20/20

After holding onto Laila for the longest time in the hallway just across from Steve's room, Noah had finally calmed down enough to be able to talk to Laila about what was bothering him. They were sitting on the seats where they had been waiting for Steve's surgery to finish earlier. Now it was being used to allow Noah to empty what he had been bottling up inside since the explosion had taken place. He expressed his guilt, his regrets and he told Laila all his 'What if' questions.

Laila listened to him patiently and then one by one refuted the things he was accusing himself of and dismissed the blame he had been putting on himself. "I get that you feel guilty but you could not have prevented this. Maybe if you had know all that you know now you might have prevented Steve getting hurt today but Harold would not have stopped after just one attempt and hindsight is always 20/20. So, unless you manage to become clairvoyant, there is no way for you to predict all the crazy that resides in Harold's mind and prevent everyone from getting hurt."

Laila grabbed Noah's hand and lowered her head to look Noah in the eye, as he was facing the floor while his arms were leaning on his legs. She smiled at him as she said, "If an actual secret service agent, someone who is trained to predict the unpredictable and protect people, could not prevent what happened today, how can you possibly expect yourself to be able to do that? I know you are feeling bad and you are looking for ways to change what has happened but I am telling, you are being way too harsh on yourself honey. This was an unfortunate incident but not one that you can blame yourself for. Instead of fighting Harold on who is more to blame, exhausting yourself over a battle with a clear victor, focus your energy in taking that horrible man down and making him pay for what he has done."

Noah nodded as he began to agree. Hearing Laila's words was making him see reality more clearly and getting his mind back to a state where he could think of who was actually to blame and what he should be focusing on. He had lost himself for a brief moment because of the shock of seeing Steve like that. That being the first time he had properly seen Steve since the explosion, the image affected him more than he had anticipated on. He normally wasn't such a self-doubting person. But seeing such a drastic thing happen because of decisions he had made, it had made him question everything up until that point.

But thinking about it now, he and Steve had made almost all decisions together and if the roles had been reversed, he would not be blaming Steve either. He would not want him to waste time worrying about things that had already happened and he would rather want him to go after the b**tards that had caused it, then sit and wallow in a type of self-pity. Having regained his determination and no longer doubting himself, Noah felt ready to start taking action. But first, he was going to go see Steve.

He stood up and helped Laila out of her chair as he said, "Let's go see Steve. I know what I have to do now. I have wasted enough time on playing the blame game and getting stuck in my own head. Now that you have freed me from my thoughts, I want to find the people responsible and make them regret ever coming into our lives. But I first want to see how Steve is doing."

Laila smiled and said, "Now that is Noah I know. That is the prince I tried to free from his mental tower. Kind-hearted by nature but strong, fearless and relentless when it comes to protecting and defending the people you care about. Show them that that mind of yours isn't just good for doing business but also for paying back the scum of society for their despicable acts."

Despite his state of mind just moments earlier, Laila's remarks caused Noah to chuckle as he said, "I will." With those words they walked to Steve's room and found him still looking as pale as ever, while Maria was sitting next to him. It appeared that she hadn't noticed that they were missing until now, nor did she notice them standing in the door opening now. Maria's eyes were focussed on Steve and Steve alone. Holding his hand and stroking the back of his hand with her thumb while smiling at Steve, despite him still being unconscious.

Laila and Noah walked in the room and while Noah went to see Steve up close by walking to the other side of the bed, Laila stopped her steps when she was standing next to Maria. Laila placed a hand on Maria's shoulder and stroked it comfortingly, which is when Maria looked up to see who it was. Seeing that it was Laila, she smiled a bit weakly and Laila used the opportunity to see how Maria was doing and if anything had changed in Steve's situation. But Maria shook her head. "No, he hasn't opened his eyes yet. The doctor said he should be waking up fifteen to thirty minutes after the surgery ended, which should be any minute now, but that because of his concussion it might take Steve a bit longer."

Laila glanced down at her watch and saw that it had indeed been close to fifteen minutes since the surgery lights had been turned off. Considering that there might have been a few minutes since the surgery had ended and the light being turned off, Steve should indeed be waking up any minute now and she hoped that it would sooner rather than later.