Page 8 of Rough Love

The woman had been a little reluctant about giving Sage her fingerprints but in the end, she did what he asked. It was the only way he could be sure of the truth. He didn't have much to go on. Although she had known intimate details, she still didn't have the right face nor anything else that proved she was Laura. Once he got her fingerprints, he made his way home to Mia. He wanted to make sure that she was alright and didn't feel too worried about the new arrival in their lives.

Back at the house, he found Mia hunched over her computer, her face buried behind the screen as she read whatever was on it. Sage stood quietly for a while. She hadn't noticed him yet so he took the opportunity to watch her for a bit, taking her all in and memorizing her face. He could stare at her all day if he was given the chance. After a few moments, Mia shifted in her chair, and lifted her face, noticing him for the first time.

"Have you been staring at me for a while?" she asked, her eyebrows raised with suspicion.

"Just a little while," Sage replied with a small chuckle. Mia didn't say anything in return. Instead, she remained still, staring at Sage with a questioning look. He knew it wasn't about him staring at her. She wanted answers as to where he was and what was going on. He knew she trusted him but he also understood that if roles were reversed he would also be worried and concerned. He knew that if he were in Mia's shoes, he would be freaking out. There was no way he was ready to lose her.

He closed the distance between them and pulled her into his arms. He wrapped his arms around her, holding her tight against his body.

"Everything is going to be okay, I hope you know that. I'm doing everything I can to sort out this mess. We'll have the answers we both need soon enough," he said while resting the side of his face on top of her head.

"I know, Sage, I trust you," she replied. Hearing Mia confirm that she trusted him made him feel so much better about the situation. With her by his side, he knew they could work through anything that got thrown their way.

"I'm so glad to hear that. I managed to see her this morning. I was going to come and find you before I left but I thought you might want your space. There are a few things that aren't adding up for me so I got her fingerprints which I'd like to send to Fiona. She could probably get them tested and identified for us," he said. He didn't really want to bring Fiona into the situation but he had no other choice. She knew people he didn't and that could help them get the answers they needed.

"That sounds like a good idea. Hopefully, she can give us more answers. I've also found a few things but I'll wait for you to finish talking to Fiona before I tell you what I found," she replied.

With a nod of his head, Sage let go of Mia and reached for his phone in his back pocket.

He dialed Fiona's number and after a few rings she picked up.

"Sage, I feel like there’s something you need," she said, skipping the pleasantries. Sage knew she must have been getting used to being called when there were emergencies. Luckily he had managed to sort out a lot of things without her but this time he would need her help.

“Hi, Fiona. I wish I was calling under better circumstances but you are right, I need your help," he replied. He quickly explained the situation to her, explaining that it didn't make any sense and he had a fingerprint he needed to be tested.

“Well, I know a few people who could run it through a database. You're right though, it doesn't sound right so with that said I want you and Mia to be on full alert. We can't let anything slip by us," she said and Sage completely agreed. They didn't need any more nonsense and bad shit happening around them, although it seemed to always happen that way.

"Completely agree, we'll be careful. In the meantime, I'll scan and capture the fingerprints and get them sent to you immediately. Thank you for your help, Fiona," he said.

He didn't know where he'd be if it weren't for her. He'd most likely be lonely, wasting his life away. He shuddered at the thought.

"We're a team. I'm also going to get hold of the number for her parents. It might be a good idea for you to speak to them directly. They might have answers too," she replied. Sage had already thought about talking to her parents but also knew that it would be a hard topic and a hard conversation that he would much rather avoid. He hadn't spoken to them since the funeral that was held for Laura. They probably didn't think very highly of him.

"Yes, I was thinking about that too. Thanks, Fiona. I'll keep an eye out for your message," he said. The line went dead after that. Fiona had never been the type to say goodbye when a conversation was done.

Sage thought about what he could say to Laura's parents. He would have to be very careful with how he phrased his sentences. Until they knew exactly who the woman was, he couldn't mention it to Laura's parents. He couldn't risk getting their hopes up that there had been some sort of mistake only to crush them in the end. He wouldn't be able to live with himself if he did that, even if it was unintentional. They had been very good to him when he had met them, they were kind people who deserved more than a dead daughter. He sometimes thought that they hated him for what had happened. He knew there wasn't much he could've done to change the way things went but maybe they blamed him for not helping her, for not moving her out of harm's way. He wished he could’ve. It was one of the things that ate away at him.

He made his way back to Mia who had stayed in her office while he had been on the phone. The look on her face was very aloof, as if she was trying not to act very interested. It was obvious that she was interested though. He could tell she wanted him to tell her everything.

"How did things go today?" she asked. Sage could tell that she didn't want to pry but it was only fair that she knew what he had found out. He explained the news to her, telling her that he had gotten fingerprints because he still didn't believe her story.

From the very beginning, he hadn't believed her. Outside of the bar, her story had seemed to be fake and made up with so many holes in it. And then the story about her birthmark just made everything seem even more far fetched. He remembered that Laura had hated the birthmark. She had always complained about it whenever he had seen her shirtless but she had never expressed the need to have it removed. He could tell that when he had asked to see it the cracks in her story started to show. It clearly wasn't a question she thought he would ask. It was a very personal thing but he had known about it and it was the one other thing that really reflected who the woman was, and she most certainly was not Laura.

"There's something that just doesn't sit well with me. I know she's lying but I just don’t understand why. Like what does she have to gain from it all? That’s the part that confuses me the most, none of it makes any sense to me," hereplied.

"I'm glad you said that. I managed to do a little bit of research while I was here and I found a few sites that say she had a sister. It got me thinking that it could be her?" Mia said.

Sage thought about it for a while. He played back in his mind some of the family discussions he had had with Laura and he couldn't remember her at any point mentioning a sister.

"I honestly don't remember her ever saying she had a sister. I was thinking it could be another family member, a cousin maybe," he suggested. He still couldn't be sure what the game was, what the aim of it all could be. He had never gotten the chance to meet Laura's family besides her parents but it also didn't make sense that her cousin would do something so cruel to him. He had done nothing to the family. The more he thought about it the more he realized that could've been the problem.

Maybe someone was doing this to him to make him pay emotionally for the hurt he had caused, maybe someone blamed him for the death of Laura and hurting him was the only way they thought revenge could be had. Maybe they wanted to plant her in his life just to remove her again but even that sounded too far-fetched because the woman still looked nothing like Laura. He couldn't wrap his head around it and the possibility of it being a relative made the situation much worse.

It didn't make sense that a family member would pretend to be a dead person. That just didn't seem alright with him and he didn't want to believe that someone in her family could steal her identity like that. How could her own family be so heartless? As far as Sage could remember, Laura had never said anything bad about her family. She loved them and she had always seemed like one of the favorite members in the family from all sides. Sage remembered the letters she used to get from her family, they had always seemed so full of love and concern for her well-being.

"Why would someone in her family try to pretend to be her though?" Mia asked. Sage smiled slightly at her question. The one thing he loved about her was how quick and smart she was. There were hardly any details that got past her. It was as if she took note of everything that surrounded her, and he found it fascinating and absolutely amazing. He also knew that was one of the reasons why she was so sure he was telling her the truth. She would pick up immediately if he were lying and she would call him out on it. It was one of her best characteristics.

"I was just asking myself the same question. It just doesn't seem like a very family thing to do. Someone would have to super fucked up and cruel to steal someone else's identity," he said shaking his head while the gravity of the situation sat on his shoulders.

Mia nodded in agreement. Both of them were left speechless as all the possible reasons and ideas went through their minds.

On some level, Sage believed that they were missing the bigger picture. There was just something so fishy about the situation that it almost seemed to be more than they could possibly imagine. He couldn't believe that a family member would do something like that and it didn't seem like Laura was actually alive. There had to be some bigger reason that neither of them was seeing. Sage could almost sense that they were just scraping the surface with the questions and ideas they were bouncing around. He didn't want to see the woman anytime soon, he didn't want to be anywhere near her. It felt like a pending doom had been placed on his head. Something big is coming, he thought to himself.

"The whole situation just confuses me, there is nothing that makes sense. Nothing that she says or does reminds me of Laura," he said. He watched as Mia’s eyes flickered from his face to the ground. He could tell that the conversation was too much for her. It hurt her still and he couldn't stop it and he couldn't take it away until he knew what was going on. He would have to wait patiently for Fiona to get back to him with more information from the fingerprints which he hoped would come back with more answers.

He tried to push all of his thoughts out of his head. They had begun to go round and round, making him even more confused. He didn't want to think about it and he also knew that Mia surely didn't want to talk about it anymore either. Of course, it was a problem that they needed to solve but until they could find out more, they were stuck with the information they had. Sage stood behind Mia at her computer. He stared at the screen with the story of Laura written all over it. It could be easy for anyone to read the story and cause drama with the people left behind such as himself. Reading the story of the bombing made it all too real for Sage, it cut at him. He couldn't stand that someone had taken the life of an innocent soldier who had lost her life trying to save the country so they could use it to play some cruel game with him. It was disrespectful and honestly disgusting. No one deserved that, especially Laura after everything she had done. She was a truly amazing person who had been taken too soon. She still had so much life in her and so many dreams she still wanted to achieve. It was hard for Sage as he saw a picture of her face on the site. She had a huge grin on her face while she wore her uniform. She looked happy and excited about life. It brought tears to Sage's eyes the more he looked at the article. He had to turn away before Mia saw how emotional he was getting. He knew that if she saw him cry it would not ease her mind.

He wasn’t crying for Laura just because he had loved her but because her life had ended so abruptly. There was no chance for her, there was no future for her and whether her life included Sage or not, no one would ever know. He had grieved for her, and he had grieved for his team and he hated that it was all coming back to him. Whoever was behind all of it would pay and Sage would make sure of that. No one should play with someone's life just because they are not around to say anything about it. Sage, however, was around and he would definitely do something about it.