The group sat silently at Catherine's side, eyes all focused on the still figure as if they could hold her there somehow by the force of their gaze. Noah slowly reached out, gently touching her hand. Skin was warm, much warmer than it should be in the cool confines of the hospital. Feverish. Damn. Catherine was really sick. Why did they keep it so cold in there anyway? Didn't do much good for the patients if they got hypothermia. He stood, not able to sit any longer, going over to the bathroom and getting a fresh washcloth for Catherine's forehead. He handed it to Sam, who took it silently and replaced the tepid one already on Catherine's head. He handed the warm one back to Noah, who nodded and placed it on the towel rack over the sink in the bathroom, to dry. Then he came back out and stood beside Sam. Sam glanced up at him, a vulnerable look in his eyes that Noah had never seen before. Without thinking, Noah reached out and put his hand on Sam's shoulder, squeezing gently, hoping to offer some sort of comfort. Sam closed his eyes, letting his head drop, as he sighed softly. Noah felt the broad shoulders slump under his grip, and realized with a shock that Sam was letting Catherine go. "No," Noah whispered, and Gerard looked up, into Noah's face. "Not yet, Sam," he added before moving towards the door. Don't give up yet." He had to do something, he wasn't sure what he was going to do yet, but he had to do something to try to make this situation right. This was his family. He wasn't letting this happen to his family.
"I'm going to go and check with the nurse, see how in the world Father Murphy got mixed up this time," Noah said with a determined shake of his head. Father Murphy had to have been mixed up. He wasn't going to accept any other explanation for why he had been there. Catherine wasn't going to.... He closed his eyes, slumping back against the corridor wall for a moment outside the room, suddenly overcome with weariness, memories of Catherine right before help arrived running through his mind.
"Hey!" He looked up, opening his eyes as he heard a familiar soft patter coming down the hall.
"I thought you went home, Cindy, and are you supposed to be up here?" Noah asked the young girl as she hurried up to him. Was she supposed to be here? Why was he even asking? This kid was never where she was supposed to be.
"Tim and I were going home. Sister called. She got a call from Fred Johnson's family wondering why Father didn't show up to give him last rites. Sister told us to find him and get him back to the rectory. Have you seen him?" The girl shook her head. "Sister says that Fred Johnson isn't getting last rites again until she sees a second, third and forth opinion that he's actually dying. The anointing oil's getting kind of expensive."
"Fred Johnson, is he the one that...."
"Faked dying twenty-three times in the last two and a half years? That's him. Daddy's sueing him over a couple of those faked dying things. I really don't think calling for catered last meals and then claiming your recovery is an act of God that the caterer should give you free food for is believable. Have you seen Father? Sister was very upset. He picked up her glasses by mistake and now she can't find her way out of the rectory to hunt for him herself."
"Father Murphy was here for Fred Johnson, not for anyone else? Because he just gave my boss...." Noah was practically grinning now.
"If he had been here for anyone else, then the nurses would have talked to Sister first. She's the one who organizes everything. Johnsons know better than to pull this with her. What happened to your boss? Did you know that the superintendent's seeing if he can demand your salary back seeing as you're really a US Marshal and not a janitor?"
"Hey, wasn't like I knew at the time. Good luck on that. If he can pry it out of those beaurocrats somehow....." Noah shook his head slowly before starting to talk about Catherine. "My boss was in the courthouse when it got hit. She got hurt pretty bad. The doctors really aren't sure how she's going to do right now and Father Murphy showing up like that.... Kind of scared everybody to death."
"And that is why Sister supervises Father," Cindy said with a shake of her head before reaching out and unexpectedly hugging Noah. "Hey, your friend's going to be okay. And if there's anything we can do...."
"Just go catch Father Murphy before he comes back, okay? My other boss isn't going to be happy when he finds out about the mixup and I don't think hitting a priest would look good on his record," Noah said with a chuckle as the girl nodded, turned and hurried off down the hallway again. He watched for a moment before turning and heading back into the room again. Okay, everything was going to be okay. They weren't going to lose her.