Author's Note: I know. I know. Please, just bare with me a little bit longer. I promise you'll be glad that you did...

PARTNERS

Three military vehicles travel in a single file line through the desert following closely behind one another. They bounce over the sandy dunes haphazardly, jostling their passengers about wildly. The ride to the extraction point has taken over 2 hours at present, and the convoy is slowly approaching its final destination.

A small squad of marines occupies the vehicle leading the pack, and Special Agents' Callen and Hanna ride in the second car also accompanied by several heavily armed marines. In the third car, Agent Kensi Blye and Detective Marty Deeks ride with two other marines and their captive—Hassan.

"I'll be so glad when all this is over." Deeks remarks as he braces himself against yet another hard bump in the road.

"What's the matter Deeks, homesick?" Kensi asks.

Deeks arches a brow at the brunette sitting across from him in the backseat of the vehicle. "You do realize it's been almost two weeks since my last surf session." Deeks replies. "I feel like a fish out of water here."

"Aww, you poor thing." Kensi says with a smirk.

Deeks nods knowingly, and lets out a sigh. "You're enjoying this, aren't you Fern? So what, you get a kick out of other people's misery?"

Kensi chuckles. "Nope, just yours." She replies with a wink.

"I see."

Deeks and Kensi have always been like this ever since their first assignment together. However, despite the continuous flow of charming banter and witty repartee between them, they have actually grown quite close to one another over the last couple of years.

Kensi's features seem to take on an expression of seriousness as she sits staring across the way at her shaggy-haired partner. "So, about our deal-" she begins seriously, as her mismatched eyes search his Pacific Ocean Blues.

"You're not getting cold feet on me now, are ya?" Deeks cuts in, a small grin playing at the corners of his mouth.

Their deal is another reason why Deeks can hardly wait to return to L.A.. Before they left the big city, just two weeks prior, the partners had finally confronted each other about the feelings they both harbored for one another. It seemed crazy to just keep ignoring the heat that so obviously exists between them, and thus their 'deal' was forged-a 'date night'.

Kensi scoffs. "Cold feet, me? Never. You?"

Deeks smiles widely at his partner. "Not a chance, princess."

To Deeks' left Hassan scoffs, and then mumbles something in his native tongue. Although the words he speaks are incoherent, the inflection with which they are spoken says volumes alone.

"I'm not sure what you just said," Deeks says, as he throws a glance over at their prisoner. "But it didn't sound very nice."

After a brief moment of silence Kensi clears her throat, and pulls Deeks' attention back to her once more. "So, what do you think we should do for our…date night?" she asks.

"I do have a few ideas." Deeks says thoughtfully, as he tilts his head slightly to one side.

Kensi rolls her eyes at her partner because she knows what he's thinking about. "I see, and tell me—do any of those ideas involve seeing me naked?"

"What can I say…I'm an optimist." he remarks with a grin.

Kensi remains silent for a while after his last remark, and Deeks can sense the uneasiness that has settled over the beautiful brunette. "Hey, Kens-" he says softly.

She looks up at her partner, obviously startled out of whatever trance she may have been in, and stares into his piercing blue eyes. "What?" she blurts without thinking.

"You know I'm kidding right?" he asks in a quiet, serious tone. "Look, Kens, I don't want you to over think this. You've got nothing to prove."

Truth be told, however, she has a lot to prove. Not to him, but to herself. She knows full well how he feels about her-she always has. Her own feelings towards him are equally strong. Still, she can't quite look at herself in a mirror without feeling somewhat incomplete. It's a chip she's carried ever since Jack. She just can't shake the notion that maybe she doesn't have what it takes to make a relationship successful.

She nods slowly. "No, I know." She replies in an equally quiet voice. "Its just that-"

Suddenly, something outside jars the vehicle violently. "What was that?" Deeks asks nervously. Even as he says the words, a knot begins to form in his stomach.

"Probably nothing." One of the soldiers in the front seat replies.

"Maybe." Kensi says under her breath. "Hold on…Callen. Sam." She says into her helmet radio. She waits several beats for an answer from the duo riding just ahead of their vehicle.

"We read you…go ahead." Callen replies over the radio.

"You guys experience anything unusual up there?" Kensi asks.

"Not really, why?" Sam asks curiously.

"Anyone else hear ominous music, or is it just me?" Deeks remarks as he shifts uncomfortably in his seat.

Kensi shoots her partner a look, but then turns her attention back to the radio. "We experienced some kind of turbulence back here, and-"

BBOOOOOOOMMMMMM!

The vehicle is thrown up into the air along with a cloud of smoke and sand that billows upward in its wake. Seconds later it comes crashing back to earth upside down, and with small flames issuing out from several places along its structure.

In the front seat of the compromised vehicle the driver is already dead, and the soldier in the passenger seat is struggling to free himself from his harness. After a few seconds he manages to free himself from the pesky restraint, and then begins to pull himself out through the nearby broken window.

"Everyone out." He calls as he pulls himself free of the wreckage.

He taps into his helmet radio and begins calling for help almost immediately. "Car three is down. I repeat, Car three is d-" Just then, as he turns around to check on the rest of the vehicles' passengers, a bullet cuts through the air with lightning speed and precision and pierces his helmet. He drops dead just inches from the overturned vehicle.

Deeks opens his eyes a few seconds later, and immediately looks across the way towards his partner. "Kensi, wake up." He calls to her urgently. He can already smell the smoke wafting in through a shattered window, and he knows they need to escape the burning vehicle as quickly as possible.

Kensi opens her eyes, and looks around. She manages to shake off the momentary daze she finds herself in, and quickly returns to the real world. "Deeks!?" she says worriedly, without thinking.

"I'm okay." Deeks replies as he fumbles with the buckle to his seat harness. "You?"

Kensi nods. "I'm fine. We're sitting ducks in here though…we need to get out." The female federal agent manages to undo her harness as she speaks.

"Way ahead of you partner." Deeks replies as his own harness unsnaps at last.

"Get Hassan." Kensi says as she maneuvers her body around in the cramped space of the vehicle interior. She positions herself just in front of the nearest window, and kicks out the remaining shards of glass—effectively clearing a viable exit.

Deeks shakes the still unconscious Arab until he finally opens his eyes. The man looks around nervously at first, but then his gaze finds Deeks. "So, we are still alive?"

"Yeah, lucky us."

Kensi has already crawled out through the broken window. She turns around and looks back inside to Deeks and the other man. "Come on, we're clear." She yells to the two men.

Deeks quickly unfastens the man's harness, and then guides him towards the improvised exit. "Don't even think about trying to run away." Deeks tells Hassan.

As the two men emerge from within the vehicle a hailstorm of machine gunfire suddenly cuts through the air above their heads. Kensi drops back down behind the cover of the overturned vehicle, and Deeks quickly pulls himself and Hassan down close by.

"This trip just gets better and better." Deeks mumbles under his breath. Only now does he feel the irritating sting of pain shooting up his left leg. His eyes wander down the length of the appendage until they reach the problem sight. A good-sized shard of glass protrudes out from the side of his calf muscle. Blood stains the fabric of the uniform around the fresh wound, and makes for a rather gruesome sight.

Deeks reaches out, careful not to attract his partners' attention, and with a great deal of quiet effort manages to pull the shard of glass out of his leg. He then tosses it off to one side quickly wishing that he had just left it alone. That's not good. He lets his head roll back against the metal of the overturned vehicle and tries to steel himself against the agonizing pain that threatens to consume him.

Not too far up ahead, the other two vehicles have screeched to a halt. The doors on all sides fly open, and their occupants emerge from within guns at the ready. The driver of the lead car quickly activates the CB radio mounted to the dashboard of the vehicle.

"Base, this is Sierra Convoy, we've been ambushed en route to extraction point. May need assistance. Please advise." The soldier repeats the transmission multiple times over the radio while awaiting an answer.

Callen and Sam emerge from within the second vehicle, but before they can move even an inch towards their downed comrades machine gunfire halts their progress.

The NCIS team leader quickly activates his helmet radio. "Kensi. Deeks." He begins as a volley of gunfire pierces the sand near his feet. "SitRep!?"

"We're okay. We've got two casualties, and we're pinned down by enemy fire." Kensi's voice filters through the radio static.

Damn. "So are we." Callen replies. "We're gonna try and lay down some cover fire for you guys," Callen says over the radio after a few moments of brief silence. "You guys'll have to make a run for it."

Callen looks sideways at his partner, and they exchange nods with one another. "Ready?"

"Say the word G." Sam replies over the noise of gunfire.

Just then, a second wave of gunfire erupts from the opposite direction of Kensi and Deeks' position. Now the partners, and their prisoner, are pinned on two sides.

"Shit." Deeks swears aloud as he pulls himself down even further into the sand.

"Now we're pinned on two sides!" Kensi yells into her helmet radio.

"Fuck!" Callen swears. Several other marines have joined him and Sam by now. Callen looks crossways towards one of the soldiers now standing nearby. "Do we have back-up coming or what!?" he screams over the noise.

"Reinforcements are ten minutes out, Sir." One of the soldiers calls back to Callen.

"We don't have ten minutes!" Sam calls back over his shoulder.

Callen turns back to his helmet radio. "Original plan still stands!" he yells over the radio. "Get ready to run!"

Kensi ducks to one side quickly as a barrage of gunfire comes near to where she is sitting huddled up against the side of the overturned vehicle. "Shit! There's no way—we'll be cut down before we get to our feet!"

Deeks is watching everything unfold around him, and his mind seems able to focus only on one thing. Getting his partner out alive. He looks back down at the jagged, blood soaked wound in his lower leg. He knows that it will prevent him from being able to run adequately. He could tell Kensi about it, but she will only want to help and that will only slow her down and make her an easy target for the enemy.

He lets his eyes wander up to his partner, and in the moment his eyes find her face it all becomes clear to him. If he's going to potentially die for someone, he's glad that it's for her. He swears again under his breath, and steels his nerves for what he knows he must do next.

"Kensi, take Hassan." He yells over the noisy gunfire blazing all around them. "When Callen says run, you Go!?

Kensi looks at her partner with a confused look spread across her features. "What!?"

"I'll cover you from here." He tells her, and he can already see the doubt clouding her mismatched eyes. He hates lying to her, he always has, but he knows right now that that one little lie just might save her life. "Hey, don't worry. I'll be right behind you, I promise." He says, feigning a confident smile, which he hopes will help sell the little white lie.

"Right behind me?"

He nods, and at the same time primes the assault rifle he's carrying for immediate use. "Right behind you." He reiterates his false promise. "All the way."

She nods at last, and he knows that she's bought his little fib.

She flips on her helmet radio once more, and radios the new plan to her teammates several yards away. "You guys ready!?" she asks at last.

Deeks takes one last look at the beautiful brunette that he counts himself so fortunate to have known, and nods one last time. "Go for it." He tells her.

"We're headed your way now!" she yells into her radio.

Callen, Sam, and several of the other soldiers begin laying down cover fire on one side, and Deeks quickly drags himself up to his feet and does the same on his side. Kensi grabs Hassan, and the two of them dash out from behind the overturned vehicle, which has protected them up to this point.

Somehow, they make it across to the safety of the convoy's remaining two vehicles. Two of the soldiers immediately grab Hassan and quickly shove him into the second car. Kensi spins on her heel after catching her breath, and searches for her partner.

"Where is he?" she says as her eyes scan the horizon.

Callen activates his radio once more, and tries to contact Deeks. "Deeks, where the hell are you!?" the team leader yells into his radio.

Deeks' voice crackles over the radio static. "What are you guys waiting for!? Get moving!" he yells back over the radio.

"We're waiting on you!" Callen yells back angrily.

"Negative." Deeks replies. "I'm wounded, G. I'll just slow you down. Leave me."

Kensi has been listening to the whole conversation between Deeks and Callen, and her heart is now beating wildly inside her chest. "No," she blurts out. "No, we're not leaving him. Deeks, I'm coming back for you." She says into her own radio.

She tosses her helmet into the sand, and then quickly drops some of the other 'heavier' gear that she was required to wear for this mission. Nearby, Callen is silent for the longest time as if he's listening to something on his radio.

Kensi readies herself for the dash back across the sandy dunes to retrieve her partner. Suddenly, a pair of arms wraps around her midsection, and begin pulling her backwards towards the waiting vehicles.

"Its too late." Callen whispers into her ear. "We gotta go."

"No. No!" Kensi shouts as she struggles against the team leaders grip. "Let me go, G. I can't leave him!"

"Sorry Kens. No choice."

"Tell her I'm sorry." Deeks' voice comes through the radio, and reaches the muscular black man's ears.

"We will." Sam replies as he helps Callen shove Kensi into the waiting vehicle so that they can get back underway.

…TBC…

Author's Note: I would like to apologize for the sudden story change. I had so many issues with the original first chapter that I decided it would probably be best if I just started over, and I have to say I am really glad that I did. Please, just bare with me, and I promise all your patience WILL be rewarded.

P.S. I am currently working on Chapter Two as I type this last little note, and hope to get said chapter posted ASAP. Thanks again, and Happy Reading!