KOTLC Sokeefe One-Shots, Alternate Endings, etc

Alternate Ending: Father (part 2 of 2)

There was a stunned silence that followed.

A slight softening in Tiergan's features.

"I'm tired of pretending," he said quietly.

"Wh--what?" Sophie asked, caught off guard. No way was it going to be that easy.

"I could lie to you," Tiergan said. "And not even an Empath would be able to detect the lie. But what's the point? I know you well enough to know that you always find a way. So I might as well avoid the unpleasant task of trying to hide the truth from a girl who could, if she wanted, force her way into my mind and find the truth for herself."

Sophie didn't know what to say. She looked at Fitz. She was glad he was there, but...she really wanted Keefe.

"I--" but what was there to say? "You? It's really you?"

"The lie was necessary," he told her. "But it doesn't mean--we always knew we'd bring you back, and I'd be brought in to work with you on your Telepathy. I always knew I'd get to spend time with you."

Sophie shook her head, dazed.

She couldn't picture her human dad, when he remembered her, being content to miss her childhood because he'd 'get to spend time' with her when she was older.

She couldn't picture Grady being content with that either. He already talked about how he wished he'd known her as a child, and how he already felt the time slipping away from him, her move into the Elite Towers--still so far away in her mind--looming ever closer in his mind.

Those two were fathers.

But Tiergan?

She couldn't reconcile what he said to what a father should be.

But she also couldn't hate him. She'd always loved Tiergan.

"Can I be excused, please?" she asked instead of confronting him.

Tiergan looked from her, to Fitz, back to her. "Elwin can give you something for shock," he said, almost in a whisper. "But I would please ask that you use discretion. The Council would start watching me more carefully. We can't have the Council turning on the Black Swan again when they've finally decided to work alongside us."

She wanted to be angry that he was requesting anything of her, but...he wasn't asking for his own sake. He was asking on the behalf of the organization they both risked their lives to serve.

She nodded, and turned to leave.

"Help her," she heard Tiergan say to Fitz.

"Sophie?" Fitz asked as he walked with her toward the Healing Center. "Are you okay?"

She shrugged. She felt oddly numb. She supposed she should be grateful for that.

"In some ways, it's not as bad as last time," she said honestly.

"Good," Fitz said, a slight edge to his voice. "That means I'm being nicer to you about it than I was last time."

She reached for his hand, squeezing it gratefully, and let go again. "Thank you."

"How can I help?" he asked as they walked up to the Healing Center door. "Want me to get Keefe? Or do you want to transmit to him? Actually, I'm surprised we didn't pass him on the way here. I figured he'd be ditching."

"I asked him not to get detention," she remembered, leaning up against the wall, feeling dizzy. "I bet he stayed in session rather than risk getting caught ditching."

Fitz grinned. "You're already a good influence on him, then."

She smiled, though she knew the smile didn't quite reach her eyes. "I'll transmit to him. It'll be faster."