Catherine slowly walked into the light, her arms outstretched, ready to finally embrace her little boy, to hold him in her arms after such a long wait. The only thing missing that would have made this perfect was if Sam was there with her to see their son. It wasn't his time though and until it was, she could let the baby know all about his wonderful daddy.
Suddenly, she felt something in front of her, blocking her from going on. "No!" she moaned pounding on the invisible barrier. "No! I want my baby! I want my baby!" She was so close, so close. How could she be this close and not.... "Sam please." This had to be connected to him somehow, to the ties that joined them together so tightly. "Honey, I love you but please let me go, let me be with our baby. Just let me go, Sam!"
From somewhere in the distance she could hear Sam praying, begging for her to stay. She turned her head once more towards the noise, tears now running down her face at the lost sound of his voice, something that she had never heard from Sam Gerard before. "Sam, please.... You'll be alright," she whispered softly. "I promise that you will. And the baby and I will be waiting for you when it's your time." Colder, why was it getting colder now?
"If anyone has to die tonight, let it be me," she heard Sam murmur. "I'm ready. Just don't let Catherine.... Please. Please."
"Sam...." Never, not even after they had thought Noah had died had she heard Sam sound like this, like he had totally given up, like death might be.... She turned towards the light once more. "I'm so sorry sweetie. Mommy loves you and she wants to be with you more than anything but your daddy needs me." She turned away from the light, shutting her eyes to block out the sight as she moved slowly in the direction of her body and the doctors still working over her.
*******
7:00 pm
Noah glanced anxiously up at the clock, not sure what to do. He knew that he needed to go and get Sam, let him know about what was going on, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. How would he ever tell him if Catherine didn't pull through? Despite what Catherine had thought about how Noah's return would help Sam handle losing her, the boy knew that if worst came to worst, Sam would completely fall apart. 'Cath, please. I know it's bad right now but you have to hang on for us. Just a little bit longer.' Where was someone? Surely they had more news by now! Or maybe it was good that someone hadn't came out to talk to him? Did that mean they were still trying to help her?
Just then he heard a noise and looked up to see the nurse who had talked to him before hurrying down the hall towards him. He quickly pulled himself to his feet and hurried to meet her, bracing himself, knowing that Sam would need his support if the news was bad. 'She's going to be fine. She wasn't hurt as bad as me. She's going to be fine. She has to be fine!'
"I have some good news for you," the nurse said with a slight smile as she met Noah, motioning for him to follow her back into the waiting room so they could talk more comfortably. "The doctors were able to stablize your mother. They're closing up right now."
'Yes, yes, yes!' Noah was inwardly cheering at this news, a slight smile appearing on his face. "When can we see her?"
"They're going to take her to ICU. They're going to be running some tests so you may not be able to see her for a little bit." She smiled slightly herself at the expression on Noah's face. "Why don't you go down to the cafeteria and get something to eat? I won't lie to you. Your mother's condition is very serious right now. You're going to need to keep up your strength if you want to help her through this."
"Believe me, we're going to give her whatever help she needs," Noah said, determination in his voice as he reached out surprising the nurse with a hug before heading down the hallway to the chapel to let Sam know the good news.