Sophie sat at the dining room table in Everglen, resting her head on Keefe's shoulder as she was waiting for a small group of guests to arrive for their engagement dinner.

"You look lovely tonight," Keefe says quietly in Sophie's ear as he toyed with her long, wavy, blond hair.

Sophie smiled. "Kissing up to me won't let me let you plant robotic spiders under everyone's chairs at the wedding."

He laughed. "What if I actually kissed you?"

"Kiss me and find out," she said, lifting her head from his shoulder to look him into his eyes."

He bent down and planted a small kiss on her lips and quickly pulled away. Sophie loved how his cheeks still slightly tinted pink whenever they kissed, like he still can't believe they were together.

"Did that convince you?" he asked, going back to stroking her hair.

"Hmm . . . let me think about it," Sophie responded, and looked up at the ceiling as if she were thinking about something. A second later, she decided, "No."

"What if I gave you more kisses?" he asked, kissing her again before she answered.

"I hope I won't have to deal with this for the rest of the engagement," Biana says with a smile, walking in with a plate of food. "I might get sick of all this PDA."

She places down the plate along with the other elven food on the table. Biana, her mother, and Sophie's mother all insisted that they do all the work for the dinner and let Keefe and Sophie just relax and enjoy the evening. Sophie reluctantly agreed with the not helping part, but she ended up enjoying spending the time with her fiance.

"Well unless Foster agrees to my wedding surprise, I think you'll have to endure the next couple of months of this," Keefe answered with a smile, keeping his hand wrapped around Sophie's shoulders.

"At least you two are finally together," Biana said, getting ready to go back to the kitchen. "It was literally paining me see you two pining after each other, oblivious to the other's feelings."

"You know, before it was me, you were my position," Sophie replied, raising her voice so that Biana could hear from outside the dining room.

"Almost all the girls at Foxfire were like you," Keefe admitted, kissing her cheek.

"Whoa, Foxfire," Sophie repeated, her thoughts flashing back through her years at the prestigious school she attended forty years ago. "That was a long time ago."

Keefe gave a small smile. "It was."

Sophie sighed, and looked Keefe in the eyes. "I miss him."

He nodded slowly. "I do, too."

When he graduated from FoxFire, the war between the elves and the ogres had been officially announced, and the council needed an army of elves to fight against them until they can find a better solution. There was a lottery draft of everyone who didn't have children, and who finished school. Fitz wasn't picked, but he volunteered anyways. At first, he kept communication with his friends and family, but as the war raged on and on, getting worse every day, he gradually decreased how much time he spent talking with his family until one day, he just stopped.

Sophie asked and begged Alden to tell her if he was okay, but he never told her anything, he wasn't allowed to because that information was classified for whatever reason.

Eventually, Sophie's aching and longing for Fitz faded. It was still there, but it wasn't as bad as when the thought first crossed her mind that the boy she loved might be dead.

Sophie snapped out of her thoughts when she heard a loud squeal coming from the entrance to the house. She assumed that some guests had already arrived, so she and Keefe went to go check up on it and greet them.

But when they got to the front doors, they saw Biana hugging someone who looked very much like her so tightly, Sophie doubted he could breathe.

Sophie felt like she herself got the wind knocked of her when she saw him. "Fitz."

He looked up, and his gorgeous teal eyes met hers, and she could feel her tears well up. He's here, in front of her. After all this time.

"Sophie," he breathed, and Biana loosened her grip on her brother.

Sophie ran up to him and gave him a huge hug. "I missed you so much," she said with her head buried into his shoulder.

"I missed you, too," he said, his voice has gotten lower over the years. "And I see that things have changed." He rubs his thumb over the ring on her ring finger.

"Yeah, they have," Keefe says, giving Fitz one of those bro-hugs with the pat on the back as Sophie pulled away.

"Still causing trouble, though?" he asked, his tone light.

Keefe smirked. "You know it."

"It's good to see all of you," Fitz says with his dazzling smile after a couple moments go by. "I'm glad I'm back."

The rest of the family come and greet him, there were tears of joy, and laughter, and eventually, guests began trickling in and the dinner was soon to begin.

"Sophie," Fitz calls out to her quietly. "Can I talk to you? In private?"

Sophie glances over to where Keefe was talking with some of their guests, and nods. "Sure."

Fitz takes Sophie's hand and takes her up to his old bedroom. This is the first time during the evening that they were alone and it made Sophie a little nervous.

"So . . . what'd you want to talk to me about?" Sophie asks when Fitz just stood there not saying anything.

"Um . . ." he mumbles. "I . . . um . . . I don't know how to say this."

"Say what?"

He takes a shaky breath. "I didn't want to come here tonight . . . or for a long time, really."

"It's been forty years," Sophie says, a little angry and hurt as she processed that. What does he mean, he didn't want to come back? "Forty years, and I've heard nothing from you. Not even a letter, or a call or anything. Do you know how many times I've asked your dad if you were okay, and he would just stay silent. I thought you might've died."

Fitz just smiles, he wasn't upset in the least bit like Sophie would've thought he would've been. But his tone said something else. "You don't think I know how that feels? Every time you almost died, or every time you went somewhere on your own to confront the Black Swan or the Neverseen? I was practically writing a eulogy in my head."

Sophie was taken by surprise at Fitz's statement. "I did it all to protect everyone-"

"Why do you think I fought in the war?" he asked her. "Not because I was dumb and stupid, and wanted to make myself likeable with the ladies for being a brave hero fighting in a pointless war - because let's be honest, I don't need any more girls liking me. I did it to protect my family, my friends, and all those innocent people who would've been drafted into it."

"You are one of those innocent people," Sophie immediately replied back.

Fitz shook his head. "Would an innocent person want to steal his best friend's girlfriend for himself?"

Sophie just stood there, not knowing how to respond. "Keefe and I didn't become a thing until way after you were gone. Until I lost hope that you would ever come back."

"Sophie, I didn't want to come back now," he admits after a very long moment. "I didn't want to see you marry Keefe, or see how happy you were with him, or see you kiss him, thinking it should be me with you, not him."

Sophie processed that. Did Fitz really like her like that?- no, love her like that? "That could've been us," she said at last. "If you didn't leave, that would be us."

"You and I don't belong together, Sophie," he admits quietly. "Keefe . . . he's makes you laugh, you've always taken better care of him and he's always taken care of you. He's loved you for far much longer than I have. I brought you here, Sophie, introduced you to the elven world. I've become your friend, and that's all we'll ever be, because that's all we were ever meant to be."

Tears welled in Sophie's eyes, and she forced them back. She loved Keefe more than she ever thought she could. But she's also loved Fitz and him being here . . . she couldn't ignore those feelings anymore. "But I still love you," she finally says, her voice quiet.

"You're happy here, Sophie, with Keefe. I don't want to ruin it."

"What makes you think you would've ruined it?"

"Because you don't think I knew you liked me?" he asks, raising his voice a little bit. "I'm not that oblivious, Sophie. I knew you liked me since we started FoxFire. But I didn't want you to like me, I didn't want you to think that there was hope of us ever being together."

"Because you didn't like me?" she asked, feeling very self-conscious.

"You're a great person, Sophie," he reassures her. "And you don't deserve an arrogant, selfish bastard to deal with for the rest of your life."

Sophie just stands there, shocked. Did he really think of himself like that? "You aren't an arrogant, selfish bastard-"

"I'm so used to everyone liking me, everyone wanting me to wear a stupid crush-bracelet with their name on it, everyone knowing I'm one of the best out there. How am I not arrogant?" he asks her, knowing she'll have some way to retort that, so he continues, "And I'm selfish because I'm so used to getting everything I want. I'm the 'Golden Boy' after all. And I want you, Sophie. But I can't have you because you're marrying my best friend in a couple months. And yet, I can't stop thinking about how close we are to each other after so many years have gone by. About how if I move just a few steps closer to you and lean down, I can taste what your lips feel like on mine, but I can't do that. Because you're the one person I want that I can't have. I want to kiss you so badly, and I don't care how much Keefe hates me for that. But I care about how guilty you would feel, and how you would hate me for possibly ruining your relationship with the guy you actually love; not the guy-"

Fitz suddenly found himself unable to finish his sentence. It was kinda hard when someone had their lips pressed against yours.

He snuck his hands around Sophie's waist, and pressed deeper into the kiss he's been waiting for for forty years. Sophie wrapped her hands around his neck and brushed through his hair several times. She could feel hot tears trailing down her cheek.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, they pulled apart from each other, gasping for breath. Sophie couldn't hold back her tears anymore, but she kept her voice even.

"You are the guy I love, always have been."

Fitz wiped away a couple of her tears with his thumb, and pressed his forehead against hers. In a quiet, deep voice, he said, "Sophie, we can't do this."

"Because I'm marrying your best friend in a couple months," she finished for him, another tear trickling down.

"You deserve better than me, and he is that better person."

Sophie shook her head, the action making their noses touch for a bare second. "I can't do this. I can't choose."

"Then don't choose," Fitz said. "Stay with Keefe."

"How can you say that?" she asked in exasperation, stepping back from him, already missing his warmth. "How can you tell me you love me, and want me, and then tell me to choose him?"

"Because he would feel guilty if you chose him after he came back into your life when you were supposed to marry me." They both turn around and see Keefe standing at the doorway, his arms crossed, and pain and anger flashing through his icy eyes.

"Keefe," Sophie whispered.

*~*~*~*

Written: 10/25/17
Edited: N/A
Words: 2015
Song: Halsey - Eyes Closed Stripped

Thank you for reading!
Nuela <3