"Catherine?" Sam shot a glance at the bed as he lowered Catherine the rest of the way to the floor and dropped down beside her. Thankfully Noah was still fast asleep, though, and hopefully would stay that way until he had his mama tended to. "Cath?" Her eyelids were fluttering. That was a good sign, he hoped. "Catherine, open your eyes for me. It's alright, just open your eyes and look at me. Cath?"
"Oh, dear. What happened?" Sam suddenly heard a voice and raised his head to see the older alien woman, the aunt to the girl who had tended Noah, standing in the doorway with a concerned expression and a tray.
"I told her something that shocked her. Cath, look at me, okay?" Her eyes were open, thank goodness, but didn't seem to be focusing. Not good. "Cath? Is your niece anywhere around? Or a doctor? Cath? Just look at me, alright? It's alright. Our boy is right here, and he's going to be fine. Catherine, look at me."
"My son's partner." Zoe said as she turned to the doorway and waved to X, who was passing by. "Go and get that partner of yours. We need her now." She ordered her son before hurrying to help Sam. "Sweetie, it's alright." Zoe said. "Your son is right here and he's going to be fine. Would blankets help?" She asked Sam. "Or I brought cookies, tea and coffee. I wasn't sure if your brother had gotten you anything yet."
"Blankets and food, maybe if I can get her to snap out of this enough." Food. Catherine was usually better than he was about remembering to eat when there was a case going, but he had a feeling with how crazy this case had been and then with him vanishing with his team she had ended up missing more than a few meals. "Catherine, look at me. Catherine, sweetheart? Sweetheart, look at me, alright? It's alright. Our boy is here and he is absolutely perfect. Catherine?" It had been years since he had seen her like this, it was still just as alarming, and sadly it seemed like his success rate with snapping her out of it had went down.
"What happened?" Elle said as she came in. "Is this…"
Sam nodded. Obviously there were a few more people here who knew the situation with Noah. "Catherine, look at me."
"This has happened before?" Elle asked Sam.
"Not for years. I think." Had this happened more recently than the last time he knew of? Sam didn't even want to think about Catherine going through one of these things alone. "They've happened before, though." Usually I can get her focused and she'll snap out of it but…."
"She's had more than a bit of a shock." Zoe said. "Both of you have. A good one but still…."
"Let's see about getting her into an exam room." Elle said. This sounded like a PTSD episode, and from what she had seen in the reports on what had been done to the woman, she was a prime candidate for that, but with her not coming out of it….
Moving. Catherine suddenly felt movement and…. "Sam." Catherine blinked as words hit her. "Sam, if you even think of moving me from this room, you are going to wish for me firing you."
Make her mad. Why hadn't he thought of trying that? "Catherine, it's alright. They just want to…."
"I mean it." Catherine said. "You move me from this room, and I swear you will pray for me to fire you, Sam." Catherine could feel memories tugging at the back of her mind but she fought against it. Her baby. Her baby was there and if anyone thought she was moving from his side….
"It's alright, sweetie." Zoe knelt down and wrapped a blanket around Catherine's shoulders. "No one's going to make you leave your baby, I promise. I'm sure that anything they need to do, they can do right here."
"She seems to be alert now. That's what was worrying me." Elle said. "I should be able to do that."
"Okay, let's get you up." Sam pulled Catherine up in his arms. Probably not a good idea with the ribs, he realized as he felt a pull in his chest at the movement and he was sure that Catherine would have words with him about it later, and probably that alien nurse too but…. "Just say still, okay?" He told Catherine as he settled her into the chair at Noah's side. "Stay still and let them check you"
"They can do whatever they want as long as it doesn't involve leaving this room." Catherine told him. Noah. Her eyes widened as she looked at him. Her baby. Noah was…. Memories swam at the back of her head of pain, of a tiny bundle, of a cry she had so badly wanted to believe was real.
"Cath?" Her eyes were going out of focus again. Not good. "Catherine, look at me."
"Sweetie, it's okay. Just look at your young man, alright?" Zoe told her. "It's alright. I have food for the two of you. And tea. Or coffee but tea might be a bit better right now."
"Just look at me. Look at me and look at Noah." Sam told Catherine. "We have our son back and he's about the best son we could hope for. You just stay here with us, alright? Everything's going to be fine. You just keep looking at us."
Look at Sam. Look at Noah. Focus. Focus on Sam and….. "Our baby. We got our baby back?" Catherine whispered. "We really got…."
"We got our baby back." Sam told her. He settled into the chair next to Catherine and reached over, wrapping an arm around her. "We got our boy back where he belongs." And he didn't care what else was going on, or what else they might have to deal with, they had their family back, he had both of the families that he thought he had lost back and he wasn't going to let himself think of anything else at the moment.
"Vitals look good." Elle said with a smile. "Blood sugar's a little low, which probably didn't help on top of the shock, but some food should fix that."
"If I didn't have deputies disappearing on me, I would have been able to eat a bit more." Catherine murmured. Her head was swimming now, but it felt like the memories trying to pull her in were moving a bit further back, weren't pulling quite as hard on her. Sam's arm around her, She could feel that like a grounding wire holding her safely in place and Noah…. She reached out a shaky hand, gently touching his hand. "Our baby."
"Our baby." Sam said. And leaning over, he whispered in her ear, "And I have your ring. This calms down and you want to, I'll get it right back on your finger."
"I want to." Catherine whispered back. "Definitely want to."
"There. Everything is going to be fine." Zoe said as she bought the tray over. "You just have some of the tea and cookies, and everything is going to be fine."