Disclaimer: Don't own Huntik: Secrets and Seekers, nor any of it's characters.

Rating: T (hints of M)

I'll admit, this two-shot isn't really meant to be placed within canon, nor after my Book Three (or in-progress Four). It's more of a writing exercise, seeing what what LokXSophie and Dante/Zhalia might be like several years in the future, with more adult concerns now within reach :) That being said, enjoy

Being the leader of the Casterwills, Sophie's no stranger to paperwork, and yet this particular one still threatened to give her happy thrills. Away from prying eyes, she didn't fight the urge at all, subconsciously caressing the ring on her finger with one hand, and the family symbol necklace with her other one.

Gifts she'd treasure for her entire life.

Just then, footsteps came from upstairs. "Hey, Sophie, did I hear you get the mail?" Lok asked, half-distracted by the puzzle he's currently trying to solve - a semi-habit he did to properly wake himself up, least when a shower wasn't on the agenda for that day (which thankfully wasn't often).

Even in her warm state, Sophie smirked a little as she looked over. "What else would I be doing?" she questioned rhetorically, before her tone softened. "But I think you'd best put that down, seeing as we have an important matter to talk about."

A little surprised, Lok paused as he glanced at her. "How important?"

"Quite."

His lip twitched into a little smile, but Lok put down his puzzle after a few seconds, coming toward her. "Well, what is it, Sophie?" he asked, sitting down - her only answer was to hand him the paper in question, which after a slight look, he took from her and read it over. Only seconds passed before recognition crossed Lok's face, and his cheeks seemed to heat- that got a little smile out of her, even as she easily slipped closer. Lok glanced at her, a little sheepish but growing content as he returned the favor, setting the paper down after a good while, which was now just in the way.

"Oh yeah... that" he breathed, more soft.

Sophie just smiled, pecking at his cheek, pretty much sitting side-by-side now. "Of course it's a big decision" she said, a little teasing before changing to sly. "But I don't believe it's that simple, me changing my last name to yours."

To his credit, Lok didn't seem one bit surprised; in fact, he looked like that was to be expected. Supporting this, he held her close for awhile, one hand moving over her arms and behind her back, but his gaze never left hers. "'Sophie Lambert'" Lok breathed, with a little hitch of shyness this time, but he powered through: "Maybe it's what normal people would expect, and it does kinda have a ring to it... but not as much as Casterwill. And even ignoring that, I know how important your family's name is to you, Sophie; I just can't see you taking mine so easily."

Hearing that definitely made her feel warmer; turns out he'd had similar thoughts to hers, and she kissed him soon afterward. "Well, maybe I would with a good reason" she breathed back, very close. "Thus far, I don't have one other than for sentimental purposes... yet I'm glad you prefer me keeping my family name, Lok."

"'Sentimental'" he repeated, almost knowing. "Somehow, I always thought you'd keep it, even if you worried a bit over not taking mine on. So that just leaves me; do I keep my name, or not?"

The way his voice softened on those last words carried weight; he knew what that entailed, and that made her warmly proud.

"Going from 'Lok Lambert', to 'Lok Casterwill' by law" he breathed, holding her closer- she easily toyed with the ends of his hair in return, which Lok liked. "No matter how your family might react to me, I don't think I could regret it, and I know how much of an honor it'd be- but I'd-I'd just be glad to be with you, Sophie."

That earned him an extra-long kiss, and for awhile she stayed against his side.

"That's really sweet, Lok" Sophie whispered, content. "But it wouldn't be impossible to keep our names separate, even when married; you know that."

"Of course. But on the bright side, it should finally prove I'm a true Champion of Casterwill."

Smirking a little, she lifted her gaze to his, pulling on a slight lidded look. "You are the true champion, and nothing can change that" she said, a little knowing. "Or does the word of the leader of the Casterwills mean so little to you?"

Lok could barely keep his chuckles contained, but honestly she had trouble as well- they knew better, yet somehow this kind of thing never got old. While a natural part of her personality, even if early on it was more mean-spirited, Lok easily adapted and returned fire as if he were a key matching itself to a lock-

-which wasn't inappropriate.

"It's not because I'm not proud of my own name" Lok added, once they started getting over it. "I am. Yet you've got this whole heroic lineage to your name, being a direct descendant of Lord Casterwill; that's pretty cool. Plus... well the Casterwill name would be important in the future, no matter what we chose."

Yes, of course- even with them both knowing it's complex, heroic angle included, it's also the truth because of her lineage - that would be a factor. And besides, at this point she's out of legitimate reasons to say he shouldn't - if he's chosen to do this, she wouldn't dream of going against it come the big day, particularly when it made her so happy.

"'Important in the future'" Sophie repeated, heart beating faster. "If I understand you correctly, that has to do with family."

Lok semi-paused at that, not that she'd expected anything else; even if they'd actually talked about this before - which they haven't, directly at least - it's still embarrassing.

"W-Well... yeah, I mean..."

She tapped his lip, stalling him; "It's okay; I'm not opposed to the thought, or it happening sometime in the next few years" Sophie assured, if a bit shy underneath, despite her best efforts. "And I know it's embarrassing. I just wonder if, after your mentions of family, you have any ideas about... how- how many?"

He glanced away, cheeks heated- she sympathized, and made sure to rub along his arm.

"Well, I-" Lok slowly managed, if trying hard not to stutter. "I think that... that t-three would be my limit, Sophie. But I'd be fine, really, with less."

Sophie had expected the difficulty in his voice, but to hear 'three' was truly surprising- one or two was the safe answer, and indeed she'd had similar unconscious, if tentative thoughts. Once they actually got that close, potentially they'd start with one or maybe even two... three was possible, but needed to be decided further down the road. Plus considering her duties as the leader of the Casterwills, and Lok's desire to continue adventuring much like Eathon - if with an explicit desire to avoid any long adventuring periods - more would increase the 'pressure' to keep up a balancing act. Not to say they couldn't do it, all things considered, but they definitely had to start off and learn before they got to such a point (if they chose so).

Quickly, she made sure to kiss his cheek, leaning against him afterward.

"Well... even before I heard that, I didn't have anything too different" Sophie managed with difficulty, own cheeks heated; even with experience during embarrassing moments, it still hadn't become 'easy'. "But anyway, *cough* those are just thoughts; we haven't exactly planned on anything."

Lok rubbed the back of his head, probably trying to distract himself. "And uh, we're not... that far along yet" he said, trying to ease things. "We know all that, but man is this hard."

"Oh tell me about it."

After that, they shared a little look, half-knowing about the embarrassment and the 'required' nature of this talk- she just leaned closer against him, and he held her back.

...

Later

Honestly, before he said it, Lok hadn't been sure what his limit was... still, least he said he thought three was his limit. But even the thought of having one made him nervous, though of course that's natural; he knew Sophie should be feeling the same even with her confidence, because this is a big deal.

Thankfully though, that situation was some time in the future.

Right now though, Sophie adjusted where she lay, which was to say on him - he was sitting on the couch, and at the moment she's laying along it's length, her back on his lap and head resting on the couch armrest. Even reading a book, Lok 'ruefully' thought that she's enjoying herself like this, as it allowed her to be close to him in a unique way, and she liked to mix it up sometimes.

"Lok?"

A little jolted, he looked at her.

Her expression seemed to soften, glancing at him. "If you could choose what was inherited, which would they be?"

It took him about two seconds to register her full meaning, and his cheeks heated when that happened, fairly flustered. Still, Lok almost immediately thought that Sophie's doing this to help them through things; they tended to do best when talking them through, no matter how embarrassing.

Plus it had been a little time since the earlier talk, so they were 'okay' enough.

"I-I really haven't thought that far ahead, least yet" he admitted, with some difficulty. "Still, if I had some ideas about the possibilities-"

"With or without an explanation of how genetics work?"

He briefly paused, sheepish. "The easy version" Lok said quickly, finding this was helping. "Nothing too complicated, please."

Sophie pretty much laughed; she knew he's unconsciously playing it up in return, but clearly she's pleased too- yup, so her plan's working as expected. "Well, let's start with hair color" she said, a little gentle; he managed to look at her without difficulty. "Mainly, it would deal with both of ours, but it could also involve light-brown; both from your father, and my side of the family."

Yeah, probably; Lucas had light-brown hair, as opposed to Sophie's strawberry-blonde.

She adjusted where she lay, smirking a little. "If genetics are in our favor, there's a semi-to-rare chance of light-brown appearing" she said, a little mild; he was a bit sheepish. "If they're not in our favor, there's no chance at all. Yours and mine, of course, are about equal in chance with all things considered- maybe one would be favored over the other, but even still. And again with the favor/no favor angle, there's potential for a combined hair color."

Lok reflected that if he really started thinking about it, asking further why's, even that could get complicated real quick. Sure it's been established that he's more street-smart than book-smart, but even still, he knew Sophie would never let him live this down.

"Okay. And eye color?" he asked, hoping to move on-

-but Sophie's little smirk stayed put. "Same overall chances" she said, head tilted then. "Blue and/or green are likely, but chances of a third color - either a combination-type cyan, or perhaps a color from further back in a family line if they matched up - aren't impossible. Which the third color will be is the real question."

A bit sheepish, he rubbed the back of his head. "I know that's not all, but I think it should do for now, Sophie" Lok said quickly, if somewhat playful. "I can think of the obvious ones fine, but the more subtle ones I might only notice in comparison, and not in my head."

At that, she brushed her fingers against his cheek. "So, does that mean you'd prefer a mini-version of either of us?" she asked, a little teasing.

"N-No, not like that, Sophie. But I wouldn't mind seeing your eye color."

Her expression softened, though a touch of pink appeared. "Funny, I was thinking the same of yours, Lok" Sophie said, more gentle. "Though I wouldn't mind the pride of seeing my own eye color either. Or cyan, since both could be represented."

Despite the embarrassment, he did feel a little warmer. "Does that include personality too?" Lok asked, a little teasing himself, if partly to help through the embarrassment. "Even though that's not entirely genetic?"

She gained a little grin. "Duh. But are you sure it's not entirely genetic, Lok?"

He just raised an eyebrow, refusing to play into this. "Yeah, I'm sure" he said easily-

-to which she definitely showed approval. "Good."

Next thing Lok knew, she'd kissed him again, which while surprising he quickly got into- soon enough, she caressed his cheeks.

"No matter how embarrassed you might get, you always seem to power through, even if it's just a little" she whispered, more gentle. "I can't tell you how many times I've been a little envious of that."

He didn't respond for a few seconds, mostly because he's surprised by the sudden change of topic... well, maybe 'sudden' was a bit much. "Envious? You, Sophie?" he asked, if a little soft. "Even if you somewhat stall when you're unsure, you're always naturally confident anyway."

"I am. But I'm still glad I got to learn from you, Lok; it's definitely a quality I wished I possessed before."

Lok was about to answer, before she leaned up toward his ear.

"And even more, I hope that it'll be inherited as well."

That got a pretty strong reaction from him, needless to say- he had to struggle to remember that it'd all take time, and such things. Sophie didn't say anything more for awhile, still caressing his (now very-warm) cheeks, but she touched several kisses to his neck.

It did help overtime, particularly since they're simple affections.

Dominant/Recessive genes- even the gist was a bit harder than I remembered lol XD Still, since this is a writing exercise, any potential combinations are still on the proverbial drawing board, for either couple - everyone's welcome to leave ideas of course.

Also, an update: as mentioned above, my Book Four is in progress - currently halfway through writing Ch. 10, word count 76,500-ish words as-of-yet, if rough and unpolished. No idea on release date, but doing my best to avoid long periods of writer's block like last time.