A/N: Day early :) Reason: I'll be in Hamburg, going to Paramore!

Little hint: I'm sure some doctors would kill me for discharging a patient 24 hours after surgery, but hey - this is fiction! Say I used... the freedom of creativity :D

So, okay, usual disclaimer and a short reply to a guest review, just skip it..

First of all, like I said, I've got absolutely no medical background at all - I gave my best to research it and I'm sorry that I got it wrong and upset you. I thought I wrote it correctly - obviously I did not - so thanks for the correction! As for the anaesthesia: in Germany it is possible to get sedated during the ride in an ambulance because there is always a "real" doctor there and not just paramedics. So like, for German standard that is correct. Again, thanks for pointing out the errors! I don't know if I'll correct them, because even what you wrote was really complicated, but I'll add a warning to the A/N.


Kensi slipped her cell phone back into the pocket of her jeans and rushed out of the bathroom.

"Kensi? What is it?" Deeks asked, who had interpreted her body language correctly.

She drew her weapon, instead of answering him, and reached for the door handle. Deeks sat upright and before he even noticed what he was doing, he had clutched his Beretta in his hands. Kensi tore the door open and Deeks could see her muscles relaxing a bit as she spotted the cops in front of the door.

"Weapons out, now! We have a little problem," Kensi ordered them before she raised her voice and yelled, "Nurse Jane!"

Her voice had reached such a demanding level that the head of the nurse immediately popped up from behind the nurses' desk and Jane started to hurry down the corridor towards Kensi.

"Is everything alright, agent?"

"Get me a wheelchair and crutches; we have to move Deeks – now!"

Jane just nodded, turned and hurried away again, toward some room on the opposite side of the hallway. Kensi got back into Deeks' room and closed the door, which unfortunately had no real lock, like every other hospital door.

"Okay, change of plans," she said more to herself than to Deeks, while she walked to sports bag next to the couch.

"Kensi, what is it?" Deeks asked and watched as Kensi rummaged around until she found rather large sweatpants. Somehow he had the bad feeling that he already knew the answer.

Kensi stood up and got to her partner, the sweatpants in her hands. "The guys from the cartel, they're here. Put them on."

She got rid of his blanket and helped him to sit at the edge of the bed, legs swinging over it. The jerky movements let all the color drain from his face and he started to hear improperly.

Do not pass out, just do not pass out, he thought but wasn't able to keep his breathing from becoming laboured. With all his will, he wasn't up to repeating the previous night's events. Kensi first looked at him and then at the heart monitor he was still attached to; she could see his blood pressure sinking.

"Okay, you lie down, I get the pants," she said and started fumbling the cloth over his feet and the blue scrubs, as Deeks sank onto the bed again.

If he'd been a bit less dizzy, he surely would have made a comment about Kensi dressing him. The door to his room opened and for the fact that they didn't hear any sounds of a fight, Kensi assumed that Jane had entered the room, which was right. She was pushing a wheelchair, which had crutches laying diagonally over it, in front of her.

"Great. Now get him off of the monitors," Kensi instructed the nurse and pulled the sweatpants over Deeks' brace. Lucky for her that the pants were big.

Jane detached the cables and electrodes one by one off of Deeks' chest and then stood next to Kensi, who by now had the pants pulled up to his thighs.

"Deeks, you have to get into the wheelchair, okay?" Kensi asked and looked at Jane, who pushed the wheelchair next to the bed and began to speak.

"All right. You'll have to stand up for a second, Detective, we'll support you. Only put weigh on your left leg, don't forget that. I'll tell you to sit down as soon as possible, okay?"

Deeks nodded, sat up and immediately felt hands supporting him. Trying to ignore the nausea and dizziness, he stood up as good as possible. He noticed someone pulling up the sweatpants over his hips, probably Kensi, and then how he was turned a bit.

"Okay, Detective, you can sit down."

He took that invitation more than thankfully and sank onto the wheelchair, where he closed his eyes and tried to even out his breathing. His feet were put onto the small footboards, the right one was set at the same angle as his brace was.

"Let's get out of here," he heard Kensi say and felt how he was pushed forward.

A door behind him was closed and he heard Kensi talking to his protective detail, before he was being moved again. He was still more than dizzy and it seemed to him like the seat beneath him was moving. They stopped and he felt a slight air draft as Kensi reached out to the buttons of the elevator. Doing that, she must have glanced at Deeks, because she kneeled in front of him and grabbed his right shoulder.

"Deeks are you okay?" she asked, concern written all over her face.

He managed to give a small nod and opened his eyes, dark spots clouding his vision.

"Sure I am, Fern."

The door for the elevator opened behind them and Kensi quickly glanced into the cabin – it was empty. Now wasn't the time to elaborate further on Deeks' condition, she needed to get him out of the hospital as priority, then she could worry. Kensi had just pushed the button for the ground-floor and watched the doors close, as her cell phone started ringing.

"Sam. Yeah, we're on our way down. Side entrance, okay," she hung up and looked at her partner who had a little more colour in his cheeks by now. "Sam and Callen are at the eastern entrance. They'll take you with them, I'll follow."

Deeks frowned and gave her a lopsided grin. "I hope they didn't come with the Challenger, I wouldn't be able to get in there by all means…"

Kensi grinned back at him and shook her head. "They took the SUV they went to the wrecking yard with."

She glanced at him once again before she took the crutches, which were clamped to the back of the wheelchair.

"Can you get up? We need to do this as low-key as possible."

Kensi leaned the crutches at the wall of the elevator and then offered Deeks her hand, who took it with a strong grip and pulled himself to his feet.

As soon as his left foot touched the ground, Kensi handed him the crutches one by one and noticed how well Nurse Jane had estimated Deeks' height, the crutches needn't be adjusted.

"Okay?" she asked and took her hand off of his back when she was sure he would not immediately fall over if she stopped steadying him.

"I'm fine," Deeks answered and fastened his grip around the crutches as the door of the elevator slid open.

Kensi left the wheelchair in the elevator and walked next to her partner, who hobbled carefully and slowly toward the eastern exit. It was obvious that this wasn't his first time on crutches – his movements were way to smooth for that. Kensi had to grin when she saw that they forgot his shoes so that he was walking barefoot through the hospital. She could already see the exit as Deeks came to a halt and waited until Kensi was next to him.

"Short stop, just give me a second," he said and took a deep breath.

The longer he stood, the sicker he felt. He felt Kensi's hand between his shoulder blades and forced himself to start walking again. The door of the exit opened inwardly, which made Kensi take her hand off of Deeks' back and hurry in front of him to open the door. It was mid-September and in sunny Los Angeles no problem to walk barefoot, as Deeks was forced to. Actually, it was in his sweater and sweatpants that he was much too warm.

The two agents stood outside the hospital and exhaled – they cleared the first hurdle.


Sam and Callen stopped the large black SUV in front of them and Kensi opened the backdoor for Deeks to get in, which he finally somehow managed with her help. Callen had pushed his seat as far to the front as possible to give Deeks some needed space for his braced leg. The whole procedure would have been easier if Deeks had ridden shotgun, but then he would have been a perfect target. The back windows were darkened so you couldn't tell if anyone was sitting there or not, and that anonymity was highly needed. Kensi handed Deeks his crutches, who lay them across the back-seats, slammed the door and went to Callen.

"I guess it wouldn't be the worst idea if someone sat with Deeks. His blood pressure probably reached rock-bottom and I would not be surprised if he loses consciousness soon, or gets sick," she whispered to him, and pressed one of the emesis basins she took in his hand and got to her silver SRX, parked not too far away.

Callen first glanced at Sam and then at Deeks, who crouched behind him, pale as a ghost and breathing heavily. No, Callen didn't think either that he would last much longer. He got out of the car and climbed back in behind Sam, as Eric's voice filled his ear.

"Guys, we have a problem. The men just exited the hospital after seeing the empty room. They put the nurses through the mangle until they knew that Deeks was able to flee. Get away from there!"

Callen hadn't even fully closed the door as Sam started with squealing tires, Kensi right behind them.

"Eric, was one of the nurses hurt?" Callen asked uneasily – they should have spent more time for the protection of the doctors and nurses.

"No. Seems like the men realized they don't know anything. Everyone's fine," Eric answered and calmed the nerves of the agents a bit.

"Bad news is that the LAPD was too slow to catch them. Even the cops in front of Deeks' room weren't able to arrest someone. If you ask me, we are lucky they didn't come when he was still there."

Nell, who had been quiet until then, cleared her throat and asked, "How's Deeks?"

Callen looked over to Deeks, whose head had sunken onto his chest. With that entire hubbub going on, he hadn't noticed that the detective had blacked out. Callen bent over to Deeks, loosened the seatbelt a bit, that was cutting into his throat, and then searched for a pulse, he could only find a concerning weak one.

"Callen? How is he doing?" Nell's voice got more forceful – and more anxious.

She got her question answered by Callen telling Sam to drive faster.


A/N: And? You going to kill me? Plot-like or medically-like? :DD