Enjoy. Thanks, as always for reading and all your nice comments

xxxxx

Kensi groaned softly as she began to awaken. Her entire body felt very stiff and her ankle was throbbing mercilessly. She opened her eyes to find Deeks' blue eyes focused on her. "Good morning, sunshine," he greeted, giving her a smile.

"Good morning." In spite of how stiff and sore she felt, she was unable to resist smiling back at him. As awful as this whole situation was, he always seemed to be able to make her feel better.

"How are you feeling?"

She shrugged. "I'm doing okay."

"What did I tell you about not having to be brave for me, Kensalina," he asked softly as he leaned in and pressed a kiss on her lips. "I know you've got to be hurting, sweetheart."

Kensi sighed. "It doesn't really do any good to complain about it, Deeks. It is what it is."

"Yeah but it is better to know what we're dealing with," said Sam breaking into the conversation. "And we do have ibuprofen which I know isn't the strongest, but it can help take the edge off." He squatted down beside her. "Besides the pain, how are you doing? Are you experiencing any numbness or tingling in your foot?"

She shook her head. "No, I haven't noticed any of that."

"Good," said Sam. "Can you wiggle your toes?"

"Yes." Kensi tugged the blanket off of her foot and demonstrated. "Happy?" she asked teasingly.

"Very," Sam said smiling back at her.

"Is Callen awake yet?" Deeks asked in a whisper.

Sam shook his head. "No. I think he's still sleeping."

Deeks nodded. "That's good. Best thing for him."

Sam sighed. "You know he didn't mean what he was saying last night, Deeks. He was just feeling lousy and he took it out on you."

"I know, Sam. It's fine. If it helps him, I'm more than willing to be his verbal punching bag."

"Deeks," Sam looked at him somberly. "It's not like that. You're not anyone's punching bag, certainly not Callen's."

"I said its fine, Sam. I think we're all pretty frustrated right now. Tempers are bound to flare up."

Sam nodded. "Yeah, well just so you know he didn't mean anything by it."

"I do. Don't worry about it."

"Okay, I'm going to go see if I can find anything halfway decent for breakfast." Sam stood up and headed over to the plane after checking to make sure Callen was still asleep.

"What?" Deeks looked at Kensi who was looking at him speculatively.

"What did Callen say to you?" she asked. "When was all this happening?"

Deeks shook his head. "It was nothing, Kensi. You were sleeping. Sam and Callen were talking, I went over to them… probably shouldn't have…"

"Why would you say that?" Kensi asked.

He shrugged. "I don't know…this is pointless." He changed the subject abruptly. "Anyhow, Sam was right about the ibuprofen. You should take some. Try to stay ahead of the pain if you can."

Kensi nodded deciding to let him off the hook for now. "Okay."

xxxxx

Callen slowly opened his eyes and it took a few moments for him to become oriented to his surroundings. He painstakingly sat up and reached for the water bottle beside him. He took the cap off the bottle and took two long refreshing sips then put the cap back on and set the bottle down beside his hip. It was then that he noticed Kensi and Deeks, both with their eyes on him. He immediately felt himself begin to tense up.

"Good morning," Deeks spoke first, more than willing to break the ice.

"Good morning," Callen replied. "How are you guys doing?"

"We're good," Deeks replied. "How are you?"

"I'm good too…" Callen felt very on edge again and he really didn't know why. He needed to get things back to normal. "Deeks…Listen…"

Deeks shook his head. "It's fine, Callen."

"No. It's not fine, Deeks. I shouldn't have snapped at you like that. I'm sorry."

"It's okay, no big deal…"

Callen let the matter drop, too drained to pursue it any further. "Where's Sam?" he asked.

"He's in the plane. You want me to get him?"

"No… that's okay… thanks." He sighed and stared down at the ground, not knowing what to do with himself. He was the team leader and felt incapable of leading anyone anywhere. He knew that his physical condition was impeding his mental state. He was sluggish, irritable and very much off his game.

"Hey G," Sam walked back into their little camp, a big smile on his face. "I see you woke up just in time for breakfast." He handed each of the agents a fruit cup with a plastic spoon. "Here you go guys, a gourmet delight."

"Thanks Sam," Kensi happily accepted the fruit cup as did Deeks.

"How are you doing, G?" Sam asked as he sat down beside his partner. He had taken the fruit cup from Sam but hadn't said anything.

Callen shrugged and remained silent, but then saw Sam was staring at him. He decided he needed to answer. "I'm alright."

"That's good," Sam said easily, not wanting to confront his partner. He took the lid off the fruit cup and ate a spoonful of the fruit. "Mm…this is pretty tasty."

"Glad you like it so much, you can have mine too," Callen said, placing it on the ground next to Sam.

"G…"

Callen rolled his eyes. "I'm not a little kid like Kamran, Sam. You can't force me to eat."

Sam studied his partner. His cheeks looked flushed and there was a thin sheen of sweat over his face. "You running a fever, G?" he asked.

Callen didn't bother to answer him.

Sam opened up the first aid kit and shuffled around, finally coming up with a digital thermometer which he handed to his partner. Callen thought about refusing to put it in his mouth but the look on Sam's face discouraged that strategy. He sighed loudly and stuck the thermometer under his tongue. When the thermometer beeped, Sam took it from his partner's mouth. "104.2…" No wonder he was so miserable. Sam took the bottle of ibuprofen, shook out some tablets and handed them to his partner. "Your temp is too high, G." The calmness in Sam's voice disguised what he was feeling inside. "Let's see if we can get it down."

Callen did as Sam asked. He swallowed the tablets with a few gulps of water.

"Why don't you try to go back to sleep," Sam suggested and was relieved when his partner did as he asked once again. Unable to hide his exhaustion, Callen practically collapsed onto the ground and was asleep almost immediately. Sam shook his head, infuriated with the whole situation and how limited he was in his ability to help his partner. He stood up and kicked the ground in frustration before walking over to Kensi and Deeks.

"How is he?" Deeks asked, both he and Kensi looking up at Sam with worry-filled eyes.

"He's not good," Sam said shaking his head. "104.2 temperature…" Sam's thoughts were becoming morbid. Up until this point, he had been relatively sure he could take care of his partner, that he would get them out of this mess. Now though, the reality of the situation was hitting him and he was beginning to fear that G might not make it. He needed to be in a hospital, not out here in the middle of nowhere without proper medical attention.

"You're doing everything you can for him, Sam," Kensi said softly.

"Yeah, well it's not enough," Sam replied. "I'm going to go see if I can make any headway with the radio." He glanced over at Callen. "Give a shout out if he needs me."

"I will," Deeks replied.

They watched as Sam made his way to the plane. "I wish there was something I could do," Deeks said," his expression bleak. "This is tearing him up."

"He'll be okay, Deeks," Kensi said, taking his hand.

Deeks nodded and he tightened his grip on Kensi's hand, feeling thankful that she was a part of his life.

xxxxx

Unable to deal with the close proximity of Andy's body as he tried to work on the radio, Sam finally dragged him into the lavatory and slammed the door. He then returned to the task at hand, but was finding himself increasingly exasperated as he realized that he was not going to be able to get the radio back in working order. He flung the screwdriver to the floor and was thankful for the isolation of the cockpit as he could feel his eyes brimming with tears. "Get a grip, Hanna," he whispered to himself. As quickly as he had let his emotions go, he got them back under control. He picked up Andy's gun, which he had pulled from the man's dead fingers, and checked the clip which was empty. At that point, he began a search for ammunition but couldn't find anything. Nor could he find the lockbox where Andy had claimed he was going to store their weapons. He wondered if the lockbox had even been onboard when they had taken off. Realizing he wasn't accomplishing anything on the plane, he headed back out to the campsite.

"Any change?" Sam asked Deeks as he squatted down beside his partner.

"No. He's just been sleeping," Deeks replied.

Sam nodded and picked up the thermometer, placing it into Callen's mouth. "104.5" he said grimly after the thermometer beeped. The fact that his fever was still climbing in spite of the ibuprofen was ominous. It seemed relentless in the grip it had on his partner. "G…you're killing me here…" He folded the blanket away from Callen's torso and carefully unwrapped the loose gauze covering the packed wound. What he saw did not look good. There was yellow pus around the edges of the wound and he knew there would be more inside. "Damn knife must have been filthy," Sam said in disgust. He then beckoned to Deeks. "Hey, can you come here for a minute?"

"What's up, Sam?" Deeks asked, immediately hurrying to Sam's side.

"I need you here in case you have to hold him down," Sam said.

"Sure…what are you going to do?" Deeks asked solemnly, already inwardly feeling sorry for Callen.

"Change this damn wound packing," Sam stated. "He has a raging infection going on here."

Deeks glanced down at the wound then quickly looked away. It was really nasty looking.

"Okay, get ready," Sam said as he used the tweezers and began carefully pulling the gauze from inside the wound. Deeks kept his eyes averted from what Sam was doing, fixing them on Callen's face in case he began to regain consciousness. Luck was with them this time, however, as Callen did not awaken. Sam repacked the wound as quickly as he could and retaped some more loose gauze over the top of it. He breathed a sigh of relief when he had finished, glad that he hadn't caused his partner to undergo another painful ordeal. Sam then soaked a piece of bandage and placed it on Callen's forehead.

"I'm going to go scout around," Sam said, looking at Deeks. He hated leaving his partner in such a state but Sam needed to make a concerted effort to get them rescued. He picked up a compass from the group of supplies. "I'll be back in an hour or less." He took the emergency whistle and handed it to Deeks. "Watch him closely. If you need me for anything…anything at all, use this and I'll get back here fast. Okay?"

Deeks nodded. "You've got it. I'll take good care of him. Good luck, Sam."

"Thanks. You too."

xxxxx

About a half hour after Sam had left, Callen opened his eyes and looked around wildly while trying to remain inconspicuous. It was really, really hot. He had no idea where his captors had brought him. It felt like the desert but the trees everywhere didn't support that. He could see a man and a woman sitting nearby. They appeared to be the only ones guarding him at the moment. He saw that he was unbound and smirked to himself. They were severely underestimating him. He couldn't see Sam anywhere. He hated that they were separated. He prayed Sam was okay, that he wasn't being tortured or something worse than that.

Deeks looked over and saw that Callen was awake. He walked over to him and immediately saw that he still looked very flushed and his eyes were glazed. Not a good sign. "Hey Callen, how are you feeling?" He was surprised when Callen scrambled to his feet and backed away from him. "Hey, hey…what are you doing?"

"Where's Sam?" Callen asked demandingly.

"He's just out scouting, trying to find a good place where we can signal for help," Deeks answered soothingly. "He'll be back really soon, okay?"

Callen shook his head. "I know you're lying. Where is he? Tell me now."

"I'm not lying, Callen…It won't be long before he's back here."

"You're using him to get to me. What's your agenda? What do you want from me?"

"I? Uh…what?" Deeks was totally bewildered and knew now that Callen was hallucinating. "Callen… it's me, Deeks. You know me. We work together. I don't have an agenda."

"Stop with your lies," Callen said, narrowing his eyes. "I don't believe a word that you're saying. You better pray that Sam is alright. If…if he's dead…I will kill both of you and whoever else is responsible."

Deeks stared back at Callen and for a moment actually felt nervous. He knew Callen was dangerous. Under these circumstances, who knew what he was capable of. He backed up to where Kensi was sitting, keeping an eye on the other man as he did so. "Kensi…what should we do? He's really out of it. He has no idea who we are…"

Kensi looked at Callen, considering their options. She wished Sam was there. He would have a better idea of how to handle his partner. Finally she called out to him. "Callen? It's Kensi. We've worked together for a very long time. I'm your favorite agent. I know you remember who I am." She smiled and summoned him with her hand. "Come here…I just want to talk."

Callen slowly shook his head. Neither of them was carrying a weapon. Now was his chance to try to escape and look for Sam. Abruptly, he turned and started to run. "Callen, no!" Deeks yelled as he took off after him. He quickly caught up to the agent and grabbed him. "Callen, don't. No one is going to hurt you or Sam."

"Let go of me!" Callen struggled ferociously to escape. Finally, he managed to twist his arm out from Deeks' grasp and elbowed him sharply in the chest.

"Come on, Callen, stop." The blow to his chest caused him to loosen his grip and Callen came at him, fists flying. Deeks, unwilling to hurt the other man any more than he was already hurt, was mainly in self defense mode. Callen got a vicious punch to connect with Deeks' left eye. Deeks hit the ground hard and laid there, dazed.

"Deeks!" Kensi had been slowly crawling to where the two men were brawling and she reached Deeks' side shortly after he hit the ground. "Deeks? Can you hear me?"

"Yeah…yeah I hear you," he said as he grabbed at his face. "Oh man… who would have thought Callen could hit like that… Sam yeah, but Callen? Oh man…"

"We need to get a cold compress on that," Kensi said. "That's really going to swell."

"I'll be okay, Kensi. We just need to try to keep Callen calmed down. He's really…" Deeks turned his head suddenly panicked. "Where is he? Where did he go?!"

"I…"

"No, no no no, no…" Deeks got to his feet and scanned the area . "Kensi, please tell me you have some idea which way he went."

"I don't know, Deeks… I'm sorry. I was concentrating on you."

"Damn!" Deeks bent down and lifted Kensi up into his arms then carried her over to their makeshift bed. He picked up the whistle and blew it loudly to signal Sam. "I'm going to go that way," he said, pointing.

"What? No," Kensi shook her head. "Just wait for Sam to get back here. He won't be long and you can work together."

Deeks shook his head. "I'm sorry, baby. I need to go now. Callen's in really rough shape. I can't just sit here twiddling my thumbs." He suddenly thought better of leaving her exposed and alone. "Come on," he said, picking her up again. "You'll be safer on the plane."

"Deeks, just stay here," Kensi pleaded. "Please wait for Sam. You shouldn't go out there alone."

Deeks shook his head as he placed her down inside the plane right near the refrigerator. "There's stuff in there to eat and drink." He leaned down and gave her a quick kiss. "I'm sorry. I have to do this. I'll see you soon, Kensi, I promise."

"Deeks please!" she called out once again, but her plea fell on deaf ears as Deeks trotted off and Kensi was left alone.