"Noah?" Catherine stared at the blood on the young man's arm in facination, her hand slowly reaching out and gently touching it.
"It's okay, Cath. It's just a cut," Noah said as he stared at her with a slightly puzzled look, not really sure why she was focusing so on the minor injury. He hadn't even noticed it until she had said something. "I've had worse before. Roller skates on the stairs, explosions in the science room, whatever they're trying to claim is food in the cafeteria, this is really nothing."
Catherine slowly rubbed her fingers together, blood, fresh blood making them slightly sticky. How was this.... She reached out, her movements shaky but determined, taking hold of his hand in hers, pressing her fingers against his wrist. "Noah?" she whispered again as she felt a throbbing, a strong, quick throbbing beneath her fingers. Noah's pulse. How was this possible? "You were shot. Royce shot you twice in the chest." She fumbled again, trying to pull herself up into a sitting position, her hands reaching for his shirt. "You were... Noah, you were dead!"
"Cath, lie still, okay? You need to stay still right now," Noah said gently reaching out and putting a hand on her shoulder, keeping her from moving. He hesitated for a moment before reaching for the buttons of his shirt with the other hand. He really didn't like for people to see this. One of the few perks of his job was that he didn't make enough to afford beach trips. If Catherine needed to see for some reason though.....
"Noah...." she whispered as he slowly, hesitantly opened his shirt, reaching out to gently finger the scars, angry white slashes and pock marks marring Noah's smooth flesh. A vertical line straight down the length of his chest, a more jagged cut on the left, short incisions along the bottom of his ribcage where tubes must have gone, other pockmarks that she assumed the bullets.... She closed her eyes for a moment, imagining what the injuries must have looked like when they were fresh. She had heard enough about what had happened to Noah to form a mental picture of the injuries but to be seeing it like this.... No wonder Sam had reacted the way he did, having to see something like that first hand.
"Cath, it's okay. I'm fine." Noah whispered softly as he gently stroked her face with one hand as he fumbled around fastening his shirt with the other. "And I'm going to get you out of here and patched up, okay? You're going to be just fine too."
"How? This is.... How?" Catherine whispered as she tried to pull herself once more, wanting to do nothing more than embrace the young man and cry for joy. Sam would be so happy. They had been given a miracle, the best miracle they could recieve. She smiled slightly at the thought of Sam and how he would react when he laid eyes on the young man they thought was lost forever.
"Shhhsssshhh. Be still, okay?" Noah said as he leaned down, tenderly hugging her as best he could without moving her. "I wish I could tell you how this happened but I don't know.. Wish I could have remembered any of this. I just... don't."
"Sam.... Oh, Noah when he sees you....." Catherine whispered as she stared up at him, her hand reaching out and caressing his face. "He has missed you so bad! And... and I have, too..."
"I missed him too, missed all of you. But somehow I don't think Sam missing me is going to stop him from complaining if I don't get busy seeing about getting us dug out of here, though," Noah said with a soft chuckle. Despite the odd feelings he had whenever Catherine said how much he had been missed, he had to admit that he had missed his friends terribly, even if he hadn't remembered them; he had sensed the hole, the emptiness, just the same. He had relucantly resigned himself to living with it somehow but now... "You just lie still and we'll talk, okay? I'll have us out of here as fast as I can."
"Noah...." Suddenly a frightening thought hit her. What if something happened to him? She couldn't let him risk himself for her. "Noah, stop. Please, stop."