The young man stared anxiously at the pile of debris blocking the stairs, the only exit he could find easily from the basement. At first glance, it seemed that the rubble would be impossible to move but with a shake of his head, he reached for the first piece and started to pull, sighing when it finally came free after a moment's effort and he could shove it out of the way. It would take some time but he was sure that he could get them out of there. Mess wasn't any worse than what had happened at the school science fair when the children had learned the principle of a chain reaction and he had learned the principle of a total unmitigated disaster. He shook his head again at the thought of the kids. He really hoped that they were all okay.
Suddenly he heard a moan and stopped pulling at the next piece of debris, hurrying back to Catherine's side once more. "Catherine?" he called gently as he knelt down beside her.
"Sam?" her hand twitched weakly as if searching for something and Noah reached out and gently held her hand with both of his.
"Sam's on his way, Cath. He's going to be here real soon," Noah said in what he hoped would be a reassuring tone. "I'm going to take care of things until he gets here and finds us. Come on, now. Open your eyes for me."
"Noah?" Catherine whispered as she slowly opened her eyes, looking up at the young man as if she was seeing him for the first time. "What are you doing here, Noah?"
"Getting us dug out of here and I need you to try to help me, okay?" he said gently trying to keep the worry out of his voice. Sam better be on his way was all he could think of. He felt confident that Sam was in fact coming to look for them but at the same time he felt a discomfort he didn't understand. "I want you to talk to me while I'm getting that stuff out of the way so we can get out of here. Think you can do that?"
"Noah?" Catherine whispered again, not even acting like she had heard the young man's request.
"Cath, it's okay." He patted her hand again before pulling himself to his feet. "I'm going to get us out of here. Just talk to me, okay? Don't go to sleep. Cath, I've got to hear someone down here or I'm not going to be able to make it through digging us out, okay?"
More memories washed over him as he moved to the giant pile of debris and started to pull again, faces dancing before his eyes in an illusive motion. "Why don't you tell me about.... Um..... The guy with that funny looking hair and the clothes thing? What's his name?"
"Cosmo?" Catherine murmured her mind having to struggle into focus to recall the name herself.
The young man let out a pleased laugh at the sound of the name, more images coming back with it. "Yeah, Cosmo, how's he doing? He had to find a bigger place for his wardrobe yet?"