ADOPTED BY PHAN

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

Two weeks later, both Dan and Iris are out of the hospital.

Iris has been diagnosed with Dysthymic Disorder and PTSD. They've talked with Phil about getting her a psychiatrist and putting her into therapy, but he declined their offers. He knows that therapy doesn't help, and a psychiatrist will only prescribe useless medication. If she's going to get better, she has to do it on her own.

That sounds quite cruel, but it makes sense to Phil. Iris doesn't need bottles of pills and strangers with notepads of her personal information to heal. All she needs is support from loved ones and determination for recovery, and she'll get better. He knows she will.

Dan - on the other hand - can't quite wrap his head around what happened. He's well aware of it now, but he's in a constant state of denial. He refuses to believe his daughter is following him down his path. It's as if he can see her shadow behind him - sense her presence there - but he won't turn his head to check. No matter how much noise she makes.

And even though he knows it's getting darker on that path, he can't bring himself to turn around and walk her down a brighter route. Because he's stuck walking this lonely road; too busy in a trance of constant fear for her own well-being, to actually take a step back and pull her out of this. Whatever this is.

"Dad? Daddy?" Iris speaks up, bringing attention to her presence in Dan and Phil's bedroom doorway. They would normally be in the lounge, but due to Dan's recent incident, he's on bed-rest.

"Yeah?" Phil asks, both him and Dan looking up. Iris looks smaller than before. Not physically; but mentally. The two men can clearly see now just how vulnerable she really is. She's always been this way, though you'd really had to have witnessed the worst with her to finally see it. There's no telling if that's a good or bad thing.

Her tiny voice asks, "Can I be in Phil Is Not On Fire 6?"

"I don't kno-" Dan gets cut off by a small knock at their front door.

Iris looks down, taking a second to check her outfit. She wears a pair of black skinny jeans, a purple Dan and Phil t-shirt, and - of course - odd socks. She makes her way to the door, not bothering to look through the peep hole before opening it.

Standing in front of her is none other than Miss Skyelar Pereira. Iris blinks a few times, staring at the white-blonde in her doorway. She wears her black pair of worn out Converse, a Jack Skellington t-shirt, and white skinny jeans that have randomly placed black rips in them. Skye offers her a small smile, her dimples faintly appearing on her cheeks.

A second of silence washes over them as Iris tries to find her voice. She looks into Skye's dark blue eyes, searching for the confidence to say what's on her mind. She drops her graze to the ground, shaking her head in disbelief and allowing a soft giggle to escape her lips, before looking up through her eyelashes and whispering, "I think I'm in love with you, too."

They stare at each other a little longer, Skye's smile growing teeth and filling her eyes with happiness. Iris copies the gesture, staring at the ground again as her grin grows wider than the Cheshire Cat's.

"What do we do now?" Iris whispers.

"Whatever you want."

"I want you."

"I'm already yours."

I'm sorry this chapter is so short! Oh my gosh I feel so horrible because I took so long to update and now that I have it's just so shitty and honestly reading it over I find it so corny and I'm just sorry, okay! School has been so stressful - especially since it's my first year in high school - and I just have no friends and so much homework and oh gosh this is a nightmare. I'll try to update as much as I can, though. Thanks for putting up with me

COMMENT WHAT YOU WOULD LIKE TO HAVE HAPPEN IN THIS STORY! Srsly I don't want to end up with writers block I hear it's awful.

*Elsa voice* Okay byeeeeeeeeeeeee