matched mine.

Sighing softly, I reached forward and engulfed her in my arms, raising her up onto my lap. She rested her forehead against my shoulder, her eyelashes tickling the skin above my collarbone.

"What's wrong, Eila?" I spoke groggily.

She opened her mouth to speak repeatedly, but dismissed herself with a whisper of, "It was probably nothing."

I frowned.

"Eila, I don't care how stupid it sounds, okay? You can tell me." She bit her lip, and then pulled her head back to look up at me, blonde hair shifting over her shoulders.

"It's just that... Well I woke up from a bad dream, a-and I thought I heard someone downstairs." She muttered. I tensed slightly, sucking in a deep breath.

"C'mon - I'll go check for you." I smiled down at her. She needed to feel safe. She slowly nodded, and with her behind me, gripping to the hem of my shirt, we went downstairs. I took a loose rail pole from the cupboard (that I'd been meaning to fit to the wall for a while now), just incase there really was someone downstairs.

Her knuckles tightened around my shirt, and I stopped to look down at her under my arm. Noticing that my movement had ceased, she hid her face against her fists. Almost as if it came by natural instinct, I took my left arm (the arm above her that wasn't holding the pole, that is) and gently ran my fingertips through her strands of golden sand. I knelt down infront of her, and finally being unable to let myself question anything, engulfed her in my arms.

"It's okay. Everything's okay. You're safe, sweetheart."

And never had I meant anything more.

((okay okay okay so i know it's been a few days since I updated and I'm sorry but I have alot going on rn. Also this chapter is honestly so short and it's just terrible. I might come back and rewrite it later, after I've written a few more chapters. Sorry. xx))