YO, SO THIS CHAPTER IS WHEN BIANA AND SOPHIE ARE WALKING TO FITZ'S ROOM, IT'S A LITTLE BIT OF A BACK TRACK, BUT IT'S NOT TOTALLY SET BACK. IT'S FOR A NEW PERSPECTIVE AND CUTENESS.

-Sophie's hands still shook, even though she was hugging Biana one last time before she was going to see Fitz. As she pulled away, she smiled a little, though she could feel her lip quivering. When she opened her cognate's door, she saw him sitting at his desk. He looked up at her as she walked in, and delicately closed the door behind her.

Just as she saw that he was about to ask a question, her brave face melted away. Her feelings shone through, and tears streamed down her face. Fitz's face of concentration also faded, and he opened his arms for her to climb into. She sat down, and he held her close, tucking her face against his neck.

"Hey," he spoke softly, "did something happen? Did you get into a fight with one of the girls?"

"No," she sniffed, "not with one of the girls."

"Then what happened? You can tell me."

"No, I can't, I think it's easier to show you." She straightened a little, and placed her fingers delicately against her cognate's temples. She watched as she closed his eyes, leaning slightly into his touched. She then closed her own, and sent him the memories that took place after she last spoke to him, but before she went out with the girls. When the memories ended, she opened her eyes to see him staring at her in horror.

"Oh, Sophie," he whispered, then pulled her closer, tighter this time. "I wish I had been there, I wish I could have stopped him from trying that on you. It's not your fault. It's not your fault, I promise. He's the jerk who's been breaking Biana's heart, not you. I can't even believe he would do such a thing, that he'd treat people in such ways... Oh, Sophie. You went shopping after all that? You could have postponed it, everyone would have understood."

"It's okay, Biana's okay, and she took good care of me. We had a nice time, and we found what we needed for the Galas- well, everyone but Marella. Biana also promised that she'd take me to you afterwords, so I knew that I'd feel better later on, and I do."

"I haven't really done anything, Sophie," Fitz chuckled softly, and she laid back against him.

"You don't have to do anything but be here. Just stay here holding me, please."

Sophie blushed as he replied, "I will."

"Thank you."
They sat in silence for a moment, before he tightened his grip on her, and carefully stood up. She held onto him so he would have an easier time carrying her. Smoothly, he brought her over to the bed, and sat down, keeping her in his arms. While he laid against the pillows, she laid against him, listening to the steady rise and fall of his chest. Thoughts of Keefe's selfishness, and heartbrokeness, worries of Biana. She wasn't spiralling like before, because Fitz was here, but still, he wasn't the cure for all of her problems, just the support to help her deal with them.

"Do you want to play a little game I read about?" Fitz asked, interupting her thoughts, "It's a human game."

"Oh really? Which one?"

"It's called 'I Spy'."

She smiled a little, "I haven't played that in ages."

"So do you want to play?"

"Of course."

"Okay, you have to tell me if I'm doing it wrong, promise?"

"Promise. Do you want to start?"

"Yeah... yeah, okay. I spy with my little eye... something... red?"

Sophie giggled, "you're doing it wrong."

"What?" Fitz quietly protested humorously, "No I'm not!"

"Yeah you are, you have to choose something hard! You're totally talking about Mr. Snuggles."

Laughing, he agreed, "yeah, I guess you're right."

"Okay, it's my turn. I spy with my little eye, something... blue."

"Hmm, let's see... your dress?"

"Nope."

"Is it... the curtains?"

"Nope."
He tried again, "Is it, the sweater on my dresser?"

"Nope!"

"Okay, that's all the blue things I can see in the room right now, I give up. What is it?"

She smiled a little, victoriously, "the blue pen on your desk."

"Hey! That's no fair, that was too hard."

"I play to win."

Quietly laughing, they continued the game, the weight of everything pressing on their shoulders. They did this for a while, but it didn't really get interesting until one of Sophie's turns. She decided to choose her dresses so she could show him.

"I think it's high time to make this a little more challenging. I spy with my little eye, something red and teal, as well as something just red.

"You found a red and teal dress?" Fitz's eyes sparkled, and he smiled.

"I did."

"You're really something, you know?"

"Oh stop," she blushed, and carefully got up. She had left her bag at the door, and made her way over to it. She pulled out the first dress, solid red with a few sequins on the skirt that would have looked like stars if the dress had been blue. She held it against herself, smiling a little. "This one is for Biana's Winnowing Gala." Sophie draped it against his desk chair before pulling out the other one. The bodice of the dress was red, the skirt was mint, and the shear, pleated overskirt was blue, making the skirt of the dress as a whole look teal. She smiled wider, and held it close to her, twirling for her cognate to see. "This one's for mine. What do you think?"

Fitz, still laying against the pillows, his arms behind his head now, his smile just as wide as hers. "I think that when you walk into the room, everyone's eyes will be on you, and that every guy in the room will envy me, wishing they would get to have your first dance instead."

A sudden thought came into her mind, ruining the mood. "What do you think Biana will do about her Winnowing Gala, for the dances I mean. Keefe is her number one... does that mean she'll..." Sophie's voice trailed off, and she looked to the side, feeling guilty.

"I don't know," Fitz sat up, and motioned for her to come back to him. "It's all up to how Biana feels, and how Keefe acts up until then."
After setting the dresses down, Sophie quietly padded back over to her cognate, and crawled into his lap once more. Once she was in his arms once more, she closed her eyes, pausing, before saying, "I feel like it's my fault that this happened. I mean, he's her number one-"

"Falling in love isn't always a choice, but how you show that love off to others, how you give it to people, that's your choice, and only you can be judged upon it. Keefe didn't have to do those things, but he did, and no one can change that, no matter how much they may want to..." He looked away for a moment, "besides, it's very rare for someone to fall for their number one, it's usually someone you don't expect."

She smiled a little, to herself, blushing, and thought, "I must be lucky then." Aloud, she asked, "What do you think will happen?"

Fitz thought for a second before answering, "I'm not sure, but I think that I'll talk to Keefe about his act, and maybe that will straighten everything out." Keefe use to listen to whatever Fitz said, so it was worth a shot. "I think that if not me, then someone else will get through to him eventually. If he doesn't listen to me, then I think you should try talking to him."

"Me? Are you sure?"

He nodded, "Yeah, I mean, if he said he's in love with you, he'll definately listen to you."

"Then why don't I just talk to him first?"

"Because..." Fitz didn't meet her eyes, "because I don't want you to talk to him just yet. I want to make sure he won't try anything again, that it was just a mistake."

"Is there a point in me objecting?" Sophie asked teasingly, trying to lighten the mood, even though she knew the answer.

He smiled a little, "No, I wouldn't bother if I were you."

"Do you want me to be there when you meet him, for backup, or moral support?"

"No, I think it should just be the two of us," he held her tighter, "I'll be okay, I promise."

Knowing she shouldn't push, she just closed her eyes. "You know, something else weird happened today."

"Oh yeah? Like what?"

"When Biana, Marella, and I went to go get Linh, she was still getting ready, but Tam let us in. There were all these papers on the table, and one of them was a map. He noticed us looking, and quickly shut them, but I got a glimpse of a mark in the corner."

"Do you think he's the spy? Or both of them?" Fitz asked worriedly, and Sophie could hear his heart start to beat faster in his chest.

"I... I don't know," She admitted, "I couldn't tell if it was an eye or... something else."

Confused, her cognate asked, "What do you mean by 'something else'?"

"I couldn't really tell, maybe it was a bird or something, maybe a swan... What if they're working for the Black Swan, behind our backs?"

"I think the Black Swan would tell us if two of our friends were working for them.

She sighed, "You're right. I just don't like the thought of them working for the Neverseen."

"Maybe they're part of another rebel group, a new one," Fitz offered, "or maybe they took the maps from one of the two groups to look for something."

"We better keep a closer eye on them," she decided, a sickly feeling in her stomach.

"Agreed."

They were quiet after that, and she let her mind go numb.

Sophie didn't realize she had drifted to sleep until she woke up, laying next to Fitz, his arms around her. He must have turned over in his sleep, bringing her with him. She didn't need a mirror to know that she was blushing deeply. Her legs were draped over his, but her torso was slightly twisted so her should was resting on the mattress beneath them, and her head on the pillow. One of Fitz's arms was underneath her, holding her waist firmly, and in contrast, the other arm was draped across her stomach. One of her own hands was against his chest, gripping the fabric of his shirt, while her other rested atop the arm across her midsection. Their faces were so close, that if she moved slightly, their faces would touch, and if she moved a little more, they'd be kissing. Her heart started to beat faster at the tought.

He was cute when he slept, and Sophie couldn't help but stare at him with wonder. He just looked so relaxed, snoring softly, hair in his face. Definately not the kind of "relaxed" he showed the rest of the world. This wasn't the first time she had seen this look on his face, but it always amazed her how tightly pent up he kept all of his real emotions.

Gently, she brushed the hair out of his face with her finger tips to see the worry lines etched into his forehead. She sighed inwardly. He was too young to have such defined lines. Maybe she should request Elwin to make some frunzlestaire tea (also known as destress-tea) for him. She was so busy debating this, that she almost didn't notice his eyelids flutter open.

"Hey," he whispered sleepily, and her heart slammed against her ribs, "is there something wrong with my forehead?" He chuckled a little, smiling. She was a little embarrassed, but silently moved her fingers from his hair to his forehead, running her fingers across the three creases. "My worry lines? I think you gave me a couple of them. The first was from when you were kidnapped, and the second was from all the medical mishaps that you've had over time."

"What about the third? Who-or what-gave you that one?" She asked curiously, feeling bad for causing Fitz so much worry, but took comfort in the fact that he had also scared the heck out of her too, and that they were both safe now.

"The circlet."

She stiffened at the two words, the horrid memories it had given her started to run through her veins. Fitz's grip on her waist tightened slightly to reassure her that she was safe, and they carried on. "Didn't I cause that one too then?"

He shook his head, and bitterly replied, "that one was from the council. They did that to you, they made you wear it."

"I know," she murmered, and moved her hand down to his cheek. "But I'm okay now, so you don't have to worry."

Fitz readjusted his position, loosening his hold on her momentarily while he moved so his face was buried into her shoulder, which muffled his question. "What if the circlet messed with your memories, and that was what the whole 'blank memory' thing was about?

It was Sophie's turn to hold him. "I don't think so, it dampened my senses, not my ability to have the memory of it."

"Maybe the Neverseen have a machine to do that sort of thing, and it was the spy, or, it could have been a mesmer."

"The only mesmer we know is Grady," she reminded him.

"You're right, and he wouldn't do such a thing. You could have run into a Neverseen mesmer, and they erased the encounter from your memory."

"I don't think that's what it is. Maybe I'll ask Grady what it's like to be mesmered when I get home. By the way, what time is it?" She held her cognate with one arm, and pulled the pocket watch out of his shoulder pocket with the other. "It's after midnight? Oh man! Grady and Edaline must be worried sick!" Sophie started to get up, but Fitz held onto her tighter.

"Biana already messaged them with your imparter saying you were sleeping over. Tomorrow, when you go back, pretend the TIM was from you, because if Biana had signed her name, they would have been worried why you couldn't TIM them yourself."

She smiled, and laughed quietly, "You could have told them I was asleep, they would have understood."

"Asleep at 7:00? I don't think so. They would've been worried that you did Black Swan mission stuff today, and Grady doesn't need to dislike Keefe anymore than he already does, for some reason."

"Yeah, you're right. I wonder why he hates Keefe so much. It was like one day, Grady was fine with him, but the next, started ranting about what a troublemaker he was, and how I should stay away from him."

"That's pretty weird," Fitz admitted, yawning.

"Yeah," without anything else to say, she said, "It's late, why don't we go back to sleep?" Not daring to suggest tthey move apart. Sometimes you had to take good times when they came, even if they were a little... romantic.

"Way ahead of you," Fitz smirked, and she could feel the gesture against her shoulder. Within minutes, he was back to snoring quietly. Sophie joined him soon after, letting herself get lost in the moment instead of her worries, taking the good time as it came.