SYLVIA

Chapter 2

Summary: a brief introduction to Sylvia Gray and the beginning of Deeks nightmare. Gonna be kinda short as I'm having a rough time getting my thoughts in order and down on paper...I have too many evil ideas floating around...!

A/N: I just went back and notice the italics I had written Deeks and Sylvia's phone conversation in didn't come through when I posted, I hope I've corrected the problem for chapter 2...the flashbacks are supposed to be in italics...

...ncis...ncis...ncis...ncis...ncis...ncis...

They were all waiting in ops when Hetty walked in followed more slowly by the detective.

Sam was the first to speak, "How's the hands?"

Looking down at his bandaged hands and giving them a little wave, he shrugged his shoulders, and replied tonelessly, "I'll live."

They waited a few minutes, watching with quiet concern, as a myriad of emotions played quickly over the detectives face as he was obviously trying to pull his thoughts together.

Deeks finally gave a loud sigh and raised his head to meet the concerned faces of his co-workers, "I'm really sorry guys..."

"You got nothing to be sorry for," Kensi quickly interjected.

Deeks gave a self-depreciating laugh and said, "Yeah, well, you haven't heard the story.

"Then tell us...what happened between you and this Sylvia Gray that has you so shook up," Callen asked, not liking to admit how unnerved he felt by the detective's sudden reticence; and if he were to put a name to it—shame.

It didn't set well with any of the agents that someone could put the normally boisterous, free-spirited man in such a depressed state: this person...this woman, would have to be some pretty bad news and the sooner this person was dealt with the better it would be for all of them.

Callen was pulled from his thoughts as he heard first a mirthless snort then a hiss of pain as Deeks made an aborted attempt to run his injured hands through his hair before saying, "That is one very complicated and sordid affair...god, I can't believe this is really happening again; I don't...I don't even know where to begin."

"I find the beginning is a good place to...well, begin..." Hetty encouraged.

"Yeah, the beginning...well, I met Sylvia my second year of collage...she was an intern...actually, met her at the clinic where she was working...I sprained my ankle playing basketball...

"Can we get some help over here," a dark headed, young man called, as he helped another young man hobble into the ER lobby.

Sylvia looked up from the chart she was signing, and immediately grabbed a wheelchair, "Here, set him down."

After easing the blonde into the chair, the young man looked up and explained, "He sprained his ankle...we didn't think it was that bad but it'sreally swelling up and turning an ugly shade of purple and red."

Sylvia nodded and bent down to exam the injured appendage, causing the blonde to hiss in pain. "You have definitely done a number on this ankle...we're gonna need an x-ray to rule out a break."

Later Deeks was sitting with his bandaged ankle propped up on a bed, a petulant look on his face, "broken, really...I don't have time for this..."

"Not a complete break, more like a hairline fracture caused by the severity of the sprain...we won't even have to cast it; but you will have to stay off of it for a few days and use crutches for at least a month." Sylvia explained to her patient.

"Man, I do not believe this, I've got classes and mid-terms are coming up...it's gonna be a real bitch getting' around campus on crutches," Deeks groused.

"This woman is a doctor," Callen exclaimed in surprise.

"Well, at the time she was only an intern," Deeks replied absently.

Deeks was sitting on his couch with his foot propped up on the table and surrounded by mounds of open books, legal pads and loose notes. He was intently concentrating on a particularly difficult case write up, trying to find the defense attorneys logic in his argument so he could write the counter argument due for his mid-term in just three days.

He absently reached for his glass of tea sitting precariously on a stack of papers, toppling it from the stack to spill across his notes and books.

"Damn it," he cursed, trying to grab the falling glass, then trying without much success, to maneuver around to grab the blanket off the back of the couch to sop up the tea without jarring his still swollen ankle.

Adding to his current predicament, someone started knocking at his door. He just rolled his eyes in frustration as he tried to sop up the mess across his much needed notes and growled out loudly, "It's open..."

The door opened tentively, and a woman peered in, "Hope I'm not disturbing anything..."

"Nothing but a disaster in the making..." Deeks continued to grouse as he shook the excess tea from his notes and started laying them out across the other side of the couch.

"I predict it only takes one guess to figure out who was at your door," Sam questioned.

"Yeah, it was Sylvia..." Deeks replied.

"And it didn't surprise you that this woman just shows up out of the blue on your doorstep," Callen questioned, never knowing a time in his life that he wasn't suspicious of any and all people he encountered.

Deeks just shrugged, and commented sheepishly, "Uh...well, she was hot..."

Kensi rolled her eyes, "Really..."

"Hey, she was a doctor...or a doctor-in-training and I was a poor injured law student trying to study for midterms with a painfully broken foot...and did I mention she was hot," Deeks replied cheekily, but the joking in his tone didn't make it to his usually expressive face.

"Here let me help you with that," the woman said as she came into his apartment and closed the door.

"Uh, yeah, sure...got towels in the kitchen," Deeks said as he continued to shake out his notes.

The woman came back into the living room and began helping Deeks clean up the mess.

"Not that I'm not grateful for the save, but...uh, why are you here; you're the doc from the clinic, right," Deeks finally asked.

She smiled and answered, "Maybe I'm bringing back the practice of house calls..."

He just snorted in amusement, "Well, it still hurts and it's still a bitch to get around..."

Now the woman frowned at him, "Are you taking your pain meds and anti-inflammatory; and keeping it propped up?"

"As much as I can...well, keeping it propped up; but the pain meds knock me for a loop...can't study, so I just take 'em at night," he answered.

"That's not good...bet you tried to take them on an empty stomach didn't you; what you need is a good home cooked meal, then they won't have such an adverse-effect on you," the woman explained, patting his leg and moving towards his kitchen.

"What...wait...you're gonna cook for me. Really, not necessary...a little above and beyond that Hippocratic Oath don't ya' think," Deeks exclaimed.

"Nonsense...now you just go back to studying and I'll see if there is anything resembling food in this bachelor pad of yours," the woman said.

He watched her for a moment as she puttered around his kitchen, shaking his head, "Nothing I say is gonna get you to leave is it?"

"Nope," she answered, giving him a smile. "Look, you seem like a nice guy, in a little bit of a bind...and you're technically my patient, so just thought I'd help out a little, it I could..."

Deeks gave her his brightest smile, "You help out all your patients this way?"

She returned his sly smile with a little innuendo of her own, "Only the special ones."

...NCIS LA...NCIA LA...NCIS LA...

A/N: so there it is...an intro to how the psychopath 'girlfriend' enters his life... the next few chaps will of course be bouncing back and forth between the past and the present; I'm planning on passing out the H/C to quite a few characters that get in Sylvia's way...if anyone is familiar with the old show -"Diagnosis Murder", you might remember cute little Jesse having a similar problem with a crazy stalker chick...