KOTLC Sokeefe One-Shots, Alternate Endings, etc

Father: part 3 (Elwin POV)

It still gave Elwin a little thrill of pride when Sophie willingly sought his medical help outside of emergencies, given how frightened she'd been of him in the beginning.

The fact that she walked in with Keefe wasn't at all surprising.

And he supposed the fact that they walked in holding hands really wasn't all that surprising either.

He'd suspected this for a long time.

Still, he couldn't help but raise his eyebrows at them and ask, "when did this happen?" As he looked at their clasped hands.

Sophie looked pleased and slightly embarrassed.

Keefe looked pleased and incredibly proud.

"Oh, she showed up where I was hiding in the Forbidden Cities and practically dragged me back home and we've pretty much been together ever since," Keefe said, winking at Sophie, who rolled her eyes at him.

Elwin snorted. "That's our feisty girl. And she must be a good influence on you if you're getting to school so early."

"Well...I didn't get a lot of sleep last night," Sophie admitted as she and Keefe sat down side by side—on the same bed—and continued to hold hands.

What else was new? This girl's cells were perpetually exhausted.

"And I wondered if there was anything you could give me that would help me get through the day," she finished. "But start with Keefe, his is more pressing."

Elwin had already put on his iridescent spectacles and was about to look Sophie over, but he hesitated.

"It's just a headache," Keefe insisted. "I can wait. I probably would've just suffered through if I hadn't wanted to make sure I could convince Foster to come in."

So he started with Sophie. And it was clear that she was tired, but her cells didn't show the levels of exhaustion he was used to seeing.

She must be sleeping better, overall, than she used to.

He couldn't help but wonder if maybe things would start getting better. If the world was slowly going back to some sort of order, a new normal, another period of peace. He sure hoped so—for Sophie's sake as well as everyone else's.

He didn't know how many more times she could cheat death, and he feared the time he would not be able to save her.

He'd known from the start that this girl was destined to shake things up, but hadn't been prepared for the number of times she'd face horror, trauma, and death.

"This is not a regular substitute for proper sleep," he explained as he handed her an elixir. "There's a reason I haven't given it to you before, even though you've been so sleep deprived. I wanted to focus on making sure you got the sleep you needed—and to make sure you were finding a way to get your nightmares under control."

The horrors she had faced were bad enough. He hated that she had to relive them while sleeping too.

She nodded. "That's been getting better, and I've been sleeping better too. Just...not last night."

"Everything okay?"

She certainly didn't look unhappy.

And she was still holding Keefe's hand.

They seemed to have found something together that he still, in all his years, had yet to find.

"Just...a lot on my mind." Her free hand reached up to tug out an eyelash—some strange nervous habit he'd noticed before—but Keefe reached out and stopped her.