Chapter 7

"I'll see you later." The words the little paramedic's words echoed in Callen's mind as he entered his hollow house hours later. He shrugged off his jacket and dropped it unceremoniously on the floor, bringing his hands, which felt like they weighed much more than they should, to his forehead, trying in vain to relieve the pain growing behind his eyes. It felt like someone was trailing a knife across and deep into his skin, cutting into the most sensitive of nerves as easy as someone would cut through warm butter.

It hurt. It hurt so much G had given in noticeably easy when Sam had suggested he call it a night and head home. That would slap him in the face later. The pain hadn't enabled him to notice the concerned looks passed between his teammates and friends, but it had left him unable to care in the moment. Honestly G could care less about it in this moment as well.

With a groan he stumbled further from the door, avoiding windows as he assumed Sam was still lurking outside, watching like an over protective 'mother hen' from hell. It was nice, but annoying how many times his partner had offered to come inside the house with him.

"I don't need you to hold my hand, Sam." Callen had growled out when they had been sitting in the car just in front of his home, doing his best not to rub his painful eyes.

"I was more worried about holding you up," Sam shot back with surprising seriousness, but reluctantly didn't move when G clicked open his door and left the car without another word.

Deeks was still heavy on their mind, he had been fine, awake and bugging the hell out of Kensi as per usual. He, like everyone, had been in aw over G's quick 'assessment' and the dramatic rescue in the pool. Callen had brushed it off as best he could, giving his planned excuse until he was blue in the face. Well, pale as a sheet really. Even Nell timidly told him he looked like 'death warmed over' when they had been working close to one another.

Despite Eric's efforts the man who had shot Deeks was a ghost. It was unnerving and frustrating that Marty couldn't remember what his attacker looked like when Callen had a clear image of the shooter in his mind. No, not a clear image. A face he must have pulled up from his past and plugged into the current situation, something he had made up, put together…

Gripping the wall leading into the kitchen Callen steadied himself as his knees threatened to buckle. This was crazy, he was losing his mind and there didn't seem to be anything he could really do to stop it. How could he do his job if his dreams were merging with reality? When would his team finally notice and relieve him of his duties. His work was his whole life, without it he was nothing and no one. He was just a orphaned letter.

The pain intensified and shadows covered his eyes. "Not again," he muttered, falling to the floor like a broken toy with a thud. Callen's mind was vibrating again with such intensity his shivering probably looked as if someone were having an epileptic seizer.

G was no longer in his home, images flashed, some familiar some not. Image after image to blurred to see clear enough to make out. And then things slowed again, his eyes could see, but what he saw could not be possible.

Callen stood n the corner of Deeks hospital room, it wasn't him though, he couldn't move or talk. He was like a camera soaking in the images. It was the most eerie sensation, standing in the shadows and not really being there at all.

Kensi sat next to Deeks bed, much like she had the last time he had gotten shot. "I still want to know what's going on with Callen." She shook her head, glancing to the door briefly as a nurse walked by the door. G figured there were two reasons for the girl to do this, one being looking for any possible danger, second was slight paranoia that G himself would walk in as soon as they started talking about him. How right she was on the second note, however he wasn't near the door.

"He looked kind of pale, shaky when they left for ops." Deeks agreed with a shrug, "Sam's gone all 'protector mode' on him too. I don't think you have to worry too much for that fact alone. If anyone can get the famous G Callen to talk it would be Sam."

Kensi looked back at Deeks and gave him a gentile smile, reaching out to take his hand, careful of the IV taped to the back of it. "You really scared me, and just so you know when you're feeling better I'm going to kick your ass."

"I love the way you talk," Deeks grinned, "That is, you talking about my ass. Do it again." He looked at her in a mock, yet surprisingly serious, way. G rolled his eyes mentally, wishing he was free to leave.

"You are an ass." Kensi released his hand in an annoyed gesture and stood as if going to leave, but hesitated and sat back down, crossing her arms over her chest, looking like a little girl sent to the principles office.

Deeks grinned, "Hetty told you to watch out for me, didn't she?"

Kensi pouted, "I had volunteered so Sam could convince G to go home." She hissed. "Now I'm regretting my kindness."

Deeks laughed, leaning further into his pile of pillows stacked behind his head, closing his eyes smugly, "Do you really think you could convince Callen to go home and rest?"

G glared, wishing this wasn't some sort of twisted dream so he could announce his presence and get them to stop talking about him.

Kensi shrugged, "I have my ways. There was this one time…"

Callen pulled back physically, he didn't want this, he didn't want to sit here and learn things that he shouldn't know. Especially since none of this was true. A realistic dream, that it.

But Kensi's voice continued, unaware of the strange presence. "We had back to back cases for a month, and as you know Callen doesn't sleep like a normal person, well at some point towards the end of the month Eric mentioned that G wasn't sleeping at all. Sam was in the hospital at the time and I was really the only person other then Hetty, who had been called in Washington at meetings that week, to deal with a sleepless G."

"What's he like when he doesn't sleep?" Deeks interrupted, making Kensi tip her head and G growl inwardly, still trapped bodiless in the corner of the room.

"He stops smiling and joking first," Kensi listed off the symptoms much to G's displeasure, "Becomes vague, suddenly thinks that we all know exactly what he's thinking even when we have no clue, goes off on pointless suicide missions if we aren't careful, and when it gets really bad he stares."

Deeks giggled, a reaction probably due to the pain meds he was swimming in. "Wait, what? He stares?"

Kensi nods, "It's really creepy, it's like he's sleeping with his eyes open, but not."

"So what happened?" Deeks asked like a child listening to the most interesting bed time story ever written. Callen mentally growled again.

"Well, I have this friend that works at a pharmacy and explained the situation, well, some of the situation…well, mostly that I had a friend who wasn't sleeping and I wanted to help without them knowing. Leslie gave me this powder and some directions. Basically I put it in his coffee. At first he was really drugged, like on some serious morphine, telling me all sorts of things he probably doesn't even remember."

G didn't remember, he wanted to slap himself in the face, that or rush over and demand the information from Kensi away from Deeks.

"Ooo, dish the dirt!" Deeks begged like the infant he was.

Kensi shook her head, "I'm not going to tell you that! I wish I hadn't heard some of the things he said, it would kill him if I told someone else!"

"Lame, but continue." Deeks sighed, leaning back into his pillows and relaxing once again.

"Anyway, so he was rather easy to manipulate to the couch," She tilted her head, "He didn't have a stable house situation back then." Kensi added lightly, "I think he was sleeping at this really sketchy hotel at that time."

"So you got him to the couch?" Deeks interrupted her train of thought.

"Ah, yes. End of story, he went to sleep." Kensi blushed suddenly, looking as uncomfortable as Callen was feeling. At least the story was…

"That's not the end is it?" Deeks picked up on the expression Kensi had, "What happened?"

"Well," Kensi shrugged, looking small, "He might have called me "Trini and kissed me before he fell asleep."

"Who's Trini?" Deeks asked after a great deal of laughter.

"Stop talking about me, damnit!" G growls finally, upsetting the scene. Neither one of his teammates seemed to notice the way the room shook from his sudden vocalization, like waves in the sea ripped through the walls. The waves grew until colors blurred together and than turned back. Callen was drowning again. Images bombarding his senses. Slowing when Kensi was run down by a vehicle, but he could see it clearer than the first time, the van was non-descript, black, but he could read the plates.

And than as suddenly as everything started, it ended. The pain in his head reduced to a manageable dull feeling in the back of Callen's eyes and his vision was no longer obscure images but of his ceiling in the kitchen.

Hey guys! Wow I've been MIA a little longer then I had planned. But the holidays were great and I really enjoyed the time with my family. I hope you all had a wonderful time as well!

Thank you to all who had reviewed last chapter! ..Elephants, Daughter of ewan, skippy1967, justdreaming-83, and Riptide2

Hope you all are still up for my little adventure!

-Strawberrywaltz

Reviews are the epicness that makes a writer feel all special inside (Just so you know, it's like coffee for me! And I love my coffee)

PS: Happy New Year!