It occurred to Nick while Sara was taking a quick shower that it might be a good idea to call the hospital to find out what Sophia's condition was before they went down there; it would be even more traumatic if they got there only to find that she hadn't made it. Nick made a quick phone call, but ran into a dead end with the nurse in the ER who refused to give him any information even after he'd told her he was with the LVPD. He scowled in frustration and then decided that maybe he should just call Brass; if anyone was going to know, it was going to be him.

The detective answered on the fourth ring. "Brass, it's Nick." He nodded as he listened to Brass talk. "Yeah, I expected that...no, I'm with Sara, she's taking a quick shower and then we were going to head down to the hospital...you wouldn't happen to know..." Nick's words trailed off as he felt a lump of emotion fill his throat and then even as tears were stinging his eyes, he let out a laugh at what Brass told. "That's good; she's in surgery...ok, well, yeah, we're headed down there then. Thanks."

Nick let out a sigh of relief as he closed his cell phone and tucked it into his pocket. Sophia had made it to the hospital and was in surgery; at least she had a fighting chance. That was something positive that he could tell Sara; something that they both could hang onto on the ride down there. He wasn't going to kid himself that she couldn't as easily die on the operating room table, but for now he could be hopeful.

Sara emerged a few minutes later looking a bit more relaxed, her damp curls framed her face and she hadn't bothered to put any make-up on, instead she had donned a pair of jeans, a t-shirt and a hoodie along with a pair of trainers. "You ready to go?" There was an edge of apprehension in her voice.

"I called Brass." Nick wanted to fill her in as quickly as possible and as worry clouded Sara's eyes he smiled. "She's in surgery so we won't know anything for a while." He smiled again as the relief he felt was mirrored on Sara's face.

The ride down to the hospital was a quiet one; each of them was lost in their own thoughts; as if speaking might somehow break this bubble of hope that currently surrounded them. Since they knew that she was up in the OR, they didn't bother asking the receptionist for directions, they'd both been at the hospital enough in the line of duty to know exactly where to go.

Of all the people they expected to find in the waiting room near the OR looking completely stricken, it was not Detective Alex Vartan. And yet, there he was, his face in his hands until he heard approaching footsteps. A glimmer of hope and worry flitted across his face as if he expected the doctor to address him about Sophia's condition. When he realized it was Nick and Sara, the worry crept back in, but there was a bit of relief too that no news was good news at this point.

"Vartan." Nick greeted the detective for both of them as they sat in the molded plastic chairs, not really pinpointing why he should be looking so worried, unless there was far more going on between the two detectives than anyone else knew about.

"Nick. Sara." Alex Vartan looked worn out, but he was glad for the company. There was nothing worse than sitting in a waiting room alone waiting for news that could potentially be devastating.

Sara was a little quicker to pick up on why Vartan was so worried. "Have you gotten any update on her condition? Has her family been contacted?" Sara knew enough about Sophia to know that her mother had been a captain on the LVPD herself but was now retired and that her father was deceased.

Vartan shook his head. "Nothing since they took her in." His voice had a waver to it. "I don't know whether I should worry or be glad that I haven't heard anything at all." He looked genuinely worried. "I tried to get in touch with her mother, but I haven't been able to reach her yet."

"Do you want me to try and call her again?" Sara reached out and touched Vartan's shoulder in a comforting gesture.

He shook his head. "No, I mean, Sophia told me that she was going on a senior's cruise, she'd been looking forward to it for a long time. It's going to take some time to get in touch with her." Vartan looked shaken.

Nick furrowed his brow. "You sure we can't do anything?" He really was curious why he'd never noticed that there was something more than just a coworker's relationship between the detectives, but then again, he usually only worked with them one at a time.

"Nah...not unless you can find the bastard that did this." Vartan obviously only had the most barebones information; once he'd heard that Sophia had been shot, he hadn't registered anything else.

"He's dead." Nick was glad that at least he could offer that. He wasn't sure how he'd feel if the woman he loved had been shot and the shooter had gotten away.

Vartan's head shot up as he regarded Nick with a furrowed brow. "You sure?"

Nick let out a long breath as he realized that Vartan wasn't going to be satisfied until he had the whole story, something that he wasn't sure he could really give him until the official investigation was over and sorted out. "Yeah." Nick nodded. "Damn sure. I shot him myself."

"Oh, shit." Vartan exclaimed wondering just how bad this scene had been and who else might have been injured. "Was anyone else hurt?" He knew so many people in the crime lab and on the police force that he knew if this bastard had shot Sophia he might have gotten others too.

Sara patted his shoulder and gave him a sad smile. "No...no, he didn't." She wasn't sure how much she should say; her official statement hadn't been taken yet and she really didn't want to tell Alex Vartan that she felt somewhat responsible for Sophia getting shot in the first place because she hadn't had a clear shot herself.

"That's good." His voice registered that this was anything but good; not that he wished this hell on anyone else, he just wished it hadn't been Sophia. He sniffled a little and then let out a bitter laugh. "You know I was going to ask her to marry me...problem was we wanted to keep everything under wraps, only a few people even knew we were together; that all seems pretty stupid now. What the hell good is falling in love with someone if you can't tell the whole world about it?" He looked like he was going to lose it any moment.

"Hey now, you've got to have hope; Sophia's a fighter. She's not going to give up." Sara hoped her words sounded far more convincing than she felt they were, especially as she glanced over and locked eyes with Nick. They had both heard Sophia say that she thought she was going to die.

Nick chimed in. "Sara's right, you know Sophia isn't about to give up something she wants without a fight." He had a vague recollection in all of the chaos that Sophia had blurted out a cryptic sentence right before she'd fallen into a semi-conscious state. Nick's voice was earnest. "She loves you man...she wanted to make sure you knew that."

Sara looked at him quizzically and then it struck her exactly what he was talking about and she smiled. "She does, she told us herself." That was just the kind of hope that she thought Vartan needed and it didn't in any way compromise the case or the statements they still had to give.

Vartan had a glimmer of hope in his eyes that if what they were saying was true, that she was conscious after she was shot and coherent enough to say that, she was either scared as hell or pissed off. Either way, it meant that the bullet probably hadn't hit her lungs or her heart, maybe she'd be lucky and just lose a spleen, after all it was almost a spare part. "I just want her to be ok."

Right at that moment, Nick and Sara were both glad to have Alex Vartan as a diversion from the guilt they were both feeling about the situation. What they felt was nothing compared to the agony that their colleague was feeling. An unspoken understanding passed between the two CSIs that they would just sit there with the detective until the doctors came out to bring word about Sophia's condition.