"Noah?" Catherine called, her voice betraying a razor sharp edge of pain despite how she tried to hide it. She closed her eyes for a moment as the young man came hurrying anxiously to her side. She wished he didn't have to see her like this. She was actually glad by that Sam wasn't there now, would be spared having to see.
"Cath, honey, it's okay. I'm almost through. I'm almost though," Noah whispered as he reached out and stroked her cheek, causing her eyes to blink open again. He winced internally at the sight of her eyes, slightly glazed now. They didn't have much time. "Honey, just keep talking to me for a few more minutes and I swear I'll have us out of here and you tucked in a nice cozy hospital bed in no time. Just a few more minutes, okay?"
"Noah, sweetie, it's okay. Really, it's okay," Catherine whispered as she tried to force herself to smile at him, hoping to comfort him. Poor boy was trying so hard, just like Sam, not willing to give up. Except in this case, it was a lost cause. "Noah, I've had a good life, sweetie. No regrets. You tell Sam that for me, 'kay?"
"Cath, you're going to be able to tell Sam stuff yourself," Noah told her as he gently felt her pulse again. Weak, way too weak and fast like a bird fluttering and it looked like she was starting to have trouble breathing. "Or are you thinking that he's going to forget to show up to collect us from the hospital like last time? I think I MIGHT have enough money to get us home if we end up mislaid. I am going to have a few words with Sam if he doesn't show up again though. You just keep talking to me for a couple more minutes, okay?"
"Tell him I love him, Noah. That I've always loved him," Catherine whispered, stopping the young man from moving from her side. "You take care of him, okay? Don't let him mourn too hard, shut everyone else out again. Tell him to be happy. That's the thing I've always wanted most. For Sam to be happy. He's always so driven...it's what broke us apart, you know...both too driven...I was so stubborn. I was such a fool. Should have fought harder, tried harder.... for us."
"Catherine, of course I'll take care of Sam until you're feeling better but I promise you we'll be out of here in just a few more minutes so you can tell him the rest yourself. You can hold on just a few more minutes, I know you can." Noah couldn't quite keep a hint of desperation out of his voice as he gently stroked her cheek again before hurrying back to the pile of rubble, jerking so hard on the next piece that he thought he would pull his arm out of the socket. He wasn't going to lose her, not now, not when they were so close to safety. "Cath, come on, just keep talking to me!"
"I don't have any regrets, Noah. I want you, want Sam to know that." Catherine shivered slightly, the pain growing worse with each tiny twitch of her body. She closed her eyes again for a moment before forcing them back open. Surely the pain couldn't get any worse than this, pain worse than the one other torturious moment of her life when death had also hovered near.
"Cath, I've almost got it, okay?" Noah called to her, thrilled to see that it looked like what he was saying was accurate this time. He could see tiny pricks of light now. They better have EMS on standby was all he could think.
"You're so much like Sam." Catherine continued to talk now, not really noticing what Noah was saying to her, memories of long ago drifting back into her mind. "Remind me of.... One thing I wished all of these years... baby, Sam's baby. You take care of Sam for me, sweetie. He loves you like he would have loved.... He's so proud of you I tried hard, that time. But I was so sick...and the baby...and Sam cried, the way he did when you...."
"Cath?" Noah really didn't like the way she was starting to sound, like she was in another time and place, revealing things that she probably would regret if he could figure out what she meant.
"I'm cold, Noah." She felt her eyelids starting to slip shut again, an image of Sam dancing before them as they did. "Sam? I'm so sorry, Sam. I should have done something.... Saved him. Sam? When... did you get here? Oh, Sam."
Noah hesitated for a moment, torn between running back to her side or trying to get the last of the debris out of the way and get the help she urgently needed down there. As he struggled, he jerked at a smaller piece of wood and suddenly he found himself being showered by dirt and grime, tumbling back a bit as part of the debris shifted and suddenly, miraculously, he had a opening to the outside.
"HEY!!!" He yelled as he pushed himself up, shouting as loudly as he could, hoping that there really were people out there looking for them. "GET EMS DOWN TO THE BASEMENT NOW!! LADY NEEDS HELP!!!"
"Cath?" he called as he moved back to her side, relieved to hear running footsteps. As her eyes blinked open again, he laid down beside her and cuddled against her as best he could. "Help's coming right now, sweetie. Just you hold on for me."