AN: Thanks for the feedback! I think I am over my writer's block. Thanks again to the magnificent, lovely, talented beta, Lou, for fabulous feedback.

Standing above the scene with his arms shaking was none other then Doctor Nathaniel Getz. Both the injured agents stared in awe and gratefulness. Nate wanted to break down. He had killed a man. His life was devoted to keeping people sane and happy and alive. He had even took an oath to that effect. Yet, he had just taken someone's life. Thoughts of the man's life tumbled around Nate's mind like pebbles in a whirlpool.

Deeks grunted, snapping Nate out of his stupor. The tall man shoved everything to the back of his mind. He would have a lot to work through when this was done, but right now, he had to take care of the two people in front of him and damn if they didn't need care right now. His eyes turned to Kensi first. The psychologist prided himself on being an evolved man, but he still had the natural instinct to protect women, even though the woman in question was quite capable of taking care of herself. She'd proven it more than once. A rueful smile touched his lips as he remembered what had happened when he'd tried to chase a man who had been hitting on her in a bar.

She shifted a little, drawing his attention back to the present. He knelt at her side, checking her anxiously. Physically, she looked okay, apart from assorted bumps and bruises. The blood covering her seemed to be from the man he just shot and killed and not her. The haunted look in her eyes and the short quick breaths alerted him to the fact that she was probably reliving the scene in her apartment. He patted her shoulder as he pushed himself to his feet. Deeks was more urgent. The man, also covered in someone else's blood, had a hole in his shoulder from a gunshot wound. Without a second thought, Nate instantly switched to doctor mode and turned off the fear that threatened to swallow him whole.

Nate rushed over to Deeks and immediately applied pressure to the wound.
"How you doing, Marty?"

"Marty? Shit, am I dying?"

The psychologist smiled at the LAPD officer.

"Nope, I don't think a gun shot wound to the shoulder is going to kill you. I think you are stuck with us for awhile longer."

"You really know how to make a guy feel welcome. I get my car rammed, chased, shot. It's been fantastic." Even as the words came out of his mouth, the tow-head realized in some twisted way it was true. He was an only child, his mom was dead, and he hadn't spoken with his dad in years. In some sick way, this was the most fun he had in years.

"Kensi, can you hand me a sheet?"

Nate's words were purposefully loud and forceful, and they did the trick. The woman popped her head up and shook off whatever unhappy thoughts she was immersed in.

"Huh?"

"Can you grab me a sheet, I want to tie off Deeks' wound?"

Kensi jumped off the floor and handed Nate the requested sheet and the doctor went to work treating the wound.

"Fern, I told you that you were missing out. One night with me is like a religious experience."

Both Nate and Kensi started at him confused.

"Come on, I'm holy!"

The two groaned at the response.

"That was bad, even for you. I can see right through you, Martin Deeks."

"A comedian. Cute."

The bickering of the future friends and partners was interrupted by the voice of reason.

"Well, I think you'll live. The bullet went straight through. It will hurt and we'll eventually need to stitch you up, but other than a nasty scar, you are fine."

"Chicks dig scars."

With this last comment, he batted his lashes at Kensi, who just snorted in disgust.

Nate folded the sheet and pressed it against the wound. Deeks sucked in a sharp breath, hands clenching into fists at his sides. He was pale under his tan, and trembling.

"Doc, thank you. You saved my life."

Deeks had grabbed the other man's arm and looked him in the eyes. The blond did not know the psychologist well, but he knew that this man had killed for him and Kensi. He broke an oath to always save lives and instead took one. The fact that the other man was gently shaking, barely noticeable, underneath Deeks' hand let him know that he was correct.

Though it was barely audible, the other man responded with, "Anytime." Deeks knew that the sentiment was heartfelt.

"Now, what about you, Fern. That big butch woman seemed to take a liking to you. But I would guess you're a hit with the ladies, am I right?"

Deeks knew when to lighten the mood; you had to give him that.

"Who me? I'm fine, I am not the one with a hole in my shoulder having a religious experience."

"Somehow, you strike me as the type of chick who takes a lickin' and keeps on tickin' even if she was dying."

"She is," Nate replied giving the brunette a look that conveyed he knew her far too well.

"Marty is right. Let's take a look."

"How about later? I think that we should probably make tracks. We are in a residential neighborhood, someone heard something. We don't want to get caught here. No one is going to be able to save the little girl if we get caught. Besides, Hetty would punish us for a century if we stuck her with that much paperwork."

The two man shared a look over the young woman's head without her noticing, which in itself suggested she was injured if their overly vigilant junior agent was not paying attention. No one could doubt she had a point.

"You're right, we have to get you both to a hospital."

"No way, Jose." Nate was surprised that the source of discontent came from the LAPD officer.

"Look, Doc, I know what you're going to say. But, at this point Kensi is wanted for treason and I'm at least an accessory. I guarantee that every police officer and fed in the area is combing the hospitals looking for us after the car crash. I am not what you would call a popular guy, now I that is surprising, but I can name at least ten officers would love to nail my ass to the wall. Again, Kensi treason, homicide… Not good."

The psychologist sighed and rubbed his chin. They both looked awful. Deek's shoulder was still bleeding, and Kensi was pale and hollow eyed. They were being chased by their own government and no one had slept in days. This wasn't a great situation and the detective was right, they needed to get out of here.

"Okay, let's go." With his words the three took one quick look around and made a dash to the car, pulling away as they heard the tell tale cry of sirens not too far away.

Back at the safe house, the other four were doing some research on the Camp Pendleton bombing when Callen's cell rang. Their fearless leader didn't even bother saying hello, he went straight to the good stuff.

"What'd you find?"

The eyes of Eric, Hetty, and Sam followed him as he was having a one sided conversation and they were interested in finding out what happened.

"What!" Are you alright? Wait, let me put you on speaker."

The last comment was directed as the three pair of eyes took on a decidedly anxious note.

"They were waiting for us. We grabbed some paperwork we found in a safe but I am not sure what it is or what kind of information it provides." The anxious voice of Kensi Blye filled the air of the tension filled home.

"What happened?"

"We got there and were canvasing the area when four big ass dudes just took us down. I mean these guys were big wrestler types," Deeks supplied.

"They took you down. And one of those 'big ass dudes' was a woman."

"Kensi. Deeks. Play nice. We are all wanted for murder and/or treason at the moment."

Sam had taken the phone out of Callen's hand and was administering his own special mother hen brand of care.

"Where's Nate? Is he okay? Is anyone hurt?"

"Hi Sam. I'm fine, I can't say the same about the other two. Deeks got shot in the shoulder and we had to run so I haven't checked out Kensi yet, but I would bet that she's got an injury or two. They both need to rest and medical care. Where should we go?"

"Mr. Getz, bring Mr. Deeks and Agent Blye back to the following address. Sam will meet you there and make sure no one is following you and bring you back to the safe house. Before you say anything, Ms. Blye, my order stands. Mr. Hanna will retrieve you.

The words died on Kensi's lips as she was ready to argue she was competent enough to ensure that she got Nate and Deeks to the safe house without anyone following them. She knew better than to argue with their diminutive leader.

Three hours later the quartet walked into the house with Sam hovering over the three covered in blood. Eric just looked helpless, not sure what he should be doing. Callen made eye contact with Kensi who was silently pleading him to get Sam away. His blue eyes met her one hazel and one dark brown eye with a look that told her that the former SEAL had every reason to be worried about them right now. Nate was trying to convince Deeks to stay sitting down. Sam and Kensi were arguing while Callen continued to ask what the hell happened.

A familiar sharp whistle stopped everyone in their tracks and they turned to look at Eric.

"Guys. We should take care of Nate, Kensi, and Deeks and then we can share what we found. I mean, well, if you think that's okay?"

Eric turned to Hetty for the last comment suddenly feeling insecure and uncomfortable with his declaration of control.

"No, Eric," she smiling at the younger man pleased with his behavior, "You are exactly right."

The smug look on Sam's face did not go unnoticed by the junior agent or the LAPD officer.

"Yeah, Nate, I think Deek's wound is bleeding again," Kensi sweetly retorted in attempting to throw the attention off herself. It worked when they realized that the makeshift bandages Nate had made out of sheets were now stained red again. Nate took Deeks and led him to the kitchen table and sat him down and begin to once again patch him up. Sam followed with actual bandages in hand and Hetty supervised while Eric looked nervously on, worried about his family.

With all of the attention on fixing the officer, she walked around until she found a bathroom. Sinking down onto the lip of the tub, all of the pain and exhaustion came out in a sigh that said everything.

"So, what happened, Kenz?"

The sound of Callen standing in the doorway of the bathroom startled her enough that she jumped off and began to lose her balance before Callen's hands settled on her shoulders as he provided her the balance that seemed to elude her at the moment. She looked up sheepishly.

"They got the drop on us. Nate was weaponless and there were four of them and two of us. Deeks took one... I shot two of them, but one of them got the drop on me. We were fighting. It was messy. All of us should be dead. They were about to kill us."

"Are you saying," Callen stopped, waiting for Kensi to continue, not believing what he knew was about to come out of the brunette's mouth.

"Yup, it was Nate. We would have been dead if he hadn't been there. He took one of the perp's guns and shot our attacker. Callen, he was pretty shaken up. I don't know how he is going to deal with this."

Callen was not one for serious emotions but the situation seemed to require it. "Kensi. He's going to get through it the same way you're going to get through what happened to you."

The honesty in his eyes scared her the same way the vulnerability in her eyes scared him.

"How's that?" she whispered.

"With us."

"That simple?"

"That simple."

They stayed there for a few moments letting their terse but impactful conversation sink in before Callen spoke again.

"Come on, let's get you checked out."

"Me," she replied her voice unnaturally high, "I'm fine. I didn't get shot."

"Kensi, you can come peacefully or we can sick Sam in here."

"I could take him."

He looked at her questioningly and wasn't entirely sure that she was bluffing.

"Maybe, but you couldn't take us both."

"You like me too much to try."

"Alright, if you don't come of your own volition, I'm going to have Eric check the police records to see why one Kensi Marie Blye was arrested for disorderly conduct and indecent exposure."

The shocked look in her eyes was enough to make him smirk that smug Callen look, but, it worked. She begrudgingly stood up and followed him out of the bathroom. They had only taken three steps before Sam was upon them, hovering with that concerned mother hen look in his eyes.

"Nate's done with Deeks. Your turn." His words punctuated by a sharp look. It was Sam worry level 5. Five was pretty damn bad.

The SEAL punctuated his words with a look that normally left suspects shaken, but the brown-eyed beauty found herself immune to the scary look. Maybe because she knew this tough, tall, strong, man that oozed authority was the same man that monitored Callen's cholesterol intake, that forced tea down Eric's throat when he came down with laryngitis, and had once threw her over his shoulder and manhandled her into the doctor's office when she had pneumonia. He was actually just an overprotective teddy bear when it came to his team and family. Loyalty was something he learned in the service and it had stuck with him, hard.

"Okay, let's go."

"I mean it Kensi, we need to get you look…," he stopped mid-sentence and looked at her in amazement. This young woman, former marine brat, and queen of illegal skills, never ceased to surprise him. She looked over her shoulder and batted her eyelashes before following their leader into the kitchen where Nate was waiting for her, relieved that G had gotten her to cooperate.

"How's the shoulder?" She sat down in the chair, avoiding eye contact with Nate.

"I'll survive. They patched me up. No serious damage."

"Let's see if we can say the same about you." This time she looked at him in the eyes and she realized Callen was right. Their operational psychologist was going through the same emotions that she was.

After some intimidation tactics from Sam and Callen, it was Hetty that got her to confess that she had broken her rib, which after palpitating her ribcage, Nate amended to broken ribs. That and a wound on her head that they realized was a bullet graze consisted of her injuries.

Injuries assessed and a change of clothing, which Hetty mysteriously pulled out of a closet and that fit them perfectly, the team regrouped in the living room, wary and anxious, but eating a dinner that Hetty had again mysteriously provided. They were eating peacefully, Hetty insisting on a few hours of rest for before continuing their search when Nate jumped off the couch.

"I think I know who is behind this."