Views of the team, from the eyes of the Couch

THE COUCH

G Callen

Sam walked into the Bullpen in the morning, seeing Deeks and Kensi coming in shortly after him. Sam looked around, noticing that Callen was not here.

"You guys see Callen?" He said as Deeks unpacked his things.

"Not since last night." Deeks shook his head.

"Me neither." Kensi said.

"He is usually here by now. Wonder what is up." Sam said as he pulled his phone out and dialed Callen's number.

Everyone stood, a brief feeling of worry building up when they heard a ringing sound. They looked around trying to find the source. After a moment they realized the sound was coming from the couch. Under the large quilt there was motion and a groggy sound. "Yea?"

"Wakey, Wakey." Sam said, smiling as the quilt was thrown off and Callen blinked.

"What time is it" He said, sitting up, a loud pop coming from his back.

"Dude. We've talked about this." Sam said

"You have a house now." Deeks picked up

"Guys" Callen said before he was cut off

"And why here? Surely you could have slept at Joelle's" Kensi said

"What did you do to piss her off this time?" Sam said, his face turning sour.

"Guys…" Callen repeated.

"You better fix this soon, man. Hell hath no fury." Deeks said.

"No joke, Callen." Kensi said.

"GUYS!" Callen said a lot louder, shutting all 3 of them up.

"I am not having issues with Joelle. There was a water main break under my house that flooded the basement causing some foundation damage. I spent almost all last night trying to secure everything and get a crew working on saving the house before the foundation collapses. By the time that was all done it was 4 am and Joelle has to get up at 5 to get ready for class so I didn't want to bother her. The repair work is going to take the better part of a week before I can go back in there so I was planning on calling her this afternoon and explaining everything." Callen said.

The 3 stood silent for a second before Kensi broke it.

"Oh. That makes sense" She said, earning a Really? glance from Callen.

"Sorry about that." Sam said, apologizing for jumping the gun.

"Come on, let's go get you some coffee, my treat." Deeks said, nodding toward the door.

"Thanks guys, I'm probably going to need it." As they all left to visit the coffee stand around the corner.

Eric Beale and Nell Jones

Nell opened her eyes and instantly regretted it. She couldn't help as a groan escaped her lips as she felt a hand on her side. She felt his leg under the pillow she was resting on

"How is your head?" A familiar voice asked.

"Still hurts. Feels like jackhammers in my skull" She mumbled.

"Here" He said, bringing a glass of water with a straw sticking out.

She accepted the straw and took a drink of the water. She didn't realize how parched her mouth was until she drank.

Eric set the glass aside and reached into a bowl. She heard liquid dripping as he rung out a wash cloth. Gently he dabbed the cloth on her forehead, cheeks, and neck. Putting it back in the bowl he soaked it and rung it out again before folding in up and laid it over her eyes. The cold water on her skin felt so good to her.

"I found cold water helps with headaches, even if it is temporary." He said in a low voice.

"I hate migraines." She mumbled again.

"Yea they are not fun. I don't get them often, but when I do they knock me flat out." He said, softly stroking her cheek as she closed her eyes.

"Shouldn't you be working?" She asked.

"I'm using a laptop down here. I have everything covered." He said, typing on the keyboard with one hand.

"Once you start to feel a little better I'll take you home so you can sleep in a nice, quiet, dark room." He continued, running his thumb across her jawline.

She took his hand and squeezed it gently.

"Are you feeling nauseous at all?" He asked. She softly shook her head in response.

"That's good. Tell me if you do, ok? Right now just rest." He said.

She wanted to kiss him as thanks but not wanting to have her head explode in pain she brought his hand to her lips and placed a gentle kiss on the back of his hand before releasing it so he could go back to typing.

Sam Hannah

Deeks sat at his desk, typing up a report to send off to LAPD about a recent case that required both agencies. Deeks thanked his lucky stars that NCIS allowed him to file the LAPD formatted reports with NCIS instead of having him type it up all over again. He was certain Hetty had something to do with it.

Another groan broke the silence.

"How ya feeling over there, big guy?" Deeks said out loud.

A large belch sounded, followed by another groan.

"That bad, huh?" Deeks said.

He looked over to see Sam, lying on the couch, clutching his stomach.

"Big bad Navy Seal, taken down by some bad shrimp curry." Deeks said.

"Shut up, Deeks." Sam grunted out.

"This is the same guy who has fought off dysentery, twice. You survived that and you are going to let some food poisoning do you in?" Deeks continued.

"Deeks" Sam said again.

"Not really bad when you think about it. I once had some bad swordfish that gave me bad food poisoning. It sucked so hard. Guy slaved over that meal and the fish was bad. It was fried with pinaple rings, some mango salsa, biscuits, nice salad with Italian dressing. I spent a day and a half at the toilet puking my guts out…"

Before Sam could warn him again he grabbed the nearby trashcan and violently vomited into it, almost rolling off the couch in the process. Deeks cringed.

"Ooof, Thar he blows" He said, trying and failing to suppress a smile.

Sam looked up from the can, his head covered in sweat. His eyes looked like he was about to kill Deeks when Hetty walked up.

"How is your stomach, Mr. Hannah?" She asked.

Not taking his eyes off Deeks his features softened. "A little better." He said.

She set a cup of tea down on the small table next to the couch.

"Ginger and Mint tea with Lemon and Honey. It should help settle your stomach. Maybe next time you should take Mr. Deeks' advice when it comes to staying away from certain seafood. He is a surfer after all." Hetty said, before walking away.

Deeks stood up and moved to grab the trash can. "I'll go clean this out for you." He said, giving Sam a smile.

"Thanks Deeks." Sam said as he lay back down.

"I got your back, big guy." Deeks said as he went outside to find a hose.

Kensi Blye and Marty Deeks

Callen and Sam truged into the Mission at 10 pm after trying to track down a lead. As they turned the corner they heard a loud snoring sound.

Sam patted Callen's chest with the back of his hand and pointed to the couch to see Kensi, Deeks, and even Monty, who was brought in earlier, asleep on the couch.

Looking back on it over the years, Callen and Sam would always question why they didn't start laughing at the sight. Kensi was sitting on the couch with her head back, her mouth open, and even a little drool coming out. Deeks was curled up, resting his head on her lap. Monty was curled up against him and Deeks had his arm around his canine friend.

Callen took out his phone and snapped a few photos.

"What are you doing?" Sam asked him.

"Do you seriously think I am going to pass up a potential blackmail moment like this?" Callen said with a wicked grin.

"You are hopeless." Sam said, rolling his eyes as he nudged Kensi.

She snorted away, which caused Deeks to, which caused Monty to as well.

"Wake up Shaggy, Scooby, and Daphnie." Sam said.

Deeks rubbed his eyes. "What time is it?" He asked.

"Almost midnight." Sam said.

"How did you two make out?" Kensi asked.

"Trail went cold. We are going to have to wait till tomorrow to get on his trail again." Callen said.

"Damn. Sorry about not being there, guys." Deeks said feeling guilty.

Sam held up his hand. "You guys did plenty this morning. Chasing after 8 suspects in a single day has got to be a record." He said.

"Yea it does take it out of you." Kensi replied.

"I think we should all go home and get a few hours sleep. We need to get back on this guy ASAP but we can't do it after pulling an almost 20 hour day." Callen said.

"Guess it's the couch for me tonight." Sam said as he gathered his things.

"In the doghouse there, Sam?" Deeks said.

"If I keep coming home after midnight I'll be sleeping there next." Sam said, chuckling as they all left for the night.

Hetty Lange

It was 8 pm on a Friday night. The team just wrapped up a smuggling case right in time for the weekend. Hetty had graciously given them an extra day off for the almost 2 weeks straight of hard work and they all decided to celebrate with drinks that night. Hetty went through the Mission after the last tech had left and began her usual shut down procedures. Turning lights, workstations, and monitors off. Sastisified she went back over to her desk and retrieved the tray that was sitting there. On it was her tea kettle, faint wisps of steam coming from it, a glass, and a steeper. She took it over and set it down at the end table next to the couch. She returned to her desk and retrieved a large leather bound book that she took back with her. Kicking her shoes off, she sat down on the couch, curling her legs off to the side before covering them with the quilt. Pouring herself a cup of tea she opened the book The Count of Monte Cristo and thumbed to the page she had book marked. She reached over, picked up her tea and took a drink, before returning it and turning the page.

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