The idea to this story came after watching episode 5.11 Iron Curtain Rising (so a long long time ago...). Most people thought Sam and Callen left Deeks behind, because they didn't think him good enough or something like that. I thought "What if it was to protect him?" That idea made me write about three pages, then more and more and then I somehow found myself with a beginning and an end, lacking the middle part. Well, to be honest, I still do, but I got help. Bee Eh Vee checked and helped with the beginning, filling holes and introducing more logic, and now we are working on the middle. So, have faith and patience, we will get to the end, it is already written, we just need to find our way there...

Anyway, hope you enjoy the journey...

Just a Feeling of Trust

Chapter 1

"This is going to be a waste of time." Callen spat.

Sam glanced at his partner who stood with arms crossed over his chest, giving the door of the hospital room an evil look.

"We can't be sure, G, and you know it. So move your behind, interview the potential witness and record his statement so we can hear it again, if necessary. I'll be over there", Sam indicated some chairs further down the corridor, "waiting for you."

"My behind? What are you, four?" Callen gave Sam an incredulous look.

Sam just shrugged, grinning. "Right now, partner, you're behaving like you're four."

"He insulted you." Callen fumed. Not that anybody would know seeing him standing there, deceptively calm in front of the door. But Sam knew his partner and could tell just how angry he was.

"You should leave the childish sulking to Deeks, he does it more convincingly." Sam teased. "We should have waited for him." he continued. "Would have been interesting to see what he would have done."

As expected, those comments got through Callen's ire. "I'm sure he would have made some very insane, improbable and witty remark." he stated with a snort. Then he grinned and saw Sam do the same. "He would have driven that guy up the wall." both said unison. The agents lapsed into silence and thought about why the detective wasn't with them.

Deeks had asked Hetty for some hours off this morning to attend the funeral of an old colleague from LAPD. As they had only been catching up on paperwork with no imminent case, Hetty had complied. The Detective was supposed to be back some time after lunch.

Callen and Sam, meanwhile, had worked through the paper mess created by one of their prior cases, crossing T's and dotting I's, still slightly miffed that Deeks had gotten out of that task. Though the partners had to admit a funeral was no fun either. They had secretly assured themselves that the deceased was no one too close to Deeks. The detective was still too brittle after Sidorov. And with Kensi gone on a mission …

To the partners' unhappy surprise they unearthed a potential witness they had overlooked previously. They checked with Hetty who told them to interview the man just to make sure nothing else had gone unnoticed. It turned out the witness was a racist ass and just wouldn't talk with Sam present which led to their standoff in the corridor.

"Well, sadly, our personal trouble maker isn't available right now, which leaves you to do the honors." Sam gestured at the door.

"But he…" Callen tried again.

"Whatever," Sam interrupted, "that guy isn't the first one trying to insult me and he isn't even coming close to doing any harm" the agent scoffed. "So you go and do your thing and I'll

wait. Don't shoot him." with those warning words Sam watched a quite grumpy Callen enter the room.

Shaking his head in wry amusement and admittedly even slight anger, Sam went to the chairs, but remembering a vending machine downstairs, he decided he would buy a snack for G to calm him down. If there was one thing he had learned from Deeks it was that sometimes snacks could do you wonders. The sheer amount of Doughnuts and Twinkies the detective had bought to keep Kensi in a good mood. God, Sam missed her and didn't want to imagine how much more Deeks must do.

Stepping out of the elevator, the agent was greeted by total chaos in the ER. Frightened people rushed towards the exit while others yelled in the background. Recognizing one of the yelling voices he quickly ran closer. Speaking of the devil, thought Sam and wondered what their detective was doing in the hospital. Had something happened at the funeral? Reaching the ER Sam only saw Deeks' back. "Hey, Deeks, what's the matter." he shouted to be heard over the noise.

The blond detective whirled around and the agent suddenly found himself right in front of Deeks' gun. Sam cautiously raised his hands in a placating manner having the distinct feeling that his teammate had no idea where or even who he was. The right side of the detective's face was bruised and swollen, smeared with blood flowing from a gash right below his hairline. The eye beneath was so red it made Sam wince just to look at it.

Deeks was standing hunched over, his right arm pressed against his side as if his ribs hurt, the fingers swollen. The other arm, scraped and bruised, held the weapon in a steady grip, not wavering from his aim although the sudden turn had forced the man to lean with his shoulder against a near wall for support. Sam knew Deeks was right-handed, but he had no doubt that the determined man in front of him would hit where he aimed despite holding the weapon in his left hand. Taking a small step back to ease the pressure on his obviously confused and scared colleague he continued giving Deeks a silent once over, for now ignoring what was going on around them.

The torn black slacks were dirty and through a large gap one could see a blood soaked bandage on the detective's left thigh. He looks like the victim of a hit and run, Sam thought, wondering what had happened that he found himself at the wrong end of his teammate's weapon.

The younger man was taking shallow hectic breaths, his whole body on full defense mode though swaying slightly. "Who are you?" he rasped, licking his lips while positioning himself with his back to the wall so that he could use it as support while keeping an eye on the other people around. The weapon stayed trained on the agent though.

Without missing a beat, although the question somewhat frightened him as he realized something was very wrong, Sam answered "I'm your colleague, Sam Hanna. You're Marty Deeks, detective with LAPD."

"Show me your badge." Deeks' eyes were so cold and Sam couldn't remember ever being right in the center of such a gaze from his colleague. Not even during their dispute before the whole Sidorov mess. Moving slowly and carefully, Sam complied.

"That's no LAPD badge." Deeks growled, "Why are you lying?"

"Deeks, please. Put down the gun before you hurt someone. You wouldn't want that." Sam pleaded instead of answering the question directly, rightly judging the aggressive tone to be only a cover for the underlying panic.

The blond man frowned and looked around again, this time making an effort to really take in what he saw. They were in the middle of the ER. Two police officers, weapons at the ready, stood at the other end of the corridor. They seemed reluctant to come any closer, but more as if they didn't want to crowd Deeks and Sam than out of fear. Deeks blinked as he acknowledged them. Sam was grateful. He shuddered to think what might have happened if they had agitated the detective any further.

Deeks gaze left the officers. On the floor lay a paramedic trying to look as non-threatening as possible though he too didn't seem to be afraid. On the contrary, Sam could see that the first responder itched to come closer to treat the wounds, as he contemplated each of them in rapid succession.

The few doctors and nurses that had not taken the opportunity to flee, on the other hand, stood frozen on the spot in fear, not that anyone could blame them. They had just tried to assess the state of the unconscious man when he came to not only yelling and swinging but waving a gun for good measure. No one knew for sure how he had gotten hold of that. Sam knew; when you worked the cases they did, sliding a holster under your suit at your back for a funeral didn't seem strange or inappropriate. It was a way of life. He thanked God for the fact that Deeks seemed to be the only seriously wounded patient right now. At least they were not interrupting any emergency procedures.

Finally the detective's eyes fell on a little Asian girl. Sam thought her to be no older than five. Her back was pressed against her mother's legs, the head burrowed in the woman's stomach. The girl's body was hidden in the woman's embrace as she tried to shield the child. Deeks swallowed. The mother gave the detective a look full of compassion and fear. Deeks swallowed again.

"Where am I?" he finally asked, not sounding aggressive any more, just frightened.

"You are at Pacific Beach Medical." The same hospital Deeks had been in when a terrorist had tried to lure Kensi out of hiding. Sam winced internally while thinking about that episode. "I don't know what happened, but I'm sure no one here wants to hurt you. Could you give me your weapon?" Sam tried again.

Deeks gave a tiny nod, but didn't move, so Sam carefully got closer and everybody took a deep relieved breath when Deeks allowed the agent to take the gun. His now empty hand immediately went up to his face to try and wipe some of the blood out of his eye with shaking fingers. Sam checked the weapon, put on the safety and stuffed it into his pocket. Not an ideal place for it, but for now it would do.

Sam still didn't touch Deeks but pointedly glanced at his face "That cut looks nasty, probably needs some stitches. And standing on that leg can't be fun either. Why don't you sit down over there and let one of the doctors take a look at you?"

The detective ignored him, his gaze still on the girl who was now talking in a low voice to its mother. "Is she afraid of me? I didn't want to make her afraid." Deeks said with a forlorn voice.

"Yes, she was afraid of you, but I think she'll be okay." A tentative smile and a small wave from said girl proved Sam's words to be true. She was really amazing. "Come on, let's get some weight off your leg." Sam made sure that Deeks could see him reaching for his arm. The paramedic on the floor slowly got up and came closer to help, also making sure to stay in Deeks' line of sight while spreading an air of calm that soothed the agitated detective further.

They all flinched when Sam's phone chimed. The small movement was enough to spike Deeks' pain. He groaned and would have fallen, had the two men not moved in to catch him. Deeks limped badly when they guided him to the bed in the nearest exam room. Deeks had taken to gripping Sam's wrist and did not let go even after they had helped him settle down onto the bed. With an unenthused snort Sam fished for his incessantly ringing phone with his other hand and glanced at the screen. G, no real surprise there. His partner would be wondering where he was.

Sam took the call and started speaking before his partner could utter a word "G, head down to the ER. Call Hetty and ask her to come ASAP. We have a situation here with Deeks."

"Deeks? What's the matter? He okay?" The confusion in Callen's voice was not unexpected, but that didn't stop Sam from feeling his impatience rise.

"No, he's hurt, I don't know how badly but it doesn't look good. I have no idea what happened, I kind of found him here. Just hurry up."

Sam ended the call, his eyes still locked with Deeks. "Come on, man, let go. The doctors need some space to treat you."

Deeks just shook his head in a tiny motion looking right on the verge of crying, his eyes darting this way and that, checking for possible threats or a way out, maybe both. Not that Sam could blame him. Their last venture to an ER couldn't have left a nice memory with the young man, it sure hadn't with Sam. Although in all honesty, Sam wasn't sure what Deeks remembered at all right now.

The paramedic helped make Deeks more comfortable without uttering a word though he looked at Deeks strangely the whole time. Then he just left after giving Sam a friendly nod. Sam felt a bit confused by that behavior, until he realized that Deeks had relaxed the moment the other man was gone. It was obvious the detective trusted only one person right now. Sam wasn't quite sure what to make of this, but he felt somewhat humbled by the thought. Deeks' grip around his wrist tightened and Sam had the distinct feeling he was the only thing holding together Deeks' ever fraying nerves despite the fact that the young man had no idea who he was. So he stayed and calmly waited for his partner to come and join him. Hopefully with some of the doctors in his company.