Kensi clasped Deeks cheeks between her palms, his head slack, eyes closed. Fortunately, he hadn't taken a hard fall, but the heat emanating from his skin was worrisome. She licked her suddenly dry lips as she briskly rubbed his burning skin.

"Deeks. Deeks, hey, open your eyes for me, baby," she urged.

"Was he hit?" Sam asked from behind her, and she didn't spare him a glance, busy finding his pulse. It raced beneath her fingers.

"No, he just passed out and has a high fever," Kensi explained.

"I'll get Eric on it."

Kensi continued rubbing Deeks' face and chest, barely registering as he described the situation to Eric. Placing her closed fist in the center of Deeks' chest, she rubbed directly over his sternum with enough force she worried she'd leave bruises. Her efforts were rewarded though when Deeks groaned miserably and cracked his eyes open.

"Hey, baby." His eyes, glassy and red, shifted at the sound of her voice. "Can you stay awake for me?" He nodded once to her question. "Good. We're going to get you help soon, ok sweetie?"

"Clear!" Sam announced over comms, his voice filling OPS where Admiral Kilbride, Eric, and Fatima were grouped. "We got Whitley."

Eric and Fatima visibly relaxed, glancing back at the Admiral, who had been monitoring the operation closely. The entire office had been on tenterhooks the last week; Eric hoped that they would return to normalcy, or at least what passed for it with this team once this case was closed.

"Good. Inform me when they return," Kilbride instructed, starting to turn towards the sliding doors.

"Yes, Sir," Fatima responded from beside him. Her shoulders and voice tense. She'd found the changes particularly difficult to deal with. Eric sympathized with her. Things never felt quite right when Nell was out of the office or in the field.

A sudden commotion in his ear had Eric leaning forward. Kensi was saying Deeks' name repeatedly, her voice panicked.

"Eric, we need an ambulance for Deeks," Sam said tersely over the other chatter. "High fever, fast pulse, and reduced response."

"I'm putting in the request now."

"What the hell is going on?" Kilbride demanded, standing over Eric's shoulder with a glower that would have cowed him if he wasn't concentrating on Sam's words.

"Deeks just collapsed," he explained shortly, fingers flying across his keyboard as he filled in Deeks' biographical information and current condition.

"What? I thought there weren't any casualties on our side."

"There weren't." Eric shot the admiral a dark look; though he wasn't privy to the exact details, like everyone else, he knew Kensi and Deeks were on some kind of probation. He also had been victim to Kilbride's unpredictable anger, his mood swings depending on the weather, the little annoyances of the day, and stressful cases.

Usually, he held a great amount of respect for the Admiral, but in this case, he was completely on Deeks and Kensi's side. They'd earned his loyalty through the years. He couldn't say the same for their supervisor.

"Sam, ETA for the ambulance is 15 minutes," he said. "Keep us updated on Deeks."

The tip of Kensi's boot tapped against a gray linoleum tile, her clenched fists tucked under her folded arms. Across from her, Deeks lay on his stomach on a hospital bed, drifting in and out of sleep.

She'd managed to get a couple sips of water into Deeks after propping him up against a post. Though he remained conscious until the ambulance arrived, the was far from lucid. In fact, she was pretty sure his temperature had increased in that short time.

After that, the trip to the hospital had been a blur. On the way, Deeks' temperature had spiked to a 104, which had set off the sensor on some machine and put the paramedics into a frenzy. They'd started him on fluids and a fever reducer and fortunately by the time they reached the hospital, his temperature had lowered slightly.

With his temp and racing pulse in mind, he was immediately brought to a cubicle. While Kensi explained his recent injuries, and progressing symptoms, two nurses had removed his shirt. The fabric had been practically glued to the wounds with discharge, and the resulting process of peeling the shirt off and placing temporary bandages had Deeks shaking in pain.

The wounds themselves were bright red, raised, and weeping. Kensi could only imagine how much pain Deeks had been in over the past several days as they steadily grew worse.

She leaned forward at the thought and brushed her knuckles across his cheeks, easing a few strands of hair back. Deeks lifted his head slowly in response, the ghost of an uneven smile curving his lips.

"I think a Kensi Blye kiss would make it all better," he said, winking before he flopped his head back down. The color was still high in his cheeks and the visible skin of his neck and chest though.

"Somebody's feeling better," Kensi observed, stretching forward to kiss him several times. She exhaled softly in relief.

"Yeah, I think they have me on the good antibiotics." He groaned and rubbed a hand down one side of his face. "Sam and Callen are never going to let me live this down," he murmured. "Taken down by a couple of burns."

"Horribly infected burns," Kensi corrected firmly. "The doctor said you're lucky they caught it before you actually went septic." She laid her hand over his shoulder, careful to avoid the bandages. "You should have told me it was this bad, Deeks."

"I didn't realize it was." Kensi gave him a sharp look and he amended with a nod of his head. "Ok, I knew it was getting worse, but I didn't think I was septic." He twisted his head to kiss her palm, brows furrowing. "I'm sorry."

When he looked at her that way, eyes all soft and vulnerable, she couldn't stay upset for long.

"I was just really worried."

"I know."

"I'll be more careful after this."

Kensi snorted, shoulders shaking as she started to laugh in earnest. "Right, like that's going to happen."

Deeks stretched across the bed to kiss her, groaning when it pulled on his back.

A nurse poking her into the cubicle interrupted the moment, and Kensi straightened, expecting an update on Deeks' status.

"Agent Blye?"

"Yes?"

"There's an Admiral Kilbride in the waiting room, who'd like to speak to you," the nurse explained.

Kensi glanced to Deeks and he nodded encouragingly.

"Go ahead, I'll be fine," he assured her.

"Ok, I'll be right back," she said, giving him once kiss. She was reluctant to leave him alone at all.

When she made it to the waiting room, Kilbride was angrily pacing. She waited until he turned back to face her, arms folded against her chest.

"Sir, I heard you needed to speak with me. I assume you'd like my statement," she said calmly, even though anger was brewing in her chest.

"No I do not," he retorted. "I'd like to know what you're doing here when I did not give approval for you to leave your post."

"Deeks needed someone to escort him." Before he could interrupt her, she added, "He was incoherent with poor vital signs when they arrived. I assume you wanted him to receive the correct medical treatment."

"Don't pull that with me, Blye. I doubt it was all that serious." He shook his head dismissively, muttering something that sounded distinctly like "drama queens".

And Kensi's self-control flew completely out the window. "The wounds on Deeks' back are severely infected, he had a fever of 104 degrees when we came in," she said, her voice now dangerously calm. "A few more hours and he would have been septic. I don't care what you think, I wasn't about to leave him alone in that condition. So yes, I broke protocol. And I would do it again."

"Well if he'd been more upfront about the situation, things might have turned out differently."

"You told Deeks to wait until the case was closed," Kensi said, patience, and respect, nonexistent. "Are you telling me that if Deeks had admitted he wasn't feeling well and needed medical help, you wouldn't have held it against him?"

"Agent Blye, you know why the two of you were disciplined—"

"You've been biased against Deeks from the day you walked in," she cut him off. "You can't see past the way he looks or acts, and you let that get in the way. It's not the first time it's happened to him, but I had certainly hoped someone in your position would figure it out more quickly."

"I've treated Deeks no differently than any other operative," Kilbride insisted. "And I take offense to your tone, agent."

"For anyone else what you thought you saw would have gotten a verbal warning, not an unspecified period of probation without any specific terms." Kensi shook her head, thinking of Deeks' red, swollen wounds. "And because of your bias, you didn't listen when both he and a senior agent explicitly told you he needed professional medical attention."

"Well, I wouldn't have needed to question him if he didn't make a habit of screwing around while on job. I can't name the number of nonsensical things I've heard come out of his mouth, or seen him do since I took supervision of this team.

"That maybe be true, but Deeks has never let that get on the way of his ability to perform his job incredibly well. Many people realize it's actual an asset." Kilbride made a scornful noise, and she stepped closer, lowering her voice. Not because she didn't want anyone else to hear, but so Kilbride might actually listen. "Think about this. If Deeks was so unprofessional, do you think he would work while injured? He followed your new rules, he did his job, and he didn't complain once."

Shaking her head, Kensi pressed her lips together, deciding she needed to stop before she said something truly terrible. "I need to get back to Deeks," she said.

Kilbride's eyes flashed. "Agent Blye, I'm not finished with you yet."

"My partner needs me," she continued, turning away from him. "You'll have my full report tomorrow."

A/N: No, I don't think Kensi would really get away with talking to Kilbride that way.

And yes, I'm playing a little fast and loose with medical issues again.