KOTLC After Stellarlune-A Sokeefe Story

Baby Time

In an instant, Keefe had managed to find Grady and Edaline to let them know it was time, and made it back to Sophie's side. He pulled out the crystal they'd been given--the one that would leap them directly to the Birthing Center—and off they went.

"It's so weird that this doesn't hurt," Sophie told Keefe sometime later, after a couple of hours of labor. "I can still recall how vivid my human mom's memories were of just how painful childbirth was."

Keefe grinned. "It pays to be an elf," he told her.

"Sure does," she agreed. "I never would have met you if I'd really been human."

Keefe smiled sweetly at her. "That would've been miserable." He leaned in to kiss her. "I can't believe we're about to have a baby."

"You know what still weirds me out?" Sophie asked him.

"Apart from the fact that you're not writhing in pain?"

Sophie laughed. "Yeah. It's weird to me that baby elves are born already talking. Human children don't do that."

"See, it's all about perspective. To me, it seems super weird that humans aren't born already knowing and speaking their own languages."

Within a few hours, Sophie had given birth and completely forgotten her concerns about the weird factor of a baby talking.

Little Emma's sweet "hello" before she fell asleep against Sophie's chest made her heart melt.

Emma, with soft blonde hair and--surprisingly--brown eyes.

"Just like her mama," Keefe whispered. "I'm so glad she got your eyes."

"I'm a little surprised," Sophie admitted. "In humans brown tends to be a dominant eye color, but I figured I was just an anomaly and our kids would still have your eye color."

"This is going to change our whole world," Keefe reminded her. "Now our family line will always have the chance to have brown eyed children, which will spread through the generations."

"That almost makes me sad," Sophie told him. "I kind of like how the elves all have blue eyes."

"Eh, don't worry about it," he told her. "I think that will probably still be the case most of the time, even for our own descendants. Besides, brown eyes will be proof that someone is related to the Mysterious Miss F, and everyone would want that!" He winked at her and then just stared, as though he couldn't get enough of looking at Sophie and Emma together.

And Keefe looked like he'd never seen anything so amazing in his entire life.

They both shed happy tears as they sat in the Birthing Center, a family of three, marveling in the precious beauty that was their little girl.

Then Keefe gently took Emma from Sophie's chest and held her in his arms.

The movement did not wake Emma. She simply continued to sleep, looking right at home in her father's arms.

Keefe was a father. Sophie was a mother. They had a baby--a daughter.

Keefe grinned up at Sophie. "I feel all those swoony feels coming off of you," he said quietly. "But for once I won't tease you for them. I feel them too."

"You don't know how amazing it is, sitting here watching you hold her. It makes me love both of you even more than before." Sophie felt tired, but very happy.

"I know exactly what you mean, because I felt the same watching you hold her," Keefe replied. "The moment the physician handed her to you, and the look on your face..." Keefe's eyes looked wistful. He had to clear his throat before speaking again. "I definitely know what my next painting will be. It'll go right next to the one I made of you and that adorable baby bump a few weeks ago."