Noah quietly entered the chapel, feeling like shouting with the good news that he had but at the same time not wanting to disturb Sam if he was praying. He knew that Catherine wasn't out of the woods yet by any means but she was alive and if she was alive, then he was sure that they would be able to help her.
Just then he spotted the crumpled figure lying next to the altar, his eyes growing large as he rushed the rest of the way down the aisle and knelt next to Sam. He knelt down and started to shake his shoulder, relieved at least to see that his first fear had been wrong and Sam wasn't dead. The expression on his face though, was disturbing to Noah, like his world had been totally shattered.... "Sam? Sam!" How in the world could Catherine have ever thought that Sam would have been able to handle her death just because Noah had returned? She had obviously been a whole lot sicker than he had suspected to believe that. Noah anxiously watched his friend's face, looking for any sign that he had heard him.
"Give her back. Please, just give her back. Gave Noah back, why not Catherine too?" Sam murmured in his sleep, his voice painful for Noah to hear, the heartbreak in those words....
"Sam, it's okay! I promise you it's okay. Come on, wake up!" Noah spoke louder now, Sam's condition definitely worrying him. Were those tears on his face? He had never seen Sam cry, couldn't even imagine what it would take to make the stoic marshal's control slip that much. Damn, but he must love Catherine. Noah shook him a bit harder. "SAM!"
Suddenly the older man's eyes twitched, slowly, reluctantly opening and staring up at Noah with a lost look. "Noah," he murmured looking around in confusion for a moment as if he didn't remember where he was before focusing once more on the young marshal. Sam closed his eyes for a moment before speaking. It had been a dream, the funeral, Catherine in the coffin, just a dream, but.... "They told you something about Catherine?" Sam asked quickly, while thinking, 'Please, just please don't let that dream have been a sign, don't let her be.... I'm ready, I'm ready. Just take me and let her live.'
"They're just finishing up the surgery now and she's stable," Noah said, making a split second decision that he wasn't going to let Sam know about how close they had come to losing Catherine, at least not at the moment. He knew Sam wouldn't be happy with him for holding back about that but at the moment, Noah knew that Sam wouldn't be able to handle it. Maybe later when things were better. "They're going to be moving her up to ICU in just a little while. Nurse suggested that we go and get something to eat. They're going to be running tests so it's going to be awhile before we can see her." Noah pulled himself to his feet, reaching down and giving Sam a hand up.
"Did they say how bad...." Sam closed his eyes for a moment, trying to steady himself, his head swimming slightly as he got to his feet, some of the sick feeling washing away though at Noah's words that Cath had made it through surgery, the first hurdle anyway.
"The doctor will probably talk to us when they get her upstairs," Noah said as they headed out of the chapel. "I don't know if they actually have anything edible down in the cafeteria but maybe we can visit the gift shop and find some snacks. Some sort of gifts for Cath too, maybe? You have any idea what she might like for a present? Knew there was something I ought to have asked her about while we were stuck in that basement."
*******************
7:25 pm
Noah and Sam stepped off of the elevator, both with bags from the hospital gift shop containing a selection of snack foods along with a few small gifts for Catherine. The clerk had firmly kept them from making any larger purchases with the reminder that Cath wouldn't be allowed anything big until she was in a regular room.
Noah hurried over to the desk, kind of surprised that Sam wasn't already there demanding information but apparently this entire situation was taking way more out of the lead deputy than he had imagined; Sam was hanging back, obviously waiting for Noah to take the lead. "Do you know if they've brought Catherine Walsh up from surgery yet?" he asked the nurse quietly.
"Are you family?" the nurse asked him, shooting a look over at Sam as well as she spoke. "I'm afraid that only immediate family is allowed in to see her at the moment."
"She's my mother and that's my dad," Noah told the nurse. The others could just think up a way to get in when they got there. Well, maybe he would think of something for 'Vannah. Cosmo and Bobby though.... He had a bad feeling that his twenty had gone to finance either Cosmo's new tie or Bobby's lunch. "How is she?"
"The doctor will be in to speak with you as soon as he can. You can go on back if you want," the nurse said, her voice more gentle now. She paused a moment before she spoke again, knowing how the condition of the patients, the machines and equipment could bother some people. "Your mother's fairly ill right now. She's on a ventilator and sedated. You might want to be prepared to see...."
"Won't freak about it, promise." Noah said with a slight grin. Where is she?"
"Second room on the right," the nurse told him as she motioned in the proper direction. "I'll let the doctor know that you're here."
As the two men moved rapidly down the hall, something suddenly occured to Noah. Not much connected to hospitals freaked him after his stay but he wasn't so sure about Sam. "Ummm, Sam, the nurse said that Cath's pretty sick. They've got her on...." They reached the room and Sam was already through the door, moving quickly in his haste to get to Catherine's side.
"Sam?" Noah hurried after him, the other man suddenly swaying slightly, having to lean hard on Noah as he saw Catherine for the first time. "Sam, it's okay, I promise it's okay. They're helping her." He quickly grabbed a chair, getting Sam sitting down before he could fall down. Noah was definitely gl ad seeing Sam's reaction to Cath like this that he hadn't been there in the aftermath of the shooting, the coma. Noah would have never wanted him to have to go through seeing that.
"Catherine?" Sam whispered, shocked, his hand reaching out, hovering over hers, not sure if he could even touch her. He had seen patients in ICU before, but somehow was simply not ready for the sight of Catherine in this condition. Her skin was deathly pale, her eyes closed. She looked just the way she had in his dream, lying in that coffin, except for the medical equipment she was attached to. There was a tube in her throat, connected to a machine at her side, rhythmically forcing oxygen into her lungs, tape on her cheeks holding it into place. IVs were in both arms dripping blood and other fluids into her body, bruising already apparent from where she had been stuck for various things. Monitors, wires, a tube in her nose, he didn't know there was that much equipment that one person could be attached to. He glanced up at Noah, uncertain, looking for reassurance.
"Sam, she's going to be alright," Noah whispered, reaching out and putting a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Go ahead; you can touch her. It won't hurt." He watched as Sam slowly covered Catherine's hand with his own. Noah squeezed Sam's shoulder, then, gently. "We've just got to be here for her now and do whatever she needs to get better."