A coward with dirty tricks

When Laila and Noah found Maria, she was sitting on the floor, leaning against the bumper of Steve's ruined car. She was crying as she was hugging her knees. Noah and Laila crouched down next to her and Laila started comfortingly stroking her arm. This is when Maria looked up and saw the looks on their faces through her tears and her fear was confirmed. In a devastated voice she said, "Oh no. It is true, isn't it..? Steve got hurt...? He is the one that got carried away in that ambulance we saw coming here, wasn't he?" Laila nodded while Noah looked away awkwardly as he ran his fingers through his hair. This is when Maria began to cry even harder and Laila pulled her friend to herself to comfort her as she started talking in a soft, soothing voice.

"Oh honey. My sweet friend. I am so sorry. I wish they had both gotten away from this mess without getting hurt but sadly Steve couldn't get away fast enough. He was taken away just seconds before we got here and Noah told me that he was taken to the best hospital in town. Everyone is doing all they can do for him and so should we. We should head over so that we can be with him and hear the updates on his status as soon as possible."

Maria looked up again and looked at Laila while her lip was quivering as she was fighting back her tears. Laila gently wiped away the tears that had been flowing down Maria's face and continued to speak comforting words to her. "Everything will be alright Maria. I'm here for you. I know you are worried about Steve and we are too but we have to believe in him and his will to survive. He is a strong man and he won't go down without a fight. He has suffered years of Noah's abuse. His skin is tougher than most. He won't be defeated by some coward with dirty tricks."

Laila's words made Maria let out a chuckle despite the seriousness of the situation. She then began to wipe her tears away herself as she said, "Yeah, you are right. I shouldn't give up just yet. Right now I have to trust that he is still alive and that he will do all he can to stay alive and return to me. If there is anything I know, that is that Steve is one stubborn man who does not know how to give up." After saying that she pushed herself back up before giving Laila a hand, as getting up wasn't as easy for her at the moment with her centre of gravity having shifted. She dusted off her pants and with smile on her face she said, "Let's go to the hospital. I need to be there by his side to smack some sense into him in case he is considering giving up. He needs to be reminded of what he would be giving up on in if he quits the fight." Laila smiled and gave Maria a squeeze, before she said, "Let's go!"

Noah too managed to smile as he saw how strong they were both being, but especially Maria. How easily they had been able to push their own worries to the side to be there for one another. How quickly they had managed to find enough hope to cling onto to make them able to smile and joke in this situation. Showing him the strength he needed to take inspiration of as he would need to handle this situation on Steve's behalf. But first, he needed to go see his friend.

Noah went to see the two bodyguards, who had managed to find each other quite easily. He walked up to them and stood before them. They stopped their conversation and turned to him. Noah began by saying, "Thank you for protecting me and Steve earlier. I'm glad I now finally have a face to the voice that saved my life, though I wish it could have been under different circumstances. I don't want to imagine how things could have turned out if you hadn't warned us or if you hadn't jumped in to cover me. Though Steve still got pretty hurt, things could have certainly gotten much worse. How did you know that Steve's car was rigged?"

The bodyguard used his chin to point in the Shadow's direction. "You have her to thank for that. She tipped me off just in time. Otherwise I probably wouldn't have been able to step in in time. Following the bodyguard's words, Noah then turned to face the Shadow as he said, "I take it that you are his colleague and the person that was tasked with protecting my wife, unborn son and her best friend. Is it true what he says? How did you know about the bomb?" That is when he heard what had gone down at the house and his jaw clenched up once more, realizing in just how much danger his family and friends had been put in today. All because of one person. He was glad that Steve had forced him to get a bodyguard for both him and Laila but it angered him that things still managed to get so out of hand.

That damn Harold would pay for this, one way or another. But for now Steve was his main priority. So, Harold would have to wait for the time being until he knew that Steve would be okay. And Harold had better hope that Steve would be okay, otherwise there is no telling what Noah would do to make him pay for his mistake.