A/N: Just in case you're wondering - I still don't own a thing :) Thanks as always to kensi54382 for amazing support and beta-ing!


Convincing Kensi that she needed to drive with Sam to the Spanish Mission took what felt like three eternities. She absolutely refused to leave Deeks alone, although the guys argued that Callen would be there. Kensi surrendered in the end, but only to 'pick a bone' with Hetty, at least that was what she intended to do until she stepped through the doors of headquarters. Did anyone survive who had wanted to pick a bone with Hetty? She didn't think so. Kensi huffed, grabbed a donut and then slumped on her chair.

"Didn't you just have one chocolate croissant, three pancakes and a biscuit?" Sam chuckled and sat down opposite to her on his chair that Eric had somehow managed to get back after it had been shipped to god-knows-where.

"What? You're Deeks now?" Kensi hissed back and apologized right away.

"Hey. Your partner is hurt and you don't want to leave him, I get it. I made sure that Callen stayed in my apartment the first week after he took the five bullets," Sam said and watched as Kensi's frown eased.

"It's just…" was all she could say before a well-known clearing of a throat interrupted her.

"Miss Blye, my office?"

Kensi glanced at Sam before she stood and followed Hetty the short way over to her office. Although 'office' didn't actually fit, at least Kensi thought so. Observation platform was more like it. Hetty had her desk in the middle of the Mission, could survey everything, but still an imaginary privacy thanks to the step that divided her office from the rest. It was kind of strange, that office.

"Miss Blye, I can understand your displeasure all too well. But I can assure you that Mr Deeks is in the best hands. I do not act without any ulterior motives, you know that, and I'm afraid that you have to rely on my instincts once more," Hetty said with a strong voice and locked her eyes with her agent's ones.

"It's important that Deeks and Callen are alone, isn't it?" Kensi pressed but Hetty just gave her a knowing glance.

It was silent for some seconds before Hetty spoke again, "Miss Blye, how much do you know about you partner's past?"

Hetty felt uncomfortable going over Deeks' head like that and speaking with Kensi about something that wasn't hers to tell, but she didn't want to leave her completely in the dark. The way Hetty saw the situation, the detective kept quiet about his past, just like Kensi did. Sometimes it was her place to give a little information, like when she told Deeks about Kensi living on the streets for over a year.

"Not much. He… he shuts down when I try to talk to him about it," Kensi replied and thought back to last night. Should she tell Hetty about the nightmares? It was after all something private and she wasn't sure if Deeks wanted his problems reported to his boss. She luckily didn't have to make that decision.

"He dreams again, doesn't he?" Hetty asked cautiously and knew she had hit it when Kensi's face showed astonishment. "I know my agents, Miss Blye."

"Last night and when he was in the hospital as well, he woke up drenched in sweat and I had the feeling that he didn't recognize me at first. He backed away from me and … it wasn't Deeks who was sitting in front of me," Kensi admitted and you could see the worry for her partner written on her face.

"Kensi, what I'm about to tell you stays between the two of us, doesn't it?" Hetty's use of her first name was enough to make Kensi nod.

"Mr Deeks' father was an alcoholic and was prone to violence when he was drunk. Deeks tried to protect his mother and over the years, he became the target of his father. When he was eleven, Deeks shot at Brandel who had fired a shotgun at him after beating his mother unconscious. With three bullets in his body, he somehow managed to shoot his father in the shoulder, it was more luck than anything else. The revolver he used was from Ray Martindale, that's why he's so loyal to him," Hetty ended her short summary of what had happened and then looked back at Kensi.

"That's why he backed away from me," she whispered and slumped further in the chair.

"Yes. The only reason I tell you this and don't wait for Mr Deeks to open up, is that you have to know that you have to be careful with him after one of those dreams. No touching, no raised voice. When he is in enormous stress, the dreams are frequent. Ready yourself for some tough nights."


Callen had cleaned most of the chaos in the small kitchen and was just putting away the left-over food as he heard Deeks huffing. "Okay, enough of the games, what's wrong?"

"Is this going to be the I'm-the-boss-you're-just-detective-talk?" Deeks tried to joke while rubbing his temples with both hands. When he saw the seriousness in Callen's face, he sighed. "Really?"

"Come on, Deeks. You barely ate something and look like you maybe got three hours of sleep."

"Two," Deeks muttered and regretted the little word immediately.

"Two? Two hours of sleep in the whole night?" Callen closed the fridge and then turned around to face the detective, who had his head buried in his hands.

"No offense, but could you speak a bit more quietly? Please?" Deeks asked in an innocent tone.

"With those painkillers you've got prescribed, you shouldn't even be able to feel pain. Except for…when did you take the last pill?" Callen took another step towards Deeks and noticed the small orange bottle standing abandoned and almost hidden in the far corner of the bar.

"Yesterday evening before you and Sam left," Deeks admitted and dared to look Callen in the eye. Instead of the expected angry or maybe annoyed expression, he saw a questioning, even concerned one.

"Why? Why would you spend the night in pain if you could sleep peacefully and pain-free?"

"Because the pain keeps me awake, okay? When I'm in pain, I can't sleep. When I take the pills, the pain is gone and they make me sleepy on top of it. Ergo: no painkiller, no sleep," Deeks snapped and once more bit his tongue.

"You don't want to sleep?" Callen stared unbelievingly at Deeks. The man could, if he wanted, sleep ten hours straight and he didn't?

A slight shaking of the head made Callen force out the next words, "Deeks, listen. I'm an insomniac. More than four hours, sometimes five, that's all I get. You could sleep until noon but don't do it? Do you know what gift you're throwing away?"

"It isn't a gift, Callen! It is horror I don't wanna have. Every damn night I dream of the worst frigging moments of my life so that I wake up, completely without orientation. It's pathetic, nothing more," Deeks burst out.

"Is that what happened last night? Is that the reason you didn't sleep?"

"I dreamt, made a complete fool of myself in front of Kensi and then spent the rest of the night with coffee on the couch. Coffee plus watching TV plus concussion equals headaches to come back to your question what's wrong."

"And you don't eat because…"

"Headaches plus eating equals nothing good."

Now it was Callen's place to huff. Even if he had no idea of what Deeks was dreaming, he had gotten more personal information out of him than in the last years all together. The worst thing was that Callen should have noticed that something was wrong. How often had Deeks seemingly drank a hundred litres of coffee a day? Callen had thought that it was just a habit, but now, he could see a pattern. He turned around again and walked to small cupboard, took a glass, filled it with water and then pushed it together with the painkiller over to Deeks.

"You take the meds and get a few hours of sleep. If you dream, I'll wake you. And before you ask; no, Kensi will not know about it and yes, I'll wake you before she and Sam come back."

Deeks looked at Callen for quite some time before he inhaled deeply and took the pills.

"When you wake me up… don't touch me, okay? Just call my cell, that's the way I wake up the easiest."

Callen nodded without pressing the issue further. No touching and, judging by the hint with the cell, no direct talking to him as well. Callen wasn't stupid; he could more or less figure out what Deeks dreamt, at least after these two sentences. He took the crutches lying on the floor and helped Deeks to stand up from the bar stool. Deeks groaned as his blood pressure fell and the headache increased to an intensive throbbing. Black dots danced in front of his eyes, which he reflexively closed.

"Are you okay?" Callen asked, his arms holding Deeks on his feet.

"Yeah, just dizzy." Deeks shook his head and then opened his eyes again, before he let Callen guide him to the bedroom.

When he was securely tucked in, crutches lying next to him and a glass of water on the nightstand, the colleagues met each other's glance and Callen said, "If anyone asks, this conversation never took place."

"What conversation?" Deeks grinned before he finally allowed the sleep to take over his body.


Kensi had finally managed to finish her report and was sitting at her desk with nothing left to do except eating yet another donut.

"Are you going to the boatshed, later?" she asked Sam, her mouth still full.

"Yep. It's time to prep Julio for his job. If you can prep somebody for it, that is," Sam answered and met Kensi's gaze. "You want to do something, right?"

"I should be with Deeks. Even when Hetty says that it's important for him to be with Callen. He ismypartner, in the end," Kensi sighed.

Sam scribbled one last signature on some kind of form before he packed his stuff away and stood from his beloved chair. "Then let's go, this way you'll be with Shaggy again in no time."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"I'm not blind, Kens. And neither is Callen. Deeks and you do seem to be blind though," Sam grinned and watched, bemused, how Kensi started to frown.

"Hey, whatever you want to say there, Sam…"

"Okay, okay. I'll just shut up."


Julio Lopez had indeed revealed everything he knew about the cartel but when it came to convincing him into betraying his boss, he was more than reluctant.

"How the hell can I possibly explain that I just vanished for four days, huh? You have some super-smart explanation for that as well?"

Sam took a deep breath and envied Kensi who was sitting in the other room, listening to Julio and not having to talk to him.

"You've been shot, got stitched up in the ER and then were interrogated by us. You didn't say anything and we had to let you go because there wasn't enough evidence."

"As if he would believe that. Especially if you want me wired. No way," Lopez leaned back; his arms folded, and flinched when the stitches in his bullet wound pulled. "I'll go back in, but without a microphone or camera. Give me a burn phone and I'll call you if anything happens. Either this way or not at all."

Sam closed his eyes briefly and took a moment to think about it. "Okay, no micro, no camera but a GPS transmitter in the sole of your shoe. If you don't stick to the plan, we'll notice. Either this way, or you go to jail right now, without a chance of coming out earlier."

Sam got Lopez to agree with that, deciding that the operation should start as soon as possible, meaning in a few hours. Until then the shoes would be ready and Lopez prepared as well as they could manage. Sam left the small interrogation room and joined Kensi, a bottle of water in his hand.

"I don't trust that guy, Sam," Kensi declared and leaned back in her chair next to the wooden table.

"Yeah, I don't know. I'd rather he was wired, but if we don't take this chance, we may not have another to destroy that cartel."

"And if it's just a trap for us? OR if he tells them everything? We just endanger Deeks this way," Kensi argued and ran a hand through her long hair.

Sam was lost in thought for some moments before he made a video call to Eric and Nell. Mere seconds later, Eric looked at them.

"What's up, Sam?"

"Hey Eric. How small are the smallest micros you have?"


A/N: I promise, more team bonding to come! And yes, the case will be dealt with as well, I just focus more on the team :D Hope you enjoyed this chapter!