I'm reposting this chapter because of a suggestion by one of my reviewers. Thank you anonkp; you were absolutely correct.

Uh oh, Who deserts their post and what ramifications does it have on Kensi and Deeks?

I don't own NCIS Los Angeles or any of the characters on the show. I only own my original characters.

Once again nherbie has taken my chapter and made it so much better. If you haven't read her stories yet, you're missing out on some great ones!

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Enjoy.

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CHAPTER 25 - A Desertion and A Abduction Attempt

Kensi slipped back into bed next to Deeks facing him. He sleepily murmured "Ummm…good…you're back…missed you…'m cold…you're warm" as he snuggled up to her and promptly fell asleep again with his arm around her waist and his head on her chest. Kensi lay there for the longest time looking down at him. She agreed with Sam that he looked young and innocent when he was sleeping. The feelings from the last 12 long days and nights when she didn't know where he was or if she would ever see him alive again returned with a vengeance.

"I was in hell the entire time you were missing Marty. I was so worried I'd never get to tell you again how much I love you. I'd never get to touch you again or sleep with you again; never have kids with you when the time is right. I never thought I would want children, but with you, I do. You'll be an amazing dad, I know it. I look forward to the day when we're both ready to bring a little mutant ninja assassin into the world. You're going to be the best dad ever. I knew you would fight and fight hard to come back to me, but seeing you in those 'sessions'…watching what that monster was doing to you. Seeing your bruises and the blood…every time we saw you, you looked worse, weaker; you'd lost more weight…you lost so much weight…I was terrified. I know you would never want to leave me but it isn't always up to us, is it? I finally learned that lesson. It took long enough, but even though I knew you wouldn't want to leave me alone, if the worst had happened and you did, it would have been the final irrevocable loss for me. I would never have recovered. You're my beginning and my ending…my alpha and omega…my one and only."

She planted a soft kiss on his lips, smiling to herself when he gave a low sleepy "mmmm…thas good" in his sleep. Sleep claimed her before too long and she followed him into slumber.

~,~,~

Riley was ready to throttle his partner. Tompkins was pissing and moaning to him about the way Kensi had treated him.

"She had no right to treat me like that. I'm an officer of the law. Who does she think she is. Just because she's an agent doesn't give her the right to disrespect me like that."

"Come on Tompkins. You brought it on yourself. If you hadn't treated her like some chick with no brains, none of this would have happened. You were warned, but you didn't listen."

"Yeah, right. You're taking her side because you want to get into her pants, man. I mean she is a looker. I wouldn't mind getting me some of that."

"You are such an asshole."

No matter what Riley said, he knew Tompkins wouldn't let it go because he wasn't happy being bested by a woman. As usual he was acting like it was all Kensi's fault and he had done nothing to deserve his sore arm. "What an absolute moron! He has no use for women except for sex, so it was great to see him get his ass kicked by one. Oh well, he'll get over it at some point; probably when someone else pisses him off. If he isn't complaining about something, he's not happy. If he doesn't straighten his act up, he's going to get another lesson I'm sure. And it couldn't happen to a nicer guy."

A couple of hours after Tompkins' run-in with Kensi, Riley realized he needed a quick break. He checked his watch noting it was 2:55; then got up from the chair and stretched. "I'm going to hit the head. I'll be back in five minutes. Keep watch until I get back and then you can take a break" he told Tompkins.

"Yeah, sure. Just don't take all night Riley." Tompkins groused.

"Like I said, I'll be back in five. Don't go anywhere until I get back." He glared at him until Tompkins nodded his head.

"I heard you man, just don't take forever."

"I won't…just stay here until I get back, got it?"

"Yeah! I got it man."

"Good." He strode down the hallway and around the corner to where he knew the nearest bathroom was. He didn't want to leave Tompkins alone for long. He didn't trust the man as far as he could throw him.

Tompkins watched Riley go around the corner. As soon as he was out of sight, he decided he didn't care what the man had said. He needed a smoke; besides it wouldn't hurt if he stepped out onto the stairwell landing for a quick one. Nothing was going to happen in the few minutes he was away from his post. He figured no one would ever find out…and if they did…well he didn't really care. He couldn't understand why a cop like Deeks merited an armed guard on his room anyway and didn't feel it was worth his time to find out why. All he cared about was getting his smoke.

He was out of his chair and on his way to the landing before he completed his thoughts.

~,~,~

Harry and Jimmy had slipped into the hospital sometime around 2:30 and made their way to the floor where Deeks' room was and checked out the laundry closet. There were two carts there just waiting for them to use. They both felt like it was their lucky day. They arrived at the detective's door just after Tompkins took off for a smoke. They kept a sharp lookout but didn't see anything out of the ordinary. There were two chairs outside of the detective's room, but there were other chairs along the hallway so they thought nothing of it.

Riley hadn't come back from the bathroom yet and Tompkins had deserted his post after assuring Riley he would stay put so there was no one to stop the two men from entering room 528. They quietly moved to the door, slowly opened it and peered inside. The lights were low in the room but both occupants appeared to be sleeping. "This is going to be so easy; a piece of cake. The cop is too hurt to put up a fight and that slip of a girl should go down easy as well. They'll never know what hit them. We'll be out of here in under ten minutes." Harry thought.

The two men stood in the doorway for several moments before Harry turned to Jimmy and motioned for him to follow him into the room. They slipped in carrying duct tape to bind both partners. The plan was to hide them in laundry carts and get them out of the hospital through the basement. Lee was waiting for them at the Cedar Street house. Harry closed the door behind him as Jimmy moved to one side of the bed with duct tape in his hands. Harry moved to the other side of the bed with his gun out in case either one woke up.

Unbeknownst to both of them, Kensi had heard the door open, reached under her pillow for her gun and was ready for anything. When she heard two men come into the room she tapped Marty on the arm. He woke up looking right into her eyes which she flicked to the side and then back at him in silent communication.

They had worked together long enough for him to know what she was thinking. He tapped her thigh to indicate he would follow her lead. Something had Kensi worried and he'd long ago learned to trust her instincts. He slowly reached under his pillow for his own gun keeping his motions smooth and unnoticeable to the men in the doorway; silently thanking Sam for bringing it to him.

Harry moved toward Marty as Jimmy reached for Kensi to bind her. Imagine his surprise when he found himself looking into the barrel of a gun. "Don't move asshole." Kensi growled as Marty pointed his own weapon at Harry.

"You heard the lady. Put the gun down, now."

Now, a reasonably intelligent person would have followed instructions, but no one had ever accused either Harry or Jimmy of being intelligent. Jimmy grabbed for Kensi's hand that was holding the gun while Harry threw his at Marty, hitting him in the head leaving behind a nasty gash, resulting in blood flowing down his face. Harry then turned to run from the room to get away. Marty didn't think, he reacted; jumping out of bed and running after Harry. He didn't feel the pain in his feet. He was moving on pure adrenaline as he caught up to him outside the door of the room and tackled him to the floor. Harry began punching him in the stomach trying to get him to let go so he could flee but Marty was hanging on grimly and trading punches with him as often as he could get one in. The pain in his feet was making itself known by now. It was excruciating to mention nothing of his head and his ribs but he had learned long ago how to ignore pain when he had to. If there was ever a time for him to do so, now was it. His only thought was to protect Kensi and to keep the man fighting him from getting away.

If Marty hadn't already been in bad shape from all the torture, he would have succeeded in subduing Harry, but as it was Harry got the upper hand and slammed his head against the floor, stunning him. Harry then jumped up and high-tailed it out of the hospital. He had to get to the boss and let him know what had happened.

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Kensi was fighting with Jimmy but it didn't take her long to take him down. The man was a brawler and didn't know how to defend himself against a skilled fighter like her. He had pulled her out of the bed hoping to get the upper hand, but she was able to turn her fall into a roll, coming up and clocking him right in his 'junk' as Marty called it with her foot. Jimmy went down with a whimper. Before he could recover, he was the one with duct tape around his wrists with Kensi standing over him. "Come on asshole; I would love it if you'd try getting away. I'd love to kick you again you low-life piece of pond scum! You'd be singing soprano for the next year or so if I had my way."

She looked toward the door of the hospital room worried about Deeks. When all she saw were his legs, her heart jumped into her throat. She grabbed the duct tape and finished tying Jimmy's hands and legs none too gently to the leg of the bed, grabbed her gun and ran out of the room to find Marty lying on the floor, curled in a fetal position, holding his head in his hands with Harry nowhere in sight. There was enough blood on him that she was afraid he had been hurt badly again. She slid to her knees in front of him and pulled his hands gently away from his head. She found the cut above his eyebrow from the gun that was bleeding freely. After helping him sit up against the wall, she asked. "Marty, are you okay? His face was covered in blood and she could tell he was having trouble seeing through the blood dripping into his eyes. Looking into those same eyes, she could tell he was in a lot of pain but trying to hide it.

"Give me a second, okay…I just need a second." he huffed out around the pain in his ribs. "Damn it! The one I was fighting got away. I was doing okay until he slammed my head into the floor. He went toward the elevators down there." Marty waved one arm to his left while holding his ribs with the other.

~,~,~

Harry rounded the corner and took the elevator at the end of the hall down two floors. He then descended the remaining floors by way of the stairwell. He knew he had to get out of the hospital as fast as possible before reinforcements arrived. "Damn that was close! We can't seem to catch a break with this guy. It's too bad, but Jimmy's on his own. I've got to get to the boss and let him know what happened. He's going to be pissed, but if I don't tell him, I'm a dead man."

He managed to get to the van and pulled out of the parking garage without any trouble. Once he was on the freeway, he breathed a sigh of relief and high-tailed it to the house the boss was currently using as a base. When he arrived, Lee was waiting for him. As soon as he realized Harry was alone he knew something had gone wrong. "What the hell happened Harry? Where's Jimmy? And where's Deeks and his girlfriend?"

"Boss, we got up to his room with no trouble. We were being really careful. We looked all around to make sure the hall was clear; there was no one around so we entered his room. That's when all hell broke loose. That chick that's staying with him pulled a gun on us and a fight broke out. Deeks came at me and I had all I could handle getting away from him. I don't know how he was even standing up let alone fighting like a madman. I finally had to bash his head against the floor to get him to let go. And that chick with him…she is one tough bitch! She took Jimmy down fast and easy. I figured I'd better get out of there and get back here to let you know what was going on. I saw a cop come out of the stairwell just before I got in the elevator. I think they have a guard on him now though I swear to you they weren't there earlier."

Lee was incensed but he knew he still needed Harry. If not, he would have killed him right then and there. "We'll have to come up with another plan. No way will we be able to get to him in the hospital now. They'll be on guard. We're going to have to move our base of operations too. No way will Jimmy be able to stay silent. Let's pack up and get to the house in Reseda. Jimmy doesn't know where it is.

~,~,~

"What the hell were you thinking, jumping out of bed like that? Kensi was checking Deeks over carefully as she talked.

"I was thinking that I had to back up my partner."

"You had me so worried! Are you sure you're okay?" She didn't see either of the cops that were supposed to be guarding Deeks' room and was thoroughly pissed off. There were going to be two very sorry cops when she got her hands on them!

"Yeah, I'm okay. Besides where were you partner? What were you doing, getting a manicure? Marty managed to quip. "Help me straighten up here, please. It hurts when I slump." He was breathing heavily and beginning to feel every punch he had received and every step he had taken on his abused feet. If he was honest with himself, he didn't think he could stand on his own so decided to stay right where he was for the moment.

"I'll have you know partner, my guy is tied to the bed. I didn't let him get away like you did yours." Kensi smiled while ribbing him and brushed his hair back from the cut on his head to check to see if it was bleeding as freely as before.

She was contemplating the punishment she was going to dish out to both Riley and Tompkins when she saw Riley running from around the right-hand corner with his gun in his hand. Kensi decided to deal with him later.

Riley immediately checked on Deeks when he reached the two of them. Once he was sure that he didn't need immediate care, he looked around for Tompkins. When he didn't see him anywhere, he knew what had happened. Tompkins had pulled one of his classic stunts and he was pissed to beat the band. "Where the hell is he? Damn him! If he went for a smoke leaving the room unattended, I'm going to report him to IA and his boss. He's always doing shit like this and I've had enough of him screwing up." He started swearing a blue streak while explaining to Kensi where he had been. "That son of a bitch! Where the hell is he? He was supposed to be covering for me while I went to the head. I was only gone for five minutes. I told him he could have a break when I got back."

"We haven't seen him and he was nowhere around when we were fighting these jerks." Kensi calmed down a little bit when she heard Riley's explanation. "They got into the room Richard. They were going to grab us and Tompkins was nowhere around. I'm going to kill him." She couldn't say she was surprised the other cop wasn't taking guard duty seriously. She hadn't liked him from the moment she had set eyes on him. He'd made the little hairs on the back of her neck stand up which was never a good sign. "Damn, I should have listened to my gut and refused to have him here. This is partially my fault." She looked up at the sound of hospital personnel running toward them and gave a sigh of relief.

Riley spat out. "God Kensi, I'm so sorry no one was here. Lt. Bates made it very clear to us that this room was supposed to be guarded at all times. That's why there were two of us so that if one of us had to leave for any reason, the other person could cover for them. If Tompkins isn't dead or knocked out in one of the rooms around here, I'm going to report him to Bates. He's always pulling shit like this. Bates will rip him a new one for dereliction of duty. He'll be lucky if he keeps his job."

The door to the stairwell opened at that moment and Tompkins came strolling out into the hallway. He stopped dead as he saw all the people around Deeks' hospital room. By this time, there was a doctor as well as a nurse tending to the detective. He took one look at Riley and then saw Kensi's face and knew he had just stepped into a huge pile of shit he wasn't going to be able to extricate himself from. It didn't stop him from beginning to make excuses though.

"What happened here? I heard a noise in the stairwell and went to check it out." he stammered looking around. His story might have been more believable if he didn't smell of smoke and have cigarette ash down the front of his shirt.

Kensi launched herself at him, pushing him up against the wall and getting right up in his face "You sorry excuse for a human being! Get out of my sight. You make me sick. Leave right this minute and report to Lt. Bates you moron. I don't want you anywhere around Marty or this hospital, got it?"

"You can't talk to me like…" He didn't get any farther because Kensi pulled her Sayoc knife and pressed it against his throat before he knew what was happening. "I'll talk to you any damn way I want to mister. You're lucky I don't cut your balls off and feed them to you. You left your post and it could have cost us our lives. Did you hear what I just told you?"

"Yes" he gulped.

"Then do it. Get out of my sight! I'll be calling Bates in a minute and letting him know how truly incompetent you are." She turned away from him in disgust as he scurried away. Riley watched him go with a broad smile on his face.

"I know a lot of cops who would have paid good money to have seen you put that asshole in his place. He's always pulling stunts like this, but he's always had an excuse before that kept him out of trouble. That's not going to happen this time, I guarantee it." Riley told Kensi. "You scared the shit out of him. It couldn't happen to a nicer guy."

"Yeah, well he deserved it. He's lucky I didn't cut his balls off! Watch the guy in Deeks' room will you. I'm calling my boss. Someone will be here to get him before too long." Kensi grabbed her cell phone from the room giving Jimmy a dirty look and called Hetty. When Hetty answered she apologized. "I'm sorry to be calling you so late Hetty, but we were attacked here in the hospital and I knew you would want to know right away.

Hetty interrupted her "Are you both okay? How's Mr. Deeks?"

Kensi sighed as she glanced at Marty being attended to. "I don't know how he did it, but he put up a hell of a fight. There were two of them and if he hadn't been able to help, they might have succeeded in grabbing both of us. He's in a lot of pain and has some new injuries but he's trying to hide how much he's hurting. The doctors are with him now."

"Let me know what the doctors say when they've finished with Mr. Deeks." Hetty could tell her youngest agent was angry and upset about more than some new injuries to Mr. Deeks. She could hear it in her voice so encouraged her youngest Agent to continue. "I know there's more. What haven't you told me yet Miss Blye?"

"One of the men got away and I don't like it. The doctor's with Deeks now and I can hear him saying he's fine but would say that if he was bleeding out. Hetty, he got pummeled pretty badly. He's been on his feet fighting and was hit in the head when one of the men threw his gun at him. Before everything was over, he'd had his head slammed into the floor by the man he was fighting with. That's the only reason the guy got away. The other one, the one I was fighting, is currently duct taped to Marty's hospital bed. Marty's sitting on the floor against the wall bleeding like a stuck pig from the head wound but arguing with his doctors that he's fine. He's got to be in a lot of pain, but he keeps denying it."

"Oh Mr. Deeks." Hetty murmured. "What am I going to do with you?" She thought for a moment and then began issuing orders.

"Tell Mr. Deeks to quit arguing and listen to his doctor. I'm leaving now and will be there soon. Tell him, I expect him to cooperate fully with his medical team. I expect him to be in bed when I arrive."

"Okay Hetty." Kensi took a deep breath and continued, "Can you call Lt. Bates? One of the guards assigned here deserted his post while the other one was in the head. That gave the assailants the chance to get into the room without being seen. Officer Riley had stepped away for a moment leaving Officer Tompkins to watch the door. That asshole deserted his post and went for a smoke! I almost cut his throat Hetty. He didn't want to be here to begin with. He's arrogant and disrespectful. He didn't even give a damn when he came strolling back and saw Marty on the floor with blood all over him. All he did was to start making excuses for himself!"

"He did what?! I'll handle it Miss Blye. You take care of Mr. Deeks. You said Officer Riley was gone when Tompkins went for a smoke? Is he back now or should I have Mr. Callen and Mr. Hanna come to the hospital?"

"Don't call Sam or Callen. Riley's back now. He came running around the corner right after one of the men got away and I had the other tied up. He immediately checked on Deeks and then apologized to us profusely while explaining where he had been. He told me Tompkins has pulled stunts like this before but always gets away with it somehow. He also told me he would be calling Lt. Bates to tell him about Tompkins and exactly what went down here. He's helping with Deeks right now."

"Go take care of your partner. I'll handle everything else. I'll send someone to pick up the man you captured. I'm looking forward to talking to him." Hetty hung up the phone and immediately placed a call to Lt. Bates. Kensi walked back over by Deeks.

~,~,~

"I'm okay…really. I'm fine, a little winded; that's all. Let me sit here for a minute; just a minute and I'll be okay to stand up." Deeks was pleading with the doctor while trying to deny how much pain he was in when Kensi arrived back at his side.

She shook her head in disbelief at his words. "Marty, don't lie. Let them help you, please." she pleaded. When he looked at her, he could see how upset she was. Her eyes were glistening with unshed tears and her lips were trembling slightly. He hated to see her worry about him so reached out and took her hand. His eyes were turbulent as he tried to reassure her.

"Kens…I'm okay, really."

"Please Marty, listen to the doctor."

"Kensi, sugarbear, I'm fine…I mean good…I'm good." He tried to play down his injuries but all he succeeded doing was pissing her off even more.

"You're not fine Marty, or good, so quit acting like you are! You're bleeding like a stuck pig. Your feet have to be killing you and I bet your ribs took a good pounding too. I can tell by the way you're holding them. Now, let the doctors help you; then get your ass back in that bed where you belong, mister."