Endless

Heal

ANGEL'S POV

"Are you in pain? Does anything hurt?" Terry had been firing questions at me since they'd all come in the room. I'd been informed that Tommy was in a separate room, being kept overnight because he had a concussion and they wanted to monitor him. I'd already made a mental note to visit his room as soon as I could, if I could.

I smiled softly at Terry, shaking my head.

"No, Terry. I'm okay. They gave me medicine for the pain." She sighed, nodding slowly. "Hey, um... where's Sage? Do you know?" My eyes shifted to Carlos'. He looked up at Terry for the answer.

"He said he was going to go get you some food from the cafeteria, but now that I think about it, that was before we even came in here." They'd been in my room for nearly half an hour, and this is when concern started to set in.

I sat up a little, slowly, furrowing my eyebrows. Carlos noticed my worry and shook his head.

"I'm sure he's fine. We'll just go down to the cafeteria and see if he's there," he told me.

"Well, what if he's not?"

"Then we'll worry about that if it happens," he answered calmly, standing and sending me a reassuring smile. I nodded slowly, relaxing a bit.

They left the room, leaving me alone. Ben and Leo came back in from the bathroom, smiling a bit at me.

"Hello, my dear," Leo greeted, and I chuckled, smiling.

"Hi. Have you guys seen Sage?" They frowned at me, shaking their heads.

"He hasn't come in yet?" Ben questioned. I shook my head, frowning, as well. "We'll go find him, okay? Don't worry." I opened my mouth to let them know that Terry and Carlos were already doing just that, but I stopped myself, watching them leave.

I grew impatient after fifteen minutes of no Sage, Ben, Leo, Terry or Carlos, and I was just about to reach over and grab my phone from the nightstand when the door opened, revealing Sage. He was holding a tray of food in one hand, and a water bottle in the other. I sighed in relief.

"I was worried about you," I told him, smiling warmly. He smiled back a little, keeping his head low. He wouldn't meet my eyes.

He set the tray on the mobile table, gently sitting on the bed next to me.

He didn't say anything, but his eyes were exploring every part of my body. They froze on the cast on my hand, staring at it. I immediately knew what was wrong.

"Sage, no."

"God, Angel," he whispered, finally meeting my gaze. I tilted my head to the side, eyes sad. "I promised you he would never touch you again... but you keep getting hurt like this..." He averted his gaze.

"It's not your fault." His head shook.

"Why can I not protect you from this? I should be able to protect you from this," he burst, standing. I watched his movements carefully.

"You did protect me," I muttered, but he didn't seem to hear me.

"I'm not doing what I'm supposed to, and you keep ending up hurt," he continued.

"You did protect me!" I snapped. He stopped in his tracks, surprised at my sudden volume.

"No I—"

"Sage, I swear to you, if it weren't for you, I wouldn't be in this bed. I'd be in the morgue." His eyes widened. "I am okay. I am safe, just like you said. You keep me safe." He reluctantly moved back to the bed, sitting down.

He stared at the ground for a while before meeting my eyes with his glossy, teary ones.

"Baby," I whimpered softly and tugged him closer by the nape of his neck, resting his head on my chest. He shifted so he was lying next to me, before bursting into tears. "It's okay, my love. I know, it's okay," I soothed, kissing the top of his head. He wrapped his arms around me, keeping me close. Not that I could go anywhere, or that I wanted to.

I carded my fingers through his hair, sniffling softly and letting out a breath.

He fell asleep sometime later, and after he did, it was easy for me to follow suit. I shut my eyes, my mind softly whispering Sage, Sage, Sage as it lulled me to sleep.

**

"Stop messing with your cast." I rolled my eyes and grunted, but listened to Sage's order anyway. I'd had the damned thing on for eight weeks, and I was so relieved that I was getting it off, because graduation was only a week away, and I did not want a cast on for that.

"It itches," I whined, but Sage only chuckled and slipped his hand over, placing it on my thigh as he drove me to the hospital.

When we arrived, the doctor removed my cast, warning me to be cautious of what I did for a while, just to be on the safe side. He wrote me a prescription of pills to take if I ever experienced any discomfort, and told me to call him if I was in any pain.

After leaving the hospital, Sage and I returned to the car, and after picking up my prescription, he drove me to a place I hadn't been to in a long time; Rosie's.

"I remember the first time we came here," Sage spoke softly once we were seated in a booth, eyes flickering around. I smiled.

"Me, too," I said quietly. Sage met my eyes and reached across the booth table, linking his fingers with mine. He watched our hands for a moment, seeming to be deep in thought. "What are thinking about?"

"You," he answered.

"Yeah?" He nodded. "What about me?"

"I just... really can't wait to marry you," he told me softly, and a grin overtook my face.

"I can't wait to marry you," I murmured back.

We ate our food and discussed the wedding, which was approaching quickly. We'd wanted to have a summer wedding, so we set the date for the end of June. That way, we had time to move into our new apartment after graduating and settle it before leaving for our honeymoon.

After finishing our food, Sage and I went out to the car, buckling ourselves in. He started up the car, backing out of the parking space, and pulling out into the road.

"Oh, Ben wanted me to tell you he wants all of us to go out to dinner the night before graduation," Sage informed me. I nodded.

"Did he tell you why?" Sage didn't answer, he just wore a sly smile. "What are you planning?" I questioned knowingly.

"It's a surprise," is all he said. I narrowed my eyes and he kissed the back of my hand, which was entwined with his.

We drove the rest of the way quietly, listening to music while I gazed out the window, watching the rain. I thought about the events of the past year and a half, and how much my life had changed since junior year.

I'd fallen in love, gotten hurt, gotten engaged, made more hospital trips than I'd like. I'd met new people and formed new relationships, and found closure with a few others. I'd been the most heartbroken I'd ever been, and the happiest I'd ever been.

I'd expected to be resentful of it all, and there were some things that I wished I could go back and take away — my harassment and assault, particularly — but somewhere in my heart, I was grateful for the other experiences I'd had, because I knew that it all began and ended with me and Sage, and that was all that mattered to me.