important author's note at the end. 

Chapter Six

Even though it was her day off, Sophie was still locked away in her room looking over papers. She had been in there the entire time. Truthfully, she had taken the day off simply so she could get the papers done. "You know, you gotta come out eventually you mole." 

She jumped, startled by the sudden sound. "Don't do that," she warned, putting a hand on her heart which was still beating slightly. 

"Aww, Foster, did I scare you?" Keefe teased, taking a seat at the edge of her bed. He looked at the amount of papers on her bed in shock. "How are you alive?" He questioned, still staring the papers down. Sophie looked at the papers and about cried, the longer she stared the more the pile seemed to grow. 

"I really don't have time for this," she whined. "This is the reason I had to take today off. They're working me to death lately, especially the Black Swan."

"Forkle let them give you this much paperwork?" Keefe questioned. 

Sophie deadpanned. "He's the one who gave me the paperwork," she replied. She sighed and fell back on the bed. "I'm never going to get this done." 

"Well, I can help you if you want," Keefe offered. "I have a photographic memory just like you do so compared to the others who always offer, I'm someone who actually can help." 

"Oh thank you, thank you, thank you," she cried out in relief. "You're literally the best boyfriend ever. Thank you." She started to flip through the papers and handed him a stack of about fifteen. "Start there. Basically all you have to do is read them and if there's any errors fix them." 

"I didn't realize you were the editor," Keefe said, snorting. 

Sophie rolled her eyes. "No, I actually wrote a good amount of that too. Those are technically the papers that I finished. I'd usually proofread, which adds the extra hours, but will you here I can do both at the same time." 

"Seriously?" He frowned, looking through the papers. "What do you even do every week?" 

"Well, we take notes during meetings and then eventually we fit all the notes together onto a small document and it's my job to edit the document and make sure that it is perfect before they send it to the council. Well, at least that's what I do Wednesdays through Saturdays. Mondays and Tuesdays I go to meetings with the council where I present everything to them and then we go through more meetings. I used to work Sundays too, but I realized that I was overworked and decided to take a step back." She frowned. "Except technically I still do a bunch of paperwork on Sundays anyways." 

"I didn't think elves used this much paper," Keefe said. "Or really close to any." 

Sophie shrugged. "The Black Swan has made it's way to the Forbidden Cities for its new hideout and they've been taking advantage of human technology, including those papers. And they always make sure to recycle." She then looked back at the papers. "But okay, enough talking and more working." 

"You know I came here to spend quality time together with my girlfriend," Keefe said smiling. 

"We're spending time together, at least," Sophie said, not looking up from the paper. 

"It's fine, any time spent with you is quality time," he replied, looking through the words. 

"You're not allowed to make sweet comments to me while I'm work. Wait until after," she replied, making him laugh slightly before the air turned into a more subtle tone and they were hard at work. 

Without realizing it, five hours had passed and they finally finished. "Thank you so much for helping, without you I would've only gotten halfway through and would've had to spend another five hours tomorrow doing it." 

Keefe grinned at her. "It's okay, you know I'd do anything for you." 

She smiled to herself as she shuffled all the notes together and placed them on the top of her desk. After they were piled neatly she made her way to him and he stood up so they could hug. She pulled away from the hug and kissed his cheek. "It really means the world to me, you have no idea how much I was stressed over that. It's the longest meeting we've had before and I just knew there was going to be way too much paperwork." 

Keefe rolled his eyes as he pulled back from the hug. "I told you, it's fine. Honestly it upset me that you do this all the time and take so much work upon yourself. If you ever have too much work, call me up. You know I'd be here in a second to help you with it."

She nodded smiled as Grady made his way to the door and knocked. "Come in," she called. 

"Hey, I brought some food up since I figured you'd still be working," Grady said, holding up a bowl of some soup. He smiled at Keefe. "I didn't realize you would be here. I would have grabbed you some." 

"It's fine," he replied. "I actually have to go soon, anyways." 

Sophie frowned. "Oh, really?" She questioned, disappointed they had spent the entire day working instead of actually being together. 

He nodded, frowning, and Grady cut in, "How much work do you have left?" 

A smile appeared back on her face. "Actually, I finished it all. Keefe helped me." 

"Sophie, I told you I'd help you if you needed it," Grady replied immediately. 

She rolled her eyes. "He came by to see me and instead I placed a stack of papers in his hands," she said, laughing slightly. "There's really nothing to be jealous of. Besides, he has a photographic memory so it helped me out a lot."

Her father nodded in acknowledgment and Keefe decided to interrupt saying, "I've got to go now. Bye, Foster." He quickly gave her a small kiss on the cheek and walked out. 

"You guys are getting pretty serious quickly," Grady commented, walking in to place the soup on her desk. 

Sophie frowned, uncomfortable with talking about the subject of her love life with him. "We're really not," she denied. "I feel bad saying this, but I haven't really had the time to get serious with him. I really like him though." 

Grady nodded, sitting down on her bed. "Sophie, you can't keep overworking yourself like this." 

"But it's my job," she argued. It was the only argument she truly had for why she overworked herself. 

"You need to tell Forkle to calm down on the paperwork and remind him of this thing called a social life. I live with you and I maybe see you once a day in passing with how much work you do. Your job should not be twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week." 

She sighed. "I really have been trying to make it easier for me to have a social life, but honestly I'm just kind of spent," she admitted. "But the work that I do is important. It's building a bridge between two of the most influential Elvin groups." 

"But at the cost of your physical and emotional health? I don't believe so. You gave your entire childhood to the Black Swan, don't let them take away your adulthood too." He pressed a kiss on the forehead. "You need to realize what's more important. Spending your life rereading the same documents over three times a day after spending hours at meetings, or being young and going out with friends and forging relationships." 

She nodded and decided that the next day she would talk to Forkle about maybe changing things up. She knew the bridge between the Black Swan and the council was important, but she also knew that her friends and family were important as well and she needed to make the time for all of them, not just Keefe and her parents scheduled in every week. 

---

wait 

wait 

what's that I smell ???

oh yeah that's a bONUS CHAPTER. 

only chapter question is what time is it when you're reading this because right at this point it is 12:57am. I wake up in like four and a half hours. ha. i'm dying. 

BUT ALSO OKAY TO THE IMPORTANT PART:

I am hosting a short story contest and it would mean the world to me some of you entered. I'll be selecting 10 contestants and I'd love for some of you guys, if any of you are writers, to enter. Please check out the contest on my profile and thanks so much for reading my story. i hope you guys can enter. it's going to be lots of fun and i'm already planning each round's prompt very meticulously.