Only a few more days of waiting then season 7 starts. I wonder what we can expect and if it will influence what I wrote up to now.
Thanks again to yellowcallalilly, Beststoriesever and sprig for their continuing reviews, to those who follow this story or put it on their favorite list and to all of you for taking the time to read (and hopefully also enjoy) this story.
Not to forget: Thanks again to Bee Eh Vee who took the time to have a look, add a few words here, straighten a sentence there… It helped tremendously!
And so the journey continues…
Chapter 3
They waited for a considerable time, only once interrupted by the two LAPD officers looking for someone to fill them in about how Deeks was doing, and even had had some sandwiches the cafeteria offered until at last a doctor who introduced himself as Smyth appeared asking for the family of Detective Deeks. It was late afternoon and they were definitely sick and tired of waiting any longer. As Hetty was listed as next of kin and had all necessary proxy the doctor had no qualms about telling her, and as they were in earshot, Callen and Sam too, their findings so far.
"To put at least some of your worries to rest I'm happy to tell you that Detective Deeks' wounds are not as serious as we initially feared. His head wound needed some sutures; same goes for the laceration on his leg. Fortunately there was only minimal damage to the underlying muscle. He will have to be careful with it for as long as it takes the wound to heal properly, but there shouldn't be any lasting damages. A crutch or a cane for the next days would be a good idea, though."
"Yeah, Deeks and a cane, I can totally see that." Sam chuckled.
"Are you serious?" Callen really wasn't sure.
"Let that be my problem, gentlemen." Hetty silenced her agents with a frown. "Please continue." She gave the doctor her undivided attention again.
"Detective Deeks' ribs are not broken, just severely bruised. Painful enough but not life threatening as it is. We have already managed to reduce the swelling of his hand and now he is able to move the fingers without too much problems. And yes, that means he is conscious again and responding. What concerns us is that we are still not able to find the cause of his amnesia. He is slightly concussed but that would only explain a small retrograde amnesia regarding the accident itself, maybe even some hours before that, but not the total loss he seems to endure. The scans came back clear, no breaks or fissures in his skull, no visible swelling of or bleeding in his brain."
They heard this news with a mix of relief and concern. Relief that their detective wasn't as badly injured as feared and concern regarding his memory loss.
"What do you mean with total loss of his memory? He reacted to his name when I called him and knew that what I showed him was not an LAPD badge." Sam inquired.
Smyth frowned and gathered his thoughts before answering "Regarding the badge I will have to ask him, but sometimes people just know things without knowing why they know them. Same as with muscle memory which allowed him to handle the gun. Detective Deeks reacted to you shouting at him, at least that's what he told us when we checked. You could have called him any name and he would have turned. He said he has no idea who you and your colleague are or what his connection to the both of you is. What he does know is that he trusts you, however odd that may seem. And it's good that he does, he will need support until he gets his memory back. "
"Yes, we will support him," Hetty answered the unasked question before the doctor could voice it. "But do you have any idea how long it may take Detective Deeks to get his memory back?"
"I am sorry, but as we don't know the cause for the memory loss we are at a loss. I'll have to consult with some colleagues and we'll pull in a psychologist, but my first shot at a diagnosis would be psychogenic amnesia. Which basically in layman's terms means he doesn't want to remember. So in a way his loss will last as long as he wants or needs it to."
Callen and Sam exchanged a stupefied look then turned their attention to their boss. Hetty just sighed "Oh bugger." They all stood there in silence for a moment, trying to process what had been said. "What will happen next?" Hetty eventually took charge again.
"We'll keep Detective Deeks in for at least 48 hours to make sure there is no residual effect, but after that he should be free to leave. Taking his condition into account he should not be left alone until either his memory returns or he is comfortable being on his own. You are listed as next of kin and emergency contact so I take it he has no living relatives? Does he live alone?"
"No, there are no living relatives that we know of and yes, he lives alone. Which reminds me… If you would excuse me for a moment?" Hetty took out her phone and the agents saw that she dialed Nell. "Ms Jones, I have a favor to ask. Would you please be so kind and contact Mr. Deeks' dog sitter and check if …" Nell obviously interrupted her as Hetty's voice trailed off. She smiled "Excellent, thank you very much for your foresight. I will call you later with more information but be assured that our liaison is not so seriously wounded as previously feared." Hetty ended the call. "Again, I am sorry for the interruption. We will talk about Mr. Deeks' care when the time comes. Right now I'd like to see him if possible."
"Sure. We have taken him to a private room given that he needs to stay calm. Right now we keep him lightly sedated, but I think it would do him good to be with people he knows at least on an emotional basis. Our psychologist will see him tomorrow unless you want to bring in one of your own men, Ms. Lange?" The doctor was clearly used to dealing with members of law enforcement.
Nate wasn't close by unfortunately and the operations manager wasn't comfortable with the other choices NCIS offered right now, so Hetty shook her head. She would make sure to check the psychologist's credentials before letting him talk to her detective though.
"If you don't have any further questions I'll ask a nurse to show you to Detective Deeks' room." When no one spoke up, the doctor shoved his hands in his coat pockets and waited as the three looked at each other. No one spoke for a moment as they tried to digest what they'd just been told.
"Thank you, Dr. Smyth, but right now we don't have any further questions. I trust you will be available in case that changes?" Hetty inquired.
"The nurses know where to find me, just ask one of them to contact me. And if I may make a suggestion, don't overwhelm the patient right now. One visitor at a time should be enough."
To no surprise to her agents Hetty chose to stay herself, ordering both men back to the Hacienda to finish the paperwork so they could finally close that other blasted case. Her words, not theirs. Nevertheless they took a short look to see for themselves that Deeks was comfortably settled in the room assigned to him. Hetty promised to keep them informed and nodded her consent when Callen offered to relieve her in the morning. She watched them leaving and turned to the door, entering only after a slight hesitation, squaring her shoulders in the process.
For a moment she imagined him lying there with bandages covering two shot wounds, but of course that had been a while ago. This time part of the detective's face was swollen, the bruising in stark contrast to the paleness of the rest of his face. His upper body was bare to the chest and showed several further bruises.
The petite operations manager sighed and settled down into the chair, content for now that the man was – despite his looks – not fighting for his life. Well, in a way he was. Not for his physical life, but for the memory of the past life. She just hoped he would remember soon. Hetty would have liked to have Kensi at their side, but that wouldn't happen. It was up to the rest of his family to get their liaison back.
Watching the man again she decided that it would take some hours for him to wake. Taking out a book she always had in her purse for moments like these, she patiently settled in to wait. She just hoped her guess was right and the young man would trust her as easily as he had Mr. Hanna and Mr. Callen when he woke. But it was a gamble she was willing to take.
When Deeks woke there was a petite elderly woman sitting in the chair at his bed. Her brown hair was cut in a sleek bob with short bangs and she gazed at the pages of a leather bound book in her hands through the glasses of thick rimmed spectacles. She looked like someone's benevolent grandmother, ready to read a bedtime story, but Deeks wasn't fooled. Something told him she was not to be underestimated despite her small size. As if sensing his gaze she looked up.
"Mr. Deeks, it's good to see you awake again." She sounded genuinely glad at seeing him conscious and smiled fondly. Her eyes held a mischievous sparkle that put Deeks at ease.
"I'm sorry, but…"
"Ah, no need to be sorry, Mr. Deeks, I forgot that you have no idea who I am. My name is Henrietta Lange; I am the operations manager at NCIS."
More like she didn't forget, but hoped I would remember when seeing her, thought Deeks but didn't voice it aloud. To his surprise Deeks found himself liking her nevertheless. There was something else below that feeling, something bitter and resentful he didn't want to think about right now, but first came the trust.
The detective let his gaze roam the room. An ordinary hospital room as far as he could tell, the walls and furniture kept in some light grey-green color. Deeks had no recollection how he had ended up here and later he would wonder why that didn't seem to upset him. His head ached and he felt sore all over, but somehow that pain was distant. Maybe he was on some medication? "What happened?"
"You were in an accident. A car ran a red light and you got hit while crossing the street."
"And I've been told this several times already, haven't I?"
"I am afraid so, but let me assure you that there is no need for concern, it is quite normal for someone with a concussion to have some memory issues."
Deeks snorted and winced the same moment "Some memory issues. That's one way to put it." He frowned. "You're listed as next of kin. I heard one of the nurses saying so."
"See, you remember. Yes, I am listed as next of kin. It was due to an injury you got within your first year with us – us being the NCIS team with you acting as our liaison with LAPD - that we realized you apparently have no blood related family. You didn't know who to put in that form as next of kin so I offered and you obviously agreed."
He mulled this over for a while before asking the next question.
"How did we meet?"
Deek's couldn't tell if Hetty hesitated before answering. It could be that she just needed to gather her thoughts about how to tell a long story short.
"You were working as an undercover cop at that time and had an assignment investigating some drug dealings in an MMA studio. We had an undercover mission at the same studio for mainly the same reason. Due to lack of communication between LAPD and NCIS we had no idea of each other – my team even thought you to be one of the suspects at one time - until you forced Sam into a fight outside of the studio that had you both booked by your colleagues. You needed him out of the picture to fulfill your assignment."
"Sam? Sam's that tall dark guy, isn't he? I fought with him and survived?"
Hetty just grinned and continued as if Deeks hadn't asked. She didn't mention that several of the NCIS team had similar unbelief at the outcome of that match.
"With both of you in prison I took the liberty to have a closer look at your file and learned to my surprise that you were an undercover cop. And a good one, I might add, which made me decide that you were the ideal police officer to act as liaison to avoid such a blunder to happen again."
"I still can't wrap my head around the fact that I'm a police officer. And not only that. "Deeks shook his head, grimaced in pain, but carried on, "I'm liaison with NCIS. I don't know." He hesitated "If at all I would guess myself to work as a lawyer although I have no idea at all why I should think so."
"Well, you passed the bar exam in California, so no surprise there."
"If I did that, why am I working with you now?"
"I am afraid only you know the answer to that question, Mr. Deeks."
Deeks frowned and looked pensive, rubbing his brow in an absent manner that indicated pain in Hetty's experience. As had his winces before.
The small lady leaned forward and pushed the call button next to his bed.
"What are you doing?" he asked, now suddenly agitated and a bit distrustful, jerking back unconsciously and wincing with the sudden movement.
"You need your rest, Mr. Deeks. And I think you would get more rest without pain. So I called for the nurse."
Deeks managed to somehow vanish into his bed. A remarkable feat given his size and the fact that there was nowhere to hide in a hospital bed. Hetty smiled reassuringly "Don't worry, she won't bother you with any more needles. You have an IV-line right there and any medication will be given either over that or orally."
The nurse who had entered the room right that moment overheard the last words and also smiled "It is good to see you awake Mr. Deeks and your boss is right, I won't use you as a pin cushion." Unfortunately her attempt at humor fell flat. Coming closer she took in her patient's obvious fear and pain and tried another approach. Sighing she continued "I bet he's taken, isn't he? All the good looking gentle ones are."
Hetty didn't even try to hide her amusement at Deeks disbelieving face. He sputtered, wide eyed, at a loss for words.
The nurse took pity on him. Her eyes twinkled as she whispered conspiratorial "Don't you worry, Mr. Deeks, I'm not trying to seduce you, but you would be a wonderful match for my daughter. I can just picture the two of you together. Tall, blond, blue eyes…" while she talked she had cleverly continued her brief examination to update his stats, before administering a dose of pain medication into his IV-line.
"I prefer brunette." Deeks blurted out with conviction, which made both women laugh. The detective pouted unwittingly and even with his still slightly swollen and scratched face he managed to look cute. The nurse sighed inwardly "What a pity." she said with a friendly smile. She nodded at Hetty and winked at him when she left the room.
Deeks suddenly felt tired beyond belief. He wanted to ask Hetty something, about his preference for brunettes, but fell asleep before he was able to gather his thoughts to form a question.
Hetty patted his hand with a slight smile and took up her book again.