Still not quite finished yet. Almost there. Thanks so much to those who have been reading and reviewing :) Also, thanks to French Fan for letting me know about my mistake in the previous chapter :)

xxxxx

"Hey sleepy head," Nell smiled at Callen from the sofa and he crutched over to it and sat down beside her.

"Good morning, Nell," he said. "Did you sleep well?"

"I slept very well. That's a very nice guest room you have."

"Well, Hetty can take most of the credit for that," Callen said. "Buying furniture and decorating isn't really my thing."

"Well, you really do have a lovely home here. A few little touches here and there and it could be quite cozy."

"Is that what I need? A cozy house?" Callen asked in amusement.

"Well, it might be nice to come home at night to a cozy house...maybe a little kitten to keep you company."

Callen started to laugh. "Have you been talking to Sam about this? You sound just like him. Trust me, Nell. I don't need a kitten or a puppy or a even a fluffy little bunny. I'm good by myself."

"It was just a thought," Nell said with a slight shrug.

"Come on, Nell, don't be sad...I'm fine, really I am. Plus you and the rest of the team have been taking such good care of me. I couldn't ask for more than that."

"I'm not sad, Callen. I just worry," Nell said. "It's just part of my nature."

Just then the doorbell rang and Nell quickly got up and made her way to the door. "Hi Deeks," she said, smiling at him as she led him into Callen's house.

"Good morning, Nellosaurus," Deeks said, returning her smile. He looked over at Callen and his smile faded a bit, but he managed to keep up appearances. "Hey, Callen. How are you feeling?"

"Hey Deeks, I'm good," Callen said. "How are you doing?"

"No complaints."

"I'm going to leave for work," Nell said. "Take care of yourself, Callen. You guys have a good day."

"Thanks for everything, Nell," Callen said earnestly. "I really appreciate it."

"No problem. You two behave yourself." She then headed out, leaving Deeks and Callen alone.

"So, you sure you're doing okay?" Deeks asked, his eyes fixed on Callen's casted leg. He forced himself to look away from it, knowing that it was only making him feel worse.

Callen nodded. "Yeah, just kind of tired. I want to take a shower so I may need a little bit of help."

"Sure, whatever you need...I was thinking, maybe later, we can get out of here, go grab some lunch somewhere."

"Yeah?" Callen's eyes brightened at the prospect of getting out of the house. "That sounds really good, Deeks. I'd love to get out of here for a while."

"You've got it then," Deeks said, glad that there was something he could do to make Callen feel at least a little bit better.

xxxxx

After Callen was showered and dressed, he settled himself back on the couch to rest for a bit. "Can I get you anything?" Deeks asked, unsure of what exactly he was supposed to do.

"You can answer a question for me," Callen said, staring at Deeks, his eyes dead serious.

"Yeah?" Deeks sat on the sofa next to Callen and gave him a bit of a nervous glance. "What about?"

"I think you know…"

Deeks looked at Callen, then looked down at his hands which were clasped in his lap. He felt horrible and couldn't even look at Callen. "I'm really sorry, Callen."

"You should be sorry," Callen said. "I mean seriously, America's Next Top Model? What the hell were you thinking?"

"Huh?" Deeks stared at Callen in total confusion.

"I would have never done that to you," Callen said with a put-on hurt look. "You could have talked her out of it. How can you even watch that?"

Deeks smirked at Callen. "Did you even try to watch it? I mean, some of those girls are pretty hot."

"Yes, I tried. Not my cup of tea. And I don't believe it's yours either."

Deeks shrugged, a smile touching his lips. "Believe what you want, G-man. All I'll say is Kensi is always very grateful when I sit down and spend an evening watching it with her. It is totally worth the effort."

Callen rolled his eyes and leaned his head back against the top of the couch. "Okay, Deeks. I don't need to hear anymore." He definitely didn't want to know what went on behind closed doors in Kensi and Deeks' relationship.

"You hungry?" Deeks asked. "I can make you some breakfast."

Callen shook his head and covered his mouth with his hand as he yawned. "No thanks. I'm not really hungry. Feel free to make yourself something though and there's a tin of cookies in the kitchen as well."

Deeks frowned as he looked at Callen. "Are you okay?

Callen nodded, suddenly feeling really sleepy. "Yeah, I'm fine, Deeks. Just kinda tired. Anyhow, I don't want to eat too much or I won't be hungry for lunch."

"Yeah, but...you didn't eat anything, did you?"

"Uh...I don't know…" Callen murmured right before dropping off.

Deeks couldn't help wondering what was up with that. Callen wasn't one to drop off in the middle of a conversation, but Kensi had said his sleep was messed up the other day. Maybe that was still the case. Deeks took his cell phone and went into the guest room and closed the door. He then dialed Kensi's number.

"Hey babe," Kensi answered, instantly putting a smile on Deeks' lips. "Are you already having trouble with Callen?"

"Actually, he fell asleep," Deeks said.

Kensi giggled. "Don't tell me you're already boring him. I got further with him than that."

"Yeah, he already blamed me for the whole America's Next Top Model thing," Deeks said with mock anger in his voice which only served to make Kensi giggle again.

"Oh you think that's funny do you?" Deeks asked with a grin.

"Oh I definitely do," Kensi replied.

"Alright...I'll let you get back to work...I just wanted to hear your voice, I guess."

"You're going to be fine, Deeks," Kensi told him. "Do what Hetty said, take him out for a while and it will all be good."

"Okay, babe...I love you."

"I love you too."

xxxxx

Callen slept for a full two hours and when he awoke, he saw Deeks sitting on the other end of the couch, doing something on his laptop. "Hey Callen, I thought you were down for the count," Deek said, glancing over at him. Callen was looking back at him, his eyes looking a little bit dazed.

"Hey man, what's wrong with you?" Deeks asked. "Are you alright?"

Callen nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"You're not acting fine," Deeks said.

"Because I fell asleep?" Callen asked, looking incredulous. "Really?"

Deeks shrugged. "It's not your M.O. man."

Callen rolled his eyes. "Fine, if you must know, I took a pain pill early this morning. They tend to knock me out so I try not to take them too often, but I took one today so there you have it."

"Oh…" Deeks was silent for a long pause and then he looked back at Callen sympathetically. "Are you in a lot of pain?"

"It's not so bad," Callen said. "This morning it was just worse than usual and I needed a pill…" It wasn't something he was proud of, but his leg had been throbbing incessantly and he finally hadn't been able to stand it anymore. He'd taken a pill and it had eased the pain and helped him to go back to sleep.

"The doctor gave you the pills for a reason. It's nothing to be ashamed of…" Deeks could easily read the look in Callen's eyes.

"I'm not." Callen's answer was short and clipped and left no doubt in Deeks' mind that this topic of conversation was done with.

"Okaaaay…" Deeks glanced at the time on his laptop and saw that it was almost 11:30. "What time would you like to go out? Any time is good with me." He had thought he'd be having breakfast with Callen but when Callen had passed on breakfast, Deeks had settled for eating some of the delicious chocolate chip cookies in the tin.

"Whenever you'd like," Callen said with a shrug.

"Alright, if you're ready, let's just go now," Deeks said. Maybe getting out for a while would make Callen feel better. He was pretty sure it would make he, himself, feel better anyway.

Callen slowly made his way out to Deeks' SUV with Deeks keeping his eye on him to make sure he was okay. After both men were seatbelted inside, Deeks started the vehicle and they were off.

For a while, they were both quiet as they listened to the music on the radio, but Callen began to relax more as he looked out the window at the passing scenery and he finally spoke. "So, where are we headed?"

"I thought we'd head to Tessa's, this beachfront restaurant I know," Deeks said. "It's pretty quiet during the week and parking will be easy so you won't have far to walk. Not that it really matters. I can just drop you off at the door. I think there's a bench in front. Unless, did you have something particular in mind?"

Callen shook his head. "No, that sounds good to me." He was honestly just happy to be out of the house. He wasn't going to be picky about where they were going.

The drive was a picturesque one which was one of the reasons Deeks had chosen this particular restaurant. After about 45 minutes, they arrived at Tessa's. As Deeks had predicted, it was relatively quiet and he was able to park right near the front door.

A hostess approached them as soon as they entered the restaurant. "Good afternoon, gentlemen. Would you like to be seated inside or out on the patio?"

"Callen?" Deeks looked toward the other man, allowing him to make the decision.

"I don't know...it's a nice day. Patio?" he asked Deeks.

Deeks nodded, pleased with the decision. "Patio it is."

The hostess led the two men out to the patio and they were given a table in the corner overlooking the water. "This is really nice," Callen said, impressed with the view and glad they were eating outside. "Do you and Kensi come here?"

"Sometimes," Deeks said. "We're usually so busy though that we stay more local."

The waitress came over and took their drink orders and left a basket of hot rolls on the table. Callen suddenly found himself starving and he took one of the rolls and smeared it with a generous amount of butter. "Mmm…" he said after he had taken a bite. "These are good."

"They are good," Deeks said as he took one. "They make them onsite. They're kind of addictive though. It's hard to eat just one."

"That's good, because I wasn't planning on having just one," Callen said with a smile. His mood was drastically improved being outside. He almost felt normal again. "So what's good?" he asked, as he started to look through the menu.

"I've never had anything I haven't liked," Deeks said. "The steak tips are really good, the baked chicken, pasta dishes. Whatever you want, I'm pretty sure you'll like it."

"Steak tips sound good to me." Callen quickly made his decision.

"I think I might get those too," Deeks said. "All the salad dressings are also homemade, really good."

The two men placed their orders and were relatively quiet until Deeks finally decided he needed to give Callen his long overdue apology. "So…" he began as he nervously buttered another roll.

"Yeah?" Callen gave Deeks a curious look, noting that he looked much more serious than normal. "What's up?"

"I need to apologize to you for what happened…"

"For what happened?" Callen asked, giving Deeks a blank look. "What happened? What are you talking about?" He literally had no idea what the younger man was referring to.

Deeks sighed heavily. "For your broken leg, Callen."

Callen smirked. "What do you mean? You weren't driving the car. Is there something I don't know about? Did you hire the driver or something?"

"Of course not," Deeks said, still totally serious.

"So...I don't get it."

"I didn't warn you in time," Deeks said. "I saw the car coming straight at you and I didn't shout out fast enough. I didn't help you. I didn't push you out of the way or anything…"

"You couldn't have pushed me out of the way. You weren't even near me," Callen said, still not believing they were even having this conversation, but he could tell by Deeks' expression and the guilty look in his eyes that this was no joke. "And you warned me fast enough that I jumped up out of the way and the car only hit my leg and not my abdomen or chest. The guy wanted to kill me, Deeks. You likely saved my life."

Deeks shook his head. "I don't think so…"

"I don't think so either," Callen said. "I know so. Seriously, Deeks. If I had even thought this was an issue for you, I would have talked to you when it happened. It wasn't your fault, not in any way."

"Really?" Deeks asked, still having a hard time believing it.

"Really. Come on man. We're supposed to be out having a good time. You shouldn't be beating yourself up for no reason. It's a broken leg. It's going to get better."

"You hate being laid up. I know you do."

Callen rolled his eyes. "Did you not hear me? You weren't driving the car. By the way, I'm guessing he hasn't been brought in yet?"

Deeks shook his head. "Not so far. He's gone with the wind." They had managed to track down the identity of the assailant from the agency the car had been rented from. It was, a guy Callen had sent to prison 10 years before who had just been released, Eddie Guthrey. The team was still actively trying to track him down, but so far hadn't had any luck.

Callen nodded, not particularly worried about Guthrey. "So can we end this now? No more guilt?"

"I guess…"

"Come on Deeks."

"Fine," Deeks said, a faint smile on his lips. "No more guilt."

The waitress came over to the table with their salads and Callen smiled at Deeks. "Good, now let's forget about my broken leg and enjoy our lunch."