A/N: Hey guys! So, I'm back from Rome and back to you again :) Disclaimer as usual...

Enjoy!


Nell and Eric sat in front of their computer screens, as tense as no one had seen them in a long time. They had finally, finally managed to follow the car of the kidnappers virtually to a warehouse and it hadn't been made easy for the two of them; the men had changed cars five times. Nell and Eric had been forced to change parameters five times, had to fear for it to work five times and had to watch how an unconscious Deeks had been pulled from one car into another five times. They hadn't been able to see in what condition he was, except for the obviously reopened cut on his temple and the blood trail it left, and that didn't calm their nerves at all.

There were only very few cameras installed near the warehouse, one fortunately at an angle that it was possible to keep an eye on the entry. Since the two analysts had watched the latest car of the men – a green VW Bulli – driving towards the warehouse, they had looked over the next hours in fast forward and were relieved to see that the Bulli hadn't come out again. There were no other entries or exits so that the men of Stephen Wells and Deeks could not have left the warehouse.

Not even thirty seconds after Eric and Nell had told Sam, Callen and Kensi about their triumph, the agents stood before them in Ops, complete with Kevlar and guns strapped to seemingly every body part, several emotions washing over their faces – fear, hope, relief, tenseness and anger. Eric swallowed when he looked into Callen's determined face and then hastily told him the address of the warehouse, sending it to the agents' phones in the same second.


Callen had his cell phone pressed to his ear, talking to the other team that now was responsible for arresting the members of the Sanchez Cartel and gaining the information about the next shipments of weapons. The call was over only shortly after it had started, the last words a promise of the other agent to inform Callen immediately if the arrests had been successful.

There were several agents in front of the Spanish Mission who were going to support Sam, Kensi and Callen trying to rescue Deeks. Without wasting another valuable second, all of the agents jumped more or less into the cars that had been made ready for them and took off in direction of the address Eric had sent them.

Hetty watched her agents from the safe distance of her desk and placed her cup of tea next to her.

"Bring him home safely, Mr Callen," she whispered to herself.


"Eric, will they see us when we drive onto the compound?" Kensi asked while she took the safety off her gun. They still had a bit to drive until they got to the warehouse, but she wasn't taking any risks now.

Kensi Blye was officially pissed off and completely concerned. That was a combination you didn't get often, but when you did – you had to be really careful.

"I can try to hack into their system and freeze the video feed of the camera without it being noticed, but they have one of the best hackers I've ever seen… I'll see what I can do," Eric answered and Kensi could picture him, swinging himself into the comfy chair, cracking his fingers before typing away on his keys.

"You'll pull it off."

She heard Eric smiling and then only his typing. "I'll get back to you as soon as it's safe for you to go nearer than eight-hundred meters."

Kensi closed the connection over the comm and pushed her hair back before quickly making a ponytail to keep it out of the way. She was sitting in the back of the white van which they used for situations like this. Sam and Callen had been quiet for a while now and Kensi knew all too well what was going through their heads right now. She asked herself the same questions over and over again.

How is Deeks? How badly is he injured? What did the men do to him? Did they reach him in time? Was he even still alive?

Kensi shook her head and tried to get the thoughts out of her head, she didn't need more distractions than she already had. The thoughts completely left her head when Callen stopped the van. She had to try and mentally prepare herself for the following minutes. Adrenaline coursed through her body and made her more aware of her surroundings, but surprisingly not more nervous. Actually, it was quite the opposite; Kensi's heartbeat slowed, and she felt like she got more oxygen with every breath she took. It was probably the sniper training that got the better of her, it was essential that you had a calm heartbeat, took a deep breath, to make the perfect shot. Her eyes scanned the area surrounding the warehouse for any kind of danger and possible hide-outs, if something went south. It was only now that she noticed the irony.

"A warehouse," she huffed and gained the attention of her colleagues with that.

"What did you say?" Sam asked and turned a bit to look at her.

"A warehouse. It's like a bad thriller. Where is someone held and tortured? In a deserted warehouse. How cliché is that?"

Before Sam or Callen could answer that bitter statement, it crackled in their ears and Eric's voice made its way to them.

"Freeze frame is activated, guys, you're all clear to go in." The triumph in his voice couldn't be missed and if it weren't for Deeks' life hanging in the balance, the agents surely would have made a compliment.

Just before Callen started the engine and by that gave the sign to go for the other agents in the vehicles behind them, Nell spoke up, her voice soft and pleading, "Get him out of there, okay?"

"We will, Nell," with those words, Callen sped onto the sandy ground surrounding the warehouse.


Screaming and shooting ripped him from the darkness he would like to get back into so much. When he was unconscious, there was no pain, no unwanted memories. Now, back to the land of the living, the events of the past days flooded though him with such a force that left him gasping for air, eyes wide open and desperately trying to get his heart rate back under control. It took him several seconds until he finally realized that he knew the screaming voices. The voices screaminghisname.

Somehow his colleagues had actually managed to find him.

Still, Deeks felt no relief whatsoever. The anger that had escorted him the last several days was raging beneath the surface now more than ever before. He would need to get back to the hospital, wouldn't be allowed to do anything, again, and would need some sort of babysitter, again. Not that he didn't appreciate the concern of his colleagues but that really was not what he needed right now. Part ignoring, part pushing through the pain that he felt just everywhere, he got to his feet, hobbled to the steel door and started banging his fists against it.

"Kensi, get me out of here!"

Deeks himself was surprised about the hardness of his voice. He knew that there was no way his partner could be blamed for him being held in this hellhole, but still he directed his anger towards her. It was time for him to get near a punching bag he could beat the crap out of, Deeks thought and tried to keep his rising temper in check.

"Kensi!"


There was nothing pleading in his voice, not the warmth that was always there. Even if Kensi would never admit it, it scared her. She reassured herself that someone had her back with a last glance over her shoulder before she strode to the door behind which she had heard Deeks' voice.

"Deeks, step back from the door, I'm coming in," Kensi said in a soft tone.

She waited some seconds before she turned the key that had been left behind in the lock. Her foot kicked against the door, the momentum swinging it until it hit the wall, and Kensi cleared the room, before she lowered her weapon and turned to face her partner.

"Deeks! Are you okay?" Kensi asked him and did a quick visual scan of his injuries. The cut on his temple was open again, she guessed that the kidnappers had hit him there with the bat. He seemed okay otherwise, but Kensi couldn't be sure as the hoodie and jeans were hiding most of his body. Despite the wide jeans, she could make out the brace around his knee and was glad that he was standing on his two feet. Kensi searched his pacific blue eyes and waited for an answer, as he stormed out of the room, without another word.

"Deeks! Your knee! Just let me help you, you stubborn…." Kensi shouted and jogged up to him.

"I'm fine, Kensi," Deeks snapped at her and kept limping toward the exit of the warehouse he'd been held in. She huffed and watched him trying to get rid of the paramedics who had started to walk toward him.

Deeks finally agreed to let them take care of the cut but denied any other medical attention and most certainly denied to be brought to a hospital. If Kensi hadn't known her partner for the long time she did, she would have been worried to death by that statement, but after all these years, she probably knew better than him what was happening. He was in shock, but just pushed that aside, didn't even realize it. Instead of admitting his fear to himself, he was angry and frustrated, because it was easier for him to show those emotions. Kensi knew that he needed some room right now and that he wouldn't let anyone help him right now, just as she knew that she needed to be there when he eventually broke down. Until that moment came, there was nothing she could do except not taking anything personal that he said.

Kensi thanked the two paramedics and assured them to take care of Deeks, look after him and drive him to the hospital as soon as anything got even the slightest bit alarming. Deeks had strictly refused to get looked at properly so that no one could be sure what kind of injuries hid under his clothes.

"Guys, I'll drive with Deeks to my apartment," Kensi sighed in her comm and walked to the white van with which they had come here, Deeks already sitting on the passenger seat.

Her apartment was the only place except for the Spanish Mission they could go to, as Deeks' flat could still be under observation and the safe house was no longer safe.

"Okay, Kensi. We'll swing by as soon as we've cleaned up here," Callen's voice answered her and Kensi couldn't help but feel a bit relieved that it wasn't her who had to fill the countless reports that surely needed to be written.

"Okay."

Kensi got in the car and glanced at her partner, noticing the hard look on his face. It seemed like it was going to take some time until he was ready to deal with his true feelings. Deeks was stubbornly staring out of the window and Kensi wasn't able to not notice that his breathing was different from normal. It seemed like Deeks couldn't get enough air.

Although she knew that she probably wouldn't get an answer, she laid her hand on his arm and asked, "Deeks, you sure that everything is alright?"

Kensi felt him at first stiffen and then slightly shaking under her touch and she wondered what the men had done to him.

"I got you some fresh clothes; they're in the bag behind your seat."

After several more seconds, in which she didn't get an answer either, Kensi started the car and drove home. The little apartment that she had rented was located at the edge of the town, near the beach, and by that not too far away from the warehouse so that the drive was short. Deeks still hadn't said a word and that worried Kensi. He always had some sort of smart ass remark on his lips, no matter how bad the situation might be and he always – always – switched radio stations, several times.

Kensi pushed the hair that had found a way out of her ponytail from her forehead before she squeezed the shoulder of partner and got out of the van. She knew that he needed some time to think, that's why she wasn't surprised to hear the car door only after she had stepped into her apartment. Deeks hadn't accepted her offer to help him walking before in the warehouse but she still glanced over her shoulder to see if maybe he needed help now, only to see him walking towards her, his spare clothes in his hands and the face grim.

Kensi threw her keys into the little bowl standing on a small table next to the door. It wasn't by far the first time that Deeks was at her home so that she shuffled out of her shoes, threw them in some corner and then walked to the bathroom.

"I'll get a quick shower," she said over her shoulder and heard a second later how the door was closed with a bit more force than necessary and then some grumbling of Deeks.


A/N: So, what do you think - Deeks can't actually be okay, can he? Well, I can promise that there is more whump to come... :) Stay tuned and maybe leave a review? :D