Eric and Abby had search programs running on every computer available. They wanted to collect every piece of information available about Christoph Verette. Despite the pages and pages of results they found, nothing linked him to Kensi. As they poured over what they had found, Eric heaved a sigh. All this information, and no answers.
Hetty appeared, which surprised them both, because of the late hour. In each hand she held a Caf-Pow.
"Ms. Sciuto, I believe this is your beverage of choice, yes? We typically do not allow food or drink in Ops, but I believe as we have a guest, the rules may be bent this evening. Now, would someone like to update me on what you have found?" She asked, as she handed Abby and Eric their drinks. Both took a long sip before answering. Abby spoke up first.
"Ok, so we have a fingerprint match on the syringe. The prints belong to a Christoph Verette. Age 36, works as a bouncer at a strip club downtown a few nights a week. Here's his dmv photo." She pulled up a photo of a solid looking man with unkempt strawberry blonde hair and cold blue eyes. He was rough looking, with acne scarred cheeks and thick stubble on his jaw. "He's 6'2", a solid 250 lbs. He has a few assault convictions, but a ton of arrests. He's been involved in a bunch of domestic violence calls at his place, dating back more than 15 years." She paused and started pacing. "He's also got a few drug charges here, but it looks like this guy is teflon. He keeps getting charged and nothing sticks. But it's pretty clear that this guy is bad news. We just have no idea how he's connected to Kensi." She turned back to face Hetty and Eric, looking puzzled. "None of his cases have had NCIS involvement, and it's not likely they'd have a social connection, is it? I mean, she wouldn't be around scum like that. So if he did this, then what's his motive? Why go after her?" She stopped abruptly when her phone bleeped. "Ooo it's the lab results, they should be ready! Let's go check it out." She called to Eric as she tore out of the room. Hetty smiled to herself, very grateful that Abby was here to help.
Deeks and Nell were swept out of the room while medical staff poured in. Alarm bells continued to sound, while doctors barked orders that sent the nurses scrambling. It was a surreal experience for both Nell and Deeks as they watched the doctors try to save their friend. It was Nell who spoke first.
"Let's wait over here" she said, gesturing to a bench a short walk down the corridor. "I don't think she'd want us watching right now." Deeks found himself unable to speak, but silently followed Nell and sank onto the bench. He stared at Kensi's room, looking as broken as he had when they brought her in. Nell wanted to offer some words of reassurance, but anything she came up with sounded cliche. Finally, she spoke up and said "Someone should call the team. They'll want to know." Deeks simply nodded as she pulled out her phone.
Deeks was lost in thought. He had been lulled into a false sense of security when he knew that Kensi's physical injuries were minor. Once she was able to communicate via EEG, he didn't even consider her to be in danger. But now he didn't even know if she was going to be alive in five minutes. He refused to consider the possibility of losing her. He couldn't lose her. Never in his life had he been so afraid. He was kicking himself for all the things he didn't say to Kensi when he had the chance. He knew she was there, and that she could hear him. So why didn't he tell her how important she was to him? Why didn't he tell her how much he needed her? So many things left unsaid. He promised himself that if he got the chance, he would tell her every day how much she meant to him.
Nell had made her call to Hetty, but didn't know what to do next. Deeks was lost in thought and she was afraid to interrupt him. Kensi's room was still a chaotic mess of machines and hospital staff. She heaved a sigh and rested her head in her hands as tears started trickling down her cheeks. Kensi's was her friend, and even though she knew the job had risks, this wasn't the job. She had no idea what "this" was.
Finally, the alarms stopped sounding and people started leaving Kensi's room. Nell and Deeks both stood up as the doctor approached them. Deeks silently prayed, to any higher power that was listening, for good news.
"Ms. Blye has been stabilised but we are moving her to ICU. We are unsure what triggered the seizures, but that led to cardiac and respiratory arrest. We were able to resuscitate her, but things are touch and go. If we can keep her stable overnight, we are hoping to have results from the lab in the morning and have a better idea how to treat her. Do you have any questions?" She asked. Deeks had many, but he found himself unable to speak. "She's only allowed one visitor at a time" the doctor continued "but I can allow you both in together for a few minutes. If one of you wants to stay with her overnight, we can arrange that as well. Tell them it was approved by Dr. Minh. I'll take you to the ICU now."
Abby was bouncing around the lab excitedly. While not her lab, she was given full access and with the late hour, no one else was there except Hetty and Eric.
"I've never seen anything like this before" she said, her eyes wide with excitement "so, there's a whole bunch of different compounds, some of which I've never seen before. We've got curare, and some different types of snake venom, and something that looks similar to curare but I think it's been altered? It's a whole mess of scary stuff, but mostly it looks like different types of paralytics. If I had to guess, I'd say whoever made this wanted to make sure someone was unable to move, but fully conscious. Normally, these would be broken down pretty quickly, but there are some other drugs in here to slow metabolism and keep the drugs in her system longer." She barely paused to breathe. "But if we look at the blood samples from the floor, it looks like there's ghb in her system. It would have been gone by the time she got to hospital. Ghb is used recreationally and it's getting really popular as a date rape drug. I have no idea what it would do mixed with the other stuff, but there wasn't any ghb in the syringe so that got into her system some other way. Whoever did this was pretty determined to make sure they knocked her out for a good long time." When she remembered that this was their team member she was discussing, she froze and started apologizing. "I'm sorry, I should be more sensitive. I'm not excited this happened to Kensi. I..." She was cut off by Hetty.
"It's quite alright, Ms. Sciuto. We understand your enthusiasm and that it is not to be confused for happiness. Now that we have identified the contents of the syringe, is there anything we can tell the hospital to help with her treatment?" Abby looked thoughtful for a few minutes.
"Well, they could start with the anti-venin for the different types of snake venom. I'd have to do some more research about the other compounds though, as they aren't really familiar. Our best bet would be to find whoever has developed this cocktail though as they would be the most likely to have a way to treat it." She said.