Written because there aren't enough stories with Deeks and Nell.

It takes a few moments after he wakes up for him to remember where he is. It takes even longer for him to remember why he feels as though he went nine rounds with the Hulk-and lost. He tentatively stretches his legs, testing to see how much the battered muscles are going to scream in protest before he braves turning over.

He's lying on the couch near the bullpen, the same place he's been since he was 'grounded'. As he becomes more aware of his surroundings, he realizes that at some point in time, his boots had been removed and someone had covered him with a blanket. The stiffness in his neck makes him wish he had thought to grab a pillow before allowing the exhaustion and painkillers to knock him out.

From the low light coming through the windows, he can tell he's slept for several hours. He turns his head to look if anyone else is around and stops when he notices someone sitting in the chair next to him—not sitting, balled up is a more accurate description.

Nell has her bare feet in the chair, her toes tucked in between the cushion and the armrest. Her knees are against her chest, her arms held tightly against her in an effort to get warm. She has her head leaning slightly back, her mouth barely open as she sleeps. An identical blanket to the one currently draped over him lays crumpled on the floor beneath the chair. The entire scene makes her appear to be even smaller than usual.

Seeing the large, multi-colored knot on her forehead, Deeks feels his stomach tighten. He knows it's not the only bruise she has, and he feels sorry since he's partly responsible for her having them.

As he tries to shift his weight in order to roll onto his side, a sharp pain tears through his hip, forcing a painful grunt from his lips. He had tried to hold it back, not to make any noise, but the intensity of the pain had caused a white light to momentarily blind his vision—not for the first time that day-and he hadn't been able to stop himself from crying out.

He watches as Nell's head snaps up, causing her to wince at the sudden movement. As soon as she gets the vertigo under control, she looks towards Deeks, worry written on her face. "You're awake," she observes, trying to determine if he's okay. "How you feeling?"

"Like I got taken out by a Ford F-150," he tells her, managing to work a smile in between grimaces.

"Makes sense, seeing as you were. But for the record, it was a Chevy Tahoe," she clarifies as she climbs out of the chair, moving to kneel next to the couch. Deeks lies perfectly still as she looks at the side of his head.

"Uh, Nell. Whatcha' doing?" he asks when she starts to stare very intently at his eyes.

"Checking your pupils, you've slept for over five hours—"

"Yeah, thanks to that freaking horse tranquilizer Hetty tricked me into taking."

"She hardly tricked you. You were begging Kensi to go fill your prescription. Seriously though, it could be from your head injury, Deeks."

"Nell, I promise you, despite what Kensi's been saying, my head is fine."

"You have four stitches on this side alone," she says, pointing to the small line of stitches hidden beneath blond curls, "not to mention the three staples on top or the eleven stitches on your hip. You broke your arm. You can't even walk a straight line. Deeks, you should still be in the hospital."

"They let me leave—"

"No. No, you signed out AMA. That's why Hetty grounded you," she argues, not even trying to hide her frustration.

"Nell, I'm not about to drop dead. I'm good. Busted and broken, but still good." She just levels an icy glare at him, one he's almost certain she learned from either Hetty or Kensi, before she shakes her head and turns to pick up her discarded blanket.

She has difficulty with the task on account of her right arm being in a cast and her left wrist firmly wrapped in a black, medical brace. Deeks waits until she finishes carefully folding herself into a ball once more before speaking again. "You should probably still be at the hospital, too."

She winces as she tries to tuck the blanket around her knees. "They actually let me leave."

"Then why are you grounded, too?" he asks, as he moves to sit up, stopping the moment his cracked ribs decide to remind him why he was on the couch in the first place.

"I'm not grounded. I'm babysitting," she smiles when he frowns.

"I don't need a babysitter," he states, more than slightly annoyed by the thought.

Nell shakes her head as her smile widens. She starts counting on her bruised fingers, "According to Hetty, Sam, Kensi, Callen, and Hetty, you do."

"You said Hetty more than once," he tells her, worried about how hard she had hit her head on the sidewalk.

"That's because she said it more than once." She gives him a crooked, tight-lipped smile when he rolls his eyes. She watches as his chest moves, his breathing short and fast. "You should probably sit up a little, and take a few deep breaths every now and then."

When he turns to face her, a look on his face that's half confused and half screaming "Are you crazy?" she stands and walks to the small chest near the back wall. She pulls out two pillows before letting the lid slam shut. "You need to take deep breaths so you don't get pneumonia. I know you know this," she says as she walks back towards the couch. "You told me and the doctors repeatedly that this isn't the first time you've had broken ribs."

She kneels back down next to the couch, holding the pillows with her broken arm while she reaches for him with her sprang wrist. He bites his lip as he lets her help him sit up. The movement's awkward, mostly because they're both in pain. If he thought it were possible, he'd tell her not to worry, that he could sit up on his own. But truth be told, the beating his body took is starting to take its toll, and he knows he isn't getting off the couch without help.

Once they manage to get his back somewhat lifted, she quickly tucks the two pillows behind him as he tries to scoot back, resting in a slight sitting position. He waits for the shaking to subside before he takes two semi-deep breaths, wincing as the white light shows in the corner of his vision. "For the record, they're just cracked and bruised, not broken."

"You still need to take deep breaths." She grabs her blanket and moves to sit at the end of the couch, careful not to hit his feet. Neither one says anything about her change of location, or the fact that her knee is now resting against his foot.

He can tell from her posture and the way she keeps glancing at him that she wants to say something. "Something on your mind?" he asks when he realizes she's likely to remain quiet. When she forces her eyes to meet his, he's surprised at the emotion there—sadness, guilt, fear.

She takes a deep breath, absent-mindedly pulling at a string along the hem of the blanket. "You could have died today," she finally says, her voice barely above a whisper.

Deeks looks at the knot on her forehead again; trying to stop the guilt he's feeling from taking over. "You could have, too," he responds, his voice just as quiet.

She looks down at the blanket in her hands, keeping her eyes trained on the steadily unraveling hem. "But I didn't…because you saved me." She gives a small smile, but keeps her eyes on the blanket, "I haven't said 'thank you' yet. So…thank you."

After several seconds, he finally manages to say, "You're welcome". He stares at her a moment, taking in the injuries he can see. He knows the doctor had said that she was lucky-that they both were. No concussions, no internal bleeding, or ruptured organs. Between the two of them, counting his cracked ribs, there had only been four broken bones.

Yes, they were lucky, but he still can't help the guilt he feels when he looks at her. He had saved her life, but he had also pushed her—well, threw her—hard enough to cause her to break her arm and hit her head.

It was supposed to be short and easy. Nell goes in, switches the hard drives, and then she comes right back out again. In theory, it had been a simple, easy plan. Sam and Callen had followed her inside, keeping a distant but attentive eye on her as she made her way to the necessary computers.

The switch had gone beautifully. Sam and Callen were able to lie smoothly, manipulating the receptionist into gladly showing the "prospective clients" around the building. When the coast was clear, Nell had quickly exited the building, heading straight for her car.

Deeks and Kensi were both close by, each making sure no one had followed her out of the building. Kensi was near the large fountain, seemingly texting while she discreetly watched Nell walk past her, before following at a safe distance. Deeks had been in the parking lot leaning against Kensi's silver SRX while he listened to Eric's voice telling him that Nell was on the way.

He and Kensi were to follow Nell back to Ops where Eric would sift through the information on the hard drive, hopefully finding them what they needed in order to learn exactly why money was being supplied to suspected terrorists out of the large office building.

That was the plan. Short and easy.

Once Deeks saw Nell enter the parking lot, he had quickly grabbed the keys from his pocket, ready to get in the driver's seat as soon as Nell was at her car. When Nell was a few steps away from him, he saw Kensi turn her head and reach for her gun at the same time he heard Eric screaming in his ear for Nell to watch out.

There were no tires squealing, no dramatic slow motion. Everything had happened all at once. As soon as he turned to see the large, white, truck making its way towards Nell, he had started moving. Once he made it to her, there wasn't enough time to stop his forward momentum and pull her out of the way. Instead, he used the momentum, lifting her off the ground and pushing her away from him.

Less than two seconds later, he had felt an immense pressure against his left side, immediately followed by the sensation that he was falling, and then pain.

He doesn't think he passed out, at least he doesn't remember it. All he knows is that after the pain set in, he was looking up to see Kensi and Nell leaning over him, each sharing a look of panic.

Nell had been holding her arm against her chest as she tentatively placed her other hand against his side, trying to determine the source of the blood. Kensi had quickly returned her gun to its holster before dropping to her knees, and not so gently applying pressure to either side of his head in an attempt to simultaneously stop the bleeding and stabilize his neck.

Sam and Callen had made it before the paramedics. Sam had looked after Nell, trying his best to stop her shaking and take inventory of her injuries. Callen had taken over Nell's place next to Deeks, helping Kensi keep Deeks still and to try and stop the bleeding.

They had been together the entire time after the paramedics arrived. They had ridden to the hospital together, Nell sitting next to the gurney as a paramedic took both their vitals. The only time they had been separated was when they had been taken for x-rays; the rest of the time their gurneys had been side by side in the ER, the thin curtain separating the two beds pulled back so that Kensi could keep an eye on both of her team members.

They had been stitched up, arms put into a cast, ribs wrapped, and heads checked before the doctors gave them the prognoses. Nell had been given the all clear to leave, and had ridden back to the office with Kensi, effectively leaving Deeks behind to rest and recuperate until the next day.

However, an hour of being left alone with nothing to do but think about the case and the memory of being hit by a truck, Deeks had promptly asked Nurse Ashley for his discharge papers, insisting that he could rest just as well at home, that he really didn't feel all that bad.

In hindsight, everything had looked worse than it was. Or at least, that's what Deeks had told an incredibly pissed-off Kensi when he called her to come pick him up from the hospital. It's also what he had told the rest of the team when he arrived back at the office only to find a beyond angry Hetty.

Apparently, the doctors had told Hetty that they had planned to keep Deeks overnight, and she had thought that was an excellent idea. To say she was not happy to learn that Deeks had left the hospital despite the doctor's advice that he shouldn't would have been an understatement.

Now, he's confined to the couch, along with Nell who had quickly realized she wouldn't be much help due to the fact that she couldn't even type with both hands currently out of commission. When he first walked in, she had been sitting at one of the computers upstairs watching as Eric tried to retrieve information from the smashed hard drive.

She had been the first to notice Deeks walk into the room. Next was Eric who had given Deeks a look comprised of equal parts surprise and gratitude, something Deeks plans to question the tech on as soon as he's given the chance.

Somehow, after the showdown with Hetty, Nell had been sidelined alongside Deeks, both forbidden from working on the case, and both ordered to rest. That had been six hours ago—shortly before Hetty had offered him something for the pain resulting in him being passed out on the couch. The combination of painkillers given to him at the hospital and the suspected horse tranquilizer administered by Hetty had already worn off, leaving his body in a constant state of throbbing pain.

He squints his eyes shut, causing his discomfort to be evident on his face, which prompts Nell to shift uncomfortably on the couch before asking, "Are you ready for another?"

Deeks opens one eye, peering at the woman sitting next to his feet. "Another what?"

"One of your pills," she answers in a tone suggesting it should have been obvious. "Are you sure you don't have a concussion?"

Ignoring Nell's last question, Deeks raises his head to look towards Hetty's office, hoping to find her sitting at her desk with the small bottle of pills Kensi had picked up from the pharmacy. When he finds only an empty desk, he lets his head fall back against the pillow before closing his eyes to the pain. "Nell, can you keep a secret?"

He once again opens an eye, watching as she slowly nods her head. "I kind of miss the morphine," he admits as he braves taking another deep breath.

He feels her climb off the couch and can only imagine the crooked, all-knowing smirk she's hiding as she reaches for her bag. "Does this mean you regret leaving the hospital?" she asks as she pulls two orange prescription bottles out of the bag.

He takes both bottles from her, reading that one belongs to her and the other to him. "I never said that," he says. Due to the cast on his arm, he struggles to open her bottle, but eventually manages to shake a large pill identical to the 'tranquilizer' Hetty had given him earlier into her battered hand.

As she reaches for a small cup on the table next to the chair she had been sitting in when he first woke up, he slowly manages to open his own bottle, quickly dry swallowing the pill before handing both bottles back to her.

As soon as she's settled back near his feet, blanket wrapped comfortably around her knees, Deeks clears his throat, trying to keep them from falling into an uncomfortable silence. "So, whatcha want to do until we pass out again?"

Nell looks up, trying her best not to blush at the mockingly suggestive smile he's giving her. "I was kind of hoping they'd be back before then, so I could go home." She absently glances towards the stairs, "Or maybe Eric could drive me so I wouldn't have to wait on Kensi."

Deeks smiles again, silently counting to six in his head before continuing. "Kensi's driving you home?"

"Yep, she offered while we were still at the hospital." She gently rubs her thumb along a cut on her finger, before holding up both of her arms. "It's not like I can drive with this mess."

"Not to mention the tranquilizer."

"And the tranquilizer," she agrees, letting her arms rest against her knees. "She said that she was driving you home, too."

Deeks slowly nods, having already assumed as much, even though he hadn't really asked his partner, yet. Before he can ask exactly what it was Kensi had said about him, Nell cuts off his train of thought. "She was really worried about you."

Deeks looks at her, and once again thinks she looks too small beneath all her injuries. "It looked worse than it actually was. The truck wasn't really going fast enough to do too much damage." His voice is calm and steady. He knows his partner had been worried. He could tell from her body language, her stiffened posture, the fleeting glances she kept giving him at the hospital and on the way back to the office when she thought he wasn't looking. All of that told him that she had been worried, but what really convinced him was how quiet she had been.

Kensi had been upset, yelling at him over the phone when he had called to ask if she would pick him up, but once she arrived at the hospital, she had been stoic—her dark eyes full of anger.

Over the years, Deeks has learned to read Kensi's varying degrees of anger. When he gets on her nerves, slightly annoying her, she fights back with witty banter, every so often a quick punch to the shoulder or ribcage. When he's done something to actually make her angry, she yells, quickly putting him in his place, letting him know what he's done wrong. Either way, she's usually very vocal—at least when it comes to him.

It's when she's quiet that he knows she's really upset. She closes up, blocking everyone out, including him—especially him. Everything about her demeanor screams that she's pissed; yet, somehow she still manages to stay in control. She looks dangerous.

That's exactly how she had looked when she arrived at the hospital to pick him up. She was quiet, and definitely pissed. In short, she was worried about him.

"It was going fast enough to do enough damage," Nell says, once again drawing him out of his thoughts. "And you're right, it did look bad."

Deeks tries not to think of how he must have looked before the doctors had cleared the blood away. "You still haven't answered my question. What do you want to do?"

"There's not a whole lot we can do."

"If no one's up stairs we can go play Plants vs. Zombies on the big screen." He smiles thinking about the giant touch screen.

She just looks at him incredulously, one eyebrow arched high on her bruised forehead.

"What? You more of an Angry Birds kind of girl?" he asks in response to her look.

"Deeks, you can't even sit up without help. How exactly are you planning to stand for a long period of time in order to play a game that would require both arms and a full range of motion?"

"I kind of expected you to pull the whole "Hetty doesn't allow games in Ops" card, not the whole "I'm gonna kick your ass with logic" card."

She smiles as she rolls her eyes. "Fine, Hetty's already angry with you. There's no need for her to fire you because you were playing Angry Birds on the big screen."

Deeks matches her smile, "You'd be playing Angry Birds, I'd play Plants vs. Zombies."

"Whatever," she looks back towards the stairs, biting her lower lip before turning back to Deeks. "Maybe Eric will let you set up his Xbox down here."

Once again counting in his head, Deeks points a finger at Nell, declaring "That's seven."

"Seven what?" she asks, thoroughly confused.

"That's the seventh time you've mentioned Eric since we left to switch the hard drives."

"No it's not…." Deeks just stares at her, imitating the incredulous look she had given him moments before. "Well, of course I'm gonna mention him. We were talking about him reading the hard drive," she defends.

Deeks shakes his head, cutting her off. "No. I'm not counting anything related to the case or the op. I'm counting the times you've just managed to mention his name at random times."

She shifts her position, propping her elbow on one knee before resting her chin on her sprang wrist. "If I mentioned Eric, I'm almost certain it would have been relevant, not random."

The smile that Deeks' give her takes over his entire face as he begins listing the 'relevant' times she had mentioned Eric throughout the day.

"In the parking lot when Callen asked if you were ready, you pointed out that this op isn't likely to be too dangerous—you were wrong, by the way. I believe your exact words were 'It's not like I'm in danger of getting frelted like Eric'." He raises the pitch of his voice as he tries to mimic hers.

She squints her eyes, as she argues her side. "Relevant. I was comparing the two situations, trying to convince myself that nothing was going to go wrong." When Deeks points a finger at her forehead, she rolls her eyes, agreeing, "Yes, I was wrong."

"Thanks to you and your random mentioning of Eric, I now know that he broke his arm when he was learning to surf."

"Once again, relevant. We were having our arms wrapped in casts. I was simply providing a little conversation."

"Okay, I might give you that one. But just so we're clear, I didn't mention any of the numerous broken bones Kensi's had, and trust me, there's a lot," he says, still refusing to completely let her off the hook. "But, what about when we were in the ambulance and you actually called me Eric?"

Deeks watches as her eyes momentarily widen in surprise, clearly having not realized she had done so. "No, I didn't," she states clearly, although her tone suggests she isn't too certain.

"Uh, yeah ya did. I asked if you were okay and you said 'I'm fine, Eric.' You totally did."

The deep coloring of her blush covers her entire face and neck, disappearing beneath the collar of her shirt. "I had just hit my head. Head trauma," she says, quickly trying to justify her slip up.

Deeks just smiles, knowing the doctor had said that other than a massive headache and an ugly bruise, the knot on her head hadn't caused any significant damage. "Do you want me to list the others?"

She squints her nose as she shakes her head. "I don't really see any need for you to."

Deeks laughs and immediately regrets it when a sharp pain radiates through his side. She winces at the sharp inhale of breath he takes in response to the pain. "Sorry," she apologizes after he quickly recovers.

"Not your bad. Probably just Karma taking a cheap shot at me for pointing out your weakness."

She smiles sleepily, feeling the effects of the painkillers, "Weakness? What weakness?" she asks in a playfully innocent voice, before yawning and leaning her head against the back of the couch.

Deeks' reply is muffled and distorted by a yawn of his own. "Your weakness for blond haired, blue-eyed surfers with…wait a minute. Nell, you have a thing for me don't ya?" he teases, pushing her knee with his foot.

"Exactly how hard did you hit your head, Deeks?"

"Ouch! Punching my pride while I'm down. Admit it, you just don't want to have to fight Kensi for me." He smiles, letting her know he isn't remotely serious.

"Are you always this cocky? How does she put up you?" she teases in return.

"I'm not cocky, I'm keenly observant, not to mention lovable," he bites back a laugh at the look she gives him. He shuts his eyes, letting the medicine pull him towards sleep. "I'm just messing with ya."

"I know," she says, soft and slow as she pulls the blanket up to her neck.

"You don't have room for other guys, your mind's too preoccupied with, uhm…uh what's his name, the guy upstairs."

"Eric."

"That's eight."

"Shut up," she laughs as she punches his shin before both settle in and wait for sleep.

REVIEW!... I'm sorry, that was rude. Please review?