FRIDAY - CONTINUED
As the evening rolls around, they've made very little progress. Rountree pulls everyone together on a call to go over what little new information they have.
"We have a lead on Kensi's car," he tells the group. Deeks realizes that he hadn't even gotten around to wondering what happened to it yet as Rountree continues. "Kensi drove it to Palmdale, and around 3AM its GPS shows someone drove it away, and we know it wasn't Kensi."
"Another shooter?" Fatima postulates.
"The 911 caller?" Roundtree offers.
"The child's mother?" Sam wonders.
"Where did it go?" Callen asks, needing more information before he guesses.
"It drove downtown, and then we lose it somewhere around here," he answers, putting a map on the screen in Ops and following its route. "I'll send you guys the map," he promises, realizing that people can't see what he is looking at.
"Is it still there?" Deeks asks.
"We aren't getting a signal anymore."
"Maybe someone used it to get away and then when it was safe disabled the GPS," Fatima offers. "Or maybe it entered an underground parking facility."
"Send a team to that area to canvas for it," Kilbride instructs. "And where are we with the inventory?"
"Inventory?" Sam repeats looking for more information.
"There was a grenade used at the scene. I had Agent Namazi complete an inventory of our grenade supply in the armory to make sure it wasn't one of ours," Kilbride explains.
"Wait, you think that Kensi was the aggressor here?" Deeks is instantly angry.
"No, I'm saying that Agent Blye was found tonight in a stranger's house with a baby in her arms that is not hers. I'm saying that people, including all of us, want to know what happened, and that she has access to grenades from the armory and I want to know if it was one of ours. Someone is going to ask the question, Investigator Deeks."
"You think she brought a grenade home from the office on the off chance that she what? Went to Palmdale and found a baby to take? What are you even saying. You can't be serious." Deeks voice shows every drop of annoyance he has for Kilbride right now. He's glad that they are joined to the call from another location, and he isn't close enough to display his displeasure in person. Sam puts a hand on Deeks' shoulder - a sign of support, a tether to the moment. Deeks is spinning, and Sam needs him to remember that he is not alone, and that everyone here is on Kensi's side.
"All grenades in our inventory for the last three years have been accounted for," Fatima jumps in to calm the brewing storm. "The grenade wasn't one of ours. We'll see if the forensic analysis of it gives us any hints about its origin."
Callen thanks her and ends the call. It's been a long day for everyone. They worked the op overnight and rolled right into the Kensi situation before the sun came up, and they've been going ever since. The evening has brought all the exhaustion and frayed nerves that might be expected, and then some, but no one has a great way to mitigate. He realizes no one has eaten in a while, and he and Sam go to remedy the situation.
Deeks wants to tell them not to bother bringing something back. He's at the point where he would rather be hungry than around people, but he knows coming back is how they show support – it's how they express their love for Kensi without words.
With a little time before he needs to be back in Kensi's room, he wanders down the hall in front of the nursery window as has become his custom, taking a look at the little girl whose ID bracelet matches his own. His mind flashes back to the morning when the nurse put it on. He can't for the life of him imagine what he was thinking when he was silent in that moment – when he just held her like she was a lifeline to whatever happened to Kensi. When he held her like she was his little girl.
With even what little information and perspective the day has brought, he knows it would be a bad idea to spend more time with the child. And yet, here he is.
The nurse at the desk approaches him, a clipboard and a folder in her hand.
"I'm sorry to have to catch you with this. We have a little paperwork for you to sign for your daughter, and we don't have a name listed. We can't call her Baby Girl Blye forever."
Deeks chest tightens when he hears the words.
It takes everything in him to answer truthfully, to not imagine a life that isn't his.
"I don't know her name."
"I'm sorry? What?"
"I'm not her father. My partner was injured saving her life and I've just been checking in on her. I thought it's what my partner would've wanted me to do."
"I thought it was your wife that was injured."
"My partner is my wife," he clarifies. "She's my everything, I guess."
The nurse recognizes the pain in the worry on his face. "How is she doing?"
"Um, surgery went well, still waiting for her to wake up."
"I hope she comes back to you soon."
"Thank you." He starts to leave but has one more thought. "What will happen to her?" he asks, his eyes fixed on the little girl through the window.
"We'll inform Family Services about her situation. They'll take custody of her. She has a clean bill of health, so that will likely happen quickly." She grabs a pair of scissors out of some hidden pocket in the scrubs she's wearing and gestures to his wrist. "I'll just ..."
He looks down at the bracelet secured to his wrist. "Oh yeah," His other hand fidgets with his bangs as he presents the bracelet to the nurse. The sound the scissors make when the metal snips together and cuts the bracelet clean is probably only loud to him. The nurse discards it in the trash and he stares for a moment. Then he makes his way back to Kensi. He kisses his wife goodnight and settles into the couch. He's drifted to sleep listening to the beeps and whirs in her room when food arrives. Despite his desire to be alone, the food is needed, and the men eat in silence, which Deeks appreciates as much as the sustenance. Exhaustion overtakes him with a full stomach in a dimly lit room, and he succumbs to the call of dreamless sleep just inches from where she is.
SATURDAY
In the morning there are no changes. Another round of scans show Kensi's contusion stabilizing, which they tell him is good news. Deeks is gun shy from the agonizing wait for her to come back to him after the helicopter crash. What they say is good news is just a reminder of how long she was unconscious before and what a mystery the brain is, even to the experts. He tries to align his version of good news with theirs and be encouraged. The nursing team comes into Kensi's room to check on her as his phone rings, and he steps into the hall to take the call from Fatima.
"Please have something for me." He's desperate for progress.
"Maybe. We got the records for the burner cell that called you. The phone had only ever called one number other than yours, regular communication over an extended period of time. It's a lawyer. Jasper Grimes."
"JD?" he asks without thinking.
"JG," she corrects.
"No, his nickname is JD," Deeks explains.
"Wait, you know him?" Fatima wonders.
Deeks remembers him from his lawyer days. JD with a JD he used to joke at him. He was starting out as Public Defender when Deeks was starting his law career. Good guy. Never phoned it in. Honest, and not on the take. He was a lot like Deeks, but with a less athletic build, and very short hair. Deeks liked him. They crossed paths more than once, and it was always about what was best for people.
"Yeah, we started our law careers around the same time."
"The cell called that number after it called 911, and the last known location of Kensi's car is in the vicinity of an office for the law firm he works at."
"That seems like too much to be a coincidence," Deeks agrees.
"Sam and Callen are going to track him down and ask him some questions. We didn't know you had a connection. Do you want them to wait for you?"
Deeks thinks about it, but in the end, he doesn't want to leave Kensi. "No – just tell me what they find out."
"How is Kensi?"
"Doctors are encouraged, hoping she wakes up soon." He leaves it at that.
"Let us know if you need anything."
It's a few hours later when Callen and Sam get back to the hospital to talk to Deeks. Despite his personal connection to Deeks, Grimes had no information he was willing to share about the phone number or the phone calls or who the mystery person was, but it was clear he knew. He claimed client-attorney privilege and asked NCIS to leave.
He did ask about Kensi's condition, they tell Deeks, which confirms whoever JD's been talking to knew that Kensi had been injured. Deeks rolls his eyes. The name of the client isn't privileged. JD would know that, so if he didn't disclose it he was just stalling. Deeks wonders if the conversation would have gone better if he'd been there. Then at least he would have done something productive instead of making himself crazy at the hospital.
The NCIS team is catching up in the waiting area on the floor and they notice two men with LAPD badges pass through the lobby and head down the hall. Deeks tries not to pay them any attention knowing that his LAPD past has left him distrustful and on edge when his former comrades are in the vicinity. He is distracted from the conversation with his team, and when he sees the cops put their hand on the door to Kensi's room and push it open, he takes off, Sam and Callen right behind him.
"Hey! Can I help you?" he shouts in their direction, but they ignore him and continue. Deeks joins them in the room with the team right with him.
They hold their badges in front of them and ask if there are updates on 'Blye's" condition and when she might be ready for questions.
"Agent Blye," Deeks reminds them as a warning about showing Kensi some respect. "And the when will be up to her doctors after she regains consciousness. Can we step outside?" He asks, trying to put distance between them and Kensi and preserve he peace.
"Agent Blye," one of them says, correcting himself. "We'd like to ask her some questions about the child taken from Salazar's house in Palmdale."
"Well, she didn't remove the child from a house in Palmdale," Deeks points out. "EMTs did. And she isn't medically cleared to be questioned." Deeks says emphatically. "And I thought NCIS was taking lead on this case."
"The case is bigger than just how Agent Blye was injured. There are questions about the child, questions about her connection to the child's parents, the whereabouts of the child's mother... you can imagine there are a lot of dimensions to this ... situation ... that need looking into."
"And we can look into all of them while we were investigating what happened Thursday night," Sam assures them trying to diffuse the tension and give Deeks some support.
"Well we're doing some investigating, too," the detective throws back.
"Investigate away," Sam tell them as he steps closer and gestures grandly at the door. "But for now, it's time for you to leave," he tells him leaving no room for interpretation.
"We'll be back," they announce and step back out into the hallway. Everyone in the room takes a deep breath with their exit, and it's Callen who states the obvious.
"We need to figure out who that baby girl is, and fast."