She cruised along the highway toward her destination, techno music blaring through the car speakers and spilling out her open driver-side window.
Up ahead she saw two highway patrol officers on motorcycles sitting on the shoulder, and she gave them a wide berth as she passed by.
Out of habit she glanced in her rearview mirror, surprised to see sudden and unmistakable blue lights flashing in it and the sound of the siren as it got closer.
What? Really?
What could she possibly have done wrong?
With a sigh, she steered the car onto the shoulder, shut off the engine, and waited for the uniformed officers to approach.
Hopefully this wouldn't take long. A simple flash of her badge, and she should be on her way.
Only one of the two officers had followed her, and he pulled his protective helmet off his head before dismounting his motorcycle.
Kind of odd that a police officer would take the time to remove his helmet…
Oh...that's why.
A smile played at her lips as she watched him confidently stride the short distance between his motorcycle and her car.
Normally she didn't think twice about men in uniform…but she could make an exception in his case. Because this particular officer looked pretty hot in that uniform, and it wasn't from the California sun beating down on him.
He stopped at her open window, sliding a pair of classic mirrored sunglasses over his eyes. "License and registration please, ma'am."
She just looked at him. "Are you serious?"
"Are you resisting?"
Kensi scoffed her best 'I don't believe this' attitude, flipping open her NCIS badge and ID to show the officer instead. "I'm a Federal Agent, and I'm headed somewhere important," she explained simply.
"That's very impressive, ma'am, but the fact remains that you were speeding."
"I wasn't speeding," she refuted instantly. "I was barely—"
But the officer cut her off. "We clocked you going fifty-six in a fifty-five zone. Now, as you are a 'Federal Agent', I'm sure you're intelligent enough to do the math and figure out that fifty-six is, indeed, more than fifty-five which is the absolute limit on this stretch of road."
Unable to argue with his abrupt, matter-of-fact logic, Kensi was at a loss for words. "Well, I…"
"Not to mention the fact that you are arguing with an officer of the law," he continued his mini-lecture. "And you still haven't shown me your license or registration."
She really did not have time for this nonsense.
She gave the officer her patented power stare — the one that usually worked well on her partner and suspects when she needed it to.
But he was unfazed by it. "I'm waiting, ma'am."
"Okay, for the record, I was going one mile over the limit," Kensi argued, still not making a single move to present any of the requested information. "One."
"Whether it's one or one-hundred," the officer replied. "Speeding is still speeding and it puts not only your life in danger, but mine and my fellow officer's, plus everybody else on the road."
Getting nowhere fast, Kensi gave up the power stare and employed a new tactic. "Is there any chance we could, uh…talk about this?" she suggested coyly. "Maybe over…drinks?"
His cheek twitched with the faintest sign of a potential smile. "Are you attempting to bribe an officer of the law, ma'am?"
"Why don't we dispense with this 'ma'am' stuff, hmm?" Kensi upped the flirting, leaning cutely toward her open window just a bit. "You can call me…Fern."
His gaze swept over her with interest. "Is that your real name? Fern?"
She casually shrugged a shoulder, laying on the charm. "That's what my partner likes to call me."
"Sounds to me like you might have some kind of 'thing' going on with this partner of yours," he commented much more conversationally than before.
She raised a careless eyebrow. "He seems to think we do."
"He's probably right about that," the officer agreed in a charming tone of his own, removing his sunglasses and leaning in her open window with his forearms resting on the sill. "Well…I won't tell him anything if you don't," he said with a sexy smile.
Kensi returned the smile. She knew it wouldn't take long to soften this guy up once she put her girly skills to work.
She opened her mouth to respond but her reply was cut short by the sound of another motorcycle approaching.
The second highway patrol officer finally joined them, stopping his motorcycle behind the first one and addressing his colleague with an air of authority. "What are you doin'?"
"What does it look like I'm doing?" the first officer replied, straightening away from the window and adopting a casual stance as he faced the newcomer. "I'm enforcing the law. That's what police officers do."
The second officer was not amused. "We're supposed to be watching for our suspects, Deeks…not stopping your partner on bogus charges just so you can flirt with her."
Kensi grinned openly, glad to have Sam on her side. "I guess you can save yourself the trouble of writing that speeding ticket, huh?" she quipped, her eyes sparkling humorously up at Deeks.
"Come on, man," Sam complained, growing impatient with Deeks' acting out a childhood fantasy. "You've had enough fun already pretending you're on an episode of CHiPS. Let's get back to doing our jobs before I trade you for Kensi."
"Well, it's your lucky day, Fern," Deeks turned back to her, in-character again. "I'm gonna let you off with a warning this time. But if I catch you again, I'm definitely going to have to detain you."
"Let me guess…you've got the furry handcuffs today?"
He grinned. "You know me well."
She smiled back evenly, lifting a bottle of water out of her car's console and deliberately taking a sip right in front of her partner.
Deeks' mouth went dry at the sight of nice, refreshing water. "You wouldn't happen to have another one of those, would you?" he asked hopefully. "It's kinda hot out here…and dry…and very, very dusty…"
She gave him an apologetic look that was anything but sincere. "Oh, sorry. This is my last one. But I think there's a pond nearby, if you get really thirsty."
"Oh, come on — I'm dying out here!" he whined pitifully.
"Alright, you big baby." She took a second sip from her water bottle and gave the rest to her partner.
Deeks took a grateful swig of the cool water. "That hits the spot. Thanks."
Kensi handed him the plastic cap to the bottle. "Oh, Deeks?"
"Yeah?"
"You remember what I said once about men in uniform being overrated?"
He remembered. And he figured she'd reinforce that again now just to knock him down a peg or two.
But she surprised him.
She looked him up and down with an impish grin. "I take it back."
Then she restarted her car and pulled back onto the road, techno music blaring once again.
Deeks laughed softly to himself as she left him behind in the dust. "She likes me in uniform. Alright."