getting good

they didn’t have to do this, saul knew. it had been an impulsive decision to even start a conversation with sage, but now that he was in it, he didn’t know exactly how to end it. what would yas want him to do? fight for her honor? cuss sage out in public with her toddler daughter in her arms? let her know exactly what he thought of her? which, truthfully, wasn’t much. before yas told him about what happened, saul had thought sage playing with fire. and yasemin, for that matter, but saul couldn't exactly judge with his own relationship track record. otherwise had no opinion on the older franklin. any negative feelings he had towards sage were on yasemin’s behalf, and he was too old to engage in petty bullshit—that didn’t mean he never did, but he knew he was too old for it whenever he did.

It was only a matter of time before the conversation fell in the direction of forwardness. Even with Maggie and the general public as a solid barrier, she hadn't expected the man to go too long playing nice and polite when she knew just how much she probably hurt Yasemin. As much as she wished she could go back to the awkward conversation about kids and popcorn, she'd already steeled herself for this turn. Taking a breath, she finally set the toddler down to stand near her legs, not able to balance both an arm workout and a mental workout at the same time. "We don't need to pretend that we don't know that, because we do and that isn't going to change, I don't need her white knight telling me that," Sage started, taking a breath as her heart beat heavily in her chest. There was no way she and Yas would have left their last conversation not hurt by it. "But do you really think this is the place for that conversation? Here? Right now?" She glanced down at Maggie before meeting his gaze again. "If you don't think that it hurt me to hurt her, then you're so incredibly wrong."

Mei's gaze softened as she observed Benny and Bristol interacting with Maggie, a tender smile playing on her lips. She had always admired the bond between the twins, sensing a special connection beyond mere siblinghood. "They are really close, and they always have each other. I think that is part of why they're always so good with other kids too. " Mei remarked, her voice laced with admiration. " Jacob brought over Selvi a couple days ago and they were OBSESSED with her. " Mei knew that they were going to make amazing siblings. " I mean at least it's just Maggie, plus she is so cute how can you say no to that face? " Mei laughed as she watched Maggie's sticky hands try to feel the twins her treat. " You're a really good mom Sage, the toddler stage is just hard. "

"It's nice that they have each other," Sage agreed with a nod of her head. Her words were earnest, the sight in front of her an endearing one to see. "I always thought I'd have more than one, wanted to have another after Maggie either, but I don't think that's in the cards for me anymore." She wondered if it ever would be, with every year that passed and every year older she got, or if it would just be her and Maggie on their own for the rest of her life. "Okay, I'm a little obsessed with Selvi too. It's impossible not to be." She couldn't help but chuckle at the others wisdom about the toddler stage, "Oh, trust me, I know. I've been here before."

She felt like an idiot for even talking about Giada like this. They were divorced and because of something incredibly life altering at that. Gia had walked out on her. And yet, there she was, talking about her moment with the woman with her entire chest (and maybe a little bit of her heart too). It was Jacob though. If she could be honest with anyone without feeling like she as being judged, it was him, right? Apparently not. Sage couldn't help the huff of amusement that fell from her mouth at the words ms. kitty. "It didn't exactly happen like that, just so you know," She offered with an eye roll, knowing what the man was implying, but not able to tease him with the things that did happen considering Maggie was in his arms. "It'd be a lot easier if she were," the older blonde pointed out. Maybe she wouldn't have made the choice she did, maybe she wouldn't have hurt Yasemin in the process. "At the kayak race on Monday. She, uh, fell into the water and I helped her out with a pair of dry clothes."

The shift in Sage's demeanor was apparent as soon as she'd spoken up about no longer hiding anything from Asher. The pettier part of Yas felt a small tug of satisfaction over it, this being perhaps the only thing she could do to give Sage a small taste of the same pain she felt herself. Regrettably, Yasemin wasn't that person. She didn't want to hurt Sage and, even more so, didn't want to ruin the relationship she had with Asher. "I won't say anything ill about you, Sage, I hope you know that," she put out there. She would be honest, explain what happened if Asher asked, but she wouldn't say anything that would paint Sage in a bad light. Or, at least anything that would make what she'd done any worse than it was on its own. Biting her lip, Yas gave a half nod before shifting back to the counter to order herself a snack, grateful for the distraction of exchanging money and putting in an order to take her mind away just for a moment from the woman behind her.

The momentarily lapse in their conversation in which she watched Yasemin order the snacks she'd intended to purchase when she got in line and then exchange the money she owed was only a brief pause in the conversation that allowed the older blonde to gather her thoughts, though there wasn't much to gather when the possibility of Asher finding out only presented one light both of them would be painted in. "I don't think you'd have to," Sage finally admitted once the other's attention was free, shaking her head softly. Her heart sunk deep in her chest, the panic she felt coursing through her veins never subsiding. She couldn't help but wonder how long she had before Yasemin grew tired of her I'd never speak ill of you promise. "There's no way to come out on the other side of her knowing and not be a shitty person. You and I both know that."

It was how they always worked, she remembered. Sage was the one that loved to be outdoors in a way that was more than just taking a walk around the neighborhood or going to the beach to relax on a towel and sunbathe. She loved to be in the thick of it; climbing mountains, kayaking, exploring nature in a way that a lot of people didn't dare to see it. Gia was the sunbather, the sitting in a hammock on a summer's afternoon, the walking through a flower meadow type of person. When they had Ruby, the older blonde had finally gotten a partner to tag along on her more extreme adventures and for the short six years they had together, it was perfection. Now, so many things had changed, but what amused Sage most was that Giada hadn't really changed at all. Sometimes, if she blinked for just a second too long, she could imagine that they were standing there seven years ago and everything that had happened was just a really bad nightmare.

the last thing that floyd meant to do was cause tension in their conversation but he assumed that it was something sage would eventually bring up. after all, he was friends with both of them and he wasn't surprised that something had happened between the two of them. he knew what kind of chemistry the two of them had. "yeah, it was one of the first things she told me, actually. i'm beginning to wonder if that's why she came to find me. i didn't even know she was back in town until then." pausing, he shook his head. "come on. we both know there's no way i'm getting in between the two of you guys. i can't tell you what she said, just like i wouldn't tell her what you said. that isn't fair."

She couldn't help but grumbled uncharacteristically as she started moving the paddles once more. They were clearly not going to win the race, but if he was going to taunt her with information about her ex-wife, they might as well row while he did it. "You know that's rude," Sage pointed out with a huff, though the noise was filled more with amusement than not and she even accented it with a teasing eyeroll. Of course he wasn't going to give up any information on what Giada may have told him. Even if he did claim he was equally their friend, he was hers first.

the tension was oppressive. everyone around them was chatting happily, but saul felt like he was in some sort of standoff with sage. who would be the first to break? to say a rude comment? to bring up the elephant in the room? the line graciously moved a bit up ahead. thank the fucking lord. the sooner he got out of there and back to dean, the better. “that's a very lovely name.” saul responded, giving the little girl a small wave. he truly thought so, too, he wasn't just being polite. maybe if saul had made different choices in his thirties, had a daughter with his second wife like she had wanted, they would've chosen that name or something similar. there were a million what ifs in saul's life, including if he had decided on having more children, but with the strained relationship he had with his son now, it was probably for the best that he stopped at one. “i do! a son, micah. he's much older than your little lady here, though.” sometimes he had trouble believing that he had a twenty-nine year old son. sincerely, where did the time go? wasn't micah's bar mitzvah just a few years ago? how about his own, was that really forty years ago? don't get old, sage, he thought, it's only downhill from here. “he lives back in new york city.” he stalled on what to say next. what was there to say? you hurt my good friend, and now i'm going to challenge you to a duel in the drive-in concession stand line? saul exhaled noisily. “so... you a popcorn person? or do you prefer candy?” good one, weissberg.

They'd almost decided on a different one, her and Atlas. Magnolia had been at the top of the list for awhile, they'd even started calling her it. But, Margaret had stuck in Sage's mind and had never worked its way out. It sounded nice with Ruby, even though she'd never be using the two names together, likely ever. Maggie was a no-brainer, though. The toddler had been known as Maggie, or sometimes Mags, since she came out of the womb. Both were lovely names, she knew that much, so she nodded in agreement. What else could she do, after all? The man didn't seem to be offering a chance for them to simply ignore each other and go about their nights — she couldn't help but wonder if it were a dominance thing, a letting her know that he knows kind of thing.

Yas didn't harbor any illusions that Sage was seeking her out in any way. She hoped it was rather the opposite, that they'd both be actively avoiding each other to make it less likely that this would ever happen again. Her head nodded softly, not having it in her to voice that it was exactly what she wanted. Even if it wasn't, she was willing to agree that it was what she needed. Yas needed to move on and seeing Sage was a surefire way to ensure that she didn't. Lips pursing together, Yasemin let her arms fold in front of her tightly, a sigh escaping her lips at the mention of Asher. "That's not something I can promise anymore, Sage," she admitted with a slow shrug. "I'm done lying to her." While she had no intentions of going out of her way to say anything about it, she also didn't have it in her anymore to lie or keep it hidden either. If it came up, it came up. Yas was ready to accept whatever consequences with Asher came from it. If she was going to be as actively avoidant of Sage as she had been in the last few weeks, Asher was going to catch on at some point, and Yasemin was done trying to shield them both from whatever fallout would come from it.

Her heart began to pound, so impossibly loud that she was sure everyone around them heard it. Sweat formed on her temples that wasn't from the the heat of the game and instead, from the flush of nervousness that brightened on her skin. She should have saw it coming, the day when Asher would find out. No matter how it happened, whether it was because they'd decided to give things a go officially or because one of them slipped up, it was going to happen sooner or later. But the fact that the other could beat her to it, tell Asher about them in whatever light she chose to (and probably not a good one considering how things ended), left Sage panicked in a way she hadn't felt about the situation before. "Right." It was all she could bring herself to utter. One word. Straining to not sound as panicked as she felt. "You should, uh, probably order now," She stated, motioning to the empty counter in front of them where the line had cleared out while they'd been distracted with one another.

You know... she was right. While Jacob had not spent that much time around Atlas or any of the members of the Williams family, it didn't take an expert to see that Maggie's genes were mostly Sage's. Maybe her personality was similar to her father's? Again, that he wouldn't know. "Hey, hands off my niece!" Again, he teased, helping Maggie swat her mother's hand away from her rosy cheeks. "I got you baby girl, samchon got you." Jacob smiled at the little girl, kissing the top of her head, and then looking over his shoulder when the blonde girl mentioned a horsie, so of course, Jake motioned his head towards the petting zoo, hoping Maggie would be distracted enough with the animals while the adults talked. "Wait... Gia? Why am I only now hearing about this?" He furrowed his brows while looking at his friend. "You? You slept with Gia?" Jacob blinked a few times, as if it would help him ensure he'd heard it right. "Shi—woah, Sage... that's... how, though?" And as soon as the question left his lips, Jacob rolled his eyes at himself. "You understood what I meant. I meant why? What happened there?" / @sagefranklin

She couldn't help but grin at her best friend's antics with Maggie, the toddler herself giggling even more at them. Her day never failed to be brightened by the other, even when it felt like the world was crashing down all around her. It was like some weird seesaw for them. He helped her feel better, she helped him feel better, and so on for over thirty years of their lives. Sage wasn't sure what she'd do without him. "Okay, okay, fine," She finally declared, lifting her hands up in a way that showed she'd been caught. "Wouldn't want the fun police to arrest me anyway." A soft chuckle of amusement fell from her lips, fading almost just as quickly when he started questioning her about Giada and suddenly, Sage wished she'd never said anything at all. Maybe the fun police could arrest her and lock her away so she'd never have to. "I only found out... maybe two weeks ago?" Her brow furrowed as she tried to remember just how long it'd been since Gia showed up in front of the home they used to share.

did the atmosphere get super fucking awkward or was that just him? with five people still in line ahead of them, saul feared he’d have to make conversation with sage when he didn’t know what to say—something that was very rare for the loquacious saul. truthfully, he didn’t know sage very well, and what he did know, he didn’t like… well, that was a tad harsh, but yasemin didn’t cry on the couch with a glass of wine in hand when she was happy with sage. when it came to his friends, saul was incredibly protective, and while he didn’t have any personal feelings about sage, if yas wasn’t happy, then neither was saul. he had (jokingly) offered to sue sage for emotional distress, but yasemin knew he wasn't being serious. not unless he thought he had an actual case, but even then, he doubted yas would actually want him to go through with it. though there were a thousand things he considered saying on his friend’s behalf, he settled on being stiffly polite. it was hard to be rude to a woman holding her small child, anyway. “alright, just sage.” saul smiled briefly, a teasing tone in his voice. “i’m saul, if you didn’t remember. yas’ friend.” he nodded sympathetically as she mentioned her daughter being unsettled by the ghosts. “the little marshmallows are pretty cute, aren’t they? makes it seem like more of a kids’ movie.” come to think of it, saul had been much older when the original movie came out, already twelve and a half in the summer of ‘84. he moved his gaze from sage’s face to her daughter’s. “and what’s your little buddy here’s name?” he asked sage, trying to be nice.

The tone of just Sage coming from his mouth was enough to tell her the vibe of the interaction — and it definitely wasn't friendly. But of course it wouldn't be, not when he made it clear almost immediately that he's Yas' friend, which meant he definitely wasn't hers. "I remember," She finally answered, a tight lipped smile the only indication that she was attempting to be polite instead of just walking away. Despite how things went between her and Yasemin, she never stopped caring about the woman; she just didn't want to hurt her anymore and the direction her life was heading threatened to do nothing but that. Shifting Maggie to get an easier hold on her, because she suspected the line was going to drag on now that she found herself in an awkward and slightly intolerable situation, Sage tried to come up with something more to say, but everything that threatened to leave her mouth was less than the polite façade she was attempting to hold. So when Saul asked about the toddler in her arms, the older blonde jumped on the chance to talk about anyone but Yasemin. "This is Margaret." Maggie's attention was caught by the use of her legal name, one that typically only slipped out when she was in trouble. Sage, however, was feeling petty enough not to offer Saul the chance to use Maggie's natural nickname which everyone else knew her by. "Do you have any kids, Saul?"

"hey, what the hell? you're not supposed to agree!" though, it was no surprise that she thought her daughter was cuter. he did too. maggie held a special place in his heart, just as ruby had and he was thankful that sage allowed her to be a part of her life just as she had with her other daughter. "yeah, she is. i'm sure she's in a hell of a lot better shape than her old uncle floyd but that's alright. she's supposed to be." he had a bad habit of not taking care of himself and anyone close to him knew that but he tried not to address it. in fact, he avoided the conversation more times than not. "a boat? you can count me in. i'm there one hundred percent. " he wasn't sure he'd ever befriended anyone that had a boat and so he felt pretty honored to have been invited. as the conversation shifted, he nodded in confirmation to her question. "actually, yeah. she stopped by the record store the other day. told me about y'all's rendezvous."

Any lightness in the moment had sunk deep down in the lake by the time he mentioned knowing about her and Giada's... moment. She was glad they'd already stopped paddling or she may have successfully tipped them in surprise at the news (though, she wondered if she should have been so surprised, considering the two were best friends after all). "You... know about that." Her brow was raised and her lips had opened and closed a few times, making her look like quite the fish out of water, before she finally uttered those words. Suddenly, the kayaks out in the water behind Floyd were far more interesting to her than meeting the man's gaze. Man, she wished she would have remembered to pack sunglasses. "What, uh... what did she say about it exactly?"

Jacob thought about saying something on how he'd been clearly terrible at finding love on his own, but, since Sage was being nice enough to give him a pep talk, maybe he should be a good boy, shut up and just accept her words. Or maybe... accept his fate. Worst case scenario, he would be left with yet another failed attempt to finding love... and he would go home and whine to the blonde that he would die an old hag or something. Become a spinster of some kind, like he had joked about when he was drunk. "Ugh, fine." He drew in a breath, sighing in defeat as he knew Sage was right. He knew he was just scared of yet another failure, especially after Genevieve and Dilan. When Maggie copied her mother, Jacob winced, letting out groans as if the toddler was actually strong enough to make his chest hurt from the pokes. "I don't know what you're talking about. There is clearly no way that this little bug came out of you." He teased, then leaning in to plant a kiss on her cheek to try and make it up for his joke. "No, but honestly, Sage... what's holding you back? Don't you want to find someone?" Because there was also that... some people didn't want to be with others—and that was okay. / @sagefranklin

Sage smiled triumphantly, even if deep inside she knew that the other was still stewing about whether or not he'd find someone to love. She wasn't really one to speak, not after how her epic love had ended; childless and a mess full of grief and regret and so much anger. "You'll get there, I promise. There's no timeline on something like this." Maybe she was talking to him or, just maybe, she was giving herself some advice. Though she wasn't sure any amount of advice would help with the situation she managed to get herself into. "Please, have you looked at her? There's no one else she could've gotten those adorable looks from." Sage teasingly reached forward to gently squeeze Maggie's cheek, her nose crinkling as she made a silly face toward the other. The toddler laughed and swatted her hand away almost immediately. It was clear to almost everyone who she came from and no doubt it was definitely from the elder Franklin. Outside of the curls Maggie may have inherited from her father's side, everything else was straight off of the production line at Franklin Inc. "I thought I did," fell out of her mouth before she could stop it, ending with a roll of her eyes and the smallest huff of air. "Then, uh... Gia showed up back in town." Showed up. Pissed her off. Then they somehow managed to get to the banging portion of that, successfully derailing anything she'd even dreamed of building with Yasemin. "I kind of slept with her... in the back alley of the bar."

Compared to the last time she'd found herself in a similar state of heartbreak because of Sage, the honesty was at least a little easier to handle. Being ghosted completely had been a lot worse than this, though in the moment she'd swear that it was just as painful to go through. "And that's...I'm glad you were honest, I respect that," she said back, doing her best to keep her tone level. Already there were some eyes in their direction, people subtly trying to pretend they weren't listening. Yas supposed it didn't really matter at this point who was listening, there was nothing left to hide anymore. If anything got back to Asher, so be it, that was a bridge she was willing to cross if she had to. If anything, she'd appreciate being able to finally break down and talk to her best friend about it all.

Somehow, the other's appreciation of her honesty didn't make her feel any better. Not now. Not when her chest ached so badly she swore it would cave in on itself at any moment. Why did honesty matter when, in the end, she was going to lose the other in all the ways she wanted her? When that place in her life Yasemin had taken up residence in would be empty from there on out. But... she also couldn't say that she regretted it, that she would have gone back and chose not to follow Giada into that alleyway, because she didn't know if she could have made the decision not to. And that was... it was confusing, to feel pulled in two different direction, to ache so bad for someone yet, not be sure that was what she wanted. "I'm not going out of my way to run into you," Sage insisted, just in case that's what Yasemin thought. It was unfortunate just how intertwined their lives actually were. Asher. Aslihan. Alicia. And not to mention the fact that a lot of the other's current colleagues were old colleagues of Sage's, the exact reason why they were both there, she presumed. "But... I'll stay out of your way if that's what you want... what you need." They were in public and whatever else she had to say would have to wait. "Just, if you know, you could maybe not mention anything to Asher about... any of this."

"I wish I did," Yas whispered back, the fight momentarily dissipating out of her voice as she said it, replaced instead by a mountain of hurt. Once upon a time, she might have believed it. She still wanted to believe that any of it had ever meant something to Sage, that she'd been special in some capacity. Unfortunately, it didn't feel like that, not anymore. Yas didn't want to cause a scene, but even more so didn't want to let the atmosphere around them get so tense that Maggie started to pick up on it. She seemed distracted by the treats at the moment, a small favor that Yas was grateful for.

There wasn't anything else for her to say. Even if Yasemin hadn't made a beeline for her door as soon as the words I slept with my ex-wife had fallen from Sage's mouth. One moment, they'd been daydreaming about goats and farmhouses and land in Bighorn Hills while naked in bed and the next... well, the older blonde wasn't exactly a stranger to screw ups, especially when it came to the woman standing in front of her. Part of her regretted getting Maggie involved, knowing that the toddler was attached to one of her favorite people in the world, but she also knew that would have happened regardless. Yasemin was Asher's best friend, after all. Maggie would've been involved no matter what. Thankfully, it didn't seem like the tiny blonde in her arms was picking up on anything off between the two, yet.

"No..." Jacob furrowed his brows while rubbing the back of his neck, as if trying to make sense in what he was talking, or maybe, trying to find sense in his words and thoughts. It wasn't always that he did think straight. "Uh... I don't know? It might give people the wrong idea that I can't find love on my own?" Was his reasoning good? Besides, Jacob's last serious relationships had crashed and burned so how much did he really know about finding love on his own? Shaking his head, he let out a sigh, before picking up Maggie. "Do you think samchon should let someone pick his girlfriend for him?" He asked the two-year-old, and he was dead sure she didn't really understand what Jacob was asking, but the curly-haired toddler did nod, which caused Jake to chuckle. "Alright. It's settled, then. Princess Mags has chosen." He told Sage. "Yeah, why is that, though? I mean... you're a hot piece of a-s-s, so why don't you go out and eat other people's faces?" / @sagefranklin

She'd known Jacob long enough to be able to tell him something straight, even if the man seemed unsure about it. "But you are finding love on your own. I mean, sure, someone introduces you, but you're the one putting yourself out there, offering to build that love with another person. The one who introduced you isn't doing that for you." Her best friend had always been handsome and charming and she never failed to absolutely adore him — it boggled her mind that he thought he even needed any help with finding love. "Mei can't force two of her friends to fall in love. That's all you." Sage reached forward and poked him in the chest for emphasis, Maggie giggling and tapping her tiny finger against his chest to copy her mom. "Okay, no one can force you except Maggie, but she's actually pretty good at picking out amazing people, so." Her shoulders lifted in a shrug and her cheeks flushed with his next words. She couldn't help the short laugh of irony that fell softly from her lips. "Listen, I said I haven't gone on any dates, not that I haven't... eaten people's faces." Her expression scrunched at the ridiculousness of Jacob's words. Then, she motioned to the toddler in his arms. "Clearly that's happened."

“Oh, yeah, I don’t think that’ll happen for a long while,” Elijah chuckled along, fully aware that the little girl in his arms meant that nights of restful sleep were long behind him. It was a fickle thing for him anyway, between life’s unending stresses and unpleasant nightmares often keeping him up more than he’d like to admit, but Rhia only ensured that a full REM cycle was practically impossible. He was slowly getting used to it, at this point. “Sounds to me like you’ve got something to worry about soon enough . . . might want to just bite the bullet and invest in a farm now, before she can steal one and you’ve got no place to put it,” he teased, the visual of Maggie attempting to drag the goat along with her causing him to smile. He peeled his eyes from her when he felt his daughter throw her weight into him, shy from the attention. “Nine,” he answered, “And it feels quicker than a weed, if that’s even possible. Say hi, goober.” He grabbed her hand and mimicked the motion of a wave, the teeniest of grins poking through her features. “She’s a lot better at bye, for whatever reason. Other than that she just likes to point.”

"Try eighteen years," Sage commented with a raise of her eyebrows, knowingly, and a soft laugh. Even though Ruby hadn't made it past six, she'd had plenty of experience with sleepless nights waiting up for Asher to come home in her teens, worrying about what the younger blonde was up to, what trouble she'd gotten into. Asher was never one to be considerate about curfew and bedtimes. She hoped that Maggie was a little more thoughtful, but if the part of her she got from her father had anything to say about it, Sage expected the same deal on repeat. "Ironically, I've uh, looked at a placed in Bighorn a few times. And by looked I mean I just stalked the Zillow ad for weeks to see if it sold. But it's just not in the cards right now."