The ticking of the clock on the wall cut through the silence, the only sound for an eternity besides Fawn's loud breathing, caused by a lung infection she had caught in prison a few weeks ago. Her dark blonde strands clung to her sweat-covered face, some strands just in front of her mouth blowing in a different direction with each breath.

Sage just watched as her sister grew weaker by the minute, wondering what the reason was. So far she hadn't asked a single question, she was enjoying the moment of having power over Fawn too much.

The loaded gun was lying in her lap, one leg crossed over the other while her arm rested comfortably on the beige armrest and her free, petite hand gripped the handle of the weapon in her lap, ready to fire at any moment if Fawn would try anything.

This time Sage wasn't going to let her little sister get away, no matter what kind of person that made her. Now they not only had Violet to protect, but soon another little miracle whose life Sage wouldn't risk.

"Now, tell me how exactly you got here", Sage began, humming under her tongue as her gaze bored into Fawn. "Did you bribe a guard? Let one of them fuck you to get a few hours outside? Or.." Sage untangled her legs to bend forward, her forearms now crossed on her legs while the gun dangled in front of her knees. "Did you make a deal? Did you rat in exchange for getting out?"

There were a lot of options, Sage had only the ones that made sense to her, the ones that sounded the most logical.

"None of thatᅳ apparently you're not that smart after all." Fawn's dry chuckle was interrupted by a short coughing fit, blood splattering all over Fawn's hand and landing on her bare legs, which were only covered by a pair of gym shorts.

"What's going on with you?" Sage demanded, her eyes narrowed slightly as she ignored Fawn's teasing. "Are you sick? Contagious?"

Anger bubbled up in Sage, but a glimmer of panic also flashed in her eyes. She was aware that Fawn didn't care whether she would give anyone a disease. Hell, the youngest Trager would probably even do it on purpose after being rejected by everyone.

Sage was just worried about Violet and the baby.

"Lung infection", Fawn explained with a shrug, her voice rough and raspy as she sank back into the cushion, her body slowly giving up. "That was my ticket out."

"You smart bitch." Sage let out a scoff, shaking her head with her tongue pressed against the inside of her cheek. "They transferred you to a hospital and ran away from there."

"Ten points for you." Almost proudly, Fawn raised one corner of his mouth, snorting mockingly. "You're not that stupid after all. I let the guard outside my door fuck me so he'd let me run. That needy bastard was really easy to manipulate."

"Shut up", the former redhead rolled her eyes in annoyance, moving the gun in her hand slightly with a twitch of her wrist. "Now I know how you did it. But why are you so fuckin' stupid and risk ending up in prison for the rest of your life just to make a little trip to my house, huh?"

"Oh, I wasn't planning on going back to prison." An evil grin spread across Fawn's pale face, making the dark circles under her eyes sink even deeper. "I wanted to get rid of you for destroying my future. Then I wanted to take Hayley and run, start a new life in another country."

"Well, too bad you were so stupid and came here in the first place", Sage replied with a bittersweet smile. "But you've never been the brightest candle on the cake. Tell me, what do you think will happen now? Because I can tell you one thing, you won't leave this house alive."

Amused by the little show Fawn was allowed to watch, she raised both eyebrows, her grin weak. "And who's going to kill me? You? You can't even hurt a fly. You'd piss yourself before pulling the triggerᅳ"

And there it wasᅳ the shot that Fawn hadn't seen coming with a loud bang that caused Violet to cry again, causing the Prospect to storm into the living room in shock, earning an angry glare from Sage as he was still holding Violet in his arms.

"Get her out of here! She doesn't have to see this", Sage snarled at the nervous man as he paced around the room, muttering incomprehensible things under his breath and was probably on the verge of a mental breakdown.

"I can't do this", were the last words Sage heard before he quickly disappeared into Violet's room, put the baby down and shortly afterwards stormed past Sage, leaving the blonde confused in the living room as he frantically slipped out of his kutte and stormed out of the house after throwing it to the ground.

"Okay..sure..", Sage muttered, the 'okay' drawn out before she let out a sigh and her green, innocent-looking eyes landed on Fawn, watching her sister slowly choke on her own blood.

Sage casually pulled her cell out of her pocket, trying to reach Happy since the Prospect didn't seem to be able to do so. After a few seconds, his raspy voice could be heard on the other end of the line, making Sage smile slightly.

"You need to come home, I...I think I need your help..", Sage pleaded softly, sounding insecure and shaken. "I killed Fawn."

It was quiet on the other end of the line, then Happy hung up, confusing his wife even more. But he was probably already on his bike on the way here, she knew him well enough by now.

Violet's crying slowly faded and became more of a fussing, a sign that Sage could leave the one-year-old alone for a moment longer, whereupon she slid from the chair to her knees, the gun now on the ground, a hand clamped around her mouth to stifle the scream that was stuck in her throat.

That's what she wanted to do. Screaming, crying, cursing. But Sage didn't do anything like that. A film of tears lay over her green eyes but she refused to waste a single tear for her sister, who was lying on the ground, struggling, like a fish on land, with both hands tightly wrapped around her throat from which the blood was just flowing out.

Sage had no idea if the bullet was still stuck or if it had been a clean shot, but the shot would definitely be fatal, that much was certain. The former redhead could watch as life slowly drained from Fawn's eyes, as the gurgling sound in her throat became quieter with every breath she tried to take, making the choking even worse as the blood continued to spurt from her open throat, soaking everything around her in a dark red.

The thick liquid seeped into the wooden floor, and the beige couch also received a few splashes of blood, which immediately worked their way through the beige materialᅳ stains that Sage would never be able to get out of the fabric again.

"I would say I'm sorry." Sage's soft, barely audible voice cracked slightly, her shaky hand slowly sinking into her lap after letting her butt fall onto her heels, rocking back and forth slightly.

"But I'm not", she added in a whisper, sounding desperate and menacing at the same time with a hint of sadness lingering in her glassy eyes. And then, unable to hold them back anymore, the tears streamed down her pale cheeks. "You fuckin' deserve this, you hear me?! You..you could.."

Sage's body collapsed as Fawn stopped struggling, her little sister's hands now falling to her side as the life now completely drained from her eyes, staring rigidly and coldly at the ceiling as her heart stopped beating. Fawn was dead, for real this time.

Sage didn't even notice someone storming through the door. Only when someone slid next to her and two muscular arms wrapped around her shaking body that she realized she was no longer alone.

Sobbing and sniffling, she crawled into Happy's lap, soaking his shirt with her tears within seconds after burying her face on his shoulder. She didn't have to look up to know that it was Happy who was with herᅳ she knew her husband's scent, the way he moved. Hell, even by his footsteps she could tell it was him.

"It's okay, little girl", he croaked against her hair, tightening his grip around her, knowing that the guilt was slowly hitting. And it was killing him inside to see his wife like that. "You did the right thing, you hear me?"

"I killed my own sister", she choked out, wiping her tears and other fluids on his shirt as her fingers tightened around the white material of his shirt, practically clinging to it as she finally dared to look up at him. "My own sister, Happy.."

"I know, I know, babe", this time there was something soothing in his gravelly voice as he slowly let go of her, but cupped her face in his hands the next moment and stared into her eyes. "You protected Violet, and our babyᅳ that's what mother's do."

"But..but..she was", Sage's words fell over each other, coughing fits worked their way through the hysterical sobs and every now and then took Sage's breath away for a few seconds. "Look at this..", she added with a heart wrenching sob, nodding towards her sister.

"And? It would've been much worse for her if I had caught her before you", the SAA told her firmly, a deep growl rattling through his throat. "Bitch deserved to dieᅳ and she hurt you the most. You had every fuckin' right to kill her, little girl. Just remember what she did to your boy, how she threatened to hurt Violetᅳ she doesn't deserve your tears."

Looking straight up into Happy's eyes, the hysterical sobs slowly stopped until all that came from Sage was sniffling and whimpering. Happy was rightᅳ she shouldn't feel guilt, not after what Fawn had done to her over the years. From taking her son away from her to threatening to hurt Violet too. Fawn would be exactly where she deserved to be in a few hoursᅳ six feet under.

And yet, Sage found it hard not to feel guilty for what she just did. She had just taken a life, just like that, with a single shot. All it took was a moment of losing control to kill someoneᅳ and she was now officially a murderer.

Did she really want to be one? It didn't matter anymoreᅳ she was one. And there were now exactly two options. To process the whole thing and move on with her life, enjoy the newly won peace, or fall apart because of what she didᅳ and that was the last thing Sage wanted. Then Fawn would have achieved exactly what she always wanted.

"Can you help me? Make her disappear, I mean", the blonde asked meekly, sobbing again as Happy's brown eyes looked worriedly into hers.

"What the hell do you think I was going to do, little one?" Sighing, he rubbed his thumbs against her cheekbones. "Of course I'm going to help you. We're doing this together, you and me. Deal?"

"Deal", Sage whispered after a moment's hesitation, the slightest smile on her trembling lips before Happy pulled her against his chest again and just stayed with her like that for another moment. She needed him right now, and he would give her all the comfort that would help her feel better.