6 Day two

Sage woke up the next morning thinking it had all been a dream. She slowly opened her eyes, half hoping it had been a dream. Her eyes adjusted, she looked around the room. It was true, here she was laying in a bed in a room as big as a small house. It was beautiful, with its white and gold walls. There were two floor to ceiling windows looking out over a lake, the sun was rising on the other side.

There was a small knock at the door.

"Sage, it's Lyla. Could I come in?"

"Oh yeah, sure."

Lyla entered the room with a small suitcase and a folded piece of clothing.

"Thank you for leaving the pair of pajamas on the bed for me last night."

"Oh yeah. No problem." She said as she laid the suitcase on the bed.

"So, you and I are about the same size so I brought you some clothes. I took the objective of packing them for you but you can unpack them if you want to look at them. I also picked this out for you to wear today if you want."

She unfolded the piece of clothing in her arms. It was a beautiful light pink old fashion, high waisted dress.

"I thought you would look nice in it and since we are going to be on a plane most of today, I didn't think you would need to wear something more work friendly if you know what I mean."

"Thank you! It is beautiful!" said Sage taking the dress.

"I have one just like it but light blue. I thought maybe we could both wear them today if that is okay? I don't have a sister so it is kinda fun for me to have another girl around." she said looking at the ground.

"Sure, we could be like twins!"

"Yeah, well I'll let you get dressed. Ty is making everyone breakfast. I have some sandals that will go with that dress, I will bring them out when we all have breakfast." She said as she walked out of the room.

Sage quickly got dressed, looked at herself in the floor length mirror by her bed. She did look pretty, but felt as though the girl in the mirror was completely different then who she was. She sighed, grabbed the suitcase off the bed and walked out of the room. She paused outside the door, thinking if she should go out to the kitchen for breakfast or knock on Lance's door to see if he was there; she turned and gently knocked.

"Lance, are you awake?" Sage whispered as she opened the door.

The room was dark, it looked like Lance had closed the curtains before he went to bed.

"Lance? Are you in here?" She whispered again, walking a little farther into the room. Her eyes slowly starting to adjust to the dark, but too late.

"Ow! Ooff!"

"What the hell!" Lance cried out.

A light flicked on to reveal Sage half way on the bed, and half way over Lance's bare chest. She had tripped over Lance's discarded shirt on the floor from the night before. She jumped up quickly, face turning as red as a tomato.

"I-I-I am so sorry. I t-t-tripped over your shirt." She stammered looking at her feet.

"I-I called out f-f-for you but you didn't answer." Her breathing began to get rapid.

Lance sat up.

"Hey, it's okay. It's my fault for leaving my shirt on the floor."

Sage's face began to burn at the sight of his bare chest. She looked down, trying to calm her breathing.

Lance stood up and put on his shirt.

"You know, I'm just a shirtless guy. It's not like you caught me with my pants down or anything." he said with a smirk.

Sage began to shack.

"I'll just let you get dressed." She said as she turned and very quickly walked out the door.

Once outside the door, she let out a silent scream, and took some deep breaths. She had been a competitive swimmer for many years so she was accustomed to seeing men without their shirts. But there was something about seeing one of her friends without his that made her feel rather embarrassed. She calmed herself as much as she could and walked down the hall into the kitchen.

"Hey Sage, are you feeling okay?" asked Ty as he dished out bacon and eggs onto four plates.

"Oh, I'm fine, just fine. Why? Do I look sick?" She said very cheerfully.

"Well, I was just asking because you look a little red." Ty said with a strange look at her.

Sage was saved the trouble of answering by Lance walking into the kitchen at that moment.

"Oh, hey Ty. Man, thanks for making breakfast!" He said as he sat down to eat.

"Yeah, no problem! I like cooking in my own place."

"Wait, this is your place!" said Lance in shock.

"Yeah, modeling can pay pretty well sometimes. This is just one of my places. I have three. One here, one in Cali and one in England. Though normally they are just used as safe houses because I travel around a lot. I'm actually only on vacation right now, I'll have to go back to work in two weeks."

"Wow! That is crazy! How old are you?"

"I'm 18."

"Oh, so you're close to Sage's age. She's 17."

"No I'm not." said Sage quietly picking at her food.

"What? Yes, you are! Stop joking around."

"No I'm not Lance. I'm 18." She said as she put down her fork and tears began to form in her eyes.

Ty looked at her sympathetically.

"No you're not! Your birthday isn't till April 5th, that's like..." his voice tailed off as he realized.

"My birthday was yesterday." She said as she stood up. "Thank you for making breakfast Ty, it was very kind of you."

She walked out of the kitchen.

"Shit, how did I not realize that? Great, some 18th birthday, she gets drugged, shot at, her whole family thinks she's dead and a new identity. Gawd, I am the worst friend ever."

"It's okay man, it happens. Let me go talk to her." said Ty getting up and walking down the hall after Sage, right as Lyla was walking into the kitchen.

"Where did Sage and Ty go?" Lyla asked.

"I forgot Sage's birthday was yesterday and Ty is going to talk to her and smooth things over."

"Oh, got it. Working for the Free Men we don't really celebrate birthdays in all honesty. We are lucky to see each other once a year. I haven't seen Ty in over two years since he has been in modeling. But you kind of get use to it." she said as she set the pair of sandals for Sage on the seat next to her and began eating.

"That really sucks!"

Lyla chewed a mouthful of egg before answering.

"Yeah, it does, but the work we do is worth it."

Lance looked at her, she looked very beautiful today, in her light blue dress with her hair loosely curled and looking wind swept.

"I'm sure Ty will work things out. He has a way of making people feel better. Did he give you a change of clothes?" she asked after another mouthful of food.

"Um no, not yet."

"Oh, okay, well come with me and we will get you something."

She put down her fork and motioned for him to follow her.

Ty found Sage out on the patio by the pool. She was crying though it was hard to tell because it had begun to gently rain. She was sitting with her chin on one of her knees and her other foot in the pool.

"Can I sit with you." He asked.

"I guess so." she said with a sniff.

"I guess, Lyla and I won't get to be twins today, now that I got my dress all wet."

Ty wasn't quite sure what she was talking about but he dismissed it for the moment.

"Can I tell you a story?"

"Sure, I guess."

"When I turned 13, my parents were on a mission to break up a drug trafficking organization. I was sad and angry that they couldn't be there for my birthday. But when they came home a week or so later. They brought home a young boy. He was only 2 at the time. They explained to me that his parents had been killed by the drug traffickers that they had just put behind bars. So they told me that they had adopted him. At first I was slightly angry. But then I remembered how they had rescued my sister and I as young children and adopted us. As I got to know William, that's the name my parents gave him. I realized, he was better than any gift my parents could have ever given me and I realized that the work my parents and the Free Men organization do is way more important than how I feel about my personal life. I know that may sound like I am trying to belittle your feelings but I'm not. I'm trying to make them bigger, make you understand, that maybe even though things look rough and a little fuzzy right now; maybe you will look back in a few days or months or maybe even years and realize that your 18th birthday wasn't all that bad. Does that make sense?"

"Yeah, I guess it does. I didn't know you and Lyla were adopted."

"Yeah, so were all of my other siblings. My parents can't actually have children, so they adopted instead. But that is a story for another time, maybe the plane ride if you like?" he said getting up and offering her his hand.

"Sure, I'd like that." she said smiling and taking his hand.

"Come on, let's get out of this rain and get some dry clothes on. Actually, if you want to keep wearing that dress, we could always throw it in the dryer for a bit? I could give you one of my sweatshirts to wear untill it dries?"

"Oh, okay, sure."

She looked up into his eyes, they stood there for a moment still holding hands. He smiled at her, she blushed and let go of his hand. Thinking to herself that he looked very handsome wet.

"Oh, I have something for you." He said shyly.

"It's kind of a stupid gift but I know you will most likely need one or at least it is better to have one then not to, so here."

He handed her a small hand gun. She stared at it a blank expression on her face.

"I'm sorry Sage, it was stupid, I'm so sorry."

"No, no, I like it, I really do it's just...it makes it that much more real you know? All of this." she gestured around at everything.

"Yeah, I know it can be a lot. I'm sorry, you don't have to take it if you don't want to."

"I want to take it, but....I don't know how to use it." she said sheepishly.

Ty chuckled.

"I can teach you. We really should go back inside. The rain isn't good for guns."

She put the gun in her dress pocket and they walked inside.

Ty led her to the laundry room.

"Here, you can wear this." he said handing her a sweatshirt that had been hanging on a drying rack.

"Oh, thank you." she said, pulling the sweatshirt over her dress then carefully taking her dress off underneath. She took the gun out of her pocket and laid it on the ironing board. She then handed him her wet dress, and he threw it in the dryer after which he pulled off his own wet shirt and threw it in as well. Sage's eyes grew big, her face turned beat red and her heart started to pound. She looked down at her feet trying to breath slowly.

"Those should be dry in about 15 minutes. Our flight is in an hour, I should go pack. See you in a bit okay?" he said as he brushed his hair off his forehead.

She looked at his shoes then slowly looked up from his well sculpted chest to his starting green eyes.

"Okay, I'll go find Lance." she said blushing again.

Meanwhile...

"This is Ty's closet." Lyla said leading Lance through another bedroom to a large closet close to the size of Lance's old apartment.

"Damn! This huge!" said Lance in amazement.

"Yeah, you can take whatever you want from this side. Ty doesn't wear any of these."

"Wow, okay."

Lance began to rifle through the clothes.

"So, how long have you and Sage been friends?" Lyla asked while pulling out a suitcase for Lance to put clothes in and handing it to him.

"Oh thanks. Um, Sage and I, well, I think about almost six years." he said adding some shirts and jeans to the suitcase.

"Oh, and how long have you liked her?" Lyla said looking at him intently.

"Like, you mean like, like like?" Lance asked staring at her.

"I mean, love Lance." Lyla said bluntly

"Love... I don't know, awhile I guess. But she is my best friend and I just got out of a bad relationship and I..." He paused and sighed heavily. "And I am too afraid of ruining our friendship. She means the world to me and now...she is all I have."

Lyla looked down at the floor, with a frown on her face.

"I can understand that. She is lucky to have you as a friend. We should probably hurry, our plane leaves in about an hour. You should get dressed and finish packing."

"Oh, okay." said Lance as he pulled off his shirt

to change into a clean one he had just picked out.

The door opened. Both Lance and Lyla turned around.

"What's going on guys?" said Ty looking very confused and surprised.

"I was just showing Lance were he could get some clothes and he was just changing his shirt." Lyla said quickly.

"Uh, yeah, what she said." said Lance looking awkward.

"Why are you not wearing a shirt Ty?" asked Lyla raising her eyebrow.

"Oh, it got wet so I put it in the dryer. Lance, Sage is looking for you."

"Oh, okay thanks."

"We should probably, get the car loaded and head for the airport. I was just coming to get packed." Ty said. "Hey, Lyla, would you mind finding Sage and getting her dress and my shirt out of the dryer while Lance and I finish up here? We will meet y'all in the garage."

"Yeah, sure. Wait, why is Sage's dress in the dryer? Nevermind, I'll ask her." she said leaving the room.

Sage went back to the kitchen looking for Lance. He wasn't there but she did find the sandals Lyla had left for her and put them on, they fit perfectly. She gathered up the dirty dishes from breakfast and took them to the sink.

"You don't need to worry about those. Ty has a housekeeper who does all the cleaning. She will clean later today after we leave. Ty told me to get your dress out of the dryer for you so here it is and do you know why this gun was in there?" she asked, handing it to her. "Oh, good you found the sandals. I also heard from Lance that yesterday was your birthday so I thought I would give you this."

She handed Sage a ring with a flower that's center looked like a ruby.

"It's a taser ring, if you rub the ruby for a minute, it will charge then you just press it onto someone's skin."

"Wow, thank you!" Sage said as she put the ring on and her dress underneath Ty's sweatshirt. "And the gun is mine, Ty gave it to me."

"Oh, okay. Well you can have it back then and how did your dress get wet?" she asked giving Sage back the gun which she quickly packed in her suitcase.

"Oh, I was outside in the rain talking to Ty."

"Well that sums things up. You ready to go? The guys are going to meet us by the car." she said as Sage pulled the sweatshirt off over her head.

"Yep, I'm ready to go." she said grabbing her suitcase and Ty's sweatshirt.

"Okay, well I'll meet y'all at the garage. I have to grab me stuff. Here, can you give Ty his t shirt?"

" Sure, and I'll tell the guys you are coming."

Sage walked into the garage. Lance and Ty were putting their bags in the back of the mini van.

"Here is your sweatshirt and t shirt Ty." Sage said handing him his clothes nervously.

"Oh thanks." He said.

"Why don't you keep the sweatshirt? It gets cold in Ireland and it is super warm."

"Okay." she said blushing.

"Where is Lyla." asked Lance.

"She will be here in a few minutes, she had to grab her stuff."

"Okay, well we are ready to go, whenever she gets here. I'll let her drive, I hate mini vans. It was all her idea, looks less conspicuous I guess. I'll sit in the back. Sage, as a lady you get first pick, back or front seat?"

"I'll sit in the back." she said blushing again.

"Okay, so Lance you get front seat." Ty said. "Here comes Lyla. Hey, you can drive. We are loaded up ready to go, hand me your bag and hop in."

They all piled into the van.

"Seatbelts, no reason to die from something stupid." Ty and Lyla said at the same time.

Lyla started the van and opened the garage door.

"Ireland, here we come!"