Safe Haven

Returning

"DANG IT!" Bo yelled, punching the wall of the crumbling house. Since termites and God only knows what had already been beating away at the wall, Bo's hand had easily drilled a hole into the wall that was already withering away. "She isn't here either! This town isn't that big and everybody has already split up to search and found nothing! Where could she have gone?"

"She knows what we're doing," Nick sighed, running an aggrieved hand across his face. "She still doesn't want to see any of us, so she's staying one step ahead."

They hopelessely exchanged glances, wondering just how many hiding spots one girl could have in one little town. Eventually, someone had to break the silence, but no one knew how.

"It's his fault," Will blamed, pointing at Cooper. "If he wasn't so slow we probably could've caught her by now."

"Me?" Cooper squeaked. "You're the reason she stormed out in the first place!"

"Guys, that's not helping," Bo sighed, watching as Shawna and Kate entered into a conversation with extremely hushed tones. Normally, Bo would've ignored that and just assumed that Shawna was trying to keep Kate calm and hopeful. But he had also run out of ideas and knew he had to find Sage before someone else did. "Do you two have any ideas as to where she went?"

"She's okay," Shawna simply stated. "Let's just get out of here and go home. Sage will come back to us when she's ready."

"I can't just give up like that," Bo protested. "I told her I'd be there for her. I have to find her."

"Bo, she's just playing you," Will interrupted, causing everyone to turn and stare at him in surprise. "That was why we had an argument this morning. I called her out on it, and she got defensive."

"Well, if she got defensive it was probably because she knew it wasn't true and you offended her by stating it," Shawna countered.

"That wasn't why she got defensive. She got defensive because I told her to stop and because she still wanted revenge over their breakup and that I told her that I would take Bo's side over hers if she forced me to choose," Will explained. He looked at Bo who felt like the wind had been knocked out of him. "She was also probably afraid that I'd tell you, but I couldn't stand to watch her continue to hurt you while you obliviously took it."

"So, are you telling me that she never really loved me back? That all of this was some trap so she can rip my heart out? When she's the one that broke it off five years ago? I only gave her what she wanted," Bo breathed, feeling his heart drop to his stomach. He glanced around the destroyed house, noting the shaky foundation and felt as though he could relate. Bo rubbed a hand across his face, avoiding the gazes of all the others as the stinging pain of tears climbed into his eyes. He shook his head again. "You know what? She wins. I'm done."

He turned and walked out of the house, leaving his past behind and promising himself that he'd be indifferent to Sage from now on.

~ * ~

Sage rubbed at the cracked and dry mud on her face, knowing she looked like a nightmare. After giving up on lying there to die in the snow, she'd gone back to her house, despite being told not to, and roamed the woods around that area. Unfortunately, she'd still been simmering over the fight, and had continued punching and kicking the trees and the ground. Eventually, she'd slipped and fallen in some mud.

After what seemed like forever, Sage had given up on her stalker finding and killing her and decided to go back to Will and Shawna's. She knew she was about to get pummeled with questions, especially from Bo. At least she wouldn't mind it so much from Bo as long as he held her and helped her clean up.