𝐫𝐮𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐫, 𝗲𝗺𝗶𝗹𝘆 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝘀𝘀

𝟏𝟑𝟐

"𝚆𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝙽𝚘𝚠?"
ᴀᴜᴛʜᴏʀ
𝕧𝕚𝕣𝕘𝕚𝕟𝕚𝕒 𝕙𝕠𝕤𝕡𝕚𝕥𝕒𝕝 𝕔𝕖𝕟𝕥𝕖𝕣

     THE CLOCK on the wall ticks, signaling each second that passes in the silent waiting room. The more time that ticks away, the more Noah feels pieces of Emily slipping away. First, it's the look in her eye after she voices her love. Then, it's the feeling of her hand on Noah's cheek with the sound of her voice after that. Everything that the teen has grown to find comforting is slipping away.

Noah sits in a chair with her legs curled up to her chest and her arms wrapped around them with the tightness of her last bit of hope. Her eyes are locked on the checkered tiled floor until the doors leading to the ICU unit open, then they quickly flicker to see if it's Emily's surgeon. But every time it's not and her heart continues to beat slowly and her breaths stay long and deep. She has bandaging wrapped around her arm to cover her branding. She wouldn't let the doctors do anything but wrap it.

The rest of the team lingers in the waiting room, all of their eyes checking on Noah every few moments. Spencer paces back and forth with a coffee in hand, Dave stands and stares at the ceiling, Ashley is hugging her legs tightly to her chest, Aaron is hunched over on one of the couches with Derek doing the same, and Penelope is sitting upright next to Noah, her eyes scanning the room, watching all of her friends hurt.

JJ appears particularly nervous, but no one notices as they're too lost in their own thoughts to be analyzing anyone. The blonde keeps a close eye on Noah and bites her fingernails out of nerves. Eventually, she gets up to see if anyone will give her an update.

It feels like hours go by and that's because they have. No one moves, not even Spencer, who is now sitting on the other side of Noah because he can't pace anymore. Aaron stands up, but just to stretch his legs, nothing more. Noah's eyes don't move and the doors haven't opened in over an hour. But a glimmer of hope flashes in Noah's blue eyes as she sees JJ come back after being gone for a while.

Everyone sits up, even Noah, but the second they're met with red eyes and a hard swallow from JJ, they know the news.

"No," Penelope whispers as she shakes her head. JJ looks away from her, seeing how Penelope seems to be pleading for a better outcome, not for herself, but for Noah.

JJ quietly clears her throat as she looks at her team. "She never made it off the table," she says clearly, wanting to give them all complete clarity, no matter the pain it causes.

Noah's face remains empty, but her eyes well with tears. It doesn't take long for them to fall. Her chin doesn't quiver, she doesn't blink. But the tears sink down her cheeks like heavy stones. Her mother, the complicated, gentle soul that saved her, is no more.

The icy hands of disbelief wrap around her, covering her mouth from uttering a word. From the moment she was reunited with her mother, they were destined to be one, bound by an unbreakable bond forged through trials of hurt, trauma, and deception. With Emily gone, it feels like a violent tear in the fabric of Noah's being, threatening to drag her very soul into the void alongside her.

Slowly, the numbness gives way to a cascade of emotions, each wave crashing against the fragile barricade she's built around her heart. Anguish claws at her chest, aching with a pain so profound it felt physical. Her muscles move without her knowledge as she stands and staggers, but not before she is pulled into Aaron by his firm touch.

Noah's cheek is stuffed against his suit jacket, creating a puddle of her tears on his sleeve. She cries for only a moment before the disbelief turns into anger.

"No!" she shouts and pushes Aaron away. "No!" she repeats.

"Noah—" Aaron says quietly, not wanting her to break down in front of everyone. He knows she wouldn't want that.