She did not hear the frantic and worried screams of "Kensi!" coming from both G and Sam.
Sam reached her a second faster and stopped. The young woman who had become his friend, his equal and his sister, stood before him and he wanted to cry. Cry that she was still alive and cry at the sight before him. Her dark curls were matted down with blood and sweat. Her left arm hung limply at her side obviously dislocated. She was stooped. Her breathing was loud and wet suggesting she had broken a rib or four. Her bare arms were covered in scratches. Her face was puffy, swollen, and discolored. And he knew Callen would agree that she was probably the most beautiful sight in the world because she was breathing.
Sam got there first but Callen took control noticing the young woman still firing her now empty gun. He walked up beside her and put his hands up in the international sign for "I'm not going to hurt you."
"Kenz, it's me, G. You're ok." The last part was said as a statement to reassure both her and himself.
She looked at him questioningly. Something inside her broke. And she viciously shook her head.
"You're both dead" she whispered.
"Do we look dead?"
"The accident?" she asked confusedly putting the gun down, which G gently took away from her and holstered into the back of his jeans.
"We were fine, other than G injuring his pretty boy face," Sam interjected pointing to Callen's broken nose and bruised face. "The guys followed us down here. We tried to distract them and get them away from you. You were unconscious."
"You're alive" came out more as a question than a statement.
"Yup, you're still stuck with us, Kensi."
At the end of this sentence and Sam punctuated his comment by reaching out to touch her arm. The gesture of friendship broke her. Neither of the men was suspecting her response. She started to openly cry. Something she had never done and would never have done if she didn't have a massive concussion and if she wasn't so relieved to see these two men alive. They went towards her and hugged her letting her know they were alive. Later she would pretend to forget this had never happened and Nate would play along saying that some memory loss was common with a head injury as severe as Kensi's. But for now she cried. She only was vaguely aware of Sam talking into a phone,
"She's not doing too hot, what's the ETA on the ambulance, Eric?"
"Three minutes. Hetty and I will meet you at the hospital. Nate should be there in a minute. He was going to meet you guys there, he knows her medical history. Sam, take care of her." The last part was a statement not a question.
"Always."
At the moment Nate joined them and went into doctor mode. While he was the best psychologist around, he had gone to med school to and was in charge of all of NCIS LA OSP medical files to. He knew that Callen was allergic to blueberries and Eric had asthma. Both undercover agents had never been so excited to see the psychologist.
Nate took over and ordered Sam to carry her up the embankment so they didn't waste time with the First Aid attempting to get her up. The normally awkward and gawky psychologist came alive when his element. He was calm and soothing and calmed the slightly hysterical junior agent down. Speaking to her it was clear she had know idea what was going on and had hit her head pretty good. When the ambulance arrived Nate had performed basic first aid and had her in the ambulance immediately not giving the paramedics a moment to disagree. He went with Kensi while Sam and G followed in Nate's car, breaking all legal limits.
When they arrived at the hospital Hetty and Eric were waiting, both looking anxious, even the normally unflappable Hetty. They were a team, a very well oiled, team. Even in personal crises they were a team.
Kensi's first coherent words were what happened about the case. They all stared at her strangely, but they knew she did not want attention on her, despite the fact that she was in the hospital, attached to tons of tubs and contraptions
"Those thugs at the club were Mason's. He went rogue."
"The club?" she asked her voice laced with pain killers and pain.
"You remember. You played the vamp? You went crying on some playboy's shoulder?
This all seemed vaguely familiar.
"Sort of."
"Short term memory loss is common with severe concussions," Nate offered her with a smile explaining the gaps she'd be having.
"Well, that playboy, was Mason's dealer. Our Sgt. owed his drug dealer major major money. Daddy cut off our heir. He needed money. He cashed in Mason's debt. Mason didn't have money. But nothing says quick cash like selling government secrets. When you started talking to the douche he realized something was up. Thought you and I were trying to steal the military secrets from him. He sent the thugs to rough you up and find out what were up to. When Sam and I found you kicking their asses behind the club and arrested those guys he must have realized we weren't power players and law enforcement and he tried to get rid of us."
"Yeah. There were more of the heir's lackeys at the…" Sam hesitated saying crash, "accident. G and I tried to get them away from you until help arrived. They confessed and gave up Mason's location. He hadn't sold the info yet."
"We all live to see another day," Hetty said looking pointedly at the young woman.
"Yes, but I am not sure I will live to see another date." Kensi was referring to her current state of appearance. Nate told Eric later in confidence that the ride with Kensi back to the hospital was painful. She lost a lot of blood. Her lips were blue. She'd been out in the night air and was suffering from shock and exposure. Her heart stopped beating for 1 minute and 23 seconds. He knew because he counted and felt each of those seconds as if they were a lifetime, a lifetime without his best friend. Being the psychologist and the one with the medical degree it was he that had to remain calm and keep the team calm while they attempted to harass the medical staff when she was in surgery for her punctured lung. She broke 4 ribs. Dislocated her left arm. Contusions. Abrasions. Exhaustion. Severe concussion. Broke 3 bones in her face. They had kept her out the first week. The first week Callen and Sam had almost been banned from the hospital each day. The first week, Hetty drank coffee. The first week, Eric had not texted once, because his favorite person to text was lying in a hospital bed. Nate had not shaved in a week.
They knew Kensi would be fine. She would recover. The doctor's told them that, but Kensi's desire to know how the case ended and the self-deprecating humor over her looks ensured she would be fine.
But Callen's thoughts were probably the most poignant. Yes, she looked like a disaster. Yes she felt ugly. But he loved her body. That same body she was now mocking, kept her heart beating. It kept her alive. To Callen, Sam, Eric, Nate, and even Hetty, at that moment nothing was more beautiful because that body kept her alive. She was perfect, perfectly flawed.
The beauty of this dysfunctional team was they would never tell her this because she would not want the attention. Really, she knew. Just like they knew she felt the same. You could argue that this lack of communication of emotions was unhealthy, but in a passing comment to Hetty, Nate once suggested that maybe this family of lost souls, orphans, rebels, ex-seals, secret keepers, and killers, that their relationship transcended speech. That worked for them.
Kensi was getting uncomfortable with silence and the stares being thrown her way.
"Oh, tell me it's not that bad!"
"I don't know. I think you're ok. You don't do the second date thing anyway, right?" teased Eric.
"Yeah, and honestly, even messed up you're still out of Renko's league, so you always have him to fall back on" suggested Callen.
"Thanks, guys."
"Besides, I don't think Mama Bear is letting any boys come your way, Kenz. You remember how he acted when G got shot? He was his personal co…," Nate was interrupted by a throat clearing from Hetty, "personal bodyguard. No woman was allowed within 5 feet of him without Sam staring them down."
"I'm not that bad!"
"You totally were. Remember that Brazilian model? You said she looked like an assassin."
"See, if I try to help any of you out anymore." Sam said half smiling as Kensi began to giggle from bed.
"No worries, Mr. Hanna. You probably saved Mr. Callen from a fate much worse and much, itchier."
The entire group stared at Hetty in disbelief before breaking down laughing. She just burned G. Kensi stopped and looked at her coworkers, her friends, her family and she smiled. Today was a not terrible, not horrible, very good day. She drifted off listening to the barbs flying across her hospital. When Hetty signaled that Kensi had drifted off and they should QUIETLY leave, they all walked out smiling at the slight grin and the not so slight snore coming from her body.
