Confessions and Realizations - A Sokeefe Story

Chapter 4 - Elwin Knows All

Keefe's POV:

"Hey, Elwin!" Keefe went for a playful tone but his voice was still so hoarse it sounded like he was choking. Wow, I really need to work that out, Keefe thought.

"Am I seeing things?" Elwin looked shocked, but soon recovered and said "Well, I have to get started immediately! Lots of elixirs coming your way Mr. Sencen."

"Please don't call me Mr. Sencen. I really can't wait to get rid of that name." Hopefully replacing it with Foster, Keefe added in his head. 

"Also, do I really have to take those elixirs?" Keefe was remembering all of the gross looking vials Sophie and Fitz had to swallow when they were recovering from their echoes. That reminded him about Sophie and Fitz. Were they dating again? He knew they had broken up right before their last battle with the Neverseen because of Sophie being unmatchable. Keefe had thought it was stupid and had spent as much time as humanly possible trying to make her feel better. He secretly hoped they weren't together because of how he felt-

"Unfortunately, there's no other option." Elwin's voice brought him out of his thoughts. "You have been in a coma for 2 weeks, Keefe."

"Yeah, Foster told me that much. Do you know how bad it was?" Keefe tried to hide his anxiety because of how broken Sophie's emotions felt. He didn't want her to have to worry about him on top of all her other troubles that he was feeling for her. 

"Well, I can't be too certain, but if my guess is right, your coma was caused by your body's reaction to you manifesting another ability. Now, Mr. Sencen, please answer me honestly." Elwin's voice suddenly got very serious which was unlike him. "Do you have any idea what this new ability might be?"

Oh. Keefe thought he was going to ask something worse. This question was easy to answer. "No, I really haven't felt any different. But my guess is that it might be just an enhancement of my current ability. Mommy Dearest seemed fixed on the idea that my empathy is my legacy."

"Okay, thank you for your honesty." Elwin flashed some light over him, and reported that everything was looking normal.

"Ms. Foster, I'm going to have to ask you to go to your classes now. Unless of course, on your way to class you happened to feel very ill and had to go to the healing centre for a check up." Elwin winked at her. Keefe loved how easygoing he was.

"Yeah, Foster, I'm sure skipping, sorry, missing class because you're sick is a perfectly legal thing to do." Keefe gave a lopsided smirk, silently inviting her to stay. He really hoped she would, because he really needed some team Foster-Keefe bonding time. Probably mostly to console her, but anything was something. Plus, he enjoyed when she got flustered because of him. 

"Fine, I'll start heading over to class. But I can't promise I'll stay away for long, I was already feeling a little funny this morning." Sophie winked back at them, in on the joke.

She left, walking swiftly out the door.

Elwin came over and stared at Keefe.

"What?" Keefe asked.

"You're gonna have to tell her eventually. You know that right?"

"I-I have no idea what you're t-talking about." Keefe stammered.

"How nice it must be to be young and in love." Elwin winked at him and smiled.

Thankfully for Keefe, that was the moment Sophie came in, pretending to clutch her stomach.

"Oh Elwin, I think I ate something bad!" Sophie fake gagged. "Okay, just kidding, I had to go tell Lady Galvin that I was heading here 'cause I felt sick."

Keefe couldn't help staring into her beautiful brown eyes. He quickly recovered and joked "Yeah, no one messes with the Lady Fos-Boss when she feels sick! We all know how bad her projectile vomit is."

Of course, she blushed right on cue.

He remembered one time she had an allergic reaction to some Limbium and had barfed all over Fitz. But of course, Fitz had been okay with that, because he thought the Fitzphie was meant to be, and that he would always support Sophie and blah blah blah...but look where that got them. There he went again, remembering all of the Fitzphie moments.

Thankfully, Elwin could tell they wanted some alone time, and he started walking out. "So I'll leave you two alone to talk, but Sophie, make sure Keefe takes those elixirs. You can't escape it, Keefe."

Keefe had a feeling that Elwin's statement had a double meaning. 

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"You heard him Keefe, drink up!" Sophie looked like she was enjoying herself.

He groaned but chugged all of the medicine, one after the other. After downing the last one, he burped, earning a laugh from Sophie.

After Elwin was out of sight and earshot, Sophie sat down on the side of Keefe's bed.

"Keefe, are you okay?" He could tell by her tone of voice that she meant mentally as well as physically. Sophie said it so tenderly that he had to resist crying into her shoulder. But that's not what was meant to happen. He was supposed to be the one she could cry on.

Evading the question, all he said was, "Could you help me sit up?"

"Of course, if you're up for it." She was still looking at him like he was a wounded animal. Sophie offered him her hand, and he took it gratefully.

"Oh, I'm so stiff!" Keefe was surprised at how hard it was to move, even though he had been lying there for 2 weeks. "Ow!" he whined.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Sophie just wouldn't give up.

"Would you feel better if I said yes or no? I know how much you love consoling me!" Keefe laughed and quirked one of his eyebrows.

"You're impossible," she scolded him.

Keefe was now in an upright position, with Sophie sitting across from him on the bed. He desperately wanted to talk about how he felt, but he didn't want to disturb her personal life if anything significant had happened while he was asleep. He decided to push his feelings down and ask about her instead.

"So what did I miss out on?" he asked, serious for once. "Is everyone else okay?"

"Well, Biana and Tam sort of started dating about a week ago..." Sophie grinned slyly at him.

"What???" Keefe was pretty surprised. "Tammy Boy got a girlfriend before me?"

"I guess so. Anyway, let me finish." She was doing this cute thing where she bit her bottom lip while deep in thought. "Umm, yeah, that's pretty much the only news." She looked pretty convincing, but his empath skills told him she was hiding something.