UNLOCKED, kotlc

Chapter 59

"Foster?"  Keefe asked quietly, his eyes blinking a few times before focusing on her face.  "What are you doing here?"

"Just came to visit you,"  Sophie lied, waving at the Healing Center walls.  She forced a fake smile as she asked, "How you feeling?"

Keefe ignored her.  "It wasn't your fault."

"What?"

"Me.  Dying," Keefe repeated awkwardly.  "It wasn't your fault.  Isn't that why you look so...?"

"Oh- Yes, yes that's exactly why," Sophie stammered. "Er... thank you."

"Your welcome," Keefe said flatly, the conversation dying.

Sophie stared at him before asking, "Er... how long's Elwin keeping you on bed rest?" 

Keefe shrugged and then winced. "I don't know. I feel fine, but he's convinced that I still need to stay longer."

"You broke my record," Sophie told him, smiling. "I've only almost died- you actually died, and then almost died after that."

Keefe pointed to the two pictures of them in their humiliating Foxfire midterms costume that Elwin had hung up to commemorate all the times they had both almost died- sometimes it didn't seem as funny as other days.

"How's the Fitzer doing?" Keefe asked, crossing his feet at the edge of his cot and taking a swig of his Bottle of Youth that lay tottering dangerously on the edge of his nightstand. "Has he heard about...us?"

Sophie's heart melted the sheet of uncomfortable awkwardness that had been growing between them.

Us. Sophie liked that word.

"He... er... doesn't know," she admitted quietly.  "I couldn't work up the guts to tell him.  But I think he'll be mad at me because... he's Fitz."

"And is the fact that he's 'Fitz' as you told me, make it worse?" Keefe asked her.  "Because for the record, you were unavailable by the time I came along."

"I've always loved you," Sophie whispered, sinking down on his cot.  "It just.. took me a while for my brain to catch up to that."

Keefe smirked, which gave her the courage to ask, "How long have you liked me?"

"I.. don't know. I liked you as soon as I saw you, but I didn't.. I wasn't really sure until we ran off to the Black Swan and you helped me out like that and..." his voice cracked. Sophie knew the feeling- even after all this time, they were still fighting.

Still planning.

Still battling.

Still losing, Sophie thought, bitterly.

"Hey," Keefe told her, taking her hand in his. Sophie looked at their fingers intertwined. "It's going to be okay."

Sophie leaned over and kissed him, sending a tinging through her lips that she knew she'd never be able to get rid of as held up her home crystal.

"I hope so."

____________

"Dad?" Sophie asked tentatively, pulling open the door. "Mom? I.. kinda have something to tell you guys. About me. And.... Keefe."

Grady's eyes narrowed with suspicion- or anger? -and Edaline just whispered, "Of course," and guided her over to the table, conjuring up a chair for her to sit on.  Sophie noticed the bit of badly restrained excitement in her adoptive mom's expression and rolled her eyes.

"I.. kinda woke him up. By saying something," Sophie continued, trying to look anywhere else but Grady's hard stare.

"Would you like to tell us, young lady, what that something was?" Grady tapped his fingers on the table and raised an eyebrow when she hesitated.

"I..." her voice caught in her throat as Edaline looked more hopeful than ever and Grady looked like he was both deflating and inflating at the same times.

She tried to channel Keefe's confidence as she told them, "I said that I loved him."

Grady fell backwards, knocking over his chair and toppling onto the floor, and Edaline made a noise that sounded suspiciously like a muffled, "So cute!"

"And did you mean that?" Edaline asked, smiling at her warmly.

"Yes."

"And what did he say?" Grady demanded, pulling up his chair with more ferocity than necessary. 

"He said that he loved me too," Sophie told him shakily.

Edaline whispered something into his ear and Sophie was fidgeting so hard that her knuckles turned white with concentration. Finally, after what seemed like eternity, Grady just leaned back in his chair muttering,

"That boy," his voice sounding more thoughtful than accusing. "My daughter is dating that boy."

And then Sophie hurried up to her bedroom before he could change his mind.

S okeefe rocks!

O nly Keefe has awesome hair!

K eefe is life / awesome / my secret crush / perfect for Sophie (choose one, idk)

E veryone should love Keefe

E ven if you're a Fitzphie shipper just be Sokeefe it makes life a lot easier

F itz, you are so wrong for Sophie, please just be less rude and anger issue-y (lol, trying to make my Fitz-berating clean- it's HARD!)

E ach and every person LOVE KOTLC AND LOVE KEEFE!

If you didn't notice, the first letter of each line spells SOKEEFE! :)