As I said before: This story wouldn't exist as it does without Bee Eh Vee, who even wrote a huge part of this chapter, so I give the floor to...

Bee: Hey everyone! Just wanted to say hi and thanks to all the readers and followers and reviewers. This story's been a fun collaboration and I'm glad that you're enjoying it.

Chapter 5

Naturally they took turns watching over their ailing liaison. Predictably it was Sam who took the next night shift having the advantage of meeting a conscious Deeks when he switched places with Callen, so Deeks wasn't too surprised by his presence when he woke several times during the night. They talked about fly fishing off all things whenever the detective was awake and lucid enough to talk at all. Sam was still at a total loss how that happened and even more at a loss to find it was something that caught his interest. He knew next about nothing about fly fishing and was astounded to notice that Deeks did. Who knew?

Sam noted the pattern that had begun developing with Callen's stay and continued with his. Deeks would wake with panic skimming across his face. He'd ask a few questions, usually about who was sitting in the chair, how he knew them, whether he'd hurt anyone, and who he was. Sam found that flippant answers made him more anxious and jumping ahead of Deeks' train of thought would confuse him. Sam made sure to pass his findings along to the rest of the team. Unfortunately that update did not include Deeks making any progress remembering his past.

It was Hetty who spend the next day with Deeks despite the man's protests which she chose to ignore with an imperious snort and a raised eyebrow. OK, not so much ignored but simply overrode. She only left when the hospital's psychologist came to do his assessment of Deeks and discussed his findings afterwards. Unfortunately he confirmed his colleague's shot at a diagnosis regarding psychogenic amnesia and said he needed some more information to guess at the exact reason and the best way to treat his patient. Hetty made an appointment for the next day as she herself would be the best person to give the necessary information to the man. She had already made sure he had the necessary clearance to know about some things which might turn up.

After another night, this time Callen again at Deeks' side, the doctors did some final exams which left them confident in their assessment that it was OK for Deeks to leave; given further supervision that was.

Deeks sighed and tried to look forward to the fact that he was going to be released any moment now. All the necessary paper work was already filled in, his meds fetched from the hospital's pharmacy, and now he was just waiting for Callen to pick him up. The detective hated being in a hospital, that much was obvious even if he couldn't remember why. On the other hand, who honestly liked to be in a hospital? Sighing again he shuddered at the thought of the unknown he would be facing now. There was the strange feeling that this wasn't the first time he was going to some place unknown, dreading the outcome of this replacement. They had talked to him about going to Callen's, but he had no idea what that would actually mean. He had never known more than a name when… When what? Annoyingly the thought vanished just when he wanted to get a hold of it to maybe reveal a further puzzle piece of who he was. All he got was a blank. Thinking about Callen drew a blank, too. He didn't know the guy for god's sake. Weirdly enough, that didn't keep him from trusting the agent. Talk about mixed feelings.

"I see you're ready?"

Deeks flinched and shot Callen an irritated look. Lost too deep in his thoughts Deeks hadn't noticed him entering the room. Juan followed with a wheelchair, smiling at him encouragingly.

"Come on, man. Let's get you cozy in your ride." Juan bustled around and before Deeks knew it, he found himself settled comfortably into the wheelchair. He genuinely liked the Hispanic man and would miss his upbeat attitude. Maybe he could move in with him instead? Smiling slightly at that thought Deeks watched as Callen checked the room one last time for anything forgotten before he gestured with a grand hand wave to the door. "After you." he intoned with a slight smirk.

A few minutes later found them in Callen's car and on their way. They hadn't talked at all during the way from the room to the exit except for saying good bye to the hospital staff and arrangements to get Deeks and his crutches into the car. It wasn't an uncomfortable silence, more a contemplating one.

"Come on, Deeks. I can see the wheels turning in your head. Just ask."

"It's just, this ride? It doesn't match what I would fix with you. Seems I lost my touch. If I ever had one, that is."

Callen shot him a curious and surprised look. "You're right, this isn't my normal ride. Hetty and I thought this one would be easier on you to get in and out off, so I switched."

"Wow, must be nice to have some cars at your disposal." After a short hesitation. "Thanks."

"You're welcome." Callen smiled and checked where they were. "I don't know about you, but it's close to lunch time. How about we go sit a bit over there in the sun and enjoy some mystery fish as Sam would name it?" Callen hadn't missed his team mate's longing look towards the water and he knew for sure that this food was one of Deeks' favorite and the place he pointed to was a small area next to the beach which offered a great view of the ocean. They could either stay in the car or brace the few steps to a nearby picnic table.

Callen hid his smile when Deeks predictably navigated the few steps to the table with his crutches and carefully let himself down on the bench. Before Deeks could fuss Callen helped him to put up the leg on the opposite bench so he wouldn't jostle it too much. "There is only so much pain meds can do, Deeks. Suck it up and be a good boy." He could just reign in the urge to ruffle Deeks' hair- or not. Grinning at Deeks' indignant "Hey" he turned to the food trailer and bought two meals.

Deeks enjoyed about half of his meal then slid the rest over to Callen who didn't comment but just made short work of the offered food. A few minutes later Callen noticed a slight change in Deeks and judged it to be the time for them to head home so the younger man could get some rest. He knew by his own experience that just sitting in the sun could get exhausting when injured.

A short time later they arrived at Callen's and the agent let them both in. He watched silently as Deeks took in the room with its sparse furniture. When Deeks stayed silent Callen took over "Your room is over there. You can go and have a nap or join me here. The couch should be comfortable enough. I have some work to do, but I don't mind if you want to watch some TV."

"TV." Deeks said decidedly "Bathroom?" he then asked a little shy.

"Over there. Third door on the left." He watched as Deeks made his slow way down the hallway then went to open the door as he heard a soft, but distinctive knock.

Callen opened the door to find Eric ready to knock for a second time.

"Oh, umm," Eric shifted the bag in his hand so that Callen could see what was inside. "I brought a bunch of Deeks' DVDs, these are the ones piled by his TV, so I figured they were probably his favorite." He held the bag out for Callen and then lifted the second one. "There was also a half-eaten pack of homemade brownies. I brought them too – I don't know where they came from, but they do smell good."

Callen said thanks and asked Eric to say hi to everyone at the office. Deeks hadn't appeared at the sound of the voices so Callen didn't want to push yet another person he didn't remember on him. He shut the door and dropped the DVDs by the TV and carried the brownies into the kitchen. Eric was right, they did smell good. He headed over to the hallway and watched as Deeks plodded his way down on the crutches.

"How's it coming, hop-along?" Callen tried to sound positive, but he only got a grunt in response. Deeks thunked all the way to the couch and dropped himself on to it. Callen grabbed the bag and passed it over. "A friend of yours picked these up at your place and dropped them off." Callen knew he wouldn't know who Eric was and the explaining wouldn't help the pain that Callen could tell was edging in on Deeks. He'd seen the tightness around Deeks' face before and knew it was soon followed by medications. "Anything interesting?"

Deeks took one case out at a time and focussed on it before putting it to the side very deliberately. Callen could see the titles from where he stood and read them off to himself; The A-Team, Hogan's Heroes, Hardcastle & McCormick. Deeks saw him reading and bit his lip before answering. "The bad guys always lost and no one got hurt." He looked back down at the pile and the full force of those words hit Callen like a ton of bricks. With great control he stepped out of the living room and into the backyard, which had become his office. He pulled a chair over into the shade and dialed Hetty. She never let her phone ring many times so she picked up quickly.

"Yes, Mr. Callen."

"I get it, Hetty. I know where this amnesia is coming from."

There was a rustle on her end and he knew she was probably moving to a different place in the office. "Oh?"

"It's something he said." Callen rubbed his face. "He has no filter right now, so I've been learning a lot. But this one stuck out."

"Go on." He had her full attention.

"He explained his choice in television – he said 'the bad guys always lost and no one got hurt'."

"Ah, I see as well." He could almost hear her nodding sagely. "It appears the stress of the job has gotten to him."

Callen chewed on his next thought for a while, but Hetty waited. "Hetty," she was either going to agree with him or shoot him. "I don't want to question your judgement, but is Deeks really cut out for this job?" He closed his eyes, half dreading what was coming after the silence.

"Well." Hetty took a breath. "Some people deal with the impacts by obsessively moving and never making any real personal connections outside a very small group, but we try not to judge them."

Okay, he deserved that.

But she wasn't done. "Or deciding to go off alone after their personal demons in a short-sighted attempt to bring peace to their souls but is more likely to get themselves killed."

Fine, he deserved that too.

"Therefore, an accidental case of curable amnesia brought on while in the throes of saving a woman and her child doesn't seem to be that concerning in comparison."

It was like she was trying to drop a really big hint or something.

"I get it."

"I'm not confident you do, Mr. Callen." There was a bit of resignation in Hetty's voice, as if she was sure he would never understand.

"I do too." He sounded a bit whiney to himself and he winced at how much he sounded like a little kid. "Anyway." He drew in a breath. "I thought it might be useful to the psychologist."

"I agree, and consider it passed on." Hetty paused and then said, "Keep an eye on him."

"I will Hetty, don't worry about that." He said goodbye and ended the call. He took a moment to pack away that conversation and then headed back into the house. He found Deeks tucked on the couch, watching Hannibal, Face, B.A., and Murdock battle the villain of the week. He pulled his laptop out of his bag and set it on the kitchen table where he could see Deeks out of the corner of his eye and started to do some work.

About half an hour later Callen noticed that Deeks had fallen asleep. He lay stretched out on the couch, trust Hetty to choose one that would fit even a sleeping Deeks, looking not really relaxed, but not in pain either. For a moment Callen considered to switch off the TV, but opted for letting it play. He didn't mind and maybe the constant noise was soothing for his younger colleague. He would wake him when it was time for dinner.