Chapter 55
"Family of Martin Deeks?"
The doctor took a step backwards as close to two dozen people converged on her, most wearing badges from several different law enforcement agencies. Sam and Callen moved up to stand behind Kensi, each placing a supportive hand on her shoulder. Michelle stood at Sam's side, her hand gripped in his. Joelle moved up next to Callen and took his hand in hers. He didn't look at her, keeping his full attention on the woman who was about to tell them about Deeks, but squeezed her hand in appreciation.
The doctor cleared her throat and took a moment to overcome her surprise at the sheer number of people waiting on this one man's prognosis. The door opened behind her and Craig skidded into the room. "I'm sorry! She slipped past me. I wanted to be here when you got the good news!" The doctor frowned warningly at him and he realized that he had most likely given the group in front of them an unrealistic idea of their friend's condition. He blushed and looked away, his eyes finding Talia's. He gave her a small smile. In his mind, the fact that the man was still alive was good news. She smiled at him in return and then refocused her attention on the doctor.
The woman cleared her throat again and said tiredly "I'm Doctor Moira Shaugnessy. I operated on Mr. Deeks. He's out of surgery but in critical condition. The next 24-48 hours are going to tell us whether he'll survive this or not. He has three broken ribs, one of which punctured his left lung. We were able to repair it and stabilize the ribs. Four others are fractured. He was bleeding internally and when we repaired the bleeder, the internal bleeding didn't stop. It took us awhile to find and repair a second bleeder." The doctor stopped and took a deep breath, remembering the condition of the young man she had operated on. She had seem a lot of carnage in her years as a surgeon, car accidents, gang wars, drug deals gone bad, but the damage that was done to her patient had been deliberate and planned, something she had no frame of reference for.
"His back and the backs of his thighs and calves are covered in welts that could only be caused by some kind of whip and his whole torso is covered in bruises. I don't think there is an inch without one. We counted 17 knife wounds; some were shallow enough that we could just bandage them, the others were deeper and required sutures as did a number of the welts. I can't even give you a count of the number of stitches we put into him. It looks like he was beaten with some rounded object after he was cut and whipped. The pain must have been excruciating."
Michelle could feel Sam's hand tightening on hers with every word the doctor used to describe what was done to Deeks. His hand fell off Kensi's shoulder and clenched at his side. Michelle looked up at him and saw that his eyes were out of focus. "Sam?" When he didn't answer she said louder "Sam!"
Sam didn't hear her. He was back in that garage, tied to a chair, his whole body in pain from the electrocutions they had subjected him to, trying to get him to give up Michelle as a federal agent. He watched as they put a spreader into Deeks's mouth and then they closed the door between them. He could only see a portion of what was going on through the wavy glass, but he could hear. God, could he hear. He heard the whirr of the drill, the difference in the sound it made as it bit into Deeks's teeth, the sound of his screams.
He tightened his hand on Michelle's to a point where she cried out in pain. "Sam, you're hurting me! Callen, I think he's having a flashback!"
Callen moved to stand in front of his partner. "Sam! Look at me!" When he didn't respond, Callen said again. "Sam, look at me. You're safe, Deeks is safe and he's going to recover, you know he's too stubborn to do otherwise. Sam, look at me." He kept repeating Sam's name until the man's eyes came back into focus. He looked a little confused at first and then embarrassed. He'd had flashbacks before and had seen them in others, he knew what he had just experienced and that it had been triggered by the descriptions of Deeks's torture. He dropped Michelle's hand so he could rub his face with both of his.
Michelle sighed in relief and started to shake her hand, trying to get the feeling back and to relieve some of the pain. When Sam saw what she was doing he was horrified, knowing he was the cause of the pained expression on her face. "Michelle, baby! I'm so sorry! You know I would never hurt you deliberately. I didn't know I was squeezing that hard."
Michelle knew he was just about devastated by what he'd done, even though he'd really had no control over it. She smirked at him and said "Now I know what you meant after you held my hand during Aiden and Kamran's births. If I hurt you like you just hurt me, then I take back every word I said about you being a wuss."
Sam huffed out a relieved laugh and pulled her into his arms for a quick hug. When she stepped back he said "Let's just consider us even then. Ok?" Michelle nodded and held out the same hand to him. He hesitated and then took it gently; turning back to the doctor, only then realizing all eyes in the room were on him. "I'm so sorry. Please continue Dr. Shaugnessy, it won't happen again."
Moira nodded at him in sympathy. She had seen plenty of veterans, and others, experience a flashback and she knew they could be crippling. The others with him had reacted well, obviously experienced in dealing with this kind of thing. Some thought slapping the person across the face was a good idea when, in fact, it was one of the worst things you could do. She shook her head a little, bringing herself back to the report she was giving her patient's friends.
"It's quite all right; it's never easy to hear these kinds of things about a friend."
Sam said "He's family." The others surrounding him nodded.
"Even harder then. Craig told me that you rescued him from an abandoned meat packing plant?"
When Sam nodded, she shook her head. "I can't even begin to think about the germs and bacteria swarming around that kind of place. That explains the level of infection. Several of the welts and knife wounds are infected. We have him on a high dosage of antibiotics but he's running a fever because of it. In addition, both his shoulders were dislocated. Luckily we were able to do a closed reduction and used traction, counter traction to get the humeral heads back to their normal positions. He's in ICU and intubated. We want his lung to focus on healing so we'll use a ventilator to help him breathe for the next few days. Between the ventilator and the fact that there is not a single position he would be able to rest comfortably in, we want to keep him sedated for the next few days as well. I'm sorry I don't have better news but you should take comfort in the fact that he's still alive. He's one hell of a fighter."
Kensi asked what was on all their minds "Can we see him?"
Moira shook her head. "I'm sorry. Between the infection, the fever and how critical the next hours are going to be, I can't allow that. There is a viewing window in ICU. You can see him for yourself through that. Craig will take you. I can only allow two or three at a time; too many would be disruptive to the unit. Please decide who is going to go when and let him know."
She started to walk away and then turned back. "Did you get the animal that did this to him?"
Callen took a deep breath. "No, not yet. But we know who he is and none of us will stop until he's in custody. No matter how long it takes." His words sounded like a vow to Moira.
"Good. I hope you find him and I hope you hurt him when you do. Just don't bring him to my hospital for treatment." With that Moira walked out the door.
Craig was stunned. "If I hadn't heard that with my own ears, I would never have believed it."
Talia had come up beside him, finding herself wanting to be close to him and asked. "Why wouldn't you have believed it?"
"Dr. Shaughnessy is a pacifist. All the things we see here each day, the shootings, the beatings, the stupidity of one human hurting another for no good reason. In each case she tries to see the good in them. I've never heard her describe another person as an animal or wish harm on anyone. This case has really gotten to her."
Sam nodded. "Yeah, Deeks tends to do that to people, even unconscious."
Craig laughed a little at Sam's words and then sobered. "So, who wants to be first?" Everyone in the room raised their hands. "Ok, we are going to need a system here. You heard Dr. S. Only two or three at a time. It's up to you who goes when."
Hetty stepped forward and took charge. "I think it only appropriate that Miss. Blye, Mr. Callen and Mr. Hanna go first. They're his team and need to see him as soon as possible. While they're gone, I'll split everyone else up into groups and we will all take turns seeing our Mr. Deeks."
Sam, Callen and Kensi followed Craig out of the waiting room. Hetty turned to the remaining people and started to break them up into logical groups. Wolinsky, Granger and Bates would be the next group to go when Deeks's team returned. Hetty, Eric and Nell would then take their turn. John, Laura and Meaghan would be up next. Both her parents tried to talk the teenager out of going, not wanting her to see Marty like this but she was adamant that she had to see for herself that he was alive. They gave in, understanding her need for visual proof. Cindy and Chris would go together; the others would watch L.C. while they were gone. Michelle, Joelle and Julia would make up the next group. Cassie, Paula and Talia after them. Tara and Dave would follow. Neal and Cheryl, who surprisingly wanted to see Deeks as well, even though she had never actually met him, would make up the last group. Satisfied that they all knew their assigned groupings and would be ready to go when the prior group returned, they settled in to wait their turn, relief that he had made it through surgery rampant in the room, despite the doctor's warning that he was still critical. One obstacle had been overcome.
Kensi, Sam and Callen followed Craig into the elevator and he pushed the button for the fifth floor where ICU was located. He turned and started to warn them. "Look, this is not going to be pretty. He's in bad shape but remember that he's still alive and fighting. Have you ever seen anyone on a ventilator?"
He wasn't sure if he was surprised or not when all three nodded affirmatively. "Then you know it can look intimidating but it's there to help him. I know I've said this before but I mean it. The doctors and nurses at this hospital are top notch and we'll do everything in our power to make sure he survives this."
Kensi nodded and said "Thank you, Craig. For everything. For the updates, for wanting to be there when the doctor gave us her report, for being the one to escort us to see him." She frowned as something came to mind. "How long a shift do you work? We've been here for hours and you were already here when we arrived."
Craig blushed a little and responded "Actually, I've been off duty for a couple hours. I didn't want to go home until I knew if he was going to make it through the surgery. I also told Dr. S. I'd like to be the one to take you all to see him."
Kensi smiled and pulled him into a quick hug, surprising him. He hugged her back and when he stepped away said "I'm glad he made it through. It looks like he has a lot to live for. I know if I was him and had all those people waiting for me, I would fight like hell to stay here. I think that's what he's going to do." He cleared his throat a little and looked away from the people standing in the elevator with him, not looking anyone in the eye. "So. What's his relationship to Talia?"
Sam and Callen exchanged a look and tried hard not to grin. They stayed silent, waiting for Kensi to field that question, which she did. "They're friends and colleagues. She feels a little more for him than he does for her." She eyed him carefully. "I watched her with you. I think she's interested."
Craig finally met her eyes and looked hopeful. "Do you think she'd go out with me if I ever work up the nerve to ask?"
"I do. You're a very good looking man Craig. I'm sure you've dated more than your fair share of women. Why would you have to work up the nerve to ask her out?" Kensi was curious to hear the answer.
"She's a fed. She's hot, she's probably dangerous and, I think, a little out of my league." He confessed.
"Nonsense, ask her out. The worst she can do is say no. It's not like she's going to shoot you for the compliment of wanting to spend time with her. She's a wonderful person; I think the two of you would be great together!"
Sam and Callen both raised their eyebrows, thinking Kensi was laying it on a bit thick. They knew that Talia had feelings for Deeks and that Kensi could be insanely jealous about any woman who got close to him. Their little sister was trying to distract the competition. Not that there was any real competition. They both knew Kensi was the only one for Deeks, but it was amusing to watch her. When the elevator stopped and the doors opened, all of them became serious, trying to prepare themselves for what they were about to see.
Craig, Callen and Sam stepped off but Kensi froze. When they turned back to her in confusion, she whispered "I'm not sure if I can do this. I'm not sure I'm ready to see what they did to him again."
"You're stronger than that, Kensi. You know you can do this. You need to be there for him. He would do it for you." Sam held out his hand to her. She hesitated, then nodded and put hers into it, grateful for her teammate's support. Together they walked into the ICU unit with Craig and walked up to the viewing window he pointed out to them.
All of them struggled with their emotions when they finally saw him. He looked worse than he had at the plant. While he was no longer covered in blood, it now made it easier to fully see the damage inflicted on him. New bruises seemed to be appearing and existing ones darkening, right before their eyes. The sounds of the machines he was hooked up to were all too familiar in the quiet of the ICU.
Kensi turned to Callen. "I want McGonagle, Callen! When we find him, he's mine, do you understand me?" she said fiercely.
"I get it Kens, but you need to stay focused on Deeks right now. Let us do the legwork of finding him and then you can be there when we take him down." Callen knew full well what she was feeling. He had felt the same when Sam had been tortured and again when he was shot by the rogue Ghurkas. And Sam was just his partner and best friend. Deeks was all that and so much more than that to Kensi. He knew the need for revenge could be overwhelming and he wouldn't stand in her way. "We will get him, I promise you that. If we have to track him to the ends of the earth, we will find him and he will pay for this."
Kensi just nodded and turned back to watch her love fight for his life. He'd get through this, with everyone's help. He was strong and he would fight.
In the darkened room, Deeks started to awaken despite the drugs in his system. He didn't know where he was; just that he felt trapped and had to get out of here. He felt like he was burning up. He started to move but couldn't lift his arms. He was having trouble breathing but when he tried to open his mouth to suck in more air, there was something preventing him. He touched the hard plastic with his tongue and his panic went through the roof, his heart pounding in fear and confusion. The alarms on the heart monitor went off and nurses charged into his room, Craig close on their heels. One of them closed the curtain around him, cutting his team off from seeing what was happening.
Kensi had splayed her hands on the glass when the machines had started to sound their concern. When they shut the curtain she yelled "No! No, you can't do that! I need to know what's going on!" She formed one hand into a fist and raised it to hit on the glass. Sam grabbed her fist before she could.
"Kensi! You need to let them concentrate on helping him! Pounding on the glass isn't going to help anyone."
"He made it through what McGonagle did to him! He made it through the surgery! He can't die now, he can't, Sam. I don't know what I'll do if he does."
Sam couldn't tell her he'd be okay. He just wasn't sure and didn't want to lie to her. The sounds coming from the ICU room where Deeks was hidden behind the curtain were making his own heart pound. They heard footsteps behind them and turned to see Dr. Shaughnessy running towards them. The woman didn't even acknowledge them, her whole attention focused on getting to her patient.
Forgotten, the three NCIS agents stood outside Deeks's room and waited. They heard the doctor and nurses talking but couldn't make out the words through the glass. Suddenly the heart monitor started to drone out a long steady note that indicated his heart had stopped beating. Kensi sagged in Sam's arms as they waited to hear what else fate had in store for him.
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A/N – thanks to OhBuddy66 for the suggestion on Sam's reaction to the descriptions on what was done to Deeks. I've never had something happen to me, or to anyone close to me, that would trigger a flashback and, for that, I'm grateful. I hope I did it justice but I have no personal experience to base it on.
