Hello all! I'm so glad you liked the last chapter. As always, thank you all for reading and reviewing…you are all awesome! And so I humbly offer you this chapter…the aftermath…

-IV-

Callen blinked. All he could see was a white ceiling. His throat felt scratchy, and his chest felt tight, and he was breathing through funny tubes. He could feel the IV in his arm, and he could hear a steady beeping noise in the background. He tried to sit up when he heard Sam's voice:

"Whoa, whoa, G, don't move."

Of course Callen continued to try to sit up.

Suddenly, Sam was standing over him. "Do you ever listen?" he asked, annoyed.

Callen's chest was burning in pain, and he finally thought better about sitting up. He leaned back against the pillows and closed his eyes.

Sam immediately softened. "You're in the hospital, G. You and Kensi really busted yourselves up."

Kensi. Callen's eyes shot open again. "Where is she?" he asked. He thought his voice came out funny, as he couldn't speak very well through the tubes, but Sam seemed to understand.

"She's right here, on the other side of the curtain," he said.

"Can I see her?" Callen struggled to sit up again.

"No, for once in your life, you're going to stay put in that bed. I'm tired of having a partner who has more bullet holes in him than the bad guys."

"I didn't get shot," Callen argued.

"You got sliced and diced and almost blown up…same thing," came the grumpy reply.

"Sam," Callen said warningly. He tried rolling over to see if that would help him get up. It didn't.

"You're not gonna give up, are you?"

"Not until you let me see her."

Sam rolled his eyes, but he walked over and pulled back the curtain. With great effort, Callen turned his head to gaze upon his beautiful savior. She looked like she was sleeping peacefully, but she was attached to an IV and oxygen tubes like Callen, and her head was bandaged in thick gauze. Only the steady beeping of her heart monitor assured Callen that she was still alive.

"How is she?" Callen asked quietly.

"She'll be okay," Sam replied. "She's tough…I think she'll be fine when she wakes up in the morning."

Late that night, Callen lay awake in the hospital bed. He wasn't attached to quite as many tubes anymore, but the stitches in his chest were uncomfortable. And he hated hospitals, and he couldn't sleep. Not to mention that he couldn't keep his mind off the woman who lay in the other bed on the other side of the curtain.

Suddenly, he had to see her. He lifted his head and saw Sam sleeping soundly on the cot across the room. He was going to have to be quiet. If Sam saw him getting out of bed, Callen had no doubt that his partner would throw him back in bed and chain him there.

Slowly and silently, Callen rose from the bed. He stifled a cry of pain as he realized how sore he was. Every bone in his body seemed to crunch with every step, and every knife mark on his chest throbbed with every movement. He was hurting so much that it almost made him dizzy. But as he slipped behind the curtain and looked down over his beautiful girl, suddenly all thoughts of pain fled his mind.

Eleven months, Callen thought. Eleven months away from Kensi. Eleven months since he had seen her. Eleven months since he had talked to her. Eleven months since he had held her in his arms. And eleven months since he had made love to her.

He threaded his fingers through hers and gently stroked the back of her hand with his thumb. It was unlike Callen to be so tender, but he couldn't stop himself. What's happening to me?, he thought.

But he didn't have time to think about it very long, as Kensi's heart monitor suddenly started beeping faster and faster. Callen watched the numbers on the screen climb rapidly, and he felt Kensi's fingers squeeze his. And then she coughed…and gasped…and sputtered, and before Callen even knew what was happening, a couple of nurses were herding him back to bed while a couple of other nurses huddled around Kensi.

Sam was on his feet in an instant, and he and Callen looked on helplessly as the hospital staff tried to keep Kensi under control. She was awake, but she couldn't stop thrashing, and Callen flinched as he watched them inject her with sedative.

As the drugs seeped into her, Kensi calmed down quickly. She lay back down against the pillows, and her breathing steadied, and slowly, she drifted back to sleep.

"Ahhh, you're okay, Kensi," the nurse said soothingly. "You just rest, my dear." When she turned around, she noticed Sam and Callen watching with great concern. "She'll be okay," she explained. "It's not uncommon for patients to wake up like that. The good news is that she woke up. We'll just keep monitoring her and evaluate her when she wakes up again in the morning." The nurse smiled encouragingly and left the room.

Sam turned to Callen. "You were supposed to stay in bed."

For some reason, Callen didn't feel like arguing. He obediently lay back in bed, ignoring the sharp pain shooting through his entire body. Sam went back to his cot, and comforted by the steady sound of Kensi's heart monitor beeping in time with his, Callen finally fell into a restless sleep.

The next morning, Kensi stirred from her sleep quietly and found two men standing by her bedside. She blinked in confusion.

They both looked at her with concern, and then the one with the ice blue eyes spoke. "Hey, Kensi," he said softly. "How're you doing?"

"Okay," Kensi whispered hoarsely. She tried to clear her throat, but she realized that she still had tubes attached.

"The doctors say you're gonna be fine," the other man said. "And in a few days, we can take you home."

"Home?" Kensi croaked.

"Finally back to L.A.," the blue-eyed man said. Then he grinned. "I bet even Hetty missed us."

Kensi looked from one man to the other. "Who are you?"

Callen and Sam exchanged worried glances as they let that question linger for a moment.

"Sam and Callen," Sam replied warily.

Kensi's expression didn't change.

"We work with you at NCIS," Callen added.

Kensi looked at them blankly. "What's NCIS?"