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Chapter 7
"Hey, Fern." He whispered gruffly. "Now be honest, how bad do I look?"
Kensi couldn't help the smile that spread across her face as he spoke, using the nickname that once annoyed her, but that she now secretly loved. She got up and pulled her chair closer to his bed, sitting right beside him. She wanted to grab his hand, but she was on his left side; the side that had three broken fingers that were covered in metal splints. So instead she touched his arm. Not only to reassure him, but to reassure herself that he was real, that he wasn't going to disappear on her again.
"Hey," she greeted softly. "You're awake finally,"
"How long was I out?" he mumbled.
"Well we rescued you guys yesterday morning…" she trialed off, doing the math in her head. "About thirty hours, give or take. That and the fact that you were gone for three days." She said, trying not to look upset as she mentioned how long she had been partner-less. But Deeks saw right through her, as always.
"Three days…felt like forever," he said, and Kensi saw pain, and a little bit of fear flash in his sapphire eyes momentarily. But it disappeared as he struggled to grin at her again. "Must've been awful not havin' me around."
"Oh, no, it was great. Nice and quiet, no rude jokes, no distracting banter…" she said, feigning seriousness. She watched his face, watched as his smile disappeared, not catching on to her joke. "And it was incredibly boring."
She finished, smiling at him, and there it was again, that grin that made her forget everything else around them.
"Boring, huh? Which pretty much translates to you missed me," Deeks said.
"I did not say that—" Kensi tried to protest.
"Kensi Blye missed me!" he said loudly.
"De—Deeks stop it—!" she tried saying over his shouts, but to no avail. And pretty soon, she gave up, falling into a fit of laughter. Deeks started laughing too, but then broke off with a groan, wincing, and Kensi remembered he had a broken rib.
"Ouch," he muttered. "Okay, no more making me laugh."
"That's what you get," she told him. "And besides, you started it."
"What are you, five? I started it? You're the one who's too chicken to admit that you missed me."
"Actually, Monty's the one who missed you. I just didn't want to embarrass him," she said. It was so effortless, the way they fell straight back into their banter.
Deeks was about to say something else, when Callen walked in. Apparently, less than an hour was plenty of time for Callen to go home and clean up.
"Well it's nice to see that some things never change," Callen commented, smirking at the two of them. "I could hear Deeks screaming all the way at the main entrance."
"Hetty's gonna have your ass for comin' back so soon," Kensi told Callen, but he just shrugged.
"Michelle called. Told me to get back as soon as I could to keep an eye on Sam. And despite how much Hetty scares me, Michelle sounded like she'd murder me if I didn't get back here in under an hour." Callen said.
"How is Sam, anyway?" Deeks asked, his face so joyous seconds ago now turned serious.
Callen looked at Deeks and gave him a friendly, sincere smile. "He's good. He's woken up a couple times. He doesn't stay awake long. His doctor said that the electrocution really wore out his body, so mostly his body just needs to recharge. He'll be fine. You both will."
And that was why Callen was team leader. Because even in the worst situations, he gave them all strength, gave them all a comfort they wouldn't be able to achieve on their own. He glued them together, kept them as together as a whole. He reassured them and it made it seem like nothing bad would ever happen. And if something bad did happen, they would pull out of it, no questions asked.
"It's good to see you awake, though, Deeks." Callen told the detective. "I better go check on Sam. I'll be sure to send the doctor to your room on the way."
Kensi watched as Callen left again. She and Deeks were silent till the doctor—a fairly tall man with kind brown eyes, and streaks of gray in his brown hair to go with his receding hairline—came in with a nurse. The nurse checked Deeks fluids and the bandages they had put on his more major wounds till they had time to properly dress them when he was awake. Kensi noticed that while the nurse was pretty—blonde, petite, nice smile—Deeks barely gave her a second look. The thought made her happy, and she glanced down at her hand, still resting lightly on Deeks' arm.
"Mr. Deeks, I'm Doctor Steven Shaw. How are you feeling?" the doctor—Dr. Shaw—asked, and Kensi suppressed the urge to roll her eyes at the stereotypical "how are you feeling?" question. Looking at Deeks, she could tell he was thinking the same thing.
"I feel okay, I guess." Deeks replied.
"That's good. If you wouldn't mind, we brought in a dental surgeon who will be repairing your teeth, and I would advise that we get you in there as soon as possible." Dr. Shaw said.
Kensi looked at Deeks when he didn't answer right away. She saw that hint of fear flash in his eyes again. She didn't have to guess why he was afraid. She had seen the bloody instruments that had been used to inflict pain onto her partner, among them had been a drill. And there were holes in his teeth, cuts in his gums; it wasn't all that hard to figure out what they had done. Kensi gave his arm a gentle squeeze. He looked over at her and she nodded, trying to convey to him that it was going to be okay.
"Yeah, okay, Doc." Deeks finally said.
The doctor called in another nurse to help with Deeks, and in a couple of minutes, they had him in a wheelchair, ready to be rolled to the operation room. Kensi attempted to follow Deeks and his escorts, when the blonde nurse held up a hand to stop her.
"I'm sorry, miss. You're going to have to stay here." she said. It was polite enough, but that didn't keep Kensi from getting annoyed. Kensi was about to protest, but Deeks spoke up instead.
"She's coming." He said as firmly as he could.
"I'm sorry, sir, but—" the nurse tried to say.
"She's coming. She's coming or I'm not going." Deeks repeated.
The nurse looked at Dr. Shaw. The doctor looked impressed, and maybe a little amused, at Deeks' mild threat. Apparently they didn't get too many patients who defied them.
"It's fine, Carol, she can come." Dr. Shaw said.
As they started walking again, Dr. Shaw leading them through the white halls of the hospital, Kensi leaned down by Deeks.
"Thank you," she said quietly, so Nurse Carol, last in line of their little group, couldn't hear.
"No problem, Princess," he grinned.
Kensi scoffed and rolled her eyes at his cockiness. Still, she wasn't really annoyed with him, and he knew it. So his grin grew, and she had to resist the urge to punch him in the arm. That probably wouldn't go over too well with Dr. Shaw and Nurse Carol.
Dr. Shaw paused at a door and held it open for the nurse that was pushing Deeks' wheelchair. Kensi went in after Deeks, shooting Nurse Carol a smug look as she pushed in ahead of her. Dr. Shaw came in last. Dr. Shaw gestured with an open hand to the older woman, probably in her forties, who had been waiting for them.
"Mr. Deeks, Ms…" Dr. Shaw trailed off.
"Blye," Kensi finished for him.
Dr. Shaw nodded, and continued. "This is our dental surgeon, Dr. Elizabeth Mason. She'll be performing the work on your teeth today, Mr. Deeks."
Deeks nodded and the nurses and doctors went to work, putting on aprons and gloves and masks. The nurses helped Deeks into the awaiting bed. Dr. Shaw gave Kensi and full-body apron that and a mask and cap. As Kensi put on her apron, she watched Deeks. He was tense, she could tell that much. And he was eyeing Dr. Mason's dental tools apprehensively. Kensi knew that he was about two seconds from freaking out.
"Could Deeks and I have a minute, please?" Kensi said loudly, looking between Dr. Shaw and Dr. Mason.
The two doctors exchanged a glance and nodded.
"Sure," Dr. Mason said kindly. "just tell us when you're ready."
The doctors and nurses shuffled out of the room, the door falling shut behind them with a soft click.
"You're really rocking the whole cap and gown look there, Kens," Deeks joked.
"Oh, shut up. That hospital gown of yours isn't much better." She shot back playfully.
She went over to stand by the right side of his bed, taking the hand with only one broken finger in hers. "How are you doin'?"
"I dunno," Deeks muttered, not meeting her eyes.
"Look, Deeks, you can do this. I know you can. You survived three days of…you know."
"It's okay, Kens. You can say torture." He told her.
"You're one of the strongest people I know, Deeks. You can do this. And I'll be right here the whole time, okay?" she said soothingly.
He was silent for a moment longer, then he nodded. Kensi gave him one more reassuring smile, then put her face mask on, and he laughed. Kensi laughed too, because she was pretty sure she looked very interesting in the apron, face mask, and cap. She called everyone back in, then went to stand at the head of Deeks' bed, giving him a thumbs up as they brought out the Novocain and started to numb up his mouth. A little over two hours later, Deeks was back in his hospital room, all seven of his drilled into teeth filled with a tooth-colored resin. Kensi had just been sitting by his bed, watching him sleep, when Callen came in.
"Hetty done chewin' you out for not taking a very good break?" she asked with a smile.
"Funny, Kens," he laughed. "Nah, she wasn't really upset. I'm pretty sure she knew she wasn't going to keep me away for very long."
"Is Michelle back?" she asked.
"Yeah. She came back when Deeks was getting his teeth filled. How'd that go, anyway?"
"Not bad." She replied. "He only got nervous when the dental surgeon had to use the drill."
"Well, that's understandable." Callen agreed, looking over at their sleeping friend. "Anyway, I actually came in here to tell you that Hetty wants us in OPS."
"Okay," she said reluctantly.
"Don't worry, Kens." Callen reassured her. "We've got agents posted outside Deeks' and Sam's rooms, and Michelle's gonna keep an eye on both of them."
That did make her feel better about leaving. She stood and followed Callen out, casting one last glance at her sleeping partner.
-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-
Callen walked through the sliding doors of OPS with Kensi on his heels. Hetty was already waiting for them. Nell and Eric were there too, and Callen noticed how tired the two analysts looked. They were all tired. He wondered how long it had been since any of them had gotten a decent night's sleep.
"So what've we got?" Callen asked.
Nell didn't even stand up like she usually did to give them updates. "We tracked Sidorov's SUV to a parking lot. He ditched the vehicle and his burn phone, but Michelle slipped a GPS tracker into his jacket. We tracked it to a parking lot about five miles from the warehouse where he stole another SUV. A black GMC that we tracked to a hotel downtown."
"He checked in yesterday afternoon, after the raid," Eric added. "We have access to all the cameras in the hotel and around it. He hasn't left. The GPS tracker we slipped on him confirms that."
"Have there been any calls from his room?" Callen asked.
"No," Eric answered. "But this morning, about an hour ago, we caught footage from outside the hotel. Four Russians, that we identified as ex-Russian Special Forces, entered the building."
"Using the hotel's hallway cameras, the four Russians went to Sidorov's room." Nell finished.
"So he's got back up," Kensi said. "What now?"
"Uh, guys," Eric started, furiously clacking away on his keyboard, eyes glued to the screen in front of him. "A call's being made to from his room right now. He's using a satellite phone."
"Tracing the call," Nell narrated absently.
"Can you get audio?" Callen asked.
"Hang on," Nell told him.
There was silence for a moment.
"Nell?" Callen asked.
"Looks like he's contacting the Iranians," Eric said.
"That makes sense," Kensi said. "He's gotta be pretty eager now to get rid of the bombs."
"Audio up in minute, guys," Nell stated.
A few seconds later, there was the crackle of static over the big screen's speakers, then Sidorov's voice broke through.
"When?" the Russian said.
"Well not now, that's for sure," a voice replied, no doubt from one of the Iranians. "I heard about your little run in with the cops. And you're sure it's safe to sell the bombs?"
"Yes, I am sure. Now I'll ask again, when?" Sidorov replied, sounding impatient. Callen tried not to get too angry. After all, it's not like Sidorov was in the room. This was just a phone call.
"In one week from today. One P.M. Your house, where I dropped off the money. That would be the last place the cops will check."
There was a pause on Sidorov's end.
"Fine." The Russian replied. "I want this done quickly. No funny business. You bring the money, I will bring the bombs."
"Deal. See you then."
The line went dead. Callen glanced over at Kensi, a victorious smile on his face. She returned the smile. One week from now, they were finally going to get the son of a bitch that had kidnapped their partners. One week from now, this would all be over, and he might actually sleep decently.
Even Hetty looked pleased at the break they'd just caught. "Mr. Callen, Ms. Blye, I'd mark next Friday on your calendars if I were you."
So there's chapter 7! It was a little shorter, not a whole lot of action, but next chapter will be taking down Sidorov, Deeks and Sam talk about their trust issues and getting released from the hospital, and the aftermath of the whole case. The last chapters (8 9, and 10) will all be longer.
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-DaughterOfPoseidon333