It seemed like forever before a weary looking surgeon strode purposefully out into the waiting room. He could tell from the bedraggled looking group that had assembled in the last several hours that they were all there for news about Detective Sophia Curtis; the uniforms and official looking name badges gave them away and he had seen any number of them several months previous when Detective Jim Brass had found himself in similar circumstances. Alex Vartan had stood as soon as he'd spotted the doctor and as it seemed all eyes were on this stricken looking man in the rumpled suit, the doctor assumed that he was the one that needed this news more than all the rest of them; it was obvious that he had something personal invested beyond the badge on his belt.

Vartan didn't even really give the doctor a chance to speak. "Doctor, how is she? How is Sophia?" Worry edged his face and his heart felt like it was beating at twice its normal rate as he waited for the doctor to form words.

The faintest twitch of a smile pulled the corners of the doctor's mouth as he glanced around the room before looking directly at Vartan. "She made it through the surgery."

"Oh, thank God." Vartan was visibly relieved and he sank back down into the chair that had become his second home for the last several hours.

The doctor's expression turned serious. "I'm not going to pull any punches with you Detective; she still has a fight ahead of her."

He had the attention of everyone in the room, and as Vartan's face fell a little, Grissom stepped forward seemingly cool as a cucumber. "Can you tell us what her condition is then?" He had a knack for getting details while leaving the emotional periphery out; not that he didn't care, he was just able to focus on the task at hand better than the average person.

"She's sedated. The bullet hit her spleen, which we subsequently removed. Her liver sustained some damage as well, but I'm confident that it will heal." The doctor glanced over at Vartan. "The real issue is her left lung, the bullet hit the lower lobe and I'm afraid there were some complications during surgery."

"What are you saying?" Vartan looked panicked; how could this doctor build up his hopes only to crush them again.

The doctor cut to the chase and gave the detective a very serious expression. "Her heart stopped twice during surgery."

An involuntary whimper escaped Vartan's mouth. "But she's going to be ok...she has to be ok." Vartan looked as if his heart had been dashed to pieces.

"Her condition is critical, but for now she's stable." A small smile broke through the doctor's serious façade. "As soon as she's settled in the ICU, you can see her." He glanced up at the rest of the group that was now murmuring. "One at a time and only for five minutes. If the nurse says you leave; you leave, no questions asked."

"Of course, Doctor." Grissom nodded, his hand was resting on the shoulder of Vartan as stood next to where the younger man sat in the molded plastic chair.

The detective let out a heavy sigh as the doctor turned and strode away. "She has to be ok." Vartan was talking to no one in particular.

Sara had moved over next to where Vartan sat and she placed her hand on his knee. "This is Sophia we're talking about; she's going to be fine, ok? She's going to be fine. You have to be strong for her."

Nick's drawl broke through as he leaned forward in his chair where he sat opposite Vartan. "Sar's right, man. Sophia loves you; she's not going to give up on you. Don't you dare start giving up on her now."

Grissom smiled at the way encouragement seemed to flow naturally out of these two younger CSIs; it was something that he was truly trying to work on for himself, those people skills, and he knew that he had a long way to go. Ever since Nick had been abducted he'd realized just how much of life he'd been missing out of as he seemed to live out his life inside of his mind instead of with the people he spent every day with.

Vartan nodded. "Yeah, yeah, you're right, she's a fighter." He let out a chuckle, the first genuine spark of hope out of him in the hours that he'd been sitting there waiting for word on Sophia. "She'd probably threaten to kick my ass if she knew I was sitting here like this."

"You bet she would." Nick chuckled in agreement. He'd worked with Sophia a time or two and watched as she'd stared down suspects, yes, she was one tough cop.

Brass who had been quiet up until now interjected uncharacteristically soft. "I don't know...I think she'd appreciate the fact that you really care." He knew what it was like to be in Sophia's shoes and it was a place he never wanted to be again. He was glad to know that these people in this room had cared about him; had helped to care for him and he would never take that for granted again. He was happy that Sophia and Vartan had found love; something that seemed to elude him for years. But that was ok, he was happy to be alive and doing something that brought purpose to his life, but still there were times he missed the security of having a woman in his life. The reality was that there was only one woman that he wanted in his life, but she was in LA and he was here and though his relationship with her had been one cause of many that had broken up his marriage; that relationship was from another time and another place.

"You think?" Vartan looked hopeful as he regarded Brass; he had been one of the two people that he and Sophia had trusted about their relationship. Now is seemed pointless to him why they had bothered to try and hide it in the first place.

Brass flashed him a rare smile. "Yeah, I think." He let out a chuckle and gestured down the hallway. "Well there's no point in hanging around here, we should get you up to the ICU so you can see Sophia." He had always like Sophia, felt a certain paternal instinct around both her and Vartan; he might have been a little surprised when he'd found out that they were seeing each other, but he certainly wasn't disappointed. He was genuinely happy for the pair; he only hoped that the young detective's hopes weren't going to be crushed and that Sophia really would recover.

Vartan stood, walking with Brass down towards the ICU as the pair continued talking. As soon as they were out of earshot, Grissom turned towards Nick and Sara. "I'm afraid it's time for business now." He let out a sigh; he hated that his CSIs had to give an official statement after this; he knew that they'd both rather stay at the hospital.

"Who's gonna take our statements?" Nick queried his supervisor. He had thought it would have been Brass since he was the detective that had taken over the crime scene.

"Catherine." Grissom replied matter of factly. "She talked with Brass and he agreed." Of course the matter of communicating that they would both be put on paid administrative leave and would probably have to talk to a representative from IA sometime in the next few days would be something he'd let Catherine share with them; though he thought they both probably expected it.

"So we should go back to the lab then." Sara's brow was furrowed. She knew what was coming and part of her would have rather given her statement to anyone but Catherine, but she needed to get it over with. She just wasn't looking forward to reliving the shooting and her inability to get a shot off; her only consolation was that right now Sophia was still alive.

Grissom offered a kind smile. "She'll be waiting for you." He had promised Catherine that as soon as word came through about Sophia that he would give her a call. He had already given his statement to Brass and planned to stay at the hospital a while longer; maybe even see Sophia himself. She'd become a good friend and he owed her that respect; and if he'd admit it to himself, he wanted to see that she really was alright with his own eyes.

Nick stood up and offered Sara a sympathetic glance. "Let's go get this over with." He felt the same sense of dread that she seemed to have about reliving the whole thing.

"Nick. Sara." Grissom regarded them both with an arched brow, his face set in a typical Grissomesque look. "Just remember, it is what it is."

"Yeah, sure." Sara replied softly with a somewhat vacant expression on her face. She was sure that Grissom meant well, but at that moment she was sure that neither her nor Nick needed platitudes as they headed back to the lab to face what they'd been dreading since Sophia had been shot.