TITLE: Choices 18 "Stronger"
AUTHOR: Mystic25
EMAIL: yellowrubberduck31@hotmail.com
SUMMARY: Three years ago they went to a place called Cape Haven. Now recent events calls Max and Logan back to the creepy town where the past never wants to stays buried.
DISCLAIMER: Cameron..short and sweet.
RATING: PG for language and violence.
A/N: "Haven" was always a fav epi of mine. And after I started this series I often wondered what it would be like if Max and Logan, now married returned to Cape Haven. It would end all discussions of "guest rooms" I'll tell you that much. I used the "Haven" episode script for reference and to mirror in certain scenes, but with my twist.
A/N #2: I've been watching "Enough" that movie about J.Lo as a woman being abused by her husband and deciding to fight back, so that's why I have the title that I do. It's a song by Brittany Spears. I'm not really into her music, but that song is good.
*****
SEATTLE WASHINGTON
"Gas guzzlers" Sketchy complained watching the people in front of him behind three sets of OTHER people getting their safety cans, and jugs for some, filled with precious gasoline.
"Way this city runs Sketch" Max was beside him, with her own can of gas to score.
He looked at her forlorned "I don't understand why you're here. You're married to the money of Seattle now. Why can't you score gas off people that don't deliver on the back of trucks?"
She turned to him "Pulse sorta evened everyone out on the gas. There's not enough of it no matter how much money you have or who your daddy is" a pause "Sides like I'd miss the tradition"
He looked at her like she was crazy, groaning as someone's gas can tipped and a third of the gas in the truck that was being siphoned out missed the container and hit the dirt.
Max put her hand on Sketchy's shoulder "Deep breaths Sketch. They'll be enough juice left"
"What world are you from?"
They moved another inch in line
"So why do you need this gas?" Max leaned against a pick up truck "Saw you here three days ago"
"I need a new chain guard, and Jacinda said if I get gas to get her car going she'll get me some bread"
"Thought you wanted a chain guard"
"Jacinda doesn't have a chain guard, Alec does"
"So you're swapping Alec bread for a chain guard? What the hell's he gonna do with bread? Make crullers?"
"Alec doesn't need bread. He needs a new jack wire for his phone. Kendra needs bread."
"So Kendra has a wire?"
"No Normal has an old phone wire from Jam Pony. Kendra offered to swap him some lingerie for it and she'll give the wire to Alec who will give her the bread I get and give to him AFTER I get it from Jacinda for the gas. Which is how I'm getting my chain guard"
"What the hell is Normal doing with all this damn lingerie? Should we be concerned?"
"I make it a point not to be"
The truck Max was leaning against moved and so did the line. "Sketch, I love ya but talking to you is like talking to a hyperactive parrot"
He smiled good-naturedly as the line move until they were the next to the first people to get gas.
"So you getting outta here for a few days?"
She held up her soon to be filled red gas can "why I'm standing in line"
He looked over at her anniversary ring "Bet that thing isn't as expensive as this gas is gonna be"
"I heard that pal!" the distributor of the gasoline glowered at Sketchy.
"Yeah well-" Max approached him and unscrewed the top of her gas can "Unless you plan to drink that go juice you got stored in there you ain't leavin' us here empty handed"
The man also looked at her ring. "Lady, why don't you fence the rock, it'll get you all the 'go juice' you'll need to make it to Key West."
"Just give us some gas before this rock ends up in your ass" she threatened.
*****
FOGGLE TOWERS
"Yeah" Logan leaned the phone against his shoulder, and leaned back in his computer chair "I understand Trudy."
"You don't have to do this Mr. Cale," Trudy sat down in dining room chair in her house.
"Don't talk like that" Logan told her "It's not a problem. Seems to me that you're the one having the problem" he looked up as the front door opened, seeing Max enter.
"Hey" she held up her now full gas can "I got it" she walked over to him, setting the canister on the coffee table before she entered the computer room where he was.
"Premium, three gallons."
He covered the mouthpiece of the phone with one hand "Then I say it was a good score"
She smiled and bent down to kiss him. "Should get us to wherever you plan on taking me without my knowledge that damn well better be good or I'll beat your ass down."
Trudy must've heard something because she starting talking again "Mr. Cale you still there?"
"Yeah" Logan removed his hand "still here"
"Is something wrong?"
"No, that was just my wife"
There was a moment of surprised silence "Oh.---"Well then I should make sure and see if we have a queen size bed available for you this time. So I can expect you--two in town tomorrow?"
"You got it"
"Thank you again Sir"
He smiled "You're welcome"
"Hey" Max waved at him "Remember me? You're wife?" she smiled at him "So what was that all about?"
"Before I answer that I think we need to talk"
"Am I pregnant?"
"No." Logan looked at her funny "Wouldn't you know that before me?" a pause "It's about the trip were taking this weekend"
"You mean the one I don't know a damn thing about?"
"Yeah that one" he confirmed
"Something tells me I'm still not going to see the Cascades" she remembered the last time she had wanted to go there and he gipped her.
"Trudy called"
This got Max's attention. She hadn't seen the woman since those days in Cape Haven three years ago. She sensed something in Logan's tone "What is it?"
"It's Sage-"
"Is he okay?" Max well remembered the boy at Cape Haven who she had befriended. He was like a little brother to her.
"He's fine physically. He-" Logan hesitated, "He's been having problems-nightmares."
"What about?" she looked at him harder.
"Trudy wouldn't say much over the phone. Just that he keeps having visions of the night his parents died in that fire."
"He's had them before." She told him
"But this time he's more worked up about it especially since he keeps being harassed by some of the same local jack asses we met before"
"I thought B.C. and his chumps got their asses behind bars, except for that one you took out"
Logan looked at her on the words 'took out.' That was the first time he had ever killed a man, and it still made him uncomfortable.
"They got out" Logan said, "Paroled a week ago, and they've been coming by Trudy's late at night. Last time they broke Sage's window when they threw lit cloth attached to a brick inside his bedroom"
"Bastards" Max spat "He's terrified of fire ever since they torched his house. Surprised he even could help you out when B.C.'s chumps attacked us that night"
"We were one man short" he looked at her. Max remembered only vaguely about the attack itself. She had been assaulted by seizures the entire time and had passed out soon after, leaving Logan and Sage to fend for themselves. Her next sensation was having Sage shake her, coughing from all the smoke. She came too, and couldn't see anything through all the thick smoke. Luckily her cat night vision kicked in and with Sage's help she made it out the door in time to collapse against the side of the porch.
After the police and ambulance came for B.C. and the others Trudy had come out of the night and draped a blanket over her. She wanted to take Max back to her clinic and look her over completely, but Max assured her that she was okay. Sage had sat with her as Trudy told her to see a doctor if she had any signs of smoke inhalation.
"He wasn't going to let you die" Logan reminded. Max seizures had been so bad that weekend, and when she didn't come out of the house after the fire started he was tempted to go in after her, but then B.C. and Clyde jumped him and he didn't get the chance.
She looked him right in the eye, sharing the same strong look as he did. "When do we leave?"
"How soon can you get packed?"
"Ten minutes" she told him "But things are a lil different then the last time we went there"
"Yeah you're not pissed at me"
She smiled, granting him that. She had been so mad at him for dropping their plans to go off on an informant lead. "I meant I can pack in ten minutes, but they can't" she nodded at a picture of their children kept in his office. The real children were playing together in Jess's room.
"That's why we pack for them" Logan reminded
"You get Lexi I get Jess?"
"Ten minutes packing for each of them."
"Fifteen." Max corrected, "You ever tried to get a four year old boy dressed in five minutes?"
"Fine" Logan agreed "Call Lucia to take care of Kaja?"
"I'll make the call."
"You forget we need-"
She held passes in front of his face.
He took the dangling items from her hand and looked them over "VIP?"
"Is their any other way to travel? I didn't even hafta hang upside down this time. Some guy just had them in his car with the window rolled down."
"Glad to hear it"
*****
SOME HOURS LATER
"Mommy I have to pee"
Max looked back at her daughter strapped in her carseat in the back of the Aztec "Honey we're almost in town. Can you hold it for twenty minutes?"
She looked at Max and started to cry.
"It'll be okay." Max turned back to her husband "Twenty minutes babe. There's no place to stop."
"Look out the window sweetie" Logan was trying to take her mind off having to use the bathroom "All the trees. It's really nice out here. Me and mommy came here once. It was great." The rolling landscape passed by them filled with fur trees and evergreens. As bad as Cape Haven was the drive there was something they remembered enjoying.
"Yeah nearly getting ourselves killed was fantastic" Max stated quietly beside him
"Well telling her the truth won't exactly make her any happier will it?"
A sign came into their view along the side of the road reading "Cape Haven" And just like last time there were armed civilian men guarding the main road into town.
Logan slowed the car down, and rolled down his window.
"It's you again" One of the men from before was on sentry duty again, and he peered into the Aztec "I would turn around if I were you"
"Yeah well you're not us" Max looked at the man through Logan's window.
"Look guys we're just here for a few days like before." Logan said to the man at his window.
The man glanced into the back seat, shifting the rifle he was holding to one hand "You bring your family to a place like this?"
"It's really not that big of a deal" Logan rationalized "We're just here for the weekend like I said"
"Curfew's at ten, and you better stay off-"
"We've been here before remember?" Max reminded the man "We know the house rules"
"Then welcome to Cape Haven"
"Yeah same to you," Max muttered as they drove off. "Nice to know that something never change. In a freakish sort of nice that is."
They drove on through the town. Like the men out front it hadn't changed. It was still worn and crumbly from the age, but it was an ideal spot compared to some other areas hit by the Pulse. A place that seemed only now to belong on old postcards. The appearence of the town alone explained why people tried to raid it after the Pulse. It was a place frozen in time, what most sleepy towns looked like before rioters and Marshall Law took over them.
The sign that dated the starting of the Pulse was still there, except Max didn't ask about it's meaning like before.
"What's that mean daddy?" Jess asked, looking at the sign. He asked this time.
Logan glanced out his window "It's the date the Pulse happened Jess." He had told him some about the Pulse, he was only four, but he had a right to know what was happening and how it affected him. "Around midnight. Very late."
"We're you alive then daddy?"
"Yeah" Logan told him
"We're you scared?"
"I was" Logan didn't lie. "It was a scary time. People were going hungry; they were all scared too. They didn't know what to do. But it got better. They started calming down and started their lives again."
They drove some more until they reached the same one story cabin they had stayed in before. It had been rebuilt since the fire. All the scorched paint on the siding had been replaced in a fresh new coat.
Trudy came out on the porch, a smile on her face as she saw them drive up "Mr. Cale"
Logan opened his door and stepped out.
Trudy stopped, surprised at seeing him on his feet."You're up and about?" she broke into a huge smile "That's wonderful! Can I be permitted to hug you?"
"You don't need permission" Logan told her, hugging the woman.
She pulled back after a moment "Thank you so much for coming here." She looked around for a moment "I thought you were bringing your wife with you."
"She's right behind me" Logan told her
"Mommy.." Lexi's voice was getting antsyier
"Okay baby hang on" Max was holding onto her daughter, rounding the other side of the car with the girl in her arms "Think she's about to explode here you guys. Mind if we hit the ladies room first?"
Trudy was speechless at seeing who Logan was married too. "That's fine Ms-MRS. Cale, you know where it is"
Max smiled "Thanks" she looked behind her at her son "Jess, cmon inside with us"
"But I don't have to pee" Jess complained, emerging from the car and shutting the door.
"You can't stay outside by yourself Jessie Trevon."
"Daddy's here"
"Yeah but daddy's talking with a friend. Now move it"
"Go with mommy Jess" Logan told him "I'll be inside soon"
Jess shuffled his feet, but joined his mom and sister up the stairs and inside the house.
"I see you've stayed friends with Ms. Guevara" Trudy couldn't help herself "Congratulations"
"Thanks" Logan smiled.
"Come one let's go inside, it's chilly out here, even for spring. You can come back for the bags."She headed inside the cabin and Logan followed.
Max came out of the bathroom, with Lexi in tow. "Crisis averted"
"I'm glad" Trudy smiled at Max. "We still have a guestroom available-for the children I mean. They bed's big enough for them to share." She looked at Lexi "Is she old enough to sleep in a bed?"
"I'm a big girl" Lexi spoke out for herself.
Trudy gave a small laugh "Yes ma'am you are. And very beautiful I might add. You take after your mother."
Max smiled "It's fine Trudy. She can adapt" Max looked at her daughter "Isn't that right baby?" she kissed her.
Logan handed Trudy some money "Paid in full"
Trudy took it from him "Thank you" she slid the envelope he handed to her in the pocket of her jacket.
They walked out into the kitchen. Which was the same as Max remembered it. Except now there were new appliances to replace the ones that were lost in the fire.
"Everything's the same as before" Trudy said her thought out loud. I had Sage chop a fresh batch of firewood so you should be fine for the night. And it's getting warmer."
"How's he doin'?" Max spoke up, setting Lexi on top of the counter, playing with her hands.
Trudy shook her head "He's fourteen now, but this kinda stuff. It still haunts him."
"Does he know we're here?" Logan asked
Trudy shook her head again "I thought it best that you tell him. Sage is a dear boy. But he's getting older and he deserves to not be treated like a baby in this matter."
Logan, nodded, agreeing with her remark.
"Where is he?" Max asked.
"He's over at the cemetery," Trudy said sadly "He's stops there everyday. Sometimes he stays as long as two hours"
Max had the same look in her eyes
*****
CEMETARY
"Hey"
The boy turned away from the headstones he was looking at. He stared for a moment because he couldn't believe who it was. "Max?" His black hoodie blew in the slight breeze.
Max nodded and smiled "Was just passing through" she stepped over to Sage.
Sage in turn hugged her. He had grown a few inches she had last seen him. His hair was slightly shorter now, and colored a lighter sandier brown. "Heard you've been having a rough time"
He pulled back and looked at her
"Trudy told me"
"Yeah" Sage's voice had also gotten deeper. But he still had the same eyes she remembered from before. "It's just nightmares"
"B.C. and them too. They been bothering you again?"
"Is Logan here too?" Sage changed the subject.
"He's inside with Trudy at the cabin we stayed in before"
Sage looked at her again "You haven't changed. You're still pretty"
Max smiled "You have." She roughed up his hair "Say you look better then before" She nodded
over to the headstones. "Visiting?"
Sage looked too "I do it everyday. I'm trying to remember them." He took one step closer to the headstones "But there are always gaps." He shrugged "Guess it traumatized me so badly there are some thing I shouldn't remember."
The last time Sage talked about this he broke down, but now only his tone dropped in sadness. And Max didn't embrace him like before. He was growing up, and she didn't want to treat him like a little kid. She touched his shoulder and squeezed.
"Sure they remember you. And they miss you."
Sage just kept looking at the headstones.
"Logan's inside if you wanna see him" this time Max changed the subject.
Sage turned to her with a slight smile.
*****
CABIN
"Look who I found in the woods" Max came in through the screen door after Sage did. The door closed with a 'thunk' after them.
"What is it?" Jessie came bounding out from the hallway, excited.
Max scooped him up and turned him to look at Sage who smiled.
Jess looked at him curiously
"He's yours?" Sage asked
Max nodded "Yeah, Logan kinda grew on me so I married him"
Sage smiled. He always used to hope that Max would stay with her friend. She was one of the few people who showed him respect, and one of the only adults besides Trudy that didn't treat him like a little kid and she deserved to be happy.
"Hi" Sage broke the silence with Jess.
"Hi" Jess responded
"I'm Sage" Sage told him "I'm friends with your mom."
"His name's Jessie" Max spoke up when her son didn't say anything else.
"How old is he?"
"Four" Jess answered for himself "My birthday was last month"
Sage smiled again "That's great" he stepped over to the boy and held out his hand "Happy birthday Jessie"
Jess shook it with a smile.
Max looked up when she heard footsteps approaching. "Hey baby, come look what the wind blew in"
Sage turned to see Logan standing there
"Great seeing you again Sage" Logan stepped over to the boy.
There was an awkward moment between them. Max had embraced Sage when she saw him again, but she was a woman and there was a certain maternal thing about being able to hug kids, even ones Sage's age. But Sage was getting older. And Logan as a man would never embrace a man like a child even if he hadn't seen him in a while. It had to do with respecting Sage's right to grow up.
So Logan simply held out his hand, gesturing it warmly to Sage.
Sage shook the hand, and once Logan felt him become more comfortable he pulled the boy into a light hug.
"So how've you been?" Logan asked
"Isn't that why you're here?" there was no anger in Sage's tone. He looked down at Logan's legs "Your walking"
"Yeah" he smiled. He looked up towards Max "Lexi sacked out on the couch, so I put her in the guestroom."
"She has enough blankets?"
"It's warm enough with just her jacket" Logan told her. He looked to Sage who looked lost. "Sorry Lexi- Alexis, she's our daughter. She's two, and the drive up here wore her out. You know how little kids are."
"Bet she's pretty" Sage analyzed, stealing a glance at Max "Maybe I'll meet her when she wakes up."
"Maybe you will" Logan agreed
"You guys have any more kids?"
Max shook her head "Nope, that's it"
Trudy came into the kitchen "Everything appears to be in order." She looked at Sage "You ready to go?"
"Can't I stay for a while Aunt Trudy?" Sage knew the truth, but he still considered Trudy his aunt. She had gotten legal custody of him a while back. "I want to catch up with Max and Logan." He looked at her with big eyes "Please?"
Trudy nodded "Okay, but don't stay over too late. I'm sure they wants to bed those children of theirs down early"
Sage smiled "I won't"
Trudy beamed as well, and looked towards her guests "If you need anything you know where my house is."
"We will" Logan answered "And thanks"
"So-" Logan began after Trudy left "Lexi just fell asleep thirty minutes ago, but she'll be up soon enough and when she is, whose up for some pool?" he still remembered how much Sage enjoyed playing with Max.
Max looked down at Sage "Know I will be"
"Me too" Sage agreed "But the only public pool table in town is still at the bar." He looked at them apologetically, and a little apprehensive. His harassers regularly hung out there, and as much as he loved pool he would hardly go there because of them.
"Sounds fine" Max reassured, she still saw Sage looking a bit nervous "I got your back on this one Sage"
He broke into a hint of a smile "I'll pay for your milk this time"
Max ruffed up his hair "Then after my baby gets up we'll get this game started."
*****
BAR/POOL HALL
CAPE HAVEN
"Hey baby" the bartender recognized Max as she entered, looking her over "Back for more milk?"
Max set her daughter in one of the stools by the bar. "Two beers straight up slick, oh and I will need some milk. Two small glasses."
"This ain't no day care" the bartender looked at Lexi in the stool. "You can't bring kids in here"
"You're here" Max dissed "Now about the order."
He sneered at her, but went to fill it.
Sage came over to the bar. "Hi" he waved at Lexi "My names Sage."
"My name's Lexi Marie" Lexi spoke out "My birthday is Febrary 3, 2020 and I'm two years old."
"Wow" Sage stated, "That's great. My birthday's August 20, 2008."
"I like birthdays" Lexi informed
Sage grinned "Me too"
"Sage-"
The voice made Sage cringe, and he didn't turn around. B.C. stood behind him, one hand wrapped in black boxers tape clamped on his shoulder. "Rude not to let me know your girlfriend's back in town."
Sage closed his eyes, and his muscles went rigid.
Lexi looked up at Max "What does he mean mommy?"
"Nuthin' baby" Max responded, shooting daggers at B.C with her eyes "It's just a stupid game he likes to play"
"And who's this?" B.C. hadn't changed at all. He looked leeringly at Lexi "You get her knocked up Sage? Must've been great kiddy porn."
Sage turned around then, a quiet anger in his eyes "Why don't you just leave B.C.? You're scaring the kid."
B.C. laughed at Sage standing up to him. He got in his face "Are you threatening me?" he grabbed Sage by the collar. "Why don't ya get your girlfriend to beat me up like last time little boy?"
Logan came behind B.C. and tapped his shoulder
B.C. turned around "She won't have too." He slammed a right hook into B.C.'s face. "Take it the view from your cave isn't any better"
B.C. drew back from the hit, and then looked at Logan with glowering eyes. "I'm gonna put you back in that chair punk"
Max tripped B.C. and he fell on his back on the bar floor. Before he had the chance to recover she placed her foot right on his neck "Make a move and it'll be your last"
B.C. looked over at Logan, sneering "Still hafta have a woman fight your battles for ya."
Max applied pressure to B.C.'s throat "Your in no position to be runnin' your mouth. She applied harder pressure "Now why don't you get the hell outta here; you're ruining my game mood."
B.C. stood up gasping. He had one hand around his neck. "This ain't over kid" He pointed at Sage and left the bar.
Max looked around the bar, at the other men in the room "Anyone else want a piece?" she barked. She turned back to Sage after she was met with silence for her answer "You okay?"
He nodded "But I won't always have you and Logan here to do this for me."
She looked at him in understanding "Still up for pool?"
Sage hesitated for a moment, but nodded.
Max smiled "Kay, I'll get some cues, you rack."
Logan approached the bar to grab his drink.
Max handed it to him "Nice hook"
"Hurts like hell though" he stuck his drink on top the hand he had punched B.C. with.
"Daddy said a bad word" Lexi spoke out
Logan looked at his daughter still sitting on the bar stool "Sorry. It--stings." He looked down at his hand and held it out to Lexi "Kiss?"
She kissed the top of his hand.
Max smiled at the exchange "Did she make it better enough to play with me and Sage?"
"Bring it on." He stated
Max picked up Lexi "Wanna watch the game hun?"
She grinned and shook her head 'yes'
Max set Lexi beside Jess on barstools near the pool table. She handed out pool cues and waited for Sage to rack.
"Can I break?" Sage asked
"Go for it" Logan responded, leaning on his cue
Sage lined up his shot and broke the formation of balls with the cue ball. He landed the nine ball in the right corner pocket.
"Good shot" Max informed.
Sage smiled at her and went around the side of the table for his next shot. The cue ball went in the pocket, a scratch.
"My turn" Logan lined up his shot and landed three balls in the left middle and left corner pocket.
"Lucky" Max teased him like last time
"Luck has nothing to do with this baby" Logan told her
"How about cockiness?"
He smiled and took his next shot. A bounce move that he had done with Alec where the cue ball jumped over another ball and landed the one behind it in the pocket it was near. He did that to keep from running the shot that could be made with the first ball.
"That was awesome." Sage was impressed by Logan's move "Where'd you learn how to do that?"
"My Uncle Jonas was a member of this pool shark club. They use to all get together and play every week in our basement." Logan sunk his next shot, seven ball in the right side pocket. He moved for his next shot "I would go down there to watch and my uncle's friends would teach me things." He made this shot too. Eight ball in the left center pocket. "That's how I learned how to play in the first place." This time he missed.
"Shark bites the dust" Max said. She took his space "Thought I would never get a turn." She leaned over to take her shot, and felt someone looking at her. At first she thought it was like the last time, and B.C.'s goons were grouping her ass in their minds. But when she glanced back this time it was Logan who was checking her out.
She smiled and made her shot. Two balls in the back pocket. She pulled up straight and looked at Logan "Thanks for the compliment" she took her next shot, a scratch.
"Looks like it's back to you" Max informed Sage.
Sage wound up one point away from winning the game. He made his last shot and sunk the ball in the pocket.
"Believe that's game" Max smiled, holding out her hand for a low five.
Sage slapped it.
"That was great." Logan added "You really improved your game."
Sage smiled "How about next time you show me some of that stuff you did"
Logan smiled back "Deal"
Sage checked his watch "It's getting late. I better be heading home."
"Aiight" Max agreed, "Want some company?"
"No!" Sage answered back with a snap in his tone. He looked at Max apologetically. "I'm sorry Max. I'll be fine by myself, really." A pause "Thanks though"
"Then we'll see you in the morning?"
Sage shook his head "Yeah. Aunt Trudy told me to bring some more wood by to the cabin." He grabbed his hoodie and pulled it back on. Once it was all the way on he turned back to them "Goodnight"
"Take it easy" Logan responded, watching him leave. He looked over at Max "So, what do you want to do now?" he glanced over at their children "I promised them s'mores on the fire-"
"You spazed out on me about that the last time we were here"
"Yeah well I'm sorry I was such-" he leaned closer to her ear out of Lexi's range "such an ass about it before. I was mad that all you wanted to do was sit around when I wanted you to help me work. It was kinda selfish"
"Yes it was" Max agreed, with a slight smile "But this is now." Her smile grew more seductive "How bout you keep the fire burning after the s'mores?"
"The last time I wanted to build a fire YOU spazed out on me" he reminded
"Like I said, this is now" she repeated. "Can't tell me a crackling fire isn't enticing for-after dark"
Her sexy look was affecting him the way she wanted "Only if you'll also let me get you a blanket this time"
"Kay" she agreed "But only if you'll join me under it"
The air got hotter for him. "Enough talk. We should head back" he picked up Lexi "Like Sage said, it's late"
*****
A twig crackled under Sage's feet. Besides that the only other sound were the waves hitting the beach that wasn't that far away from where he was. He was tempted to step over to it and walk along the shore. A check of his watch told him that it was just past 8:30. Twenty minutes by the water wouldn't make him that much later. He still had another hour and a half until curfew.
He stepped over the sand dune and onto the deserted beach and sat down removing his shoes, letting his bare toes squish into the sand. Out ahead the water was colored a bluish black by the night. The tourists loved to come out during this season. All the jellyfish and sharks wouldn't come back until summer so the water was safe. It was a warm night, but a breeze still blew in from off the water.
Sage sat back down and removed his pants and hoodie, blue sweater until he was down to his boxers. He stepped over to the edge of the water and white foam lapped at his feet. He walked out into the water a few yards until it was deep enough then dove in. He swam about thirty yards out, leaning against one of the boey yard markers put there by lifeguards for the swim area in tourists season. Technically the beach was already closed, but the patrolmen always collected together up on the dune to drink and goof off so he wasn't in danger of getting caught.
He floated on his back and looked up at the stars. A shooting star streaked across the sky, like a fireball.
/FLASH: Sage stares wide eyed as his parents are huddled together on the floor, trying to reach for him. Smoke fills the room along with flames
"Sam-" his mother calls out to him in a choked whisper. But a second later she passes out along with her husband.
Outside B.C. is circling the house with Clyde
"Shit man we can't kill them!"
"Too late fool!" B.C. shouted back "You grabbed the fuckin' woman! We can't have her squealing! And the husband he'll go right to the police for what we did, this is the only way!"/
/FLASH: Trudy carried the crumpled form of Sage through her door. His entire body was covered in second and third degree burns. His hair was singed and it fell off in clumps when she touched his head.
"Sam?" Trudy called him "Sam can you hear me honey?" Trudy picked him up and took him to her bedroom. His skin came away in her hands. She started pouring water on him to cool his body down./
/FLASH: Sage opened his eyes at Trudy's clinic. He was covered in burn wraps and an NG tube was in his nose, stuff Trudy had swiped from the hospital
"Sam?" Trudy called out to him
Sage started coughing
Trudy gave him a cup of water with a straw "Sam? It's okay. It's me Trudy. You were in a bad fire honey."
"Whose Sam?" Sage gasped
Trudy stared at him wide eyed./
Sage gasped and came back to the real world. His body bobbed up and down in the water. He looked around wild eyed for a moment and swam back to shore. The night air was cooler then the water. He shivered and hurried to dry himself on his hoodie before getting dressed. He climbed back over the dune and found the road again.
He walked silently back to his house when he felt something grab him by the throat and slam him into a building.
"Where ya headin' Sage?" B.C. stared him in the face with sour breath. "Why you'd try to run your mouth on me?" he banged him into the wall "You tryin' to conspire against me with that bitch from outta town again? You think she can protect you from me? Huh?" he let go and punched Sage in the face.
Sage fell backwards onto bags of trash. B.C. stood over him. "Better head home little man. Curfew's starting soon"
Sage jumped up from the trash and held his cheek from where it had been punched. He waited until B.C. was out of sight before running down the road to his home.
*****
CABIN
NEXT MORNING
"Morning" Logan said to Max handing her a coffee cup. "You hungry?"
"Famished" she responded "Why? You got something good for me?" she looked over at the stove with two frying pans on the front range eyes.
"Yeah, but not in those pans." He set down his coffee cup and stepped closer to her "C'mere." He backed her up so she that she banged her back against the the refrigerator. He kissed her hotly and felt her arms wind around his neck.
"Is this supposed to be better then breakfast?"
He pulled back "Oh you're gonna get it for that" he kissed her neck.
She waited for a moment, feeling him on her jugular "Okay maybe I was wrong" She bent lower and reclaimed his mouth.
"Good morning"
Lexi's voice made them snap apart. Logan got up off of Max's body.
"Morning sweetie" Max responded, straightening out her hair that had gotten rumpled in the moment.
Lexi looked at Max who was still against the fridge. "What are you doing mommy?"
"Getting juice" Max lied, turning and opened the fridge, hopping they had juice. She found some apple juice and pulled it out. "Want some?" she asked Lexi
She nodded
"Kay" she headed over to get a glass from the cabinet. Logan beat her to it and handed her a clean one from the drain board.
"Getting juice?" he had a smirk on his face.
"Could tell her bout the birds and the bees now if you want" Max poured some juice in the glass.
"So you were getting juice you say?"
Max smiled and kissed him on the way back to the kitchen table. She sat down and watched Lexi drink her juice.
Max heard the creaking of the screen door that opened.
"Max, you home?"
She smiled when she heard Sage's voice "In the kitchen Sage!" she looked to her daughter "You hungry?"
Lexi nodded
Max stood up to get a plate set up for her when she heard Sage enter the kitchen. She turned to face him "Mornin-" her greeting was halted when she saw the huge bruise covering his cheek. She set the plate down and stepped over to him.
"Sage what happened?"
He didn't say anything.
"Was it B.C.? Did he do this to you?"
"It's not a big deal Max really-" Sage tried to convince her "Aunt Trudy already gave me some ice for it"
"Sage sit down," Logan ordered gently, pulling out a chair from the table. He waited until Sage sat before continuing. He cringed mentally when he saw the enormous purple and blue discoloration on the boy's face. "What happened?"
"I tripped" Sage lied "After I left the pool hall I went down to the beach and slipped on some rocks."
"Sage there aren't any rocks on the beach" Logan told him "It's all just sand and pebbles. Nothing that could mess you up like this"
"Yes there are!" Sage was becoming more agitated "And I fell. I just wasn't paying attention." He looked down at his hands.
Max picked up her daughter and sat in the chair she was sitting in, placing her in her lap. "Hey" she called out to Sage "Look at me" after a long minute he did. The bruise stood out noticeably against his light colored skin.
"You know you can tell us anything. That you can trust us." She looked at him with compassion "Nuthin' you say has to leave this kitchen. Be just us talkin'. Period. Kay?"
Sage was silent, then "It was B.C."
Max gave him a silent look, turning to her daughter in her lap "Sweetie why don't you go wake up Jess?"
Lexi nodded with a smile "Kay" She climbed off her mom's lap
"Kiss baby?"
Lexi reached up and kissed Max on the mouth. Max smiled for a moment and watched her run off into the hallway.
After she was gone Max started again "Were you at home?"
"No" Sage told her "Not this time--It was right after I left the pool hall. I was walking home-" He took a moment, looking down at his lap again. "He was waiting for me."
"Then what?" Max pressured, but gently. She didn't want to scare him off.
"He grabbed me" Sage went on "By my sweater. And he hit me" he touched his swollen bruise.
"Did he say anything to you?" Logan asked, moving to stand beside Max.
Sage looked down again, for a long time. Then "He told me that no one could protect me" these words were barely above a whisper. He stared at the two people watching him. "He's right"
"Sage-"
"No Logan he is" Sage cut off the older man "This has been happening ever since I can remember. And I haven't done anything to stop it. Aunt Trudy, she tried to protect me by keeping me from remembering that I could have died in that fire too. But after B.C. found out I was still alive-" a pause "He's never gonna leave me alone until he kills me. Just like he killed my parents"
Max touched his shoulder, and he looked at her with such sorrow that the last time she had seen that look was when Ben was pleading with her to not leave him.
"I don't wanna die Max" Sage was growing up, but he was still very much a wounded child because B.C., Clyde and all the others would never leave him alone enough to let him heal. "I'm only fourteen. Why is all this happening to me?" he started to cry.
Max leaned forward and hugged him, remembering the last time he had broken down in front of her. /Bastards. Why can't they ever leave him alone?/
Sage sobbed on her shoulder.
Max pulled him back "You ain't dyin' on me Sage."
"You can't change things for me Max." Sage told her "You tried before. And it went away for a little bit, but it came back." He wiped his nose on his sleeve, embarrassed that he had broken down.
Max sensed it, and gave him time to compose himself. She handed him a paper towel from the table.
"You told me you were tired of running" Logan reminded, "You can't run from this now either Sage. Or you'll be running from B.C. for the rest of your life."
"So what am I suppose to do?"
Max touched his shoulder again "I may not be able to change things for you. But you can."
Sage was confused "How?"
"Fate isn't something that's unbendable. It ain't up to the stars to determines what happens in your life." She looked at him "It's up to you. I learned that a long time ago." She glanced at Logan when she said this. "And I can show you."
"What do you mean? Show me what?"
"How to create your own fate" Max finished
*****
9:15 PM
Sage looked around the front of the abandoned warehouse. "Max!" he whispered loudly. She had gone off the side of the warehouse, and asked him to wait there for her.
"Max-"
The front door of the warehouse opened. Max was standing there holding the sliding metal door with one hand.
Sage was impressed "How'd you do that?"
"I'll show you lock picking on another lesson. C'mon before we get caught"
Sage ran through the doors and Max shut it soundlessly. The warehouse was completely dark. It started illuminating a few seconds later by halogen lamps Max set around the room.
Sage watched the place fill with a small amount of light.
"Can't have too much illumination" Max answered his unspoken question "It'll tip people off."
"There's so much I still don't know about you."
Max smiled. Knocking came at the side door.
Sage tensed for a moment.
"S'Okay." Max reassured "It's for me." She walked over to the door and opened it to Logan who was on the other side.
Logan entered the warehouse and closed the door behind him.
"Who's watching your kids?" Sage asked
"Your Aunt Trudy" Logan told him "She's enjoying the company. Told her that you were safe, and you would be with us."
"Thanks" Sage said
"Did you get everything?" Max asked
Logan held up her black cat bugler suitcase. "Everything but the kitchen sink"
She took it from him with a kiss "Second best midnight courier service I ever had."
"Then who's the first?" Logan asked
"Me" she told him.
She headed over to Sage dropping the suitcase on the ground and snapped the lid open. She rummaged around through her crossbow anchor, cat suit and lock picking tools until she found what she was looking for, leather grips. She threw some at Sage. "Put these on."
"Their kinda big." Sage informed slipping them on.
"Their my brothers" Max told him about the grips he had on which belong to Zack. She had thrown them in her pack after he left them at the penthouse one day. "They should fit you better then mine." She pulled out a black tank top from her bag, standing up with it. "Close your eyes for a second" she told Sage who did it.
Max stripped off her sweater and pulled on the tank top, throwing the sweater and Logan who was eyeing her. "Kay you can open'em"
Sage examined her new attire as she slipped on her own grips.
"Have you had any defense training?" Max asked
"Karate" Sage told her "But I only made it to yellow belt."
"You have enough knowledge of the skills though" Max informed, "I don't have enough time to teach you if you had nothing."
"Teach me what?" Sage asked, "B.C. can outfight me. There's not enough time for me to learn how to become a black belt"
"You don't need higher skills Sage" Max corrected "A true fighter uses the skills he has to it's maximum potential." She circled him "Because you took Karate you have basic fighting skills. You know how to block-" she swung at him and he stopped her fist with his hand. "To maneuver" she swung at his face and he ducked, and she hit air. "But there's one thing that you don't know" she flipped over his head and locked him around the throat, not hard. "The unexpected." She let go. "There aren't any gloves in real life fights Sage." She turned to look him in the face "Or neat and tidy rules to protect you from the man who wants to beat your ass down. You can create your fate, but it will only bend to you so far. You have to include the unexpected, because that's your true weak spot." She swung at him again but he grabbed her arm this time and dropped her down. She landed on her feet of course, and smiled at him "Not that he's bigger then you, or stronger then you. He beats you because he hurts you in ways you don't prepare for." She circled him "And you can't defend yourself because you don't know what you're defending against."
"So how do I stop him?"
"By expecting the unexpected"
*****
"Did he tell you anything?" Clyde sat on a storage crate outside of the bar, watching B.C. smoke a cigarette. They weren't allowed to smoke inside and had been thrown out because they didn't want to play by the rules.
"He clammed up like he always does," B.C. took a drag from his cigarette "He's not gonna say anything."
"Then what the hell is he hanging round that chick for?" Clyde asked "She filled his head with fucked up ideas last time to start remembering the fire" Clyde growled in the back of his throat and snatched one of B.C.'s cigarettes from the pack in his pocket. "We shoulda took him out for good like his parents. He's a whiner, and whiner's have mouths. He'll yap us straight to the cops."
"He's just a kid dumb ass!" B.C. pitched his lighter at Clyde's head "He don't even really remember the fire, so he can't pin it on us. And what the hell the cops gonna do about it?" he took another puff and blew out "Not like they did anything the night of the "accident" he made quotes in the air with his hand when he said this.
"He still needs to be shut up" Clyde snapped
"Gotta get him alone" B.C. informed, "That bitch and her man are always around. And as much as I want to pay back that mother fucker but I gotta take care of business with little Sage first. And if they don't know where he is, it'll be easier."
"Hell of a lot more fun too." Clyde agreed, "Though that bitch is a nice piece of ass." He dropped his cigarette on the dirt ground and stomped it out with his boot. "Sure would like to do her up."
"Me too man" B.C. said "But we always jump before we hump" he laughed
Clyde laughed too.
*****
Sage was sitting on the floor of the warehouse, wiping sweat from his face with his shirt.
A bottle of water came into his line of sight.
Sage looked up to Max who was holding it "Thanks" he took it from her and drank.
Max sat down cross-legged on the floor beside him.
After drinking, Sage stared at Max "Think this will work?"
"It's not up to me, it's up to you." Max told him.
"Then I'm good as gone" Sage was serious when he said this "One day of learning how to fight isn't gonna stop B.C. from coming after me and pounding me to the ground."
"The lesson's not complete" Max said, "There's still one more thing to teach you."
"What is it?"
Max looked at him for a long moment, then held up a gun, Logan's that he kept in the drawer of his office. She removed the clip and held the gun out to Sage.
He took it, looking back to her, not getting the meaning of her gesture.
"I never liked guns" Max began speaking again "That's because when I was nine I watched my sister get shot down right in front of me." She watched Sage's eyes get wide "I never want to have to hold one of these things and shoot someone. Even if it means saving my own life." this time she held up a lighter and lit the flame, holding it in front of Sage. "You have every right to be scared by what killed your family. But B.C. and the others, they know it scares you and it becomes their weapon. Fear is the worse weapon in the world Sage. Fire can't scare you if your not afraid of it. But you are Sage, ever since the accident" she called it an accident, letting that description slide for the moment "And B.C. and Clyde will use it against you. That's how they operate."
/FLASH: Emily Gilan pushes Sage into a closet, telling him to stay there through a choked voice. Outside B.C. and Clyde circle the burning house. B.C. smashed through a window and grabs John Gilan
"What are you lookin' at, raghead?" he punched John "You knew it was comin', didn't you? Huh?" he kicked John in the chest and he fell to the floor.
Sage watched, terrified from the closet/
"I can't make those memories go away." She looked him dead in the eye "But you have a right to not live your life being afraid that someone can take it all away in a second."
/FLASH: "Let's torch this sucker!" B.C. poured gasoline all around the house and threw a lit match into it. Fire ripped through the gasoline and the boards soaked in them./
Logan and Max shared a look when she said this.
"The thing about fire is-" Max released the button on the lighter and the flame vanished "Fire can be put out" She threw it to Sage watching him catch it.
Sage looked at the lighter for a long moment then looked up to Max "But what if I'm still scared?"
"Courage is not the absence of fear" she quoted Franklin Roosevelt, which showed the true nature of her personality. A woman who could diss out the hardest criminal before busting their balls, but could also correct a well read scholar on the meanings of philosophy. "It's just recognizing that there are more important things besides"
"Good, cause I'm pretty sure I'm still scared about this" he turned to her "Does that change anything?"
Max offered him a light smile. She reached out and touched his shoulder "Don't change a thing"
Sage stood up, but knelt back down a moment later to hug Max. She put her arms around him too.
He pulled back and kissed her on the cheek, just like he had done that night after he had helped Logan fight of B.C. and the others.
*****
TRUDY'S
"Daddy!" Jessie bound into Logan's arms when he came through the doorway "Look what Trudy helped me make!" he pointed to a paper mache model of the human heart on the table.
"Wow" Logan looked at the model "That's really nice."
"It's a heart" Jess informed "And she showed me how mine sounded with a stethoscope." He mispronounced stethoscope '"STET-A-SCOPE" He was progressing greatly in language skills but he still spoke the way all four year olds did when they learned new words.
"Bet you liked that?" Logan smiled at how excited his son was "Where's your sister?"
"In the kitchen with Trudy. Their making cocoa"
"Mmm" Max commented "Sounds good. I'm gonna get in on that. How bout you Sage?" she turned to the boy beside her.
"Yeah Sage" Jess broke in "Trudy's putting in big marshmallows!"
Sage smiled "Sounds really good Jessie. I think I'll join you."
Jessie grabbed Sage's hand "Then c'mon!" he pulled him to the kitchen.
Max smiled again turning to her husband "You want in on this action?"
Logan came closer to her "I could go for some action" he captured her mouth in a kiss.
She pulled him back "Think it's a smart move to be foolin' around in the middle of Trudy's living room?"
"No I don't" Logan agreed "But I was never really a smart man in these matters" he kissed her again cupping her cheek with one hand.
"You two wanna come in here while the cocoa's still hot?" Trudy's voice called from the kitchen. She eyed the pair, a smile forming on her lips "Or did you already get warmed up enough?" She turned to Sage "So distant last time and now they can't keep their hands off each other."
Max heard Trudy with her sensitive hearing. "Wanna continue this later?"
His look was her answer. They walked together to the kitchen where Jess and Lexi were seated at a round wooden table sipping hot chocolate from blue earthenware mugs.
Max came up behind her daughter, running her hands through her growing hair "Hey baby girl" she kissed her on top of her head "You havin' fun?"
Lexi smiled "Tudy put in five marshmallows" she held the cup out for Max to see.
"She did huh?" Max came around and knelt down next to Lexi. "Bet that makes it taste superPERRbly aiight"
Lexi raised her cup "Wanna try some mommy?"
Max took a sip of the drink she offered. "Mmm." She smiled "I was right. Almost as sweet as you." She kissed Lexi's nose, making her giggle.
"Max" Trudy handed her a mug.
Max took it "Thanks" she stood back up and inhaled the aroma coming from it. "I never had it this good as a kid" she took a sip.
Trudy smiled "Sage loved this as a little boy. Emily would always give it to him on cold winter days with a plate of sugar cookies"
Sage, who was sitting in the chair beside Jessie looked up from his mug. A glimmer of childish wonder passed across his eyes "I did?"
Trudy's smile grew larger "You're mom use to say that if they opened you up you'd have hot cocoa running through your veins instead of blood"
Sage's shoulders sagged ever so slightly and his wonder turned into something sad "I don't remember that"
Trudy's smiled faded "Oh honey give it time, you will. You went through something terrible. But it'll all come back"
Sage set his mug down "I remembered how mom smelled" he paused, a smile returning as he remembered "Like warm lemongrass. It was that smell from Bath and Body Works that she always bought. Dad use to tell her she smelled like she belonged outside. I could smell her all the way from the road where the bus dropped me off after school. And when she hugged me when I got to the front door." He still smiled, holding onto the memory of her before the darkness came into their lives.
No one said anything for a while, letting Sage have his memories.
"My mom use to always wear this green tea essence when she went out" Logan was now sharing a bit of his family memory, wanting Sage to know that he could connect with him. "It wasn't too strong or too light. Just something different enough so she stood out from everyone else's Channel Number 5. And my sister Marie-" he paused, lost in thought from the next scene playing out in his mind "She used to sneak into my parent's room and steal it. I smelled in on her when Mom dropped us off for school. The day before they all were killed when their plane crashed mom gave Marie her own bottle. She took it with her on the flight. I bought a bottle of it a while back ago. Keep it on my dresser, to remember them."
Max who was now sitting down in an empty chair reached out one of her hands to Logan. He took it and squeezed it. Neither looked at each other. They didn't have to.
Sage turned to Logan, with eyes of understanding "I'm sorry about your family"
"So am I Sage" Logan responded.
*****
B.C. rolled his pickup truck down the quiet streets. Curfew had been in effect for the last hour, but B.C. cared as much about the curfew as he did for Sage. He turned to Clyde "So are we gonna do this or what?"
Clyde held up a canister of gasoline "Got the drinks for the party man"
B.C. laughed, a completely inappropriate reaction considering what he and Clyde were about to do, making his laughter have an evil quality to it.
They drove down the road leading up to Trudy's house, cutting off the lights when the old Ford F150 neared the long stretch of dirt driveway. They ditched the car a little over halfway down the length of the dirt, climbing out.
B.C. shifted the gas can to his left hand, shutting the door to his truck. He looked to Clyde "Take out the back windows" he smiled in the darkness "Say we screw with him some more before we do the main shit"
Clyde sneered, and nodded.
*****
CABIN
"Hope Sage will be aiight" Max pulled her sweater back on her head.
"I'm sure he will be" Logan rationalized, lighting a long fire stick match and igniting the log in the fire. "He's a tough kid"
"Doesn't mean he'll always be okay," she argued.
Logan turned his head and gave her a look, one that said 'wonder who that sounds like' He watched her rub her arms through her sweater "You cold?"
"It's spring, so why the hell is it still sixty degrees?" that was her answer.
"Cold snap's came through" Logan said "Local weather station predicts high temperatures in the bottom sixties for the next few days"
"Great" Max declared, "Mother nature is just as much of a freak as I am"
Logan hated it when Max referred to herself as a "freak" but she was just making a crack so he let it go. He glanced at the flames "Just takes a little time for the fire to warm the place up"
"That's kinda a loaded remark"
"What is?" he asked, sitting down on the couch, pulling a blanket over his lower body
"Come on baby light my fire?" her eyebrows were raised "Think I'm old enough to know a come on when I hear it"
"Then COME ON and get under this blanket before I do it myself" He soon felt her weight beside him.
"Baby that was so corny" Max informed
"No popcorn is corny," he laughed dryly when she rolled her eyes "Hey I'm sorry sweetheart but you left it wide open"
"And I'm bout to slam it shut if ya don't knock off the Popsicle stick humor." She snuggled in closer, leaning against his shoulder "You ain't helpin' stoke my fire. You're puttin' it out"
"Sorry" he placed his hand behind her and on her back, rubbing it "How's this?"
"Lower" she felt his hand roam down by her bra strap hidden under her sweater "NOW it got warmer in here"
Logan turned to her "You said something about continuing this course of action at Trudy's" he kissed her sensually on the forehead.
She smiled seductively "I might be persuaded if the right offer was presented" she kissed him, but then stopped.
His brow creased "What's wrong?"
"You were only fourteen when they died?" her eyes held a steady gaze "You never told me that"
"Fourteen and a half" Logan informed, "My birthday was two weeks after they were suppose to come back"
Max's eyes went sad "I'm sorry"
He caressed a tendril of her hair, tucking it behind her ear "I've made my peace with it." A pause "I just think about what it would be like if they were still alive. Maybe I would've come out differently if Aunt Margo hadn't gotten a chance to claim legal ownership of me."
"You didn't turn out to be such a bad guy" Max argued, "Say you got your wish--We probably would've never hooked up, most likely never even crossed paths"
He touched her face with one hand "Mom would've loved you. Dad would've eventually warmed up to the idea after he found out I was divorced from a pill popping drunk"
She put her hand on his wrist, grasping it.
A loud smash from outside jolted them out of their moment.
"What was that?" Max asked
The crash came again, noise of glass being shattered.
*****
Sage was jolted out of sleep by the sound of his window breaking. A large arm reached in and grabbed him by his shirt collar, yanking him up off the bed.
"Wakey wakey Sage!" B.C.'s voice taunted him
Sage yanked himself free from B.C., falling back onto the floor.
B.C.'s head came through the busted window "Now why'd you have to do that Sage? I just wanna play with ya" the can of gasoline was held up through the window next.
"Gettin' a bit cold in here don't ya think?" a laugh, short and sleazy. The sound of a lighter came next. "This oughta liven things up." B.C. ducked back out from the shattered glass and set fire to the siding on the outside of the house. It caught immediately to the gasoline he poured on it. Flames instantly "whooshed" up the wood, and then started to burn under the window paine.
Sage scrambled to his feet and grabbed his blanket from the bed. He beat at the fire with it, but the flames were so large that it didn't do any help.
"Sage!" Trudy yelled at him from the hallway "Get out of the house-" there was a sharp cry from Trudy and the sound of something falling
"Aunt Trudy!" Sage shouted at her. He ran to his bedroom door and opened it. Smoke filled the hallway. Sage ran out into the living room and was met with tremendous heat and flames coming from the kitchen.
Sage found Trudy on the floor. He ran over to her "Aunt Trudy!" he grabbed her arm and pulled her up "C'mon we hafta get out before the place burns down!" he coughed from the smoke filling his lungs.
Something knocked Sage away, throwing him against the counter partician that separated the kitchen from the living room. His head banged with a sicking 'crack' against the counter
Clyde stood over Sage on the floor. "You ain't gettin' away from me this time!" he kicked Sage in the stomach, knocking all the wind out of him.
"Leave him alone you bastard!" Trudy scrambled to her feet and grabbed onto Clyde's arm.
Clyde snatched her by her wrist "Get off me bitch!" he threw her into the dining room table. She hit her back on it and fell.
"Aunt Trudy!" Sage tried to reach for her by Clyde grabbed him by the shirt and smashed him back down on the counter
*****
"Logan!" Max saw the flames rising from Trudy's house through the front window
Logan ran over, seeing the orange fire rising out from Trudy's "I'll call the fire department"
Max ran over the hardwood floor to the front door and flung it open, running out into the yard.
"Daddy what's going on?" Jessie came into the living room in his pj's, woken from all the noise.
"Stay here with your sister" Logan ordered, he snatched his cell phone and ran out after Max. He caught up to her as she closed in on Trudy's house.
"That's B.C.'s truck!" Max noticed the Ford in the middle of the dirt driveway. She quickened her pace.
"Send emergency officials to 12 Beachview Road, there's a fire and people trapped inside" Logan hit 'end' and folded up the cell, shoving it in his pants' pocket.
"By the time the fire truck comes the place will be ashes!" Max snapped
"Let's try to find a way inside!" Logan shouted at her.
A shot rang out , and they felt the air rush by them by an ejected bullet.
They both dropped stomach down onto the dirt.
"You okay?!?" Logan shouted, looking over at her flat on her stomach a few inches apart from him
"Yeah!" she told him, glancing up, spotting B.C. in front of the house armed with a .22 caliber rifle. "We've got company"
Another shot sounded
*****
"What the hell is it?" Clyde called out to B.C.
"That bitch is back!" B.C. shouted from outside "I'm gonna knock her off!" he took aim again.
Clyde looked down with hateful eyes at Sage by his feet. "Not this time little shit!" He picked up a metal crowbar from the ground "This time I'm gonna make sure you don't make it outta here!" he brought the crowbar down, but Sage rolled away from it.
/FLASH: "Fear is the worst weapon in the world Sage."/
The crow bar hit the counter. Sage grabbed the end of it and slammed it into Clyde's stomach.
Clyde gasped. "You shit!" he recomposed himself and grabbed a flaming piece of the ceiling that had fallen to the floor, burning the skin on Sage's arm with it.
Sage screamed
"You're not gonna survive this fire kid!"
*****
Max felt around until she found several smoking bullets in the grass. She picked them up off the ground and broke the shells with her fingers, pouring the powder onto the ground about ten feet to the right of them. "We need to create a diversion!" She looked to her husband "You ready?"
Logan took out his gun that he snatched from Max's kit before he ran out of the house. The clip had only two rounds left. He fired it at the powder she laid down. The powder ignited, creating an explosion that blew dirt and grass everywhere.
"Move!" Max shouted.
They both climbed to their feet using the billowing dirt as a smoke screen to move closer.
B.C. shot at the site of the blast. Max crept up on him and tapped him on the shoulder. He turned
"Looking for me?" she punched him in the face and grabbed the gun, slamming the butt into his stomach.
Logan stepped onto the porch, having to duck down a moment later when a piece of fallen wood came down from the roof.
Max peeked inside, spying Trudy on the floor. She backed up and kicked the door in that Clyde and B.C. locked after they entered.
*****
Sage tried to yank his arm away from Clyde, but he was paralyzed by his own fear and by the sheer force of Clyde's grasp.
/FLASH: "He beats you because he hurts you in ways you don't prepare for. You can't defend yourself because you don't know what you're defending against"/
Sage pulled back from Clyde and managed to land back on the floor. He could smell the hair singed on his arm. It was beginning to become too painful to move
Clyde sneered above him, finding the abandoned crowbar and raised it above his head "When I'm done they'll carry you outta here on a body bag!"
/FLASH: "So how do I stop him?"/
/FLASH: (Max V.O.) "By expecting the unexpected"/
Sage took a hold of the crowbar again and this time he made contact with Clyde's leg. Clyde buckled and fell on the ground.
/FLASH: "I'm done hiding. I don't want to do it anymore"/
Sage hit him again in the stomach and then dropped the crowbar. He knelt next to Trudy. "Aunt Trudy!" he coughed and tried to see through the smoke.
"Sage! Trudy!" He heard Max's voice calling in the smoky house.
"Max! Over here!" Sage shouted back.
With her night vision Max found them seconds later, Logan beside her.
"Let's move Sage!" she grabbed his hand so he wouldn't get lost from her in the smoke. Logan picked up Trudy and they ran out of the house through the front door. In the distance the wail of fire engines and emergency officials were sounding off.
= = = =
/FLASH: "The thing about fire is. Fire can be put out"/
"More power!" the firemen shouted to another on the back of the truck. He aimed his high powered hose at the house, hitting the flames on the roof. The fire was finally under control, and would be completely out in a matter of seconds.
An ambulance was parked a few feet away from the house. Trudy was being patched up on a gurney in the back of the rig. Sage sat down on the end of the ambulance wrapped in a brown blanket while an EMT bandaged his arm with burn dressings.
Max stepped out from behind the ambulance door, and approached Sage and the EMT
"How ya feeling?"
"Remember how I told you I hate fire?" Sage asked, watching as she nodded "I still do"
Max offered him a small smile, watching as the EMT finished his work and then left them alone for a moment. "How's Trudy?"
Sage turned to look at his aunt sitting in the back of the ambulance chatting with the EMT, who she knew. "She's got a minor concussion. But she doesn't want to go down to the hospital, she feels that as a doctor she should be qualified to take care of herself"
Max smiled again and moved to sit by Sage on the tailgate.
"Where's Logan?"
"Back at the cabin" Max answered, "We kinda left in a hurry and he wants to make sure our kids didn't get into anything they shouldn't have" She turned to him.
"Where's B.C. and Clyde?" Sage asked pulling the blanket up higher around his shoulders.
"Over there" Max pointed and Sage looked to the back of a patrol car. "Logan's got some friends in higher state police departments. Their making sure the cops of Cape Haven don't let those two get off with only a slap on the wrist this time"
This time Sage was the one who smiled. He looked to the house where smoke was rising from the extinguished fire "Guess we can live in the cabin until this place gets fixed up" he paused "That is if you don't mind"
"You saved my life once. It'd be the least I could to pay that back."
"Guess this makes us even"
Max looked at him, smiling, and put her arm around him.
Sage leaned into her and put his head down on her shoulder.
*****
CAPE HAVEN CEMETARY
THE NEXT MORNING
The sound of a bulldozer rumbled through the air over the grave next to John and Emily Gilian. The man running it shifted a few levers getting the machine to move foward approaching the two gravesties.
Sage stood behind the bulldozer watching the grave marked "Sam Gilian" be torn apart. Trudy stood next to him. Sage's brown suede t-shirt jacket was rolled up on one sleeve revealing white burn dressings wrapped aroundhis forearm.
Max stood back with Logan a few feet from Sage and Trudy, observing the demolition. Each one held one child in their arms. Logan with Lexi and her with Jess.
(MAX V.O) "Our past always comes back around, no matter how hard we try to keep it buried in the ground."
There was a loud "CRACK" when the bulldozer ran over the headstone, splitting it in two. Fragments of it broke off and fell to the dirt.
(MAX V.O)" It comes to the surface like a weed, wanting to be alive again"
Sage watched it all unfold without a sound, seeing the name "Sam" crumble into nothing more then granite fragments.
(MAX: V.O) "They say if you don't remember the past you are doomed to repeat it"
A wind whipped through Sage's hair, tossling it. He felt Trudy slide one of her hands into his.
Max stepped closer to Sage, finally reaching him, being a presence behind him
(MAX: V.O) "But there are those who don't want to repeat it"
She reached out a leather gloved hand, resting it on Sage's shoulder. He didn't move, but she felt his muscles relax some from their tension
(MAX V.O)"They only want to remember it."
(FADE TO BLACK)
*****
END
Haven was such an interesting epi like I said. There was so much hidden depth and pain with Sage. It was very haunting to watch it. This story came to me fast. I've had ideas for a chapter like this ever since I saw "Haven" air for the first time. I wrote a big chunk of this in only three days, and ideas kept coming to me.
I'll keep punching them out.
R/R please
Peace,
Mystic
AUTHOR: Mystic25
EMAIL: yellowrubberduck31@hotmail.com
SUMMARY: Three years ago they went to a place called Cape Haven. Now recent events calls Max and Logan back to the creepy town where the past never wants to stays buried.
DISCLAIMER: Cameron..short and sweet.
RATING: PG for language and violence.
A/N: "Haven" was always a fav epi of mine. And after I started this series I often wondered what it would be like if Max and Logan, now married returned to Cape Haven. It would end all discussions of "guest rooms" I'll tell you that much. I used the "Haven" episode script for reference and to mirror in certain scenes, but with my twist.
A/N #2: I've been watching "Enough" that movie about J.Lo as a woman being abused by her husband and deciding to fight back, so that's why I have the title that I do. It's a song by Brittany Spears. I'm not really into her music, but that song is good.
*****
SEATTLE WASHINGTON
"Gas guzzlers" Sketchy complained watching the people in front of him behind three sets of OTHER people getting their safety cans, and jugs for some, filled with precious gasoline.
"Way this city runs Sketch" Max was beside him, with her own can of gas to score.
He looked at her forlorned "I don't understand why you're here. You're married to the money of Seattle now. Why can't you score gas off people that don't deliver on the back of trucks?"
She turned to him "Pulse sorta evened everyone out on the gas. There's not enough of it no matter how much money you have or who your daddy is" a pause "Sides like I'd miss the tradition"
He looked at her like she was crazy, groaning as someone's gas can tipped and a third of the gas in the truck that was being siphoned out missed the container and hit the dirt.
Max put her hand on Sketchy's shoulder "Deep breaths Sketch. They'll be enough juice left"
"What world are you from?"
They moved another inch in line
"So why do you need this gas?" Max leaned against a pick up truck "Saw you here three days ago"
"I need a new chain guard, and Jacinda said if I get gas to get her car going she'll get me some bread"
"Thought you wanted a chain guard"
"Jacinda doesn't have a chain guard, Alec does"
"So you're swapping Alec bread for a chain guard? What the hell's he gonna do with bread? Make crullers?"
"Alec doesn't need bread. He needs a new jack wire for his phone. Kendra needs bread."
"So Kendra has a wire?"
"No Normal has an old phone wire from Jam Pony. Kendra offered to swap him some lingerie for it and she'll give the wire to Alec who will give her the bread I get and give to him AFTER I get it from Jacinda for the gas. Which is how I'm getting my chain guard"
"What the hell is Normal doing with all this damn lingerie? Should we be concerned?"
"I make it a point not to be"
The truck Max was leaning against moved and so did the line. "Sketch, I love ya but talking to you is like talking to a hyperactive parrot"
He smiled good-naturedly as the line move until they were the next to the first people to get gas.
"So you getting outta here for a few days?"
She held up her soon to be filled red gas can "why I'm standing in line"
He looked over at her anniversary ring "Bet that thing isn't as expensive as this gas is gonna be"
"I heard that pal!" the distributor of the gasoline glowered at Sketchy.
"Yeah well-" Max approached him and unscrewed the top of her gas can "Unless you plan to drink that go juice you got stored in there you ain't leavin' us here empty handed"
The man also looked at her ring. "Lady, why don't you fence the rock, it'll get you all the 'go juice' you'll need to make it to Key West."
"Just give us some gas before this rock ends up in your ass" she threatened.
*****
FOGGLE TOWERS
"Yeah" Logan leaned the phone against his shoulder, and leaned back in his computer chair "I understand Trudy."
"You don't have to do this Mr. Cale," Trudy sat down in dining room chair in her house.
"Don't talk like that" Logan told her "It's not a problem. Seems to me that you're the one having the problem" he looked up as the front door opened, seeing Max enter.
"Hey" she held up her now full gas can "I got it" she walked over to him, setting the canister on the coffee table before she entered the computer room where he was.
"Premium, three gallons."
He covered the mouthpiece of the phone with one hand "Then I say it was a good score"
She smiled and bent down to kiss him. "Should get us to wherever you plan on taking me without my knowledge that damn well better be good or I'll beat your ass down."
Trudy must've heard something because she starting talking again "Mr. Cale you still there?"
"Yeah" Logan removed his hand "still here"
"Is something wrong?"
"No, that was just my wife"
There was a moment of surprised silence "Oh.---"Well then I should make sure and see if we have a queen size bed available for you this time. So I can expect you--two in town tomorrow?"
"You got it"
"Thank you again Sir"
He smiled "You're welcome"
"Hey" Max waved at him "Remember me? You're wife?" she smiled at him "So what was that all about?"
"Before I answer that I think we need to talk"
"Am I pregnant?"
"No." Logan looked at her funny "Wouldn't you know that before me?" a pause "It's about the trip were taking this weekend"
"You mean the one I don't know a damn thing about?"
"Yeah that one" he confirmed
"Something tells me I'm still not going to see the Cascades" she remembered the last time she had wanted to go there and he gipped her.
"Trudy called"
This got Max's attention. She hadn't seen the woman since those days in Cape Haven three years ago. She sensed something in Logan's tone "What is it?"
"It's Sage-"
"Is he okay?" Max well remembered the boy at Cape Haven who she had befriended. He was like a little brother to her.
"He's fine physically. He-" Logan hesitated, "He's been having problems-nightmares."
"What about?" she looked at him harder.
"Trudy wouldn't say much over the phone. Just that he keeps having visions of the night his parents died in that fire."
"He's had them before." She told him
"But this time he's more worked up about it especially since he keeps being harassed by some of the same local jack asses we met before"
"I thought B.C. and his chumps got their asses behind bars, except for that one you took out"
Logan looked at her on the words 'took out.' That was the first time he had ever killed a man, and it still made him uncomfortable.
"They got out" Logan said, "Paroled a week ago, and they've been coming by Trudy's late at night. Last time they broke Sage's window when they threw lit cloth attached to a brick inside his bedroom"
"Bastards" Max spat "He's terrified of fire ever since they torched his house. Surprised he even could help you out when B.C.'s chumps attacked us that night"
"We were one man short" he looked at her. Max remembered only vaguely about the attack itself. She had been assaulted by seizures the entire time and had passed out soon after, leaving Logan and Sage to fend for themselves. Her next sensation was having Sage shake her, coughing from all the smoke. She came too, and couldn't see anything through all the thick smoke. Luckily her cat night vision kicked in and with Sage's help she made it out the door in time to collapse against the side of the porch.
After the police and ambulance came for B.C. and the others Trudy had come out of the night and draped a blanket over her. She wanted to take Max back to her clinic and look her over completely, but Max assured her that she was okay. Sage had sat with her as Trudy told her to see a doctor if she had any signs of smoke inhalation.
"He wasn't going to let you die" Logan reminded. Max seizures had been so bad that weekend, and when she didn't come out of the house after the fire started he was tempted to go in after her, but then B.C. and Clyde jumped him and he didn't get the chance.
She looked him right in the eye, sharing the same strong look as he did. "When do we leave?"
"How soon can you get packed?"
"Ten minutes" she told him "But things are a lil different then the last time we went there"
"Yeah you're not pissed at me"
She smiled, granting him that. She had been so mad at him for dropping their plans to go off on an informant lead. "I meant I can pack in ten minutes, but they can't" she nodded at a picture of their children kept in his office. The real children were playing together in Jess's room.
"That's why we pack for them" Logan reminded
"You get Lexi I get Jess?"
"Ten minutes packing for each of them."
"Fifteen." Max corrected, "You ever tried to get a four year old boy dressed in five minutes?"
"Fine" Logan agreed "Call Lucia to take care of Kaja?"
"I'll make the call."
"You forget we need-"
She held passes in front of his face.
He took the dangling items from her hand and looked them over "VIP?"
"Is their any other way to travel? I didn't even hafta hang upside down this time. Some guy just had them in his car with the window rolled down."
"Glad to hear it"
*****
SOME HOURS LATER
"Mommy I have to pee"
Max looked back at her daughter strapped in her carseat in the back of the Aztec "Honey we're almost in town. Can you hold it for twenty minutes?"
She looked at Max and started to cry.
"It'll be okay." Max turned back to her husband "Twenty minutes babe. There's no place to stop."
"Look out the window sweetie" Logan was trying to take her mind off having to use the bathroom "All the trees. It's really nice out here. Me and mommy came here once. It was great." The rolling landscape passed by them filled with fur trees and evergreens. As bad as Cape Haven was the drive there was something they remembered enjoying.
"Yeah nearly getting ourselves killed was fantastic" Max stated quietly beside him
"Well telling her the truth won't exactly make her any happier will it?"
A sign came into their view along the side of the road reading "Cape Haven" And just like last time there were armed civilian men guarding the main road into town.
Logan slowed the car down, and rolled down his window.
"It's you again" One of the men from before was on sentry duty again, and he peered into the Aztec "I would turn around if I were you"
"Yeah well you're not us" Max looked at the man through Logan's window.
"Look guys we're just here for a few days like before." Logan said to the man at his window.
The man glanced into the back seat, shifting the rifle he was holding to one hand "You bring your family to a place like this?"
"It's really not that big of a deal" Logan rationalized "We're just here for the weekend like I said"
"Curfew's at ten, and you better stay off-"
"We've been here before remember?" Max reminded the man "We know the house rules"
"Then welcome to Cape Haven"
"Yeah same to you," Max muttered as they drove off. "Nice to know that something never change. In a freakish sort of nice that is."
They drove on through the town. Like the men out front it hadn't changed. It was still worn and crumbly from the age, but it was an ideal spot compared to some other areas hit by the Pulse. A place that seemed only now to belong on old postcards. The appearence of the town alone explained why people tried to raid it after the Pulse. It was a place frozen in time, what most sleepy towns looked like before rioters and Marshall Law took over them.
The sign that dated the starting of the Pulse was still there, except Max didn't ask about it's meaning like before.
"What's that mean daddy?" Jess asked, looking at the sign. He asked this time.
Logan glanced out his window "It's the date the Pulse happened Jess." He had told him some about the Pulse, he was only four, but he had a right to know what was happening and how it affected him. "Around midnight. Very late."
"We're you alive then daddy?"
"Yeah" Logan told him
"We're you scared?"
"I was" Logan didn't lie. "It was a scary time. People were going hungry; they were all scared too. They didn't know what to do. But it got better. They started calming down and started their lives again."
They drove some more until they reached the same one story cabin they had stayed in before. It had been rebuilt since the fire. All the scorched paint on the siding had been replaced in a fresh new coat.
Trudy came out on the porch, a smile on her face as she saw them drive up "Mr. Cale"
Logan opened his door and stepped out.
Trudy stopped, surprised at seeing him on his feet."You're up and about?" she broke into a huge smile "That's wonderful! Can I be permitted to hug you?"
"You don't need permission" Logan told her, hugging the woman.
She pulled back after a moment "Thank you so much for coming here." She looked around for a moment "I thought you were bringing your wife with you."
"She's right behind me" Logan told her
"Mommy.." Lexi's voice was getting antsyier
"Okay baby hang on" Max was holding onto her daughter, rounding the other side of the car with the girl in her arms "Think she's about to explode here you guys. Mind if we hit the ladies room first?"
Trudy was speechless at seeing who Logan was married too. "That's fine Ms-MRS. Cale, you know where it is"
Max smiled "Thanks" she looked behind her at her son "Jess, cmon inside with us"
"But I don't have to pee" Jess complained, emerging from the car and shutting the door.
"You can't stay outside by yourself Jessie Trevon."
"Daddy's here"
"Yeah but daddy's talking with a friend. Now move it"
"Go with mommy Jess" Logan told him "I'll be inside soon"
Jess shuffled his feet, but joined his mom and sister up the stairs and inside the house.
"I see you've stayed friends with Ms. Guevara" Trudy couldn't help herself "Congratulations"
"Thanks" Logan smiled.
"Come one let's go inside, it's chilly out here, even for spring. You can come back for the bags."She headed inside the cabin and Logan followed.
Max came out of the bathroom, with Lexi in tow. "Crisis averted"
"I'm glad" Trudy smiled at Max. "We still have a guestroom available-for the children I mean. They bed's big enough for them to share." She looked at Lexi "Is she old enough to sleep in a bed?"
"I'm a big girl" Lexi spoke out for herself.
Trudy gave a small laugh "Yes ma'am you are. And very beautiful I might add. You take after your mother."
Max smiled "It's fine Trudy. She can adapt" Max looked at her daughter "Isn't that right baby?" she kissed her.
Logan handed Trudy some money "Paid in full"
Trudy took it from him "Thank you" she slid the envelope he handed to her in the pocket of her jacket.
They walked out into the kitchen. Which was the same as Max remembered it. Except now there were new appliances to replace the ones that were lost in the fire.
"Everything's the same as before" Trudy said her thought out loud. I had Sage chop a fresh batch of firewood so you should be fine for the night. And it's getting warmer."
"How's he doin'?" Max spoke up, setting Lexi on top of the counter, playing with her hands.
Trudy shook her head "He's fourteen now, but this kinda stuff. It still haunts him."
"Does he know we're here?" Logan asked
Trudy shook her head again "I thought it best that you tell him. Sage is a dear boy. But he's getting older and he deserves to not be treated like a baby in this matter."
Logan, nodded, agreeing with her remark.
"Where is he?" Max asked.
"He's over at the cemetery," Trudy said sadly "He's stops there everyday. Sometimes he stays as long as two hours"
Max had the same look in her eyes
*****
CEMETARY
"Hey"
The boy turned away from the headstones he was looking at. He stared for a moment because he couldn't believe who it was. "Max?" His black hoodie blew in the slight breeze.
Max nodded and smiled "Was just passing through" she stepped over to Sage.
Sage in turn hugged her. He had grown a few inches she had last seen him. His hair was slightly shorter now, and colored a lighter sandier brown. "Heard you've been having a rough time"
He pulled back and looked at her
"Trudy told me"
"Yeah" Sage's voice had also gotten deeper. But he still had the same eyes she remembered from before. "It's just nightmares"
"B.C. and them too. They been bothering you again?"
"Is Logan here too?" Sage changed the subject.
"He's inside with Trudy at the cabin we stayed in before"
Sage looked at her again "You haven't changed. You're still pretty"
Max smiled "You have." She roughed up his hair "Say you look better then before" She nodded
over to the headstones. "Visiting?"
Sage looked too "I do it everyday. I'm trying to remember them." He took one step closer to the headstones "But there are always gaps." He shrugged "Guess it traumatized me so badly there are some thing I shouldn't remember."
The last time Sage talked about this he broke down, but now only his tone dropped in sadness. And Max didn't embrace him like before. He was growing up, and she didn't want to treat him like a little kid. She touched his shoulder and squeezed.
"Sure they remember you. And they miss you."
Sage just kept looking at the headstones.
"Logan's inside if you wanna see him" this time Max changed the subject.
Sage turned to her with a slight smile.
*****
CABIN
"Look who I found in the woods" Max came in through the screen door after Sage did. The door closed with a 'thunk' after them.
"What is it?" Jessie came bounding out from the hallway, excited.
Max scooped him up and turned him to look at Sage who smiled.
Jess looked at him curiously
"He's yours?" Sage asked
Max nodded "Yeah, Logan kinda grew on me so I married him"
Sage smiled. He always used to hope that Max would stay with her friend. She was one of the few people who showed him respect, and one of the only adults besides Trudy that didn't treat him like a little kid and she deserved to be happy.
"Hi" Sage broke the silence with Jess.
"Hi" Jess responded
"I'm Sage" Sage told him "I'm friends with your mom."
"His name's Jessie" Max spoke up when her son didn't say anything else.
"How old is he?"
"Four" Jess answered for himself "My birthday was last month"
Sage smiled again "That's great" he stepped over to the boy and held out his hand "Happy birthday Jessie"
Jess shook it with a smile.
Max looked up when she heard footsteps approaching. "Hey baby, come look what the wind blew in"
Sage turned to see Logan standing there
"Great seeing you again Sage" Logan stepped over to the boy.
There was an awkward moment between them. Max had embraced Sage when she saw him again, but she was a woman and there was a certain maternal thing about being able to hug kids, even ones Sage's age. But Sage was getting older. And Logan as a man would never embrace a man like a child even if he hadn't seen him in a while. It had to do with respecting Sage's right to grow up.
So Logan simply held out his hand, gesturing it warmly to Sage.
Sage shook the hand, and once Logan felt him become more comfortable he pulled the boy into a light hug.
"So how've you been?" Logan asked
"Isn't that why you're here?" there was no anger in Sage's tone. He looked down at Logan's legs "Your walking"
"Yeah" he smiled. He looked up towards Max "Lexi sacked out on the couch, so I put her in the guestroom."
"She has enough blankets?"
"It's warm enough with just her jacket" Logan told her. He looked to Sage who looked lost. "Sorry Lexi- Alexis, she's our daughter. She's two, and the drive up here wore her out. You know how little kids are."
"Bet she's pretty" Sage analyzed, stealing a glance at Max "Maybe I'll meet her when she wakes up."
"Maybe you will" Logan agreed
"You guys have any more kids?"
Max shook her head "Nope, that's it"
Trudy came into the kitchen "Everything appears to be in order." She looked at Sage "You ready to go?"
"Can't I stay for a while Aunt Trudy?" Sage knew the truth, but he still considered Trudy his aunt. She had gotten legal custody of him a while back. "I want to catch up with Max and Logan." He looked at her with big eyes "Please?"
Trudy nodded "Okay, but don't stay over too late. I'm sure they wants to bed those children of theirs down early"
Sage smiled "I won't"
Trudy beamed as well, and looked towards her guests "If you need anything you know where my house is."
"We will" Logan answered "And thanks"
"So-" Logan began after Trudy left "Lexi just fell asleep thirty minutes ago, but she'll be up soon enough and when she is, whose up for some pool?" he still remembered how much Sage enjoyed playing with Max.
Max looked down at Sage "Know I will be"
"Me too" Sage agreed "But the only public pool table in town is still at the bar." He looked at them apologetically, and a little apprehensive. His harassers regularly hung out there, and as much as he loved pool he would hardly go there because of them.
"Sounds fine" Max reassured, she still saw Sage looking a bit nervous "I got your back on this one Sage"
He broke into a hint of a smile "I'll pay for your milk this time"
Max ruffed up his hair "Then after my baby gets up we'll get this game started."
*****
BAR/POOL HALL
CAPE HAVEN
"Hey baby" the bartender recognized Max as she entered, looking her over "Back for more milk?"
Max set her daughter in one of the stools by the bar. "Two beers straight up slick, oh and I will need some milk. Two small glasses."
"This ain't no day care" the bartender looked at Lexi in the stool. "You can't bring kids in here"
"You're here" Max dissed "Now about the order."
He sneered at her, but went to fill it.
Sage came over to the bar. "Hi" he waved at Lexi "My names Sage."
"My name's Lexi Marie" Lexi spoke out "My birthday is Febrary 3, 2020 and I'm two years old."
"Wow" Sage stated, "That's great. My birthday's August 20, 2008."
"I like birthdays" Lexi informed
Sage grinned "Me too"
"Sage-"
The voice made Sage cringe, and he didn't turn around. B.C. stood behind him, one hand wrapped in black boxers tape clamped on his shoulder. "Rude not to let me know your girlfriend's back in town."
Sage closed his eyes, and his muscles went rigid.
Lexi looked up at Max "What does he mean mommy?"
"Nuthin' baby" Max responded, shooting daggers at B.C with her eyes "It's just a stupid game he likes to play"
"And who's this?" B.C. hadn't changed at all. He looked leeringly at Lexi "You get her knocked up Sage? Must've been great kiddy porn."
Sage turned around then, a quiet anger in his eyes "Why don't you just leave B.C.? You're scaring the kid."
B.C. laughed at Sage standing up to him. He got in his face "Are you threatening me?" he grabbed Sage by the collar. "Why don't ya get your girlfriend to beat me up like last time little boy?"
Logan came behind B.C. and tapped his shoulder
B.C. turned around "She won't have too." He slammed a right hook into B.C.'s face. "Take it the view from your cave isn't any better"
B.C. drew back from the hit, and then looked at Logan with glowering eyes. "I'm gonna put you back in that chair punk"
Max tripped B.C. and he fell on his back on the bar floor. Before he had the chance to recover she placed her foot right on his neck "Make a move and it'll be your last"
B.C. looked over at Logan, sneering "Still hafta have a woman fight your battles for ya."
Max applied pressure to B.C.'s throat "Your in no position to be runnin' your mouth. She applied harder pressure "Now why don't you get the hell outta here; you're ruining my game mood."
B.C. stood up gasping. He had one hand around his neck. "This ain't over kid" He pointed at Sage and left the bar.
Max looked around the bar, at the other men in the room "Anyone else want a piece?" she barked. She turned back to Sage after she was met with silence for her answer "You okay?"
He nodded "But I won't always have you and Logan here to do this for me."
She looked at him in understanding "Still up for pool?"
Sage hesitated for a moment, but nodded.
Max smiled "Kay, I'll get some cues, you rack."
Logan approached the bar to grab his drink.
Max handed it to him "Nice hook"
"Hurts like hell though" he stuck his drink on top the hand he had punched B.C. with.
"Daddy said a bad word" Lexi spoke out
Logan looked at his daughter still sitting on the bar stool "Sorry. It--stings." He looked down at his hand and held it out to Lexi "Kiss?"
She kissed the top of his hand.
Max smiled at the exchange "Did she make it better enough to play with me and Sage?"
"Bring it on." He stated
Max picked up Lexi "Wanna watch the game hun?"
She grinned and shook her head 'yes'
Max set Lexi beside Jess on barstools near the pool table. She handed out pool cues and waited for Sage to rack.
"Can I break?" Sage asked
"Go for it" Logan responded, leaning on his cue
Sage lined up his shot and broke the formation of balls with the cue ball. He landed the nine ball in the right corner pocket.
"Good shot" Max informed.
Sage smiled at her and went around the side of the table for his next shot. The cue ball went in the pocket, a scratch.
"My turn" Logan lined up his shot and landed three balls in the left middle and left corner pocket.
"Lucky" Max teased him like last time
"Luck has nothing to do with this baby" Logan told her
"How about cockiness?"
He smiled and took his next shot. A bounce move that he had done with Alec where the cue ball jumped over another ball and landed the one behind it in the pocket it was near. He did that to keep from running the shot that could be made with the first ball.
"That was awesome." Sage was impressed by Logan's move "Where'd you learn how to do that?"
"My Uncle Jonas was a member of this pool shark club. They use to all get together and play every week in our basement." Logan sunk his next shot, seven ball in the right side pocket. He moved for his next shot "I would go down there to watch and my uncle's friends would teach me things." He made this shot too. Eight ball in the left center pocket. "That's how I learned how to play in the first place." This time he missed.
"Shark bites the dust" Max said. She took his space "Thought I would never get a turn." She leaned over to take her shot, and felt someone looking at her. At first she thought it was like the last time, and B.C.'s goons were grouping her ass in their minds. But when she glanced back this time it was Logan who was checking her out.
She smiled and made her shot. Two balls in the back pocket. She pulled up straight and looked at Logan "Thanks for the compliment" she took her next shot, a scratch.
"Looks like it's back to you" Max informed Sage.
Sage wound up one point away from winning the game. He made his last shot and sunk the ball in the pocket.
"Believe that's game" Max smiled, holding out her hand for a low five.
Sage slapped it.
"That was great." Logan added "You really improved your game."
Sage smiled "How about next time you show me some of that stuff you did"
Logan smiled back "Deal"
Sage checked his watch "It's getting late. I better be heading home."
"Aiight" Max agreed, "Want some company?"
"No!" Sage answered back with a snap in his tone. He looked at Max apologetically. "I'm sorry Max. I'll be fine by myself, really." A pause "Thanks though"
"Then we'll see you in the morning?"
Sage shook his head "Yeah. Aunt Trudy told me to bring some more wood by to the cabin." He grabbed his hoodie and pulled it back on. Once it was all the way on he turned back to them "Goodnight"
"Take it easy" Logan responded, watching him leave. He looked over at Max "So, what do you want to do now?" he glanced over at their children "I promised them s'mores on the fire-"
"You spazed out on me about that the last time we were here"
"Yeah well I'm sorry I was such-" he leaned closer to her ear out of Lexi's range "such an ass about it before. I was mad that all you wanted to do was sit around when I wanted you to help me work. It was kinda selfish"
"Yes it was" Max agreed, with a slight smile "But this is now." Her smile grew more seductive "How bout you keep the fire burning after the s'mores?"
"The last time I wanted to build a fire YOU spazed out on me" he reminded
"Like I said, this is now" she repeated. "Can't tell me a crackling fire isn't enticing for-after dark"
Her sexy look was affecting him the way she wanted "Only if you'll also let me get you a blanket this time"
"Kay" she agreed "But only if you'll join me under it"
The air got hotter for him. "Enough talk. We should head back" he picked up Lexi "Like Sage said, it's late"
*****
A twig crackled under Sage's feet. Besides that the only other sound were the waves hitting the beach that wasn't that far away from where he was. He was tempted to step over to it and walk along the shore. A check of his watch told him that it was just past 8:30. Twenty minutes by the water wouldn't make him that much later. He still had another hour and a half until curfew.
He stepped over the sand dune and onto the deserted beach and sat down removing his shoes, letting his bare toes squish into the sand. Out ahead the water was colored a bluish black by the night. The tourists loved to come out during this season. All the jellyfish and sharks wouldn't come back until summer so the water was safe. It was a warm night, but a breeze still blew in from off the water.
Sage sat back down and removed his pants and hoodie, blue sweater until he was down to his boxers. He stepped over to the edge of the water and white foam lapped at his feet. He walked out into the water a few yards until it was deep enough then dove in. He swam about thirty yards out, leaning against one of the boey yard markers put there by lifeguards for the swim area in tourists season. Technically the beach was already closed, but the patrolmen always collected together up on the dune to drink and goof off so he wasn't in danger of getting caught.
He floated on his back and looked up at the stars. A shooting star streaked across the sky, like a fireball.
/FLASH: Sage stares wide eyed as his parents are huddled together on the floor, trying to reach for him. Smoke fills the room along with flames
"Sam-" his mother calls out to him in a choked whisper. But a second later she passes out along with her husband.
Outside B.C. is circling the house with Clyde
"Shit man we can't kill them!"
"Too late fool!" B.C. shouted back "You grabbed the fuckin' woman! We can't have her squealing! And the husband he'll go right to the police for what we did, this is the only way!"/
/FLASH: Trudy carried the crumpled form of Sage through her door. His entire body was covered in second and third degree burns. His hair was singed and it fell off in clumps when she touched his head.
"Sam?" Trudy called him "Sam can you hear me honey?" Trudy picked him up and took him to her bedroom. His skin came away in her hands. She started pouring water on him to cool his body down./
/FLASH: Sage opened his eyes at Trudy's clinic. He was covered in burn wraps and an NG tube was in his nose, stuff Trudy had swiped from the hospital
"Sam?" Trudy called out to him
Sage started coughing
Trudy gave him a cup of water with a straw "Sam? It's okay. It's me Trudy. You were in a bad fire honey."
"Whose Sam?" Sage gasped
Trudy stared at him wide eyed./
Sage gasped and came back to the real world. His body bobbed up and down in the water. He looked around wild eyed for a moment and swam back to shore. The night air was cooler then the water. He shivered and hurried to dry himself on his hoodie before getting dressed. He climbed back over the dune and found the road again.
He walked silently back to his house when he felt something grab him by the throat and slam him into a building.
"Where ya headin' Sage?" B.C. stared him in the face with sour breath. "Why you'd try to run your mouth on me?" he banged him into the wall "You tryin' to conspire against me with that bitch from outta town again? You think she can protect you from me? Huh?" he let go and punched Sage in the face.
Sage fell backwards onto bags of trash. B.C. stood over him. "Better head home little man. Curfew's starting soon"
Sage jumped up from the trash and held his cheek from where it had been punched. He waited until B.C. was out of sight before running down the road to his home.
*****
CABIN
NEXT MORNING
"Morning" Logan said to Max handing her a coffee cup. "You hungry?"
"Famished" she responded "Why? You got something good for me?" she looked over at the stove with two frying pans on the front range eyes.
"Yeah, but not in those pans." He set down his coffee cup and stepped closer to her "C'mere." He backed her up so she that she banged her back against the the refrigerator. He kissed her hotly and felt her arms wind around his neck.
"Is this supposed to be better then breakfast?"
He pulled back "Oh you're gonna get it for that" he kissed her neck.
She waited for a moment, feeling him on her jugular "Okay maybe I was wrong" She bent lower and reclaimed his mouth.
"Good morning"
Lexi's voice made them snap apart. Logan got up off of Max's body.
"Morning sweetie" Max responded, straightening out her hair that had gotten rumpled in the moment.
Lexi looked at Max who was still against the fridge. "What are you doing mommy?"
"Getting juice" Max lied, turning and opened the fridge, hopping they had juice. She found some apple juice and pulled it out. "Want some?" she asked Lexi
She nodded
"Kay" she headed over to get a glass from the cabinet. Logan beat her to it and handed her a clean one from the drain board.
"Getting juice?" he had a smirk on his face.
"Could tell her bout the birds and the bees now if you want" Max poured some juice in the glass.
"So you were getting juice you say?"
Max smiled and kissed him on the way back to the kitchen table. She sat down and watched Lexi drink her juice.
Max heard the creaking of the screen door that opened.
"Max, you home?"
She smiled when she heard Sage's voice "In the kitchen Sage!" she looked to her daughter "You hungry?"
Lexi nodded
Max stood up to get a plate set up for her when she heard Sage enter the kitchen. She turned to face him "Mornin-" her greeting was halted when she saw the huge bruise covering his cheek. She set the plate down and stepped over to him.
"Sage what happened?"
He didn't say anything.
"Was it B.C.? Did he do this to you?"
"It's not a big deal Max really-" Sage tried to convince her "Aunt Trudy already gave me some ice for it"
"Sage sit down," Logan ordered gently, pulling out a chair from the table. He waited until Sage sat before continuing. He cringed mentally when he saw the enormous purple and blue discoloration on the boy's face. "What happened?"
"I tripped" Sage lied "After I left the pool hall I went down to the beach and slipped on some rocks."
"Sage there aren't any rocks on the beach" Logan told him "It's all just sand and pebbles. Nothing that could mess you up like this"
"Yes there are!" Sage was becoming more agitated "And I fell. I just wasn't paying attention." He looked down at his hands.
Max picked up her daughter and sat in the chair she was sitting in, placing her in her lap. "Hey" she called out to Sage "Look at me" after a long minute he did. The bruise stood out noticeably against his light colored skin.
"You know you can tell us anything. That you can trust us." She looked at him with compassion "Nuthin' you say has to leave this kitchen. Be just us talkin'. Period. Kay?"
Sage was silent, then "It was B.C."
Max gave him a silent look, turning to her daughter in her lap "Sweetie why don't you go wake up Jess?"
Lexi nodded with a smile "Kay" She climbed off her mom's lap
"Kiss baby?"
Lexi reached up and kissed Max on the mouth. Max smiled for a moment and watched her run off into the hallway.
After she was gone Max started again "Were you at home?"
"No" Sage told her "Not this time--It was right after I left the pool hall. I was walking home-" He took a moment, looking down at his lap again. "He was waiting for me."
"Then what?" Max pressured, but gently. She didn't want to scare him off.
"He grabbed me" Sage went on "By my sweater. And he hit me" he touched his swollen bruise.
"Did he say anything to you?" Logan asked, moving to stand beside Max.
Sage looked down again, for a long time. Then "He told me that no one could protect me" these words were barely above a whisper. He stared at the two people watching him. "He's right"
"Sage-"
"No Logan he is" Sage cut off the older man "This has been happening ever since I can remember. And I haven't done anything to stop it. Aunt Trudy, she tried to protect me by keeping me from remembering that I could have died in that fire too. But after B.C. found out I was still alive-" a pause "He's never gonna leave me alone until he kills me. Just like he killed my parents"
Max touched his shoulder, and he looked at her with such sorrow that the last time she had seen that look was when Ben was pleading with her to not leave him.
"I don't wanna die Max" Sage was growing up, but he was still very much a wounded child because B.C., Clyde and all the others would never leave him alone enough to let him heal. "I'm only fourteen. Why is all this happening to me?" he started to cry.
Max leaned forward and hugged him, remembering the last time he had broken down in front of her. /Bastards. Why can't they ever leave him alone?/
Sage sobbed on her shoulder.
Max pulled him back "You ain't dyin' on me Sage."
"You can't change things for me Max." Sage told her "You tried before. And it went away for a little bit, but it came back." He wiped his nose on his sleeve, embarrassed that he had broken down.
Max sensed it, and gave him time to compose himself. She handed him a paper towel from the table.
"You told me you were tired of running" Logan reminded, "You can't run from this now either Sage. Or you'll be running from B.C. for the rest of your life."
"So what am I suppose to do?"
Max touched his shoulder again "I may not be able to change things for you. But you can."
Sage was confused "How?"
"Fate isn't something that's unbendable. It ain't up to the stars to determines what happens in your life." She looked at him "It's up to you. I learned that a long time ago." She glanced at Logan when she said this. "And I can show you."
"What do you mean? Show me what?"
"How to create your own fate" Max finished
*****
9:15 PM
Sage looked around the front of the abandoned warehouse. "Max!" he whispered loudly. She had gone off the side of the warehouse, and asked him to wait there for her.
"Max-"
The front door of the warehouse opened. Max was standing there holding the sliding metal door with one hand.
Sage was impressed "How'd you do that?"
"I'll show you lock picking on another lesson. C'mon before we get caught"
Sage ran through the doors and Max shut it soundlessly. The warehouse was completely dark. It started illuminating a few seconds later by halogen lamps Max set around the room.
Sage watched the place fill with a small amount of light.
"Can't have too much illumination" Max answered his unspoken question "It'll tip people off."
"There's so much I still don't know about you."
Max smiled. Knocking came at the side door.
Sage tensed for a moment.
"S'Okay." Max reassured "It's for me." She walked over to the door and opened it to Logan who was on the other side.
Logan entered the warehouse and closed the door behind him.
"Who's watching your kids?" Sage asked
"Your Aunt Trudy" Logan told him "She's enjoying the company. Told her that you were safe, and you would be with us."
"Thanks" Sage said
"Did you get everything?" Max asked
Logan held up her black cat bugler suitcase. "Everything but the kitchen sink"
She took it from him with a kiss "Second best midnight courier service I ever had."
"Then who's the first?" Logan asked
"Me" she told him.
She headed over to Sage dropping the suitcase on the ground and snapped the lid open. She rummaged around through her crossbow anchor, cat suit and lock picking tools until she found what she was looking for, leather grips. She threw some at Sage. "Put these on."
"Their kinda big." Sage informed slipping them on.
"Their my brothers" Max told him about the grips he had on which belong to Zack. She had thrown them in her pack after he left them at the penthouse one day. "They should fit you better then mine." She pulled out a black tank top from her bag, standing up with it. "Close your eyes for a second" she told Sage who did it.
Max stripped off her sweater and pulled on the tank top, throwing the sweater and Logan who was eyeing her. "Kay you can open'em"
Sage examined her new attire as she slipped on her own grips.
"Have you had any defense training?" Max asked
"Karate" Sage told her "But I only made it to yellow belt."
"You have enough knowledge of the skills though" Max informed, "I don't have enough time to teach you if you had nothing."
"Teach me what?" Sage asked, "B.C. can outfight me. There's not enough time for me to learn how to become a black belt"
"You don't need higher skills Sage" Max corrected "A true fighter uses the skills he has to it's maximum potential." She circled him "Because you took Karate you have basic fighting skills. You know how to block-" she swung at him and he stopped her fist with his hand. "To maneuver" she swung at his face and he ducked, and she hit air. "But there's one thing that you don't know" she flipped over his head and locked him around the throat, not hard. "The unexpected." She let go. "There aren't any gloves in real life fights Sage." She turned to look him in the face "Or neat and tidy rules to protect you from the man who wants to beat your ass down. You can create your fate, but it will only bend to you so far. You have to include the unexpected, because that's your true weak spot." She swung at him again but he grabbed her arm this time and dropped her down. She landed on her feet of course, and smiled at him "Not that he's bigger then you, or stronger then you. He beats you because he hurts you in ways you don't prepare for." She circled him "And you can't defend yourself because you don't know what you're defending against."
"So how do I stop him?"
"By expecting the unexpected"
*****
"Did he tell you anything?" Clyde sat on a storage crate outside of the bar, watching B.C. smoke a cigarette. They weren't allowed to smoke inside and had been thrown out because they didn't want to play by the rules.
"He clammed up like he always does," B.C. took a drag from his cigarette "He's not gonna say anything."
"Then what the hell is he hanging round that chick for?" Clyde asked "She filled his head with fucked up ideas last time to start remembering the fire" Clyde growled in the back of his throat and snatched one of B.C.'s cigarettes from the pack in his pocket. "We shoulda took him out for good like his parents. He's a whiner, and whiner's have mouths. He'll yap us straight to the cops."
"He's just a kid dumb ass!" B.C. pitched his lighter at Clyde's head "He don't even really remember the fire, so he can't pin it on us. And what the hell the cops gonna do about it?" he took another puff and blew out "Not like they did anything the night of the "accident" he made quotes in the air with his hand when he said this.
"He still needs to be shut up" Clyde snapped
"Gotta get him alone" B.C. informed, "That bitch and her man are always around. And as much as I want to pay back that mother fucker but I gotta take care of business with little Sage first. And if they don't know where he is, it'll be easier."
"Hell of a lot more fun too." Clyde agreed, "Though that bitch is a nice piece of ass." He dropped his cigarette on the dirt ground and stomped it out with his boot. "Sure would like to do her up."
"Me too man" B.C. said "But we always jump before we hump" he laughed
Clyde laughed too.
*****
Sage was sitting on the floor of the warehouse, wiping sweat from his face with his shirt.
A bottle of water came into his line of sight.
Sage looked up to Max who was holding it "Thanks" he took it from her and drank.
Max sat down cross-legged on the floor beside him.
After drinking, Sage stared at Max "Think this will work?"
"It's not up to me, it's up to you." Max told him.
"Then I'm good as gone" Sage was serious when he said this "One day of learning how to fight isn't gonna stop B.C. from coming after me and pounding me to the ground."
"The lesson's not complete" Max said, "There's still one more thing to teach you."
"What is it?"
Max looked at him for a long moment, then held up a gun, Logan's that he kept in the drawer of his office. She removed the clip and held the gun out to Sage.
He took it, looking back to her, not getting the meaning of her gesture.
"I never liked guns" Max began speaking again "That's because when I was nine I watched my sister get shot down right in front of me." She watched Sage's eyes get wide "I never want to have to hold one of these things and shoot someone. Even if it means saving my own life." this time she held up a lighter and lit the flame, holding it in front of Sage. "You have every right to be scared by what killed your family. But B.C. and the others, they know it scares you and it becomes their weapon. Fear is the worse weapon in the world Sage. Fire can't scare you if your not afraid of it. But you are Sage, ever since the accident" she called it an accident, letting that description slide for the moment "And B.C. and Clyde will use it against you. That's how they operate."
/FLASH: Emily Gilan pushes Sage into a closet, telling him to stay there through a choked voice. Outside B.C. and Clyde circle the burning house. B.C. smashed through a window and grabs John Gilan
"What are you lookin' at, raghead?" he punched John "You knew it was comin', didn't you? Huh?" he kicked John in the chest and he fell to the floor.
Sage watched, terrified from the closet/
"I can't make those memories go away." She looked him dead in the eye "But you have a right to not live your life being afraid that someone can take it all away in a second."
/FLASH: "Let's torch this sucker!" B.C. poured gasoline all around the house and threw a lit match into it. Fire ripped through the gasoline and the boards soaked in them./
Logan and Max shared a look when she said this.
"The thing about fire is-" Max released the button on the lighter and the flame vanished "Fire can be put out" She threw it to Sage watching him catch it.
Sage looked at the lighter for a long moment then looked up to Max "But what if I'm still scared?"
"Courage is not the absence of fear" she quoted Franklin Roosevelt, which showed the true nature of her personality. A woman who could diss out the hardest criminal before busting their balls, but could also correct a well read scholar on the meanings of philosophy. "It's just recognizing that there are more important things besides"
"Good, cause I'm pretty sure I'm still scared about this" he turned to her "Does that change anything?"
Max offered him a light smile. She reached out and touched his shoulder "Don't change a thing"
Sage stood up, but knelt back down a moment later to hug Max. She put her arms around him too.
He pulled back and kissed her on the cheek, just like he had done that night after he had helped Logan fight of B.C. and the others.
*****
TRUDY'S
"Daddy!" Jessie bound into Logan's arms when he came through the doorway "Look what Trudy helped me make!" he pointed to a paper mache model of the human heart on the table.
"Wow" Logan looked at the model "That's really nice."
"It's a heart" Jess informed "And she showed me how mine sounded with a stethoscope." He mispronounced stethoscope '"STET-A-SCOPE" He was progressing greatly in language skills but he still spoke the way all four year olds did when they learned new words.
"Bet you liked that?" Logan smiled at how excited his son was "Where's your sister?"
"In the kitchen with Trudy. Their making cocoa"
"Mmm" Max commented "Sounds good. I'm gonna get in on that. How bout you Sage?" she turned to the boy beside her.
"Yeah Sage" Jess broke in "Trudy's putting in big marshmallows!"
Sage smiled "Sounds really good Jessie. I think I'll join you."
Jessie grabbed Sage's hand "Then c'mon!" he pulled him to the kitchen.
Max smiled again turning to her husband "You want in on this action?"
Logan came closer to her "I could go for some action" he captured her mouth in a kiss.
She pulled him back "Think it's a smart move to be foolin' around in the middle of Trudy's living room?"
"No I don't" Logan agreed "But I was never really a smart man in these matters" he kissed her again cupping her cheek with one hand.
"You two wanna come in here while the cocoa's still hot?" Trudy's voice called from the kitchen. She eyed the pair, a smile forming on her lips "Or did you already get warmed up enough?" She turned to Sage "So distant last time and now they can't keep their hands off each other."
Max heard Trudy with her sensitive hearing. "Wanna continue this later?"
His look was her answer. They walked together to the kitchen where Jess and Lexi were seated at a round wooden table sipping hot chocolate from blue earthenware mugs.
Max came up behind her daughter, running her hands through her growing hair "Hey baby girl" she kissed her on top of her head "You havin' fun?"
Lexi smiled "Tudy put in five marshmallows" she held the cup out for Max to see.
"She did huh?" Max came around and knelt down next to Lexi. "Bet that makes it taste superPERRbly aiight"
Lexi raised her cup "Wanna try some mommy?"
Max took a sip of the drink she offered. "Mmm." She smiled "I was right. Almost as sweet as you." She kissed Lexi's nose, making her giggle.
"Max" Trudy handed her a mug.
Max took it "Thanks" she stood back up and inhaled the aroma coming from it. "I never had it this good as a kid" she took a sip.
Trudy smiled "Sage loved this as a little boy. Emily would always give it to him on cold winter days with a plate of sugar cookies"
Sage, who was sitting in the chair beside Jessie looked up from his mug. A glimmer of childish wonder passed across his eyes "I did?"
Trudy's smile grew larger "You're mom use to say that if they opened you up you'd have hot cocoa running through your veins instead of blood"
Sage's shoulders sagged ever so slightly and his wonder turned into something sad "I don't remember that"
Trudy's smiled faded "Oh honey give it time, you will. You went through something terrible. But it'll all come back"
Sage set his mug down "I remembered how mom smelled" he paused, a smile returning as he remembered "Like warm lemongrass. It was that smell from Bath and Body Works that she always bought. Dad use to tell her she smelled like she belonged outside. I could smell her all the way from the road where the bus dropped me off after school. And when she hugged me when I got to the front door." He still smiled, holding onto the memory of her before the darkness came into their lives.
No one said anything for a while, letting Sage have his memories.
"My mom use to always wear this green tea essence when she went out" Logan was now sharing a bit of his family memory, wanting Sage to know that he could connect with him. "It wasn't too strong or too light. Just something different enough so she stood out from everyone else's Channel Number 5. And my sister Marie-" he paused, lost in thought from the next scene playing out in his mind "She used to sneak into my parent's room and steal it. I smelled in on her when Mom dropped us off for school. The day before they all were killed when their plane crashed mom gave Marie her own bottle. She took it with her on the flight. I bought a bottle of it a while back ago. Keep it on my dresser, to remember them."
Max who was now sitting down in an empty chair reached out one of her hands to Logan. He took it and squeezed it. Neither looked at each other. They didn't have to.
Sage turned to Logan, with eyes of understanding "I'm sorry about your family"
"So am I Sage" Logan responded.
*****
B.C. rolled his pickup truck down the quiet streets. Curfew had been in effect for the last hour, but B.C. cared as much about the curfew as he did for Sage. He turned to Clyde "So are we gonna do this or what?"
Clyde held up a canister of gasoline "Got the drinks for the party man"
B.C. laughed, a completely inappropriate reaction considering what he and Clyde were about to do, making his laughter have an evil quality to it.
They drove down the road leading up to Trudy's house, cutting off the lights when the old Ford F150 neared the long stretch of dirt driveway. They ditched the car a little over halfway down the length of the dirt, climbing out.
B.C. shifted the gas can to his left hand, shutting the door to his truck. He looked to Clyde "Take out the back windows" he smiled in the darkness "Say we screw with him some more before we do the main shit"
Clyde sneered, and nodded.
*****
CABIN
"Hope Sage will be aiight" Max pulled her sweater back on her head.
"I'm sure he will be" Logan rationalized, lighting a long fire stick match and igniting the log in the fire. "He's a tough kid"
"Doesn't mean he'll always be okay," she argued.
Logan turned his head and gave her a look, one that said 'wonder who that sounds like' He watched her rub her arms through her sweater "You cold?"
"It's spring, so why the hell is it still sixty degrees?" that was her answer.
"Cold snap's came through" Logan said "Local weather station predicts high temperatures in the bottom sixties for the next few days"
"Great" Max declared, "Mother nature is just as much of a freak as I am"
Logan hated it when Max referred to herself as a "freak" but she was just making a crack so he let it go. He glanced at the flames "Just takes a little time for the fire to warm the place up"
"That's kinda a loaded remark"
"What is?" he asked, sitting down on the couch, pulling a blanket over his lower body
"Come on baby light my fire?" her eyebrows were raised "Think I'm old enough to know a come on when I hear it"
"Then COME ON and get under this blanket before I do it myself" He soon felt her weight beside him.
"Baby that was so corny" Max informed
"No popcorn is corny," he laughed dryly when she rolled her eyes "Hey I'm sorry sweetheart but you left it wide open"
"And I'm bout to slam it shut if ya don't knock off the Popsicle stick humor." She snuggled in closer, leaning against his shoulder "You ain't helpin' stoke my fire. You're puttin' it out"
"Sorry" he placed his hand behind her and on her back, rubbing it "How's this?"
"Lower" she felt his hand roam down by her bra strap hidden under her sweater "NOW it got warmer in here"
Logan turned to her "You said something about continuing this course of action at Trudy's" he kissed her sensually on the forehead.
She smiled seductively "I might be persuaded if the right offer was presented" she kissed him, but then stopped.
His brow creased "What's wrong?"
"You were only fourteen when they died?" her eyes held a steady gaze "You never told me that"
"Fourteen and a half" Logan informed, "My birthday was two weeks after they were suppose to come back"
Max's eyes went sad "I'm sorry"
He caressed a tendril of her hair, tucking it behind her ear "I've made my peace with it." A pause "I just think about what it would be like if they were still alive. Maybe I would've come out differently if Aunt Margo hadn't gotten a chance to claim legal ownership of me."
"You didn't turn out to be such a bad guy" Max argued, "Say you got your wish--We probably would've never hooked up, most likely never even crossed paths"
He touched her face with one hand "Mom would've loved you. Dad would've eventually warmed up to the idea after he found out I was divorced from a pill popping drunk"
She put her hand on his wrist, grasping it.
A loud smash from outside jolted them out of their moment.
"What was that?" Max asked
The crash came again, noise of glass being shattered.
*****
Sage was jolted out of sleep by the sound of his window breaking. A large arm reached in and grabbed him by his shirt collar, yanking him up off the bed.
"Wakey wakey Sage!" B.C.'s voice taunted him
Sage yanked himself free from B.C., falling back onto the floor.
B.C.'s head came through the busted window "Now why'd you have to do that Sage? I just wanna play with ya" the can of gasoline was held up through the window next.
"Gettin' a bit cold in here don't ya think?" a laugh, short and sleazy. The sound of a lighter came next. "This oughta liven things up." B.C. ducked back out from the shattered glass and set fire to the siding on the outside of the house. It caught immediately to the gasoline he poured on it. Flames instantly "whooshed" up the wood, and then started to burn under the window paine.
Sage scrambled to his feet and grabbed his blanket from the bed. He beat at the fire with it, but the flames were so large that it didn't do any help.
"Sage!" Trudy yelled at him from the hallway "Get out of the house-" there was a sharp cry from Trudy and the sound of something falling
"Aunt Trudy!" Sage shouted at her. He ran to his bedroom door and opened it. Smoke filled the hallway. Sage ran out into the living room and was met with tremendous heat and flames coming from the kitchen.
Sage found Trudy on the floor. He ran over to her "Aunt Trudy!" he grabbed her arm and pulled her up "C'mon we hafta get out before the place burns down!" he coughed from the smoke filling his lungs.
Something knocked Sage away, throwing him against the counter partician that separated the kitchen from the living room. His head banged with a sicking 'crack' against the counter
Clyde stood over Sage on the floor. "You ain't gettin' away from me this time!" he kicked Sage in the stomach, knocking all the wind out of him.
"Leave him alone you bastard!" Trudy scrambled to her feet and grabbed onto Clyde's arm.
Clyde snatched her by her wrist "Get off me bitch!" he threw her into the dining room table. She hit her back on it and fell.
"Aunt Trudy!" Sage tried to reach for her by Clyde grabbed him by the shirt and smashed him back down on the counter
*****
"Logan!" Max saw the flames rising from Trudy's house through the front window
Logan ran over, seeing the orange fire rising out from Trudy's "I'll call the fire department"
Max ran over the hardwood floor to the front door and flung it open, running out into the yard.
"Daddy what's going on?" Jessie came into the living room in his pj's, woken from all the noise.
"Stay here with your sister" Logan ordered, he snatched his cell phone and ran out after Max. He caught up to her as she closed in on Trudy's house.
"That's B.C.'s truck!" Max noticed the Ford in the middle of the dirt driveway. She quickened her pace.
"Send emergency officials to 12 Beachview Road, there's a fire and people trapped inside" Logan hit 'end' and folded up the cell, shoving it in his pants' pocket.
"By the time the fire truck comes the place will be ashes!" Max snapped
"Let's try to find a way inside!" Logan shouted at her.
A shot rang out , and they felt the air rush by them by an ejected bullet.
They both dropped stomach down onto the dirt.
"You okay?!?" Logan shouted, looking over at her flat on her stomach a few inches apart from him
"Yeah!" she told him, glancing up, spotting B.C. in front of the house armed with a .22 caliber rifle. "We've got company"
Another shot sounded
*****
"What the hell is it?" Clyde called out to B.C.
"That bitch is back!" B.C. shouted from outside "I'm gonna knock her off!" he took aim again.
Clyde looked down with hateful eyes at Sage by his feet. "Not this time little shit!" He picked up a metal crowbar from the ground "This time I'm gonna make sure you don't make it outta here!" he brought the crowbar down, but Sage rolled away from it.
/FLASH: "Fear is the worst weapon in the world Sage."/
The crow bar hit the counter. Sage grabbed the end of it and slammed it into Clyde's stomach.
Clyde gasped. "You shit!" he recomposed himself and grabbed a flaming piece of the ceiling that had fallen to the floor, burning the skin on Sage's arm with it.
Sage screamed
"You're not gonna survive this fire kid!"
*****
Max felt around until she found several smoking bullets in the grass. She picked them up off the ground and broke the shells with her fingers, pouring the powder onto the ground about ten feet to the right of them. "We need to create a diversion!" She looked to her husband "You ready?"
Logan took out his gun that he snatched from Max's kit before he ran out of the house. The clip had only two rounds left. He fired it at the powder she laid down. The powder ignited, creating an explosion that blew dirt and grass everywhere.
"Move!" Max shouted.
They both climbed to their feet using the billowing dirt as a smoke screen to move closer.
B.C. shot at the site of the blast. Max crept up on him and tapped him on the shoulder. He turned
"Looking for me?" she punched him in the face and grabbed the gun, slamming the butt into his stomach.
Logan stepped onto the porch, having to duck down a moment later when a piece of fallen wood came down from the roof.
Max peeked inside, spying Trudy on the floor. She backed up and kicked the door in that Clyde and B.C. locked after they entered.
*****
Sage tried to yank his arm away from Clyde, but he was paralyzed by his own fear and by the sheer force of Clyde's grasp.
/FLASH: "He beats you because he hurts you in ways you don't prepare for. You can't defend yourself because you don't know what you're defending against"/
Sage pulled back from Clyde and managed to land back on the floor. He could smell the hair singed on his arm. It was beginning to become too painful to move
Clyde sneered above him, finding the abandoned crowbar and raised it above his head "When I'm done they'll carry you outta here on a body bag!"
/FLASH: "So how do I stop him?"/
/FLASH: (Max V.O.) "By expecting the unexpected"/
Sage took a hold of the crowbar again and this time he made contact with Clyde's leg. Clyde buckled and fell on the ground.
/FLASH: "I'm done hiding. I don't want to do it anymore"/
Sage hit him again in the stomach and then dropped the crowbar. He knelt next to Trudy. "Aunt Trudy!" he coughed and tried to see through the smoke.
"Sage! Trudy!" He heard Max's voice calling in the smoky house.
"Max! Over here!" Sage shouted back.
With her night vision Max found them seconds later, Logan beside her.
"Let's move Sage!" she grabbed his hand so he wouldn't get lost from her in the smoke. Logan picked up Trudy and they ran out of the house through the front door. In the distance the wail of fire engines and emergency officials were sounding off.
= = = =
/FLASH: "The thing about fire is. Fire can be put out"/
"More power!" the firemen shouted to another on the back of the truck. He aimed his high powered hose at the house, hitting the flames on the roof. The fire was finally under control, and would be completely out in a matter of seconds.
An ambulance was parked a few feet away from the house. Trudy was being patched up on a gurney in the back of the rig. Sage sat down on the end of the ambulance wrapped in a brown blanket while an EMT bandaged his arm with burn dressings.
Max stepped out from behind the ambulance door, and approached Sage and the EMT
"How ya feeling?"
"Remember how I told you I hate fire?" Sage asked, watching as she nodded "I still do"
Max offered him a small smile, watching as the EMT finished his work and then left them alone for a moment. "How's Trudy?"
Sage turned to look at his aunt sitting in the back of the ambulance chatting with the EMT, who she knew. "She's got a minor concussion. But she doesn't want to go down to the hospital, she feels that as a doctor she should be qualified to take care of herself"
Max smiled again and moved to sit by Sage on the tailgate.
"Where's Logan?"
"Back at the cabin" Max answered, "We kinda left in a hurry and he wants to make sure our kids didn't get into anything they shouldn't have" She turned to him.
"Where's B.C. and Clyde?" Sage asked pulling the blanket up higher around his shoulders.
"Over there" Max pointed and Sage looked to the back of a patrol car. "Logan's got some friends in higher state police departments. Their making sure the cops of Cape Haven don't let those two get off with only a slap on the wrist this time"
This time Sage was the one who smiled. He looked to the house where smoke was rising from the extinguished fire "Guess we can live in the cabin until this place gets fixed up" he paused "That is if you don't mind"
"You saved my life once. It'd be the least I could to pay that back."
"Guess this makes us even"
Max looked at him, smiling, and put her arm around him.
Sage leaned into her and put his head down on her shoulder.
*****
CAPE HAVEN CEMETARY
THE NEXT MORNING
The sound of a bulldozer rumbled through the air over the grave next to John and Emily Gilian. The man running it shifted a few levers getting the machine to move foward approaching the two gravesties.
Sage stood behind the bulldozer watching the grave marked "Sam Gilian" be torn apart. Trudy stood next to him. Sage's brown suede t-shirt jacket was rolled up on one sleeve revealing white burn dressings wrapped aroundhis forearm.
Max stood back with Logan a few feet from Sage and Trudy, observing the demolition. Each one held one child in their arms. Logan with Lexi and her with Jess.
(MAX V.O) "Our past always comes back around, no matter how hard we try to keep it buried in the ground."
There was a loud "CRACK" when the bulldozer ran over the headstone, splitting it in two. Fragments of it broke off and fell to the dirt.
(MAX V.O)" It comes to the surface like a weed, wanting to be alive again"
Sage watched it all unfold without a sound, seeing the name "Sam" crumble into nothing more then granite fragments.
(MAX: V.O) "They say if you don't remember the past you are doomed to repeat it"
A wind whipped through Sage's hair, tossling it. He felt Trudy slide one of her hands into his.
Max stepped closer to Sage, finally reaching him, being a presence behind him
(MAX: V.O) "But there are those who don't want to repeat it"
She reached out a leather gloved hand, resting it on Sage's shoulder. He didn't move, but she felt his muscles relax some from their tension
(MAX V.O)"They only want to remember it."
(FADE TO BLACK)
*****
END
Haven was such an interesting epi like I said. There was so much hidden depth and pain with Sage. It was very haunting to watch it. This story came to me fast. I've had ideas for a chapter like this ever since I saw "Haven" air for the first time. I wrote a big chunk of this in only three days, and ideas kept coming to me.
I'll keep punching them out.
R/R please
Peace,
Mystic