When they arrived at ICU, Dr. Minh escorted them into Kensi's room. While they knew how serious her condition was, they were unprepared to see her intubated with wires and tubes everywhere. It rattled Deeks even more than seeing her grey and lying in a pool of blood. His beautiful partner was hidden behind medical equipment.
Nell was equally stunned and couldn't maintain her composure. It was only 24 hours earlier that they had been giggling like schoolgirls over fruity cocktails. Now, Kensi wasn't even able to breathe on her own. She slowly walked over and stroked Kensi's hand. Looking over at Deeks, she nodded tearfully, then left the room.
Nell called in once again to update Hetty on Kensi's condition. Hetty could hear Nell's voice breaking as she spoke, and knew that she was struggling. Despite her cheery nature, Nell was a very sensitive soul and seeing Kensi like this must have been heartbreaking. Hetty found herself thinking that she should have been at the hospital with them, but she knew she needed to coordinate the investigation here.
Hetty collected the information that Abby had gathered and prepared to take it to the hospital. She encouraged Eric and Abby to leave, but they both refused. Abby retrieved a bag from her car and came back in with Bert* under one arm and a blanket in the other.
"I'm all set. Just give me a patch of floor and I'm good to go." She said. She and Eric headed back up to Ops so they could take turns resting and researching. Hetty gave a satisfied nod, and left them to their work. On her way out, she passed Nell coming in.
"My dear, you need to go home and get some rest. There is nothing you can do tonight to help Ms. Blye." She spoke softly.
"Yes, there is. I can help track down the person who did this. And I can pour over medical research to figure out how to undo the effects of the drugs. Don't send me home, Hetty. I can be useful." Nell pleaded. Hetty held the door open for her and stepped aside.
"There's a pot of tea by my desk, dear. Please help yourself." Hetty said as she turned to leave. She had known there was no way Nell was going home, and a pot of tea was the least she could do to help calm the devastated agent.
(*Bert is Abby's stuffed hippo toy that makes fart noises when hugged. She often hugs him for comfort and shares him with her friends when they need comfort.)
When Nell left, Deeks sat down on the cot that was already set up next to Kensi's bed. He was exhausted, both physically and mentally, but he doubted he would sleep. For a while, he just sat, staring at Kensi. He gently reached over and opened her eyes, but he knew she wasn't there. There was no awareness behind them, no sparkle. It made his heart ache. Kensi wasn't there, and he was terrified he might never get her back. The figure lying on the bed was a shell and he was desperate for her to be whole again. He took his time studying her features, or what features he could see that weren't obscured by tubes and wires. He realized her hair was starting to tangle and gently started combing it with his fingers, careful not to disturb any of the medical equipment. He gently arranged her hair on the pillow so that it framed her face, similar to how she had worn it the night before. It struck him that even like this, she was still beautiful.
He didn't look up when Hetty came in. She sat down in the chair on the other side of Kensi, nodding to him.
"I brought the lab results and research for the medical team to review. It was a rare combination that she received and their lab may take longer to process the results. Now that we know what has been done, perhaps they can take steps towards undoing the damage." She said quietly. "Why don't you rest, Mr. Deeks. It's been a very long day. Someone will wake you when she needs you."
He slowly stretched out on the cot, laying on his side, facing the wall. He felt lost. For ages he just lay there, staring blankly and thinking. Eventually, exhaustion overtook him and he drifted off to sleep.
At OSP, Nell took up Hetty's offer of a cup of tea before she went up to see Eric and Abby. She sat quietly beside Hetty's desk, trying to gather her thoughts and formulate her plan of attack for the evening. She was torn between wanting to track down Verette and wanting to find something to counteract the drugs Kensi had been given. She was lost in thought and didn't hear Eric approach her.
"Hey" he said softly "are you alright?" Nell turned to look at him and almost dissolved into tears again. She tried to come up with a quick joke, but came up blank. Eric walked closer and said "Abby and I are working through the night. Do you want to join us upstairs? We can take turns napping and working." Nell just nodded, and followed him upstairs. "Bring your tea" Eric reminded her. "Hetty is letting us have drinks in Ops, as we have a special guest." Nell turned back and grabbed her cup of tea, grateful for something to hold on to.
Upstairs, Abby was bouncing from screen to screen, with seemingly hundreds of searches running. When she saw Nell, she burst into a grin and nearly bowled her over with a massive hug.
"Nell! It's so good to finally meet you! Eric has told me lots about you, I've been so excited to have a chance to work with you!" Abby's enthusiasm was contagious and Nell managed to smile. "But wait. First, you need to hug Bert." She held him out to Nell. "Hugging Bert always makes everyone feel better." Nell obliged, and couldn't help but grin when he made loud inappropriate noises. Abby was right. "See, I told you so. Now, Eric has told me lots about you, but you need to tell me everything he hasn't."
"Did he tell you I can run circles around him on these programs?" Nell asked. "Fill me in on what you have so far, and I can take over so Mr. Sleepy head over there can rest." She said. She was ready to get to work. Eric nodded appreciatively and went down to nap on the couch.
Abby grabbed Nell's hand and dragged her over to the first screen.
"OK, so over here, we're running a bunch of search programs on Verette and trying to figure out how he connects to Kensi. We're also trying to track him down, and we've got a facial recognition program going through the video footage from Kensi's place, up to a week ago." She brought up an image of a complicated web. "This is a network map showing Verette's known associates, where he hangs out, etc. to see if any of it ties him to Kensi. So far, no luck, but we've got lots more information to sort through." She brought up another page "We're running through unsolved attacks across the country to see if drugs like this have ever been used, but so far, nothing has come up. But it's only been going for a few minutes." She looked at Nell to make sure she caught everything, then walked over to the second screen. "Over here, we're going through medical journals, news reports, anything else we can think of to see if we can identify the unfamiliar compounds. We're trying to find any research on how to counteract paralytics in general, and trying to find the ones that match Kensi's symptoms best. Oh! And we found there's a researcher at University of Queensland, in Australia, who specializes in snake venom derivatives. We just need to wait for her to get to her office - should be another hour or two. I've already emailed her, but it might be best to call so we can get answers faster." Abby turned back to Nell. "Any questions? Which do do you want to take over?" She asked, taking another gulp of Caf-Pow. Nell was thrilled that Abby and Eric had already started on all of the ideas she had, and she happily took over the station searching for more information on paralytics while Abby went back to gathering information on Verette.
At the hospital, Deeks woke repeatedly through the night to check on Kensi. Each time was the same - she was stable but no improvement. Around the fifth time he woke up, he felt had a nagging thought he couldn't identify. He reached over to hold Kensi's hand gently, and even though he knew she wasn't there, he felt compelled to talk to her.
"I'm sorry, Kens. I'm sorry for all the times I've taken you for granted. I'm sorry I didn't get there sooner. And I'm sorry I wasted my time asking you stupid questions instead of telling you how important you are. I can't do this job without you. I don't even think I can live without you. You have got to get better. You have to. Please, Kens. I need you." He found himself tearing up again. He couldn't remember ever having cried so much in one day.
He stretched out on his cot again, staring at the ceiling while going over everything that had happened today. When he was going over the moment when Kensi crashed, he had a nagging feeling. What was the name that Nell had asked her about? The name that seemed to send Kensi into a panic, triggering her seizure? He was hesitant to risk waking anyone, but he needed the answer, so he texted Nell and Eric. Moments later, his phone beeped. The text simply said "Christoph Verette." Deeks felt a chill, but couldn't place the name. It seemed possibly familiar but he couldn't place it. He racked his brain until he fell into a fitfull sleep.