Thanks so much for all the nice comments and support you've given this story. I appreciate it more than I can say. Also, just a warning, this chapter ends with a bit of a cliffhanger. Thanks for reading :)

xxxxx

"There's another bed here," Sam nodded meaningfully towards the empty bed in Callen's room. "The two of you should stay…I mean…unless you'd rather not."

"Of course we'll stay," Deeks said. He looked at Callen to get his opinion on the matter but he was already asleep.

"He does that," Sam explained softly. "He's not able to stay awake for very long." He closed his eyes for a long moment and then looked at his partner emotionally before turning back to Kensi and Deeks. "Hetty said she had some kind of a plan, but…" He shook his head. "I just don't know…"

"You know that Hetty will do everything in her power to help Callen," Kensi said softly, trying to keep her friend's spirits up. "Callen means the world to her."

"To me too," Sam said, barely managing to hold back the tears that were coming all too easily to him now. "But there's nothing I can do for him…" Except to be there for Callen. However, it only provided him the slightest bit of consolation that he would be there for his partner in a way he hadn't been able to be for his wife. He didn't want this to happen. All he wanted was for his friend and partner to overcome this and be okay.

xxxxx

"I saw what you did to your girlfriend." Gordon Brandel stared at his son with something akin to pride in his eyes. "I never really figured you for having much potential. I always thought you were too soft, too much like your mother, but you proved me wrong, Martin. Good for you."

Deeks stared at his father, his eyes full of emotion and shock. "You…you're dead," he finally managed to stammer.

Brandel nodded, looking proud. "I ain't gonna lie. I am dead, but when I saw how you're a chip off the old block after all, I couldn't resist asking for a day pass to come on up and tell you how proud I am of you. I've got to say, it's nice to be where it's cool and refreshing. It gets kind of hot down there, if you know what I mean." Brandel winked then went on. "I never thought I'd see the day when I realized you'd be joining me in the future, but that day has come. Gives me something to look forward to."

"A day pass?" Deeks asked, shaking his head as if by denying it, he could make this be untrue. "I…I'm nothing like you. I would never have hurt Kensi if Bart hadn't forced me. I couldn't have let Burke beat Callen. He would have killed him."

Brandel chuckled. "I know you had to hurt her," he said, winking at his son. "I had to hurt your mom too and you as well. The devil made me do it. Your friend Callen's a grown man. He could have defended himself against that Burke fellow, but you didn't even want to find out. We was even taking bets on if that Callen fellow could hold his own, but you changed the whole gambling circle when you said you'd whip Kensi. A lot of the fellows didn't think you had it in you. I've got to admit, I didn't think so either, but you took that opportunity to beat on your girl and you ran with it. How'd it feel? That first time you laid a stroke on her back? How'd it feel to inflict pain on her? I bet it gave you a hell of a thrill didn't it? Me and my friends were watching from below, cheering you on. Every stroke you laid on her increased my feelings of pride. I told them, that's my boy! Some of the guys said you wouldn't be able to follow through, but I finally saw what I'd never seen before. You remember that old song, Cat's in the Cradle? That line? 'When I hung up the phone it occurred to me, he'd grown up just like me…my boy was just like me…' All of a sudden, I remembered that line and it made me think of you. Damn boy, just about made me want to cry, but not tears of sadness, tears of pure joy."

An increasing sense of horror overcame Deeks as he listened to his father's words. He'd wanted his father's approval so badly when he was a boy, but hearing the words now, over something he'd never wanted to do, made him sick to his stomach. "I'm not like you," he denied as he shook his head trying to force the repulsive thought from his mind. "I'm nothing like you! Nothing like you!"

"You are me!" Brandel shouted as he began to laugh with glee. "You're me, Martin! You're me and I've never felt so damn proud to be a father. I can't wait to see your future. I know it's going to be bright in spite of the blackness of your soul. This was just the beginning, my boy…just the beginning…"

xxxxx

"I'm not like you, I'm not. I'm nothing like you." Deeks tossed and turned on his bed, still caught up in the nightmare. "Please just go away and leave me alone." As Kensi had gone to discuss Deeks moving into Callen's room with Deeks' doctor, Sam went to the young detective's side. "Deeks? Hey come on man, wake up."

Finally, Deeks' eyes opened and he looked up at Sam, white-faced and shaky. "Sam?" He looked around, glad that Kensi wasn't witnessing this, but missing her just the same. "Where's Kensi?"

"She went to talk to your doctor, remember?" Sam asked as he sat in the chair by Deeks' bedside. "Are you alright?"

"You should be with Callen," Deeks replied, avoiding Sam's question.

"He's asleep," Sam said softly as he stole a look at his partner to make sure that was still the case.

"You should be with him anyway."

Sam just sat quietly as he waited Deeks out.

"What?" Deeks snapped finally. "What do you want, Sam?"

"I thought you might want to talk," Sam said. "What were you dreaming about? Whatever it was had you pretty upset."

"I'm fine."

"Really? You don't seem fine to me."

"Appearances can be deceiving."

"True." Sam nodded thoughtfully as he considered Deeks' words. "In this case though I don't think that's the case."

"Well, I guess you don't know everything then."

"Come on Deeks, it may help to talk about it."

"I said there's nothing to talk about."

At that moment, Callen began to whimper in his sleep. Sam sighed as he got to his feet to go back to his partner. "Well…I'm right here if you need me."

Deeks said nothing as he watched Sam return to Callen's side. There was no one who could help him with this. No one understood the true reality of what he had done.

xxxxx

"What do you want?" Shaugnessy snarled at Eric as he walked into the interrogation room where Shaugnessy sat with his hands cuffed behind him. "I've got nothing to say to you."

"Maybe you should listen to what I have to say, just in case," Eric said.

"You stabbed me in the back, made me think you wanted Callen dead as much as I did."

"Why?" Eric asked.

"Why?" Shaughnessy asked shifting in obviously discomfort against the handcuffs he was bound by. "Why what?"

"Why do you want Callen dead?" Eric asked, honestly wanting an answer to the question. "What did he ever do to you?"

"I…" Shaughnessy began but then he stopped, appearing not to know what to say. "I don't know…" he finally admitted.

"Bart can't help you now," Eric said, with a calm, almost soothing tone to his voice. "But maybe you can help Callen and in doing so, maybe you can help yourself as well."

"What do you mean? How can you help me?" Shaughnessy asked, looking back at Eric suspiciously.

"Hetty has been talking to people about giving you a deal. An alternative to spending a lot of years in prison. She believes that your high end skills could be used for other things besides destruction. It would be a chance for you to do some good and change your life as well."

"What about Bart?"

"What about him?" Eric countered. "Like I said, he can't help you. Trust me, you're well off his radar now. You're no good to him anymore."

"So…what do you want to know?"

"There's a scientist, someone who developed the poison for Bart. Do you know who he is?"

Shaughnessy hesitated, appearing to weigh all his options, but he finally nodded. "Yes. I can tell you what you need to know."

xxxxx

"Albert Garvey?" Hetty asked as she entered the laboratory with Eric and Nell following right behind her.

"Yes, I'm Albert Garvey, now who are you and who gave you permission to come in here?" Garvey, wearing safety goggles and a lab coat, snapped at them. "This is a hazardous area. It's dangerous for you to be here. Now get out."

"My name is Henrietta Lange and I work for NCIS. One of my agents is currently hospitalized in critical condition because of a poison which you developed for Bartholomew Richards.

"What?" Garvey shook his head, appearing stunned by the news. "I…I had no idea he would give the poison to someone…He never…"

"Did you think he wanted a poison developed for kicks and giggles?" Henrietta asked. "Surely you know better than that."

"I just…I don't know… I never…"

Hetty gave an exasperated huff. "Oh stop with this nonsense. What we're here for Mr. Garvey is an antidote and please don't tell me that you don't have one because that will make me very, very angry and that is something you don't want to see. Trust me on that."

"Uh yes, I have the antidote," Garvey said nervously as he walked to the other side of the room where there was a cabinet full of bottles and vials. "I…I know it's in here somewhere…let me see…AR-77, B342, 93EV…" He searched through the shelves, moving things around as he searched until finally he pulled one out. "Ah here it is EB-14." He walked the bottle over to Hetty and handed it to her. "The instructions are right there on the label. I hope it helps your agent."

"Why wouldn't it help him?" Hetty asked.

Garvey shrugged. "It depends on a lot of factors. The strength and overall condition of your agent, the length of time the poison has been in his system…things like that."

"Hetty, we should go," Nell said.

"The sooner we get it to Callen, the better his chances," Eric stated.

"Yes…of course you're right," Hetty said. "We need to get this to Mr. Callen right away."

xxxxx

Callen awoke suddenly, shivering and with a pounding in his head, the likes of which he had never felt before. He groaned softly and put his head to his forehead, unsuccessfully trying to massage the pain away.

"G? Hey buddy, are you okay?" Sam, who was sitting at his partner's bedside, leaned towards Callen, concern in his eyes.

Callen just groaned again, too caught up in the pain to answer his partner.

"G? It's your head? How bad is it?"

Deeks and Kensi, looked on worriedly from their side of the room.

Seeing that Callen was visibly shivering, Sam pushed the call button and requested that someone bring a couple of blankets to the room as soon as possible. "G? Can you hear me?" Sam tried again to get some kind of a response out of his partner. He could see that he was so caught up in the pain that he wasn't able to respond. He watched as Callen again put his hand to his head. He then quickly went to the bathroom and soaked a washcloth in cold water and folded it into a compress. He brought it back to Callen and placed it on his forehead. "Here you go, maybe this will help."

"Thanks, Sam," Callen whispered, his eyes still closed. He put his hand over the compress and pressed on it, trying to get the coolness to penetrate the painful area even more deeply. He then whimpered as he shifted on the bed, trying to get more comfortable, but the slight movement only caused the pain to increase.

"G?"

"God, Sam…this really hurts," Callen said tremulously as tears began to emerge from behind his closed eyelids. "It hurts so bad. I need it to stop. Please make it stop."

With his partner pleading like that, Sam realized the situation had reached a dire point. He grabbed the call button again, this time his voice filled with anxiety. "Can you send a doctor here right away? Please, send a doctor now!" He glanced over at Kensi and Deeks who were clutching each other's hands tightly as they watched the drama unfolding. Knowing no other way to help his friend except to be there with him, Sam grabbed Callen's hand and squeezed it. "I'm right here, G…I'm right with you."

Callen tried to open his eyes to look at his partner, but when he did, everything seemed to tilt and he got extremely dizzy so he quickly closed them again as he tried to take comfort in the fact that Sam was there.

A few moments later a doctor entered the room and quickly assessed the situation then morphine was administered into Callen's IV. Almost instantly, the intense pain began to ebb and Callen fell asleep. Sam continued to sit with him, with an almost desperate grip on Callen's hand, knowing that the end was getting closer for his friend.