"I knew that I'd find you here."

Deeks lies on his back with his arm over his face. The detective is spread out on the floor of the seventh floor balcony, trying to be left alone to his thoughts and the dull pain in the back of his mouth. An hour has passed since he had walked out of the conference call after Sam had once again pushed him out of his plans. He really shouldn't have taken it as hard as he did; so far Sam's words have only been just words. Nonetheless, Deeks' moment of being alone has just ended when Sam just pushed open the balcony door and found him.

"Gone an hour, Sam," Deeks mutters. "Not a chance of you coming here first to look for me."

"You're right." Sam groans as he lowers himself onto the stone flooring. "I had to walk around for a bit, avoid security and kind of guess where to go. By the way, I think that's the clearest sentence you've said since we got rescued."

"Go away. Go find Michelle- she's your wife and a hell of a lot more important than me."

Sam smirks and looks out to the stunning view below them- Abu Dhabi shinning perfectly on a clear, starry night. The city buzzes quietly below them, so quietly that the sounds of car horns and trains are barely audible. The view of the city is the best Sam has ever had over Abu Dhabi in his sixth trip to the stunning city. He takes in the cool air and says, "I'm not going without my partner."

Deeks doesn't miss a beat in his response. "Callen's on his way."

"Deeks, I'm not leaving without my-"

Deeks scoffs loudly and begins to rub his eye with his arm. "If you say partner again, I'll scream," he mutters, "You keep saying partner like that's all I've ever wanted to hear from you and Callen. And while you walk around feeling better about yourself claiming to be partners, you kick me out the first chance you get! Oh God, my mouth…."

"Well, if you don't talk, like the doctors told you-" Sam tries to remind him gently. There's no intention of picking on him or nagging, which is what Deeks takes it as. The detective groans and pulls himself off of the ground and pushes the doors of the patio open, disappearing quickly into the hallway. Sam blinks in disbelief and then scrambles to his feet to follow Deeks. By the time Sam makes it into the hallway, he can see Deeks shaking as he walks at the end of the hallway.

"Deeks! Damn it!" Sam curses as he jogs down to the end of the hallway, wincing from the shooting pain in his chest and legs. I completely understand why no one wanted either of us in the field, Sam thinks painfully. He turns the corner and stops at the sight of Deeks resting his forehead against the wall. A step closer and Sam can hear Deeks sobbing quietly.

"Another panic attack?" Sam calls out. Deeks closes his eyes and waves Sam away. The SEAL smiles and takes a few steps closer to Deeks with the email Hetty had sent him an hour earlier on his mind. "It's ok- you went through a trauma and it's normal. That doesn't make you weak, it makes you human."

Deeks places his palms against the wall and takes two deep breaths. From what he can remember, he's had four panic attacks in his life time- two of them on this case alone. The other two panic attacks…..he'll keep to himself for as long as possible. "Fine- it's a panic attack," Deeks finally admits, "Are we done?"

"No. I'm telling you all this because I want you to understand how normal it is," Sam states. The email Hetty had sent him wasn't a secret file like he had expected but actually a single scan of a paper from a relatively recent rough time in his past.

Sam continues, "In my early days as a SEAL and again at NCIS, I had a few panic attacks here and there. I think it comes from the ridiculously high be nothing but the best mantra my dad taught me. I'd psych myself up for a case or a mission and then completely lose it if something didn't go to plan. Hetty made me go sit with Nate for a session to get some tips on how to calm down. Today, I think it was from a fear a failure- failure to the mission, failure to the people who need my help, and failure to my teammates. "

Deeks' eyes slowly open as he pushes himself off of the wall to face Sam. For the first time in days, Deeks looks trusting of his partner. He rubs his arm anxiously and says, "You panicking? Can't imagine it."

"Yeah- I had to learn that it didn't mean that I was weak. It took me a long time to get that idea out of my head and I'll be damned if I'll let that happen to you. There's a reason Hetty picked you to be on this team- you're the furthest thing from be weak or not being good enough."

Deeks glances away from Sam momentarily before nodding slowly in agreement. The detective still doesn't trust Sam, but something in the moment is making him put his guard down. For now, he'll blame it on exhaustion. " I'm so tired."

"Me too. I need an hour or two of sleep."

"What about Michelle?" Deeks asks earnestly.

Completely unaware of the trouble Michelle's about to walk into, Sam says, " As much as I want to look for Michelle, we both need at least a second to recharge. An hour won't hurt us."

In the armory of the OPS center, Hetty runs her fingers over the corners of the 19th century polished wooden box she keeps under lock and key. After Romania, the operations manager had moved her black book of secrets- a list of all of her secrets of the agency and personal life- into the small box that had been kept under one of the floor tiles for years. Michelle Hanna's phone call is the reason she's looking through the box she hadn't touched in almost a year.

"Hetty, is it just you on the line?"

"Of course, dear. It's good to hear your voice. Where are you?"

"I have to kill Nahili. I knew that something like this could happen for months and I didn't do anything about it. I have intel about where I could find him. I'm also sure that I won't make it back."

"Michelle….."

"Make sure Sam isn't anywhere near Al Goa if something goes wrong. Promise me."

Hetty sighs and begins emptying the contents onto the counter, including the small key that goes with the locket she had given to her detective. She had planned to let her incredibly capable agents handle the case, but Michelle's phone call had changed everything. Callen and Kensi can handle Deeks and Sam in Abu Dhabi and in the meantime, she's going to help Michelle.

There's too much on the line for her to sit on the sidelines.