The three marshals hugged Noah for what felt like forever, not wanting to let him out of their grasp, afraid if they did they might wake up and find out that this was just some sort of wonderful dream.
"Guys, I kind of need to breathe here," Noah said with a chuckle finally, causing them to release their grip on him just a tiny bit. He could feel tears stinging his eyes, tears of happiness this time. He had his family back. Now they just had to get Catherine better and everything would be like it had been before.
"Noah," 'Vannah whispered in a tone of awe as she stared at the boy, her hand drifting up and ruffling his hair meaningfully. "See you let this get long again. Sam said anything about it yet?"
"Give him time," Noah said with a soft chuckle, reaching out now and hugging his friends. "He's been kinda preoccupied. I missed you guys, really missed you guys."
"You have no idea how we missed you, baby," 'Vannah answered softly, and the men nodded. Noah ducked his head shyly.
"You were in that courthouse," Cosmo said slowly, still not really sure what to say to Noah, how to make up for how he had treated him. How could he have done that? He.... He was never going to be able to face Sam after this, after doing that.
"You did get a doctor to check you, right?" Bobby demanded before Cosmo and 'Vannah could ask that very question.
"Everyone seems to be asking that today," Noah said, chuckling again. "I'm fine. One little cut and some bruises. Landed in a pile of permanent records. Never should have tried to make those kids behave all those times. Could have skipped the bruises altogether if the pile had been a bit bigger. Maybe then Catherine wouldn't have...." He stopped, a pained expression in his eyes as he remembered the basement and what had happened there with Catherine. She had to be okay. The others saw the expression change, and glanced at each other, worried.
"Sweetie, what happened?" 'Vannah said gently, leading the group over to a cluster of chairs.
"We got stuck in the basement after the tornado hit," Noah said softly, suddenly struggling to keep tears of worry back. The last few minutes had been so emotional that now it was hard to restrain his emotions. Okay, Catherine was going to be okay. He wouldn't let himself believe anything else. "There was debris blocking the stairs and Catherine.... She's a tough lady." Noah closed his eyes for a moment, getting control before continuing. "Was worried about Sam, didn't want to hurt him. She believed she was dying. She thought I was there to take her away for awhile. Guess she figured, if I was dead, I had to be an angel or something. Funny, huh? Me, an angel? I tried to make her as comfortable as I could, tried to get us out as fast as I could.... That mess was definitely worse than the chain reaction at the last science fair. She was so brave. Held out for over two hours and she had to be hurting way beyond bad."
"She's going to be okay," 'Vannah whispered softly, wrapping her arms around Noah, hugging him against her, and feeling him lean into her, drawing strength from her. He had to be dead tired. And in shock, too. He didn't look that great, come to think of it. If Sam had been traumatized by what had happened to Noah, the boy must be beyond traumatized about seeing Catherine.... "We got one miracle getting you back. We're not going to lose Catherine after that." 'Vannah smiled slightly, but her voice was firm. "Hey, she puts up with Sam every day and he's way worse than a tornado. Lady's going to come through this fine."
"Sam wanted to see if there were specialists or something we could get in to take a look." Noah shook his head slightly, laughing a bit at 'Vannah's remark, trying to force himself to think positively. He didn't believe consciously that Catherine was going to die but whenever he thought of her in the condition that she was in while trapped in that basement.... "Maybe Kimble would have some suggestions?"
"I'll see about getting hold of him," Cosmo said quietly. Here was something that he could do to make up for the harm that he had caused before. Fix this, he had to do whatever it took to fix this. "Sam wanted us to keep in touch with him, after all that mess back there, anyway. About time to check in, say hi."
"And while he's doing that, we'll go and get some food," Bobby said in a tone that signalled that disagreement wasn't permitted. "I swear, you were always skinny, kid but.... come on. They do have non-poisonous food here right?"
"There ya go," 'Vannah encouraged. "Everything's gonna be just fine, Noah. The U.S. Marshals are here." They all smiled.