KOTLC Sokeefe One-Shots, Alternate Endings, etc

The Fight (Keefe POV)

"Don't blame Grady. He was just trying to do the right thing."

Sophie looked away. "I don't blame Grady."

The silence stretched on, heavy and painful, as Keefe registered that her growing anger was directed solely at him.

"Oh."

What else could he say? He could tell she felt hurt, too, but the bigger emotion by far was anger. And he wasn't sure he understood why. He figured she'd be irritated with Grady for keeping it a secret, but also figured it would only be a slight irritation she could shrug off.

But this?

It felt like a deeper anger was building inside of her, wave after wave hitting him.

Except...he really didn't think the situation warranted it.

He wanted to apologize, to ease her anger, but what would he even apologize for, exactly?

He couldn't honestly apologize for anything he hadn't already apologized for—and been forgiven of.

"Did you hear me transmitting to you too?" she asked bitterly. "And just ignored me?"

"Sophie...." please, let's not do this.

"Did you?"

He sighed. "Yes. But Sophie--"

"No." She jumped up. "I understand you thought you were doing the right thing. But it worries me, Keefe. What if something happens again? Can you really promise me that you won't just cut and run the next time things get hard? You've made it clear before now that you're more than willing to lie to me if you think it'll be 'for the best'. I need to know that those days are over."

"Hey now," Keefe said indignantly. That hurt. Didn't she trust him at all? Hadn't he already told her he was done trying to do things on his own? He distinctly remembered assuring her he was not leaving again, that they were all stronger together. And she'd believed him.

Or she'd said she did.

"It wasn't exactly a good time for me, you know. Do you have any idea how hard that was? Why are you bringing it all back up again now?" He stood up, anger and frustration driving the exhaustion from his mind. He crossed his arms and looked at her. "You're making a bigger deal out of this than it needs to be, and I don't appreciate it."

"And when I transmitted that I missed you, and that things are better when you're here? Did you hear that too?"

Oh, he remembered it. He'd both loved and hated hearing her transmit that.

He'd missed her so much that day that it had made him physically sick.

And it did no good bringing it up now.

And she knew it.

"Stop. This isn't helping. I'm home now and I already apologized for the pain my leaving caused you. It was agony ignoring you. But please give me some credit. I was going through something horrible. I'd been experimented on by someone who should've cared, and you know the trauma that comes with that as well as I do. I'd think you of all people would cut me some slack here, you understand what it's like to feel like an experiment."

"I do understand. That's why it's so hard to cut you some slack. Didn't you realize that this shared trauma could have brought us closer together?"

"You were always too busy making eyes at Fitz for me to think you had any interest in being closer to me," he said in a stony voice, looking away from her.