Eric slowly processed what Kensi had said. While hard to imagine anyone getting the drop on Kensi, she was clearly not in a right frame of mind to know what was happening and how to react. So Eric did all he could do. He told her she would be okay and kept driving, reaching the hospital in a few minutes. Kensi remained silent, shaking with the effort of holding back more tears.

When there, Eric had to pull Kensi out of his car and walk her in side, she was so dazed she was actually compliant to being led like a child. When Eric had seated her, he quickly found a nurse and told her his friend needed a drug test and rape kit. The hospital staff set into motion and whisked Kensi away to an exam room, leaving Eric waiting, not sure of who to call, if anyone. A few hours later, at around 6am, a doctor came and told Eric that Kensi had needed to have her stomach pumped and was on fluids to push whatever drugs had been given to her out of her system. The rape exam had been done and Kensi was waiting in a room, to spend the rest of the day in observation for possible complications from the drug cocktail, which was still being analyzed. She was asking to see him.

Nervously, Eric went into Kensi's room. She woke up as he walked in. "What happened?" Eric didn't know what to say, he had thought she would remember. "Did you follow protocol?" Kensi asked, always on the job. At this, Eric began to shift uncomfortably. He had not called Hetty or Callen to inform them that a team member was temporarily out of commission, as protocol required. With such as high-stress and fast-moving line of work, the team was supposed to be instantly told when a team member would not be able to fulfill their duties for whatever reason. When a case came, there was no time to be tracking people down that were not potential victims or suspects.

"No. I didn't follow the protocol. I wanted to keep this…private…until I could talk to you." Kensi looked confused and then her expression hardened. "Tell me what happened and why I called you. Now. I can't remember anything after leaving work last night." Eric took a deep breath, sat lightly on the side of the bed beside Kensi, and told her as best he could. "You called me from a bar at 2am asking me to come get you. I found you alone in the alley around back. You were obviously drugged so I was bringing you here. In the car, you told me that you thought you had been raped so I asked the staff to do a kit and drug test. If you want me to call the team I will but I won't say why unless you want me to."

Kensi had a white knuckle grip on the bed sheets and was breathing slowly but heavily as Eric told her about her night. At the word 'raped' she had begun staring at the wall in front of her and was still boring a hole into the wall with her eyes as she asked if the rape kit and blood test results were back. "No. Not yet." Kensi thought for a moment and said, in a voice that sounded half dead, "Call Hetty and follow the protocol but do not tell her or anyone else what happened. Understand?" Eric put his hand on hers, answered that he understood, and went into the hall to make the call.

Hetty responded quickly to what Eric said, though she was clearly angry that her computer tech, usually so compliant, refused to offer any details other than the name of the hospital and that Kensi was fine. Not sure what she would find, Hetty called Callen with the information, knowing he would call Sam and Nell. Then she made what she knew would be the hardest call. Deeks. Hetty knew how protective he was of Kensi and how strong their partnership really was beneath their differences in personality and style. She also knew how hurt Deeks would be that he had not been the one Kensi had called for help. Hetty silently said goodbye to her weekend as she drove to Kensi, hoping to assist her young agent in whatever way possible and to keep order in the rest of her troops, who were sure to be chomping at the bit to bring a sudden end to whomever had put Kensi in harm's way.

The team arrived at the hospital within minutes of each other and found Eric in the hallway outside of Kensi's room, refusing to say anything other than Kensi was okay and that she would explain later. Clearly aggravated by his determined resistance, Sam, Callen, and Deeks hammered Eric with questions and demands for details. Nell and Hetty looked ominously silent, each with their own thoughts about what might have happened to Kensi. While Nell looked distracted and nervous, Hetty's face showed only the quiet determination the team knew and feared.

Finally Deeks, overwhelmed with frustration and worry, stepped up to Eric and began to yell, "What gives you the right to not tell us what happened to MY partner? She is my partner and I need to know what happened to I can go maim whoever put her here! You are not an agent or a cop, you are not one of us so spit it out- just man up and tell me what went on last night! What? Are you scared to tell us? Is that what it is because I swear to God I don't give a damn about what you want or why you are refusing to tell us what you did. I want an answer and I want it now!"

The rest of the team was shocked. Though Deeks had a temper behind his jovial charm, none of them ever thought Eric would be the target of that temper, especially not in this situation. Had Deeks been able to see himself, he would have seen his father's face and heard his father's voice as he yelled at Eric in the hallway. The only thing that separated the detective from his father was the regret Deeks felt as soon as he stopped talking and saw how his team was looking at him. He knew he had done wrong and taken his anger out on the person who deserved his thanks, but he did not- could not- care about that until he knew what happened to Kensi.

Callen was surprised at Eric. During Deeks's outburst, Callen saw Eric's face transform in a way he knew all too well, having done that same transition himself in the ugly foster homes. Once Deeks began to yell, Eric's face had immediately gone from shocked to blank. It was like a mask of temporary deafness and an emotional shutdown had occurred. His eyes were blank and his expression was one of emptiness. It set in by the third word Deeks said and was gone within seconds after the detective finished. For the first time, Callen knew Eric had been on the receiving end of a tirade and verbal punch to the heart. Had Callen been looking at the redheaded analyst, he would have noticed that Nell was as keenly aware in the change in Eric as Callen was.

Eric never responded to Deeks and the team was enveloped in an awkward and tense silence. Even Hetty had decided to stay out of it, knowing nothing she could say would improve the situation. After two hours that felt like twenty, the doctor walked towards them, nodded his head in greeting, and slipped into Kensi's room. He came out a few seconds later, looked at Eric, and motioned for him to come in the room with him. "She wants you here for this." the doctor said, which only made the team more concerned. But they waited outside just the same, too scared of Hetty to move so much as an inch.

In the room, Eric looked at Kensi and she motioned for him to sit beside her, in the space he had occupied when he had to tell her what had happened that morning. Kensi grabbed his hand but refused to look at him or the doctor, again holding her gaze on the wall. "Your results are back. The rape kit showed no signs of intercourse, consensual or otherwise." At this, both Eric and Kensi gave a sigh of relief that filled the room, and the doctor smiled as well before continuing. "The troubling this is that you were drugged. It was a dangerous combination of a generic but powerful painkiller and a roofie that was mixed with whatever drink you had at the bar. Your blood alcohol level was very low, so the symptoms you presented with were solely from the drugs. The good news is you will be fine, we just need to keep you on fluids for about twelve hours or so to make sure all the drugs are flushed from your system."

The doctor left the room, leaving Kensi with her arms wrapped around Eric in a vice-grip bear hug. Though the five pairs of eyes in the hallway could have terrified any suspect brought in for questioning, the doctor did not meet their gaze nor did he offer any clue as to what had gone on in the room. IN the room, out of earshot Eric said, "They are all outside, really worried about you and really mad at me." "Oh... Tell them to go home; I'm not ready to talk to them yet. Especially Deeks. Can you tell them the bare bones version for me... I just can't do it myself. I don't want to talk about it yet." Kensi looked pleadingly at Eric. He replied, "Of course. Just don't think for a second any of them are going anywhere." Both smiled at that, knowing it was true.

In the hallway, Eric quickly said, "Kensi called me from a bar early this morning, clearly drugged. I brought her here because she asked me to. She thought she had been raped but the kit came back negative. I didn't tell you because she asked me not to and I wanted to respect that. She wants us to go home and says she doesn't want to talk about it yet." The team was stunned. They had expected almost any reason except the one Eric had just provided. As Eric headed to the elevator he said, "I know you all are not going anywhere but I'm going home like she asked. Have her call me if she has any more questions. See you Monday." Still in disbelief the team said nothing but Nell quickly set off to follow Eric, as worried about her partner as she was about Kensi.

In the elevator, just the two of them looking forward at the closing stainless steel doors, Nell quietly asked, "How could you tell she had been drugged?" Eric tensed and Nell though he was not going to answer her when he quietly replied, "When I had a mom she was an alcoholic and a pill addict. You learn." Eric was grateful that Nell showed no sign of shock or made a comment about his revelation. She only reached her right hand out to his left hand and held it. Eric pressed his hand into hers and held on as tightly as he could, still not looking at her, until the doors opened on the ground floor. He then let go, and walked out of the elevator to go home and try to sleep.