Thanks so much for all the reviews on the last chapter. I appreciated each and every one of them :) I'm sorry this chapter isn't too long, but I haven't gotten much writing done lately. I did want to get something out though. Thanks for reading :)

xxxxx

"On second thought...maybe I should go see Sam in person. I think it might be a little easier for him to hear that way," Kensi said after staring at her cell phone and then putting it back into her pocket.

"Okay," Deeks said, nodding in agreement. "Whatever you think."

"Are you going to be all right here?" Kensi asked.

"Of course." Deeks smiled at Kensi. "It's Callen."

"Yes, but not exactly the Callen we're used to," Kensi said seriously. "Watch yourself. He's very unpredictable. I'll be back soon."

"Okay, baby. Good luck."

xxxxx

Kensi quietly made her way into Callen's room where she found Sam, still fast asleep, obviously exhausted. She hated to wake him, but she knew she needed to. "Sam?" she called softly as she gently rubbed his shoulder. "Sam, wake up."

It took Sam a few moments to open his eyes and he looked up at Kensi wearily. "Hey Kens. What's up?"

"I just wanted to let you know that Callen is in Deeks' room."

"What?" Suddenly fully awake, Sam sat up, ignoring the soreness and stiffness in his bones, and looked over at Callen's, now empty bed. "What is he doing there?"

"He…" Kensi shook her head helplessly, not even sure how to explain their team leader's bizarre behavior. "He was afraid of you, Sam. He thinks you're working with Bart."

Sam sighed as he ran his hand over his face. "I'm not working with Bart.

"Sam...Of course you're not. Don't you think I know that?" Kensi asked, her eyes filled with sympathy. "I know how much you care about him. When I left, he was asleep. I just think you should leave him alone until morning. He's really anxious. He believes you want to kill him."

"Kill him?" Sam asked, his voice breaking on the words. "I thought this all stemmed from me whipping him…"

"Maybe it does," Kensi said. "All I know is that he looked really scared and that isn't something you see from Callen."

Sam shook his head. "No...something's definitely wrong. I have a hard time thinking that Bart got into his mind that much though. I'm thinking this may be a side effect from the meds he was given. Apparently the drug cocktail can have some pretty nasty side effects."

Kensi nodded. "That could very well be true. Why don't you try to get some sleep and when the doctor comes by for rounds in the morning, you can bring him to Deeks' room. I'm sorry that I woke you, but I didn't want you to wake on your own and find him gone." She knew that would have put Sam into a panic.

"You did the right thing…" Sam said. He had a hard time knowing that his friend was afraid of him, but he didn't want to do anything that would hurt him so he would do as Kensi wanted. "If he needs me…"

"I'll call you right away," Kensi said. "Try to get some sleep, Sam."

Sam nodded and watched as Kensi left the room, but he was pretty sure he wouldn't be sleeping anymore that night.

xxxxx

Deeks had been lightly dozing for only a couple of minutes when he opened his eyes and saw Callen staring at him. "Hey, Callen...Are you okay? Do you need anything?"

"Where's Kensi?" Callen asked, his eyes full of mistrust. "Did she go to deliver more information to Bart?"

Deeks quickly shook his head. "Of course not. You know better than that, Callen. Kensi's your favorite agent. She would never betray you like that."

"Well, I thought Sam was my best friend too and I found out that wasn't true. You never really know about people. One minute they're your friends, the next minute they're stabbing you in the back."

Deeks sighed. "Callen...I know you don't believe it, but there's no way in hell Sam would be working with Bart, especially not against you. You are still his best friend whether you believe it or not."

Callen narrowed his eyes at Deeks. "Talk like that makes me think you're working for Bart too, Deeks. He let all of you eat and drink...everyone except me. I don't know why I didn't put it all together sooner." He shook his head in disbelief. "The three of you must think I'm pretty stupid. You were probably all laughing about what a fool I was behind my back."

"Come on Callen, that's just not true." Part of him knew arguing with Callen when he wasn't in his right mind wasn't going to do any good, but Deeks felt compelled to try anyway. "We would never laugh at you and we would never, ever work with Bart."

Callen looked down at the blanket covering him and realized that the two bottles of water he had taken from his room were gone. "Where's my water?!" he asked Deeks. "What did you do with it?"

"Calm down, Callen. They're right there." Deeks pointed to the top of the nightstand where Kensi had put the water bottles before she left the room. "No one is taking the water from you."

Callen grabbed the bottles and opened one of them. He gulped down half the bottle before he put the cap back on it, then looked at Deeks defiantly. "You're right. No one is taking them from me."

Deeks just shook his head, unsure of how to deal with this bizarro world Callen. He was immensely relieved when Kensi arrived back in the room.

"Hey guys, I thought you'd both be asleep."

"Why?" Callen challenged. "Easier to kill me that way?"

"What?" Kensi looked over at Deeks who shrugged.

"Where were you, Kensi?" Callen asked. "Off seeing your new best buddy, Bart?"

"Callen...where is this coming from?" Kensi asked gently. "Of course I wasn't with Bart. I despise the man. I was just stretching my legs."

Callen gazed back at Kensi, suddenly appearing a little bit unsure of his accusations. "I...I'm going to go to sleep. Don't anyone take my water." He then tucked the two bottles against his side underneath the blanket and it didn't take long for him to fall asleep.

"He suspects us too now?" Kensi asked sadly as she sat on the bed next to Deeks and leaned into him as he put his arm around her.

"He doesn't know what he's saying," Deeks said.

"I guess…" At this point, Kensi was just wishing that they could go home and forget about all of this. She knew that wasn't possible quite yet though.

"So...what did Sam say?" Deeks whispered, after he was certain that Callen really was sleeping.

"He wasn't very happy," Kensi said. "I managed to convince him that coming back to our room was likely going to just make things worse. He agreed to wait until tomorrow when he'll come with the doctor."

"Callen managed to survive the poison, but now he's going through this, whatever this is," Deeks said. "Bart would be laughing his ass off if he knew what was going on with him."

"Well, he doesn't know," Kensi said, "and he's not going to find out." She gazed at Deeks and realized how tired he was. She knew she wasn't focusing on his recovery the way she should be, not that he would ever complain. "Deeks. You should try to get some sleep, sweetheart. There's just a couple hours left until morning. I'm going to watch over Callen and make sure he doesn't try to do anything he shouldn't or try to leave our room."

"Are you sure, baby?" Deeks asked. He wanted to insist that he be the one to keep watch, but he honestly didn't feel up to it. He could barely keep his eyes open.

"I'm sure." Kensi smiled at him as she helped him to get situated and comfortable in his bed then kissed him on the lips. "Good night, Deeks. I love you."

"Love you too, Kens...wake me if you need to…"

"I will," Kensi whispered, her heart melting as she brushed his hair back with her hand and Deeks dropped off to sleep. She just loved this man so much. She then took a seat in the other chair in the room and began keeping her vigil over Callen, feeling very apprehensive about what the morning might bring.