"Hey, Frank," Cosmo said when the other marshal finally answered the phone back at the office.
"Cos, did you find them?" Frank Henry quietly asked, several other nearby marshals looking up at the sound of Cosmo's name. Normally by this time, there wouldn't be many people in the office unless a big case was going down, but with the situation with Catherine.... "How is...." He braced himself, watched the others bracing themselves as well. Catherine was their boss and she was a good one. To lose her so senselessly would half-kill them. And then there was how her death would affect Sam.
"Made it through surgery. They've got her in ICU on support right now," Cosmo said quietly as he watched Noah rolling his sleeve back down as the lab tech finished taking the blood samples. Kid hadn't hesitated at all about the fingerprinting, the blood tests. Had even offered to have copies of his medical records sent down if it would help. Could it be that he was telling the truth? Cosmo shook his head slowly, not able to believe it no matter how much he wanted to. "Frank, we're going to fax some prints in a couple of minutes. Need someone to run them through the computer ASAP, compare them to Noah's."
"Noah?" Frank said in confusion, not sure why in the world Cosmo would be asking for fingerprints on Noah after three years. "Cosmo, what's going on out there?" They had gone out to see about Catherine and Sam. How did a boy that had been gone for three years end up being mentioned?
"Just check them and call me right back, Frank," Cosmo said slowly before giving him the number of the lab phone. "It's important." Cosmo wasn't going to tell anyone else what was going on, not until.... Maybe that was what this kid was wanting, to throw the entire office into confusion claiming to be Noah. Cosmo shook his head as he hung up the phone. Kid had to be an imposter, couldn't be Noah but.... He wanted him to be, wanted him to be that boy so much that it hurt.
"They'll have the results soon," he said in a gruff tone as he turned to face Noah. He looked so much like.... He had to force a harsh expression onto his face. "Last chance to tell the truth about this or are you going to try to claim some hand injuries to explain...."
"Cosmo, I'm not stupid enough to touch the school mystery meat bare handed. My hands are fine," Noah said with a shake of his head and a grin, not really upset about having to go through all of this anymore when he caught a glimpse of the expression on Cosmo's face. Cos wanted to believe that he was for real, definately wanted to believe it. Noah just hoped that the hospital had turned over the right bullets at the time of his shooting. But surely they had. 'I mean, if the bullets hadn't matched, surely someone would have called the hospital to check that, might have thought to check and make sure the body they got matched.'
"One of us should probably go back upstairs and stay with Sam and Catherine," 'Vannah said quietly. She had hated to leave them alone with how sick Catherine was but if they were going to get this mess straightened out.... She silently closed her eyes for a moment, murmuring a soft prayer under her breath. She didn't care how, but please let this boy be Noah.
"Sam.... might want some time alone with her," Noah said, not really happy about leaving Sam and Catherine alone either, but at the same time remembering some of the things that Sam had told him earlier and knowing that some private time might help the older marshal. "Ummmm, if you three want to, you can stay at my place." He shook his head slightly as he thought of where he was currently living, above the vice principal's garage. "Well, one of you might have to sleep in the bathtub but.... Hey, Cos, did you make it here with your luggage this time?" He could probably put up his three friends but he wasn't sure he could put up Cosmo's wardrobe.
All three marshals froze, then spun toward the young man. "Wha-what did you say?" they all stammered in unison.
"Did your luggage get here this time?" Noah repeated. "I remember what a hassle it was last time. You spent hours on the phone, trying to recover it..."
"Oh, no --" 'Vannah whispered. Her hand moved to her lips, covering them as she suddenly flashed back to that day three years ago, arriving in New York to Cosmo's complaints about his luggage.
"...Can't be..." Bobby gasped, staring.
"Oh, my God," Cosmo murmured, eyes wide. "N-Noah?" How could the kid know about that, how could he know unless....
Just then the phone rang, causing them to start slightly at the noise before Cosmo reached out and hastily grabbed it up.
"Cosmo, what the hell's going on here?" Frank demanded, not able to believe the results that the computer had just shown. "Why do these prints match Noah's?"