Book Two: KOTLC One-shots and More

The Pregnancy (Keefe POV)

A/N: This chapter covers Keefe's perspective of more of Sophie's pregnancy from my main story.

A girl. They were having a girl.

Keefe was going to be a father and he was going to have a daughter.

He loved the sound of that.

Suddenly nine months felt way too long.

Back at Aeternum, he sat beside Sophie on the couch and they discussed names. It didn't take long at all to decide to name her Emma Jolie Sencen.

It was perfect.

Grady and Edaline thought so too. They were so thrilled that they leapt to Aeternum to hug Sophie and Keefe all over again.

It was one of the best days of Keefe's life.

The next few days were equally amazing as they shared the news with their friends. It wasn't until Sophie brought up his dad, insisting that it was time to tell him, that Keefe deflated a little.

"I just...I don't want you to get your hopes up," he told her with a sigh. "Telling my dad isn't going to be like telling anyone else. Even Elwin was excited for us. Mr. Forkle cried a little. Sandor hugged you so tight I thought you might suffocate. But my dad? This will just be average news to him. He won't be excited. He doesn't get excited. And I don't want that to disappoint or hurt you. I want her to be celebrated."

"I understand that," she assured him. "And she will be celebrated. We already have been celebrating. But I mean...it's not like we can keep it a secret. So we might as well offer this small little olive branch and tell him he's going to be a grandfather. Even if he's going to be the most cold, unaffectionate, strange grandfather ever. If we try to hide it from him, it'll just cause more drama when he does find out."

She had a point.

"I guess."

"We can just hail him, if you like. We don't have to make a big thing of it and go see him or anything. In fact, I think we should also hail Oralie and Kenric and tell them."

"Let's do that first then. They'll be happy for us."

And they were. But all too soon, the conversation ended and it was time to hail his dad.

Keefe felt sick to his stomach. But Foster, while not as excited as she'd been to tell everyone else, was also obviously not worried about it like Keefe was. He supposed that was a good thing. His father's lack of enthusiasm wouldn't hurt so much if she wasn't hoping for it.

So Keefe hailed his father.

And chose not to comment on the fact that his father was so clearly surprised to receive a hail from his own son. Cassius had done this to himself—but there was no point in bringing it up, and it definitely didn't fall into the category of celebrating.

"We have some news for you," Keefe told him, plastering a smile on his face. He glanced at Sophie, who smiled encouragingly. "You're going to be a grandpa."

His father's expression was unreadable. "Sophie is pregnant? That is excellent news."

Keefe nodded. "We're having a little girl."

His father smiled—actually smiled—and it even looked like it might be mostly genuine. "Well, congratulations to you both. Have you decided on a name?"

"We're naming her Emma Jolie. Emma was Sophie's human mom's name before the Council relocated her family."

"That's...unconventional. But very fitting, all things considered." His father looked thoughtful. "Congratulations again. I can't wait to meet her."