Book Two: KOTLC One-shots and More

Picnic

A/N: I'm deviating from my normal "I only write canon compliant" mantra for this one in order to write an AU wherein our beloved characters are human. Their personalities, however, are still canon compliant.

"My parents are fighting again." Keefe's voice sounded dejected and hollow.

Sophie could hear them. Even over the phone, even though she was sure Keefe was upstairs in his room far away from his parents, she could make out indistinct raised voices.

"I'm sorry," she told him in a soft voice. "Are you going to leave the house? Do you want to come over here? Or are you going to Fitz's?"

"I really don't want to have to walk past them and get caught in the line of fire," he told her with a sigh. "But...I bet I could slip out my window and climb down the tree!" His voice seemed to perk up at the thought. "Then I could just walk to your house. Going to Fitz's would require driving and if my dad hears me starting my car he may come out and yell at me instead of at my mom."

"Don't do that, what if you fall and break your leg?!"

"I love that you're concerned for my wellbeing, Foster, but I've done it loads of time when I wanted to sneak out. I'll be fine." She could hear the sound of his window being shoved open. "I'm going to need both hands for this, though. I'll see you in a few."

Keefe lived just around the corner, so it didn't take him long. Sophie's adoptive parents didn't seem all that surprised when she told them he was coming over. But then, Grady and Edaline had met Gisela and Cassius, and Sophie knew they hadn't been impressed, so she knew they didn't blame Keefe for wanting to spend as little time at home as possible.

"Want to go for a walk?" Keefe asked when she opened the door. "I'm too jittery to sit still right now."

"Sure," Sophie said, glancing at Grady for confirmation before agreeing to leave the house.

"You guys have fun today," Grady told them. "But Edaline and I will be leaving pretty soon and won't be back until late. You know the rules--no being alone in the house with a boy--so if you guys come back here, you need to just hang out in the back yard, okay?"

"Sounds good." Sophie hugged them both. "Have a good...well...have a good time." She wasn't sure what else to say.

"They're going to visit Jolie's grave, aren't they?" Keefe asked as they made their way down the driveway and began walking toward the neighborhood park across the street from the Ruewens' house.

Sophie nodded. "Yeah."

Their daughter Jolie had been killed in a house fire a few years before they'd adopted Sophie. They'd been immediately drawn to Sophie, who had also lost her family in a wildfire when one swept through San Diego. She'd been with them for almost six years now--since she was twelve--and they had been really good for each other.

Nothing could undo the trauma they'd all endured, but they managed to help each other through it.

Keefe reached for her hand. "Are you sure you don't want to go with them?" He asked. "I bet they'd just let me hang out at your house and wait for you to get back."

"No, it's fine," she told him, squeezing his hand gently.

They were just friends, but they'd grown really close in the nearly six years she'd known him, and occasionally holding hands when one of them was upset had become fairly routine for them.

They knew how it probably looked to other people, but that didn't matter.

Even if Keefe was really cute.

Even if he was probably her absolute favorite person in the world.

Even if he flirted with her a lot--because Keefe just was a big flirt.