Thanks to everyone for reading and reviewing this story. I can't begin to tell you how much I appreciate it, especially since I wasn't too confident about writing Deeks' mom. Glad you've been liking it so far :)

xxxxx

Sam was still fuming as he pulled his Challenger into a space in the hospital parking lot. He took a few minutes to calm himself down before getting out of his car. After all, his partner had just undergone surgery. He didn't want to go into Callen's room and berate him. He headed into the hospital and a few minutes later, arrived at Callen's room. The door was open and he stepped inside. Most of his angry feelings dissolved though when he saw Callen, fast asleep, appearing a little bit pale, and totally vulnerable. His thoughts went back to Mexico when he had been sure Callen was going to die in the shed. He wasn't about to start a quarrel now over his own hurt feelings. Deciding not to wake his partner, he sat in the chair beside Callen's bed and picked up a sports magazine from the nightstand. He began quietly leafing through the pages until he saw Callen's familiar blue eyes gazing at him.

"Hey, buddy...how are you feeling?"

"I'm doing pretty well," Callen replied as he fidgeted with the top of his blanket.. "Um...I was going to call you…"

"Why didn't you?" Sam asked solemnly. "I would have come back right away if I had known what was going on."

"That's exactly why I didn't call you...I didn't want to ruin your weekend with Kamran…"

Sam shook his head. "This was kind of an extenuating circumstance, don't you think? I would think you'd know how important you are to me...especially after what happened in Mexico. You should have told me, G."

"I'm sorry," Callen finally said after a long silence.

Sam had to smirk at the guilty look on his friend's face. He certainly didn't want to punish him. He'd gone through enough. "It's okay...just if anything like this ever happens again, and I hope it doesn't, let me know what's going on, okay?"

"Okay," Callen said with a nod. Uncomfortable with the current topic of conversation, he decided a change of subject was in order. "So, how's Kamran? Did the two of you have a nice weekend together?"

"We did," Sam answered with a smile. "She's getting so grown up, G. I feel like every time I see her, she's gotten so much more mature than the time before."

"She's still your baby girl, Sam...she always will be…"

"Still, she's not that little girl having princess parties and wanting a Parker pony."

Callen chuckled at Sam's reference to his quest, years ago, to get Kamran a Parker pony for Christmas. Thanks to Eric, it had ended successfully. "You'll always have those memories though. They're not going anywhere."

"True," Sam said, taking a few moments to reflect on the childhoods of Kam and Aiden. Sometimes he missed those days, when the kids had been young and his wife had been alive, more than he could bear. It made the safety and well-being of Callen and his NCIS family even more important to him. "So, you need anything?" Sam broke free of his thoughts and turned his attention back to his friend.

"Some water?"

Sam picked up the pitcher on Callen's bedside table and found it to be empty. "I'll go get you some. Be right back."

"Thanks, Sam."

xxxxx

"Hey mama," Deeks said as he walked back into the bar. His mom was polishing the bar to a perfect shiny finish. "I thought you would have gone home by now. You must be tired." He was sure she hadn't slept well in the hospital the previous night, no matter what she said.

"Hello, Marty. Did you go see Callen?"

Deeks nodded. "We did. He seems to be doing well."

"Good," Bertie said with a satisfied nod. "Where's Kensi?"

"I dropped her off at home. Just wanted to check on things here."

Bertie sighed. "Everything's fine here. You really didn't need to come back here. You need to trust me more."

"Come on, ma. You know I trust you. It's just... it's my place. There's nothing wrong with me wanting to come here." He was proud of this bar. It was a nice place and he was going to do everything in his power to make it successful.

"I understand," Bertie said, noting the look of pride in her son's eyes. She wanted nothing more for the bar to be a success for him and Kensi. With any luck at all, it would become so successful that they would decide to leave NCIS and no longer have their lives endangered on what seemed to be a daily basis. She finished polishing up the bar and decided to broach the subject she had been wanting to discuss with her son. "So...about Callen…"

Deeks looked back at his mother, perplexed. "Were we talking about Callen? Mama...he's a private guy. You really can't be butting into his business."

"Who's butting in?" Bertie asked. "Honestly, Marty. I just have a few general questions. No different than anyone would ask."

Deeks rolled his eyes. "Let me get a drink first." He went behind the bar, grabbed himself a bottle of beer, then settled himself on a bar stool as he took a sip. "Okay...what do you want to know?"

"It's just...he seems very alone. Doesn't he have any family at all?"

"His mom passed away when he was just a little kid and he grew up in the foster care system," Deeks said, wanting to keep things as simple as possible.

"What about his father?"

"Not in the picture," Deeks said, taking another sip of beer. He refused to give her more than what was absolutely necessary. He didn't want Callen to be sorry he'd decided to move in over the bar.

"That must have been very difficult for him," Bertie said. She looked at her son thoughtfully. Marty had not had an easy childhood, courtesy of his abusive father, but at least he'd had her. She'd always tried, to the best of her ability, to protect him as well as she could. She would have hated to see him growing up in foster care, unloved and thrown into random homes. She was certainly no expert, but the knew many such homes were not good ones and a lot of people were in it for the money, not because of their undying love for children.

"I'm sure it was, but mama, Callen doesn't talk about these things and it was a very long time ago. I hope you're not going to bring it up to him."

"Don't be ridiculous," Bertie said. "Contrary to what you think, I'm not that intrusive. I was just curious. I'm not going to interrogate him about his life in foster care. However, I will look in on him from time to time when he gets home, if that's okay with you, of course."

Deeks rolled his eyes. "You don't need to be sarcastic, ma. Of course you can look in on him. Feed him soup or whatever you want to do. Just know that he keeps to himself and he won't like it if you start prying into his personal life."

"I would never."

Deeks shook his head then downed the rest of his beer. "I'm going to get home to Kensi. I suggest you head home too. You need to take care of yourself."

Bertie picked up the empty bottle Deeks had put on top of the bar and nodded. "I'll walk out with you."

Deeks smiled, glad that his mom was finally listening to him. She put the bottle in the back with the recyclables and the two walked out to their cars. Deeks watched protectively as his mother started up her vehicle and when she was safely on her way, he pulled his own car out into the street to head home to Kensi.

xxxxx

Bertie started driving towards her home, but then had a last minute change of heart and turned in the direction of the hospital instead. She just wanted to briefly check on Callen before going home for the night. You were never too old for a mother and it wouldn't hurt for Callen to know that she cared about him. She went to the hospital, then walked down the quiet corridors to Callen's room. When she stepped inside, she found him to be asleep. She decided to sit with him for a little bit and then she would go home. But, Bertie hadn't been lying when she said the reclining chair by Callen's bed was comfortable and she soon nodded off.

At a little after 3 a.m., Bertie awoke abruptly from a sound sleep. Confused at first, she took a few moments to orient herself to her surroundings and then heard what had likely awakened her from sleep. Callen's voice. "Mama? Mama please don't die. Please don't leave me. Mama, please wake up." She looked over and saw him fretfully tossing and turning under the covers. Immediately she went to him and gently stroked the top of his head. "Shhh… it's okay, honey. You're okay. I'm here. Everything is going to be okay…"

Eventually he calmed and settled back into a more peaceful sleep. Bertie quickly wiped the stray tears from her cheeks, not able to find it in her heart to leave him alone. It might be true that he didn't talk about his past, but in some ways, it was still very much with him. Had he been with his mother when she'd died? How had it happened? She couldn't help but feel for a young child whose mother had been suddenly ripped from his life. Although Callen was a grown man, her heart went out to him and what he must have endured. Once again, she settled back to watch over him. This time though, sleep did not come easily for her.