Hello my lovelies. I would like to thank Adri1577, anonkp, Lic. Lu, ssl71, Petunia3116 and PirateGinge for the wonderful reviews. I would also like to thank those of you who have followed and favoured since my last update.
So sorry for not updating last week, but it was my sister's wedding, so valid excuse in my mind. Any way I hope you like this new chapter. Also you'll understand the bits in italics soon, but I don't want to say now.
Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS: LA.
Deeks couldn't move. He was forced to sit, tided to the chair as the man approached him. He was talking, but that wasn't what was on Deeks' mind right then. No that was the guy holding the drill. Suddenly hands were clutching at his head as his jaw was forced open. The sound of the drill being started caused panic and fear to shoot through him as he tried to struggle free. But to no avail. He watched in perverse horror as the drill came closer and closer before he could see the tip no more. And then he screamed at the shock acting first to send spams through him before the pain seared through his mouth, through his whole body, sending his mind whirling. All thought was flown as his world shrank to nothing more than the pain and what would come next. He could see nothing in front of him, hear nothing around him. Everything else was gone, all he knew was the drill and the pain.
But then it stopped.
The relief he felt was almost overwhelming. He almost had to stop himself from thanking those who had finally ended the torture, stop himself from babbling his graciousness at the relief they were affording him. Or at least he did until they moved and revealed the scene in front of him. Because there sat through clear glass doors was Callen, tied to a chair just like he was. A man with a drill standing at his side. Deeks screamed. He knew what was going to happen. He shouted as best he could while straining against the ties that held him tight. The only thought in his mind being that he needed to get to Callen, they needed to escape. He needed to not let this happen. But it seemed the people in the other room could not hear him as none showed any reaction to his behaviour, not even Callen turned to look his way. He was going to have to watch as what had been done to him, was done to the man in front of him. No, he couldn't. At that thought his struggles renewed tenfold. He couldn't let them hurt Callen as they had done him. He couldn't take that. No, he wouldn't take that. As such another scream ripped its self from his damaged throat, though to his ears it sounded more like he was gurgling on the blood in his mouth. But still he fought. Did all he could to get to his friend. Did all he could to save the man in front of him.
Suddenly there was a crashing sound and he was totally enclosed by darkness. In fact it was so dark he did not realise he was free until he felt a hand on his arm and he automatically shrank back from it. But as soon as it registered that he could move his arms he knew what he had to do. He had to fight. He had to get out away from these people, get Callen and get out of there. And to do that he would have to fight for his life.
Frank and Henry were woken in the middle of the night by a terrified, bloodcurdling scream. Frank was up with the baseball bat he kept by the bed in hand before he had even thought. He then turned to Henry to make sure he was okay, even if he knew he was still in their bed. It was an automatic reaction in his mind, to check first on the one he loved.
Henry for his part opened his mouth to ask something, he wasn't sure what but it was probably along the lines of 'what was that?' but that question was answered by another shout coming to them from the room outside of their own.
"Deeks." Frank said, not even thinking of putting down the bat as he ran towards the door. Ran towards the kid who sounded to be in so much pain. No one hurt him, not while he was under his roof. And as such he didn't even hesitate when he got to Deeks' locked door. Didn't even think before raising his foot and kicking it in with an ease of practice, even if it had been a long time since he had had to do such things in the line of duty.
The room beyond was empty expect for the kid and his dog, but Frank had caught Deeks thrashing about on the bed before sitting bolt upright at the sound of him crashing through the door.
"Sorry about that, kid. Needed to make sure you were okay." Frank said gently, moving towards the bed carefully, holding his hand out to Monty when he growled softly at him. When he had the dog's permission to approach he moved to crouch in front of the younger man as he gently placed a hand on his arm as he continued, "Deeks are you-"
But before he could say anything more Deeks' fist connected with his jaw, sending him sprawling backwards. "Deeks?" He called louder, and it was only then he realised that he still had his eyes closed. Deeks thought he was still in whatever nightmare that had him in his grip, and Frank had no idea what to do. But he knew he had to do something. As such he moved forwards again and while duking the fists coming his way, he tried to grab the kid's wrists. Tried to restrain him before he hurt himself or someone else. And as he tried to keep the kids fists and arms away from him Frank found himself abstractly thinking just how glad he was that Deeks' legs were trapped by the bed cover right then. The hands were bad enough.
Then Deeks finally spoke.
"Callen, no. Callen! Where are you?"
Well the solution became remarkably clear to Frank then. Without taking his eyes of the man in front of him he spoke to his husband. "Call him."
"All ready on it." Henry muttered back, phone to his ear. He had sensibly stayed out of the way of the flying body parts. He wasn't a fighter, never had been, he would only get in Frank's way if he tried to help. So instead he had tried to think of another way to help the kid in front of him. And well, there really was only one person he could think of that could do that, or at least that he knew of. And it didn't once cross his mind to wonder if Callen would truly appreciate a call in the middle of the night about Deeks. He'd seen the way the guy was with the kid, and he didn't doubt for a minute he would be there for him. Though what a guy a good six hours drive away could do he didn't really know. But he could hope the federal agent would have some answers for that.
Callen was sleeping. He had finally fallen into bed late that night after closing the case they had been working one man down. He wasn't looking forward to going back to work the next day. Deeks had been officially gone for over two weeks now, and Hetty really needed to find them someone else for the team. Of course he couldn't raise this with her, what with being given the cold shoulder by the lady. But he stood his ground. He wouldn't let her intimate him into betraying one of his team. He had had handed in Deeks' resignation, and he flatly refused to tell her where he was. He wasn't going to give her the chance to persuade Deeks to return to LA. And on a more selfish note, he didn't want her knowing about the peaceful place the younger man had found to live. Callen wanted to be the only one who knew of the calm.
He was awoken by his phone ringing, and he couldn't stop the groan that came out of his lips as he grabbed it and answered without bothering looking at the caller ID. After all there were only a very few people it could be.
"This had better be important." He muttered, not really caring who was on the other end.
"Agent Callen? This is Henry Monroe.-" came the reply.
Those words woke Callen as nothing else could as he shot up and interrupted whatever the chef was about to say. "Is Deeks okay? What happened?" He asked in rapid fire as he scanned the room looking for clothes he could put on.
"He's… he's having a nightmare. But it's more than that. We don't know what to do." Henry responded, trying to instil just how worried he and Frank were with his words as he didn't think the word nightmare did true justice to what he was seeing.
"Put me on loud speaker." Callen answered doing the same with his own phone as he grabbed a pair of jogging bottoms and pulled them on. When he could here Deeks clearly through the phone he called out to him, hoping against hope that his voice might just get through to the kid. "Deeks. Deeks listen to me. You're safe. No one is gonna harm you, not now. You just need to open your eyes."
"Callen?" came a hopeful yet fearful voice down the line and the sound of struggling seemed to reduce, though it was still there.
"Yeah, it's me." Callen replied making his way out of his door and climbing into his car. There was no chance that he wasn't driving up to see the kid after Henry and Frank had had to call him. There was no way he was going to leave him to deal with the aftermath of this night alone. He had been dealing with too much alone before he quit, and that was changing, right now.
Deeks heard Callen's voice and breathed a sigh of relief. Then the words he spoke seeped into his brain and he frowned. He had his eyes closed? Well that explained the dark. Opening them slowly he was confronted with the extremely worried faces of both Frank and Henry. But that wasn't what caught his attention. No that was the broken lip and what looked like the beginnings of a black eye Frank had.
"What happened to you?" Deeks asked alert now. Glad to have something to help him push away the memories of the nightmare he had been having. Glad to have something else to focus on. He needed to protect Frank and Henry from whatever had hurt him.
"You've got a mean left hook, kid." Frank responded with a small smile, finally feeling it was okay to let go of his hold on Deeks' wrists.
"I did that?" Deeks asked his eyes going wide before he quickly moved backwards so his back was against the wall and he could take in the whole room. Henry looked okay, and it didn't seem like anything else was broken. Well apart from his door. But that didn't change the fact that he had hurt Frank. How could he do that? How could he have let himself hurt someone who was so kind to him? It was far too reminiscent to the memories of the abusive he had sustained at his father's hand. He had caused Frank pain for no reason, just like Gordon used to do to him. What was happening to him? How had this happened? Was he becoming just like the man he despised? his breathing started to accelerate as his eyes darted around the room, looking at everything and nothing at the questions going round his mind.
"Hey, kid. It's fine. Just breathe, yeah?" Frank responded, though he didn't move to follow Deeks when he retreated. He was behaving like an injured animal and Frank did not want to cause him to lash out again. He could understand him wanting his space after waking from that nightmare, he knew the feel of being a victim all too well from both his previous career and his own experiences with intolerance towards his sexual preferences.
Deeks just shook his head. He had hurt Frank. He had to leave now. He wouldn't be a man like his father. He didn't want to hurt anyone. He couldn't stay here if he was going to hurt them. But before his thoughts could go any further down that rabbit hole a voice penetrated once more.
"Deeks, listen to him, and for god's sake breathe."
"Callen? Where are you?" Deeks asked his eye darting around once more only to find the man speaking to him not in the room. He wondered for a second if he was imagining it. If maybe he was finally cracking up, he was sure he had a mass of reasons to do so. But before he could get that idea cemented into his head Henry held out his phone, that Deeks hadn't even noticed he had.
"Just getting on the highway. Should be with you in a few hours. Traffic should be light at this time of night." Callen replied deciding to give the real answer rather than explaining he was one the phone. He was sure Deeks would work that one out for himself.
At that Deeks blinked. Oaky he could understand Frank and Henry calling Callen, especially after what he had done to the former. But he couldn't work out for the live of him why Callen was on his way here. "What? Why are you coming here?" He asked still slightly disorientated from everything that had happened. His mind still trying to fight away the images he had seen in his nightmare.
"For you." Callen responded succinctly. He could hear the confusion Deeks had about him coming, but there was no way in hell Callen wouldn't do it. He had told him that he would be there for him, no matter what and that fact that Frank and Henry had called him showed him that Deeks needed him, even if the kid didn't seem to agree.
"No. You don't need to… I don't need you to-" Deeks responded saying exactly what Callen expected him to do. Not that he was going to be paying any attention to that right now.
"Tough, I'm coming. So you'd better be there to greet me or else." he interrupted. He knew the kid after all, and he had heard the struggle going on when he had answered the phone. He knew Deeks didn't like showing weakness to anyone, and right now he was extremely vulnerable. He wanted to make sure Deeks didn't cut and run, as he knew he himself would if the situation was reversed. He wanted Deeks to be able to stay and trust the men who had taken him in.
"Or else what?" Deeks asked attempting a jokey tone as he tried to pull some of his mask together, though all hearing could hear the waver and fear still resonating through on an undertone. As such Callen gave the only response he could think of that would make sure the kid stayed where he was and allowed Frank and Henry to look after him. The only words that would hopefully give him back a modicum of himself so he would do so. The only words that would give him back a part of the mask he had always worn.
"I'll tell Hetty were, and how, to find you."
At those words Deeks chuckled quietly as he leaned his head back, the tension draining out of him at hearing the voice of the one man he knew would always have his back. The one man he knew he could trust, and who was coming for him. The man who was coming to protect him and make sure he was safe, even if he knew he didn't really need it. He knew it was just a nightmare, and he knew the feelings would pass. But the idea that Callen was coming to him, it eased something in his chest that he had even realised was there. It was more than just the result of the nightmare, it was a residual from the real event that gave his dreams their dark colour. The knowledge that Callen, that someone, was coming for him, it was something he hadn't had before. The relief that gave him caused his eyes to start to close as he relaxed, as he offered up a token protest. "I guess there's nothing I can say to get you to turn around go home, is there?"
"Nope. I'll be there in time for breakfast." Callen responded absolutely.
"Then we should all get some sleep so we are ready to welcome you." Henry interrupted. He had seen how Deeks had almost dropped off only to jerk awake. He wanted to get the kid out of this room and to somewhere he would feel at least a little bit safer. He knew how hard nightmares could be, he had dealt with Frank's enough times to know that. And right then there was only one place he could think that would give Deeks the safety he needed.
"Right. Umm, guess I can put the chair against the door." Deeks responded dubiously as he looked at the kicked in door. He really didn't think he would be able to fall back to sleep knowing that there wasn't a secure lock on his door. But he would be okay. He had to be, there really wasn't any choice was there?
"No. You're sleeping with us for the rest of the night. You and Monty, come along." Henry stated simply as he signalled to Monty to follow him in the way he had seen Deeks do. There was no way he was letting the kid stay here for the rest of the night. If nothing else he was pretty sure Callen would kill them if they did that.
"Wait? What did you say? Because it sounded like-" Deeks started to say blinking at what he thought Henry just suggested. Because he couldn't mean what he thought he did, right?
"I had decided you would be sharing our bed. Yes, that is correct." Henry interrupted with a nonchalant nod as he moved out of the room, Monty half following him while also keeping an eye on his owner.
"Umm, three in a bed-" Deeks started to say not sure how to voice his worries at the practicality of such suggestion, as well as being not sure how he felt about the idea of sharing Frank and Henry's bed. I mean that was weird on a whole new level in his mind.
"Don't worry about that. This one likes to sleep diagonally across the bed, so to stop myself from waking on the floor every morning I made sure we got the biggest bed going. There is more than enough room for us all. Come on." Frank interrupted seeing the thoughts going through Deeks mind. There was more than room for all of them, and he knew he would feel better having the kid with them for the rest of the night, or at least until Callen arrived at any rate.
"guys, I can't impose-" Deeks tried again to get out of Henrys declaration, but one look from the other man made him close his mouth and stop talking.
"Do I look like this is up for debate, young man? Now move. Come along." Henry responded giving his no nonsense glare at Deeks. He had never in his life had this much trouble getting a man into his bed before.
Callen decided now was a good time to put his two cents worth in, as there was silence from the other three men. Therefore he said, "Go, Deeks. I'll see you in a few hours. Try and get some rest, yeah?"
"Yeah." Deeks replied still not completely sure about this, but not resisting as he found himself being hustled out of his room and through the door of Frank and Henry's apartment.
As they walked down the corridor he got a glimpse of the livingroom with a comfy looking couch and TV, and a clean, spacious bathroom. But before he knew it he was in the bedroom. Frank hadn't been lying the bed really was massive. Deeks had aimed to sleep on the edge, not wanting to intrude on the married couple, but before he could even think of suggesting it he was pushed into the centre. And before he could even try to protest the other two men were lying next to him.
"Relax, Deeks. Frank will make sure you're safe, and Callen will be here soon." Henry muttered soothingly, reaching out for the younger man's hand and taking it in his, hoping that the connection would ground him from further nightmares.
"That I will, and I'll stay on the line until I get there." Callen responded through the phone Henry placed on the bedside table.
With that Deeks nodded, "Okay." He was confused and tried and everything that had happened that night was too much for him to try and process. So instead he just let it all happen around him, it was easier that way in his mind. It gave him a chance to shut off and thinking of nothing. Let others take care of him. It wasn't something he was used to, but right then it was exactly what he needed. With that he settling down between the married couple, his eyes drifting closed even as he tried to stop them. But it seemed he didn't have any control over it right then, and as he fell into a fitful slumber, he felt the reassuring touch of Henry's hand in his while Franks arm wrapped around his waist in an offer of support, not to mention hearing the sounds of the three other men breathing.
And Callen on the phone listened as the men in the room slowly fell asleep. Listened as first Deeks' breathing even out, followed shortly by Henry and finally by Frank. He didn't think it was that weird to be listening to the other men sleeping. If that was what Deeks needed, then that was fine with him. And somehow he found a comforting reassurance listening to the gentle snores, and snuffles the others made in slumber as he drove down the deserted roads towards the three men he could hear. At least he knew Deeks wasn't alone in dealing with the demons in his mind. And he would be here soon enough.