A/N: Sorry I'm a day late! This chapter will be a little bit longer than the rest - see it as an excuse for the delay :D

Oh if you're wondering: I still don't own this show... and huge thanks to my beta and huge thanks for reviews, favs and follows :)

Enjoy!


Kensi was still sitting next to her partner's bed and listened to the monotone beeping of the heart monitor. There had been no argument that Deeks needed to be brought somewhere safer than a public hospital – when dealing with a mixture of weapons and arms dealing then an LAPD protection detail in front of the hospital wouldn't be enough.

The team literally had no idea whom they were looking for, the only information they had from Eric was that a red Pick-Up had left the wrecking yard after the shooting. Kensi had talked to Dr. Edwards who wasn't pleased with discharging Deeks after the obliged forty-eight hours, but she couldn't disrespect an order from a Federal Agent so she had agreed to it in the end. During these two days, Kensi should learn as much as possible about the knee injury and about the tending of it in order to take care of Deeks when there was no nurse in reach. Kensi had agreed to it immediately and had looked through the doses of painkillers, the mixing of medications and the tending of the stitches before she had slumped onto the chair at Deeks' side once more.

By now, she had a bowl with warm water and a sponge in her hands and tried to wash the dried blood out of the blonde hair. Just when she wet the sponge again, Deeks finally opened his eyes.

"Hey! How're you doing?" Kensi moved a bit closer to him and hoped he wouldn't fall asleep again instantly.

"Kensi? What…? God, my head… What have you done to me?" Deeks mumbled and pulled at the nasal cannula before he tried to sit up.

"Be careful!" Kensi said, but she was too late, Deeks had already tucked up his legs, or at least he had tried to.

Deeks clenched his teeth in pain before he looked at her. "Would you please have the decency to tell me what happened? Why do I feel like I was hit by a truck?"

Anterograde amnesia.

"You can't remember?" Kensi asked and got a stunned glance from Deeks.

"Would I ask you if I did?"

"Well, it wouldn't be the first time…"

She referred to the time when he had woken up the last time from an anaesthesia and pretended to have lost his memory.

"Okay, touché, butthis timeI really can't remember. I know that we were on a wrecking yard but that's it," Deeks answered.

Kensi explained curtly what had happened on the wrecking yard and paused when she came to the point that Deeks was now on the wanted-list of one of the most dangerous cartel of the west coast.

"What is it, Kensi?" Deeks pressed. He knew that she was holding something back.

"We believe that there was somebody else on the wrecking yard. Somebody who saw you at the laptop and who could think that you noticed something important."

"Seriously? I can't even remember that laptop and some crazy cartel-guys want to kill me because of it?"

Kensi answered by pulling his gun from her waistband, a Beretta 92FS, and handing it to him.

"As soon as the compulsory forty-eight hours are over, we get you to a safe house. Until then we somehow have to keep you alive here."

Deeks let his head fall onto the pillow and stared at his gun that was, judging by the weight of it, loaded. The semi-automatic once had saved his life and from an old habit, he popped one bullet into the chamber.

"Will a nurse accompany us?" Deeks asked casually and Kensi knew exactly that he hoped for some attractive, helpful company.

"Me."

"And who's going to protect me from you?" Deeks grinned and then took a deep breath. "Have you seen my knee yet?"

Kensi shook her head and could hardly imagine what was going through her partner's mind. Maybe the injury wouldn't heal properly and he wasn't able to do any kind of sport – if that happened, his job as Liaison Officer would be history and he would have to do deskwork. The whole carrier could be destroyed.

Kensi would have loved to take his hand, but it was different when he was awake so she only smiled at him and asked, "Okay?"

Deeks nodded and didn't flinch as Kensi removed the blanket. He was wearing blue scrubs, fitting to his legs, which had been cut just above the right knee. A snow-white bandage made its way from the middle of his thigh to the middle of his calf, a black brace around it. Even with no skin visible, you could clearly see swelling. Before one of them could say anything, the curtain around Deeks' bed was pulled back and the two agents reached for their guns.

"Hello. My name is Nurse Jane," a young woman introduced herself and showed her ID. "Good to see you awake, Detective."

She smiled at Deeks, who returned the broad smile, and then explained where the call button and everything else could be found, before she turned to Kensi.

"Dr. Edwards will be here soon to walk you through everything important once again. I'll always be somewhere near, if you need anything."

"Okay, thank you."

Kensi turned to Deeks, who was occupied trying to get the blanket in its right place again. He had sat up as well as possible to be able to reach the end of his bed and Kensi could literally see how his face lost all its color. She remembered Dr. Edward saying that he would have to deal with headaches, dizziness and nausea - Deeks seemed to notice exactly that as he slumped back onto the bed, eyes tightly shut and convulsively swallowing at the exact moment his surgeon stepped around the curtain. This was way worse than his worst hangover had been.

"Are you okay, Detective?" Dr. Edwards asked and looked at the heat monitor, before she shooed Kensi from the chair so that she was next to Deeks' head.

"Just a bit dizzy," Deeks said and opened his eyes; he was still seeing dark spots in his vision and tried to keep his stomach contents where they belonged.

"I can believe that. It must have been quite an impact. How is your knee?"

"It's seen better times," Deeks smiled and tried to sit up a bit straighter.

Dr. Edwards glanced at Kensi and the two women agreed that Deeks had to be in pain, just didn't want to mention it.

"I'm going to give you some more pain meds, Detective, and then we'll get you to a private room, okay?"

Hetty had phoned the director of the hospital and had informed him about the circumstance that there could be an attempt on Deeks' life at all times. They quickly had decided that he could be protected more efficiently in a private room than in a room in which ten patients lay – only separated by a curtain.

"I always wanted to be on morphine."


Kensi had made herself comfortable on a small couch next to Deeks' bed. He was lying in a private room now, two LAPD officers positioned in front of the door, who were meant to stay the whole night. Sam and Callen had shown up several hours ago and had brought Deeks some clothes (and Kensi some of her favourite sweets) they gathered from his apartment. It was likely that the cartel members were going to monitor it in the near future so the two of them grabbed anything useful so they did not need to go back again. Deeks had gotten out of the hospital shirt he had been wearing and gratefully put on one of his sweaters that was arrangeable with all the wires he was attached to.

It was growing dark by now and Kensi had through one of the windows a perfect view of the sunset. The day had been quiet, the people around Lopez probably hadn't figured out yet in which hospital Deeks lay, thanks to Hetty who had told every employee to deny that they had admitted a cop with a gunshot wound. Kensi pulled the blanket up to her chin and glanced at her partner. He had been sleeping most of the day due to the pain killers and his eyes were closed now, too.

Just as she wanted to search her bag for a book and the last Twinkie, Kensi heard the previously steady beeping of the heart monitor increasing and she stood up. Deeks was lying completely rigid under the blanket, every muscle tense, and she could see his eyes moving rapidly beneath his lids. Whatever he was dreaming – it couldn't be good. As his pulse kept increasing, Kensi stepped entirely next to his bed, but before she could try and wake him up, she heard the voice of Nurse Jane arguing with the two Officers in front of the door.

It seemed like she won, because not even two seconds later she stormed into the room and looked at Deeks, then at Kensi. Jane got next to Deeks and looked at the heart monitor.

"What happened?"

Kensi shrugged her shoulders and watched how Jane filled a syringe.

"I don't know. He was sleeping soundly for half the afternoon and then suddenly his heart rate skyrocketed. What do you want to inject him with?"

"A sedative, just for the emergency," the nurse said and for now put the syringe onto a small table. "We have to wake him."

She grabbed Deeks' shoulders and shook him lightly. "Detective Deeks?"

Kensi watched as the line, showing his heart rate, spiked in smaller and smaller intervals before looking back at her partner. Just as Jane reached for the syringe, Deeks jolted up, panting to get air. The jerky movements made his head swim, he grew pale and for the second time that day he felt his stomach revolting.

"Detective, I need you to calm down, okay? You're safe. Everything is just fine," Jane talked insistently to him and once again put the syringe away. "Deep breaths."

Nurse Jane reached with one hand for the light switch next to Deeks' head and turned on the lights. The sudden brightness tipped Deeks over the edge. Thanks to his headache he felt sensitive to light so that it felt like a hundred knives were pushed into his head. Without further thinking, he clapped his right hand over his mouth, his left on his stomach.

Kensi knew immediately what was happening and after nodding to Jane, she grabbed the emesis basin on the bedside table while Jane dimmed the light. With one rather large step, Kensi stood next to her partner and rubbed his back, as he threw up the little he had eaten today. Deeks felt like the pictures of the dream wouldn't leave his head, the scenario kept playing over and over again. Still captured in the nightmare, Deeks jerked away from the hand on his back as he stopped heaving.

Kensi took her hand off Deeks' back as soon as she noticed that it didn't do him good, but scared him. She glanced at the heart monitor, relieved to see that the pulse went slowly back to normal.

"Deeks, it's me. Kensi," she whispered and pushed his unruly, sweaty hair from his forehead.

It didn't matter to her that the gesture was maybe in a way inappropriate between work colleagues; she just wanted to comfort Deeks. Recognition lightened his eyes and he relaxed a bit more.

"Kensi?"

"Yes, I'm here. Are you okay?"

"Mm-hm. I'm fine," he slumped back onto the pillow and took a couple more calming deep breaths.

When Kensi was sure he wouldn't start vomiting again, she gave Nurse Jane the emesis basin. The nurse looked at the two of them, before grabbing the still full syringe, saying, "If you need anything else, I'm outside. Good night," she said, leaving the agents.

Kensi kept standing next to the bed and ran her fingers through her hair, before reaching for a glass of water on the bedside table, passing it to Deeks.

"Thanks."

He drank a bit and returned the glass to Kensi, glad that he was able to keep the water down. He hadn't dreamt that strongly for a really long time, not to mention it had never happened in front of a colleague before. Kensi didn't know what he was dreaming of, but Deeks knew for sure, that she was going to want to know. He certainly didn't want to hurt her, but he just was too worn out to talk about it right now. He couldn't suppress the edge his voice was taking when he said, "Go to sleep, Kensi. The next few days will be exhausting."

Kensi was shocked about the reaction and she narrowed her eyes.

"Hey, we're partners. Even if I will not do it in my life, I know, I can tell you anything – you said so yourself. It is the same for you."

She pulled a chair next to him instead of going back to the couch, as if she wanted to say,you're not getting rid of me that easily. Deeks breathed heavily and looked Kensi in the eye.

"I know, Kens. But not today. Not now."

Kensi could practically feel the pain and even the hint of resignation in the Deeks' voice. No matter how much she wished that he would tell her what was bothering him, she did realize that he had said everything he wanted to and even if she kept asking, she would only meet with opposition.


A/N: Liked it? I hope it isn't OCC for you, I always like the episodes when you notice they care for each other, so I adapt it :)