Sara looked surprisingly calm and collected as she slowly walked into the waiting room near the ICU; she reasoned that she didn't really want to be alone, but she wasn't about to call either Grissom or Nick. The one person who she thought might need someone as much as she did was Alex Vartan.

Vartan glanced up at the sound of approaching footsteps; from his rumpled appearance and the bags under his eyes, he clearly hadn't left the hospital since the ordeal had begun. He barely raised a hand as Sara took a seat next to him. "I would have thought you'd be home getting some sleep." He was already showing signs of a bit of scruff growing on his chin.

"I could say the same about you." Sara's voice was characteristically calm and caring despite her own inner turmoil. "How is she?" She knew full well that it would be difficult to convince Vartan to be anywhere but here until he knew that Sophia was going to be ok.

"She's sedated." Vartan was bone tired and he closed his eyes for just a moment as he let out a deep breath. "I was going to propose to her; did I tell you that?"

Sara nodded. "Yeah, you mentioned that." She hoped that he would still get the chance; a good man like Alex Vartan did not deserve to have the love of a lifetime snatched away before he had the chance to tell the whole world. Ironic really that he wanted to tell the whole world.

"I had it all planned out." The faintest of smiles graced his features. "I think she knew I wanted to; we'd even danced around the idea of just letting people at work know that we were seeing each other. I think we both realized what a stupid idea it was in the first place to try and keep it a secret." He let out a soft chuckle.

"Why did you feel like you had to hide it?" Sara was curious what Vartan's rationale had been; in her mind it seemed nothing could be more ridiculous than the reason she and Grissom had come up with; they'd thought it through with logic and had left the emotional part of the equation out. She could see now that without figuring that in there was no way that their evaluation of the situation could be complete.

Vartan's brow was furrowed as he considered just why he thought it had been a good idea. "I don't know...I think we were afraid of what our superiors would think; but Brass didn't seem to care. I think we thought that people would question our ability to be professional; that it might limit our careers." He let out a bitter laugh. "The career thing seems pretty damn shallow to me right now; how I could ever think my career was more important than her I'm not sure."

There was sadness in Sara's voice. "At least you still have time." She gave him a hopeful smile; she wasn't one to pray very often, but she had shot a prayer or two heavenward on Sophia's behalf. She hoped that someone somewhere was listening.

Vartan nodded silently, but the expression on his face reflected the waves of doubt that he was trying to stay on top of. The longer she remained unconscious, the longer he was going to feel like he was on the verge of sinking below the surface of those doubts never to return.

Sara reached over and touched Vartan's arm. "You've got to believe that she's going to be ok." She offered an encouraging smile. "You really should go home and get some rest." She was sure he'd never agree to it though.

Vartan glanced over at her. "What if she wakes up and I'm not here?" He clearly was a man in love. There was nothing short of tying him up and dragging him out kicking and screaming that would make him leave this chair that seemed to have become one with his body.

"She's going to be worried about you if she sees you like this." Sara regarded his haggard appearance which was so different than the sharp dressing detective that she was used to seeing.

"I am worried." His eyes reflected fear. "What if she doesn't wake up?" It was obvious that he had regrets; many regrets that he needed to resolve. He only hoped that he'd get the chance; he'd never take his relationship with Sophia for granted again.

"You can't think like that." Sara looked at him earnestly. "She needs as many good thoughts as we can send her way; ok?" She smiled in that way that simply instilled confidence and as she saw the edges of Vartan's mouth twitch upwards, her smile widened.

"You're right." It was the waiting that was getting to Vartan; he had no idea if she would wake up in a few more minutes, hours, or even days; sitting here in the waiting room wasn't doing him any good at all. But he also didn't want to not be here if she did wake up soon. He had resigned himself to just sitting for a while.

"Have you at least had something to eat?" She had the benefit of having been home and had eaten a couple slices of pizza and drank probably a little more beer than she should have had before driving over to the hospital. Of course she hadn't exactly planned on coming back to the hospital; but after Nick had fled and she'd kicked Grissom out; a few swigs from a beer was enough to convince her that feeling sorry for herself was only going to cause more problems. At least if she went and kept Vartan company she would feel like she was doing something productive, especially since she was sure sleep wasn't going to come anytime soon.

"Not really hungry." Vartan sat forward, his elbows resting on his knees. "I can't really think about eating when I don't know what's happening." It had been a while since a doctor or nurse had updated him on her condition; he'd been into the ICU briefly to see her after she'd been settled in, but that had been several hours ago and all he could think about was how still she looked and how many tubes and wires were hooked up to her.

"I'm sure you'll hear something soon." Sara had half a mind to go and see if she could find someone that could give them some definitive information.

"I've been saying that to myself for a couple of hours now." Vartan practically growled from frustration; he wasn't sure how much more of this he could handle.

"Have you gotten a hold of her mother?" She knew that when she'd left that they were still trying.

"Yeah." His brows creased together. "She's going to get a flight back as soon as the ship gets to the next port." He was glad that Brass had made the call that had finally gotten through; he wasn't sure he could have really relayed the news without becoming a complete wreck.

Neither one of them heard the soft approaching footsteps until their conversation was interrupted by a female voice. "Detective?"

Vartan's eyes snapped up in hope as he realized that one of the nurses that had been in with Sophia was addressing him. His brow was furrowed and he felt a surge of nerves in the pit of his stomach. "Yes."

The chocolate skinned nurse smiled softly in encouragement; she clearly had some good news to offer. "Someone's asking for you." Sara immediately recognized her as Warrick's estranged wife Tina and a flicker of recognition passed between them.

"She's awake?" Vartan nearly swallowed his throat hardly daring to believe that Sophia was really awake.

"She's awake for now." The nurse arched a single brow as she cautioned Vartan. "She's going to need some more sedation, but you can see her for a few minutes."

"She's awake." Vartan's voice caught as he glanced over at Sara.

"You'd better go see her." Sara couldn't help but smile as she watched Vartan disappear into the ICU room and she considered that at least he had another chance; that was far more than she thought she was willing to give herself and Grissom at this point.

"You're Sara." Tina Brown looked at her curiously.

"Tina." Sara smiled wondering how fate had determined that of all the nurses at Desert Palm that Warrick's Tina would be the nurse treating Sophia. She glanced back at Vartan through the window as he seemed to be holding on tightly to Sophia's hand. "How is she really?"

"Too early to tell just yet; but waking up is an encouraging sign." Tina looked as if she had something else on her mind as she regarded the brunette CSI. "Sara?"

Sara glanced over at her. "Yeah?"

"Would you tell Warrick that I said hello when you see him?" Tina looked genuinely sad that she couldn't seem to bring herself to tell him that herself; they'd gotten into an argument a few months back and things had just gone from bad to worse since then.

Sara could sense that she wanted to reconnect with Warrick; and she really couldn't blame her; Warrick had been looking pretty miserable too. "I will, Tina; I will."