Disclaimer: Now here's a surprise… I don't own NCIS: LA or any of its characters. If I did Callen would get hurt more often and would wear a thigh holster in every episode.

A/N: Thanks for the reviews and the story alerts guys I appreciate it. To the others who read and didn't comment, I don't think I'm being greedy if I ask for more reviews, right? Cause the story had 80 hits …just saying. Did I mention the story is complete? I'm just throwing that out there =P

Once again thanks to It'sMyFavoriteSong for fixing as many horrors as she could.

Anyways, here's chapter two, enjoy!

Chapter 2

Kensi POV

It's not the first time Kensi has to sit in a waiting room. The fact that it is a hospital waiting room makes no difference to her. Life is full of them. Whether it's in rows or against the walls, the chairs are still cheap and uncomfortable. Cushion or no cushion, they still make your butt go numb given enough time. They can have a TV showing some brainless sitcom or a coffee table with a mountain of old issues of magazines with missing pages; either way, no one really cares about it. There can be lots of strangers or a few people close to you, but no one is capable of providing the comfort that everyone is seeking.

Kensi raises her head slowly, brushing the rebel strand of hair away from her face. She focuses on the clock that hangs above the nurses' station. Seconds turn into a full minute. That minute turn into a full hour. The clock on the wall shows 7pm, she checks her own watch and it agrees. Visiting hours officially begin.

She vacates the chair and heads to the security guard in front of the ICU doors. He hands her the visitor pass, which she pins to her shirt before making her way to the somewhat familiar room. Through the glass window she sees him. G Callen is still present in the land of the living, fighting hard to remain in it. Her training doesn't allow her to sit with her back to the door, so she moves to the other side of the room where she can keep an eye on Callen and the door, just in case trouble decides to pay a visit.

It never ceases to surprise her just how much stuff is needed to help him win his fight. There are multiple bags hanging from both sides of his bed: supplements, medication, blood… even if you can't name it, it's there. It always bothers her to see him breathing through a tube, it just feels so wrong to see her fearless partner like that.

If you're going to list the wrongs, you can also add the defibrillator that's in the room in case his heart fails. Apparently because of all the blood loss he suffered and the restrain it was causing his heart, his heart stopped beating right after they settled him on this room after the surgery. It happened again twice that same night… they decided it was safer to keep one at reach just in case.

For the first time tonight, Kensi looked at him… really him and not all the medical equiptement that practically drowns him out. He looks awfully pale, and it makes the dark circles under his eyes stand out that much. She'd seen him many times with them from working too much and not sleeping enough, it came with the job description.

What didn't come with that description was how to walk through a crime scene and put the feeling of despair aside. It didn't teach you to keep calm after seeing pints of half dried blood on the sidewalk, discarded medical supplies everywhere, and bloody boot prints that indicated that the victim would most likely not have survived. Then tears threaten to break the dam because you know that victim, because you've worked with him for some time and you think of him as a close friend. And you've just been told that out of the multiple shots directed at him, five met their target. Then your brain, as if to mock you, makes a connection on how sick it is that it happened on the fifth of May.

Sam pulls her from the memory when she senses him enter the room. He stands in the doorway for a moment before sitting on the end of Callen's bed. He had been having a talk with the doctors about Callen. Sam looks tired, despite the several days off Macy had given him. Kensi couldn't blame him for not getting enough rest, no one was these days. She can't imagine how he feels. Not only had he witnessed the incident, but because Callen didn't have a next of kin, he had taken it upon himself to make all the decisions regarding Callen's health.

"He's not looking too hot," she says. They can both see it, so one of them might as well say it out loud.

"But he is." This earns a raised eyebrow from Kensi.

"Come again?" He gives her a small, playful smile that quickly turns serious.

"He has a fever. Apparently he's developed an infection, which isn't too uncommon for gunshot wounds. They say that as long as the fever doesn't get too high, its harmless, but if the fever climbs any higher it could cause brain damage."

"Seems they're not having much luck controlling it," she said referring to Callen's clammy looking skin.

"No, his temperature is still rising, despite the antibiotics they've been treating him with, so they're gonna change tactics."

"Worse case scenario?"

"If this new antibiotic they tried today doesn't work, they may need to operate again, but they don't want to because it could be too much for his system to handle, weakened as he is right now."

"He just can't catch a break."

"You know G, he likes to keep things interesting."

TBC