"Sam?" Noah glanced over at the older marshal as soon as the doctor eft, his face filled with concern when he saw the expression on Sam's face, the way he was stroking Catherine's hand as if each touch could be the last. Noah reached out and gently put a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Sam, don't give up on her, okay? I know the odds with me had to be way lower than thirty percent and I made it. Catherine's going to come through this too." Noah knew that Catherine's condition was serious, that they really could lose her but what good was it going to do to focus on that? Better to think about what could be done to try to make her better.
"Looks like she did when Patrick died," Sam whispered in a voice so low that Noah could barely hear him. "Thought I was going to lose her that time too but now..." Wasn't fair, wasn't fair at all. They got Noah back. How could Catherine be taken? He knew he didn't deserve it but he started to silently pray. Just give them a second chance, a chance to make things right.
"Sam...." Noah paused for a moment, not sure of what to say. "Are Bobby, Cos and 'Vannah coming?" Sam and Cath were definately going to need all the support that they could get to make it through this.
"As soon as they can," Sam said, glad that Noah had mentioned them, had offered him something to think about besides Catherine and how close she was to leaving him. "Need to get hold of someone at the office, get the papers faxed to start getting things straightened out, get you declared alive." He shook his head as he thought of what would be involved in correcting that mistake. Catherine would have known exactly what to do, how to cut through the red tape.
"Being declared alive would definately be good," Noah said with a soft chuckle. He couldn't wait to see the expressions on the faces of of the people in personel when they got the report on his return. "We dan't have to be in any rush to do it though. I still get paid by the school for the summer so it isn't like I'm in danger of starvation." He glanced down at Catherine for a moment before looking up at Sam. "You know, I did some reading after I woke up trying to find out why in the world I couldn't remember anything. Lot of the books said it helps if you talk to the person even if it seems like they can't hear you."
"Noah...." Sam looked over at the young man, his eyes filled with pain as he was once more reminded of what had happened, that he had left one of his kids behind. Would it have made a difference if they had been there with him, helped him recover faster? He knew that they could have prevented the amnesia.
"Sam, it wasn't your fault. I swear I'm not mad so don't go beating yourself up, okay?" Noah said softly. "Let's just think about what we can do to help Cath get better now. Maybe we could call Dr. Kimble, see if he has any suggestions about specialists?"
"Specialists," Sam murmured, his voice a bit stronger now that Noah has suggested something that could be done to help. "Specialists are a good idea." And what had the boy said about talking to Catherine? He blinked, forcing his eyes to focus, to push past the wall of pain. "Think they can get a phone in here? Need to get someone to hunt down Kimble and there are some things, things Catherine would want to have...."
"I'll...." Just then Noah heard a familiar noise, a familiar all too frightening noise. He jumped up from the chair without a word, hurrying to the window to see the whirling shape of a funnel cloud quickly cutting a path, heading what appeared to be straight for the hospital.
"Noah!" Sam grabbed him, dragging him away for the window and back to Catherine's side. Sam knew all too well what the noise meant, even without hearing it twice already that day. He pulled Noah down almost onto the bed, Catherine's frail form shielded beneath the bodies of the two men as the noise grew louder, Sam pushing Noah beneath him as well. He had failed to protect Noah once, had failed Catherine. He wasn't going to fail them now.
"Sam! Get your head down!" Noah yelled, barely able to make himself heard as he reached up, jerking Sam down towards the bed as something crashed and the room suddenly went black.