KOTLC Sokeefe One-Shots, Alternate Endings, etc

AU/AE: Stellarlune 37 (Keefe POV) Part 4

It felt oddly surreal to leap back to Havenfield after several weeks away.

But the way Edaline was openly and genuinely happy to see Keefe again meant more to him than she could know.

Or maybe she did know.

Good moms were like that sometimes.

Or so he assumed.

As they stood there talking, Keefe could feel Foster's mood fluctuating.

Waves of shame, then embarrassment, then desire kept wafting through the air toward him.

And he understood.

Because part of him wanted to kick himself for the way he'd handled things in that hotel. But another part of him wished he could find a way to sneak her to his apartment tonight.

Whether it was out of a desire to be intimate again, or because he simply wanted to hold her as they slept, he didn't really know. It was probably a little bit of both.

But he knew they couldn't do that.

And he knew this whole situation was awkward now, trying to pretend everything was normal when really, their whole world had shifted.

And Foster was clearly struggling to act normal.

So, to lighten the mood, Keefe winked at her and blew her a kiss behind Edaline's back.

He listened as they discussed an irritated Sandor, and Keefe knew he'd have Ro's wrath to deal with, too, when she found out he was back.

At least Sandor only punished Foster with lectures.

Keefe laughed and joked with Edaline and promised to come back and have breakfast with them in the morning.

He had a feeling that he was going to be spending as much time at Havenfield as possible from now on.

Edaline conjured them mallowmelt and bottles of Youth.

Both were the best things he'd ever tasted, especially after weeks of human food and water.

"Wow, I missed good food," he said. "Remind me never to leave again."

"I'm going to hold you to that," Sophie said quietly. "And we went through that tray fast. I didn't realize how hungry I was."

Keefe raised one eyebrow at her and brought a hand up to stroke her cheek. "We worked up quite the appetite earlier," he reminded her.

He felt her mood shift at his touch, and was simultaneously proud and ashamed.

He let out a low laugh and gave her a sad smile. "See, this is exactly why we shouldn't have slept together tonight. We're going to want to keep doing it and resisting will be difficult."

Sophie nodded. "But we are committed to being together," she told him. "And hopefully we don't have to wait long."

Hopefully not. They just had to make sure they really were ready for this step. And waiting until marriage wouldn't be that big of a deal, not when he planned to marry this girl as soon as he could.

"People won't understand," he told her. "We literally went from confessing our feelings to me promising I'll propose to you in the course of just a couple of hours."

"I know. But we also went from first kiss to jumping in bed together in about that same time span, so...we don't seem to do things the usual way. But...this has been years in the making. And it's not like we don't know each other, know what we're getting into."