SOKEEFE - What If

7 - Sophie

So Keefe was getting all of the Fitzphie memories back, but none of the ones with her, and now Lord Cassius wanted to interfere with the whole procedure? His visit had been a major setback to Keefe's recovery, triggering millions of memories of Lord Cassius abusing, scolding and judging Keefe in millions of different ways, making Keefe beg for the memories to stop as he clung on to Sophie. And, of course, those moments had been captured in exact detail, courtesy of Keefe's photographic memory.

This was the third night Sophie was sleeping with Keefe in the medical bay, making sure he didn't call out in his sleep for her. She held his hand as he slept, watched his shuddering ease as he drifted off, until she too found rest.

"Stop! Stop it... I know... I know I'm not who you want for a son, but..."

Sophie woke up around midnight to Keefe's silent moaning as he went through another nightmare. She monitored his dreams, and Cassius was scolding him for a 99.5 grade, which would literally be rounded up in the report card, but it wasn't the perfect, round one hundred he was looking for. He criticized his son, who'd stayed up late for once studying, wanting to please his father once and for all-

"Keefe! Please." Sophie got out of her cot and climbed over to Keefe's, tucking his hair behind his ear and whispering soothing things to him, her hand tightening around his.

The horrid memory slowly faded back and Keefe blinked his eyes open, looking at Sophie and finally registering that it was just a dream.

"Foster..." Keefe whimpered. "I don't want to go back to sleep, it..."

"You have to," Sophie whispered. "Here. Take a sedative."

Keefe stared doubtfully at the vial of glittery pink liquid that was supposed to give him dancing pineapples and endless dreams of apple pie, then looked again at Sophie.

"If you don't, I won't be able to sleep either," Sophie muttered, and resisted the urge to shove the vial down his throat.

But he didn't need telling twice. Once he heard he was impacting Sophie's sleep, he grabbed the vial and downed it in a gulp.