Thanks so much for your support for the last chapter. It was really amazing. I just hope I can keep your interest with the story now that they've been rescued and things are moving along at a much slower pace. Thanks so much for reading.

xxxxx

About 15 minutes after Callen had fallen asleep, Dr. Carlisle came into the room with Hetty, Eric and Nell. "We have the antidote," Hetty stated as they all watched the doctor inject some of the liquid into Callen's IV.

"Where did you get it?" Sam asked quietly, a glimmer of hope in his eyes.

"We found the scientist who developed the poison in the first place," Hetty explained. "With a little bit of persuasion, Eric was able to get Mr. Shaughnessy to talk."

"Good job, Eric," Sam said, nodding at Eric. Sam's attention then focused on Dr. Carlisle. "What are his chances now? When will we know?"

"As this is a formula I'm unfamiliar with, it's difficult to pinpoint that. We'll just monitor him closely as well as keep a close eye on his blood work."

"Albert Garvey, the scientist, said that it all depends on the patient's condition and how long the poison has been in his system," Nell said.

"He really didn't give us a direct answer." Hetty walked over to Callen and gently put her hand over his. "All we can do right now is hope and pray that we got him the antidote in time."

"I'll be back soon," Dr. Carlisle told them as he made some notations on his clipboard. "I have some patients to see. Let the nurses know if he has any changes in his condition and they'll page me right away."

"Thanks, doctor." Sam turned his eyes back to his partner. "You've got the medicine you need now, buddy," he said. "The rest is up to you. I know you can do this G. You've got to fight, just as hard as you can. Please…please don't give up…"

"You know he's not going to give up, Sam," Hetty said, her eyes full of emotion as she turned towards him. "If it's in his power to get past this, you know that he will."

"Hetty's right," Kensi said. "Callen won't give up, Sam."

When Kensi spoke, Hetty walked over to where she was sitting, perched on the edge of Deeks' bed.

"It's good to see you, Mr. Deeks," Hetty said as she smiled at him. "You don't look too bad. Tell me, how are you feeling?"

"I'm doing okay, Hetty," Deeks said with what looked like Hetty to be a forced smile. She could see sadness in his eyes and she wanted to question him more, but not with a roomful of people. "I'm glad to hear that. We've just got to get you and Mr. Callen well and back home again."

"I don't think I'll be here too long," Deeks said.

"Don't forget, you still need to have surgery," Kensi reminded him gently. "I don't want you pushing yourself too much."

"I'm sure that you won't let that happen, Ms. Blye," Hetty said. "Now, have you and Mr. Hanna had anything to eat since you've gotten here?"

Kensi and Sam exchanged a look which made it very evident that they had not. "Now that won't do at all," Hetty scolded mildly. "I want the two of you to head to the cafeteria and get yourselves something. Mr. Beale and Miss Jones will accompany you, just to make sure you do as I say."

Kensi nodded and looked at Deeks. "Can I bring you anything?"

Deeks shook his head. "I'm sure they'll be bringing in something for me to eat, Kens."

"Come on, Deeks. You know whatever they bring you isn't going to be as good as what I can bring back for you."

"I'm really not that hungry, baby," he said.

"Alright…I won't push you," Kensi relented as she looked over at Sam. "Come on, Sam…Let's go."

Sam glanced quickly over at Hetty then shook his head. "I don't want to leave him right now, Kensi."

"Mr. Hanna…"

"I'm sorry, Hetty. I know you want me to go, but I'm not going to. Not right now. I just…I'm not comfortable with leaving G right now. You can't force me to…" He looked at Nell and Eric. "You guys want to bring me back a sandwich or something?"

Eric and Nell both looked over at Hetty who nodded at them. "It's fine," she said. "Please bring Mr. Hanna a sandwich, salad and perhaps some fruit. It's important that he keep up his strength."

Sam opened his mouth to protest, but Hetty shook her finger at him. "Don't even try, Mr. Hanna," she said. "I won't have you and Ms. Blye getting sick taking care of your partners and ignoring your own well-being."

"Kensi doesn't need to take care of me," Deeks muttered from his bed.

"I'm not going to get sick, Hetty," Sam protested. "Besides…Bart made sure I ate just fine while being held prisoner. G was the one…" He looked at his partner sadly without finishing the sentence.

"I guess we should go," Kensi said, breaking the uncomfortable silence that was now hanging over the room. She, for one, didn't like to be reminded of how food and water had been withheld from Callen. "Come on you two," she said to Eric and Nell and the three of them left the room.

xxxxx

After Kensi, Eric and Nell had left, Hetty turned her attention to Deeks and spoke quietly to him. "So Mr. Deeks, how are you doing really? I daresay that you're not quite as good as you're trying to make everyone believe you are."

"I'm fine, Hetty," Deeks said. "Once they do the surgery and I heal up, I'll be as good as new." Sam glanced over at them, but didn't say anything, instead keeping focused on his partner.

"Well, that's very good to hear," Hetty said although she didn't believe what he was telling her. "Now that it's just us though, I'd like to hear a bit more about what happened out there with Bartholomew." She spoke more loudly now, indicating that Sam was to be included in the conversation.

"Do we have to do this now, Hetty?" Sam asked. "I'd rather not, if you don't mind."

"And I'd rather we do," Hetty said. "At least give me a synopsis of what went on. I do think I'm entitled to that much information at least."

"I'd really like to concentrate on G if he wakes up."

Hetty shook her head slowly. "You know better, Mr. Hanna. If Mr. Callen even stirs, I'll do nothing to impede your attentiveness to him. You're going to be right here with him. I'm only asking for a little bit of information, not that you mercilessly abandon your partner."

"Well…in return for that information, there are some things I'd like to know as well. What's your history with Bart and why did he have such an intense dislike…actually it was hatred…why did he hate G so much?"

Hetty sighed softly to herself. She didn't particularly want to delve into that at the moment, but she supposed it was only fair, considering that what had happened had all been a result of Bart's twisted plan of revenge against her. "Alright, Mr. Hanna. I'll tell you what I can," Hetty said. "As for the reason for Bartholomew's hatred of Mr. Callen, I really have no idea. They had very little contact with each other. I can only recall a couple of times when they were actually together. However, Bart had no tolerance for children and when I first took in Mr. Callen he was not shy about giving his opinion about it."

"Which was?" Sam prompted as he glanced over at Deeks who was also listening closely to Hetty's story.

"That it was a bad idea doomed to failure. If I wanted a child, he thought it should have been a younger one, a child not already formed and set in his ways as Mr. Callen most certainly was." Hetty smiled fondly at her memories of Callen when he had first arrived at Dovecote. "Your partner was very suspicious back then, Sam," Hetty recalled. "He didn't trust the situation he was in and he certainly didn't trust me. With what he'd had to endure in life though, I didn't expect it to be any different with him. He actually warmed up to me quicker than I had anticipated."

"G was pretty distrustful of me when we first became partners too," Sam said. "He always did his job impeccably well, but that was it. He barely talked to me, even about our cases and there were certainly no personal conversations between us. It was all business. He wasn't about to share details of his own life and I don't think he cared too much about mine."

"So what changed?" Deeks asked, caught up in the stories he was hearing about their team leader. "I mean…the two of you couldn't be any closer than you are now."

"That's true," Sam said, smiling down at his sleeping partner. "The day he started to turn around was when I brought him to my house one day on our lunch break. Kamran was sick with an ear infection and I had gone to the pharmacy to get her prescription and drop it off to Michelle." Sam's expression at the memory was a combination of happiness and sadness. "The kids were drawn to him right away. Kam wouldn't leave his side the whole time he was there and my wife…well let's just say she was drawn to as she called it 'Callen's little lost boy quality.' She invited him to dinner for that Friday night and things began to thaw pretty quickly."

"You two have always brought out the best in each other," Hetty said.

"I just hope that continues on," Sam said, his worry obvious.

"Callen's a strong guy, Sam," Deeks said. "I really believe he'll fight through this."

"I hope you're right, Deeks."

"So Hetty," Deeks asked as he awkwardly tried to plump his pillow with one arm. "You still haven't really told us what happened between you and Bart.

Hetty walked over to Deeks and fluffed his pillow for him. Once he had settled back down and was comfortable she began to speak. "Nothing really specific happened. Bart didn't call as much after I took Mr. Callen in and like I said, Callen only saw the man maybe twice. We met for lunch a few times and then nothing, that is until he was caught in the midst of an arms deal gone bad and I had no choice but to arrest him."

"He spent a lot of years plotting his revenge," Sam said musingly. "He basically focused on G for no real reason whatsoever."

"Well, it's rather obvious that he focused on Mr. Callen, as well as the rest of you, to get to me and he succeeded. But...speaking of that, you've yet to really tell me what went on." Hetty looked at Deeks and then Sam, trying to decide who was more likely to talk. She finally decided on Sam. There seemed to be more buried under the surface with Mr. Deeks. "Perhaps you could share a bit now about what happened, Mr. Hanna?"

Sam glanced at his partner who remained asleep and ran his hand over his face. "I don't even know where to begin, Hetty."

"Well, we have video footage of when the four of you were abducted so you can start after that," Hetty prompted.

"We were flown out to Bart's campsite and he finally revealed who he was. His plan, at that time, was to hunt us and kill us."

Hetty nodded, trying to keep expressionless although what Sam was telling her made her feel sick inside. "Go on."

"Well, we just took off into the woods. During our trek, they caught up to us at various times. Deeks was shot and G almost killed by a graze to the head. He…he fell into the river." Sam's voice became only a whisper as he recalled that particular bad memory. "I…I thought he was dead. That's when they recaptured him and almost blew him up. If it hadn't been for Kensi, they would have…"

Sam took a deep breath, exhaling slowly before going on. "When Bart and his band of goons caught up with us again, that's when things took a twisted turn. Evidently, Bart became bored by his hunt and decided to take his game in a different direction. That's what he called all of this, a game," Sam stated bitterly.

"And what did he do then?" Hetty asked quietly.

"He pit us against each other, having to make choices that would hurt each other."

"Such as?"

"Such as, which set of partners gets blankets or food…or water…" Sam took a deep breath, obviously affected by this one.

"And he forced you to withhold water from Mr. Callen."

Sam nodded. "And he'd make the rest of us eat and drink all kinds of tempting foods and drinks, just to rub it in that we could eat and drink and G couldn't. All he wanted was some water…but Bart refused."

"Your friend's a real bastard, Hetty," Deeks said as he fidgeted with the edge of the blanket covering him.

"Trust me, Mr. Deeks…he's no friend of mine."

"Yeah, I know that Hetty," Deeks said as he nervously brushed his hand back through his hair then glanced at Sam warily. "I think you've said enough for now."

Sam hesitated as he met Deeks' eyes. He then nodded and looked back at Hetty. "Deeks is right…"

Hetty stared back at Sam for a long moment and then nodded. "All right. We'll let it go for now." She then turned back to Deeks who had closed his eyes. She knew he was pretending to be asleep, but she decided to let it be for the moment. There was really no rush to delve further into what had happened. They had all gone through a lot and it was very obvious from Deeks' behavior that he was having a difficult time with whatever else had happened out there. She didn't want to pry too deeply, at least not until after his surgery.

xxxxx

Kensi, Eric and Nell quietly reentered the hospital room and Kensi immediately went to Deeks' side. "Hey baby," she whispered as she leaned down and kissed his cheek. "I brought you a burger."

Deeks sighed. "I told you I didn't want anything, Kens…"

"I know," Kensi replied. "I just thought maybe you'd change your mind? The food in the cafeteria is surprisingly good for hospital food."

Deeks didn't really want it, but the look of sadness and concern on Kensi's face got to him and he didn't have the heart not to at least try to eat some of it. "Thanks…I'll try it." The smile on Kensi's face when he took a bite made his effort worth it. "You're right…this is pretty good…for hospital food."

Eric and Nell had delivered food to Sam as Hetty had requested and had also brought back tea and a sandwich for Hetty. "They also have these to die for chocolate chip cookies down there," Eric said. "We brought you guys some of those as well." He placed a brown paper bag down on the nightstand next to Callen's bed.

"Thanks," Sam said as he took a bite of the turkey sandwich, deciding to forego the salad for the time being. What he really wanted was to see his partner eating, but knew that was not much of a possibility at the moment.

Hetty watched Sam and Deeks and was satisfied that they were at least attempting to eat. She then turned to Nell and Eric. "Mr. Beale, Miss Jones, I think the two of you would be well served by heading home and getting some much deserved rest. You've been exceedingly helpful today and I appreciate the work that you have done."

"Are you sure, Hetty?" Nell asked. "There's nothing else you need?"

Hetty shook her head and smiled. "No dear, I'm fine for right now."

"You're not going to stay here all night, are you?" Eric asked.

Hetty shook her head again. "I'd just like to see if I can witness Mr. Callen with his eyes open before I leave. It would do my heart good to see that. Then I'll head home as well."

"Okay, well you know where we are if you need anything at all," Eric said, turning to the others in the room. "Anything guys, okay?"

Sam nodded as he went over to Eric and shook his hand. "Thanks for everything you've done today, Eric. I appreciate what you've done for G."

"I'd do anything for you guys, Sam," Eric said, looking a little embarrassed at the praise. "Anyhow, keep us posted."

"We will," Hetty promised.

xxxxx

"You've had enough?" Kensi asked Deeks who had pushed aside the partly eaten burger. He hadn't eaten as much as she had hoped for, but at least it was something.

Deeks nodded. "Yeah, I'm sorry. I'm just not all that hungry."

"It's okay, I understand." Kensi smiled at him as she lovingly pushed his hair back from his face. "Is there anything I can get for you? Maybe another pillow or blanket?"

"No…you don't need to wait on me, Kens. You should probably get home and get some rest." The words were said without emotion and Kensi looked back at him contemplatively, knowing he didn't mean what he said.

"I'm not leaving, Deeks," she said. "I'm going to stay right here with you." She wanted to say more, but she could see Hetty was watching and listening with more than just passing interest. She had no idea what Sam and Deeks might have said while she was at the cafeteria with Eric and Nell, but she didn't want to say anything that might upset him.

"You don't have to…" Deeks said, his eyes suddenly filling with tears. "I'm going to get some sleep." He turned away from her awkwardly and closed his eyes, not wanting to talk. More than anything, he just wanted to be alone. Now he felt like he had an audience who wanted to discuss things that he had absolutely no intention of discussing.

Kensi watched him and gently rubbed his back, feeling helpless and wishing there was some way she could protect him from the demons that were eating him up inside.

xxxxx

The reemergence of the headache woke Callen from his morphine-induced slumber and he moaned softly as he struggled to open his eyes. As before, he immediately felt everything lurching crazily. He clutched the blankets tightly and quickly reclosed his eyes, feeling as if he was going to tumble right off the bed.

"G? Hey buddy can you open your eyes for me?"

"No," Callen whispered. "Dizzy."

"Do you still have the headache?" Even as he asked the question, Sam already knew the answer.

"Yes…"

"Mr. Callen?" Hetty took Callen's hand and rubbed the top of it soothingly. "We got the antidote. I know you're not feeling better yet, but we hope it won't be too long before you do."

"Hi, Hetty." Callen opened his eyes partway and managed a forced smile before he quickly shut them again when he experienced the dizziness once more.

"I'm going to get the doctor," Sam mouthed to Hetty who nodded. Sam then walked out to the nurse's station to if someone could get Dr. Carlisle to come take a look at Callen.

"Why don't I go get you a cool compress," Hetty said gently.

Kensi, who had been looking, on quickly got to her feet. "I'll get it, Hetty," she said as she quickly headed to the bathroom. When she returned, a couple of minutes later, she gently placed the cold compress on Callen's forehead.

"Thanks, Kens," Callen said. He was trying to breathe through the pain, thinking that maybe taking long deep breaths would help him focus on something else, but it really wasn't working.

"Is there anything I can do for you?" Hetty asked, looking at him worriedly. She didn't like seeing him so vulnerable and she knew it wasn't anything he wanted her to witness either. Not too long after she had taken him in, he'd been ill with a bad flu and he hadn't wanted her to do anything for him, looking very uncomfortable whenever she had done the simplest things for him. Finally, he had begun to accept her help and she had seen the appreciation in his eyes. She knew though, just from his reactions, that he must have received very little comfort as a young child, if he received any at all. It broke her heart when she thought of the things he might have endured with no one to help him through them and she had wondered many times whether he had ever received a kind word or a warm hug.

"I'm good, Hetty," Callen stated.

At that moment, Dr. Carlisle came into the room with Sam. "G, the doctor is here," Sam said to his friend.

"I'm just going to do a quick neuro check on you," Dr. Carlisle said. He then proceeded to examine Callen as his friends looked on. "Okay…I'm going to start you on a morphine drip to try to get a handle on the pain you're experiencing. I suspect this headache and dizziness are bad side effects to the drugs you were given. Hopefully, they won't last too long. We'll see how you do and if your pain doesn't subside, I'll send you for a head CT, just as a precaution. In the meantime, I'm going to order some blood work to see if any of your numbers have improved, although it may be too soon for that. Any questions?"

"No. Thanks, doctor," Callen said, his face drawn with pain and his voice only a little bit louder than a whisper.

"You're welcome…I'm going to do the best I can to have you feeling better very soon." Dr. Carlisle then smiled reassuringly at Hetty and the team and headed out of the room.