44. Still Guarded

Sage

S age had to force herself to go to the hospital. After seeing Stassi and not getting a chance to really tell her what she was feeling, the wind had been kicked from her. Lena, however, kept telling her she had to do it. It was what they were working hard to fix and without her, the team would want to give up. Sage didn’t think that was true, but she had to do it because she would feel like she had let the team down if she didn’t.

Sage held up the blowhorn. “Listen up, everyone. Let’s rally up the chant. What do we want?”

“Changes.”

“When do we want them?” Sage yelled.

“Now!”

“How long will we wait?”

“Forever!” The crowd hollered back. Then they started chanting: LA County Hospital cares about themselves. That’s all. Themselves.” No one stopped chanting, even as the momentum drained from Sage. She wanted to be more enthusiastic, but her heart was slowly losing the oomph that it needed. But then she spotted Stassi staring at her, and she took in a deep breath and began to chant even louder. Stassi couldn’t know that Sage felt like she was drowning in a pool that was slowly gaining water.

She looked away, the chant still powering through the megaphone, even though she was feeling the words less and less. As she turned, Stassi moved in closer, closing the gap. Sage dropped the megaphone from her lips and waited.

“It was good seeing you last night,” Stassi began.

Sage nodded, and then glanced at the bright pink sign that Stassi held in her hand. “What’s that?” Sage asked.

Stassi shrugged. “I was hoping you could use some more help? I have a couple others that will be here shortly.” Sage frowned. Stassi met her eyes, “I should have been here a long time ago.”

Sage opened her mouth when Lena popped up behind her. “Nice use of swear words to show the imagery,” Lena said. “Welcome aboard! Always room for one more.”

Sage’s jaw dropped. Lena was the one to act like Sage needed to move on but was now welcoming Stassi back into the group as if nothing had even happened. Stassi jumped into line and continued to chant just as loud as the rest of them. Sage shrugged and moved to the head of the line, starting the chant up with the volume increasing. She was still confused as to why Stassi was there, but there was time to figure that out. They still had a job to do.

As Stassi settled in, she carried the sign around like she owned the place. Then, when they did the chants, it seemed like Stassi was hollering the loudest. An hour after she arrived, Ariel and Natalia showed up.

“We’re here to work. Put us to use.”

Sage opened her mouth and turned to see Stassi grinning. This was something Sage hadn’t expected. Stassi had put this all together? That was beyond a surprise. What was even better was that Ariel didn’t seem to be the judgmental person who didn’t think Sage was good enough. Both Ariel and Natalia each made a sign, and it was nice to see the support coming from outside of the hospital, especially from those who had no stake in what happened.

“I’m gonna run out and get sandwiches,” Sage hollered, when it reached lunchtime. Typically, she would have gotten someone else to do the grunt work, but she needed a few minutes to catch her breath, where she wouldn’t be forced to see Stassi and wonder exactly what Stassi anticipated this would solve.

“Do you need help?” Stassi asked, almost hopeful.

Sage gave her a smile but shook her head. “I think the troops are needed, just in case HR happens to make an appearance. We want to show that we’re continuing this fight.” No matter how hard.

“Alright!” Stassi’s voice sounded resilient, but her face fell in disappointment. She turned back to the group and there was a pause. Sage nearly changed her mind in an instant. She reluctantly turned and headed to her car. At the car, she glanced over her shoulder and watched as Stassi led the picket line, yelling so loud that it echoed through the parking lot. She shook her head. What could Stassi have planned?

Sage went to the deli on the corner. When they first began, they would get the food from the cafeteria, but then it became laughable. Why support any part of the hospital, when they still weren’t able to get what they were arguing for? The deli seemed to be a more obvious of a choice and the manager supported them, without fail. Always giving them a discount and words of encouragement.

“You guys stay strong,” Josef yelled out as she left. She was proud that she was making a difference, even if it hadn’t officially worked yet. When Sage got back to the hospital, the line was continuing strong. Natalia and Ariel were finishing off the line and the chanting hadn’t waned.

Sage held up the bags as she approached the line. “Come and grab ‘em.” A few people hurried to pick from what they wanted, but Stassi kept the sign held up proudly. Sage rummaged through the bags to find Stassi’s sandwich, then approached her, with caution.

“Everyone stops to eat. It becomes a bigger part of the fight than the actual picketing.” She laughed.

Stassi shrugged. “Someone has to continue. Go ahead and eat. I’m fine, really.” She turned away and marched forward despite being the only voice. As she did, a man walked up to the line. Sage recognized him as Bobby Swihart, one of the investors of the hospital.

“Really…” He shook his head. “I didn’t think a Hewitt would stoop so low.”

“You think I’m stooping low? What about you, Bobby?” Her words tilted as she stared at him. He scoffed, shook his head, and stormed off.

Sage gawked at the display, as Stassi glanced over to her. Sage’s feelings of darkness started to lift. Maybe Stassi was truly there to show her support and was grateful to do so. That feeling was priceless.

Sage waved. “Thank you all for coming out today. We’ll see you tomorrow if you can make it.” She turned and saw Stassi still there, grabbing armloads of supplies and nearly fumbling over them.

“You don’t have to,” Sage argued, reaching out to help her get the items.

“Did I say I felt obligated?” Stassi asked. “I want to do it. Let me help. You shouldn’t have to load this stuff up yourself.” She shrugged. “It’s no big deal.”

Sage fell back and grabbed some items. Then they walked the first load to Sage’s vehicle. “Thank you,” Sage replied softly as they put them in the back of her car.

“Of course. If you need to use my vehicle to haul some of this, we can. After all, I’ll be back in the morning. In fact, we really could have gotten others to take some. It’s not like they aren’t all coming back.” She shrugged. “Maybe we could do that tomorrow.”

“Yeah, makes sense.” Sage quietly walked back to the pile of signs and reached for a stack, while Stassi reached for the same. When they bumped heads, Stassi laughed, but Sage rubbed her head. When she saw how Stassi laughed, she slowly started to join in. “After you.” She held out her hand so that Stassi could take a load before she grabbed the last pile, and they headed over to Stassi’s vehicle.

“I really want to thank you for being here today. Your support meant a lot to me.” Sage looked away from Stassi. “It’s meant a lot to all of us. The more people that support us, the more we feel that we’re capable of making a difference.” She wanted to say more, but it was already getting too mushy, and so she let it rest, giving Stassi time to reply.

“Well, if I’m being honest, I was finding it hard to stay away. And I’m sorry that I let my ego get in the way because I should have been here long before now.”

“Better late than never,” Sage gave a small smile.

“Discussing my feelings is never easy,” Stassi began. She heaved a sigh and even in the moonlight, Sage saw her red cheeks. “But sometimes you have to do what you fear, in order to grow as a human being. I learn that the hard way. But when it was just my father and me, growing up, I was like his shadow. I put him on this pedestal because I believed it was where he deserved to be. As I saw the hospital struggling, I didn’t know how to cope with learning the truth. I thought if I shared everything I knew, you would find reasons we needed to break up, so I decided I needed to be the first one to break us. I have been working hard to get my father to understand what’s going on here, and he’s being oblivious. And I didn’t know how to be the girlfriend you deserved to be.”

“Stassi, you were always the girlfriend I deserved. I was hurt that you didn’t talk to me about your father’s role in all this. I guess that I didn’t put it together. It’s not like you’re the only Hewitt in the world, but I would have understood if you had come to me. I just don’t like it when people hide things from me.” Sage hesitated, scuffing her shoe on the parking lot pavement. “I guess that’s because I’ve never been lucky in love. You know that my last relationship didn’t end so well and there was part of me that thought that it was easier just to throw up my hands and say that we’re better off being apart.” Sage shook her head. “Just one of the lies I told myself.”

Stassi moved in closer. “I should have talked to you.”

“And I should have been there to listen,” Sage quietly replied.

“I’ve missed you.” They both spoke in unison. Sage grinned and snaked her hand around Stassi’s neck. She pulled her in, and they kissed, the hunger igniting between the two of them. They were on a new trajectory, and Sage was ready for the ride.