She manages to make it outside the hospital before her legs give way. As controlled as possible, Sam finally surrenders to her body on the cobbles. Her body wants to slide to the ground; she lets it. Her body begins to shake; she doesn’t fight it. Her body is holding in deep groans of despair; she lets them out.

Cat…

Water wells in her eyes, waiting for their chance to spill over. Her body shudders with spasms. She draws her knees up to her chest in desperation, leaning back into the wall of the building.

Cat…

Pain wracks her body, emanating from her middle and reaching to her fingertips. At last her eyes can no longer contain their contents and the tears rush over the edge, drenching Sam’s shirt. There is nothing to do but wait it out.

Cat…

She opens her eyes. A pattern of little splotches on the cobblestones mark her territory. Sam sniffs and drags her hands through her tangled mess of hair, interlocking her fingers at the back of her head.

“Cat.”

Sam leaves her mouth open, eager to taste her name, to hear more of what she really wants to say. But where is it? Where are the words she knows are inside her? She closes her mouth.

An elderly man approaches the dark haired woman crouched beside the building. He doesn’t mean to stare but her grief is obvious. Definitely a death in the family. People as well dressed as that don’t just keel over, head in their hands sobbing over a broken leg. Probably a father, maybe in a car accident. The man hovers for a moment. She doesn’t notice him. He leans from one foot to the other, indecisive about his next move. Finally he reaches into his pocket and bends down to present his offering.

“Smoke?”

Sam peers up at him, tears flooding her face.

A smile creeps to her lips. She begins to laugh.