Deeks drifted awake to a hazy world filled with pain and the rhythmic sound of the heart monitor. As his eyes cleared, he took in the white popcorn ceiling, sterile curtain walls, the heady smell of antiseptic, and his partner's beautiful, concerned features.

"Am I dead?"

He watched with a hint of amusement as Kensi jumped at his softly spoken words. She rose from her chair to lean over the bed, so that he wouldn't have to strain too hard to talk to her.

"I feel like I should be dead."

"Hey there," Kensi smiled softly at him. "You're not getting rid of me that easily."

He could see the relief she felt shining in her dark eyes as she looked at him. A twinge of something warm and tingly shot through him at knowing she'd been worried about him. There were days when she acted like she couldn't even stand him, but here she was, with obvious concern written all over her beautiful features, and it made him feel good. He didn't really have too many friends or people who would miss him if he died, so he was glad to learn that Kensi would have.

Of course, he was extremely pleased that he wouldn't be knocking on St. Peter's Gate any time soon. He hurt like hell and probably would for some time, but despite the pain he was feeling, he was damn glad that he was alive. Because he was feeling more than just a little bit happy to be alive, and even though he knew it would be mean to do, Deeks couldn't resist having a little bit of fun at Kensi's expense.

"Do I know you?"

Deeks watched the smile fade from Kensi's face and be replaced with a worried frown.

"Deeks?"

"You're not my nurse?"

He had to work hard to keep the grin he felt tugging at his lips from appearing, as Kensi studied him with growing concern, trying to discern whether he was serious about not knowing who she was or was faking it. "I'm serious Deeks."

"My name's Deeks? Really?"

Kensi cast a glance toward the doorway, as if she was pondering whether or not she should go track a nurse or doctor down, and started to take a step in that direction, when Deeks knew he had to put an end to his pretending not to know her before it went any further.

"I'm just kidding." He reached to tug the oxygen line out of his nose. "I remember you Fern."

Kensi wheeled back around to look at him. "Yeah, you funny, huh. I'm going to punch you in your bullet hole."

"That sounds vaguely dirty." Deeks said, struggling to pull himself into a sitting position, wincing as the movement shot white hot slices of pain threading through his torso. " I think I'm going to have to tell Hetty."

Before Kensi could say anything else, a nurse came into the room. Deeks watched and listened as his partner asked the nurse if she could see her ID. Something twisted in his gut at Kensi's heightened awareness and the fact that she was checking the identification of the medical personnel assigned to care for him. He had a feeling that he hadn't just walked into a botched robbery like he first thought. He would have to wait until he and his partner were alone again, before he asked Kensi what was going on.

He couldn't resist flirting with his assigned nurse. Nurse Debbie was cute. She obviously thought he was cute too, by the sweet smile she flashed him as she checked his vitals and told him which buttons he needed to press on his bed to ask for assistance and to turn on the television. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Kensi roll her eyes at his over the top flirting, and was secretly pleased. He hated seeing her looking so worried, even if it did give him a little thrill to find out that she did care for him, despite her insistence that she only tolerated him because they were partners.

As soon as Nurse Debbie exited his room, he sobered. " You guys catch my shooter yet?"

"We're working on it." Kensi was quick to assure him.

"And?"

"What makes you think there's an 'and'?"

He eyed her questioningly. She was hedging her responses to his questions and it was a little infuriating. Gave him a little spark of incite into what it must be like for her when he answered her questions with ones of his own.

"You've heightened security and you're checking badges. You're obviously expecting unwanted visitors."

"The guys who shot you this morning? Do you recognize them?"

"It's hard to remember." Deeks struggled to recall the moments leading up to his shooting. He saw again the man running up to him, heard the click of a trigger, saw the flash of the gun being fired, felt again the agonizing pain of the bullets striking him, and his legs buckling beneath him. Next thing he remembered was waking up in the hospital.

He shook his head to clear his disjointed thoughts. " I didn't just walk in on a botched robbery, did I? Is that what you are trying to tell me? "

Kensi sighed. Deeks was a cop, and her partner, and deserved honest answers from her.

"You didn't just happen upon a robbery Deeks. You were targeted. Callen and Sam, with Eric's help, discovered that your shooter drove away in a gray Mustang. There's footage of the same car on your block this morning."

He had already assumed that there was more to his shooting than what he first expected, but hearing Kensi say that he was targeted, still left him feeling a little stunned. Running into danger and encountering idiots with guns was all part of the job, and he willingly accepted it, if it meant taking bad guys off the street. But knowing that someone hated him enough to target him, was a bit unsettling.

"Hey, I'm sure we all have a very long list." Kensi told him, trying to make light of the situation, and failing miserably. Neither she nor Deeks thought his getting shot was funny in the very least.

"Guess we aren't doing our jobs if we don't piss off the bag guys bad enough for them to want us dead." Deeks quipped.

"Guess not." Kensi grinned, relieved to see him cracking jokes, despite the seriousness of the situation. Then she sobered, "Listen Deeks, I just wanted to let you know that I'm glad you're not dead."

"I'm glad you're glad I'm not dead."

Their eyes locked and held. A hint of an emotion that was more than mutual respect and friendship, passed between them, but neither Kensi nor Deeks was ready to acknowledge it. For now they could just enjoy the fact that their partnership was intact and with the help of the rest of their team, they would find Deeks's shooters, and bring them to justice.

Author's note:Dialogue from episode is in Italics.