Crosshairs

Chapter 3

They had been directed to the waiting room, the doctors having taken over from them and sequestering Nell away to get a handle on her state.

Hetty and Eric had appeared soon after, with Eric pacing restlessly, wide eyed, muttering to himself. Callen wanted to ask him about Nell and whether he had noticed anything unusual, but with a subtle shake of her head Hetty had discouraged him for the moment. She was right, Eric would be no help right now.

They all looked up when the doors opened and Kensi and Deeks came inside, their expressions worried. Deeks was hobbling, keeping most of his weight off his left leg. He made his way over to one of the empty seats and sank down in it with a sigh, stretching out his injured leg.

"What happened?" Kensi asked no one in particular.

Eric turned and opened and closed his mouth a couple of times before shaking his head and squeezing his eyes closed. "Nell said she needed a break, that things were catching up with her," he told them, his voice strangled, "she didn't look well, somewhat flushed and I think she had trouble focusing before she left Ops."

Callen tilted his head to the side, "how do you figure?"

Eric gesticulated somewhat wildly before plopping down in an empty seat, "I don't know. She was different. Usually, she's focused, but she seemed twitchy and kept blinking rapidly and pinching the bridge of her nose several times. I've only seen her do that before when she isn't feeling well."

"There's nothing we can do right now," Sam said softly, his gaze moving over all of them and Callen nodded before leaning back in his seat, forcing his body to relax as much as possible.

"She's in good hands," Hetty assured them from beside him. The way she reached out and pattered his thigh let Callen know that his old mentor was very worried though.

Xxxxxxx

He sat with his eyes closed, having long learned to rest his body as much as he could while his mind was still wide awake. Something was still bothering him about the case but Nell's wellbeing took priority right now.

Despite mostly having his eyes closed, he knew where each one of his team members and his superior were. Sam and Hetty were sat on either side of him, both of them sitting still as well. Waves of tension and worry were emanating from both of them but like him, they knew when to force their bodies to take a break.

Eric was alternately pacing the room and plopping down in an empty seat only to jump back up and resume pacing a few minutes later. He was highly agitated and fear was easily visible in his expression whenever Callen had taken a glance at him.

Kensi stood next to Deeks, every now and then intercepting Eric to try and offer comfort that was brushed off not out of spite but simply because Eric couldn't focus on anything but what was happening to Nell.

Deeks was obviously trying to sit still and rest, especially with his own wound not permitting much movement, but it was easily visible that he longed to move, his legs twitching ever so often in aborted movements.

Callen sighed when he heard the Detective shift and looked over to see him wringing his hands together while his leg jiggled before he leaned forward and hunched over, obviously trying to stretch his back.

"You alright, Deeks? Maybe you should go home, lie down?" Callen asked softly. While it was only a flesh wound, it was still a gunshot wound that needed healing.

Deeks glanced up and shook his head, "'m not leaving. Back is cramping," he mumbled, "damn hospital chairs."

Callen watched him some more. He looked exhausted and unwell, but considering the gunshot wound, he guessed that was somewhat expected. "At least put the leg up."

Before Deeks could answer, the door opened and one of the doctors came in and moved towards them. All of them turned and aside of Deeks, everyone stood up. "I'm sorry it took so long. It took us a while to stabilize her," the physician said regretfully.

"How is she doing, Steve?" Hetty asked, recognizing the doctor. He was one of the team of doctors that usually took care of them when they came in with various scrapes, broken bones or more grievous wounds.

The man sighed and sat down, prompting all of them to take their seats again. "I'm afraid she's not doing very well. She slipped into a second seizure while we were working, but we could reverse that quickly. The seizure isn't our worst concern right now. She's displaying several systemic symptoms including cardiovascular, respiratory and central nervous system."

"What does that mean?" Kensi asked quietly.

Steve glanced over at her. "At this moment, we are still trying to get a handle on things and find out what is wrong. I gathered that she was shot today…" the sentence was left hanging as a prompt.

Callen nodded. "Yes. About seven hours ago, give or take. Could all of this be due to an infection?"

"Possible. But while the area around the gunshot wound is swollen and red, the blood parameters don't give us any indication for a systemic infection of that magnitude. Several of her blood parameters are out of range, but they don't make much sense in this setting," the doctor shook his head. "Plus, from the timeline we've established, it would be too early for a sepsis of that magnitude. Did anything else happen today?"

"Eric said he gathered she wasn't feeling well before she had the seizure. She may have had trouble focusing and was apparently twitchy," Sam said with a brief glance over at their tech to confirm what he had told Steven just now.

Steve followed Sam's glance to Eric, who nodded. "She may have had a headache, kept pinching the bridge of her nose. But I'm not sure. She didn't say. She didn't look well, and I hugged her before she went to the bathroom. I keep thinking about it, but I'm not perfectly sure… she may have been warmer than usual," he said, a slightly embarrassed expression on his face.

Steve nodded in acknowledgement. "Yeah, she's running a fever, so that wouldn't be a surprise." He paused briefly, his eyes remaining on Eric, "what about before she was shot? Anything unusual?"

Eric shook his head, but Callen was distracted when his eyes were drawn over to Deeks, who sat hunched over, shivering slightly, his left leg twitching again. There was a soft sound of distress before the Detective pushed up from his seat and staggered a few steps away before stumbling, hunching over and throwing up.

Steve was out of his seat in a fraction of a second, hurrying over to Deeks and keeping him upright, Sam following and moving towards Deeks other side. They drew him away from where he had vomited on the floor, handling him like a ragdoll when Deeks seemingly had little strength to do anything to help. Kensi knelt by Deeks' head when Sam and Steve lowered him down. Deeks rolled onto his side and curled up, shivering.

Steve reached for his wrist, checking his stats while Kensi called her partner's name, getting a faint moan in response, "Deeks, look at me."

When Deeks opened his eyes, they were somewhat unfocussed but what was more worrisome was that his eyes moved rapidly from left to right in what looked to be an involuntary movement.

Callen glanced at Steve, who paused briefly before turning his head and calling for a stretcher to be brought in. "Did he get hit on the head?" he asked, glancing at Kensi. The fact that he knew exactly who to ask for things like that, that Steve was aware of the partnerships within the team, told Callen that they wound up in his care too often. Sadly, it was an occupational hazard.

"No," Kensi stated firmly, shaking her head. "He took a bullet to the leg, but he didn't fall down or hit his head."

When Steve glanced up, their gazes connected. "Just what the hell were you working on, Callen?" he asked harshly, "any drugs? Chemical or biological weapons?"

Callen recoiled before shaking his head, "no, nothing like that," he replied firmly, before amending softly, "at least not that we know of."

Deeks pushed feebly at Steve, "'m fine," he slurred.

Steve shook his head, "no, you're not." When a stretcher was brought in, Deeks was quickly loaded up on it and wheeled out of the waiting room. Steve turned in the doorway to glance back at them. "All of you: stay here. I'll send someone for you in a minute." With that, he was gone, following after Deeks and leaving a vacuum in the room.

Xxxxxxx