Page 13 of Rough Night

The next day, Mia woke up next to Sage. His eyes flickered as he continued to sleep. He looked so peaceful, his hair a mess while he lay flat on his stomach, breathing heavily in his sleep. She lay there for a while taking him all in. She noticed his lips move softly as he talked a bit in his dreams. His voice was too low for her to hear what he was saying but she watched as he dreamed. Mia knew he was sleeping better. He hadn't been screaming in his sleep as he had before and a part of her thought it was because of her being there with him although she didn't want to get her hopes up. She knew at some point he'd probably still need help with what he had been through and although they hadn't spoken about therapy again, she couldn't help but think that he would still need it eventually. Mia was told that he hadn't gotten over what had happened when he was in Afghanistan. She couldn't imagine how he must have felt when he woke up realizing he was the only one who had survived and she also couldn't imagine what demons had come out while he was trapped in the well. She could see he had become happier though, more willing to talk to her, to be around her but she still didn't know what was underneath it all.

She couldn't believe how much their relationship had changed recently. The burning in her chest grew every day. She knew the words were bound to tumble out of her mouth soon and she felt it was a good time to say them, right then while Sage lay asleep and unaware.

"I love you,” she whispered. Sage didn't move but continued to breathe, the blanket around him moving ever so slightly as his chest pulled against the bed and his back lifted with each exhale. Mia knew he hadn't heard her, and she was grateful. It felt good to let the words fall out into the air, filling her ears with certainty. She had never said those words to a man before and a part of her was thankful because she knew she had saved them for the right person. There were a lot of things that were new to her because of Sage that he wasn't aware of which made her connection to him even stronger from her side. She wasn't sure exactly how he felt about her in return but when she sometimes caught him looking at her she thought she could see the love in his eyes.

She snuck out of his bed and crept into the little art room she created. She felt the need to paint something that showed how happy she was. She reached for a blank canvas, and placing it before her she reached for a paintbrush. She grabbed her first color, red. She painted and painted and painted, dipping her brush into different colors as she went. Allowing herself to lose control as she continued to let her hand do the work. She felt content and happy the more she worked. Sweat slightly crossed her forehead, but she didn't stop. Soon a heart was on the canvas with different shades of red and pink radiating from it. She took her time detailing it with veins, it was her heart and it was alive. She could see the difference in herself and in her paintings over the past few days. She didn't have much black in any of her paintings; they were all colorful and bright, much like her world.

Sage woke up surprised to find his bed empty. He loved waking up with Mia next to him. It brought him a sense of peace whenever he looked over and saw her little body next to his so he was disappointed to find she wasn't there. He rolled over onto her side of the bed, inhaling the scent of her skin and perfume that still lingered. He lay in his bed for a while, reliving the dream he had woken up from, wishing it were real.

Mia stood before him, her left hand stretched out in front of her, reaching out to him.

"Come on, Sage, let’s go,” she said.

"Where are we going?" he asked as he took her hand. He didn't care where they were going though; he would go anywhere with her. She looked like an angel, wearing all white with a huge amount of light surrounding her.

"You'll see,” she said with a cheeky grin. He wanted to kiss her right then. She pulled him toward a door he hadn't noticed before, and they made their way out into the garden that was just outside. It was beautiful, filled with growing rose bushes and the greenest grass he had ever seen. There were a few weeping willows in one corner that covered half a pond which was covered in water lilies.

"It's so beautiful,” he said as he turned to face Mia who had an enormous grin on her face.

"It is, isn't it?" she breathed as she too took some time to look around the garden. She then pulled him toward a bench that was beneath one of the weeping willows, pulling him down with her as she took a seat. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders as they sat in silence for a while.

"I love you,” she said, her voice radiating through his body, sending a shiver down his spine.

"I love you too,” he replied. They looked at each other with love and happiness in their eyes. They both then turned to look out at the garden before them, both of them radiating with light.

The dream felt extremely real to Sage, as if he had heard Mia actually tell him those three wonderful words. He hadn't said those words to another woman besides Laura and a part of him wished he could say them to Mia. He knew she deserved it and yet he wasn't ready for it yet. He knew it was just a dream though and so he decided he would have a shower to get it off his mind. Out of the shower and dressed in clean clothes, Sage felt the need to look for Mia. He wanted to see her since he hadn't when he had woken up.

Once he was done applying his cologne and ready to face the day, he went searching for Mia. He wanted her face to be the first thing he saw every morning. She was so beautiful when she woke up and it almost amazed him.

He had noticed how she had claimed the one empty office for herself and although Sage was curious, he never dared go into it. He would only do that if Mia invited him herself which she hadn't. He looked into her bedroom which he found was empty so he tried the office. It was locked and after knocking, Mia responded.

"I'll be out in a minute!" she shouted through the door.

Instead of disturbing her any further, Sage made his way to the kitchen for his morning cup of coffee. He still felt half asleep even after his hot shower. He sat at the kitchen table as he wondered what Mia could be doing in that room. Maybe she was working on her lap dance moves, he thought, although she was already pretty good at that. Images of her dancing in front of him filled his mind as his eyes glazed over and he went deeper into thought.

He continued to quietly think to himself, only stopping when he heard feet tapping against the floor coming toward him.

He smiled as he saw Mia come into view. She was still in her pajama bottoms while she had one of his shirts on, hanging loosely against her body. She looked extremely cute, he thought to himself, he would give her all of his shirts to wear since she looked so good.

"Good morning," he said, "can I make you some coffee?" She smiled and nodded her head.

“Yes, please," she replied. He walked over to the kettle, placed some coffee and two sugars in a mug before adding milk and the already boiled water. He already knew how she liked her coffee.

"Thank you,” she said as she took the coffee into her hands. Mia hadn't realized just how much attention Sage had been paying to her as she watched him make her coffee. They sat quietly in each other's company, just enjoying being around each other. Once Mia had finished her coffee and placed the empty mug in the sink, she bent over and kissed Sage quickly.

"I'm going to go back to what I was doing,” she said as she started to walk back to the office.

"Okay," he said, "have a good day."

"You too!" and then Sage was alone again. He could go and ask her if he could see what she was doing but decided against it as he had other business to attend to.

He placed his empty mug next to Mia’s and made his way toward the door. As much as he'd love to spend another day wrapped up in a world of their own, he knew he had a job to do.

He got on his bike, relaxing against its body as he roared it to life, loving the feeling of it growling beneath him. He opened the gate and slowly pulled out of the garage, noticing a car just outside the gate. He recognized it. It had been there for a few days and something about it didn't feel right to Sage. He knew almost immediately someone was spying on him and Mia. He knew it was the only possible reason why a car would continue to stay parked outside the house. He couldn't keep this information from Fiona and Grier so before he got out of the gate he pulled his phone out, dialing Grier’s number as he took off his helmet to place the phone to his ear.

It didn’t take long at all for Grier to pick up the call.

“Hi, Grier,” he said into the phone.