CHRISTMAS SPECIAL
Hello *waves*
:)
Also a bit of a longer chapter for my apology of being gone for so long.
3rd Person POV
Keefe bit his lip, staring at the large glowing gate in front of him. Last years Christmas had set place here, but since he and Grady didn't think it was a good idea for Sophie to leap with the baby, Keefe had taken the initiative to plan a surprise Christmas party for his girlfriend. He hadn't told anyone but Edaline yet, because he felt Grady would come up with the negatives of the situation. So, he slowly approached the doorway, knocking on the gate. He peered through the glowing iron bars to see someone opening the doors. The man walked down the steps toward the gate. Keefe quickly realized how long it had truly been since he had left Havenfield. He hadn't seen Fitz since they had found out who the child was.
"Fitz," was all Keefe said. Fitz nodded in agreement, opening the gate for him. The two boys walked up the path towards the doors in silence, not knowing what to say to each other. Keefe felt Fitz's sad and disappointed emotions being hurled at him, but he quickly pushed them away, not wanting to feel a pint of sympathy for what this boy had done.
"Ah, hello Keefe, what can I do for you?" Alden asked at the top of the steps. They didn't seem to be getting ready for the holiday, but Keefe didn't blame them. He hadn't heard about Christmas before Sophie and the only reason he remembered because she had been thinking about her family back into the Forbidden Cities.
"I actually wanted to speak to Della?" Keefe asked him. Fitz was still standing beside him, hands behind his back as he looked up at his father. Alden nodded, gesturing for Keefe to follow him up the stairs. Keefe followed him towards Della's bedroom where she was brushing her long brown hair.
"Oh Keefe! What are you doing here so early in the morning?" Della asked him, blinking in and out. Keefe bit his lip.
"I was actually hoping to use some of your Christmas stuff for Sophie? She's been trying to not leave the house with the baby," Keefe told her. Della smiled and nodded, waving him out of the room and back down stairs. In the same closet as last year, totes were piling on top of each other with different markers as well.
"Take what you need," she told him. Keefe nodded, telling her a quick thank you before snatching the smaller pin which read: Ornaments.
He leapt back to the house, setting the bin down. Edaline was waiting for him to arrive back, leaping with him back to Everglen to begin collecting other decorations. They needed Grady's help when bringing the Christmas tree back to Havenfield.
"Okay, so I think you connect the tree limbs to the trunk," Keefe said, opening the large box to see wire sticking out of the prickly green branches. He was hoping there would be direction because Keefe had no idea what he was getting into. But him and Edaline both figured it out eventually, placing the tree wires inside the notches on the artificial skinny trunk of the tree.
He suddenly heard Sophie groaning from her bedroom up the stares. Both of them froze and Keefe almost dropped one of the small branches onto the floor.
"Sunshine?" Keefe asked, turning to the stairs. He then quickly set the branch he was holding back in the box and rushed up the stares at the sound of the door opening. She was just about to turn the corner of the stairs when Keefe quickly blocked her view.
"Angel, what are you doing up this early?" Keefe asked, slowly and carefully pushing her back around the corner.
"I could ask the same for you," she whispered to him. She could see she was sweating, her face slightly sticky as he placed a hand on her forehead.
"Are you hot?"
"Cold actually, I can't seem to warm up," she told him. Keefe wrapped his arms around her waist, guiding her back to her room. Her stomach had grown quite a bit in the past month but he didn't mind. He liked to run his hands over her stomach, seeming to feel the baby.
"Do you want to snuggle?" he asked her. She nodded, waving him over to her bed. Keefe smirked, crawling onto the bed where she laid. The fan was in the room and her windows were open as well. The air was free and Keefe felt like he was outside.
"I don't think I'm ready for this," Sophie whispered, running her hands over her showing stomach. Keefe smiled, running his hands over her stomach as well. They stayed quiet for a moment and suddenly he felt a spark of happiness. His hand stopped moving and his eyebrows furrowed, his fingers pressing against her skin with more pressure.
"What is it?" she asked him. Keefe stared at her stomach again, feeling warmth run through his system. Maybe it was Sophie's emotions or maybe it was the babies.
"She feels happy," he whispered to her. She looked up to his eyes quickly and laid her hand on his.
"You can feel her?" Sophie asked him. Keefe nodded and nuzzled his face into her neck at the feeling. With both the warmth flowing up his fingers and her scent he felt he was in heaven.
"And she is happy?" Sophie asked, her voice cracking. Keefe nodded again.
"I'm happy as well," he told her.
They laid in bed for the meanwhile until darkness came over the roaming fields outside. Sophie stared out the window as Keefe softly breathed on her neck, his tongue running across the tendons as he dreams of something.
But suddenly, collared lights illuminated outside. Reds, blue, and yellows. She quickly sat up, knocking her elbow against Keefe's chin at the sight. He awoke with a start, quickly wiping his mouth which was full of drool.
"You drool in your sleep," Sophie mumbled, distracted y the lights. She quickly pushed herself out of the bed, racing towards her window. Outside, Grady must have hunglights along the house for all the way down her wall were patterns of blinking lights.
"Keefe-" Sophie whispered.
"Come on darling, there's more waiting downstairs," Keefe said to her. Sophie walked down the stairs with him and gasped at the stairs. Bright lights floated in the air, glowing snowflakes hanging from the ceiling. Green trim ran down the stairs rail and long white rug laid on the stairs, over the normal red one. Down the stairs however was a beautiful sight. More snowflakes and lights hung everywhere, different Christmas flowers being put in all the vases. Edaline was putting the finishing touches on the tree.
"Oh Keefe, the tree!" Sophie said with a beautiful giggle. The tree seemed to have been put together upside down, the largest branches being connected at the top with the smaller ones at the bottom.
She felt Keefe tense while holding her hand.
"Is there something wrong?" Keefe asked as Edaline hung one last big red bulb on one of the branches. A star was at the top of the tree and Sophie squeezed his hand, bringing it up to her mouth to kiss it gently.
"No, It's perfect," she whispered. Grady was sitting at the table, grumbling about something. Then, Sophie saw it.
Grady was wearing an ugly Christmas sweater.
And it was ugly.
"Oh, dad," Sophie said, trying to suppress her giggles as he stood up and turned around. The base of the fabric was a tree green with green trim running all the way around the sleeves. A Christmas tree seemed to have been printed on. It also had bulbs hanging from the tree as well.
(I know it's hard to picture but just try, it'll be worth it I promise)
"What about me, Foster?" Keefe asked. Sophie turned to see Keefe now also where an identical sweater. "Now me and daddio Grady are twining!" Keefe said, opening his arms. Sophie smiled, flicking on of the bulbs near his nipple with a smirk. He jumped back and hummed slightly.
"We also have Christmas food," Edaline said from behind her. Sophie turned around to find Edaline in a Christmas sweater as well, but hers looked a bit more fitting for a normal Christmas. It was a navy blue with a few white patterns running around it.
"Yes please," Sophie whispered.
And she did eat, she ate a lot and so did everyone else.
"Time for gifts," Grady said. Sophie's face dropped.
"Gifts?" she asked. "I didn't get you guys anything," she said when Grady and Edaline revealed their gifts. Edaline gave her a smile and shook her head, sitting back down at the table.
"You are already bringing us the best gift we could ask for," Edaline told her. Sophie wasn't sure if it was the baby or family, but she still didn't like getting gifts for doing... things.
"Are you sure?" Sophie asked. All three of them nodded.
So, Sophie opened the gifts, watching as Edaline's box revealed a sweater for Sophie. It had an alicorn on the front with Christmas trim hanging from its horn and laying out over its body. Sophie liked the way it glittered and immediately threw the purple sweater over her. It was soft and warm and she she didn't feel cold anymore after that.
Grady had given her a plate of mallow-melt which Sophie was sure Edaline had made, but didn't complain.
"Can I have some?" Keefe asked. That's when Sophie spotted the nose connected to the plate from underneath. It read:
FOR SOPHIE ONLY.
I'M LOOKING AT YOU SENCEN
Love,
-Dad
Sophie smirked at his pouty lips. But she noticed he hadn't revealed his present.
"I actually wanted to show you mine alone," Keefe said to her. Sophie nodded and Keefe grabbed her hand, squeezing them.
3rd Person POV (Keefe)
Keefe really hoped his palms were sweaty when he grabbed Sophie's hand. He bit his lip as they walked outside. The small box in his pocket felt like it was getting heavier and heavier as they walked out though only a small gift lay inside.
When Keefe peered over his shoulder before walking outside, he saw Grady shot him a stern look that said 'don't mess this up.'
Edaline and Sophie were oblivious about what was going on, and that made Keefe nervous. But, he pulled on his shoes and walked onto the deck in the front of the house. He was tense as he slowly walked her towards the swing at the end of the patio. With the moon pouring down on them and bit of snow falling from the sky it seemed like the perfect place to do it.
Besides the glare Grady was shooting at him from the other side of the window.
Thankfully Edaline closed the curtains before Keefe could explode.
"Hey," Sophie said, grabbing his hand and overlapping his fingers with hers. He slowly pulled out the box with his other hand, his fingers shaking as he set it next to his leg. "You okay?" Sophie asked him. Keefe wanted to tell her no, but when he peered over his shoulder and through the window, he could see Grady's silhouette facing him. Biting his lip, he turned back to Sophie.
"I-" he begun, but Sophie's eyes lit up for a moment.
"I actually do have a gift for you, one second though!" she said, quickly getting up from the seat and darting back into the house. Keefe watched Grady's silhouetted face turn to Sophie as she ran up the stairs. He let out the breath he had been holding, pushing the small box behind him as Sophie showed herself at the door again. She was holding satchel, panting as she walked back towards the seat.
"I had been collecting some stuff to give to you as a gift, but now I think it the better time," she told him, handing a bag to him. It looked more like a satchel and seemed to be made of light leather and had a golden buckle on the front. He looked at her for a moment as she sat down beside him, watching as he slowly begun to undo the buckle.
Inside the satchel, different tools and pencils lay strapped to the satchel. When he raised the flap, two different other flaps opened with more pencils.
"Wow," he said, running his fingers across all the different tools.
"I heard your other art supplies was getting pretty worn and old," she told him. He nodded, slipping out a pencil, running his finger tips over it and sniffed it.
Sophie raised an eyebrow.
"You sniff you pencils?" she asked him. He grinned over to her.
"I lick them too, but I wouldn't want to make you feel jealous," he told her. She rolled her eyes, crossing her arms.
"Whatever," she responded. He smiled and leaned closer to her and placing a soft kiss on her cheek.
"Thank you Sophie," he told her, pulling away and beginning to fold up the satchel.
"Merry Christmas, Keefe."
Alright, another topic to discuss.
What abilities should the child have?
I don't want her to be over powering, but I'm planning on her having more than one.
So go on and do your thing!
Happy Holiday's everyone!