"You have the wrong person. Definately have the wrong person. It's not Sam, definately not Sam," Cooper murmured fighting back tears that were threatening to fall. Sam had had way worse happen to him than this, no way could something so minor kill him. The man was as tough as nails. It had to be another Sam Gerard or another marshal that the doctor had somehow got mixed up with Sam. That must have been what happened, some other marshal had died and the doctor somehow thought that it was Sam.
"I talked to the police on the scene myself," Catherine said, barely controlled anger in her voice as she glared at the doctor. What did he think he was trying to do? "They assured me that Sam's injuries were minor at best! He was awake and giving them orders at one point! Get back there and check your records again! you've got the wrong person and don't think I won't be filing a complaint with your superior over this!" After what they had gone through with loosing Noah, the last thing they needed was some idiot mistakenly trying to make them think Sam was gone as well.
"Think what you want but the man's in the morgue," the doctor said in a very unconcerned tone for someone who was facing four very angry US Marshals. "Go down to the morgue and take a look for yourselves if you don't believe me."
The man turned and walked away from them, coming back a moment later with a bag that he thrust into Catherine's hands. "Oh, here are his things. Might as well take them wih you. We don't need them taking up space up here."
"Let's just go find Sam," Cosmo muttered to Catherine, stopping her from heading after the doctor. He wanted to go himself but finding Sammy was way more important. He turned towards Cooper and Biggs, both who were shaking their heads in disbelief. "Go see how the search is going. Cath and I are going to go and find Sam and you know how he'll take it if they don't have that fugitive in custody by now." Biggs and Cooper nodded silently, and headed out.
"The morgue. We'll check the morgue first. If we can find out who that idiot mixed Sam up with, maybe they can find out where Sam actually is," Catherine said as the two exited the ER and headed for the elevators.
A few minutes later they stepped off of the elevator into the cool environs of the morgue. An attendant immediately hurried up as soon as they entered. "May I help you?" he asked.
"I hope so," Cosmo told him. "This nut upstairs told us that Sam Gerard was down here but....."
"Yes, he's right in there," the man gestured towards a small room off to the side. "Are you family?"
"Sort of," Cosmo said, shocked that there was actually someone there by Sam's name but still sure that it wasn't their Sam. "Can we go and take a look? There's got to be some sort of mistake here. The Sam we're looking for wasn't nowhere near hurt enough to end up dead."
The attendant lead them to the door and silently opened it sennsing that now was not the time to talk to these people. Cosmo entered first and slowly approached the figure laying on the gurney, a white sheet pulled up hiding the face. He slowly reached out and pulled the sheet down, his body blocking Catherine's view. As soon as he saw the face, his shoulders slumped and he let out a soft moan. "Aww, no, Sam."
"No," Catherine whispered as she moved around him so that she could see and suddenly found herself staring down into the still, ashen face of Sam Gerard. "Sam?" Her hand moved out, touching his hand, shocked at how cold he was, how stiff.
"When I get my hands on....." Cosmo's hands shook as he reached out laying a hand on Sam's icy shoulder. "We'll get him, Sam. We'll get him." Cosmo's voice was a snarl.
He arranged the sheet over Sam's chest before turning to Catherine. "I'll let you have some privacy, okay?"
Catherine waited silently until Cosmo was gone and the door was closed before removing the sheet completely from the marshal's cold body. She could feel tears welling up in her eyes as she stared mutely down at him, flashbacks running through her mind of the last time she had seen that body, his hands running over her skin as hers ran over his, touching and exploring as they joined together again and again, passion building....
"Sam...." she softly whispered as shehe was but at the same time not wanting to leave, not wanting to have this contact with him end. "Sam, I promise you we'll bring the guy that did this to you in." He was so, so cold. She wanted to reach down and gather him into her arms, to warm him with her body. She leaned down and pressed a kiss against his cold lips, the last thing she could do before leaving him to the attention of these people. As soon as she touched his lips, she knew something, something she couldn't quite detect, wasn't right about the situation. "Sam?" she whispered, staring at him for a moment before leaning down and gently kissing him again, trying to figure out what had felt so odd, kissing him a third time before finally realizing what was bothering her. His lips were warm. They weren't as warm as those of a living person, of course, but there was a slight but detectable difference from the temperature of the rest of his body.
Her hands moved frantically now, exploring the rest of his body, all cold, so cold and stiff, all but his lips that had that subtile warmth, a slight pliability. She drew back for a moment, her rational mind not believing what she was suspecting, even as her body moved on autopilot, reaching down and pulling the sheet up again, tucking it firmly around Sam so that only his face was exposed. She shook her head to try to make herself think, knowing rationally how unlikely what she was thinking, that Sam was still alive somehow was but at the same time if there was even a small chance..... If there was even a small chance, he needed a doctor and needed one fast. She started for the door before turning back to Sam again, quickly unfastening one of her earrings and pressing it into his stiff fingers. "Sam, if you can hear me, you just hang on to that and don't let go. I'll be right back."
Cosmo was alone when she stepped out out of the room and he looked at her with a dazed expression. He still couldn't quite take it all in, accept that Sam was gone. "Cath, are you....."
"We need to get a doctor in here now," she told him, fighting to keep her voice steady.
"A doctor?" Cosmo asked in confusion.
"Something's not right, something's just not right about this. I want him checked again, I want this double and triple checked!" Catherine said, her voice growing louder with each word. "I'll get a court order if need be but something isn't right about this."
"Cath, what.... You think he's still...." Cosmo couldn't finish the sentance, couldn't let himself hope.
"He just doesn't feel right," Catherine told him. "Something's seriously wrong with this and I want a doctor down here NOW!"
Cosmo hesitated for a fraction of a second, wanting to rush in there himself to see if it could be true, if Sammy might be still with them but restraining himself. If Sam was alive, the best thing they could do was to get professionals down there to treat him as soon as possible. He started for the elevator, motioning for Catherine to follow him. He would bodily drag a doctor down there if he had to.
They were back in the morgue in under three minutes, an unwilling doctor accompanying them.
"I don't see how the mistake you're claiming could have been made," the man said again as the marshals headed for the room Sam was in.
"I don't know how the mistake could have been made either," Catherine said, "but something does not feel right here and you are going to double check and triple check! If there's even the slightest chance to save....."
The two marshals stopped in shock when they came in and saw that the room was empty, the only sign that Sam had ever been there, the sheet that had covered him on the floor.
Cosmo turned, storming back and grabbing the morgue attendant, who had just returned. "WHERE IS HE?!!!!"
"Where's who?" the man said, in a trembling voice.
"SAM!! We weren't gone but three minutes, max! WHERE IS HE?!!!"
"They took him for autopsy. They've already started by now."