Thanks so much for the reviews for the last chapter. Just thought I'd post something to keep the story going, at least for a little bit longer. Thanks for reading.
xxxxx
That night, Deeks managed to sleep as well as could be expected. He was still in a good amount of pain but refused to ask for any more pain medicine, thinking that such a request could possibly prolong his hospital stay. He really needed to get out of this place. He woke up the following morning and could feel Kensi's eyes on him even before he carefully rolled over and saw her gazing at him. "Good morning," he said.
"Good morning...how are you feeling today?"
"I feel good...really good," Deeks replied, forcing a smile. "I wonder what time they'll spring me from this place."
"Are you sure you're really ready to go home?" Kensi asked with concern. "You seemed to be in pain during the night."
"Really? How could you tell that?" Deeks asked.
Kensi shrugged. "You just seemed restless, tossing and turning a lot…"
"I must have been dreaming or something…"
Kensi sighed. She was pretty sure he wasn't being honest with her, but she wasn't willing to go to war with him about it either. They had enough going on between them and she was pretty sure they weren't going to solve anything with him lying in a hospital bed. Maybe, once they were home and in comfortable surroundings, it would be easier for them to talk.
"I want to see Callen before I leave here," Deeks said, after a few moments of silence between them.
Kensi nodded. "I'm sure that will be fine. Maybe you can get some kind of a response from him."
"You mean a good response?" Deeks asked. "I don't know about that, but I want to at least try."
"Well, it can't hurt." She hoped it wouldn't anyway. Then again, her visit to Callen hadn't exactly been helpful.
Deeks looked at the clock on the wall and saw that it was 8:15. "I wonder where breakfast is...they usually bring it earlier than this."
"Are you really hungry? I can go and get you something," Kensi said, moving to get up from the reclining chair she was stretched out on.
"No!" Deeks said quickly. "I was just wondering is all. Maybe I'll get dressed so I'm ready to leave when they release me."
"They're not going to release you this early," Kensi said patiently, knowing how much he wanted to leave. She also knew that with his broken ribs and the cast on his wrist that he was going to need help, as much as he might try to resist. "Try to relax. It won't be that much longer."
"Alright," Deeks said as he cautiously moved into a sitting position, being careful not to visibly react to the pain he felt. Kensi watched him, but didn't comment, being relatively sure he wouldn't be allowed to go home if he wasn't medically able to. Besides, it wasn't like he would be going back to work for a while.
"Good morning!" one of the nurses' aides said cheerfully as she came into the room carrying a tray which she placed on Deeks' bedside table. "Enjoy!"
"That's highly doubtful," Deeks said as he lifted the dome from the tray to see what was hidden underneath. There was a small pile of scrambled eggs, two slices of overdone bacon and a piece of toast which was slightly burnt. To drink was a small carton of orange juice and a cup of coffee which he suspected would be cold. "Yum."
Kensi gave his meal her own visual inspection. "It doesn't look too bad," she commented unenthusiastically.
"Really?" Deeks pushed the plate in her direction. "Go for it."
"I wouldn't take food out of a hospital patient's mouth," Kensi said with a teasing smile. "Now maybe you'll take me up on my offer to go and get you something decent to eat?"
Deeks nodded, smiling back at her. It was moments like these that he could almost forget the barrier that still existed between them. He knew they were going to have to address it soon, but it seemed much easier to put it off, at least for the time being.
xxxxx
Callen was relieved to wake up and find himself alone. It was obvious to him that he was very close to Sam and Betty, but it didn't make him feel much better about things. The previous night, Sam had seemed like he was never going to leave, but finally he had done so. Callen didn't mean to make these people feel bad, but to him they were strangers and their constant scrutiny and expectations were making him anxious.
His attention was drawn to the doorway of his room where a shaggy-haired man in a wheelchair, with a cast on his right wrist, was being pushed in by the woman he had been rude to the day before...Kensi.
"I'll leave you two alone. Deeks, call me when you're ready to leave. I don't want you trying to push this wheelchair with that cast," Kensi said as she started to leave.
"Wait Kensi!" Callen called out to her.
Kensi turned around and stood patiently as she waited for him to speak.
"I...I just wanted to apologize for yesterday," Callen said softly. "I didn't know who you were, but...that's no excuse for being rude. Anyhow, for what it's worth, I'm sorry."
"It's not a problem, Callen," Kensi said with a faint smile. "I know you're going through a hard time. I just want you to get well."
Callen nodded. "Thanks…"
"I'll see you later," Kensi said, as she brushed Deeks' hair back affectionately and then left the two men alone.
"So...you're Deeks?" Callen asked, looking at the other man curiously.
"Yeah," Deeks said with a grin. "Why? Have you heard of me?"
Callen shook his head. "Sam mentioned you."
"So I guess you don't remember me?"
"I don't remember anyone," Callen said, sounding discouraged.
"That must suck," Deeks said, his blue eyes filled with sympathy, "but hopefully that won't last for too long."
"I don't know," Callen said with a shrug. He then looked at Deeks curiously. "So what happened to you? Were we all in an accident or something?"
"Yeah, something like that," Deeks said nodding. Hetty's words of warning were sounding in his head and he didn't want to give Callen more information than he could handle. His eyes went to the dome covered tray on Callen's table. "What did you get for breakfast? Mine wasn't very appetizing."
"Bacon and eggs," Callen said. "It was okay I guess."
"That's good that you ate it. Mine wasn't very good so Kensi went and got us something a little bit more appetizing."
Callen wasn't really sure what he was supposed to say to that so he chose not to say anything.
"So, you don't remember anything at all?" Deeks inwardly chastised himself as he asked the question, wondering if it was going to set Callen off.
"No, nothing…" Callen said, looking lost. "I remember waking up here in the hospital...but not anything before that. Sam and Betty were here when I came to."
Deeks nodded. He really had no idea how he could be of help to Callen. He supposed if he didn't remember Sam and was unable to keep Hetty's name straight, that chances were slim Callen would remember him. "Can I get you anything?" he asked. He really wondered how much of the breakfast Callen had eaten, if anything, but he didn't think picking up the cover and looking underneath would go over very well. Then again, maybe this Callen didn't mind hospital food. Who knew?
"No thanks," Callen said, wondering how Deeks even thought he could do that when he was in a wheelchair with a cast on his wrist. He didn't know them very well, but he was pretty sure that Kensi would be angry if he tried. "I'm sure Sam will be bringing me something when he comes. I think he thinks I'm too scrawny or something."
"We're all kind of scrawny compared to Sam," Deeks said, grinning and he felt rewarded when Callen smiled back at him. "But he's just worried about you. The two of you are really close. You worry about him as much as he worries about you."
"He said we were close, but...I don't know, it's hard when I don't remember. I just feel like I'm disappointing him."
"Don't think like that," Deeks said. "You're not disappointing him. I'm sure about that. Just know how much he cares about you. All of us do."
"Yeah, Sam told me," Callen said. "He said how close we all are, that we're a team...family... It's just kind of hard to believe when I feel like you're all strangers…"
"I know it's hard," Deeks said, nodding understandingly, "but just know that you can come to any one of us for whatever you need, if you have questions or just need to vent. We won't know exactly what you're going through, but we'll try to help the best way we can."
"Okay...thanks," Callen said softly.
"No problem," Deeks said. He tried to put himself into Callen's place, what if he was in this situation and he couldn't remember Kensi, or even worse, what if she couldn't remember him, if she looked at him blankly, like he was just a stranger. He wasn't sure how he would be able to cope with such a thing. It gave him a whole different perspective on things.