Relentless

2- Jackson

"Fresh flowers," Commander wondered aloud.

"That's it," Ky spoke up. "She doesn't need to be in here anymore." She breathed heavy like she was running, sweat oozed down the side of her face; wide, green eyes never strayed from the bed. "She's having a flashback," he cautiously stepped towards her and blocked the view of the bedroom.

"No!" she wailed. "Please, don't!"

"Hey," he knelt in front of her. "It's me." Commander shut the door in attempt to break her trance. He reached for her again; she winced and tried to shrink into the wall.

"Don't touch me," she whimpered.

"Okay," he held his hands in surrender. "Okay, I won't." He waited for her to calm a bit before testing the waters, "Come on Saige; let's go outside." Her eyes snapped to his. "Alright? Let's just go outside."

Her breathing steadied, she blinked as a tears slipped down her cheeks. She nodded slowly, peeled herself from the wall, and trudged down the hallway with Ky following closely behind. Commander fell into step beside me, "I'm not one to usually want this." I gave him a sideways glance. "But, if I ever meet the man that did this to her, I might just kill him."

My eyes wavered to medium length blonde hair that swayed slightly when she walked, "I'll help you hide the body."

He patted my shoulder half heartily, "Good man."

I shielded my eyes from the bright sunlight as we stepped out beneath the open sky. Justin jogged up to us, "We found their computer, but everything has been deleted. I have a team that's gonna keep digging though."

Commander pinched the bride of his nose, "Alright, get another team to search the cell block. Report back to me if you find anything."

"Yes, Sir."

He hurried off and Commander sighed while gazing at Saige who was now talking to Kelly, "There's more to her than what meets the eye." I could tell Saige wasn't interested in what the Captain had to say, she kept staring off towards a large grassy field surrounded by a fence in the distance. "I have a feeling we are about to dive deeper into her past." Kelly strolled off to help someone. Saige stood still a moment, then drifted towards the field like a moth to the flame.

Wordlessly, we followed after her with Ky trailing behind us. She took her time, brushing the fence with her fingertips. She passed the still locked gate and circled around to the back. There was a gaping hole, but the weird part was that it looked as if the chains links were cut. She stared at it with a blank expression.

"What are you thinking about?" I asked softly.

She didn't answer for a solid minute, "My first escape attempt." She outstretched her arm towards the hole, grasping for a ghost of a memory that vanished beneath her fingertips. "I was little, and my parents-," her voice cracked. "They tried." Her gaze shifted to the dense woods, her feet soon followed suit. We stayed silent, afraid to break her streak of opening up and revealing pieces of her past. She sauntered down a grassy path, pushing tree limbs out of the way and easily navigating her way through.

After a few minutes, the tree limbs gave way to a clearing; a small grassy field shaped like an oval. A light breeze bent the blades and swayed the trees, birds sang a sweet song, squirrels danced along the branches, a pinecone plunged to the earth; this was a beautiful place. Saige stood in the middle, still as stone. How much devastation did this beauty mask?

"This is where..." she didn't finish.

Commander went up behind her and placed a hand on her shoulder, "Talking helps."

"I...had a mom. She was beautiful; Daddy always said I looked like her, but I'm nowhere near the beauty she held."

I shook my head in disagreement, but decided to save that conversation for another time. Ky gave me a sideways glance as she continued, "Daddy was a lot like you. He would've done anything to protect the ones he loved." Her eyes became glassy; she clenched her fists to hold it back.

"Did he protect you?" Commander urged.

"Yes," she whispered, "For as long as he could. But, there were so many of them, and they had guns. And I...I slowed them down. They...they-," she choked on a sob. "They shot her. This is where she fell...she..." She dropped to her knees and sobbed uncontrollably. Commander embraced her, kissed the top of her head, and rubbed her back.

I tore my eyes away from the sad scene, remembering the commander's words a few months ago.

∙∙∙

"How can you be so sure?" Ky's lashed at his father, "We went to her funeral, we-."

"We never found her body, it is very possible." Ky crossed his arms in thought. Almost everyone had gone home shortly after the outburst between Saige and Ky, the warm and loving atmosphere replaced with an uneasy anxiousness. The Jensen's and Saige sat in the living room by the fire's glow drinking a cup of hot chocolate, Saige hasn't said a word in a couple hours. I stood in the kitchen doorway, Justin and Aaron sat at the kitchen table while Ky and Commander faced each other in the middle. No one was in a festive mood anymore. "If there's a chance that your mother is alive, don't you want to take it?"

Ky's features softened, "Of course I do, it's just...all these years...I want to be sure she's right and not get our hopes up."

Saige gave no indication she was lying. There's no reason for her to lie, why would she? She has nothing to gain from it, plus she seemed so stunned seeing the picture of Sarah, everything about her is genuine. I stole a glance where she was sitting; but there's always the fact she believes what she saying; therefore she believes she telling the truth. She sat crossed legged on the couch, hands wrapped carefully around her mug occasionally taking a sip. She refused to acknowledge Kelly who was trying unsuccessfully to pry more information out of her. She caught my eye; I was surprised how she held my gaze and silently pleaded with me.

"I believe her." All eyes shot to Aaron in utter shock. "What? I'm not making the same mistake twice, been there done that. I learned my lesson." No one said anything. "Oh, quit your staring and close your mouths, you might catch flies," he shoved a sugar cookie in his mouth.

Justin grinned, "Admit it; you've developed a soft spot."

"Pfft, it's more like I don't like being shot," he rolled his shoulder and grimaced at the memory.

"Mmhmm, sure," Justin continued to prod.

Aaron sent him a glare, "Besides, I don't think even the greatest actor can imitate her reaction. So, y'all should stop yapping and start doing something."

Commander cracked a smile, "You say you don't want to get your hopes up." He turned to look Ky in the eyes, then slowly met all of ours around the room, "But isn't that what this time of year is all about? Hope?"

∙∙∙

Hope is all we have left to hang on to, and even that is fleeting. We've found nothing on their hard drives or any clues in their facility to give any indication to where they would have gone. Our last hope rides with Saige, but after her breakdown in the woods she built her walls back up and switched to her silent state. She ended up falling asleep on the window in the backseat of Commander's truck. I sat next to her; Ky and Commander were up front.

"They knew we were coming." I raised my eyes to meet Commander's in the rear view mirror; to say he was angry would be an understatement.

"The flowers," Ky stated.

He nodded and gripped the steering wheel, "This is just a sick game to them. I can't imagine what Sarah has-," he stopped abruptly.

My chest tightened for the second time as I gazed at her again, the horrified look on her face forever seared in my memory. "We will find them." A furious, steadfast fire burned in the pit of my stomach, "I won't rest until we do."

***

Theories?

Thanks a bunch! Love y'all! Until next time! :)