Thanks so much for reading and the nice reviews from the last chapter. I've got to say that I'm in a really bad writing rut at the moment, but at least I managed to get this done, such as it is. Also, for anyone reading "Fight to Survive," right now I'm very unhappy with it, which is why I haven't been able to update. Hopefully, I'll be able to get something done soon. Sorry for all the whining, but I just wanted to explain.

xxxxx

"Good morning, Deeks," Sam greeted his younger teammate as Deeks made his way into the bullpen.

"Hey, Sam, how's it going? How's Callen?" Deeks asked as he took a seat at his desk.

"He had a bit of a rough night, but he's doing okay," Sam said, looking back at Deeks. As usual, the younger man looked exhausted. It seemed to be an ongoing theme these days. "How are you?"

Deeks shrugged. "I'm good…you know how it is…"

Sam nodded. "Kensi?"

"Kensi…I don't know…" Deeks said, shaking his head. "We'll see what the day brings, I guess. "

"Gentlemen." Hetty made her way into the bullpen and observed her two remaining agents closely. Sam outwardly appeared to be holding his own while Deeks, on the other hand, looked very tired. She was afraid he was going to get sick if he didn't start to get more rest. She had to wonder if he was eating properly. She turned toward Sam. "Mr. Hanna, how is your partner doing?"

"He seemed to be doing okay when I left him," Sam stated. "He didn't get a lot of sleep though."

"Which means you didn't either," Hetty stated. "I think today is a day to catch up on paperwork unless something really pressing comes up. Also, lunch is going to be delivered today so don't worry about getting yourselves anything." At the very least, she was going to make sure they had a proper meal. She wasn't so much worried about Sam, but she couldn't help but be concerned about Deeks.

Sam sighed to himself. It sounded like it was going to be a very boring day. He exchanged a long look with Deeks and then began to prepare himself for a long day of paperwork.

xxxxx

Kensi replayed the conversation with Callen in her head as she wheeled herself back to her room. She was feeling pretty badly for the way she had just bolted out of there, but she had really needed to get away. She would go back to see him later, after her afternoon PT session. When she got back to her room, she spent some time reading and then her lunch was brought in. After eating, she wheeled herself down to PT. Her effort was there, but unfortunately, the results were no different than any other day. "I know you're frustrated that you're not seeing more progress, Kensi," the physical therapist said, "but you just need to keep at it. Patience and perseverance are key."

Kensi just nodded and kept working. She desperately hoped that one day soon, her efforts would pay off.

xxxxx

Callen tried to focus his attention back on the television after Kensi left, but found it was impossible to do so. He basically sat there doing nothing, watching as his Italian ice slowly melted and became Italian water. The doctor had told him he was to remain on clear liquids until the following day. He was fine with that, not particularly wanting a repeat of his nighttime vomiting episode. Hospitals were really no fun at all. As soon as that thought entered his head, he immediately felt guilty though. He hadn't even been here for 24 hours and already he was chomping at the bit to leave. Kensi had been here for ages. He could only imagine how she felt about it. He tried to get back into watching television, but wasn't particularly in the mood. Finally, not wanting to be a bother, but unable to help himself, he picked up the phone and dialed his partner.

"Hey, G," Sam said, glancing at the caller ID before he put his cell phone up to his ear. He couldn't say he was surprised to hear from him. He was impressed he'd waited this long. "How are you doing?"

"I'm doing okay," Callen replied. "How are things there? Anything exciting happening?"

"Nope. Hetty has us playing paperwork catchup," Sam said. "You're not missing much."

"If you get really bored," Callen began. "I've got some paperwork you could work on. It's in that file over…well, you know where it is."

Sam scoffed. "Unlikely, G."

Callen laughed. "Well it was worth a try. I thought you might take pity on your poor shark bitten partner."

"Sorry, buddy. I'll be by to see you later. Do you want me to bring you anything else besides your laptop? Anything to eat?"

"No thanks. I'm not allowed to have any real food until tomorrow anyway. Just you and the laptop will be good."

"Okay, G. Hang in there and don't give the nurses a hard time. I'll see you later."

"Yeah, I'll see you, Sam." He clicked off his phone and leaned back into the pillows with a bored sigh. A short time after that, his lunch was delivered. It was mainly a repeat of the clear liquid items that had been brought in at breakfast time. He drank some of the clear broth and tasted the tea, but quickly abandoned that, thinking how Hetty would be appalled at the tasteless concoction. He then started on his second Italian ice of the day. Both times he had gotten lemon flavored ice. He vaguely wondered if they had any other flavors or if he would get lemon at dinner as well. He picked up one of the magazines, a sympathetic nurse had brought him earlier, but he felt somewhat lethargic and after looking through a few pages, tossed it aside. Then, feeling the onset of chills, he pulled the blankets up more tightly around his body and decided to try to take a nap.

xxxxx

"So why do you think Hetty sprang for the fancy lunch?" Deeks asked Sam, looking at the complete meal spread out over his desk, Italian bread, salad and stuffed shells. There was even rich-looking chocolate cake for dessert.

"I think she's trying to keep the rest of her team out of the hospital," Sam said with a grin as he took the cover off his salad container. "She's going out of her way to make sure we're eating properly."

"Oh…" Deeks said as he took his fork and absently played with the salad.

"You'd better eat it, Deeks," Sam said, his eyes on the other man. "You know Hetty will find out if you don't."

"How? Because you'll tell her?" Deeks asked, looking a little bit perturbed as he glanced over at the other man.

"No, Mr. Deeks, because I have other methods of finding things out," Hetty said, breaking into the conversation, seeming to come out of nowhere. Sam smiled and resumed eating his salad as Deeks turned to see his diminutive boss standing next to him with her arms crossed and a stern look on her face.

"Hello, Hetty," Deeks said, giving her his most charming smile. "Did I tell you how lovely you look today?"

"Oh Mr. Deeks, while I'm sure your numerous charms work wonders for you, do not waste them on me. I'm impervious to them. I expect you to eat this lunch or we're going to have another discussion about you taking time off and this time I will not be swayed."

"I never said I wasn't going to eat this, Hetty," Deeks defended himself as he took a healthy bite of a stuffed shell, chewed and swallowed it. "You see? Delicious."

"Hmm…" Hetty looked at Deeks skeptically. "I'll trust that you're going to eat that…and I'll also trust that if you don't, Mr. Hanna will notify me of that fact. Is that clear, Mr. Hanna?"

Sam nodded. "I'll let you know if he doesn't eat, Hetty." He ignored Deeks' glare as he resumed eating his own lunch. "Though he'd be crazy not to want to eat every bit of this delicious meal. We really appreciate you doing this for us."

Deeks rolled his eyes at Sam's words as Hetty left them and went back to her office. "Really, Sam?" he asked. "I'd say you were laying it on a bit thick with the food praise."

Sam shook his head and looked at Deeks seriously. "Hetty's worried about you, Deeks," he said. "We all are. If I can do something to make sure you're taking care of yourself even a little bit better, I'm going to do it."

Deeks stared at Sam for a long moment and then just nodded as he began to slowly eat his meal.

xxxxx

Kensi wheeled herself down the corridor, on her way to Callen's room. She wasn't quite sure what she was going to say to him, but she would figure something out. She wasn't happy with the way things had ended between them earlier and she was pretty sure he would be unhappy with what had happened as well. When she got to his room, she paused in the doorway. Dr. Gilbert and a nurse were standing over Callen's bed. As she got closer, Kensi couldn't hide her concern. Callen was tossing and turning fretfully. "What happened?" she asked. "He wasn't like this earlier today. He seemed to be doing so well."

Dr. Gilbert nodded. "He spiked a fever early this afternoon. I'm hopeful it's just a result of the traumatic effect on his body from the shark attack and the subsequent surgery. I haven't seen any evidence of an infection. In any case, I'm sending down blood cultures to see if they show anything."

"Well, should I call Sam?" Kensi asked worriedly. "Should he be here?"

Dr. Gilbert shook his head. "Of course that's your choice, but if you're asking me if it's necessary, I don't think so. Hopefully, his temperature will come down soon. It hasn't gone up any more since the initial spike. Right now, he's just exhausted and very uncomfortable.

"Okay," Kensi said, nodding. She was still worried, but she was willing to take the doctor at his word. "Is it alright for me to sit with him?"

"By all means," Dr. Gilbert said, smiling at her. "I'm sure your presence will be comforting to him."

Kensi wasn't all that sure of that, but she certainly wasn't going to leave Callen alone when he was feeling so poorly. The doctor finished giving his instructions to the nurse and then said goodbye after promising to return later in the day. Callen was mostly just quiet except for his occasional soft murmurs, but then he grew distressed. "Sam, help me!" he called out. "I can't get away, he's pulling me under. He's biting me in half!"

Kensi reached for Callen's hand and held it as she gently talked to him. "Callen? It's Kensi…I'm right here with you. Everything's okay. It's just a dream. You're safe. Shh…you're going to be okay." She kept talking to him, softly reassuring him until finally he calmed down and settled into a more peaceful sleep.

She just sat quietly, watching Callen's steady breathing and then began to talk to him in a low, soothing tone. "You know how you said that you didn't think I wanted you to visit me? Well…you were right, Callen. But it wasn't just you. I didn't want to see anyone. Not you, not Sam, not Hetty or Granger or Eric or Nell…not even Deeks, but Deeks…Deeks refuses to take no for an answer, no matter how hard I try to push him away. Sometimes, I'm horrible to him, Callen. I see that look in his eyes, and I know I'm breaking his heart, and I tell myself not to treat him that way…that he doesn't deserve it, but then I go ahead and do it anyway. I don't know why…I can't seem to stop myself… One of these days I'm going to drive him away permanently…"

"It's okay, baby…No matter what you say, I love you and I'm not going anywhere…"

Kensi turned and gave a stricken look at Deeks who was standing in the doorway, holding a laptop bag and looking at her with his blue eyes filled with emotion. "What are you doing here?" she asked softly as she tightened her grasp on Callen's hand, almost as if she was hanging on to a lifeline.

"Sam is staying a little bit late…he's finishing up Callen's paperwork so he asked if I'd bring him his laptop although… it doesn't look like he'll be needing it," he said, looking at Callen.

Kensi shook her head. "No…not tonight anyway," she said.

"Is he alright?"

"I hope so…he spiked a fever earlier…he seems better now though…at least he's resting easier."

Deeks nodded. "Well…Sam should be here soon and then…I don't know, maybe we should go back to your room and talk?"

Kensi hesitated as she looked back at Deeks but then slowly nodded. "Okay…I guess maybe we should…"