Human Traffic
Episode tag
Summary: Because some of us would like to see more caring interactions between the entire team, and I personally hate all the "Densi" crap. After nearly being killed in an explosion then getting the crap beat out of him I'm not so sure our detective would walk away quite so unscathed. Mildly AU.
A/N: after nearly a 10 year absence I am posting again. I have an old account (adsh) with Sentinel and Diagnosis Murder stories. This story has been run through spell check a few times but not beta'd…so sorry for any glaring mistakes.
NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS
Callen hustled Scarli to the car while Kensi and Sam watched Deeks stalk off; Kensi in shock at the rage she had just witnessed in her new partner, while Sam's face held a look of grim concern.
"I…I think I should go after him…talk to him…." Kensi finally said.
Sam shook his head. "He needs a chance to cool off…wrap his head around all this."
"But he's…" Kensi didn't quite know how to put what she had just witnessed into words.
"He's confused and he's angry." Callen finished for her as he walked up to join the pair." He's got a lot to wrap his head around. His LAPD partner is dead and another cop he trusted set them both up and tried to kill him. "
"That's why he shouldn't be alone." Kensi argued. "He's not thinking straight…he might do something….he's just not himself right now…someone needs to watch out for him..."
"We've got his back Kens, but we gotta give the guy some space." Sam said.
"It's not just that…he's in pretty rough shape physically." Kensi pressed. "Lazik worked him over pretty good today and he hasn't even got checked out from the explosion yesterday."
"All right…I'll track him down." Callen conceded. "You and Sam get Scarli back to ops."
Though clearly not happy that it wasn't her to go after her partner, she was relieved that they weren't going to leave him alone with his misery.
"Fine." She huffed. "Get him checked out, even if you have to cuff him and drag him to the hospital."
Callen waved them off and pulled out his cell. "Eric, get me a fix on Deeks GPS."
In Ops, Eric pulled up the cell signals for the team and overlaid it on the city map.
"He's about two blocks from your location…at a bar called….wait, he's on the move." Eric reported. "He just exited the bar and now he's heading east."
"Thanks Eric." Callen said ending the call.
Callen took off in the direction of his wayward liaison officer and within a few minutes had the detective in his sight. The agent frowned in concern when he noticed that Deeks seemed to be wandering aimlessly, occasionally stumbling and reaching out to the nearest building to steady himself.
'Surely the detective couldn't have gotten stumbling drunk in just twenty minutes,' he thought to himself.
Callen ran to catch up with Deeks; reaching out to steady the man as the detective again stumbled. "Whoa, Deeks, I got'cha. What's the matter with you? Are you drunk?"
"Only had half a beer…" Deeks slurred, and then grimaced. "Didn't set well…."
Deeks suddenly doubled over with a groan of pain. "Don't feel to good…ah, god…something's wrong…."
"Deeks!" Callen exclaimed in alarm as Deeks stumbled from his loose grasp and fell to the pavement.
Callen had one hand pressed to Deeks chest trying to steady the man, who despite being propped up against the building was swaying; with his free hand he pulled out his cell and called ops once again.
"Eric, need an ambulance to this location. Deeks is down."
Callen didn't even wait for a response before he pocketed his phone and turned his attention to his injured teammate. "Okay Deeks, give me something to work with here; what's wrong?"
His face a tight mask of pain, Deeks managed to gasp out. "Don't know…hurt …all over … since the explosion; had this dull, heavy pain in my gut since… my run in with… Lazik…"
Deeks gave a shuddering groan as another spasm of pain shot through his abdomen, gasping to catch his breath as he let his head fall forward towards his chest.
"Hey, stay with me Deeks. " Callen cajoled. "Ambulance is on the way."
"Okay." Deeks huffed out before tilting sideways unconscious.
"Damn." Callen cursed, grabbing the detective and holding him steady.
An annoying beeping noise roused Deeks from a deep sleep and he reached out to his nightstand to turn off the annoying alarm and was surprised when his hand did not make contact with his alarm clock.
"Wha…goin' on? Where…." Marty pried his heavy eyes open and tried to take in his surroundings.
"Well, look who has decided to join the land of the living." Sam commented, a hint of teasing in his voice.
"What?" Deeks croaked out as his eyes focused. "I'm in the hospital?"
"That you are Mr. Deeks." Hetty said, coming into his line of sight. "And I'll kindly ask you to refrain from scaring us like that again."
"Uh, okay…what happened?" the detective asked in confusion.
"Deeks, you're awake!" a voice exclaimed from the open doorway.
"Kensi? Callen?" Deeks acknowledged the two new comers.
Coming to his bedside, Kensi asked. "How are you feeling?"
"Confused." He replied. "How did I get here? What happened? I remember…I remember takin' down Scarli…I took off down the street…."
"You collapsed." Hetty supplied. "Apparently, when the explosion threw you against the pavement it caused a small nick to your spleen…and your altercation with Lazik tore it open."
Deeks raised an eyebrow in surprise at the news.
"You've been bleeding internally for over twenty four hours." Sam said pointedly. "You're lucky you're not dead."
"But the doc said you're gonna be fine." Callen interjected.
"So when do I get outa here?" Deeks huffed.
"In a few days," Kensi answered.
"A few days!" Deeks groused.
"And not a minute sooner detective." Hetty warned. "Besides the surgery needed to control your internal bleeding you also sustained a concussion and a few cracked ribs."
"Now you wanna explain why you did something so stupid?" Sam asked as he moved to stand beside the bed.
"What'd I do? I didn't know I had a ruptured spleen!" Deeks huffed out defensively.
"It's not about your lack of getting proper medical care; although we will come back to that point later." Callen stated. "It's about you going to a meet without backup…we only knew you were in that warehouse when Eric ID'd your car in the lot."
"In case you've forgotten my back up was murdered by that bastard." Deeks said angrily, attempting to rise up out of his bed.
The pain was instantaneous and took his breathe away. He grabbed at his side and fell back into his bed, his voice tight with pain. "I was not about to let him get away with that."
"And what do you call us?" Kensi asked, waving her hand around the room at the other agents. "Why didn't you call us when Lazik contacted you?"
The injured detective looked confused and surprised by the question. "It was an LAPD op…nothing to do NCIS."
"Yet you asked for my help Mr. Deeks?" Hetty said questioningly.
"I just didn't want them to shut down the op before I could get what I needed to nail Lazik." Marty said with a shrug.
"You thought we'd just leave you to finish an op with no backup whatsoever? With Traynor dead your LAPD backup was nonexistent." Hetty interjected. "We are not in the habit of leaving our agents out in the cold Mr. Deeks."
"I'm not an agent."
"You are one of us Mr. Deeks…you may not have agent status but you do the job of an agent on this team." Hetty said pointedly.
"Do something stupid like that again and your beat down will come from the home team." Sam groused.
Deeks eyed the team curiously for a moment before letting out a sigh. "Okay, I get it. I guess I'm just used to going it alone….deep cover doesn't afford much chance of back up."
"That way of thinking ends as of this moment young man." Hetty said tartly, wagging a finger at him.
Deeks raised a wary eyebrow at the diminutive woman causing the others to chuckle quietly, "Yes, ma'am!"
The detective was saved from additional scolding when the door opened and the doctor came into the room. "Ah, detective Deeks, good to see you awake; let's see how you're doing."
Coming to his patient's bed side he scanned the now familiar faces in the room and sighed. "Now that you've seen your man awake can I get you to step out in the hall and give my patient some privacy please? Or better yet finally go home and get some rest yourselves."
"We'll be right outside doctor." Hetty said as she shooed everyone to the hallway.
Deeks and the doctor watched the agents file out of the room; the doctor taking note of his patients odd expression.
"Something on your mind?" the doctor asked.
"Just trying to put it all together," Deeks said with a pained sigh. "It's all kind of fuzzy."
"Well, let's see if I can fill in some gaps." The doctor said. "You were brought in two days ago with a ruptured spleen, cracked ribs and a rather severe concussion…quite frankly I don't know how you were up and walking around…"
"Wait! I've been here for two days." Deeks exclaimed.
"And so have your friends. They've been here at the hospital the whole time." The doctor said as he began checking over his patient, continuing his monologue. "They have been driving my staff crazy, totally disregarding visiting hours, claiming they had to be here as a protection detail…questioning every procedure we've performed…"
Noting the odd, surprised look on his patients face, the doctor asked, "That surprises you? They seem like good people. Why would you be surprised that they want to be here for you, I thought you were part of their team?"
Deeks just shrugged, his eyes never leaving the door the NCIS team had walked through. "They are good people…but we're just colleagues…only worked with them a few times; this is the first time I've actually seen them in over three months…."
"Well they certainly seem to consider you a part of their team." The doctor said, adding, "Things are looking good. No fever and the incision site is looking good, no sign of infection. Shall I have them step back in now."
Deeks smiled. "Like I could keep them out, even if I wanted to."
The doctor returned his smile. "I believe you're right."
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The doctor stepped out in the hall.
"How is Mr. Deeks?" Hetty asked expectantly.
"He's fine. The stitches are holding. The incision site is clean and free of infection. If all goes well he should be discharged in a couple of days, providing he takes it easy for a couple of weeks." The doctor reported.
"Have no fear of that doctor." The diminutive woman said forcefully. "He will be following doctors' orders to the letter."
The doctor gave a smile. "I do believe he will at that."
"Thanks for everything doc." Callen said.
"You're quite welcome." The doctor said, shaking the young man's hand. "Now if you'll excuse me I've got to finish my rounds."
When they entered the room they found Deeks staring out the window.
"The doctor says you're going to be all right…should get out of here in a few days if you behave." Kensi said going to sit at the corner of his bed.
He looked at the team curiously for a moment before asking, "Am I in any danger?"
"Danger, how so, Mr. Deeks," Hetty asked. "The doctor said you were healing nicely."
"Not with the injuries; I mean, with the case…am I in some kind of danger?" Deeks asked.
"Nope, case is closed and airtight against Scarli." Callen offered.
"So why are you all here?" he asked pointedly.
"Why wouldn't we be here?" Kensi asked, exchanging confused looks with her teammates.
"Doc says you've all been here for the last two days, claiming it was for a protection detail…but the case is closed?" Deeks pressed.
"Ah, that…well, it was the only way the doc would let us stay." Sam said.
Deeks furrowed his brow in confusion. "So I don't need a detail?"
"No, sorry if we gave you the impression that you were in danger?" Hetty said.
Shaking his head, Marty asked, "So why are you here?"
The team exchanged looks before Sam said. "You are a pain in the ass but you're our pain in the ass Deeks."
"You ever go off on your own again; you and me, we will be having words." Callen offered.
"You're my partner…where else would I be?" Kensi added.
Deeks looked at each NCIS member in surprise before turning to a smiling Hetty. "It's called a team Mr. Deeks…get used to it, you belong to us now and when one is down it affects us all."
Looking around the room at her agents she asked. "Is there a problem with that?"
Everyone shook their heads at the question before all eyes settled back on the man in the bed, waiting for his response.
His eyes trailed over the team before a small smile crossed his face. "No, Hetty, it's not a problem at all."
THE END
