Kotlc Sleepover

Chapter 21: The End

Here we are at the end, folks. To everyone who has stayed with me through this, tysm, and to everyone who's new, welcome!!

I know this chapter is very very very late (anyone remember my new year deadline? Yeah, me neither. . . ) but I sincerely hope you enjoy.

Hopefully everything wraps up nicely!! I know I didn't go into a lot of detail for some things, but I'm hoping that adds to the "finality" tone :)

That being said, thank you so much, and please do enjoy and consider following <3

Sophie

Days passed slowly when she was with Keefe.

It was the most peculiar thing, because normally Sophie was rushing rushing rushing and mornings and evenings flew by in a haze of speed. Everything blurred together and all that remained was a vague sense of time passing. Not a true acknowledgement of days gone, but a thin, tightly veiled understanding.

Not anymore.

Seeing him, this amazing guy she hadn't known she liked, lounging in her house, slowed everything down. It froze her, in a way, when she saw him drinking coffee or wearing sleep clothes or letting the early sun kiss his skin.

And he only lived with her a short time.

Only while the Tribunal went through, only while Elwin filed for adoption and waited for the proper papers. A month, maybe a little more, and he was moving out and taking some of her with him.

And despite the slowness Sophie's mind felt, everything had been. . .hard, in a way Sophie wasn't quite used to.

She wasn't accustomed to finding Keefe mid panic attack in his room, or hearing him sob himself awake from a nightmare. She wasn't used to Keefe shying away from touch, flinching at noise, though now many things made sense in a way they would not have before.

And that's what it was. A before.

And an after.

This was their after, she knew, but it wasn't a bad thing.

The things that had brought them there were. But not the whole concept of "after" in itself.

Because before Keefe had confessed in the worst possible way what was going on, he was with them. Before he had accepted help with shaking hands, everyday was filled with hurt. Before he let his walls come crashing down with a rumble like thunder, he was alone, he was an island in a raging sea.

But after.

After he had admitted, after Sophie had grabbed his hand and refused to let go, things were getting better.

Slowly. One shaky step at a time.

An after wasn't necessarily a bad thing.

But it could be hard. It was hard.

She'd had to explain everything to Grady and Edaline, of course. They took the news about as well as she could've guessed: with sympathy and anger and confusion rocking their grief-ridden frames.

"He doesn't deserve that," Edaline had said, fragile voice piercing the air.

Grady had pulled her closer with one hand. "No, he doesn't," he would agree quietly, shaking his head. "He doesn't."

And Sophie would fight back tears as she continued explaining.

Explanations were hard, doubly so when you aren't sure how much to share. And Sophie felt lost, felt like she was lying when she withheld and showing off too much when she told.