Fever

Here's a new story concentrating on Marty Deeks. It's mostly angst with some hurt/comfort. I don't have a beta (is anyone interested?) so any and all errors are mine. I try to research medical issues for my stories but I don't have a medical background so please attribute any errors to creative license and just go with the flow of the story. This takes place sometime after the episode "Borderline".

The stars haven't aligned for me so I don't own NCIS Los Angeles or the characters. My minions and I just bring them out play with. I'll give them back in the same basic condition they were in when I brought them out to play…honest!

Reviews are welcome.

Enjoy

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It had been a hell of a month for the NCIS team. They had caught case after case with little time between to recharge. They had been working seven days a week spending long days and some nights working to solve the cases. Every time they solved one, they caught another before they could even finish their after-action reports. Every team at the Mission had been just as busy with case work but Hetty's premier team always got the hardest ones.

The last case they had been assigned involved an officer and several enlisted men who had set up a drug distribution ring using the ships they served on to get the drugs into the country. They then sold them to a local gang letting the gang take the risks involved in distributing the drugs to their various dealers. It limited their exposure while ensuring a steady supply of the drugs to buyers on the streets and netting them a nice profit. It took Nell and Eric days to identify and track all the players. While they were doing that, the team was watching the officer and enlisted men to see who they talked to and find out when they would be making the exchange of the drugs for their money. After days of drudgery, the wonder twins and the team obtained the information needed and planned the takedown during the exchange between the Navy personnel and the gang. Nell and Eric hadn't been able to find out exactly how many members of the gang would be involved in receiving the drugs and it worried them. They hated not being able to provide Callen, Sam, Deeks and Kensi complete information. It wasn't until two days before the raid that they found out the transfer would take place in an abandoned warehouse. Nell and Eric worked hard to find and access as many surveillance cameras as possible to give the team as much intel as they could. As the team got into position, Marty looked around and quipped "Why do these things always go down in abandoned warehouses? Don't these people have any imagination?"

Sam groaned and retorted "Guess not, Scruffy. Maybe you should suggest it to the next set of bad guys we encounter."

Callen broke in "Deeks, you and Kensi take the back. Sam and I will go in the front. Be careful in there, I'm sure there are lots of hiding places and we don't have reliable intel on how many gang members will be inside."

Everything had gone smoothly until near the very end. Kensi and Deeks had cleared the back of the warehouse, subduing several members of the gang as well as the naval officer while Callen and Sam had been clearing the front of the warehouse. Through coms, everyone was staying in touch and so far, all three enlisted men and six gang members had been arrested. They were making their way to meet up with Callen and Sam at the front of the warehouse when Deeks heard a noise and got Kensi's attention. She indicated she would go left while Deeks nodded and went right. As Deeks was clearing the right hand row of containers, he caught a glimpse of a figure moving stealthily ahead of him. Moving swiftly to intercept him, he realized the man was stalking Callen and would have him in his sights in seconds. Before he could warn Callen over coms, he realized the man he was following had a gun already aimed at the back of Callen's head. Callen had just taken someone down and was in the midst of zip tying him so had no clue anyone was behind him. Deeks yelled "Callen, watch out!" and tackled the man, shoving his arm away ruining his aim just as he pulled the trigger. Callen looked up in time to see the tackle Deeks made and then heard the gunshot. He was afraid that Deeks had been hit.

"Deeks, are you okay?" he called out.

"I'm fine. Just some scrapes from hitting the ground," came the reply.

As soon as Callen heard that Deeks was okay, he lost his temper. "What the hell were you thinking? You were reckless and could have gotten yourself killed with that stupid stunt!"

Deeks stared at Callen with barely concealed anger. "What are you talking about? I saved your ass, took out the bad guy and you're saying I was reckless? Should I have let him shoot you?"

"I would have been all right. I've got my vest on. If the bullet had hit you, it would have gone right through your vest! You were reckless, once again." Callen retorted.

"What the hell do you mean I was reckless 'once again'? He was aiming for your head. The vest wouldn't have saved you, it doesn't cover your head!" Marty was frustrated and angry. He gave Callen a glare then stalked toward the door of the warehouse to get away from his team leader. Callen called out "Where are you going? I want to discuss what just happened here."

Deeks snarled "Whatever; we can discuss your opinion of me later!" and continued out of the warehouse. He had to get away from Callen because he couldn't believe what he had just said to him and it set his anger off. He was afraid of what he might say if he stayed around Callen. He was tired of constantly having to prove himself to him and the others. The case had taken a toll on everyone, but especially Marty.

Once back at the Mission, Callen continued to berate Deeks which was the last straw for the younger man. He turned around and blew up at Callen "I have everyones back here and I do my job and do it well but all you do is get in my face telling me how everything I do is wrong. I'm just as good as anyone here and I'm tired of all the constant putdowns!" he yelled before suddenly turning away running his hands through his hair and stalking into the gym to take out his aggression on the heavy bag. He hadn't been feeling well for days and Callen's displeasure just made everything worse. "Deeks, come back here, we're not done talking yet" Callen yelled.

"Yes we are" Deeks snarled without turning around.

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Sam grabbed Callen's arm as he began to follow Deeks. "You're out of line G, he saved your ass. If he hadn't intervened you would be dead! Do you understand that, dead."

"I had it under control Sam"

"No you didn't. You didn't see the guy with the gun pointed at your head. If Deeks hadn't tackled the guy and caused the shot to go wild, he would have hit you in the head, so cut him some slack and let him calm down before you try to talk to him again. I can't believe you just said that to him. I know he's annoying but you just called his competence into question and sent him out of here in a tearing rage. I've never seen him act like that before, not even with Scarli."

Kensi had seen the whole exchange and didn't know whether to go after her partner or not. She knew he was angry, but she didn't know what to do or say to calm him down. He had been right in Callen's face and she was surprised at that. He usually let everything just roll off his back. To her later regret, she decided to let him work out his anger alone, so she sat down at her desk and got started on her paperwork instead of following him to the gym.

The month had exhausted and frustrated everyone and it was causing cracks to develop in the well-oiled team they normally were. Hetty had been concerned about them before, but after hearing the confrontation between Callen and Mr. Deeks, she knew the team needed to decompress. Everyone was dragging and their concentration was shot, so she decided to send them home early since it was a Friday to rest up over the weekend. OPS finally had some breathing room between cases, so she told them they could finish their after action reports and begin on the other unfinished paperwork on Monday. It didn't take long for Kensi and Sam to leave and head for home. Hetty noticed Callen still sitting at his desk deep in thought when she came back from the gym after telling Mr. Deeks he could leave for the weekend. Callen was thinking over everything that had happened on the case. After going over it numerous times in his head, he was finally able to see Sam's point and realized how unfair he had been to Deeks. He went into the gym to talk to him but couldn't find him. He then checked the armory but he wasn't there either. Coming back into the bullpen, he asked Hetty if she had seen Deeks and she informed him that Mr. Deeks had already left for the weekend. Callen was disappointed but thought that it might be a good idea to wait until Monday before bringing the subject back up. He knew Deeks was angry, and Callen regretted that he was the one that had caused his anger. They were both tired and it would be better for everyone if they were rested before talking over the op. Getting into another shouting match wouldn't help either one of them or the team, so he left to go home as well.

Hetty watched him go, hoping that the rift that had formed between her liaison and team leader could be mended quickly before it affected the other members of the team.

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