One Goal Achieved (Patrick Kane)

Donna to the Rescue

-Skylar's POV-

We return to the table and it was a bit obvious they wanted to know what just happened.

"Sorry guys" I apologize sitting down.

"It's not your fault our brother is a dingus" Erica laughs earning a love tap from Pat.

"He is but I love him anyway" I reply tapping his nose.

"God, never let her go" Jessica scoffs.

"I wouldn't dream of it" he replies before kissing my cheek.

We throw out our leftovers and start walking out. "Wait" I scream before running up to a stranger. "Can you please take a picture for me" I ask some teenager and he easily agrees. I hand him my phone and pull everyone in with Patrick on my right and Erica on my left.

"Holy shit, you're Patrick Kane" the kid says.

"I am" he smiles and the kid snaps a picture.

"Can I have a picture too" the kid asks and Pat agrees. I grab his phone and snap the pic. I try to hand it back to him but he refuses. "Why don't you put your number in there" he smirks and Patrick's sister bust out laughing.

Patrick takes the phone out my hand and hands it to the kid. "No can do buddy. She's all mine" he replies dragging me away.

"Thank you" I yell and get in the car.

"You're the only girl I know who would still say thank you after all that" Erica laughs and I shrug.

"He still did me a favor" I reply.

I sit everyone down in the living room then retreat to Patrick's bedroom to collect myself and think of how to do this without having a panic attack. There's a knock on the door and it opens slightly. "It's me" Patrick says before letting himself in. I mean it is his bedroom after all. "Anything I can do to help" he asks sitting next to me on the bed.

"Depends, do you have a time machine" I joke.

"I'm serious" he says. I shake my head and let out a breath.

"Things are just so good right now, I don't what this to change anything. I don't want them to treat me differently or feel bad for me" I say fiddling with my thumbs.

"I can't promise their reaction. But if you want to stop at any time please do" he begs. I nod and he stands up off the bed. I grab his hands as he pulls me up.

"Now or never" he says heading to the living room.

I sit on the table across from everyone and Patrick stands behind me.

"I have something I want... rather need to tell you guys" I start and everyone focus' in real hard. "My father isn't a good man. He wasn't like that at first to be honest. He would always play catch with my older brother and sister and I in the front yard. He loved my mom and told her so every day. We were kind of the perfect family. But when he went overseas to fight in the war, every time he came back things just seem to get worse and worse. It started with yelling at my mom. Then he started abusing her and eventually us. We tried to help him but he insisted he was fine. One night I was having a nightmare and went to confide in my mom. She was my muse through it all. I stopped in the doorway as my parents screamed at each other. I was used to it by this time and usually just waited till it's over. This time my dad pushed her. My dad always attacked her and my mom always defended herself but she was tired. Tired physically and mentally. As she's falling her head cracks on the bed frame and splits open. I scream as loud as I can and my brother, Jake, tries to comfort me. I know my dad didn't mean to but he had just killed my mom right in front of me. She was my everything and I just watch get murdered by my own father. They said it's a accident, they trusted my dad because of all the tours he preformed for the country. Time goes on and things settle down. People felt bad and always gave us things, all I really wanted was my mom. No one believed me when I said he did it, but I was just 6 so I thought maybe I was interpreting wrong. But after a while my dad goes back to his abusive ways, targeting my sister Bri the most. He still abused me but Jake always took care of me and did what he could to protect me without stepping on my dads toes. I'm thankful every day he cared because I probably would have had it so much worse than I did. So instead of me my dad went after Bri. She always told me to be strong but I could see in her eyes she was scared. She was so pretty and loved life, even if my dad was beating every ounce of it out of her. It was Christmas 2002 and I head downstairs after hearing a big thud. I thought that maybe they started opening presents so I skip downstairs excitedly. I look at the Christmas tree and it looked beautiful. The gifts were under the tree neatly tucked under it. I smiled figuring I was overreacting to the sound and decide to grab a glass of water. My father sat staring at a blank screen, red covering him. When I get to the kitchen I see Bri with a knife through her and her blood spilling everywhere. I look back to my dad and scream as loud as possible. Jake comes down and sees the scene before quickly trying to revive my sister as I run to my room. Hours pass and Bri is carted off unresponsive. My dad convinces everyone he is innocent, that he tried saving her but it didn't work. By this time Jake is going ballistic. He storms in my room and packs all my things before driving me to Natalie's. That was the last I've seen of him until the other day. I know he keeps up with me but he said he had to take care of business and that he has to be gone for it to all work out" I explain. I start shaking and Pat attempts to calm me down.

"Breathe" he repeats and I calm down a little.

"Anyway, Natalie became my sister and her parents became mine. We did everything together. People at school would always give me worrisome looks or apologize even though it wasn't their fault. I struggled in high school, it's hard to make friends when half your family is murdered by your dad and it obvious to everyone but the law enforcement. I had a few friends but they all stopped talking to me. They avoided me and I thought it was my fault. Finally one day one of my old friends informed me that all the people I held closest to me was warned by my dad to leave me alone. I'm not sure why but I think he was trying to cut off anyone close to me so that he could do what he wants with me without any hassle. So I stopped talking to people all together. I didn't want them to cross paths with my dad and I didn't want to have anything to do with him either. But Patrick came along and changed everything. I kept telling myself I didn't like him so no one would get hurt. Somewhere along the way I fell in love and keeping it a secret got harder. I was so scared my dad would find out and eventually he did. He tracked me down somehow and followed Patrick and I. He..." I start before choking on my breath.

"You got this. I'm right here" he says holding me.

"He wanted me to go back with him and I freaked. He is capable of unthinkable things and I couldn't take it. I'm supposed to believe everything is taken care of but it's not. All I know is that I love Patrick and I'm not letting him take him away too" I say looking up at him with tears in my eyes. His sisters aren't sure what to say but his mom being awesome, she knew exactly what to say.

-Patrick's POV-

"Honey, you're a strong and beautiful and respectable woman, nothing you told us changes that. The fact you have enough strength to tell us about what happened speaks wonders about your personality. Thank you for trusting us with this information and don't think for a second this changes anything. We all love you the same, if not a little but more now" she says hugging her. Skylar sobs in her arms and I see my sisters tearing up.

"Thank you for understanding. I can't tell you how nice that is to hear" Skylar says calming down.

"Any time dear. How about we eat ice cream and look at the baby pictures I brought of Patrick" my mom says helping her up.

"No no no" I yell but the two disappear into the kitchen.

"Wait so she watched her sister and mother get murdered and she turned out like that" Jessica says pointing to the kitchen.

"She's super smart and Jake took good care of her. What happened to her really sucks but she took it as a learning experience. How people treated her and how people reacted. She knows how things work" I say.

"I guess so. That still is a lot to take in" Erica says.

"I know but I promise when you accept that that is how things ended up you can see just how great Skylar truly is" I insist.

My mom and Skylar come back with ice cream and scrap books as she admired all the baby pictures. It gets late and the girls head to their rooms and I cuddle with Skylar on the couch. "I love you" I remind her.

"Love you too" she says falling asleep in my arms.