AN: I just couldn't resist doing a post-Cry story.

Disclaimer: I don't own In Plain Sight or its characters. Also, I am not a doctor and while I have done some basic research into the medical aspects involved with this condition, most of my knowledge comes from House, MD. I will be taking liberties with the details so it fits with the story, my apologies for any inaccuracies. If they are too great, for any medical practitioners reading this, let me know and I'll do my best to edit in favour of medical realism (which was the original title for this story, btw).

Spoilers: Don't cry for me Albuquerque and any thing before that (maybe).

Summary: Mary wakes up in stages. To consciousness. To herself. To Marshall.

The Ten Stages of Awakening

Physical

The first time she woke up she managed to open her eyes long enough to register she was in a hospital and to identify the woman sat in the chair next to the bed as someone she knew, although she couldn't work out who she was and why she was associating her with an image of a small child in a blue summer dress, laughing as she ran through a jet of water.

Brandi noticed the movement and watched in hope as Mary's eyes opened and made contact with her own. She stood, leaning on the side rail of the bed, explaining to her sister she was just going to get a doctor, then left.

By the time she returned, nurse in tow, Mary had lapsed back into the coma she had spent the last six days in.

"That's perfectly normal," the nurse assured Brandi as she moved round the bed adjusting things Brandi still didn't understand the functions of and making notes on Mary's chart. "She'll probably be in and out of consciousness for brief periods before she fully comes to."

Brandi stood staring down at her older sister a moment before leaving to call their mom.