AN:

Sorry it has taken so long to update! I hope all the stories readers are still eager for the continuation...
Anyway, here is Chapter 8...

Two days had passed since the shooting. The team was in turmoil.
Man power had dropped by a third overall, with Marty Deeks understandably out of it with his injuries, still completely unconscious, and Kensi refusing to leave the hospital. In actual fact, Kensi was growing more and more paranoid, a trait that grew on her after the LAPD guards for Deeks just left, leaving the pair wide open for an attack, since then Kensi refused to even leave Deeks' room. It was getting a bit of a concern for Hetty Lange, having an agent in such a state they would not even go to the toilet without another trusted agent watching over the injured Deeks and living on the hospital food provided for her partner. Thanks to this Hetty had been pulled into an un-contractual duty of visiting the hospital every 4 or 5 hours to allow the younger female agent a toilet break.
It had been half an hour since Hetty's last visit, leaving Kensi alone with her 'sleeping' partner.

Once again a cloudy dream swept over him, it was all black with the same blurry figure in the distance. This time, the figure didn't reach towards him it just simply stared, but not at him, at the ground. The searing pain was still lingering though, more than lingering, it was as if the pain was yelling out, yelling louder and louder every second, it made him want to scream and cry out in pain, but that just made the yelling of the pain worsen, it seemed like a continuous cycle. Then, something warm touched him... The pain in his hand faded away, the blurred silhouette becoming clearer.
"Ugh..." He gasped for breath as light flooded his vision.

For about 2 hours now Eric had been stuck driving around an old, rusty, once metallic blue, VW Golf. The computer wiz, who much preferred being sat on his chair back at Ops, had got himself into a situation of tailing a former unarmed. The only real positive of the situation was the fact this had gained him some alone time with Nell, who sat next to him on the passenger seat watching the former marines car through a pair of binoculars. Unlike himself, Eric was certain Nell was 'packing heat', since the few times they had actually been out together he had noticed she always had a handgun hidden somewhere. "Are you certain about this? We could have just used kaleidoscope to track him." Eric queried, the extended tailing period making him rather nervous.
"And what if we lost him? Plus, didn't Hetty want us to handle it?" Nell always made good points, well, whether the points were good or not was debatable, but Eric was MUCH more scared of Hetty than some former marine. It was no contest between the two.
"They will be getting no where without us at Ops... But... We are following Hetty's orders" A call came through on Eric's mobile phone, 'G Callen', the screen read. Exchanging mischievous glances with Nell, the female took his phone and ignored the incoming call, then proceeded by turning the device off.
"They can survive without us for one day" Nell had clear doubt in her voice, but she enjoyed field trips too much to let this one pass.
The marines car turned into a quieter neighbourhood, Eric following behind. As the marines car pulled over Eric also stopped his vehicle, about 500 yards away.

A certain senior agent stormed into Ops, heading straight for Hetty's desk followed by Sam Hanna. Things were getting darn strange. For one, Callen was two agents down, which made things tricky enough, but now to top it all off, another two agents had gone AWOL, and in the midst of this Hetty had not contacted him once, instead she was sat at her desk with a cup of tea.
"Hetty! What's going on? Where's Eric and Nell?"
"Oh, Mr Callen, It's nice to have you back... Now, Where else would those two be but upstairs?"
"Don't play dumb with me Hetty, there is no way they could have left without you knowing." Callen now had Sam standing behind him, watching over his shoulder, "How can we do anything when our team is getting whittled down to nothing?"
"Oh my, you know we haven't always had all this technology." Hetty took a sip of her tea, "And that would classified information Mr Callen, but how can you be achieving anything when you are stood here talking to me, hmm?"
Sam placed his hand on Callen's left shoulder,
"C'mon G"

"Deeks! Deeks!" Seeing her partner gasp for breath caused her to involuntarily grasp his arm tightly. His eyes were narrowly open, and Kensi leant over him to try and get a look into those baby-blues of his.
"Ugh... K...Kens...?" His voice was hollow and weak, but his breathing was not weak, more like panicked. He couldn't quite get a deep breath of air, so each time he tried his breathing just got faster and shallower.
"Deeks! What's wrong Deeks?!" Her eyes held nothing put worry for the shaggy haired blonde. She couldn't pull her eyes away from his pale face, it made her nauseous the fact she could see the physical pain he was going through etched across his facial features. Instantly, she lurched forwards to press an 'emergency' button just above his bed, that shot a signal to the hospital staff.
"K...en...s"
"What is it? Deeks? What's wrong?" Despite his panicked breathing, Kensi was clearly the more panicked of the two, but seeing his mouth move she leant in, her ear close to his lips.
"D...don't...l...ea...e..." His consciousness quickly faded.