An accident...

Noah's heart sunk. His whole body felt like it would give out from under him and all the blood in his face was drained, making him just as pale as Max had been. With shaking hands he grabbed the phone and listened to his deepest nightmares becoming a reality. After he hung up the call, he immediately ran towards the door, ignoring anything and anyone as he made his way out of the party and to his Laila. Max followed behind him, still looking as pale as ever and being equally as quiet. The only exception being a brief answer to Maria and Steve when they asked him where they were going in such a hurry, muttering only the word 'Hospital' as a reply, before walking out the door.

This of course alarmed Maria and Steve, who, after realizing that Laila still wasn't anywhere in sight, put two and two together. Steve then asked Maria to call Max to find out what had happened, while Steve tried to distract the guests from Noah's sudden departure with his charm and wit. He went up to the stage and gave a short speech. Thanking everyone for coming and then with some clever jokes and by having the trays of food brought in early, everyone seemed to have forgotten anything had happened at all.

Although Steve didn't know what the severity of the situation was, he knew that Noah wouldn't want any commotion at this event. That it was too important after everything that had happened for him to rush off like that as well. At the very least, he needed to convince everyone that everything was still okay and change their focus to something else. Fortunately there were enough higher-ups from the company here, to allow him to leave after accomplishing that task and if the situation required it.

Aside from the importance of the event, Noah certainly didn't like people talking about his private affairs. So, even if it was important for Steve to be at the hospital, Noah would approve any delay of his getting there, if it meant smoothing over the party first and leaving it in good hands before leaving. Something Steve was sure Noah would have wanted to do himself, if the topic involved hadn't been Laila, which seemed to make all rationale leave his body. Something Steve would have wanted Noah to do if the roles were reversed.

The moment Steve was done with his speech, he walked off the stage to find Maria. He didn't need to look long, because Maria had been waiting for him by the side of the stage after finding out what had happened from Max. She was looking as if she was using all the strength she had to hold back her tears, some of which had managed to break through her defences. Fortunately she was wearing waterproof mascara and the rest of her make-up had been fixated pretty well, making none the wiser once she patted the tears dry with a napkin. None, other than Steve, who could tell even from a distance.

Once he was close enough to reach her, the first thing he did, was wipe away the traces of her tears, while she did her best to say the words, "There was an accident...she needs surgery...". Maria didn't need to say much to Steve for him to understand, which was fortunate as Maria wasn't in a state where she was able to say much. As she barely whispered those words through a voice that was breaking with each syllable, Steve was holding her other hand and stroking it as he said, "It's okay. I understand. Everything will be okay. You just wait and I'll take care of things here, then we can leave". Maria looked up at Steve gratefully before nodding and doing just that, waiting. Waiting for him to finish, so they could leave and she could go and see Laila.

Maria's words and the state she was in, was enough to alert Steve that it was indeed serious and that he would have to initiate his plan C. Plan C involved him delegating his and Noah's responsibilities to the other high positioned people in the company. The managers of the different departments, the presidents and VP's of their subsidiaries. Even calling Anthony and Rebecca, to fill a part of their spot, who of course agreed without question once they heard that Laila was in the hospital.

As soon as they could, once everyone was informed, after everything was taken of, Maria and Steve too left the party. In order to not cause more confusion and commotion from their leaving, Steve personally said goodbye to a few important people who would hopefully notice if he had left without saying anything, since they were people they hoped to get in business with. He blamed his early departure from the event on the doctors. Saying that he had a time limit for how long he was allowed to stand and with no chair and no guests offering him to sit on their laps, he would have to cut the party short. But promised to not send them a bill, so that they should be sure to eat, drink and enjoy themselves as much as they could and not stop having fun on his account. This earned him a few chuckles and pats on the back and allowed him to leave, with their guests doing the rest of the explaining for them or backing the other I.E. employees up, should the topic of their absence arise in conversation.