The Wait

The NCIS work day was over, but for Deeks his real job these days – sitting with Kensi – was only beginning. He'd insisted that Julia, Kensi's mom, go home and rest. The poor woman was on the verge of collapse.

"I got this, Julia," said Deeks as he picked up her purse and sweater.

"But . . ."

"No buts. Kensi and I are a team. We'll get through this."

Julia took one last look at her daughter and patted her arm. "Yes you are and you're a very good team."

Deeks stepped closer and enveloped her in a hug. "Go. You can't be strong for our girl if you're all run down."

Julia left and Deeks pulled a chair close to the bed. He picked up Kensi's left hand and gently rubbed it. It looked strangely bare without the diamond.

She doesn't even know she has an engagement ring. He thought about what the doctor had told them:

Talk to her. Touch her. She hears you, even if she can't respond. But when she comes out of this, she'll remember that you were here.

Deeks sighed and studied Kensi for a moment. She seemed to be resting comfortably. IVs and monitors dripped and beeped as before. He couldn't detect any improvement. He reached up and touched her hair. "Baby, your hair is a fright and I know you'd hate that. Tomorrow when I come I'll bring your brush and see if we can make some sense of it. I'm sure that'll make you feel better."

He sat back. "Yeah. Okay, where to begin? Today Nell went out with me. Now when I say went out, I don't mean like on a date. Just wanted to clarify that because you know, Nell and Eric have their thing, like we have our thing and Sam and Callen, well, there's just Sam and Callen. Their thing is like two guys on a cross-country road trip. Anyway, you know I love our Nell-a-saurus, but I gotta say, her driving is every bit as scary as yours." He shuddered involuntarily as he remembered some of the close calls they'd had. "No wonder I couldn't eat all day."

"You should have seen her. Talking tough, leaping over bannisters, delivering the smackdown to the perps. Bam!" Deeks paused and grinned. "Yep, I was proud of her. She even got to dress up as a mailman, uh, mail lady? Mail delivery person? Whatever. You know what I mean. She delivered a note to the bad guys. That was awesome! I wish you could have seen it. Though I don't know how Eric managed all day in Ops without her. For that matter, how did he manage before Nell came on board? Guess we can ponder that another day."

The door opened and Jerry, one of the evening nursing assistants came in. He nodded at Deeks. "Hey, man. What's up?"

"Nothing. No change."

"Sometimes it takes a while for people to come out of the fog." He proceeded to check the monitors and make notes on his iPad. He looked at Deeks and felt sorry for him.

The guy's here every evening after work and never takes his eyes off her.

Jerry reached in his pocket and pulled out a small plastic container. "Want some Jello? The cafeteria sent up some extras."

Deeks looked up and saw that it was green Jello. He couldn't help but laugh. "You know, I think I would. Thanks."

Jerry reached in his other pocket and found a plastic-wrapped spoon.

"I guess you're wondering what's so funny about green Jello," said Deeks. "I'm a cop and one time after I got shot, Kensi was sitting with me in the hospital and she had the nerve to eat my green Jello. I was going to eat it eventually, but she beat me to it. Can you believe that? She even gloated about it."

Jerry laughed, too. "Yeah, I can picture her doing that."

Deeks tore off the wrappers and spooned up a mouthful. "Guess we're even now, Kensalina."

"I bet she's a feisty one," said Jerry.

Deeks nodded. "You have no idea."

"So we're going to do everything we can to bring her back to you," said Jerry.