Thanks so much to those who read and commented on the last chapter. I really appreciate it :)

xxxxx

"These eggs aren't very good," Callen said, pushing the rubberized scrambled eggs around on the plate with his fork. There was some soggy bacon and cold toast accompanying them, as well.

"Try to eat it anyway, Callen," Deeks said, making a heroic effort to eat his own breakfast. "It's not that bad."

Callen ate a few more bites, but ended up recovering the plate with the plastic dome and sipping from his small carton of orange juice.

Deeks ate a bit more of his breakfast than Callen had, but in the end, he ended up giving up on it also. In any case, he was relatively sure that Kensi would bring something good for lunch so they weren't going to starve. "So, are you feeling any better today?"

"I guess so," Callen said. "How about you?"

"I'm good. No real headache to speak of."

"Martin, darling!" Their conversation was interrupted by the sudden appearance of Roberta Deeks who walked into the room carrying what appeared to be a bakery box. She leaned down to give Deeks a kiss on his cheek and picked up the plastic dome from his plate to peer underneath. "Oh no, that won't do at all. I think I got here just in a nick of time." She replaced the dome with a look of distaste on her face.

"Momma...you're here really early," Deeks said.

"Kensi mentioned that you all had a meeting this afternoon and I didn't want to interfere. Though why you're having meetings while you're still in the hospital is beyond my understanding. Couldn't they wait until the two of you are home, at least? It seems ridiculous to me." She looked over at Callen. "How are you feeling today, sweetheart? Better I hope. You were asleep yesterday when I was here. I felt bad I couldn't talk to you, but I didn't want to wake you."

"I'm doing well, thank you, Mrs. Deeks," Callen said.

"Oh stop with this Mrs. Deeks," Roberta said. "I told you, just call me Roberta. All my friends do and I think we're friends now, don't you?"

"Yes, Roberta," Callen said, a slight tinge of pink covering his cheeks. Deeks chuckled to himself at the affect his exuberant mom had on the usually unflappable team leader.

"So, I was talking to this lovely woman in the elevator and she had a box from a place called Mendo's Bakery. She said they had the most amazing muffins. So I said to myself, I need to get some of these muffins for my boys. So I went right back downstairs and left the hospital to go get them. I didn't really know what kind you would want so I got an assortment. I hope they're as good as she said they are." Roberta brought the box over to Callen and opened it. "Take whichever ones you want. There are two of each kind."

"I think one is all I need right now," Callen said, picking a large blueberry muffin from the box. "These look delicious, thank you." Definitely much better than the supposed breakfast they had been served.

"Thanks, momma," Deeks said as he chose a chocolate chip muffin for himself. "Why don't you sit down now."

"Well, I was going to go get you something to drink," Roberta said. "Maybe something hot? Coffee or tea?"

"I'm good," Deeks said. "Callen?"

Callen shook his head. "I'm good too. These muffins are delicious."

"Oh I'm so glad," Roberta said, smiling as she pulled a chair over right between Callen and Deeks so she could easily talk to both of them. The trio then shared a very nice visit with Callen and Deeks each eating another of the irresistible muffins.

At a little before noon, Roberta decided to take her leave. "You just call me if you need anything at all," she said as she leaned down to give her son a kiss. She then walked over to Callen and kissed his cheek also, causing him to blush once again. "That goes for you, as well. Anything at all, just let me know."

"Thank you," Callen said, smiling at her.

Roberta went to her son, giving him one more kiss and brushing his hair back with her hand. "You take care of yourself. I'll see you tomorrow. I love you."

"I love you too, momma," Deeks said.

"Your mom's pretty special, Deeks," Callen said after Roberta had left.

"She's one of a kind for sure," Deeks replied. Sometimes she drove him nuts, but he knew he was lucky to have her. He also appreciated how nice she was being to Callen. He was pretty sure it meant a lot to the other man even if he might be a little embarrassed by her affectionate gestures.

xxxxx

"Hey guys, how are you today?" Kensi asked as she walked into the room followed by Sam. "Got some burgers for your lunch."

"You do know that the nurses hate you bringing in all this food from the outside world," Deeks said grinning at Kensi as she kissed him.

"Well, I can stop any time you want," Kensi said, looking at his seemingly untouched lunch plate. "You can eat...whatever that is...seriously, what is this?"

"Beef stew," Deeks replied. "We didn't even taste it. Feel free to do so if you'd like. Maybe it's not as gross as it looks."

"I think I'll pass. Did you eat breakfast?" Kensi asked.

"Deeks' mom brought us some awesome muffins," Callen said. "They were really good."

Sam smiled at his partner, glad to see he appeared much better than the previous day. He also was pretty sure that the attentions of Deeks' mom were having a positive effect on him. "You're looking pretty chipper today, G."

"I'm feeling better," Callen said, smiling at his partner, knowing how worried he had been about him. "How's the leg?"

"Also doing better." Sam turned to Deeks. "You feeling okay?"

Deeks nodded. "Yep, the doc is going to spring me the day after tomorrow, if all goes well.

Sam glanced at Callen and didn't miss the slight downcast look in his partner's eyes. "I'm sure you'll be out of here soon as well, buddy," he said softly.

Callen nodded and forced a smile. "I know. I'm good, Sam."

"Okay, why don't we have our lunch," Kensi suggested. "We don't want to still be eating when the psychologist gets here."

With that, the team members dug into their lunches. Kensi, Callen and Deeks all had burgers and fries while Sam had a grilled chicken sandwich and a side salad. They finished eating at 1:30 and then sat around making vague small talk. "You think I could get away with pretending to sleep?" Callen asked, only half kidding.

"Come on, G...It won't be that bad," Sam said. "If you want to try though, I won't tattle on you."

"Me either," Deeks said. "Go for it, Callen, if you want to."

"No, I'm good," Callen said, deciding to suck it up. If his team was going to go through with it, he needed to, as well.

"I really think this may be a good thing, Callen," Kensi said, giving him an encouraging smile.

"It's good to hear that kind of positivity," said a smiling, attractive middle-aged woman who walked into the room at that moment. "I'm Rachel Cranston and I assure you, I'll make this as painless as possible." She sat down in the empty chair between Callen and Deeks' beds. "Why don't we start with something easy. Can you all introduce yourselves to me?"

"Marty Deeks." Deeks decided to get the ball rolling.

"Sam Hanna."

"Kensi Blye."

"G. Callen…You can just call me Callen." He looked at Rachel thoughtfully. "Did you evaluate Agent Gibbs' team a few years back?"

"I did." Rachel looked at Callen in surprise. "Do you know Agent Gibbs?"

Callen nodded. "We've known each other for a long time. He's a good man."

"He is," Rachel said, nodding in agreement. She then turned her attention to the rest of the team. "So...quite an ordeal the four of you went through. Does anyone have anything to say to start us off?"

There was a period of silence before Deeks finally spoke, his eyes on Kensi. "My partner...she overcame what seemed like insurmountable odds to save my life...She dragged me on a stretcher for miles through the desert. I don't think she'll ever know just how much I love and appreciate her for what she did for me… Kensi amazes me more and more each day."

"There was no other option," Kensi said, blinking against the sudden moisture in her eyes. "You're everything to me, Deeks. I...I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't made it through…"

"Am I missing something here?" Rachel asked, looking at the two of them with interest. "The two of you seem extremely close."

"They're engaged," Sam said, chuckling. "Work partners and real life partners."

"Oh I see," Rachel said, smiling. "Well then, that makes a lot more sense."

At that point, there was another silence. Rachel looked at the group and turned to Callen. "How about you, Callen? Do you have anything to say about what happened?" Callen thought for a few moments before he spoke. "My partner, Sam...he saved my life too, even though he was badly hurt." He sighed heavily, appearing troubled. "I couldn't do anything to help him though…"

"That seems to bother you," Rachel stated, observing his demeanor closely.

Callen nodded. "Of course, it bothers me. I'm the team leader and I wasn't able to help anyone...not my team… and not Agent Hidoko…"

"Come on, G," Sam said gently. "We already went over this. What happened to Hidoko wasn't your fault. As hard as it is to accept, it wasn't any of our faults. We didn't even know she was in Mexico until after the fact. There was nothing any of us could have done."

Callen nodded then sighed. "I know...I just wish it had been different. She didn't deserve that."

"Being the team leader doesn't make you Superman, Callen," Kensi said. "You were hurt, much worse than you let on to any of us, and you risked your life to kill those two men who were shooting at us. That gave us the chance to form our escape plans."

"So, you did help your team," Rachel reiterated. "It sounds like you need to take some credit here."

"She's right, Callen," Deeks said. "If anyone didn't do anything at all, it was me."

Callen smirked. "That's because you were unconscious."

Rachel turned her attention to Sam. "Callen said you saved his life. How did you do that?"

"He cut a hole in his chest then stuck a pen in it," Deeks said. "Sorry to interrupt, but it's such a cool story."

"It wasn't so cool when I thought he was dead," Sam stated, thinking back. "He wasn't breathing...I...I thought I had lost him."

"But you didn't lose me," Callen said, giving his partner a heartfelt look. "You saved me, Sam."

"It was the boy that saved you, G… If he hadn't gone for help, brought back the pen…" Sam shook his head, his eyes filled with emotion. "It would have been too late…"

"It wasn't too late though," Rachel said. "He's here now and he's going to be okay."

Sam nodded and gave a smile to his partner. "Yeah...he's going to be just fine."

"So, there seems to be a lot of self blame going on here," Rachel said. "How do the four of you feel about Executive Assistant Director Mosley?"

There was more silence before Callen spoke. "She didn't force anyone to go down to Mexico...I promised to help her. That's on me."

Sam sighed. "I pushed my way into the mission. G didn't want me to go."

"Because you were hurt, not because I didn't want you there," Callen said. "I was worried about you...and look what happened. You almost died."

"But you said it yourself, Sam saved your life," Rachel gently reminded him.

Callen nodded. "I know he did. There's no doubt in my mind if Sam hadn't gone down there that I'd be dead."

"I noticed the two of you aren't saying anything," Rachel said, turning back to Kensi and Deeks. "Any thoughts?"

The two junior team members exchanged a long look but remained silent.

"Come on, you must have some opinion," Rachel urged.

"I don't have much good to say about Mosley right now," Kensi finally said. "I honestly don't even think she appreciated what we did."

"It's okay, Kens…" Deeks said softly.

"No, no it's not okay, Deeks," Kensi said, her eyes blazing. "Mosley fired Deeks right before the mission for no reason at all. He was just her scapegoat. She treated him badly and never even thanked him for what he did, even though he was almost killed."

"I see…" Rachel was surprised to hear about Deeks. There hadn't been anything about him losing his job in her files. She turned to Deeks. "You still decided to go, in spite of what she did?"

"Kensi is my partner," Deeks said. "I wanted to be there for her and the team."

"In any case," Sam said. "Deeks' job is secure now."

"I should hope so," Kensi murmured under her breath.

"The four of you seem very loyal to each other," Rachel said.

"We've been together a long time," Callen said. "We work well together." He tried to hold back a yawn, but failed to do so and covered his mouth with his hand. He was rapidly starting to tire.

"We all know each other extremely well," Sam said. "We're teammates, but also friends."

"I can't imagine us being any closer," Kensi stated. "I love Callen and Sam like brothers."

Deeks didn't add anything. It seemed like it had all been said, and like Callen, he was beginning to tire. He didn't think his mother had been wrong at all when she said this could have waited until they were released from the hospital.

"So, I'm assuming you feel comfortable speaking to each other if any of you have issues?"

Looks were exchanged, but no one said anything. "Or am I to assume you keep things inside and try to deal with them yourselves?"

"Not always," Sam said.

"It's not always easy to talk about some of the stuff we go through with our job," Kensi said.

Sam glanced over at Callen and a smile touched his lips when he saw that his partner had legitimately fallen asleep. "Should I wake him up?" he asked Rachel.

Rachel shook her head, a smile on her lips as well. "No. I was out here on other business so Director Vance thought it would be good for me to speak with the four of you, but it likely would have been better to have waited until you were further along in your recoveries.

"Probably so," Kensi said, her eyes on Deeks who was obviously struggling to keep alert.

"I think I'm going to head out." Rachel opened up her briefcase and handed business cards to Sam and Kensi. "Please reach out to me if you have anything you'd like to talk about, either individually or as a group."

"Thank you," Sam said. "We appreciate that."

"And we appreciate you coming to talk with us," Kensi added.

"You have a difficult job," Rachel said as she got to her feet. "It's important that you keep the lines of communication open and it seems like you do a good job with that. Keep it up and you know how to contact me if you need to."

With that, goodbyes were said and Rachel headed out, leaving the team alone once more.