"Sam?" Noah said quietly, disturbed by the abrupt change in his friend's demeanor, the look of despair on his face. He reached out, gently touching Sam's shoulder. That look frightened him even more than Sam being angry with him and thinking he was an impostor had.
Just then Colleen came bustling in carrying a large tray with several cartons of juice and a plate of cookies. "You know, when people talk about the importance of eating, they aren't just talking to hear their own voices," she said with a pointed look at Sam as she put the tray down on the counter. "Could I ask how many meals you skipped to get your blood sugar to drop that low? Last time I heard of someone with one like that was when the charge nurse in the...." Colleen suddenly stopped talking for a moment, a few things clicking together in her mind. "I am going to kill them, going to kill every last one of them when I get my hands on them." She looked over at Noah with a grimace. "Think I may have just figured out how you got misplaced."
Noah started to ask her a question about whatever she had just thought of but stopped when he saw the expression on her face. He definitely wouldn't want to be the staff members that she was apparently ticked at at the moment.
"So, he's okay?" he quietly asked as he focused on Sam again, the expression on his face.... Like he didn't quite know how he should be reacting or something, like he was lost.
"Food should fix the blood sugar problem. Good thing they're taking blood donations so there was actually something edible on hand," Colleen said as she moved over to Sam's side, pulling the tray of food closer so that he could reach it, opening one of the cartons of juice for him.
Sam stared at the food, vaguely hearing the doctor and Noah talking but not really understanding the words. Catherine. How could she be.... He didn't know how to react, torn between celebration at Noah's miraculous return and.... He silently closed his eyes again, forcing away the tears stinging at them. He knew that if Catherine was there she wouldn't want him to be mourning her, would want him to be happy about Noah but.... He fought against another burst of tears, barely keeping the tears from falling this time. There was so much that he had never said to her, things that he wished.... They had wasted so much time and now.... He reached out, automatically taking the carton of juice, swallowing a bit of it, knowing that he would need to cooperate if he wanted to....
"Sam?" Noah said, glad to see that he was at least picking at the food but at the same time becoming more frightened by the despairing expression on his face.
"Are we finished here?" Sam said in a rough voice, putting the juice back down next to a half eaten cookie. "I want to...." He closed his eyes for a moment once more before continuing. "I want to go the morgue, to say.... goodbye."
"Morgue?" Noah stared at Sam in confusion for a moment, wondering if maybe there might be a bit more wrong with his boss than juice and cookies could fix. Suddenly, he remembered Catherine, and then the body they'd wheeled from the ER, just before he'd found Sam. "No, Sam, Cath's not...."
"They've still got her up in the operating room," Colleen said as she pushed the juice and cookies back towards Sam with a glare. "And if you don't finish these right now, don't even think of trying to go up there...."
"Operating...." Sam whispered, confused, not sure of anything anymore, not sure that he wasn't still on the floor imagining all of this was happening. He had been sure that he had seen Catherine's.... He shook his head, another wave of dizziness washing over him, a bit weaker than before though. He started to pull at the wires again, trying to get them unhooked. If Catherine was in surgery, he needed to be up there. "How bad?" The query was clipped.
Noah grinned slightly at the sound of Sam's voice, his expression once more the Sam Gerard that fugitives feared. This was going to be okay. They'd get Catherine fixed up and then everything would be back to normal.
"It will probably be at least another hour or so before they're finished with her. She's doing better than expected considering," Colleen told them in a gentler tone this time. "Go ahead and eat, okay? Believe me, you don't want to pass out again in the waiting room." She shot a glance at Noah. "You might want to thank this boy too. If it wasn't for him that lady wouldn't have lasted long enough to make it to a hospital."
"What happened?" Sam demanded as he looked at Noah, automatically picking up the juice and another cookie once more as he talked. Normally, he would have argued about the order to eat but now he didn't really care. He was going to do whatever would get him to Catherine's side quickest.
"We got trapped in the basement together after the tornado," Noah said quietly, not really wanting to think about it, especially those last few minutes before he finally managed to get the debris out of the way. "I didn't really do anything, just kept her talking and tried to keep her still. If I could have just...." He was silent for a moment, thinking, trying to recall if there was something that he missed while they were down there, something that might have kept things from getting as bad as they did.
"Son." Sam reached out, pulling Noah to him in a bear hug once more, his eyes slightly misty, this time with a bit of pride mixed in with the worry. If.... "You did have someone check you out, didn't you?" he demanded as he looked at Noah with sudden concern.
"I'm fine, Sam." Why in the world were his bosses so focused on his health? "I landed in a pile of permanent records. Just got some bruises. Probably could have avoided those if I hadn't tried to make those kids behave a couple of times. You feeling better now?"
Sam nodded slowly, his head still feeling slightly off but nothing he couldn't ignore. He motioned for the doctor to get him unhooked, slowly climbing off the gurney as soon as he was free and heading for the elevator upstairs with Noah hovering right by his side. 'I'm coming Catherine. Just hold on.'