Chapter 2

They made their way to Callen's home first.
He packed in less than 5 minutes and then he placed a call to Sam who answered with a sleepy voice.

"Hey, G you ok? " He glanced at his watch "It's 4am in the morning ...!" he exclaimed he knew G didn't sleep at nights, but he never called him unless it was an emergency.

"I know Sam" Callen sighed "Just wanted you to know that I'm bailing out for a couple of days" he paused for a moment, "I'll be taking Deeks with me," he told his sleepy partner.

"Wait, why G? What's wrong? If you take Deeks then what's going to happen with Kensi? She needs him more than anyone right now!"

"Sam he just broke down in the gym after beating the hell out of the punching bag. Deeks can't help Kensi right now, he's totally burned out, both physically and emotionally." Callen explained quietly, even though Deeks was still sitting in his car and couldn't hear him.

"You think something went wrong during the Mission?" Sam asked.

"I don't know Sam, all I know is if he keeps going on like this then he will be a ticking bomb ready to explode." Callen looked through his window, Deeks worried him. He was still sitting in the car staring out of the window but not really looking at anything. It was as if his body was there but his mind had just gone. The only sign of life was the occasional tear he wasn't hiding but fell soundlessly into his lap.

"Ok G, but please let me know if I can help." Sam said.

"Will you let Hetty know?" Callen asked.

Sam sighed again, "You haven't told her?"

Callen laughed "I left her a message, but I'm not sure she'll find it, besides, would you call her at 4am for anything less than a nuclear attack?"

"Point taken, ok I'll do it, now go and let me get some sleep." Sam groused over the phone.

"Will do, bye Sam" G said and closed the phone.

"Take care G , both of you" Sam said to the dial tone that replaced Callen's voice, "I hope you know what you are doing." He mused aloud to himself.

Sam hung up and turned over, hugging Michelle he fell asleep for what little remained of his night.

Callen walked to the car, put his stuff in the back and drove over to Deeks' apartment.

"We're here." Callen said.

Deeks didn't move.

"Deeks?" Callen said again.

Deeks just stared out of the window as if in a trance, Callen called him 3 more times to get his attention, still nothing worked so he tried to shake him.
Deeks flinched and moved away from the hands that grabbed him.

"Deeks, it's Callen, are you ok, we're at your place, we need to pick up Monty and your stuff." He reminded him gently.

Deeks nodded and got out of the car following Callen up the stairs and handed him the key to his apartment.

As Callen opened the door a streak of brown grey white and black fur sped past him and proceeded to jump up excitedly at Deeks.

"Hey boy!" Deeks said his voice sounding flat and sad.

Monty stopped and sat at his master's feet his head cocked at an angle and he looked at Callen as if to ask what was wrong.

Callen smiled, "Come on Deeks, make sure you've got all you need, and for Monty too." He said grabbing Monty's bowls from the kitchen floor and giving them a rinse before he put them in the bag with the dog kibble.
Monty looked like he hadn't seen Deeks in ages and Callen wondered how long it had been since Deeks had been home.

Deeks took a bit longer than Callen to pack his bag, mostly because unlike Callen, his bag wasn't already packed.

But within the hour, just as the Sun was rising they hit the PCH and headed north.

Now on the road again Callen couldn't just wait any longer and asked "How long Deeks? How long did you think you could keep going like that?"

Deeks shrugged and stared out of the window.

"Did you really think no one would see right through that wall you built? That no one cared enough to notice that you are struggling too? "

"You haven't before." Deeks said softly.

Callen sighed, Deeks was right, there had been times before when Deeks had been hurting and the team had not been there for him, small things that Callen who had been through similar experiences noticed, but had elected to let the detective sort them out on his own.
Deeks resumed staring out of the window.

Callen got on the PCH 1 north to Malibu; he drove past the homes of the rich and famous and pulled up at an older slightly ramshackle house at the end of the beach. Pulling up Deeks looked around.

"Where are we?" he asked.

"Malibu, my house…and no you can't tell the others." Callen grinned.

For this was not the house Sam knew about, or one of the places he had stayed in as a child, this was his, he had won the home in a poker game years ago when he was in the CIA, the agent who lost the home was moving abroad and hadn't minded the loss of the house. This was where Callen came to recharge and rejuvenate his soul and he hoped that Deek would benefit from some time here.

Deeks looked at the house, it was wooden, built right on the beach, far enough away that no one came up here, it had a large wooden patio with an outdoor grill and two fishing poles leant against the side of the house, Deek smiled as he saw the surfboards too.

"You surf?" Deeks asked with a small grin.

Callen shook his head, "Na, came with the house." He admitted.

He opened the door and Monty rushed past them to explore this new place he would be staying with his master.

Deeks looked around the inside had been retrofitted, it was brand new, there was a safe in the living room and a door to a basement that Deeks would have sworn was not in the original plans.

"Nice."

Callen smiled, "Thanks, You're room is here…you have a great view of the Ocean." He said, he remembered Deeks saying that the Ocean calmed him. He left Monty and Deeks in the room, to get some sleep, as he walked down the stairs and opened the basement door.

He walked down into his Armory and stock room, there were enough supplies to outlast a war, and Callen was nothing if not prepared. He took his gun and cleaned it then put it with the others. He walked over to a lone chair sat in front of a TV screen grabbed a beer from the fridge situated next to the chair and put the TV on.

He watched as the sun rose over the ocean on the monitors that were angled to look that way.

Callen wasn't a stand on the beach and watch the sunrise kinda guy, but sitting in his basement surrounded by guns and watching it on a monitor with a beer, now that he could do.

As he drank his thoughts turned to how he could help his friend who was according to the other monitor he had on flat out face down on the bed sleeping with one arm draped over a very patient dog.