a/n: i intend to finish this fanfic. i do not want this one to go on hiatus or be discontinued.

also, ugh, sorry for any spellings typos. auto correct is a bish.


Keefe entered the large house that he got to proudly say he owned with his wife, kicking off the now-frozen mud and snow from his shoes on the step outside before fully walking in. He closed the door has behind him and slipped off his cape, peering around for any sign of Sophie.

She wasn't anywhere to be seen, and Keefe didn't hear anything, so a lump caught in his throat as worry rose in the pit of his stomach.

He tried to shove down the feeling that something was wrong, because it was making him feel more nauseous than he had been when he first walked in the door.

To say that work has gone well for him that day was. . . Entirely wrong. He'd had piles of paperwork to fill out the first half of the day, which was exhausting in and of itself. But then he'd been called to go and investigate some mysterious sight for the Council out in the middle of some murky swamp in the Neutral Territories: hence the muddy boots. That had not been his idea of fun.

And to top it all off when he got back to his office? Biana hailed him.

It wasn't that he didn't enjoy the brunettes presence or bubbly personality—she actually made the atmosphere warm and welcoming wherever she went, which was something he'd always admired. And, you know, it was more fun than he would ever admit, to get to watch Biana glamor his wife up.

Now, what he didn't like was how good she was at dragging information out of someone or guessing what they were hiding with just a look in their eyes.

And Keefe or Sophie had yet to tell anyone else except for Dr. Mercado and Elwin about their little baby-to-be.

Biana knew something was up right away between him and Sophie. Biana seemed to have some sort of extra sense for couple problems or secrets and she had another knack for knowing who was meant to be and which duo was going to probably end up getting a match fail. Which, he supposed, was precisely why she became a Matchmaker.

Biana knew Sophie was never really on-board with the whole "perfect genetics" matching system, and over time Sophie really seemed to rub off on the brunette—and, dare he say, the rest of Sophie & Co. Thus, Biana went behind the rest of the Matchmaker's backs and the Council's by really studying the person's personality, along with other elves who had signed up.

She didn't peek at their genetics, or their reproduction stats—she looked at their heart (metaphorically, of course) and matched them with people she thought might be their destined soulmates. She matched them for love, not for the stupid system.

That was probably the sole reason why and how Biana knew Keefe was hiding something with Sophie. She always seemed to know everything about her self-proclaimed "OTP."

You know, whatever that meant.

Keefe had ended the call as quickly as he could, praying that she hadn't figured it out by the look in his eyes or the accidental rambling he'd done. What if he'd given it away? What if she told people?

The second one was his worst fear, because a few minutes after he'd severed the call with the excited, prying Matchmaker, conveniently, Fitz, Dex, Tam, and Linh had all tried hailing him. Repeatedly. To no end.

They'd been calling back so much he had almost considered blocking them for a time to ensure they wouldn't continually try and pester him until he picked up. Luckily, the hails eventually stopped. But then the messages started in.

He'd had to put his Imparter on silent.

"Foster?" he called out steadily into the silent house. There was no reply, and before Keefe knew it he was running around the house like a freak trying to find his wife.

He checked every room available, his heart dropping further towards his knees every time he opened a door and found another Sophie-empty room.

"Foster? Sophie?" he asked, starting to become more frantic. He didn't feel like using his old nickname for her. He liked to use it as a regular term of endearment, but calling out for her with it when she was missing did not make him feel good. "Soph? Sophie? Hello?"

His heartbeat was pounding in his throat now as he ripped open the last door, the breath he had been holding in slipping out when a blonde elf with a noticeable baby bump jumped up in the center of the room, clearly startled.

Sophie popped out one of her white ear buds, the music leaking into the quiet room. "Keefe! You scared me!" she scolded, cheeks flushed.

She pushed pause on the music and Keefe didn't miss a beat, his feet taking him forward as he enveloped her in a tight hug.

She let out a small, "Oof," then chuckled, her face smushed into his chest as she struggled to get her arms out from his crushing hug, to put them around him, too. He finally pulled back and she peered up at him, ready to say something as her mouth opened and began to form a word. She rose an eyebrow when she noticed the odd look on his face, her mouth changing to something new.

"Hey, is something—"

"I couldn't find you!" he blurted. "I was freaking out! I thought that you. . . I don't know! You were just gone!" he accused, still a little breathless from all the running around he had done.

Sophie was silent and still at first, watching him with that confused expression. Then her face softened and she broke out into the most warm, contagious smile and she giggled. "Aw, Keefe, I'm really sorry–honestly. I didn't hear you come in. I was listening to music." She lifted up the ear buds she had taken out moments before, a silly glint in her eyes. "Were you calling for me?"

"Of course I was calling for you! I was five seconds away from hailing everyone we knew to go on a rampage to figure out where the heck you were!" he said exasperated, the volume of his voice still a little raised.

She giggled again, grabbing the fabric of his sleeves on his biceps, rising on her tiptoes and pecking the tip of his nose with her soft lips. "I'm sorry, hun," she apologized when she had gotten back down to her normal height. "I was setting up the baby's room."

She moved to the side to show him her work, and he blinked as he noticed the boxes. There were a few that were unpacked, but the majority of them had just been moved upstairs. He noticed some new curtains on the windows and the pieces of the crib lying out that Sophie had obviously been working on putting together.

"It's a work-in-progress," she admitted, looking at the boxes. "I didn't really get much done, the more that I look at it—"

"What?" Keefe interrupted. "You got a lot done, what the heck are you even talking about? This room was full of stuff when I left this morning! Now it's cleared out, you obviously swept the area, you trudged all these boxes upstairs, took down the old curtains and out up some new ones, you unpacked a few of the boxes, and you even started on the crib."

He pointed to it and she blushed at his praise. He began walking over to it to see how much she had put together when he noticed a small, open tin on the floor. He rose a teasing eyebrow and looked back at her. "Are these cookies?"

"Hey," Sophie said, embarrassed, "If I'm craving cookies, I'm going to get myself some cookies. End of story."

He chuckled, bending over and eating one from the tin. Sophie rolled her eyes, but didn't scold or protest against him taking one. She approached him from behind as he pulled out the crib's instruction pamphlet, beginning to read.

"How was work?" she asked.

Keefe had to take a second to not choke on his cookie. He swallowed, licking his thumb and turning the page, avoiding turning around and making the contact with Sophie, who was standing behind him and watching over his shoulder. ". . .Uh, good, I guess."

"Just plain old good? How so?" she prodded, clearly already not buying it.

He blew out a breath, slowly closed the pamphlet and stood up, taking a second to prepare himself before turning around and facing his wife. She had that prying look on her face where she knew something was up and there was something he was clearly holding back from her.

"Did something happen?"

"What? No."

"Keefe. . ." she said, a bit of a warning time in her voice. She sighed, her mood changing from slight anger to regret and something else that was soft. "You know you can tell me if something happened."

He nodded, already prepared to spill the days events. And he did.

He explained of the not-so-stellar day that had stressed him out, but then he got to the real problem he was wrestling with. He told her if the call with Biana, very happy when he didn't detect any angry vibes from Sophie the entire conversation.

When he finished speaking, it was silent for a spell, both of Sophie's hands covering her belly. She finally looked up at him. "It's not bad if she knows, you realize."

"What? Why not? I thought we were waiting to tell everyone."

"We were," Sophie agreed with a bob of her head, "but I was going to end up telling everyone at the Christmas party in a few weeks. "

Sophie had brought up Christmas a few years ago to everybody, realizing she hadn't ever explained the tradition a few humans tended to celebrate during winter. Since everyone never saw one another too often anymore, too caught up in their home or work lives, Grady and Edaline, and Alden and Della made the decision that every year they would host a get-together for the group on Christmas. It was like an annual family gathering, since they all considered one another as family.

Keefe's stomach, upon remembering that this year's party was being held at Havenfield, dropped. Sophie noticed his worried expression and smiled. "You didn't really think we could hide it from them at that party, did you? I mean, I'm already showing. Imagine what it's going to be like up after a few weeks when I show up to that party."

Keefe nodded in an almost miserable way, part of him dreading telling everybody.

Sophie frowned, knowing where his worry was stemming from. "Keefe," she said softly, making him look at her, "you know Dad is just protective. And this?" She pointed to her bump. "This isn't bad."

She strode up to him, lacing her fingers through his. "I promise you that. Dad won't be angry at you for this, so why are you thinking that? It's a baby, Keefe. He'll be happy! And Grady does not hate you or even dislike you, whether you think so or not. Like I said, he's just very overprotective." She laughed to herself, her doe eyes twinkling. They softened when she quietly added, "He knows you make me happy, and that's all he wants for me. He loves you, okay?"

She squeezed his hands and the dread filling his stomach began to vanish. "Okay," he croaked.