Page 2 of Rough Love

Once Sage and Laura were outside, Sage could finally do something. He didn't want to give much away in front of Mia because he didn't want her to worry about anything, and he knew she had nothing to worry about. It didn't matter to him that the woman was claiming to be Laura, he couldn't care less, but he didn't want Mia to think that something was wrong. He wanted to protect her from everything that had happened, his past held nothing for him. He had let it all go years ago and with the help of Mia, he had let Laura go once and for all, which was why he was sure no matter what happened, he would go back into the bar and be with Mia.

He knew that Laura had died and there could be no way that the woman standing in front of him could be her. And even if it were, why would she have a completely different face? He had been there when the bomb had gone off and he would always remember seeing it rip through his team before he blacked out. It was the hardest memory for him because for a long time, whenever he closed his eyes, all he could picture were the bodies of his team falling before him while blood gushed out of them. He could remember it clearly and before he had woken up in the hospital he thought it had happened to him. It had been the hardest thing to live through, having to remember the moment his entire team died, but he remembered it vividly and he knew Laura had been one of the bodies he had seen.

He knew it had taken him so long to move on from it all because of that, because he was just a few steps away from death, a few steps away from his team which meant he lived and they didn't. He knew that if they were closer to him it was unlikely that he would be the only one alive but that wasn't how things worked out and he had to accept that. This woman showing up and digging up his past just didn't feel good to him.

He didn't understand why she would change who she was and then expect people to just believe that she was who she claimed to be. It was obvious to Sage that Mia didn't have much to go on. He had never shared his past relationships or even any sort of photos of his past with her. Technically speaking he had burned most of his photos, especially the ones with Laura and his ex-military team. He didn't want to have any pictures around that reminded him of them any more than his memories did. The dreams he had been having for years were enough for him. He didn't need more photos to look at. The dreams he had been having had finally started to go away and he couldn't deny that he was worried that they'd come back now that his past was trying to ruin his present again.

He couldn't help but stare at her face, noticing that there were no marks, no scars and no clear sign that anything had happened to her face. There was nothing that indicated that any surgery had been done which just added more mystery to the situation. He looked into her eyes, which looked like Laura's. They were almost the same blue, the same piercing blue that always seemed to pierce into his soul whenever she had looked at him but although they looked almost the same, her hair was not the same color he had remembered. Her hair used to be black, the hair he saw in front of him was browner but could her eyes be the one thing that could tell him what she said was true?

He wasn't sure; he needed her to give him more information.

"Okay, you've got me here and you've got my attention. Tell me what the hell is going on and why you are claiming to be someone you're not," he demanded. He didn't want to believe that the person before him could be Laura, not after the time that had gone by and not after all the hurt he had had to live with.

"But I am Laura," she replied. Her face completely dry and her voice filled with emotion. Her eyes were wide as she stared at Sage, clearly wanting him to see her for who she said she was.

“No, you're not. Laura died. How could you be so cruel and pretend to be someone who died?" he asked. His voice shook with emotion. There was nothing in his body that told him she was telling the truth and it bothered him that she could do this so carelessly. It was disgusting how she could try to convince him that she was the person he once loved. It was horrible to think that someone could take her identity and use it in a sick game like she was.

"I am alive and I'm standing right here. I was taken in by a family after the bombing. They cared for me and kept me in Afghanistan until I was better. They became important to me, Sage, and they were all I had for a while," she replied. Sage could see tears started to well up in her eyes. The memory was clearly upsetting her, but he didn't buy it. To him, it just didn't make sense. Why had they even kept her?

"Why didn't they turn you over to the medics when they came for us?" he asked. He needed to know everything before he could even consider believing her. The story still didn't feel right to him.

"They were afraid to talk to the soldiers and honestly you can understand why. They weren't a threat and you know that if they had come out with a soldier, it could look bad," she stated.

He could understand that it could've looked bad for them. It could've looked like a hostage situation and that could've ended badly for everyone involved.

"But you were a soldier. Why weren't they afraid of you?" he replied. Laura did not answer right away. Instead, the tears in her eyes slipped down her cheeks.

"I was injured. There was no way I could've been a threat to them. Why can't you just be happy that I'm here, Sage?" she sobbed, her voice catching as the tears continued to run down her cheeks.

"Because I don't believe you," he replied and he really couldn't seem to think of any real reason why he should believe her. Her story had holes, big holes, and he didn't like the way she tried to brush over details.

None of it made any sense to him the longer he thought about it. There had been no news of anyone surviving the bombing and it didn't make sense that she would wait so long to come back into his life. He had grieved for Laura, he had beaten himself up every day for years because he hadn't been able to save her. He looked at her face again, still not seeing any sign that her face had been surgically changed in any way. He looked around her face, around her ears, forehead and chin, there were no scars to prove that something had been done to her face which just made the feeling in his gut grow more suspicious. Something wasn't adding up and he knew it.

If she had been alive all this time, why had she let her parents believe she was dead? How could she do that to her family? They had held a funeral for her. They had cried and cried as her coffin had been lowered into the ground. Who in their right mind would let their parents go through so much pain and then years later come back and claim that she, in fact, did not die after all? It seemed cruel and malicious to Sage and that wasn't the Laura he had known. She loved her parents and being apart from them had been the hardest part of being in the military for her. She had cried so much when she received things from them.

There had been so much time where she could've made herself known. She could have shown up on his doorstep right after she had been able to get back home and if she loved him like she had said she did before the bombing happened, he knew she wouldn't have wasted so much time to come back to him. He also knew he would've heard something, surely he would have, especially if she had been found alive instead of dead. Someone would have said that her body wasn't part of the remains that had been found and that was the biggest thing playing in his mind. Her body had been confirmed with dental records. How could they have gotten that wrong? Why hadn't she shown up at the military base with her new face and told everyone that she was alive? It wasn't as if everyone just left immediately after the bombing. She had time to come forward.

The more Sage thought about it, the more his head started to hurt. There were too many questions and warning bells going off in his head. He didn't want to deal with the situation anymore. He couldn't be around this woman. She reeked of alcohol and her crying was starting to annoy him. He wasn't sure why she was crying. If it was to seek sympathy from him it wasn't working. He couldn't just believe her so easily; he had to keep his guard up.

Laura or Lorraine, he wasn't sure if he would call her Laura if he wasn't sure if she was telling the truth, stood still in front of him. She didn't beg him to believe her, she didn't make any move toward him at all and all he could think about was the fact that Mia was waiting for him in the bar and he would prefer to be with her than with the woman who stood before him. He didn't want her to think he would leave her. He would never leave her but the situation did need to be dealt with and dealt with as soon as possible.

"I think you should go home. Get some rest and sober up. We can chat more about this tomorrow when no one is intoxicated," he said. He didn't want to be outside with her anymore, the smell of stale alcohol was too much for him.

"Okay, we can talk more tomorrow. I just want you to believe me. I'm telling the truth," she replied. Her tears had stopped and her eyes were red. He watched as she walked to her car, climbed in and drove away, looking sadly back at Sage before going completely out of view.

It felt like someone was playing a cruel joke on him and he couldn't stand it. He needed to ground himself before he even thought about going back in, back to Mia. He knew she would want answers and she most likely had a lot of questions but he just needed a moment to himself to breathe before he could face her. He stood outside the bar a little longer, thinking about all the things Laura had said. He tried to work out in his head if any of it could be true. He felt like that was highly unlikely but he also knew that it wasn't over just yet. He couldn't just let the situation go. He needed to find out what the hell was going on. He wanted to scream at the sky the more he thought. It was just all too confusing and frustrating for him. His past was supposed to stay where it belonged, not come back and try to claim him.

He wasn't an object nor would he happily leave Mia. If anything she had claimed him unknowingly. His heart belonged to her and he was happy about that. He had finally found someone who wouldn't give up on him even when he had been the worst version of himself. He took a few more minutes to himself, collecting himself before he turned and walked back into the bar. He knew he would tell Mia everything. There was nothing for him to hide and there was nothing inside of him that wanted to keep anything a secret from her. He decided that it would be the right time to finally confide in her, she had been patient with him all this time and she deserved to know everything she had been longing to know.

Sage wanted her to feel like there was nothing in his life he wouldn't share with her going forward. He was a completely new man because of her and he wanted her to know that his future would be with her. There was no doubt in his mind that no matter what happened he would stick by Mia and he just hoped she still felt the same. He could only imagine what she was going through as she waited inside for him.

He saw instantly when the doors closed behind him, her head lifted and turned when she heard the doors open, and the same happened with everyone else in the bar. It seemed that they had all been waiting for him to come back. Obviously, the drama hadn't gone unnoticed as he had hoped. Most of the guys nodded in his direction as he walked toward Mia. He wasn't sure if they were nodding with approval or just acknowledging him in general. The whole scene felt weird to him. He wondered what they all knew, he wondered if the woman had been saying all kinds of nonsense whenever she had been at the bar by herself. She could've been telling everyone her plan to take back Sage, but he hoped no one had believed her.

Sage noticed the worried look on Mia’s face when she had turned to look at him, and all he wanted to do was make sure she was alright. He didn't want to be a part of her pain or worry. He only wanted to be part of her happiness because that was what she was to him. The role she had played in his life so far had been so much more than he had ever expected from his life. She had literally been a form of light and love when she had shown up in his life and that wasn't going to change on his account. Unless she one day turned and left him, he would constantly show her what she meant to him.