Safe Haven

I Need A Bigger Bat

Bo woke slowly, rubbing his face against a gentle head of hair. Dazed, he glanced around, wondering why he couldn't seem to move, then quickly realized why. At some point in the night, Sage had wrapped both her legs completely around his waist, clinging to him as tight as she could. One hand clutched his shirt while the other hand fisted in his. Ashamed when her slight twitching started turning him on, Bo jerked in surprise as Sage started whimpering.

Without thinking much of it, Bo glanced to the window, noting the light gray and puffy clouds coating the sky. Little pearls slowly wafted to the ground, landing lightly and blanketing the whole world in white. Somewhere in the night, the rain had switched to snow even as the thunder continued rumbling on.

He turned his gaze to the lump on the couch, checking to make sure his best friend was still breathing. If the loud snorts weren't any indication, the racket of him flopping to his other side screamed that he was still alive and kicking.

"Ouch!" Bo hissed, feeling a hand slug his arm. He looked back down at Sage to find her thrashing wildly against him. He couldn't tell whether she was fighting for freedom or fighting to win, but he could definitely tell she wasn't having the most pleasant of dreams. A kick to his leg caused him to make a quick decision that had him wondering just which of her moods she'd be in when he aroused her. From sleep, mind you.

"Sage, wake up," Bo demanded, gently rubbing her shoulder. She yelped, turned over, smacking him in the face. Her eyes were still closed. Again, he rubbed her shoulder, slightly shaking her this time. In response, she raked her fingernails down his face--thankfully not tearing any skin--but leaving an angry red trail. Reaching around, he pinched her lower backside, causing her eyes to fly open before she smacked his hands away and threw a punch at his nose. Sadly, she missed and her hand landed roughly on his cheek.

"What?" she moaned, rubbing her eyes. Her hair was tousled around her head and she raked a hand through it, trying to smooth some of it out, but to no avail. She glanced outside, noticed the sun had just come up, and collapsed against him. "Bo, it's six in the morning. What is it?"

"How do you know what time it is? The sun is hidden by snow clouds and it's snowing!" Bo exclaimed, managing to keep his voice low.

Sage rubbed her feet against his leg, working to warm her toes. "It's brighter behind one set of clouds than it is the other. The sun just came up so it's about somewhere between six-thirty and seven." She nuzzled against him, sighing heavily when she got comfortable. "You didn't answer my question."

"I'm assuming you were having a nightmare because you kept hitting me," Bo commented dryly.

"So to wake me up you decided to pinch me in places you have no business touching?" she snapped, pulling herself up on one arm.

"What else could I do? You weren't waking up," Bo retorted, shoving the blankets off them so he could stand to his feet without getting tangled up in them. Determined to beat him, Sage stood to her feet, grabbed her shoes, and stomped out the front door. Bo caught the door before it could slam and wake everyone up. He followed her out the door, shutting it softly and faced her on the porch. "Why do you insist on blowing everything out of porportion?"

"Blowing it out of porportion?" she repeated, arching a brow and crossing her arms over her chest. "So now not only are you treating me like a hooker, but you're calling me a diva?"

"See that? Right there!" Bo snapped, gesturing wildly to her as though she could actually see what she looked like. "I'm not treating you like a hooker! And you're doing it again! Stop it!"

"Aaah!" Sage shrieked, hurling herself at Bo and ramming her fists into his chest. They were right back to stage one. No real progress had even been made. They were still bitter towards each other and it was obviously tearing their thin relationship even farther apart.