It was after sunup, almost twenty-four hours since the shooting, when movement from the bed roused Natalia from the half-slumber she'd been drifting in and out of.

"Ryan?" she asked, sitting up and watching for further signs of awakening from her friend.

Slowly, his eyes opened and looked around the room. Apparently not remembering what had happened, his eyes widened in panic as he struggled against the ventilator.

"Ryan, Ryan, calm down," Natalia told him, leaning over him so he would see her. "Calm down or you'll hurt yourself."

The cardio monitor alerted the nurses that something was amiss, and they paged Chris to get up there. By the time he arrived, Natalia had gotten Ryan to stop fighting the ventilator, but he was still on edge.

"Welcome back, Ryan," Chris greeted him with a smile, taking a quick look at his chart from the overnight. "Can you move your fingers and toes for me?"

Ryan responded by curling each hand into fists and they could see his feet moving under the hospital blanket.

"Very good. There doesn't seem to be any nerve damage. Well, your stats look good, so we're going to see about taking that ventilator out, okay?"

Natalia watched as Chris and the nurse disconnected the tube from the pump. When instructed, Ryan breathed out and they pulled the tube from his throat. At that point, the nurse slipped the oxygen breather in place under his nose.

"Your throat's going to be sore for a while, so don't force it by trying to talk," Chris instructed. "Your body has taken a heck of a beating, so give it time to heal. Blink once for 'yes' and twice for 'no'. Do you know who you are?"

One blink. Yes.

"Do you remember what happened?"

One blink. Yes. Another hesitant blink. No.

"Some of it, maybe?"

One blink. Yes.

"That's common. Trauma victims often experience episodic amnesia for events surrounding the trauma. In time, the memory may resurface. Personally, that's something I wouldn't want to remember, but that's just me," Chris joked, and was rewarded with a small smile from Ryan. Chris looked to Natalia, "Might wanna go tell your friends that he's awake."

Ryan tilted his head, giving Chris a confused look.

"Oh, you didn't know? You've had a whole cheering squad camped out in the waiting room all night. I'll be back to check on you later."

"All night?" Ryan whispered hoarsely once Chris had left.

"You didn't think we would leave you all by yourself, did you?" Natalia shrugged it off.

Ryan looked at her, knowing there was more than what she was telling him, but he decided to leave it for later. The strain his body had taken over the past day was wearing him out. He drifted back to sleep, allowing his body to spend more energy in repairing itself.

Natalia watched him sleep for a bit, a weight lifted with the knowledge that Ryan would be all right. Once she was satisfied that he would not wake up easily, she slipped out of the room and back out to the waiting area. The sight that met her almost made her laugh.

Eric and Calleigh were curled up together on the undersized couch, Frank had pulled another chair up to prop his feet up from the chair he was sitting, and Horatio was uncharacteristically slumped down in an armchair. She cleared her throat, and at once they all jumped up.

"How is he?" Horatio asked.

"He's sleeping now, but he's doing good," Natalia replied. "They took the ventilator out, and there doesn't appear to be any nerve damage."

"Hey, Natalia, why don't you go get some rest," Eric suggested. "I'll sit with him for a while."

Natalia started to argue, but she suddenly realized how exhausted she was. She nodded, and Calleigh offered to take her back home. Once the women were gone, Horatio looked to Eric.

"I'll be back to sit with him around noon."

"Got it, H," Eric said, before turning to enter the ICU.

Horatio was going to make sure that their young friend was never alone through this.


Ryan awoke to see Eric sitting where Natalia had been.

"Hey, Sleeping Beauty," Eric grinned when he saw his friend waking up.

"Water," he requested.

Eric poured him a glass and held it up to Ryan's lips to drink. Ryan nodded his thanks and licked his parched lips.

"What time is it?" he asked, his voice slightly stronger.

"About eleven thirty," Eric replied. "I was beginning to think you were never going to wake up."

"Natalia leave?"

"About four hours ago. H made everyone go home and get some rest. You had us really worried, there."

"Sorry 'bout that," Ryan replied with a small smile.

"Hey, I'm just glad I don't have to break in a new rookie," Eric joked, but Ryan could see the affection in his eyes.

"So did you close the case?" Ryan asked.

"Jeeze, Wolfe, your guts look like swiss cheese! Can you lay off the overachiever bit?"

Ryan started to laugh, but quickly succumbed to a fit of coughing.

"Okay, mental note, don't laugh," Ryan groaned in pain as he laid a hand on his chest.

"Well, that shouldn't be hard for you," Eric snorted.

"Hey, you're not supposed to mock the injured."

"No, that's the dead, and you aren't there yet."

Horatio heard the verbal parries as he walked up to the room. Chris was coming to check on Ryan at the same time.

"Doctor, sounds like he's feeling better," Horatio commented.

"That it does," Chris chuckled. "Good morning, Mister Wolfe."

"Morning, Doc," Ryan greeted.

"Vitals are still looking good," Deleo stated after checking the monitors and the chart. "I just wanna take a look at your stitches then I'll be out of your hair."

Eric stepped out to give the doctor more room to work, joining Horatio by the door.

"I take it he's feeling better, Eric?"

"Apparently," Delko grinned. "He just woke up a few minutes ago, but he's not as out of it as he was before."

"That's good," Horatio said with a small smile. "Go get some rest Eric."

"What about the lab?"

"I already took care of that. Night shift is taking up the slack for now. We have a few days off to make sure our boy's going to be okay."

"Sounds like a plan," Eric nodded. "I'll see ya later, H."

"See you, Eric."

As Eric walked off, Horatio's attention was drawn back to the room where Ryan was falling victim to another coughing fit as Chris finished checking the wounds.

"Everything all right, Doctor?" Horatio asked.

"So far," Chris stated. "Believe it or not, coughing's actually a good thing, as long as you don't tear any of your stitches in the process. The coughing helps keep you from developing pneumonia."

"And I certainly don't want that," Ryan replied hoarsely.

"Well, it looks like it's the changing of the guard, so I'll let you get some rest," Chris said with a glance back at Horatio.

Horatio stepped up to take Eric's vacated seat as Chris left. Ryan looked at him through tired eyes.

"You don't have to stay, Horatio. I know you must have other stuff you need to do."

"No I don't, Ryan," Horatio corrected, "nothing that can't wait. I've made sure you won't be alone here."

Ryan started to ask why, but the question died on his lips. He could not honestly say he wasn't glad for it; he had never been overly fond of hospitals. So instead, he simply nodded his thanks. He noticed a book in Horatio's hands.

"What's that?"

"I went to you house and looked for something that would interest you," Horatio explained. "This one was more worn than the other books, so I guessed you had read it more. I never would have thought you a Clive Cussler fan."

Ryan shrugged, "I read Raise the Titanic when I was a kid, and have been reading them ever since."

"Anyway, I thought I could read it to you, if you want."

"That'd be nice."

Ryan tried to stay awake as Horatio's mellow voice read through the first few pages of Sahara, but sleep over took him once again. His dreams followed the movie adaptation, where he took Matthew McConaughey's role, Eric was Steve Zahn, and Natalia was Penelope Cruz. Somewhere in the recesses of his mind, he hoped he slept long enough to reach that scene in Monterey, right before the credits.