"Daddy, you can't say no to the Birthday Girl. It's a rule."

Malorie waged her little finger in front of Keefe's face as she squinted at him to make it clear that she wasn't going to back down just yet.

Keefe laughed, seeing how persistent she was.

"Fine, five minutes. Then bedtime," Keefe instructed, and Malorie pouted.

"But daddy, you always let me stay past bedtime-"

"Shushhhh! Mummy can hear you!" Keefe immediately covered her mouth as Malorie giggled.

Sophie turned around, eyeing them both.

"What now? It's bedtime soon," she asked, walking over to her bed.

"Daddy," Malorie gave a sly smile, giving him a glare that said, last chance daddy.

Keefe narrowed his eyes at her, returning her a look that said, fine, you win.

"We can let her stay up a little later today, please?" Keefe asked Sophie, giving her a pleading look.

Sophie narrowed her eyes at both of them. "Only today," she sighed as she sat down next to Malorie and Keefe.

They both cheered and Sophie laughed, seeing how father and Daughter had such a childish bond.

Then again, Keefe did tell her he was a four at heart. 

"Can you tell me how you two met? It's like a fairy tale," Malorie gave a dreamy look at both of them, and Sophie blushed.

"Well, it was simple. One day, we met at school. Then a few years later, I found mummy on one knee outside my door, holding a bouquet of flowers, begging me to marry her. And after years and years of asking, I finally said yes."

Keefe looked up with a dreamy look, similar to Malorie's as Sophie glared at him, pinching his arm.

Still, both of the girls started laughing. Sophie cleared her throat, giving Keefe a playful glare.

Malorie finally stopped laughing as she crawled up to sit next to Keefe.

"The reallll one, daddy. Start from the very top, I want all the details." Malorie smirked, and Sophie grinned, seeing the resemblance between them.

"Please mummy? I'll go to bed right after," Malorie promised, her big and adorable brown eyes unable to say no to.

"The real story. It was the opposite, actually. One day, I was sitting at the bookstore, not doing anything at all, he strode in, and begged to be my friend."

"Come on, I wasn't that desperate. Besides, you looked cute," Keefe smirked, and Sophie pinched him again.

Malorie grinned as she crawled back to bed, Sophie tucking her in as she combed her fingers through her blonde hair.

"And then, we went out to eat tacos," Sophie laughed, remembering how fun it was.

"Really mummy? Tacos? You could've chosen a more romantic place you know," Malorie deadpanned, and Sophie smiled.

"We were just friends then you know," Sophie reminded.

"She had the biggest crush on me," Keefe added, and Sophie ignored it.

Malorie, however, didn't. 

"She did? How did she act? I bet mummy was all nervous," she smirked as Sophie glared at Keefe.

"She was, actually. But she had the whole Great Foster Oblivion, so even her herself didn't know she was completely in love with me," Keefe smirked, and Malorie giggled.

"Oh come on, you were the one who invited me to prom," Sophie defended.

"You said yes," Keefe's smirk widened as Sophie's face went red.

"Fine, call it even?" Sophie asked, and Keefe nodded.

"And then, she confessed to me," Keefe continued as Malorie nodded sleepily.

"Did you guys kiss?" she suddenly asked, her eyes wide with excitement again.

"No," Sophie immediately replied as Keefe said, "Yes."

Malorie giggled.  "I believe daddy," she muttered as she sunk back into the pillow.

"Since when were you allowed to go against me?" Sophie teased as Malorie smiled.

"Since daddy allows me to play at 10," Malorie slipped, and Keefe's eyes went wide.

Sophie glared at Keefe, and he knew he had screwed up.

He poked Malorie's side as she realized what she said.

"I mean, 10 in the morning! Right before starting work," Malorie smiled at Sophie, but she could tell she wasn't convinced.

Sophie gave Keefe the sweet smile, which meant the complete opposite, Keefe was well aware.

He gulped.

"I love you Foster?" it was more of a question rather than a statement, and Malorie was smart enough to quickly go to sleep.

Sophie seemed to soften a little as she said, "Fine, don't ever do that again. She needs to sleep."

"So can you continue your story now?" Malorie piqued, jotting back to full consciousness seeing that Sophie was not going to kill Keefe.

"And then, we danced, and got together," Keefe smirked, reliving the memory.

Sophie nodded, smiling to herself.

"Daddy told me that there was once you two went to the ice skating rink as a date, and you kept falling," Malorie giggled.

Sophie laughed. "Yeah, I did. He wasn't much better though, we were both just holding the railing the entire time, tripping over each other's feet."

"You wanna know why?" Keefe asked Malorie.

"Because she was falling for you," Malorie laughed as she hugged Ella, Sophie's stuffed toy elephant she had since she was little.

Keefe and Malorie started laughing as Sophie sighed.

Seriously, as much as she loved him, he really needed to stop rubbing off her daughter.

"Tell me the time when Daddy proposed! That was the best part of the story," Malorie tapped their shoulders.

Sophie grinned as she started to recall the places she had to go according to his riddle, and Malorie was drifting off to sleep after every sentence.

"And then, right afterward the biggest idiot ever stepped out from behind the bookshelf and knelt down," Sophie smiled.

"You were crying too," Sophie added.

"So were you, and at least I was in a suit, you were wearing my shirt," Keefe reminded with a smirk.

Sophie laughed as she remembered how she thought it would only take a while. 

Keefe rubbed her hand, where the ring was worn on her finger.

She didn't know she was even crying until Keefe brought her head to his shoulder, patting her head to comfort her.

"You're only supposed to cry at the bad things Foster," he teased, and Sophie laughed.

"I know," she rubbed the tears from her face, glad to see that Malorie was already sound asleep.

Sophie switched on the night light as she kissed her cheek.

"Sweet dreams, Ellie," Sophie smiled as she tucked her blonde hair behind her ear.

Keefe went over to tuck Ella into her arms before kissing her forehead. 

"Aw, my little girl is already five," he smiled as he walked out with Sophie, switching off the main light.

"That was fast, right?" Sophie smiled, unable to imagine so much time had passed since then.

Keefe kissed the top of her head as a reply and she grinned.

Sophie yawned as she went into bed, Keefe cuddling next to her.

She lied awake for a while, listening to Keefe's steady heartbeat.

She smiled as she whispered into his ear. 

"Love you."

Just as she was about to kiss his cheek, his head turned and it landed on his lips instead.

Sophie's eyes widened for a while as he woke up, then quickly scooting away from him.

"This is how you're supposed to do it," he smirked as he pulled her back, kissing her gently.

Sophie saw no point in giving in as she kissed him back in the dark, just taking all the time they needed to savor every moment.

As they parted, Keefe whispered into her ear, just like how she did to him. "Love you too, Foster."

Sophie sunk back into his chest, letting his steady rise and fall of his chest carry her off to sleep.

Each breath reminded her of all the things she had, and she wouldn't change a single thing.

Afterall, life was just another story, and this was hers.

She glanced up at Keefe, who was already sound asleep.

She grinned as she curled ip against his chest, making a mental correction to her previous thought.

It was their story.

・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

(btw, do you like Malorie?)

・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.