Thank you so much for all your amazing reviews for the last chapter. I really appreciate you sticking with this twisted little tale lol. Your comments definitely helped to inspire me with the next chapter. :)

xxxxx

"Are you all right, Sam?" Callen asked, his blue eyes fixed on his partner. Bart had left them alone a few minutes ago for a so-called 'intermission,' but Sam had yet to say a word.

"I'm fine, G," Sam said softly. "I'm just worried about you."

"You don't have to be," Callen said. "I drank some water during the night. I'm not in any danger from not drinking…" He sighed before going on, speaking slowly. "You can't blame Kensi for choosing Deeks. He was shot, he's running a fever…and she's in love with him. Why wouldn't she pick him? Bart is making sure this game isn't fair, Sam. No matter what choices we make, someone is going to be pissed off. You need to let it go."

Sam listened, but he didn't say anything in response.

"So, I'm guessing if the choice had been yours, you would have chosen differently?" Callen asked.

Sam nodded.

"Well then I'm glad you didn't get to choose, because I wouldn't have wanted you to. Kensi made the right decision. Fighting amongst ourselves is only going to make matters worse."

Sam still didn't respond to what Callen said. He just stared off into the distance as he wondered when the next shoe was going to drop.

Callen sighed in frustration when his partner wouldn't talk to him. He then underwent a coughing fit and wrapped his arms around his ribs trying to ease the pain, even just a little bit.

xxxxx

"You should have just let them have it, Kens," Deeks said softly as he wiped some of her tears away with his fingertips. "This isn't worth the damn water."

"No I shouldn't have," Kensi said, shaking her head. "Why is Callen any more entitled to water than you are? He's not." She sighed in frustration. Callen wasn't the one she was upset with. She placed her hand on Deeks' forehead and then shook her head. "I think your temperature is rising."

"I'll be okay."

"How can you even say that?" she asked. "This…this guy is just a psychopath. Who knows what he's going to ask us to do next? Whose head would you rather chop off, Callen's or Sam's?"

Deeks couldn't help but chuckle in spite of the direness of their situation. "Don't say that too loud. You don't want to give him any more ideas."

"He seems to be coming up with plenty of them on his own," Kensi said, morosely. "He doesn't need my help."

"Come on, baby…don't let him get you down. Come here." He beckoned her with his uninjured arm and she crept closer to him as Deeks wrapped his arm around her. "Everything's going to be okay," he said softly. "I promise."

Kensi remained silent. In her heart, she knew this was one promise he might not be able to keep.

xxxxx

The sound of thunder startled the four agents as a light sprinkle began to fall. "Are you kidding me?" Sam asked. Someone up there really didn't like them very much.

Bart came back to them and looked curiously at the gap that had occurred with the team members split into pairs and not sitting with each other. "Uh oh…is there trouble in paradise?" he asked with a smirk. "I had thought it would be a little bit more difficult to break up your team than that."

"You haven't broken up anything," Callen retorted. "Sam and I were just giving Kensi and Deeks some time to themselves." He stood up, wincing as he did so, and walked over to Kensi and Deeks, then sat down beside them. Sam reluctantly followed him a few moments later.

Well, due to the impending storm, it's time for just a quick question before we take a longer break this time. "Your turn, Agent Callen," Bart said turning toward him with a smile. "Since we're supposed to get quite the storm system over the next hour or two, I'm willing to let you and Agent Hanna have that tent over there to take shelter. Who will accompany you, Agent Blye or Detective Deeks?"

"Take Kensi with you, Callen," Deeks demanded.

"I'm not going to melt, Callen," Kensi said. "You know Deeks is sick. He can't be out in a storm."

"What about me?" Callen asked. "Can I take their place?"

"What the hell is wrong with you, G?" Sam bellowed, any attempt at trying to keep calm, lost. "You're already coughing your fool head off. Are you just begging for that cold to turn into pneumonia?"

"That's not the condition, Agent Callen," Bart said. "Although the idea of you, as your partner said, coughing your fool head off in a rainstorm does have its merit."

Callen sighed as he looked at the two younger team members. He then glanced at his partner who looked away from him. Evidently, he wasn't going to be of any help. "I guess… Deeks should stay inside," he said, giving Kensi an apologetic look, but she smiled at him in return.

"Thank you, Callen," Kensi said.

"Yeah, thanks a lot," Deeks said, glaring at Callen. "Now when Kensi catches pneumonia I'll know who to blame."

"I'm not going to catch pneumonia, Deeks," Kensi said. "It's not that cold out right now. I'll be fine." She glanced at Callen who was now looking uncertain. "Don't worry. You made the right decision."

"You can take the tent right there," Bart said, pointing at the closest one to where they were. He then smirked at Deeks. "You can keep an eye on your sweetie pie the whole time."

"How long does she have to stay outside?" Deeks asked.

"An hour or two…I'll let you know." Bart smiled cheerily as the rain started to come down more heavily. "You boys better get inside. You wouldn't want to get wet," he said laughing. He gave a mock salute to the eight armed men guarding the area, all of them covered in protective raingear, and headed for his own tent. Callen and Sam went into the tent as Deeks looked at Kensi sadly.

"I can't believe he did that," Deeks said.

"Stop that," Kensi admonished gently, putting her hand on his cheek. "Please, Deeks…please go inside, for me. What good does it do for us both to stay out here?"

He stared at her for a long moment but finally nodded. "All right…I'll be watching you."

Kensi gave him a quick kiss. "Get inside," she whispered, smiling in satisfaction when he finally did as she asked.

xxxxx

Deeks walked into the tent and sat down on top of a rolled up sleeping bag. He shot Callen a bit of a dirty look which Callen ignored and then proceeded to keep a vigil over his partner.

"What's your problem?" Sam asked Deeks, after a few long moments of silence.

"I don't have a problem," Deeks stated. "What's yours?"

"Cut it out, both of you," Callen demanded. "That's an order."

"Really?" Deeks gave Callen an incredulous look. "We're not on duty. You can't give us orders."

"Technically, we are on duty, Deeks," Callen replied. "And you'd be wise to do what I say."

Deeks rolled his eyes. "Or what?"

"He is the leader of this so-called team," Sam said. "And he's right, you do need to listen to him."

"It's not like he's been leading us particularly well as of late…Anyhow, you're not listening to him either," Deeks said, squaring off against Sam. "You're just pissed because of the whole water situation. Well, Callen can go outside now and drink the raindrops if he's thirsty."

"You know, I did offer to take your places," Callen said, stung by the remark about his leadership abilities, or rather lack thereof. Now, he was just as fed up as the other two men were. "It's not my fault he wouldn't allow it."

"Well, no offense G, but that was a pretty stupid thing to say on your part anyhow," Sam said, momentarily turning away from Deeks to glare at his partner. "I don't know what you were thinking. Oh no, I do know what you were thinking. I have a bad cough. I think I'll go outside and sit in a rainstorm for an hour or two."

"You know what? screw you, Sam," Callen said, "and whatever, Deeks." He'd been about to say screw you too, Deeks, but didn't know if it was Deeks' fever talking so he didn't say it. However, it was obvious that Deeks' feelings were pretty real behind the fever. He didn't really know what he was expected to do, but now he was feeling guilty that he hadn't done it anyway. "I've had about enough of this. If you two want to fight, go ahead. Just keep me out of it. I'm done." He went over to the far corner of the tent and sat down, then drew his knees up to his chest and buried his head, wrapping himself tightly in the blanket. The temperature had dropped with the rain and he was freezing and feeling guilty about Kensi being out there. "And if either of you has any wonderful leadership ideas that will get us out of this, feel free to share them."

xxxxx

Kensi alternated between sitting on a flat rock that was outside the tent, and pacing around through the campsite, taking care not to stray out of Deeks' field of vision. She heard her teammates bickering, but that seemed to end after Callen went off on the other two men. She sighed heavily. This was definitely not good. At least no one out here seemed to have a problem with her walking around which kept her a little bit warmer. Once she had been out in the rain for a while, it didn't see as warm as it had seemed earlier. She also had to contend with the leers and rude kissing noises from Bart's men. They were all just a pack of animals.

xxxxx

Deeks and Sam remained silent after Callen's outburst, neither of them making any gestures either towards each other or towards Callen. There was no talking whatsoever until Kensi was finally allowed inside, an hour and a half later. "Come here, baby," Deeks said, opening up his arms to her.

"I don't want to get you all wet, Deeks," she said.

"It's the only way you're going to be able to warm up, SINCE YOU CAN'T HAVE ANY BLANKETS." Deeks said loudly, glaring over at Sam.

"Deeks, don't," Kensi pleaded, shaking her head.

"Bart didn't say anything about the sleeping bags," Sam stated. Why doesn't she use one of them?" He grabbed one by the wall of the tent and tossed it over to her.

"Thanks, Sam," Kensi said with a smile which Sam did not return. "So, it's going to be like this," she murmured as she got into the sleeping bag. She badly wanted to take off her wet clothes so they could dry, but she didn't dare, not knowing when the game play would begin again. She glanced over at Callen and couldn't tell from his position whether he was asleep or awake. "So…what were you three arguing about earlier?" she asked Deeks after she had warmed up a bit.

"So you heard that?" he asked. "Callen was just trying to order us around."

"Oh…" Kensi thought about that for a few moments, a little confused as to what he could have been ordering them to do. She finally decided to ask. "What kind of orders?"

Deeks shrugged. "Just the usual stuff, Kens…you know how he is…"

"Not really, I…" Kensi looked at Deeks more closely, realizing how flushed he was. She then tentatively reached out to touch his cheek. He really was burning up. "Deeks…why don't you lie down and get some rest?" she asked softly.

Deeks shook his head. "I don't really feel like sleeping."

"I know you don't," Kensi persisted gently, "but you really need to. It might help you feel better."

Deeks looked at her, knowing deep inside that nothing was really going to help him until they had gotten away. He didn't really want to cause her any additional stress though so he nodded as he unrolled the sleeping bag he had been sitting on and put it next to hers. He then stretched out beside Kensi and fell asleep.

xxxxx

Sam watched as Kensi managed to get Deeks to go to sleep. He knew that was probably the best thing for him, but it wasn't a cure-all by any means. They somehow needed to find a way out of this predicament, but that didn't seem very likely unless things changed radically. He suspected the little games they were playing were only going to get worse and that wouldn't be good for any of them. They were already at each other's throats. He glanced over at Callen who basically had remained motionless since his earlier rant. He sighed heavily then walked over to him and sat down. Callen still didn't move. "G?" he said softly. Nothing. "Come on, man…I'm sorry." He put his hand on his partner's back and patted it gently.

Callen lifted his head and stared at his partner. "You think I'm stewing about what you said, Sam?" he asked. "You give yourself too much credit."

"What are you thinking about then?"

"Nothing."

"Come on, G…talk to me."

"There's nothing to talk about," Callen stated. He shifted slightly and bit his lip as the pain in his ribs momentarily flared to a higher level. What he wouldn't give for some pain killers…some really good ones. At the moment, he was hungry, thirsty, in pain and not at all in the mood to talk to his partner or anyone else for that matter. "I'm going to try to sleep." It was the most effective way to get Sam to stop bugging him. He carefully got into his sleeping bag and managed to get himself into a lying position without too much increased pain. Then, with his back turned to his partner, he closed his eyes in an attempt to fall sleep and hopefully at least escape their situation in his dreams.