It might have been weeks or months, it could have been just a couple of days or just hours, he had no way to keep track of time.

The others continued to visit him, reading, playing music or just talking to him and he found that he was falling asleep despite the strong desire to stay awake and hear their voices.

Strange dreams plagued him.

He dreamed that Sam and Callen had come into his room and stood around the bed.

Callen was dressed like Robin from the Batman movies and he jumped up and perched on the edge of the bedside table and stared at Marty.

Sam was holding a bible in one hand and a white frosted cake in the other, a parrot perched on his shoulder while he preached about sin, the best recipe for scrambled eggs and being swallowed whole by a shark.

When Marty tried to tell him that Jonah had been swallowed by a whale not a shark, Sam's white chef's uniform darkened into a blue SWAT coverall.

"Just do what I tell you!" Sam had shouted and Marty had woken to darkness and silence.

Another dream was much more pleasant but just as disturbing. It featured Kensi and Hetty.

Kensi stood at the foot of the bed, pacing back and forth like a model on the catwalk. She never looked at him or spoke to him but after a few passes she would stop and Hetty would appear beside her and wave a wand, speaking in a high pitched, exceedingly chipper voice and the clothing Kensi was wearing would change into something else and she would do another pass on the catwalk.

He didn't recall dreaming about the Changs except for Mama who looked much taller and shook her head at him as though she were disappointed about something.

XxXxXx

Pain tore him from sleep. Agonizing hurt jolted through him like an electric shock, shredding every nerve and he screamed his throat raw in silence. White lightning streaked across his vision and his breath shuddered in lead filled gasps.

"Where is it?" the words echoed his ears, "Where! Is! It!"

The monitors peeped stridently and light flashed in his vision. Suddenly his hands moved to the pain in the center of his chest and he sucked in a startled gasp that brought with it the scent of sweat and something spicy.

"You know! Tell me!"

He tried to push away that hands that drove the pain deeper but he was too weak and all he could do was feel the thick fingers and the heavy watch on one wrist.

The hands were gone and the pain subsided. Light blinded him and he blinked. Shapes moved in front of his eyes and he reached for them.

"He's awake." Someone said, "Call Dr. Crandle."

Gradually the light dimmed and the shapes resolved into the forms of nurses moving around the bed.

"Just relax now." The older, heavy-set nurse told him, "You've been in a coma for almost a month but you're going to be all right."

"Someone was here." he whispered, his voice low from disuse.

"It was a nightmare, that's all. You just had a bad dream." the nurse insisted, "Visiting hours haven't even started yet and we would have seen someone if they'd come in or left your room."

"I did not dream it!" Marty's voice was harsh and ragged, "Someone was in here trying to kill me!"

He pushed himself up in the bed and swung his legs over, panting with the exertion.

"You're not going anywhere," the nurse warned, "You just lay back and relax."

"I have to get out of here," he insisted, trying to bully her into stepping back.

The nurse stood firm and he wasn't able to do more than sit on the edge of the bed.

The younger, prettier nurse on the other side of the bed tried to coax him into lying back down but Marty refused, shaking off the hand she laid on his arm.

"I want out of here. NOW." he insisted. His strength was coming back, mostly aided by adrenalin.

"Get this stuff outta me!" Deeks growled, his voice returning. He tugged at the leads taped to his chest and head, "and off me, I am not staying where people are trying to kill me!"

"Sir, please calm down," she moved to replace the leads he'd managed to remove and Deeks slapped at her hands and glared. "No one is going to hurt you."

"Take this stuff off and I will calm down!" he insisted.

The nurse glanced at the older nurse who had moved to the doorway to summon help in getting the recalcitrant patient back into bed.

The other nurse shrugged, there was no one in sight she could summon and she was not going to shout and disturb the other patients anymore than Marty already was with his loud protests.

"Fine," she said, "please hold still,"

Deeks threw back the sheet, "This thing first, I can get the rest myself."

XxXxXx

Kensi's phone rang just as she unlocking her car to head to work.

Hetty's voice was calm, "Ms. Blye, would you please go to the hospital immediately, your partner is attempting to leave against medical advice."

Kensi stood open mouthed for a moment, "My partner? Deeks is awake and trying to leave?"

"That's what I said." Hetty sighed, "Would you please endeavor to talk some sense into Mr. Deeks?"

A grin spread across Kensi's face, "Right away!"

XxXxXx

"Where the hell is my other shoe?" Deeks shouted.

"In evidence."

"Kensi!" Deeks looked relieved to see her, "Kensi, you have to get me out of here!"

"In one shoe?"

"I'll damn well go barefoot if I have to." he pulled the shoe off and tossed it back in the closet. "I just want out of here before someone else tries to kill me."

She crossed her arms, "The way you're behaving I'm not surprised."

"I. Am. Not. Hallucinating." he enunciated. "I did not dream it. Someone tried to suffocate me."

"Who?"

"I don't know, I didn't see them, but I felt it."

She rolled her eyes at him, "That sounds so reasonable."

"I know what happened to me!"

"Deeks, come on," she tried to get him to sit back down on the bed but he tried to push her back.

He was shaking and too weak to resist her much. She helped him to sit down in the chair.

"You've been through a lot; you need to stay here so they can take care of you."

"Are you crazy?" He looked at her, eyes wide. "They're trying to take care of me all right, permanently!"

He got back up and made it half way to the door before she caught his arm.

"Deeks…"

He looked scared and she felt her resolve to force him back in the bed crumble.

"Where do you want to go?" she asked softly.

He trembled, "I… I don't know. I… didn't think that far ahead, I just want out of here."

"Home?"

He shook his head.

"My place?"

"Safe house?" he asked uncertainly.

He'd refused the offer of her place, to Kensi, that proved how seriously frightened he was.

"I can take you to one." she turned to the nurse, "Is there some paperwork he needs to sign?"

While Deeks was signing paperwork and listening to the doctor warn him about the dangers of leaving, Kensi made some calls.

Hetty gave her the address of a safe house that was currently unoccupied and Mama Chang insisted on sending a doctor to keep an eye on Marty.

Sam said that he and Callen would stop by later with changes of clothes for them and some groceries.

Kensi went downstairs and drove her car up to the entrance. Marty was waiting impatiently inside, sitting in a wheelchair his bare feet now covered with a pair of paper slippers. The slippers made a soft hissing sound as he was helped to walk the few steps to the car.

"Are you …"

"Yes I'm sure! I am not staying here," Marty interrupted her, "I'll walk out if you won't take me."

Kensi opened the door with a huff.

"Whatever." he grumbled, dropping into the seat.

"Would you at least let a doctor check you over?"

Deeks shook his head, "No, I don't trust them."

Kensi got into the car and started it up. "What if it was someone Mama Chang sent?"

He thought about it for moment. "Okay, if it's someone she trusts then, I'll do it."

Kensi smiled, "Good 'cause she's already asked a friend of hers to come over. She said it's the same doctor who took care of Muhammad."

"Dr. Vin?" he looked hopeful.

"She said his name is Dr. Lassiter."

Deeks smiled, "Dr. Vin."

XxXxXx

The garage door at the safe house was open and Kensi pulled in. The door closed quietly behind them.

Deeks leaned heavily on her as she helped him to walk into the house. He was shaking and sweating when she lowered him into a chair in the living room.

The refrigerator was empty so she got him a glass of water from the tap. He drank it eagerly.

He leaned back in the chair and closed his eyes, breathing raggedly.

"Stop staring at me." he grumbled.

Kensi twitched and looked away, "Sorry."

The doorbell rang and Kensi got up to answer it.

Marty's eyes opened, "Check to see who it is before you open the door."

Kensi rolled her eyes but did as he asked. Through the peephole she could see an older gentleman standing on the porch, he held up a black doctor's satchel.

"Mama Chang sent me, I'm Dr. Lassiter." he said.

Kensi opened the door and stepped back so he could enter.

Doctor Vincent Lassiter is tall, slender and tanned. His narrow, strong-jawed face is creased with laugh lines. His blue eyes are clear and deep set. He grinned as he held out his large bony hand to Kensi.

"It's nice to meet you, young lady." he said with a soft southern drawl. "Now where's that jackrascal at?"

Marty laughed, "You getting old and losing your sight as well as your hair?" he teased.

Dr. Vin ran a hand through his thick, shaggy white hair and laughed, "Shore am." he crouched beside Marty's chair, one hand one the detective's wrist, checking his pulse. "Now then, how about you tell me how it is that you ended up here."

"I don't really remember." Marty said, glancing at the black leather satchel the doctor set down beside him. "I remember getting up that morning, eating breakfast and driving somewhere and that's it."

The doctor tugged the satchel out of Marty's eyesight, "That so?" He took a penlight out of his pocket and flashed it across the detective's eyes.

"Well, your eyes are workin'."

He tucked the penlight back in his pocket. He opened the case and took out a stethoscope.

"Deep breaths."

He listened to Marty's chest; front and back and then put the disk of the stethoscope on Marty's temple and rapped gently on his forehead with his knuckles.

"That's a mighty fine echo, there." the doctor said, smiling.

Marty laughed.

"How are you feeling right now?"

"Okay, I guess."

"Any pain?"

Marty grinned crookedly, "Just you."

Vin grinned back, "Nausea, dizziness?"

"No and no. I feel a little tired," Marty admitted, "but that's all."

"Well that's to be expected; you had quite the time of it." He took a white plastic necklace out of the bag and draped it around Marty's neck. "This here is a monitor; it'll keep track of your breathing. Try and keep it under your shirt and on your chest." He turned it over and showed him a small black button on the flat back. "When you're showerin', take it off but press this button first, okay? I want you to keep this on when you're sleepin', understand me?"

The small disk was surprisingly heavy as it lay against his skin.

Marty nodded, "I will."

He took Marty's hands in his. "I want you to squeeze my hands as hard as you can."

The detective did as he was told, and the doctor nodded.

"Not bad for someone that's been sleepin' for the last three weeks. But yore still not ready for arm wrestlin'. Now," Vin dug in the satchel, "Red or green?"

Marty put a finger on his chin, thinking. "Green."

Vin pulled out a green cellophane wrapped sucker and handed it to Marty, he passed the red one to Kensi who took it with a surprised smile.

"Eat whatever you can catch, no alcohol, exercise as tolerated and I'll check back on you tomorrow morning." he told Marty, patting him on the knee.

"T'anks Docca Vin." Marty mumbled around the sucker in his mouth.

Kensi walked to the front door with the doctor.

"Try to get him to take a walk around the yard a couple times a day, get him to eat, but start with somethin' simple like soup or jello. He'll most likely doze off at unexpected moments but don't worry about it and tell him not to worry either. He'll probably wake up disoriented and a little scared so reassure him he ain't been asleep that long."

He handed her a card, "He's my cell number, call me if he gets worse or won't wake up or if you just need to talk. Call 911 if there's an emergency and then dial his Mama." he grinned and tipped an imaginary hat. "See you tomorrow, darlin'."

Kensi walked back to the living room shaking her head.

"He…"

"Yeah, I know." Marty's tongue and lips were green as he took the sucker out of his mouth, "Sam Elliot would look exactly like him if he shaved off his mustache."

Kensi laughed. "It's uncanny, he even sounds like him!"

"Doctor Vin says he's much better looking than Sam Elliot though."

There was a sharp rap at the kitchen door, Kensi leaned around and saw Sam and Callen on the pack porch, and she waved them in.

"Yo, Cinderella!" Sam called as he came in and set the grocery bags he was carrying on the bar.

Callen walked into the living room smirking and holding an overnight case, "We brought you shoes." he teased. "As in pairs of shoes." he dug a pair of fuzzy pink slippers out of the bag.

"Whoops! Those are Kensi's." He held them up and squinted at the soles, "At least I think these are Kensi's." G waggled them at her and she snatched them out of his hands.

"Yeah," he dug out a pair of flip flops, "these are more your speed."

Kensi grabbed them and the case, "Not in his condition, they aren't." she dug in the bag, "What else did you bring?"

Sam was stacking plastic cups of Jello in the refrigerator, "There's a pair of brown loafers in there somewhere." he said.

Kensi pulled them out and handed them to Marty. "These are five hundred dollar Testorni shoes, where did you get them?" she asked quietly.

Marty flushed and didn't look up, "They were a gift from a friend."

"She must have been a good friend."

"He was."

Kensi's smile slipped.

"Not like that." Deeks said, flustered. "I got him out of a little hot water with the parking enforcement division and he left me some of his clothes. I use them for work; I don't have a Hetty to magically supply me with an expensive wardrobe."

"Oh." She turned to see Sam forcing G to release a package of chocolate pudding cups.

"I said you could have one." Sam said, tilting his head and giving his partner a frown, "ONE.

"This is one," G complained, "One package."

Sam gave him the eyebrow and Callen pulled one cup out of the package and put the rest in the refrigerator with a grumble.

"What was that?" Sam asked.

"Nothing." Callen gave an innocent smile, "Just being grateful for what I have."

Kensi pulled some clothes out of the bag; Callen had managed to pack some undershirts, tees and a couple of nice dress shirts. The only problem was, he'd only put in a pair of pajama bottoms and two pairs of board shorts.

Kensi shook her head with a disgusted sigh. "Did you guys bring anything else?"

"Soup, eggs, crackers, bread and sprite." said Sam. "And some Diet Coke, donuts and snack cakes for you."

Kensi stuck her tongue out at Sam, "I meant clothing wise."

"Callen packed the bag."

G shrugged, he'd been eating the pudding with his fingers and had it smeared on his upper lip like a Wild West mustache. "I just grabbed a few things."

"Obviously." She put a hand on her hip, "Next time you should do it, Sam."

"What?" Marty asked with a grin, "You were planning on taking me out somewhere nice for dinner?"

"Well I can't now, can I?" she gave him a mock glare, "You don't have a tie!"

"What's the deal with calling me Cinderella?" Deeks asked.

"You lost a shoe and Prince Charming found it for you." Callen laughed, pointing at his partner.

Sam swatted at G and Kensi and Deeks laughed.

"I guess that makes you one of the mice then, huh Callen?" Deeks teased.

G cocked an eyebrow at him and twitched his nose, "Maybe."

"We better get back to work," said Sam. "We still haven't cleared that last case. Now that you're awake, maybe you could lend us a hand."

"I'm ready anytime you are." Deeks replied.

"In a couple of days then."

ZZzzzzzzz

The smut muse suddenly attacked me the other night on the way home from work. I started a new Deeks fic called Elegant Agony that I will eventually post (not here, it's a bit too dark for the younger crowd) and that led to this new chapter. Of course it may have also been watching Eric's movies – Death Valley and Local Boys with Mark Harmon. They are both good movies – lots of angsty scenes for Eric. Check them out if you get the chance.