Trust Me - a Sophitz story

Part 6

I forgot to update yesterday, sorry! Thanks to everyone who takes the time to read and comment nice things on this story! This chappie is dedicated to lilyshowsfanfic for the encouragement of Sophitz!

Chapter 6:

At dawn, the light began to seep through the gauzy curtains the covered the wide bay windows of Everglen's living room. Trying to ignore the bright light, Sophie rolled closer to the warm, comforting object next to her, only to sleepily realize it was Fitz. Too comfortable to contemplate moving away, and still too sleepy to remember Bianca and Dex were there too, she eventually fell back asleep, her face buried in Fitz's chest, her head resting on his arm.

Unfortunately for Sophie's perfect moment, Bianca woke up first. After fixing her hair, Bianca leaned down and gently whispered in Sophie's ear, "Awww! You guys look so cute!"

"Huh-what?" muttered Fitz, awoken slightly by his sister's voice, but not enough to realize his surroundings.

"Go back to sleep Fitz," Bianca scolded quietly. "You'll wake your girlfriend."

"My...? Oh... Sophie... mmmkay..."

Laughing at the sleepy stupidity of her brother, Bianca crept to her room, grabbed a book she had been assigned for her vanishing session at Foxfire, and padded softly back down the stairs. As she walked back into the living room and settled on the couch, Sophie began to stir.

"What the... oh... morning, Fitz," Sophie mumbled. She smiled at his resting face, still slightly confused in his sleep, and gently kissed him on the lips. Gently, for a half second, maybe a second, but still enough to send electricity through her whole body, and wake Fitz up. When his lips curled into a smile as she leaned back in his arms, she transmitted, "I know you're awake, Fitz."

"How could you tell?" Even his mental voice sounded sleepy but comfortable, and somehow warm and comforting.

"You smiled."

"Oh. Well, I'm going back to sleep."

"Nope."

"Sophie...."

"You don't have to move, but we are going to talk about last night."

"What about it?"

"When you started yelling at Keefe? I know we talked about it as a group, but that's an awful lot of guilt for someone who claims he's fine."

"I am fine. Maybe not good, but I'm not going to break. You don't have to worry about me."

"Yes I do," she transmitted softly. "And we will be revisiting this conversation." This time, her transmission had a surprising amount of force to it, and Fitz nodded his head into her long blonde hair.

"Fine."

"Guys, I can tell you're both awake. Also, Edaline owes me 30 lusters now!"

"Bianca?"

"Surprise! I saw that kiss, too! Eeekkkk! You're so so cute!!"

"Okay," Sophie said, attempting to climb out of Fitz's arms and onto her feet, "That's enough making fun of us, Bianca. Fitz, let go!"

"Nope!"

"Bianca, excuse me to deal with my idiot boyfriend."

"Did you just call me your boyfriend?"

"Should I know how to answer that question?"

"Sophie, you can stop looking so nervous. I'm pretty sure that was the greatest compliment I could ever have gotten. Still not so sure about the idiot part, though."

"Oh, you're definitely an idiot. My idiot, though."

"Yup, you're never getting up now."

Instead of dignifying him with a response, however, Sophie simply rolled over until she was at the end of his reach and, as he pulls her back towards him, she tickled his stomach, until they were both laughing, engaged in full-out tickle warfare. As they were giggling at, teasing, and generally flirting with each other, Dex began to wake up, just in time to witness the epic conclusion to their morning tickle fest.

As Sophie tried to escape Fitz, she nearly made it to her feet, before he wrapped an arm around her waist, bringing her down, mostly on top of him, and kissing her squarely on the mouth. Sophie stiffened for a second, then relaxed, letting her arms wrap around Fitz, before pulling away and transmitting, "You are adorable, but I want more sleep, and sleep wins."

"I just can't get a break around here! Fine, go back to sleep. I'll be waiting," Fitz teased, out loud, causing a curious eyebrow from Bianca, but no relation from the slightly angry, but generally amused Dex, who was willing to put up with Sophitz if it meant Sophie would actually sleep at night.

Bianca, who had watched the whole episode, shouted across the room, "I bet if you knew this would happen, you would've told him a lot sooner, Sophie!"

Sophie who was snuggling back int Fitz's warm chest, and Fitz, who generally disliked his sister in the mornings, shouted in unison, "Shut up Bianca," in a mostly good-natured way before Fitz tightened his arms around Sophie, and Sophie closed her eyes again.

Although it was just after dawn, three of the four friends and the two goblins were now awake. Knowing how little sleep Sophie normally got, Dex and Bianca sat down across from Fitz, who was still on the floor with the now asleep Sophie, and began to talk quietly.

"Why did Keefe flip out last night?" Dex questioned softly, not missing the angry lines that etched Fitz's faces when his ex-best friend's name was spoken.

"I think it was a combination of not being invited, not being trusted after the Neverseen, being pushed too far, and...," here Bianca paused, looking at her brother and his sleeping Cognate, "Sophitz."

"You're saying he was jealous," That was Fitz, speaking in even lower tones than the other two, aware that Sophie's ear was less that 8 inches from his mouth.

"I'm saying we all know he liked or even likes, Sophie. She was the oblivious one in that situation. Maybe it was just the last straw."

"Dex might be right," conceded Bianca, "But there's got to be something bigger that we're missing. Maybe he's fighting with his dad again?"

"I though Lord Cassius was being nicer to Keefe, since his mom... you know," Dex looked honestly lost, and Fitz suddenly became aware of how early it really was.

"I think we should all try for a few more hours of sleep, and talk about it with Sophie when she wakes up."

"Good idea," came Della's voice from the shadowy doorway. "You all look like you could use a few more hours of sleep, and you wouldn't want to wake up Sophie, Fitz." She walked slowly away, stopping a few paces from the door to say, "You need each other more than ever now," before actually walking away, or at least they assumed, as she was shifting in and out of visibility. As she went, she looked back and winked at her son, which cause Fitz to flush a deep red, and Bianca and Dex to erupt into loud laughter.

"What?" Sophie murmured sleepily.

"Go back to sleep, Sophie."

"Fitz?"

"Yeah?"

"Stay?"

"Of course. I'm right here, Sophie. I'm always right here." While they had this exchange, Dex and Bianca were setting up on the couches to go back to sleep, but a quick look from Bianca told him she had overheard his conversation. Deciding not to care, Fitz hugged Sophie closer and fell deeply asleep for the first time in weeks.