A ray of sunshine fought its way through the dirty windshield and landed on Callen's faceand it was enough to rouse him. He groaned as he slowly pushed himself upright off the hard vinyl seat. His head was pounding, his vision double, his back throbbed in time with his heart beat and his ribs screamed in agony. He stumbled from the car and using the hood for support, dry heaved. This was becoming a morning ritual he wasn't enjoying.

As his senses returned he realized the sun was up; Sam would be out of his mind with worry. Callen stumbled back to the open driver's door and fished out a canteen he had tossed in the front seat. Uncapping it, he drank and it helped revive him a bit. He also poured some of it over his head. It trickled down his neck unpleasantly onto his back. His double vision went away which was a blessing because it had been making his already upset stomach worse. Throwing the empty canteen in the backseat, Callen shut the door and started walking away from the car in the general direction of where he'd left Sam.

It took forty minutes and some back tracking, but Callen finally came to the place where he thought he'd left Sam only to find it was empty. Dropping to his knees in frustration, anger and exhaustion, he bowed his head.

Quietly, a voice called out, "You'd better be praying I don't kill you for being gone all night."

Callen's head shot up and twisted in the direction of the sound. Sam sat, leaning against a tree, 20 feet from where Callen knelt. For once, the lone wolf didn't try to hide his emotions and let his relief and happiness of finding Sam alive, shine on his face. He quickly rose and stumbled over to Sam's side, accepting the outstretched hand and the subsequent hug. Both man ignored the pain the embrace caused; the fact they were still both alive was all that mattered.

After Sam released him, Callen sat down on the ground next to his partner and let his head hang between his knees in an attempt to try to get back in control of his physical and mental state.

"Did you get the car?" Sam asked as he watched his partner in a rare moment of weakness.

"Yeh. Piece of cake. It's stashed about a mile from here," Callen replied closing his eyes.

Sam cocked his head at his partner who reopened his eyes but was still staring at the ground. "If it was so easy what took you so long?"

"I stopped for a bite to eat and a nap on the way back. Figured you wouldn't mind since your were just here sleeping." Callen kept his head lowered.

Sam snorted. "More likely you threw up, passed out and got lost, in no particular order."

Finally, Callen lifted his head. "Please tell me you can walk. I can't carry you," he practically begged with an edge of desperation to his voice. He was mentally losing it; he knew it and Sam knew it.

"Sure, I can walk," Sam said confidently. Callen studied his partner's face for a moment before he remembered he never gave Sam the shots last night; turning he looked for pack. Spotting it near his feet, he reached over, dragged it closer and started rummaging in it. "Roll up your sleeve," he demanded.

"Why," Sam questioned warily.

"God damn it Sam just do what I say!" he shouted, losing control. Callen held up the three syringes for which he had been searching. "You need these. The antibiotic will fight the infection in your leg. The morphine will allow you to walk to the car and the Maxolon will control the nausea," he said in a voice that was a mixture of anger and weariness.

"What about you? I think you need it more than me," Sam gently countered.

Callen gave a small snort, smiled and closed his eyes. "Sam, I am on the verge of passing out, I have a high fever, I can't keep anything in my stomach and I am having trouble breathing. If you injected that morphine in me there is a good chance it will kill me. I need you to be able to get to that car and drive us out of here. I can't do it Sam."

"G," Sam intoned his voice full of anguish.

Callen opened his eyes and stared at his partner. "You are always harping on me about being open. Well I am Sam. I can't do this." Callen swallowed hard and closed his eyes for a few seconds while he steadied his breathing. "Roll up your sleeve."

Sam had finally got what he had always wanted, Callen to be completely and emotionally honest with him; so why did it feel like a hollow victory? "Shouldn't you at least take the last dose of antibiotics G," Sam cajoled as he pushed up his sleeve.

Opening his eyes and moving to kneel next to his partner, Callen handed Sam an alcohol pad to wipe off his arm while he flicked the cap off the first syringe of morphine. "I've had two or maybe it was three, well it really doesn't matter, doses of antibotics so far. You have had none. Another shot isn't gonna knock this infection out of me but maybe it will help you enough to get us home." Reaching over he injected the morphine, followed by the antibiotics.

As he made ready to take the cap off the last syringe of Maxolon, Sam stopped him. "I don't need that G. Morphine doesn't affect me the way it does you."

"Lucky dog," Callen said as he tossed the unused needle back in the bag, sank back on his heels and then slowly crumbled to the ground. With heavy eye lids on the verge of closing he mumbled "Takes about thirty minutes for the drugs to work. Wake me when you're ready to leave," and with that he drifted off.

Sam made good use of the thirty minutes. First he used the DAGR to confirm their location and plot a course to the coast, looking for back roads that avoided populace areas. He memorized the route and estimated they would arrive in less than 8 hours.

Next he placed a call to Ops with the satphone and the arrangements for their pickup were locked down.

"Send a medic on the extraction team," Sam requested of Hetty.

Hetty hesitated before replying. "Things of that nature are better handled back on the ship."

"He may not make it that far," Sam said looking gravely at his friend who lay shivering on the ground, a sure sign his high fever had returned.

"Understood Sam. What about you?" she inquired.

Though she couldn't see Sam's face, she could hear the smile in his voice when he answered, "I'm good."

She highly doubted that. "Indeed. See you and your partner soon." When the call was disconnected she turned to her two techs and clapped her hands. "Get things in motion," she commanded and the two techs set the plans in motion to pick up their two stranded agents.