Chapter 26

                                    

                                          
Sophie opened her eyes, yawning, and turned to Keefe's side. Except Keefe wasn't there. Sophie sat up in the bed, scanning the room. I thought he would be here, she thought to herself, slightly hurt. Something happened last night. Something changed between us. Am I the only one who felt it?, she wondered. 
Sophie pulled herself out of bed and went to the bathroom to change. She was pulling off her tunic to put on a clean one - one that was a bit fancier than most of the others and was a particular shade of ice blue - when she noticed the slight bump in her stomach. Seems that the baby is getting bigger, Sophie thought before blushing slightly. She still couldn't fully process the fact that this baby was not only partially her, but also half Keefe too.
Sophie yawned again before pulling on the other tunic and walking out of the bathroom and to the bedroom door. She started to pull on the handle before pausing. What was going to happen when she went downstairs? What if things really had changed? What if she messed everything up? Sophie shook her head, clearing her thoughts, and opened the door, this time without faltering. 
She went downstairs, looking first in the kitchen and finding no one. She checked outside next, still finding neither Keefe nor any of their three kids. She continued looking throughout the house and property and still couldn't find anyone. She pulled out her imparter and tried hailing Keefe, but the screen remained blank. 
"Keefe?" Sophie called. "Alora? Kenric? Ashton?" 
Silence answered her. 
By this point, Sophie was starting to panic a bit. Her first thought would have been the Neverseen, had it not been for the fact that the Neverseen were toast. And it wasn't like Keefe to go somewhere without telling her. He always told her in some way. Like with his note when he went to the Lost Cities or when he joined the Neverseen. 
Sophie continued to call their names, her worry increasing by the second. Something must have happened, she thought. What if the Neverseen somehow came back? What if Keefe went back to our time and I'm stuck here? What if they're all dead? 
Sophie's breathing started to quicken as she fell to her knees. What if, what if, what if.... 
"No no no no no," she repeated to herself under her breath. "They're fine. Everything's fine. Just breathe. I'm not going to freak out. It's going to be okay. I'm not doing this again. It's okay." 
One small side effect of finally defeating the Neverseen was Sophie's anxiety worsening. She seemed to spiral and panic a lot more than before. And when she did get to the point where it started to resemble an anxiety attack, she would hail Keefe and everything would be fine. But this time, Keefe wasn't there. And Sophie was definitely spiraling. 
Sophie tried to remember all the things Elwin had told her to do, but, in her panicked state, the only thing that came to her mind was the five senses trick. 
"What do you see?" she whispered to herself. "The grass, the sky, the trees, the fl-"
"Hey, Foster! We're back from...." 
Sophie's head snapped to the side as the voice trailed off and she watched the last of the sparkles receed from four forms, one of which was quickly coming closer.
Keefe dropped to the ground beside her a couple seconds later.
 "Sophie, what's wrong? What happened?" he asked softly. 
"Where were you?" she whispered and Keefe's face dawned with recognition as he realized what was going on.
"We were in Altlantis. I'm so sorry, Foster. I didn't mean to scare you. I guess my note wasn't easy enough to find," he said, pulling Sophie into a hug.
"It's okay. But wake me up next time instead," she mumbled into his shoulder. 
"But then I'd be interrupting your precious beauty sleep!" Keefe exclaimed in mock distress and Sophie rolled her eyes fondly. 
She was already feeling so much better and all it took was a couple of words from Keefe. Has Fitz ever been able to help me like that?, Sophie wondered. I don't think so. Maybe it makes more sense that I married Keefe than I thought. But do I still like Fitz? But I think I also like Keefe. Ughhh this is all so confusing!
"Those are some strong emotions, Foster. You good?" Keefe asked, pulling away from the embrance to look Sophie in the eye. Sophie nodded quickly. 
"Yep! All good! Totally and completely fine!" she declared, a bit too chipper to be believable. Keefe raised his eyebrows in skepticism. 
"Alright, Mysterious Miss F. Whatever you say. Now how about we go inside? I'm craving some mallowmelt," Keefe said, rubbing his stomach and making a face. 
"Okay," Sophie laughed and they walked inside. 
"Mallowmelt, here we come! Ashton, Kenric, Alora, come have some mallowmelt!" Keefe called. 
"I'll be right back. I need to grab something from upstairs," Sophie said, walking towards the stairs instead of the kitchen. 
"Aww, but Foster," Keefe pouted. 
"I'll be right back," she laughed, rolling her eyes as she walked up the stairs. She'd forgotten to put her gold mascara on this morning in a rush to get downstairs. Keefe had told her a long time ago how she looked perfect with it on and Sophie couldn't help but want to look perfect to Keefe, especially after last night. 
Sophie pushed open the door to their room and found the mascara lying on a dresser. Next to it was a piece of paper - probably the note from Keefe - and a notebook. A golden notebook, to be exact. The same golden notebook Keefe wouldn't let anyone see in their timeline, by the looks of it. 
"So why is it out?" Sophie asked to the empty room. 
The mascara had been all but forgotten in this new development. Because Sophie was curious. Extremely curious. Did she know she shouldn't invade his privacy like that? Yes. But then again, it couldn't really been that private, right? Sophie's eyebrows scrunched together. To look or not to look? Eventually, her curiousity won over. 
Sophie picked up the notebook and was suprised to see another notebook that she didn't recognize under the gold one. I'll look at that one next. Maybe. I don't know, this still kinda feels wrong, she worried to herself. You know what, it's fine. Keefe probably won't mind.
Sophie flipped open the gold notebook to the first page.

Alright y'all!! I finally updated (much to everyone's request XD)!!! So I actually have some news. And I know y'all are really not gonna be happy about this, and I'm sorry, but I just have no motivation for this story anymore and book 9 makes this fanfic basically pointless anyways. I'm not going to keep writing this. I always told myself I'd never be one of those people that just stops writing a fanfic, but I just can't keep going. I'm so so sorry. I really enjoyed writing this and I'm so thankful to all y'all's support throughout the way. So just pretend that they kiss and are happy and end happily ever after. Again, I'm sorry.