Modern Family

Arms Wide Open

Something was on her mind.

He could tell because she said almost nothing at breakfast. Generally, Savannah was the personification of sunshine, even in the early hours, so when Jace walked into the kitchen to find her eating her Cheerios and her greeting had been nothing more than a grunt and a nod in his direction, he became immediately worried.

They ate breakfast in silence, which never happened, before she excused herself from the table to get ready for school. His brow furrowed as he washed out his bowl and tea cup, thinking that after fifteen years of being a parent, he really should be better at handling these situations. As the youngest member of New November, no one expected him to be the first to have kids, so when he announced to the world that he had a daughter, there were a lot of murmurings of people doubting his parenting abilities, so he did his best to give the illusion that it came naturally.

But the truth was that he was sort of figuring it out as he went along. He had been thrust into fatherhood so unexpectedly that he didn't really have time to prepare how he would handle difficult situations. Luckily, Savannah had turned out to be a blessing of a child who hardly ever complained. Being raised by her father and three uncles meant she'd learned to be self-sufficient when it came to things that they knew nothing about.

However, Jace didn't want her to think that she couldn't always be completely open and honest with him, that he wouldn't always love her unconditionally. He had dated on and off while she was growing up, but none of his relationships seemed to make it past three months and eventually he stopped looking because he knew that the only girl who would ever truly hold his heart was his daughter. The other boys had all found their soulmates, moved out and settled down and started their own families, and Jace still had Savannah, the only soulmate he would ever need.

She came downstairs ten minutes later, her golden curls tamed and slicked back into a bun on top of her head as usual. She so often went from school straight to ballet that she didn't think it made sense to switch hairstyles in between and sometimes even went so far as to wear pink tights and her leotard beneath her school uniform.

Head held high and spine straight, just like Miss Belinda had taught her, she called out to him from the bottom of the stairs. "Dad, can we go? I'm gonna be late for school."

"Yeah, coming." He cleared his throat to keep his voice from cracking before slipping on his shoes, grabbing his keys and wallet, and following out to their shiny black SUV, awed at the way she always seemed to look as though she was walking on air. He thought it was hilarious that his daughter had turned out to be so grateful. Much like her, at fifteen, he'd been all long lanky limbs, but he'd often find himself tripping over his own feet. Savannah, however, never stumbled.

They drove in silence for about five minutes, another strange occurrence, until Jace could no longer stand the silence. He decided to break the tension by starting a casual conversation.

"Busy day ahead?"

She shrugged, staring out the window, her fingers playing with the pearl earring poked through her right ear, the only jewelry she ever wore. "Pretty normal. No exams or homework due and I have ballet after school."

"How's that going?" Perhaps her mood was dance related.

She brightened slightly at the mention of her passion, turning her head to look at him, the corners of her lips turned upwards into a smile. "Really good, actually. I finally got up to five fouettes.

Amazingly, he actually knew what that meant.

Ballet had started out as a hobby for Savannah, a way for her to release her abundant amount of energy. However, she had fallen in love with it, so Jace had learned to fall in love as well. He couldn't count the number of hours he'd spent on the internet after she'd fallen asleep, researching dancers and positions and steps and now, if you asked, he could probably tell you the names of every prima ballerina who'd ever danced in Swan Lake with relative ease.