Ok everyone, SURPRISE! We got the chapter finished earlier then we thought AND...It's our longest chapter yet!

Thanks to all those who reviewed and added our story to their favorites! We hit 20, and that's more then we ever expected!

Also, to address a couple reviews: Kensi's...injury will be addressed this chapter, along with Eric's.

DISCLAIMER: IN OUR WILDEST DREAMS...but unfortunately, we do not own NCIS LA or any of it's characters...just this plot.

Warning: This chapter contains some foul language, and some kinds of torture. If this is not interesting to you, please do not read.

Enjoy!

-A and K

Chapter 7

Nell blinked awake, her head pounding harshly in pain. "N-No...N-Not again..." She weakly looked around. She blinked away tears...until she saw Eric.

"Eric!" She stumbled to her feet and then stumbled over to his side, before kneeling weakly beside him. He wasn't awake yet, and the duct-tape was still over his mouth. Shaking, she pressed her fingers to his neck, relieved to feel a steady pulse beneath her fingers. She took the tape off of his mouth, and noticed the bruises on his face.

"Eric! Wake up!" She swallowed a sob, before continuing. "P-Please..." She begged, tears streaking her cheek. She picked up his hand and held it tight. Eric moaned softly and then opened his eyes. He very slowly sat up and looked at Nell.

"You ok?" He asked, glancing her over for any sign of new injuries. He ignored all the pain he was feeling. He needed to know she was alright. Nell nodded, then winced.

"J-Just my head hurts...that's all." She looked at him. "Y-You aren't ok...are you?"

"I'll be fine." He said softly. "I wish they wouldn't have used me as a punching bag though." His ribs hurt bad and so did his head. The rest of him was just sore. He shut his eyes for a moment, trying to block out the pain. Nell blinked.

"I...I wish so too...I-I'm sorry...m-my fault..." She whispered.

"It's alright. I don't blame you for this.." He opened his eyes and met her gaze. The door opened and the man walked in. Nell moved in front of Eric.

"Y-You are not touching him. I-I don't care what you do to me..."

Deeks kept looking through the files, and not finding anything useful yet, he decided to check in with Kensi. He took his phone and called her. Surprised when her voice-mail started playing, he left her a message, then tried again. A frown crossed his lips as he heard the voice-mail again.

"Fuck." He muttered. Callen looked up.

"What's wrong?"

"Kensi's not answering." Callen closed the file as Deeks called the hospital reception desk.

"Thank you for calling LA Memorial, Kathleen speaking, how can I help you?"

"Kathleen, can you please transfer me to the 4th floor?"

"Certainly. Just so you know, the extension for the 4th floor is 4004, for future reference."

"Thank you." He wanted as the call was transferred.

"4th Floor Nurses' Station, Barb speaking. How can I help you?"

"Can you please direct my call to Room 409. It's Nell Jones' room."

"Sir, I'm sorry, but I'm not allowed to transfer any calls to her extension without proper identification."

"Of course. LAPD Detective Martin Deeks. Badge Number 908-674."

"I'm sorry, you're badge number is written down on the approval list, however you are listed under a different title. I need to be certain that you are the correct Detective, would you please tell me the title you would be under?"

"NCIS-LAPD Liaison Officer, Detective Martin Deeks. Badge Number 908-674."

"Thank you Detective, I'm sorry for the hassle. I'll put you through immediately."

"Thank you Barb, and it's not an issue. I appreciate the fact that you are following proper protocol."

"Thank you. I'm transferring your call now." Deeks' call was patched through to Nell's room. The phone, however, kept ringing and ringing. After 15 rings, Deeks hung up.

"Eric and Nell aren't answering the room phone." He said. Callen's eyes widened. Deeks redialed the hospital's main number, then entered the extension for the 4th floor. Barb answered, and Deeks immediately re-identified himself.

"How can I help you Detective, would you like me to call the room again?"

"Actually, I need you to go tell Agent Kensi Blye to contact me immediately."

"Let me go find her for you, hold on." A minute or 2 later. "Detective Deeks, it's Nurse Barb. Agent Blye is unconscious...and Room 409 is empty."

"Thank you. Get security up there and tell them that no one is allowed to enter the room. We'll be there in a few moments." He hung up.

"FUCK!" He relayed what Barb had told him to Sam and Callen.

"Damn it!" Sam yelled. "How the hell did the bastard get past Kensi! There must have been more then one guy. We better get over to the hospital." Sam led the way out to the car, followed by Deeks and Callen.

"Apparently, Kensi is unconscious. That's all I know." Deeks said, as Callen parked. They got out and ran up to the 4th floor.

Kensi slowly opened her eyes and groaned as she gingerly touched the back of her head. She moved her hand and found blood on her fingers. She lightly touched her throbbing face. Slowly, she got to her feet. She had to know if Nell and Eric were ok. She immediately ended up back on the floor again, holding her head in her hands. "Nell? Eric!" Barb ran over to Kensi as she almost fell.

"Agent Blye, take it easy. Your partner is coming. But you need to let me see your head." She said gently. Kensi moved away from the nurse and held onto the wall as Sam, Callen, and Deeks ran over. She stood in the doorway of Nell's room.

"Damn it!" Sam went over to Kensi and grabbed her arm, but she pulled away from him. "They took Nell and Eric!" She said, annoyed and angry.

"Kens, we will find them. It is not your fault." Deeks went over to Kensi.

"You need to sit and get checked out." He said. Callen nodded. Then he looked at Barb.

"Security cameras?" Barb nodded. She led Callen and Sam to the security rooms. Kensi reluctantly sat down. She put pressure on the back of her head and took in a sharp breathe of pain. She gazed at Deeks.

"I let them get away. I shouldn't have turned my back on the bastard." She murmured. Deeks gazed at her.

"You? Turn your back on someone? Never. Kensi, you probably beat the crap out of whoever did this. I know you. You put up a fight, I know you did. This isn't your fault. It's no one's fault except for the stupid bastard." Deeks said. A nurse came over, so Kensi piled her hair on top of her head in a messy bun to help. Then she grabbed Deeks' hand and held it gently. She needed the human contact to calm herself. She shut her eyes and held her forehead in her other hand. Deeks rubbed her hand.

"Agent Blye, I'm sorry...but...I have to give you a small haircut back here. You are going to need a couple stitches. She grabbed the clippers. Kensi froze at the word 'haircut'. She immediately let go of Deeks' hand and stood up, turning to the nurse.

"NO WAY are you cutting my hair." She argued. She held onto the wall, dizzy. Her gaze was firm and full of defiance. Deeks grabbed her arm, steadying her.

"You need to get this taken care of Fern." He said. The nurse waited.

"You wont be able to see it at all. It's just the fuzz on on the back of your neck." She said. Kensi sighed. She had better things to do then get treated for her injuries, like finding Eric and Nell. She sat back down silently, clearly annoyed. The nurse carefully trimmed the hair from around the wound, then began carefully stitching it shut. Deeks lightly touched Kensi's arm.

"We'll be out looking for them soon." Kensi gave a small nod. She stared straight ahead, taking slow breathes, fighting the urge to cry out in pain. She quickly turned from Deeks and wiped away tears from her eyes. He lightly held her hand.

"Ok, I finished." She handed Kensi a bottle of pain pills.

Barb rewound the security footage for the 4th floor.

"Ok, there's Kensi. Let's fast forward just a bit." Callen said. Barb focused on Kensi, then moved forward a bit. "There!" He watched the bastards beat the shit out of Kensi, and then leave with Nell and Eric.

"She tried. There's no way she could have beaten both of them by herself." Sam said.

"No way in hell."

"We can try and run their faces through facial recognition." Sam said.

"Yea, but these jerks knew where the cameras were. All we have is a profile. It could take a while." However they had Barb print out stand-still pictures from the footage, and went up to join Kensi.

"How are you feeling Kensi?"

"Peachy." She mumbled.

"Good. Let's go then. We've got photos to run through facial recognition." They made their way out to Callen's car. Kensi smiled, pulling the car keys out of her pocket, proud that Callen didn't even know she had taken them. Callen looked for his keys, then cursed.

"Ok, which one of our 2 newest student drivers took my keys?" Sam chuckled softly.

"Kensi." He replied, not even having to look. Kensi smiled and showed Callen the keys.

"You didn't even notice when I took them."

"See, here's the deal. You and your partner here are going to be signed up for the next driving class. Which means...neither of you can drive, for work, til you pass the class. Especially Stitches here."

"Seriously?"

"Seriously. Cars belong on 4 wheels Deeks, not 3."

"I am a great driver." Kensi argued. "I don't need to go to some stupid driving class. I passed aggressive and defensive driving with flying colors at FLETC." She dodged Sam's attempts to get the keys back.

"I mean normal driving school. Not aggressive or defensive. Not FLETC either." He snatched the keys. "It was Sam's idea anyway. Besides, Stitches, driving class or not, you aren't driving anywhere. Not with your head funked up." He got in the driver's seat. Kensi climbed into the back seat, dragging Deeks with her. Then she rested her head against the window.

"Take a pain pill, Kens." Sam said, getting in.

"I'm fine." She muttered. Callen started driving.

"Kens...just take one. Even Wonder Woman has to take a pain pill every so often." Deeks whispered. He lightly rubbed her arm. Kensi swallowed a pill dry. She shut her eyes and relaxed, feeling Deeks' gentle touch. Deeks smiled at her gently. He knew she was worried, and probably blaming herself, but she didn't do anything wrong. He ran his hand down her arm to her arm and squeezed. Kensi gave Deeks a small smile, and held his hand, entwining her fingers with his.

"I keep going back to the fact that Nell is the target. This whole thing seems personal. If it was one of our cases, I'd think that they'd go after one of us. And she's only been undercover once."

I just don't think it has to do with one of our cases." Callen said.

"Yeah, true. We'll just have to keep going through the old files." Sam answered.

"I'm not sure how they got her name though." Callen parked. He got out and went up to the OPS center and tried to run a facial recognition search on the photos. Sam went inside and went through the files. Deeks got out and waited for Kensi. She got out and took his hand again.

"You doing ok?" He asked gently. Kensi just nodded. She wasn't sure what to say to Deeks. She hated lying to him. Physically, she was in pain. Emotionally...she was a bit of a mess. She was always good at hiding her emotions. In her mind, emotions just made things more complicated...so it was best to keep them secret and locked behind walls. Of course Deeks was always poking and prodding at the walls, trying to break them down. She gave a small smile, and then sighed. She didn't want to think about what the men could be doing to Eric and Nell.

One of the men punched Nell hard in the ribs.

"Move away from him, bitch!" Eric glared at the men.

"Don't talk to her like that!" He glanced at Nell. "Nell...let them have me. I don't want to see you hurt." He slowly got to his feet.

"N-No! They want m-me! I...I don't want them to hurt you!" Nell said, scared, tears streaking her cheeks. Nell was punched again, and then shoved aside. They dragged Eric to another room and tied him to a chair.

The fake nurse stood in front of Eric, holding a large, sharp knife. He approached Eric and started slowly making cuts up his arms. Eric shut his eyes tightly, trying to ignore the burning pain as the man continued. The man cut up Eric's other arm, his chest, and his abdomen, before returning him to the other room and tossing him on the floor. He shut the door and left.

"E-Eric?" Nell blinked and went over to him. She saw all the cuts and blinked. She took off the hospital gown she was wearing, leaving her in shorts and a tee shirt. She carefully put it on him, just to cover his wounds, tears streaking her cheeks. Eric blinked and gazed up at Nell. He gave her a tiny smile.

"I'll be fine." He tried to sit up and gasped in pain. Nell helped him sit up.

"I wish they didn't take you..." She knew he was in pain, a lot of pain.

"I wish someone wouldn't have hurt you in the first place. I hope the team finds us soon."
"Yea.." She blinked away her tears. "You...You should have let them take me...They already hurt you too much..."

"No way would I have let them take you! Nell, I'd do anything to protect you!"

"They hurt you enough already!" Nell said, looking at him. "T-They are using you to hurt me. A-And that means they'll do anything they want to you! And I don't want you to die!" She tried to hold back, but she started sobbing. Eric carefully hugged Nell. He held her close and rubbed her back. Nell leaned to him, careful not to hurt him. He lightly brushed away her tears.

"Everything will be ok.."

"I-I hope... I-I don't want them to take you again..."

"I hope they don't take me either." He lightly tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear.

"It hurts...doesn't it...?" Eric nodded slightly.

"But not too bad." Eric was glad she couldn't see the pain that he really was feeling.

"T-That's good..." Nell lightly look the gown off of Eric. "They stopped bleeding..." She was glad she could focus on something. She wanted to make sure he would be ok. The cuts were still open and bright red, but they weren't bleeding. She looked around. The room they were in looked abandoned, old, and very dusty. Definitely not the best place for someone with a lot of open wounds. She put the gown back on him, shivering. Eric watched Nell. He knew she was scared, and so was he. They always had to hear and watch the agents get abducted or hurt...but now it was different. Now they were the ones experiencing it. And he knew it wasn't an experience he'd ever want to relive again.

Soooooo, what did everyone think? Reviews would be greatly appreciated!

Oh, and I didn't find Deeks' badge number online anywhere, so I made it up.

-A and K