A/n Ok so much for clearing my head. With all the responses I received for Chapter 21 "Twist" in "My Mind is a Weird Place" I just couldn't get it out of my head so here you go. I hope you enjoy it.

I've said before and I'll say it again, Bamie02 is something special when comes to being a sounding board and firing back ideas at me. A simple Thank You seems so insignificant, and I know you have a pretty good idea what's going to happen, but hopefully I threw in enough twists that you'll be surprised.

Disclaimer: Nothing in the bank account, therefore I don't own it

Her breath came in gasps as she ran after G and Sam. She was always more of a sprinter than long distance, and so she was losing ground behind them. In her mind the fact that Kensi wore a tactical vest and was carrying a tricked out M4 while those two were in plainclothes wasn't an excuse, it simply was what it was. Her job now, and had been for the past two years was to provide overwatch for the two senior agents when they went in undercover. Today's meet was with a ghost. A suspected assassin and thief known only as the Wraith was in town for some intel from a Navy thinktank. The team had crossed paths with the guy three times in the past, yet didn't even know what he looked like. Once he had achieved his goals, twice they had managed to thwart him. Callen said it was even worse than dealing with Janvier the Chamleon. Somehow the suspect had gotten spooked during the meet and took off running. From their voices Kensi knew something wasn't right on Callen and Sam's end either. Her mind flashed back to the briefing earlier. Hetty and Granger had both cautioned the team to be careful as if they knew something the others didn't, but they wouldn't elaborate. But the looks Kensi specifically had received had put the team's nerves on edge. Just another day on the job. She wasn't about to let this guy go and have to deal with him a fifth time.

Kensi rounded the corner that her fellow teammates had turned just seconds before to watch the suspect take out both Sam and Callen. Whatever move he used; and Kensi thought she recognized Sayoc, Tai Chi and possibly Krav Maga; had left Sam laying on the ground whooping for breath and then the suspect pulled off a move she thought was physically impossible. With some kind of a backflip, Callen was now held in a chokehold with his own pistol being screwed into his ear canal by the suspect. The M4 snapped out, straight and steady as Kensi yelled trying to still her heavy breathing. "Federal Agents! Let him go."

Shock hammered into her system as his head came up.. It wasn't the suspect's moves or actions that surprised her; it was that she knew who he was. It had been three years and he is clean shaven and completely bald, but his eyes, those eyes that she had never ever been able to forget. The very eyes that had haunted her dreams every night for the last three years. The very eyes that she saw every morning when their daughter first woke up with a grin so much like her father's. The eyes that belonged to her partner, the father of her child, the man who was the most important man in the world to her, the man who had been missing for the last three years and she had never been able to find anything about what had happened.

The M4's front sight started to slip as she hated herself for how unsure she sounded. "Deeks…. Deeks is that really you? "

Until now the man who Kensi knew right then, right now in her soul to be Deeks had been control of his actions, but seeing her staggered him. "Kensi?... Kensi…. no…. no you can't be her. She's dead." Deeks slammed his knee into Callen's back, forcing the chokehold tighter on the senior agent's neck. "Nice trick there G." The sound of his voice chilled Kensi's marrow. "How did Hetty convince somebody to go under the knife to look like Kensi?"

"Deeks, it's me Kensi. Please drop the gun and let Callen go, please." The pleading in her voice appalled Kensi but she couldn't help it. What had happened to him, he who promised to never die on her, to never leave her? "Please don't make me shoot you."

"See darling, that's how I know you're not the Kensi I knew. She would shot me already." The familiar drawl sent shivers down Kensi's spine. "Don't worry, I am not mad at you. Them on the other hand." Deeks hammered a kick into Sam's torso as the retired Senior Chief Petty Officer tried to get back on his feet, before ramming his knee back into Callen's vertebrae.

The M4 steadied once more as Kensi saw Callen's struggles starting to lessen. Her thumb moved the selector to semi auto and she was already figuring how to take the shot. Deeks was taller than Callen and with the angle he was using to increase the pressure on the chokehold she had a decent opening at Deeks right shoulder. Still she had to try one more time. "Let me help you Deeks please. Whatever happened, we'll figure it out, we always do."

At that particular phrase Deeks eyes flashed, and she knew, she just knew he was going to make her shoot him. Even after three years gone from her sight, Kensi could still read Deeks like a book. She wasn't sure what was louder; the crack of the carbine as it fired or the thump of Deeks head hitting the pavement as he stumbled and tripped after the bullet hit. The M4 dropped to hang from its sling as she drew the Smith & Wesson she started carrying in memory of Deeks as Kensi rushed to the man who was everything she had ever wanted.

Sam staggered back to his feet as Callen sucked in painful breaths reveling in the flow of oxygen into his heaving lungs. "What the fuck is going on?" He looked down where Kensi was kneeling with Deeks head in her lap, keeping pressure on the bullet hole in his shoulder. He did notice that she kicked Callen's Sig away and had at least zip tied Deeks hands together, but otherwise she was oblivious to her fellow team members. "You ok G?" At Callen's nod, the retired Navy SEAL pulled out his phone and called the OPS center of the Office of Special Projects for NCIS.

"Ambulances are already on the way Sam." Eric didn't even bother with any other words. "Sam did we hear right? Is it Deeks?"

"Kensi thinks so." Sam grimaced as he tried to draw a deep breath. Deeks if that's who it really was had certainly packed a heck of a blow into his rib cage. "Eric does Hetty know?"

"Indeed I do Mr. Hanna. Inform us what hospital you are going to. We will meet you there." Even though he wasn't in the room with her, Sam could almost see the look of disquiet on the tiny woman's face. "Be there for Ms. Blye."

"Understood." As he hung up the phone, Sam glanced back down at Deeks, seeing once again, despite the loss of all his hair, the man who had held strong while protecting Michelle. He shook his head when he realized Kensi had tears trickling down her cheeks. "What the fuck is going on?" He asked again knowing full well he wouldn't get an answer that satisfied him.

"I don't know." The torturous wheeze that came from Callen was like nothing Sam had ever heard before, but the steely glint in those ice blue eyes of his partner he knew full well. "But we are going to find out."

*****NCIS LA*****

Callen had refused to allow Kensi to ride with Deeks alone in the ambulance. He had also insisted on handcuffing Deeks to the stretcher. Kensi had blown up at him, and it looked like she was going to strike him until Sam stepped in. So Sam had ridden with Kensi in the ambulance worrying about her. He had never seen her in this state, and he only knew one person who could get through to her in times like these, unfortunately said person was unconscious, confined to a stretcher, and being wheeled into the hospital.

True to Hetty's words; she, Granger, Nell and two additional agents who Sam recognized but for the life of him couldn't remember their names at the moment met the team at the door. Both of the additional agents were dressed and armed similarly to Kensi and along with Nell and her ubiquitous tablet peeled off to follow the biggest question mark Sam had ever come across down the hallway. A couple of nurses looked like they were going to freak but a glance at the grim and somber crew that had just arrived, especially the brunette, wisely chose not to say a word.

"Agent Callen what the hell happened out there?" Most people who dealt with Granger thought the man had zero emotions, but to those who knew him somewhat it was obvious that he was concerned, most likely how this was going to make him look.

Calln looked at Sam and nodded. His throat still hurt and his voice was still hoarse from the struggle. Hetty caught the look between her two senior agents and approved. "Mr. Hanna if you please."

With a sideways glance at Kensi, just to make sure she didn't go tearing off after Deeks, Sam took a deep breath ignoring the hitch in his ribs. "We never caught a glimpse of his face when he showed up at the meet, all three of us arriving at the same time. He was… twitchy there is no other word for it. I can't say the same for G, but there was something familiar about the way the suspect move and talked." Sam willfully chose to ignore the glare Kensi sent his way at the word suspect. "Remember we have no idea who this guy is. We've never seen him, never talked to him, so why would he trip our instincts that way? G said something about getting a box for the package and the guy took off, like he was panicked. We pursued with Kensi as back up. She had farther to go, so we caught up to him around a corner out of her sight. As I moved to tackle him, he put me down. How I am not sure." As much as it hurt his pride to admit he had gotten taken by a smaller man, Sam Hanna knew that right now was a time for laying it out on the table. "Everything after that is a little blurry, but just then Kensi arrived and…. Well you know the rest."

"Ms. Blye…. Kensi. Why don't you go get cleaned up?" Hetty laid a sympathetic hand on her female agent's arm. "It's going to be some time before we receive any news. You two gentleman can get fully checked out." At the vigorous headshakes of her three agents, Hetty's demeanor took on all the semblance of a Marine Drill Instructor. "Now if you please. Once Ms. Jones gets the data we need, we 'll finish this discussion." Sam wished he had the ability to ignore Granger like Hetty was doing right now.

As the three team members left to follow their orders, Granger's voice was overheard. "You saw the fight Henrietta and I know stranger things have happened, but that really can't be Deeks can it?" It seemed as if today was a day of astonishment, for it seemed as if Granger was unsure and possibly a little hopeful.

Just a little over an hour and a half later the group had rejoined in the waiting room outside of surgery, it was amazing how a federal agency could speed up time at the hospital. Sam had two cracked ribs, while Callen would have a lovely set of bruising around his neck and Kensi had changed clothes. The discussion of whether or not it was Deeks was starting to get heated.

Despite the rasp, the mixture of wistfulness and disgust over what had happened was evident in Callen's voice. "Are we absolutely positive he is Deeks?"

"Of course it's Deeks. You think I don't know my own partner?" Sam heaved a heavy sigh as once again he stepped between his partner and their little sister.

"Kensi it's been three years." Sam knew that when Deeks had disappeared it had nearly destroyed Kensi, it was only the circumstances of the disappearance that by the evidence available showed Deeks hadn't done it willingly that kept her fighting to find him.

"Really? Oh where have I been? Oh that's right not giving up on him!" Kensi barked right back in Sam's face.

"Enough Agent Blye!" Kensi sent a glare that had been known to terrify Marine combat veterans, but Granger glared right back.

"Callen despite his fingertips being acid burned; we were able to get enough partials for an eighty two percent match. His height is exactly the same as Deeks, his weight is within ten pounds, even his shoe size is the same. His blood type is the same as Deeks. He has matching scars for the GSW's that we know Deeks received." At Nell's words the distraught brunette visibly stiffened. "Also his teeth show the exact same amount of work as Deeks required after Siderov." If Kensi was stiff before it was almost as if she was trying to snap her own spine at the mention of the Russian arms dealer who had tortured both Sam and Deeks. "I have to conclude that he is Deeks."

"Satisfied now?" Kensi's snarl was enough to send shivers down the hardened backbone of a man like Granger, what it did to the part time field agent full time intel analyst was indescribable.

"What the hell happened to him?" Sam had voiced that question out loud so many times over the last few hours, but sooner or later he knew he was going to get an answer. He just wasn't sure if he was going to like the answer.

Kensi caught the look being shared between Granger and Hetty. "You two know something. Out with it." Sam laid a hand on her shoulder before she did something she regretted. "Tell. Me. Now."

"Ms. Blye we are in the dark as much as you at the moment." Hetty's voice was pitched to be soothing.

"Why don't I believe you?" Kensi's voice was laden with sarcasm. "Not the first time you've played us for some reason."

"Agent Blye, you were the last person to see him." Granger's tone of voice hinted at something worse to come. "Unless you are holding out on us." It was obvious the dour faced Assistant Director had chosen his spot to stand carefully as all three team members rounded on him with murder in their eyes.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Callen's painful rasp was the first to be heard.

"We all know she has been running an off the books investigation of the Detective's disappearance, Agent Callen." The gravel crushing voice never increased in volume, but the intensity could burn the team leader to ash. "Just like we all know that both you and Agent Hanna, as well as Beale and Jones have been helping her. It's not the first time mysterious circumstances have occurred when Agent Blye conducts her own investigation. So, Blye, do you have any info you feel we should know?"

"The last time I saw Deeks was two hours before he sent out the Agent in Distress call on the way to the undercover op with that damn DEA agent YOU sent him on." Sam was moving up to try calm Kensi down, but he knew that he had as much chance of doing that has he had of lifting Mt. Everest. "I respect you sir, for what you have done and for your relationship with my father, but if you ever accuse me of something like this again I. Will. Kill. You. I am not the one who withholds necessary information for personal reasons on NCIS cases." Both Hetty and Granger actually took a step back under the junior agent's glare. "You two are the ones who decided that Deeks wasn't worth the resources of an active case."

"That's quite enough Ms. Blye." Hetty obviously felt the need to step up, and while Kensi may not be as willing to listen as she used, she still followed orders. "Now I understand you are quite upset, we all are. But losing our tempers will not help us solve what has occurred over the last three years." Hetty took a deep breath but before she could continue she was interrupted.

"Martin A. Deeks?"

Kensi spun towards the voice and hurried to the doctor just entering the waiting room. "I'm his fiancé Kensi Blye."

"Ah yes, you are listed as his next of kin. Well Ms. Blye he is out of surgery and resting. We removed the bullet and there is no significant damage to the joint. Simple muscle damage. We ran a CAT scan on his brain, and there appears to be no swelling or bleeding from the head trauma. We are going to keep him under for at least another twelve hours so we can continue to monitor him. But I expect him to make a full recovery. However some of his bloodwork is very peculiar, very similar to LSD traces. Does your fiancé have a history of drug use?"

"What?! Deeks use drugs? He would never." From the sound of her voice everyone was surprised the doctor was still standing.

"Ok if you are sure."

"I am positive."Kensi growled through gritted teeth.

"Easy Kensi. The doctor is just trying to cover all bases." With G being unable to talk much, it was up to Sam to play peacemaker.

"Sorry Doctor… Herbert is it? It's been a rough day." For all her training Kensi couldn't keep her emotions under control today. "When can I see him?" Kensi was pleading, she had to make sure she wasn't having a nightmare. Though she almost wished she was having one, it meant that she would eventually wake up.

"Right now if you wish."

"Ms. Blye, I think you should go home and get some rest." Hetty interjected. "We will stay here and call you if anything changes."

"Hetty please, I have to be here when he wakes up. The last time he woke up in a hospital without me there, it took almost three months to get Deeks back. This time who knows how long it will be." Kensi Blye wasn't one to plead, but those who knew the relationship between her and Deeks couldn't help but think back to the time when Deeks was shot as bait to draw Kensi out in the open.

"I understand Ms. Blye, I really do. But Melissa needs her mother, and you need your daughter. Go pick her up and find someone to watch her for tomorrow. You heard the doctor, it will be several hours before Mr. Deeks wakes up."

At Hetty's words Kensi visibly deflated. It was true after today all she wanted was to just hold Melissa. How many times had she prayed that Deeks would return and the three of them could be the family they needed and wanted to be? "But my Mom is out of town…."

"Michelle will watch the munchkin for you." Sam didn't even bother calling his wife and asking her permission. Once Michelle knew what was going on, she wouldn't have a problem with his volunteering her to babysit.

Kensi shot Sam an appreciative look, for once seeming to be calming down. "Thanks Sam. That means more to me than you know."

Sam gently pulled the shaken brunette into a hug. "Hey, now, after what you and Deeks did for us, it's the least we can do." He could feel her shaking and slowly turned her away from the others. "We're going to figure this out Kensi. And we are going to get our Deeks back."

A quick sniffle was his reply. "Fine, I'll go get Melissa and take her to your place. But I am seeing Deeks first."

"Why don't you take Nell with you?" He glanced at Hetty. "If that's ok with you."

"I believe we can dispense with Ms. Jones for the time being."

As Kensi and Nell followed the nurse who had shown up to lead them to Deeks room the remaining federal employees drew in closer together.

"Did I hear correctly that Deeks has LSD in his system?" Callen's whisper forced everyone to strain their hearing.

"Something similar Mr. Callen."

"That would start to explain what happened out there today." Sam crossed his arms, obviously deep in thought. "Didn't the CIA use LSD in mind control experiments?" As all three nodded in agreement, Sam continued. "Has anybody seen or heard from Sabatino lately?"

"Oh come off it Agent Hanna. I know your team and he got off to the wrong foot, and you obviously don't like each other, but are you seriously implying Officer Sabatino has something to do with this?" Incredulousness was etched in Granger's face. "What's next claiming I am controlling the Detective?"

"Once again sir" Disdain and contempt was heavy in Sam's voice as he fired back at the Assistant Director. "You are misreading me. I am simply going to inquire with him about if he knew of any of the drugs developed out of those experiments. I wasn't accusing Sabatino of anything. Besides which this is starting to sound more like Trent Kort's work that Sabatino's style."

"That is enough gentlemen. Mr. Callen, Mr. Hanna I want you to return to the Mission and start going over everything we know with Eric. See if you have missed anything, start with Agent Del Campo's statements. Owen you contact the CIA and see if you can find out anything about what came out of MKUltra and how it is being used today." Even her superiors jumped when Henrietta Lange spoke with such authority.

"And what are you going to do Henrietta?"

"Just what I told Ms. Blye. I am going to wait here."

*****NCIS LA*****

"Well he certainly doesn't look like Shaggy." The petite redhead was watching the brunette very, very carefully. Nell knew how volatile Kensi could be when it came to Deeks. "Kens, I know all the physical data shows that he really is Deeks, but do you truly believe it is Deeks?"

Kensi let out a soft sigh as she stood in the doorway looking at the unconscious occupant. Ever since Deeks had disappeared, and then a month later when she had found that she was pregnant with Melissa, Nell had become her closest friend. Kensi knew that Nell was trying to wrap her head around the idea that her big brother, her Shaggy to her Velma, was really the wanted individual known as the Wraith. "I do Nell. Part of me keeps wanting to wake from this nightmare. But I know it is Deeks. I really do. Right here." She placed her hand over her heart.

"Then I believe you." A sad little smile was Nell's reward. "What can I do to help?"

"Just be here for us." Kensi looked back at Nell. "Just do that magic you do so well. But can you give me a moment?"

"Yeah, I'll be right outside. Call if you need me."

It was like her feet were encased in concrete the closer Kensi got to the bedside. She couldn't help but wonder what it would do to his mindset when Deeks realized he was restrained in the bed. How she longed to run her fingers through his hair, but even that simple little consolation was denied her. Kensi Blye wasn't one to believe in the metphysical garbage that was so prominent out here on the West Coast, but right now she couldn't help but wonder was all that she and Deeks had suffered was karma for something she had done in a past life. She leaned down and brushed her lips to his forehead. "I know you didn't leave me by choice, and I am not running Deeks. I'll be back. And there is someone very special who needs to meet MY DEEKS. We'll figure it out, we always do." Steeling her nerves, Kensi left the room.

She had waited until Mr. Callen, Mr. Hanna, and Owen had passed out of sight before pulling a cell phone out of her pocket. She quickly scrolled though the list of contacts and pressed call. "Mr. Getz I have a pressing need for you. How soon can you be in Los Angeles?" She listened intently. "I'll see if I can speed the process on my end then. In the meantime contact Eric and have him bring you up to date on what is going on. We've found Mr. Deeks." As she hung her NCIS issued phone, she quickly pulled another phone from another pocket and quickly dialed a number from memory. After one ring it was answered, before the occupant of the other end of line could even ask, she spoke. "Mr. Angelo, it is time. I need you to find one Talia Del Campo, a DEA Agent and bring her to me."

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