"I know what we are going to do today" Ryder said looking at Skylar, smiling at her willingly for the first time, and it didn't go unnoticed.

"Oh really?" she said, pretending to be somewhat reluctant, but she really wasn't.

"You are going to make a bucket list" Ryder took out a pen and a notebook, which he bought in the hospital shop downstairs.

"A bucket list?" She looked perplexed.

"Yes...and hopefully we can get to cross off the majority on there, unless it says something crazy like: Going to Africa or Brazil" he smiled.

She was quiet for a while, and he wondered if he had made a mistake?

"A bucket list, isn't that something you do when you think you are dying?" she asked.

"No!" He said.

"I didn't mean it like that, I really didn't...I wasn't trying to indicate your time is up...like you are in a hurry or anything like that! Lots of people make bucket lists, you know...to feel fulfilled or something, right? Making sure they aren't missing out, getting to do the things they dream about. I just want to give you that opportunity" He suddenly felt this knot in his stomach.

Something very unfamiliar.

He wasn't used to recognizing, when he stepped on anyone's toes, but he didn't want to hurt Skylar. She wasn't that insignificant to him after all?

"Ryder...I'm just kidding! It's a really sweet idea, it really is. I'm definitely on board" her sweet smile made him exhale heavily. He felt relieved for some reason.

"I just saw how happy you were in the park yesterday, you should be happy like that all the time...seeing things".

"I think, I am just scared" she said.

"I'm never scared" Ryder said truthfully. He wasn't. He had taught himself to block out that particular emotion: Fear...Fear makes you weak.

It makes you vulnerable, and he didn't want to be those things...Being weak...being vulnerable, meant potentially inviting pain in, and he wanted to keep pain out!

Every time some lowlife felt like he needed to discipline the disobedient stepson, Ryder had to protect himself by shutting down. By refusing to let fear take over - and so he didn't.

Every punch made him determined not to show any emotion, and eventually he just went numb. The inevitable side effect being: He just shut down completely.

Letting nothing pass through his defenses, not even love. Ryder had never loved anyone. Except from his dad, and his mom. His dad left...so that's what love does, right?...Love leaves.

No point in loving someone.

They just end up leaving.

He loved his mom, but she let strange guys beat him, use him as a punching bag, and she never kept her promise. She never stopped them. So why trust someone, they never keep their promise anyway, right?

That's the way the human mind works...burnt once...you try to avoid getting burned ever again, and so Ryder chose to keep everyone out.

"Maybe you should make a bucket list too" Skylar said, recognizing a sort of frailty in his demeanor all of a sudden.

"Yeah maybe. Maybe we should make one together" he smiled. Maybe he needed a bucket list too?

She nodded, and so they did.

Skylar and Ryder's bucket list:

1. Road trip

2. Gourmet dinner

3. Concert

4. The prom

5. See a foreign country

6. Taking a chance

7. Performing on a stage

8. Meet someone famous

9. An adventure

10. The fairy tale

"Do you think we'll get to do any of this?" Skylar asked him.

She didn't think Ryder was even serious.

"Of course! Most of it is doable...somehow" Ryder said truthfully, although he usually believed in nothing. But he believed in this, this bucket list gave him something to focus on, and strive for. He wanted to do this for Skylar, and maybe for himself?

Admitting that gave him a sense of hope, something very unfamiliar to him. Hope had left him years ago!

"If we use our imagination" Skylar said jokingly.

"We can do this" she said.

"Exactly!" Ryder laughed.

"Well...that, and if my dad lets me go further than the park. He is very protective you know" she shrugged her shoulders, and let out a heavy moan.

"Your dad. What's he like?" Ryder asked curiously. He wondered about her parents, he had no idea what they were like, but if Skylar was a reflection of them, they had to be pretty incredible.

"You know what he's like!" Skylar said.

"I don't know your dad" Ryder said, wondering what she meant? If she was just talking about the parent concept in general?

He was confused.

"My dad...Dave" she said, as if he should have guessed. She smiled at him, trying to soften the blow, but she couldn't.

"Dave is your dad??" Ryder was taken aback.

He had trouble processing that comment! Skylar was nothing like Dave, they were complete opposites.

She was like a refined scholar, reading old books, and reflecting on life.

Dave? He was like a brutish thug with a dirty motor-mouth. They didn't even look like they were related? Dave was a tower of muscles; naturally tanned; with a pointy nose; blue icy eyes, and a big mouth!

Skylar was petite, pale white, and her eyes a dark hazel.

They didn't share a single feature noticable to him?

He was lost for words.

This was a major shock to him, her news shocked his system to the core.

"Yes...I thought he told you by now? He insisted on keeping it a secret, maybe he felt like you'd be intimidated or something. I mean if you would have known from the beginning, that I was his daughter. Maybe you would have said no" Skylar explained, and to some extend she was right.

If he had known, he was going to read to Dave's daughter, he probably would have said no, but obviously Dave didn't want him to say no?

Knowing about Ryder's past, he still trusted him with his daughter?

Why?

He had no idea.