Noah's Salvation

The winter winds raged with near brute force as the icy rains rapidly descended in a torrential like tantrum. Brief but brilliantly vivid bolts illuminated the ominous ebony horizons at increasingly consistent intervals while wildly rumbling thunder clamored about in an irate and fury filled tirade so seemingly forceful it made the earth itself shiver and shake from deep within as the seriously, storm swollen seas persistently pulverized the defenseless shoreline with intent one could only accurately describe as ruthlessly ravenous. Borderline barbaric. Arrogantly and restlessly, nature in all her grand and erratic glory clearly possessed a wrath she felt compelled to vent in the most violent and volatile manner...each white capped wave seemed somehow more ferocious than the last as the season altering squall marched a maliciously mighty track over the ocean.

There was an almost surreal aura to the night...an odd air that seemed to suggest that something mystical was at work as the winds and rains ranted and raged, battering the small seaside community mercilessly...intently...the storm displayed no indications that its frighteningly fierce intensity was lessening to any real extent, as tropical storms so often tended to do once that made direct contact with a landmass.

Standing alone before her small office window that allowed her a direct view of the beach as well as the docks where commercial and recreational vessels were securely docked for the duration of the storm, Catalina Carson couldn't help but tremble inside as she listened to the waves crashing...peaking...crashing again and again as the squall flexed its muscles with such potency Catalina briefly allowed herself to wonder if she and Noah would have a single vessel left undamaged when the storm finally parted, allowing the dawn to brake.

It was a troubling thought, that the business could suffer even a minor loss, though Noah had repeatedly and firmly assured her that wasn't likely to happen, as he had personally secured each of their ten ships himself and for the sake of her peace of mind as well as his, he was out there now, in the heart of the storm, double checking each vessel with all his usual, intensive observation.

"Don't worry so much, love." He had paused to wink at her on his way out the door, his golden blond hair already a mess even as he quickly flipped up the hood on his damp rain slicker. "We have weathered storms before and we will weather this one." He was always so confident and sure...so positive...so damn quick to reassure her each time he sensed she was at all worried or concerned.

"Storms just make me nervous." She tried to brush it off with a shrug before cautioning him to be careful, which drew another smile that lingered in her mind as he slipped out the door, leaving her alone to ponder her thoughts while she stood in the same office that had once belonged to her father.

First founded by Clint Carson, Carson's Commercial Fishing had, over the long years, become an increasingly successful venture that Clint had been pleased to leave to both Catalina and Noah when he had quietly passed away the year before after a nearly two and a half year long battle with cancer.

It was upon learning that her father was ill that Catalina had left school in New York to return home to be at his side, to help him with the business...to there to hold his hand when the chemo and the drugs made him so sick that when he looked at her, he called her by her mother's name, often believing that his precious Nina had come back to him at long last; he had believed that Nina was there to help him cross to the other side where they could finally be together again at long last, some twenty years after Nina had died in a car accident during a rare trip to the mainland.

Only five at the time her mother died, Catalina held few clear memories, most of what she knew about Nina, she had learned from her father over the years...she had learned that her mother had possessed a passion for life, for learning, for living each and every moment for all it was worth and the numerous photographs that had set around the house as a shrine to Nina had made it clear early on that Catalina would, physically, he identical to her mother in every sense, save her hazel brown eyes that she had inherited from Clint.

However, that one feature aside, she was Nina; she was the same petite five three and her coffee colored curls and ivory skin were just as her mother's had been...her smile and high cheekbones and full lips...it had been easily to understand why Clint had often confused her with her mother during his less than lucid state and Catalina had never tried to correct him or remind him that Nina was dead, choosing instead that it would be her gift to him to allow him to believe his beloved Nina lingered close.

"It's good that you do that for him." Noah had commented once, near the end, when he had overheard Clint call Catalina Nina as she set beside him. "I think it gives him peace, and I think he needs that now." He had cleared his throat then, an indication that he realized how close to the surface his own emotions actually were as he faced the bitter reality that the man he had thought of as a father would soon pass on.

Noah's pain, the fear he felt, had been obvious to Catalina and she had often offered a word of comfort...told him she understood...he had naturally done the same for her, and after Clint passed with both of them sitting at his side, Noah held Catalina and allowed her to sob in his arms while he told her again and again that he was sorry...so sorry...she had seemed like a child when he held close during those first hours after Clint had drawn his final breath and for a time, Noah had hoped, had believed, that he and Catalina could rebuild the close, almost tangible emotional connection they had once shared.

Twenty two to the twelve that Catalina had been when he first came to Rapture Island, looking for a few start, Noah Hanson had instantly felt drawn to Catalina when she arrived at the docks one afternoon, fresh from school, filled with smiles meant only for her father, who had grinned the moment he saw her running towards where he stood with Noah.

Noah had been under Clint's employment for nearly two weeks, when Catalina came to the docks, and he had already decided that he liked the older man who made it clear that he was, above all else, fair and honesty, though it quickly became evident to Noah that Clint was utterly and completely devoted to his little girl.

Clint made the introductions that day and Catalina smiled when she offered a hand to Noah that he shook in the instant before she bombarded him with questions as only an open, affection twelve year old could; where was he from...why had he come to Rapture Island...how old was he...did he like working for her father and did he know that she helped her daddy out during the summer...the questions were fired rapidly and Noah answered them as best as he could, keeping the answers simple, knowing there was no gentle way to explain to such a sweet child what had really prompted him to leave his life in Chicago behind.

Granted, Clint knew...Noah had told him from the word go where he was from and what he was leaving behind, or trying to leave behind, at least, and to Noah's relief, Clint had offered him compassion and sympathy rather than the scorn or disgust that Noah had been prepared to face.

It wasn't until years later, shortly after she turned sixteen, that Catalina finally learned, for herself, the secretes that Noah kept and hearing the truth made it easy for her to understand the pain that often flared in his eyes...made her understand why he seemed so sad at times, if she came up on him to find him staring out at the ocean, lost in himself and what she came to call his bitter memories.

In the end, it was Noah who told her, having first received permission to do so from Clint who had given him the go ahead when Noah explained that he wanted the truth about his past to come to Catalina from him.

"I know that, aside from you, no one around here knows about my past, that I know of, at least but I..." He had shaken his head. "If someone does happen to know, I don't want it to come out that way with Catalina, because she deserves to hear it from me." He had a true, deep affection for the girl, she had welcomed him into her life with Clint without hesitation or grudge, having told him once that she was glad he was around to add to the family she had; she was glad he had come to Rapture Island...her innocent acceptance had been something of a healing balm to his heart over the years and Noah found he could only pray that Catalina would still accept him once she heard the truth.

He waited until she seemed old enough to comprehend and understand and by the time she was sixteen, it appeared to Clint and Noah that she was wise and mature beyond her years and Noah used that knowledge to give himself some peace as he set with her on the front porch one night, while Clint handled some paper work in the den and it was sitting there that Noah gently told her he had something he needed to discuss with her.

As he said the words, she looked at him with a gentle smile that made her eyes warm and bright and trusting.

"I don't know how to begin." Noah turned in his chair so he could face her as she set there, clearly curious and concerned when she saw just how worried he appeared to be,

"You can tell me anything you need to, Noah." Her voice was soft and reassuring and it made him smile.

"I am glad to hear that, because this is something that I think you have a right to know, and I think this is the time to tell you." He paused to draw in a breath that he released slowly, on a heavy sigh. "Have you never noticed that I don't talk about the past a lot?" It seemed as good a place to begin as any and she nodded.

"I have noticed that." But it wasn't until recently that she had wondered why.

"Well, I don't talk about the past a lot because it upsets me."

"I can understand that. I really can. I don't talk about my mother often and I try not to ask too many questions about her because I know it is hard for my dad."

"It's like that for me as well. It hurts to talk about the past."

"If if hurts you so much, you don't have to talk about it, Noah." She reached gently for his hand and held it. "I love you and I don't want you to be hurt, so don't think you have to sit here and tell me something if it will cause you pain." His eyes told her she meant all she said as he smiled at her, touched by her warmth and understanding.

"Thank you for that, but I do want you to know this, baby." He gave her hand a gentle squeeze as he again sighed and forced himself so speak. "When I was just seven years old, my father left both me and my mother because he...well, he said he wanted more from life and I guess he didn't feel he could have that with us."

"Noah, I am so sorry." Tears burned her eyes. "I can't imagine how..." She knew what it was like to have a parent ripped away from her, but to have a parent leave of their own free will seemed more than she could fathom.

"You don't have to be sorry. It's okay. He wanted to go, so he did, but it left my mom, and me, in kind of a bad place." Thus began the part he hated telling her or anyone, but not for a moment did he entertain changing his mind, "It was really hard for my mother, because I was young and she didn't have a job, or any skills to find a job, so she worked as a waitress for a few months, at a local bar, and while working there, she met a man named Hank Lewis and three weeks after meeting him, she agreed to marry him."

Again, he paused, to carefully sort through his thoughts and Catalina sensed that he was in more pain than he wanted her to know as he looked past her, into the night, and his voice, when he spoke, sounded distant and far away.

"The man my mom married, he wasn't what you could call a great guy...he was really a bastard to tell you the truth."

"He wasn't good to you or your mother?" It was an easy guess and he nodded.

"He turned out to be a heavy drinker and when he drank, which was all the time, he got pretty mean." His eyes touched hers briefly, to see pain there...pain she felt for him and the child he had once been. "He started out with my mother, but before long, he took to beating on me when he was pissed and it...there were times that it go pretty bad and more than once my mom or I ended up in the emergency room." There had been broken ribs and arms and a leg...concussions...bruises...cuts...Noah couldn't bring himself to go into the graphic details, as there were certain things he didn't want her to know...certain ugly images he dared not paint for her because he loved her too much.

"It went on for a while, because my mom was too afraid to leave him or stand up for me or for herself."

"She she just let him..."

"She was afraid."

"Still, she...someone should have protected you." Her father would have, she knew for a fact that her father would have stepped in to save Noah and his mother, had he been in Noah's life at that time.

"Someone should have, but there wasn't anyone, so I...after a time I learned to fend for myself and I did what I could to defend my mother, but more often than not, Hank managed to do whatever he wanted..." He shook his head. "Around the time I turned sixteen things got a lot worse and it seemed like Hank was out of control more often than not and one night, I came home to find him beating my mother worse than he ever had..." The memory called out to him and Catalina allowed the tears that she had battled to finally flow as she set there with his hand in hers.

"I guess you could say I snapped." Noah went on. "I just couldn't stand it and I...I went to Hank and I pulled him off my mother and for the first time I found myself fighting back more than I had ever tried to fight back before..." He cleared his gathering emotions from his throat, willing himself not lay it all out for her once and for all, as he really did believe she had a right to know the truth.

"What happened, Noah?" Catalina handed him the question after an long moment of silence passed between them.

"While I was hitting Hank, he fell and he...I knocked him down and he hit his head on the edge of a coffee table and...Hank died as a result of that."

"Oh, Noah."

"I was arrested." Before she expressed pity, he wanted her to hear it all.

"What? Why where you arrested? I don't understand."

"I was arrested because Hank died as a result of my attacking him and despite what I told about how he had treated me and my mother over the years, the police and courts decided to charge me with involuntary manslaughter."

"What about your mother?" Her beautiful hazel eyes told him she was trying to wrap her mind around all he had shared and Noah sighed, knowing there was very little chance she would fully comprehend the next part, as she had grown up with a father who adored her and would have traded his life for hers, if need be.

"My mother was...its hard to explain and hard to understand, but she was messed up, by all that had happened and I guess she was too ashamed to admit how badly she and I had been battered over the years, so when asked, she didn't support my claim that Hank had been beating her more than the one time I came in on."

"God..." Bile boiled in her belly. "Oh, Noah..." She didn't know what to say, or how to say it, she only knew she wanted to take his pain away as they set there in the cool night with his emotional wounds exposed for her to see and Catalina felt something deep in her soul die away when Noah gently went on to explain that he pled his case out, deciding to avoid any length trail, for his sake as much as his mother's and in the end, he was sent to a detention center for juvenile offenders and when he turned eighteen, he was shipped to a regular state run prison for two additional years....the story came out slowly and Catalina cried openly as she took it all in a degree at a time.

After his release from prison, Noah shared that he tried to find a life for himself in his hometown, but when it became apparent that his past would always haunt him there, he felt it would be a good idea to make a change.

"An old friend told me about your father, and I wrote him a letter and..." He offered a real smile for the first time since the story began. "I think you know the rest, I came here and in an instant, your dad made me feel at home and you..." Gently, he reached out to tuck a coffee colored curl behind her ear and Catalina looked at him, her eyes wide and her heart filled with more emotions than she knew how to fathom.

"Noah, I don't know what to say..."

"You don't have to say anything, Catalina."

"Yes, I do. I...you have been through so much. And I am so sorry."

"You never have to be sorry for me." He cupped her hand in his as his eyes found hers and held. "My past is ugly, but what I have now, the life I have here, with you and Clint so very much more than I ever believed I could hope to have and I...I just wanted, needed, you to sit here and hear the rest from me on the off chance someone might say something..." He gave a tired sigh as he looked down at their locked hands and Catalina brushed away her tears even as fresh ones began to form and fall.

"I am glad you trust me enough to tell me."

"I trust you completely, Catty." It was an old nickname that he had dubbed for her just after they met and hearing it made her smile. "Because I trust you, there is a question I want to ask you and I need you to be completely honest with me."

"Of course."

"I need to know if my past bothers you or makes you uncomfortable-"

"God, no." Catalina cut him off before he could continue and she seemed frantic, and on the verge of more tears. "I love you, Noah. I love you and nothing you have told me could ever change that and I...I am sorry that you were hurt and that your mother didn't stand up for you as she should have, but what happened to you...there is no way I could ever blame you for that or hold it against you." She threw herself forward, into his arms, as she said it with true passion and Noah smiled despite the urge to cry as he held her close to him for a moment, still amazed that he had her and Clint in his life...for the first time he had a family and he felt truly accepted as they set for a white more, talking a little bit about the mother he no longer had any contact with and when they finally went back inside, it seemed to Catalina, and to Noah, that the bond between them was stronger than ever before, making their connection more emotionally intense.

Noah was, in more ways than not, her best friend...he was the one person, aside from her father, that she always knew she could count on, when she needed to talk...the one who had the means to make her laugh and smile and it was shortly before she turned seventeen, it dawned on her that she had slowly began to look at Noah in a new way and it intrigued as much as it sincerely frightened her.

She couldn't pinpoint the exact moment it happened, or even how, but sudden, she saw more than a mere friend when she looked at Noah; suddenly she looked at him and saw him as a man who was powerfully attractive on numerous levels...he was smart and kind and he had an amazing sense of humor which forever danced in his midnight blue eyes that she began to dream about at night.

Nearly a full foot taller than her petite frame, he had a powerful build with wide and defined shoulders...a hard chest and arms bulky with coiled muscles...it amazed her that it had taken her so long to realize how seemingly perfect he was physically with masculine features that were dominated by his beautiful eyes and sensual lips that she suddenly longed to kiss each time she saw him at the docks, lost in his work while his golden blond hair shimmered in the brilliant sunlight.