Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS: Los Angeles or any of its characters
CHAPTER 1: CHIPS ON THE TABLE
A few years back, a girl named Tracy fatefully crossed paths with a boy named Jason at a mixed martial arts gym run by some burly ex-Marines.
Tracy was grieving the grisly death of her boyfriend Danny, who'd helped out around the gym. Jason was a hotheaded MMA fighter gradually earning his way up the ranks, hoping to become a respected competitor at the gym.
It was an unlikely location and an even more unlikely scenario for a true love story to begin. But like any good romance, sparks flew from the moment the girl called Tracy and the boy called Jason locked eyes.
It was a total freeze frame; Tracy wore her black jeans and tank top, with a bag slung across her shoulder. Her long wavy dark tresses fell silkily to her shoulders, while her eyes were a mismatched hazel and blackish-brown. Jason, with his scruffy blonde hair and matching facial stubble, had baby blue eyes, and wore a white T-shirt, red shorts and black socks.
However, something was deceptively amiss with this first meeting. The boy and the girl were not what they seemed. But it was nevertheless a meeting that would cling to them forever.
A few short hours later, the girl crossed paths with the boy again, this time at Danny's house where the boy claimed he lived as a roommate. Sizzling sparks shot between them when the girl concocted a titillating claim of retrieving some compromising photos of herself off her deceased boyfriend's laptop. Only the boy didn't buy her story, and the girl had to switch it to a drug buy. He definitely seemed more interested with this.
Even though he was something of a thuggish wannabe who haphazardly carried around a gun, the girl masquerading as Tracy found herself "stuck" on Jason Wyler.
As fate would have it, the boy and the girl finally learned the truth about each other. Tracy was in actuality special agent Kensi Blye from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. Jason Wyler turned out to be wily undercover detective Marty Deeks from the Los Angeles Police Department.
The MMA gym was a front for assorted drug activities and other seedy delights. Upon learning each other's true identities, Deeks found Kensi undeniably intriguing, not to mention smoking hot. But not necessarily in that order. Kensi, however, dismissed the scruffy detective as an irritating ass. But Deeks managed to aid senior agent Sam Hanna at the last minute. Deeks demonstrated himself as a unique and effective operative. Regardless, Kensi still found him to be an irritating ass.
She bristled when he impishly and impulsively gave her the cover name "Fern" during their first official op. When Kensi found out that her Operations Manager, Hetty Lange, wanted to appoint Deeks as the team's LAPD liaison, she felt as though the cosmos were unduly punishing her. Why the hell would a clandestine branch of the agency need a liaison from the LAPD? And why did it have to be Deeks? Even his fellow officers found him to be an irritating ass!
For a while this scheme seemed to be short-lived. Deeks had to return to the LAPD to perform an important undercover op.
"Don't worry, Fern," he promised teasingly. "I'll be back."
At the time, the bemused Kensi wasn't too keen on receiving a new partner. Not after Dominic Vail. She had lost her junior partner not once, but twice. First when he'd been brutally abducted by terrorists months before she'd met Deeks, and second when he honorably gave his life to protect Sam some months after Deeks left. Kensi felt like an utter failure at protecting her inexperienced young partner. His death was still raw and heavily on her mind months later, when Deeks came scampering right back into her life, carrying intense emotional scars of his own.
She learned his op revolved around international human traffickers smuggling drugged-up girls. Deeks went missing for a day and was nearly killed. He was banged up, shaken up, and finally patched up - by a vet no less! These human traffickers were a lethal bunch.
What more, Deeks' female partner, Detective Jess Traynor, perished due to an insidiously planted car bomb.
After the team rescued Deeks, he lightly told Kensi, "Told you I'll be back."
Despite the severity of the situation, his teasing tone carried a hint of comic irony, as if saying they were always meant to cross paths again. That earned Deeks a scoff and a solid, "shut up," from Kensi.
The detective put the team through a hellish whirlwind with this ordeal. Crooked cops were even at play. Kensi remembered feeling pretty put off by how Deeks violently handled Traynor's demise. Listening to Traynor herself before she died, Kensi quickly picked up that she liked Deeks. She'd slipped a little by referring to him informally as Marty. Kensi eventually learned the two developed a close friendship. Perhaps more? Deeks went ballistic on the dirty cop Frank Scarly for taunting him with Traynor's death. He'd callously asked Deeks if she was good in bed. A noticeably unhinged Deeks aimed his gun at the disgraced man's heart, and challenged him shakily to repeat that. Kensi, of course, intervened. But Sam and his partner, special agent G Callen, allowed the LAPD liaison to throw some hard blows.
Kensi understood how Deeks felt. She was still carrying the pain and guilt for failing her own deceased partner. But Kensi never let herself get too close to Dom. There was never any concrete proof that Deeks engaged in a romantic fling with Traynor. Regardless, Kensi inwardly noted that her new partner was more than capable of breaking such regulations. Not that she would ever be in that situation. She viewed her position at NCIS as honorably as a soldier. She'd never dream of jeopardizing her job over a scandalous and embarrassing tryst. Not with Deeks or anyone else in the agency for that matter.
Whether she liked it or not, she had a new partner.
That first year with Deeks was far from harmonious. Kensi found his juvenile antics irksome. She was thrown by his constant insistence that they pose as a couple whenever the opportunity arose. He'd often do that just to get on her nerves. He also enjoyed giving her an endless onslaught of corny nicknames, including the detestable "Fern." He never took anything seriously, despite growing up with an abusive, alcoholic father whom he'd evidently shot in self-defense when he was eleven-years-old. The man wound up dying alone and buried in a forgotten grave his son had no intention of ever visiting.
Kensi figured Deeks' act as the class clown was his way of hiding a warrior's pain. But it was baffling how he was supposedly at one time a public defender with his scruffy unshaven appearance, coupled with a stubborn refusal to comb his unruly, shaggy hair, and the apparent maturity level of a horny dog.
But in those months, Kensi's partnership with Deeks withstood a lot of life's heavy burdens. She gamely had his back in the field, no problem. And he was just as game to help her maneuver through a room guarded by laser grids when she was kidnapped by Russian agents.
But during the Christmas season, Kensi didn't count on Deeks inadvertently learning of her lost love Jack Simon. A man she'd lost to his own trauma and demons through post traumatic stress on the heels of his battles in Fallujah, Iraq. Kensi didn't intend for her new partner to learn of this personal hurt. She didn't appreciate reliving that painful Christmas morning years ago, when she woke up alone and found herself abandoned. (And she didn't appreciate having her trust manipulated by a backstabbing Navy Intelligence Agent shamefully faking his own PTSD.) Thankfully, Deeks didn't bug her with intrusive queries. He instead invited her to help him volunteer feeding the homeless for Christmas. They both learned something surprising about each other; Kensi had severe commitment issues, while Deeks was honestly nice and charitable.
Another thing Kensi didn't count on was nearly losing him tragically. When Deeks got shot in a convenience store holdup, Kensi found herself at the hospital, clinging to his badge like a grieving wife, waiting for word on his condition. Dom's death was still raw and the prospect of losing another partner greatly pained her.
Fortunately, Deeks pulled through and immediately got back to business annoying his partner. In other words, it was a happy recovery.
Kensi spent much of that day by Deeks' side. Her feelings at the time were a mixture of relief and awkwardness. Relief in that he was going to be okay, and awkwardness because here they were in a intimate position, and they weren't exactly friends.
But when it turned out Deeks' gunmen were actually targeting Kensi for helping a former Chechen Black Widow trying to go straight with her new family, Deeks proved his worth as her partner. Despite recovering from multiple gunshot wounds, he somehow worked whatever strength he had to haul himself out of bed, grabbed the gun Sam thoughtfully gave him for protection, and intervened shooting one of the would-be attackers in the hospital's parking lot. That enabled Kensi to fight off the rest of them.
Not long after that ordeal, they faced another type of evil in the guise of a thief who turned out to be a cold-blooded murderer. Kensi had to pose as a cat burglar herself in order to infiltrate his operations. She'd helplessly witnessed him brutally murder his own people firsthand. This mission put her very life at risk. Deeks again proved his loyalty to his partner by having her back, and nailing the bastard. He busted his hand, but considering Kensi's jaw was badly bruised by the murderous thief, it was well worth it. Afterward, they'd hunkered down with some burgers and beers on Kensi's couch in her messy and disorganized apartment, and viewed her all-time favorite show America's Next Top Model. She even impressed him with her burping skills. Kensi was certainly not like any other girl Deeks knew.
Not long after this incident, Kensi met an individual from Deeks' troubled childhood. Ray Martindale, a former criminal turned informant who became Deeks' personal snitch. Kensi learned something very significant about her partner from Ray.
"He's a sucker for brunettes."
It sounded like the two boys went through a lot together over the years, everything from abusive fathers, to wild delinquent antics involving some anonymous brunette.
In the midst of all this, Kensi even met Max Gentry, Deeks' notorious alias. A hot-headed street punk with a penchant for causing bar fights and playing intricate roles in the criminal underworld. He was a very dark man with seemingly no conscience. Kensi was quite stunned that Deeks was naturally capable of playing such a character. He even somehow put himself in a position to sleep with Ray's ex-wife. Kensi watched him kiss her through the monitor in the boatshed. Her emotions were really mixed, so she consciously buried them very deep. She also saw how playing Max badly affected Deeks at times, considering he was normally a sunny person.
Fortunately, Max sleeping with Ray's ex hadn't dampened their longstanding friendship. But sadly Ray had to bolt out of Los Angeles with his new family to escape his dangerous criminal past. Deeks may never see his best friend again.
Kensi felt a little sad for them. She honestly thought Ray was a cool guy. (Despite him calling her Wikipedia for merely knowing the obvious differences between the hunting habits of alligators and crocodiles.) But she also thought it was amusing how Ray teased that she and Deeks had "a thing." She of course teased her partner about this too, but the indignant detective failed to see the humor in this.
"There is no thing!"
As more time went by, Deeks became even more committed to the team, loyally standing by them through many ups and downs. With that, Kensi found herself begrudgingly relenting to having something of a real friendship with him. They casually began spending time together outside of work, either going out for some beers or grabbing a quick bite to eat. When Deeks seemed flabbergasted by the stunning revelation that his partner had never seen Raiders of the Lost Ark, Kensi agreed to a movie night every now and then. (Though she felt he watched The Goonies a bit too often.)
But this hadn't change things too drastically. Kensi continued to have her occasional flings, and so did he. Perhaps every once in a while a little green-eyed monster would rear its ugly head. These bouts of jealousy didn't mean anything. And so what if one of Kensi's brief flings involved a guy who looked identical to Deeks. That was only a coincidence. There were countless men in Los Angeles with blonde shaggy hair!
When NCIS Assistant Director Owen Granger falsely named Kensi the prime suspect in a string of murders involving the men who were a part of her late father's sniper unit, Deeks, again, defended his partner. He had loyally stood beside her before, but there was something different about this instance.
"You don't think it was m -."
"Not for a second."
In that instant, Marty Deeks became Kensi Blye's best friend. The most constant and loyal friend she'd ever had.
But there was still a killer she needed to capture, so she escaped custody and threw herself off the grid in order to ferret him out. This was a personal mission she needed to see through by herself.
This wasn't just any killer. Peter Clairmont was a part of Donald Blye's sniper unit. He had betrayed and murdered his former team members. He'd murdered Donald Blye himself, even tampered with the brakes of his car, just like with the others. Then he despicably tried to tarnish her father's good name by making him out to be a soulless killer, and not the honorable Marine he was. The man who taught her how to defend herself, how to hot-wire cars, track and survive outdoors - her father taught her everything she knew. She'd lost him when she was only fifteen in a car wreck, and knew the military police's claim that he was driving while under the influence was a load of crap. He'd lost his own brother to a drunk driver. He would never in a million years get behind the wheel while intoxicated. So, Kensi conducted her own investigation and kept her teammates and partner out of the loop for their own protection. Typically that didn't turn out so well, and people were dying left and right.
Kensi found Clairmont's cowardly lies about her father to be utterly unforgivable. She seriously considered killing him in vengeance, but she came to realize she was not a monster like him. She wanted to stand for something like her father.
Instead, Granger, of all people, put the traitor down before he could kill Kensi.
The junior agent received some much-needed closure that day. It turned out Clairmont killed a civilian while intoxicated, and senselessly murdered his team members just to cover his tracks. Surprisingly, Granger was friends with Don Blye, and now knew he was trying to protect the journalist investigating Clairmont before Clairmont tampered with Blye's car. The Assistant Director thoughtfully gave Kensi her father's sniper journal, filled with deeply personal entries written specifically for her.
Promise me you will always remember this. No matter how far away I am, my home is wherever you are, baby girl.
In the aftermath of all this heavy drama, Kensi found it in her heart to make amends with her estranged mother, Julia Feldman. Kensi left her in favor of her father when they'd divorced. Kensi blamed her for breaking up their family for another man. But she'd ultimately learned it was more complicated than that. Her father's dangerous enemy was more at fault. Considering her mother lived pretty close by, and still obviously loved her daughter - evidenced by the framed photos she'd lovingly displayed of Kensi's childhood, the junior agent felt like a royal jerk for abandoning her.
But it was really Deeks who made the reunion possible. Kensi entrusted her mother's safety to her partner while she went gunning after her father's killer.
Through Julia Feldman, Deeks delightedly learned that Kensi loved the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and New Kids on the Block when she was growing up. But what he mostly picked up from Julia Feldman was that she just wanted her daughter back.
He encouraged Kensi to reconnect with her and this was happily a success. He felt proud for coming through and supporting his kickass partner – his girl – in her hour of need. Kensi could move on with her life, and finally put Don Blye to rest. Even better, Deeks learned some embarrassing childhood secrets about Kensi, and saw her in her bra while examining the bruised rib she'd received from her battles. Everything turned out awesome.
After a while, Kensi considerably softened toward Deeks' ever persistent need to pose as a simpering couple while undercover. So much so that Hetty actually had them pose as a happily married couple in a gated community to fish out a Russian spy.
Surprisingly for Kensi it wasn't near as dreadful as she thought it would be. She'd never really pictured herself living a domestic life in a suburban house. Not since Jack left her at least. She wanted to turn away from that lifestyle. But she found the notion of having someone to come home to and to fall asleep next to at the end of the day to be quite comforting. Even if it was just a ruse with her cheesy partner.
As Justin and Melissa Warren, they were frighteningly convincing at the swingers' dinner party. They even put a lot of themselves into their roles by telling half truths about how they first met at an MMA gym.
The only thing about the successful op that really unnerved Kensi was Hetty's warning about the possibility of two covert operatives falling in love while undercover, and how that could be unavoidable no matter how well trained and skilled they were. Kensi felt this lecture was pointless. Hetty was nagging the wrong operatives.
But despite Kensi's dismissal of her boss' warning, Deeks had truly become one of the most important men in her life. After all, he gave her unwanted lessons on how to properly use the word "touché," and frequently invited her to come along with him on his lavish vacations, which she always declined. Surviving copious amounts of fiery explosions and bullets would make any two people grow closer. But in addition to eating takeout food and having the occasional movie and TV night, they even began surfing together, which was Deeks' all-time favorite activity. When Kensi totally forgot Deeks' birthday, she'd felt honestly guilty. She presented him with a box, the same cardboard box that came randomly to her in the mail weeks prior. It drove Deeks crazy because she'd never revealed to him what was inside. But when Kensi gave him a box of his own, claiming its contents was something he always wanted and desired, Deeks felt as though the box was obviously some sort of deadly booby-trap. So he set it aside to open another time.
Even though Kensi encased herself in a thick protective barrier to defensively shield her feelings, Deeks was the only person to effortlessly penetrate through. There was no doubt Kensi had developed feelings for her shaggy partner. Enough so that she actually bombarded him with quizzes she'd picked up from a bridal magazine. She just stubbornly refused to fully acknowledged those feelings.
Deeks however was always attracted to his kickass ninja assassin from the moment they'd first crossed paths in that gym. It certainly helped that she was a brunette. But Deeks felt she was merely the kind of girl he'd happily have a beer with for the rest of his life.
Later one evening after working on a distressing case involving the cunning Russian arms dealer Sidorov, who was heavily interfering with Sam's family life by perving on his wife Michelle, (a former CIA operative whom Sidorov shared a history of sorts with), CIA agent Vostanik Sabatino lost his partner in the field. This again brought up painful memories for Kensi. She forced Deeks to promise never to get himself killed in the line of duty. It was an unfairly impossible promise, but after losing Dom, Kensi couldn't bear to lose Deeks. He was too important.
Unbeknownst to her, Deeks had a revelation of his own. It dawned on him that his partner so happened to smell like two of his favorite things in the whole world: Sunshine and gunpowder. In that moment, he lost his heart to her and would never be the same again.
When Deeks was ordered to go undercover as Max Gentry again, and tangled with a troubled and reckless woman who'd stolen millions in diamonds from an arms dealer, and even had to posed as her boyfriend, things came to a head.
Kensi hadn't handled that case well. She absolutely couldn't stand how obnoxious that woman Monica was, or how she shamelessly threw herself at Deeks. For his part, Deeks hated to be in a position in which Max had to use yet another woman, and seemingly jeopardize his relationship with Kensi in the process. Unfortunately, communication was never the partners' strongest suit, and Kensi was pretty cold to him, even after Monica left the picture.
Despite the hopelessness of their situation, and the off timing of being in a crucial case involving Sidorov trying to sell Cold War era nuclear bombs, and Sam's wife Michelle posing as the sleazy Russian's girlfriend, Deeks decided to let his feelings for Kensi be known. Not in words, but by a single action. He captured her lips with his, and kissed her fully, deeply. An action laced with frustration, anger and lust, but also longing, desire and need.
Once his lips were off hers, he threw her own accusation back at her by declaring brazenly, "How's that for communication?"
Utter shock washed over Kensi. This was not supposed to happen. They were partners in the field, trying to take down a dangerous Russian arms dealer selling nukes. She left him to do her job. She needed to do what she needed to do.
And he needed to do what he needed to do. Sadly when Sam's cover got blown, Deeks needed to step in in order to rescue him from drowning. Even though all that resulted from this was both of them getting captured and brutally tortured.
Sidorov had his thug use a dental drill on Deeks. As the device harshly reduced his mouth to oozing, bleeding chunks, Deeks retreated to a place inside his head that became his safe haven. His thoughts of Kensi. Little reminders of her bright beautiful smile, her goofy endearing laugh, even her piglet snores as she slept helped him live through the most excruciating pain of his life. After all, he'd promised not long ago he would never die on her in the line of duty. She was all he needed to keep going.
Kensi of course found him and ultimately rescued him.
Even though he lived through that horrid ordeal and hadn't betrayed Sam or Michelle, Deeks turned away from everyone.
He did manage to relay to Kensi that it was her that helped him survive his torture. But he still couldn't bear to be around her. He shied away in reclusion, locked in his dark apartment. He was haunted by the storm of his tortured and abusive childhood, and hopelessly confused by his jumbled feelings for Kensi. His days and nights were restless and sleep refused to come and grant him any relief. Not even Hetty's dire warning of losing his job or even being replaced as Kensi's partner slapped him out of his trauma.
He did muster up the energy to have a impromptu therapy session with Dr. Nate Getz on the beach, where he couldn't even follow through with his true passion; surfing. He had a nice chat with Nate, though. The field agent/psychologist thought if Deeks sorted out his feelings about what had happened to him, he would get some relief.
The good doctor turned out to be correct in his assumption.
That very evening, Kensi dropped by his apartment unexpectedly. Deeks still didn't want to face her, but something compelled him to open his door. The instant Kensi crossed his threshold, Deeks' personal storm finally subsided. His partner came with yummy tidings of greasy junk food that routinely failed health inspections. But society's mores couldn't weigh down all this deliciousness. What more, Deeks discovered Kensi had also brought him his favorite pastry, the culinary phenomenon known as the cronut. A doughnut/croissant hybrid, Kensi had apparently dropped it off a while ago, the confection having grown stale sometime after she'd left it on his doorstep. But Deeks' heart fluttered at the fact that Kensi actually thought of buying him his very favorite treat. She did that just for him. It didn't matter that it had gone stale. She'd won him over.
Kensi clearly had no intention of having a short visit. She took off her boots and settled herself quite comfortably on his couch. She tried to convince her broken partner to watch a late-night horror movie with her. Deeks simply rested his head on a frilly pillow and listened to her drone on about the movie's plot.
The sound of her voice became soothing and comforting. It helped Deeks gently drift into slumber, surrendering to a vague dream about a love story. Words unknowingly slipped past his lips and reached Kensi's ears. He finally received the sleep he'd so desperately needed. Kensi stayed with him all through the night, greatly relieved he was going to be okay. It felt as though a powerful spell was cast on them right then and there.
But when morning sunshine faintly streamed through his thick curtains, it was time for Kensi to resume her job as an NCIS agent. Once Deeks managed to catch up on his sleep and place the pieces of his shattered life back together, he found himself returning to OSP and resumed his role as LAPD liaison.
Now equipped with a new Smith & Wesson that was gifted from Hetty, Deeks tentatively grew accustomed to the often violent nature of his job. Kensi loyally continued on in her role as his partner and friend. She grew deeply concerned when Deeks began displaying unnecessary reckless behavior, a pattern that was deeply reminiscent of Jack when he'd suffered from PTSD. Kensi strongly felt Deeks suffered from the same kind of problems post-torture. But the difference was that Deeks wasn't her lover.
For a while the spell that was cast between them that special night seemed to have broken. Even though they now shared a special, unspoken bond, they were nothing more than friends and partners.
But Deeks secretly (or not so secretly) wanted something more with Kensi. Something more personal. So after working a case in which he posed as a sex addict and she a nutritionist, Deeks - with his ever characteristic impulsiveness, casually invited Kensi out for tacos. Only tacos turned out to be an expensive, intimately lit restaurant. All the glaring signs of a romantic date.
Frustrated, Kensi accused her partner of still having poor communication skills. Out of options, Deeks switched to total honesty mode.
"I don't wanna be here with you right now."
"What?"
"I wanna be at my place right now – with you."
The seduction in his voice was quite evident. So was the smoldering stare she threw at him for saying that.
Kensi could no longer ignore her feelings. Feelings that had grown more important than her personal vow to never become intimately involved with a partner.
Before they made love on his bed, he gently revealed that he'd fallen in love with her. Even though Kensi wasn't able to vocalize her own feelings, she longingly welcomed him in.
But after a night of ignited passion, the seething tension unsurprisingly grew awkward by the next morning. Their dynamic at work changed overnight.
Not long after this, some random bad guy held a gun to Kensi's head, causing Deeks to completely freeze up. She harshly lashed out as this seemed to confirm that a relationship with Deeks was hopeless. She described her troubled confliction to him with a metaphor she learned in Sayoc. Her frozen lake.
"Your frozen lake is the name for what you want the most in the world, and you want it. You want it so bad, that you'll do anything to get it. Then your heart takes over. But because of that it destroys you in the end. It's right there just sitting in the middle of this frozen lake. And you think your fast enough to go out there and grab it before the ice cracks."
It was a confusing and disheartening revelation, but their relationship hadn't sunk into the treacherous icy waters just yet.
Kensi ceremoniously gifted Deeks with her Sayoc knife. Even though she nonchalantly insisted that a knife was just a knife, it was a sacred blade that once belonged to her father. A daddy's girl such as Kensi would never dream of giving this weapon to just any boy.
Deeks was eventually fortunate enough to befriend a Gurkha soldier named Jemadar Thapa, a man who was connected to their latest case. Not only was he good at stylishly slicing off the heads of his adversaries, he was also knowledgeable about how to cross metaphorical frozen lakes.
"Do not run, walk slowly, stop to look at everything, take your time, she will wait for you."
Deeks only knew this man for a few hours, but he found something of a brother in him. In turn, Thapa was amazed Deeks found something truly redeeming in him, something he couldn't recognize in himself.
Deeks managed to salvage the investigation by going undercover and regained his shooting mojo by flying a bullet right passed Kensi's own head to hit his mark.
Poor Thapa wound up brutally tortured and shot in the process, but fortunately, he would recover and return home to his family. Seemingly, Deeks and Kensi would recover, also.
The ninja assassin finally spilled her guts as she reassured the detective they would get through this. Deeks lightly and teasingly pressed her to verify what she was getting at. Slightly annoyed, but also obviously overjoyed, Kensi admitted to him publicly that they had "a thing."
It was possibly the most thrilling moment in Deeks' eventful life. His relationship with his Kensalina was finally full steam ahead. Even though she was still admittedly fidgety over this latest relationship upgrade, he promised he would be patient with her as she crossed her frozen lake.
But they never got the chance to ride off into the sunset.
While Deeks accompanied his new brother Thapa to the hospital, Hetty and Granger abruptly assigned Kensi to a classified mission overseas. Hetty wouldn't permit the young agent to say goodbye to her partner. When Deeks returned to OSP, he'd just missed Kensi. He was completely crushed by this heart sinking news. The familiar unfair reality of life struck him once again, and he was left to face the icy world alone with nothing but a handcrafted warrior blade to hold on to.
Meanwhile, Kensi , with Granger by her side, was shipped to a hell here on earth: Afghanistan.
She was reunited with CIA agent Vostanik Sabatino, who was mysteriously pulled off the Sidorov case. Kensi's own mission was to locate and ultimately take out a man known as the White Ghost, a Westerner who'd sold out his country to the Taliban. But Kensi suspected there was something shady about Sabatino. He was acting shifty, and it felt as though the whole task force was against her. What more, the sniper Kensi replaced wound up brutally decapitated. Suffice to say, Kensi didn't appreciate Granger for not being forthcoming about that!
At home, Deeks deeply pined for his ninja assassin. They spoke over a satellite phone on Christmas, thanks to a special arrangement from Hetty. They managed to chat occasionally on the internet whenever they could, and even sent each other selfies one time. Indulging in photos of each other and their teammates helped them pass the many lonely nights. Kensi couldn't believe she actually found so much solace in Deeks' cheesy vacation photos. Photos she'd once mocked. (Especially the one with the camel.) Deeks found long distance relationships to deeply suck. He tightly clung to her father's knife night and day, and even met the legendary assassin who crafted it and gave it to her father. Overall, Deeks honestly thought it was his fault that Kensi got shipped to Afghanistan because of their night together.
Over the course of five months, Kensi began to suspect that Sabatino was the White Ghost, who in turn disabled her car and wandered off into the desert when she confronted him. But she later learned that the White Ghost was actually her ex-fiancé Jack Simon. He was the last man she'd expect to be a traitor, and the CIA wanted to collect his head. With her whirlwind emotions welling up, Kensi refused to take him out.
She put her own investigative skills to use by sneaking out of camp and getting herself captured by the Taliban in order to learn the truth about Jack. While she was their prisoner, she finally reunited with her ex for the first time in nine years. The Taliban held Jack prisoner along with Kensi when Jack failed to convince them to release her. There Kensi learned Jack found inner peace in Afghanistan when he abandoned her all those Christmases ago. He converted to Islam and fell in love with and married an Afghani woman. He was happy with her and their daughter, living the primitive tribal lifestyle. It finally gave him the peace he badly needed. For Kensi it was heart-wrenching to hear how simply Jack had moved on, while his abandonment was a crushing blow to her for the longest time. Even though it happened nearly a decade ago, it still hurt.
But there was much sadness when Jack brokenly added that his wife was killed in a drone strike, and his daughter was lost somewhere. Furthermore, Jack wasn't some nefarious turncoat committing treason. The CIA wanted to recruit Jack, but he just wanted to be left alone with his tribe. The CIA viewed him as a liability.
Kensi belatedly realized that was why she'd been deployed. Hetty wanted her to protect an old friend from Sabatino and the CIA. But considering they'd both got captured by the Taliban, it seemed more likely that both their lives would come to a bloody end. The Taliban themselves tortured Kensi relentlessly. Taunting her, threatening to slowly slice off her head with a blood-stained machete.
For Deeks, things got increasingly worse when Kensi stopped contacting him, and even Technical Operator Eric Beale and Intelligence Analyst Nell Jones didn't seem to know how her op was going.
Things then grew horrendously worse when Nell briefed Deeks, Callen and Sam of Kensi's capture. It was now their mission to rescue her. It was a wonder to Deeks that his heart didn't stop beating right then and there. The only thing that mattered was rescuing Kensi from the Taliban. He just kept telling himself she was still alive. She was too badass to die.
Upon arriving at the dustball of a country, Deeks was tremendously offended when he was ordered to interrogate a blind Muslim cleric to collect theoretically crucial information about Kensi's whereabouts. He'd much rather search for his girl himself, but he reluctantly did as he was told.
Callen, Sam and Granger went out to search for Kensi in the mountains.
It was the most frantic and devastating fifty-six hours in Deeks' life. His Afganhi guide kept warning him that Afghanistan was a place that truly tried mens' souls. With the elderly cleric stubbornly uncooperative, and the team receiving a horrific photo of Kensi's throat slit and covered in blood, Deeks practically jumped over the edge.
Hetty's comment that the photo was highly suspect didn't give Deeks much assurance.
Completely crazed and defying his own moral code, Deeks lashed out at the viciously sexist Muslim, water boarding him ruthlessly. Upon realizing what he was doing, he pulled himself back from the brink and calmed himself.
Collecting his shaky emotions and horrified by his own actions, Deeks, with the help of his interpreter, logically realized he needed a prisoner exchange. Deducing that the blind cleric was in fact the father of a influential Taliban leader in the region, Deeks immediately contacted Eric and Nell. As it turned out, while NCIS had lost contact with it's own team, Eric manged to hack into the CIA's secured encrypted server. Locating the CIA team deployed to kill the White Ghost, Eric and Nell quickly triangulated the probable location of Deeks' missing teammates. Grabbing the nearest available chopper, and loosely forming his own plans on the fly, he rushed across the Afghan deserts as quickly as possible.
To his tremendous relief and astonishment the exchange actually worked. As Kensi and Jack were being traded at gunpoint, Deeks finally saw Kensi for the first time in five months. He would never forget the sight of her beaten face and haunted eyes.
Miraculously for Kensi, her team came through for her, especially her partner. She was shattered to pieces when she finally reunited with them. She and Jack went their separate ways. (As it turned out, Sabatino wanted to safely get Jack back to the US all along.) Deeks was a little choked up by the sight of the two exes together, but he was finally reunited with his partner. They shared an emotional reunion. She found herself breaking down in his arms. It was so unlike her to be this broken and vulnerable, but Deeks loyally soothed her. He tenderly whispered they were going home. She was finally going home with him.
Upon returning to LA, they didn't exactly pick up where they left off. He more than understood she needed some personal space. Just like he did after his torture from Sidorov. He'd been where she was. They slowly returned to their usual work ethics as partners. But their personal relationship was in doubt.
When they had to investigate an unscrupulous NCIS agent named Paul Angelo, for betraying the agency by falling in love with a woman who happened to be the wife of the smuggler he was investigating, it hit pretty close to home.
Falling in love with the wrong woman ruined that agent's life and career. His relationship with her was over, and she was going to be shipped off to prison where he would likely never see her again.
This forced Kensi and Deeks to face the harsh possibility that their "thing" could bring down disastrous consequences. Or at least cost them their jobs. And not only their jobs, but their lives and even their precious friendship.
They found themselves engrossed with a deep metaphor about three hearts, something the disgraced agent purposefully tried to brain-tease them with.
"The first heart, that's one you show to strangers. The second heart, only your family gets to see that. Your family and the person put on this earth to walk by your side. Your soul mate. But that third heart is the thing. Never let anyone see it. There's too much truth inside. Too much risks. She saw yours didn't she? Oh, damn, brother. This is not going to end well."
Once the case was closed, Kensi ultimately asked Deeks what his third heart was telling him. Truthfully, his third heart had been heavy for quite some time. He decided to finally listen to it and consciously returned her father's knife. They both knew this step back was the right decision for the sake of their jobs and partnership. But it didn't make it any less hurtful.
There was yet another metaphor they'd heard that day in regards to the supposedly confounding mating rituals of raccoons. Through that, Deeks wanted Kensi to know how he viewed her.
"Contrary to hundreds of years of scientific evidence, I believe that raccoons do mate for life."
As his words and the touching meaning behind them affectionately sank in, Kensi decided she was ready to bare her third heart. She used her father's knife to slice open the top of the mystery box she'd given him the previous year. The box he was so afraid to open.
She left him alone to see what was inside. He opened it and found - yet another cardboard box. Deeks scoffed and muttered, "Touché." It was so very much like his partner to put up multiple barriers around her delicate heart.
But despite reversing their partnership back to where it was before their desirable night together, (which felt so impossibly long ago) Kensi's "thing" with Deeks still longingly lingered. It was tough having to pose as lovers when it was required by their jobs. Kensi was also stunned that Deeks befriended a DEA agent named Talia Del Campo while she was stuck in Afghanistan. A catty woman whose blunt statement of the obvious and tendency to go for the jugular didn't make things simple on Kensi's warring feelings for Deeks. But they'd reached an understanding after Kensi roughly headbutted Talia, and she in turn gave Kensi a bloody lip.
But somehow, Talia helped Kensi to straighten out her relationship with Deeks. They found themselves growing closer than ever and were now practically inseparable. They still had their TV and movie nights, and falling asleep on either her couch or his had become a natural occurrence. They'd become so close that the word "partners" felt somehow wrong to describe their relationship. Their true relationship. They'd both survived so much anguish, and it seemed merely by thinking about each other they could emotionally and psychically overcome anything.
For Kensi, she could no longer deny wanting the man who'd tenderly gave her a shoulder to cry on when she was forced to relive the trauma of Afghanistan. He knew an embarrassing plethora of her secrets. Little things ranging from her desire to grow homegrown oregano, (despite her penchant for killing the most simple of house plants) to her top-secret hiding places for her precious Twinkies. As well as her abhorrence for liver. He knew that her childhood crush was Joey McIntyre, and that Titanic was her absolute favorite movie. He even somehow knew her favorite color was cornflower blue. He also knew where she kept her secret bridal magazine collection. (In her bathroom.)
Kensi was embarrassed that her most overt feminine aspects were this openly transparent to him. But Deeks adored this softer, lacy, lady side of his kickass Kensalina. He wasn't even scared to admit he loved it.
But most of all he knew something that the rest of the team didn't. Hetty'd informed him about it a couple of years back when Kensi was dealing with her issues regarding the troubled manic pixie dream girl Astrid. Deeks knew that once Kensi was a homeless teenager on the unforgiving streets of LA after her beloved father died. It was the most horrible time of her life. He didn't know all of the heartbreaking details, but someday Kensi badly wanted to muster up the courage to open that part of her life to him. She felt she could trust him. As she once said, she'd trust him with everything. But she wanted to take her time.
With Christmas fast approaching, Deeks and Kensi were glad they weren't literally worlds apart like the previous year. Like any good field agents with ambiguous romantic sparks, they agreed to spend Christmas up at Mammoth to go snowboarding. Deeks claimed that Monty, his bomb sniffing mutt from the LAPD, approved of Kensi tagging along on their Christmas vacation. The partners sealed the deal with a high-five.
But being dragged through a case involving Callen's girlfriend Joelle Taylor, and the bothersome lingering question of how work and a love story could fit together left the partners rather restless.
Finally while skating with Deeks on the city ice rink, (a frozen lake) Kensi decided what she wanted their relationship to be.
Warmly reaching out for his hand, she revealed to him she wanted to be bold. She specifically wanted to be bold with him, and agreed to put all the chips on the table. She wanted to be all in.
Deeks responded to her with one of his famous mid-sentence interrupting, passion filled kisses.
Their Christmas up in Mammoth was passionate and pleasurable. And the snowboarding and playing with Monty was fun, too. They stoked a fire to burn through years of repressed yearning. They were all in from tonight, tomorrow and the day after.
Trouble was would their team be okay with their "thing" blossoming? For the time being they opted to keep it a secret. The team didn't really need to know. Especially their bosses who could tear them apart again with another classified hell.
Next Chapter: Vincent Angelo