The Fall

Chapter 32

Kade, one week later

"Thanks for making time to come out," I greeted Spencer and the short, blonde haired woman attached to him. With Sage expected to return home next week, I wanted to know what we're dealing with. Over the last week, she shut herself off from everyone, claiming to be focused on her recovery. I don't buy it one bit. The girl can't even look me in the eye without some darkness creeping into those pale iris's of hers.

"No problem, Kaden." Spencer replies and clasps me on the shoulder before his gaze flicks to his girl. "Sorry. Noelle, this is Kaden McCarthy and Sage's brother, Kyle. Guys, this is my girl, Noelle, who works with Madison, one of the on call docs over there."

"I know this goes against protocol, but thanks for speaking with us," Kyle offers a small smile as he shakes her hand. Even exhausted the kid still could pull off a million dollar smile, but Spencer was practically family and Kyle would never cross that line.

Unlike me, who's still dreaming about the brief kiss Sage and I shared days ago. I missed the feeling of her in my arms, feeling Sage and seeing the laughter dancing in her blue eyes. My little firefly was finally coming back to the light and someone has the audacity to drag her back into the darkness.

"Yeah, I'm totally risking my license just speaking to you," Noelle wrinkled her nose and burrows herself into his side. He whispers something in her ear and she rolls her eyes, but the adoration is clear in her eyes as she gazes up at him. Jealousy of that simple exchange slams into me and I shut that shit down. I have a girl, one that is absolutely perfect and guilt barrels right over where jealousy had been. Lola. Fuck, I've been so focused on Sage that I've ignored my actual girlfriend.

Kyle herds us all into the living room and because I'm sure Rosie's an alien from another planet, a spread of finger foods is set on the coffee table with an array of coffee and teas. "I see Rosie's still remembers my obsession with tea sandwiches," Spencer chuckles as he sits on the couch, pulling Noelle with him. I grab the arm chair to the left of the couch and Kyle takes up his recliner to the right of the couch.

"I just want to know she's being safe there?" Kyle starts off, worry swimming in his eyes. "She seemed to be regressing when we last saw her and that concerns my family."

Noelle frowns as she laces her fingers with Spencer's, "I'll be honest, Kyle, I saw a shift in her last week and it was like an overnight thing too. I know that Dr. Lawrence has expressed concerns about Sage's behavior this close to her discharge date and has increased her sessions because of it."

Kyle and I exchanged a look across the room. How come we weren't made aware of this? If the doctors treating Sage had concerns of her well being, then maybe she's not ready to come home. I know that when Sage is in the state she was in last week, she's hiding something pretty fucked up and she's shutting everything down to try to grasp onto some sense of normalcy.

"Is she taking her meds?" Kyle asked, reaching up to grab a club sandwich. "Could she be having some kind of depression episode?" When doctor Lawrence laid out Sage's mental health diagnosis, everything clicked in my head about her behavior for the last few years. Sage Henderson excelled in deception. She fell into the roll of perfect daughter in public or at least as much as Kingsley could afford to pay off the press to not rub explicit stories about the Henderson princess.

To think all that time she'd been battling depression and anxiety. Tackle on the suicial ideation and this girl's a therapist's best toy. Pick apart her brain and see how to fix it. But years of emotional trauma has made Sage reluctant to seek any kind of help that isn't in the form of a pill or white powder to be sniffed.

"According to her chart, she has, but something is upsetting her and she's not talking about it." Noelle rakes her fingers through her hair and sighs, "What I do know is that before she can be discharged, Sage has to undergo a final evaluation and doctor Lawrence will be meeting with the family to determine where Sage will live after discharge. The conditions of her discharge will be laid out during your next visit."