Hello, NCIS:LA fans and readers! So, I'm sick today and staying home from school and it's pouring rain, but at least I've got time to work on my fanfictions. Haha. Please enjoy!

She never should have agreed to take the assignment. Any other pretty, Russian-speaking female agent could have been sent in her place. And Lord knew there were a lot of them around. That stunning blonde girl, Agent Gina Pachevski, fluent in Russian. Or that one newbie who was actually Russian and not bad looking either. But Kensi Blye had been, at the time she had agreed to the assignment, a desperate woman. Desperate, as so many become, for escape. Instead of escaping, however, she had been only forced to confront the very life she had attempted to flee.

A single dark silhouette against the pearly sky, Kensi bent down and gently touched the gravestone. She had laid a bunch of roses on the soft grass that tangled beneath the tombstone.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I'm so, so sorry."

Tuesday, October 6, NCIS Los Angeles Field Office, Los Angeles, CA

The sound of Eric Beal's taxi-summoning whistle had long ago called the other agents up the high-tech Special Ops room, but Kensi was seated before Hetty Lange's cluttered mahogany desk.

"Miss Blye, your work in the past few months has been exceptional. A half dozen cases closed, an illegal narcotics operation shut down…if I could, you would be given a promotion."

Kensi heard the 'but' hovering in the air, so she waited. Sure enough, Hetty continued,

"However, I'm afraid that a promotion is not an option right now. The only thing I give you is an assignment."

Kensi perked up at once, straightening in the ladder-backed chair.

"An undercover assignment?"

The older woman surveyed her young agent with a proud gleam in her eyes, not altogether different from the expression that mother might adopt while looking at a favorite daughter. Kensi, one of the few female certified undercover agents, had always been one of Hetty's 'projects', meaning that the older agent kept a watchful eye on her younger charge.

"But of course, Agent Blye. Tea?" Hetty produced a steaming kettle from seemingly nowhere and poured herself a cup.

"Uh, sure. Thanks." Kensi accepted a dainty porcelain teacup of hot amber liquid. "So what does this…assignment…entail?"

Hetty pressed a few keys on her computer and the plasma mounted on her office wall zapped to life. A grainy driver's license photograph and a few grainy surveillance snapshots of a handsome, dark-haired man appeared there.

"Viktor Lekova, thirty-seven years old. Born to Russian immigrant parents in New York City, currently the head of one of the United State's largest illegal arms rings. He's been smuggling AK-47s across the Mexican border for several years."

Kensi raised her eyebrows, nodded.

"And why is NCIS involved?"

"We were alerted to Lekova's activities in 2003, when he was a major suspect in a Camp Pendleton shooting. He doesn't have a criminal record, he's practically invisible if you don't know where to look. Agent Callen asked around with his contacts and uncovered a Russian arms dealing ring. A few weeks ago, a small-time drug dealer had a little spiff with Lekova, snitched on him to us. We're all ready to go into operation…if you accept the assignment, of course. If not, we could always find someone else…"

"No!" Kensi blurted at once. "Of course I'll do it!"

Hetty gave an almost smirking smile. She had known, even before she asked, that Kensi would accept her offer.

"So," the undercover agent began eagerly, "what's my cover?"

"An escort?" Kensi's voice rose an octave in disbelief. "Really, Hetty?"

Hetty calmly surveyed the younger agent, hands folded.

"Lekova has shown a taste for exotic women in the past," Hetty informed her.

Yeah, what else is new? Kensi wondered. Rich, handsome men like Lekova always aimed high in the female department, they never settled for the 'girl next door' when they could just as easily have the Brazilian supermodel from Beverly Hills.

"I have a teleconference with the director of the FBI in a few minutes," Hetty began, handing Kensi a thick manila folder. "But take this and read it carefully. Report here at 0600 for your first day."

Kensi nodded and was about to leave when a last nagging thought made her pause in the doorway.

"Hetty?"

Hetty glanced up, one hand on the telephone.

"Yes?"

"Why me? There are a lot of other agents who fit the profile…"

Hetty gave one of her knowing, over-the-glasses stares.

"I thought you could use a break, Agent Blye. Of course, I could always give another agent the assignment…"

Kensi pressed her lips together in a thin smile as their eyes met.

"No, no. I was just…wondering, that's all."

Hetty nodded once, her eyes returning to expressionless orbs, and Kensi left.

It had started during the Henders case, and escalated from there. Marie Henders, wife of a Naval Captain, had been shot dead in an apparent robbery gone wrong. They had already nabbed one suspect, a known drug using neighbor who had despised Susan Henders from the moment she reported him for smoking marijuana on the street corner. Kensi believed that they could easily convict him, while Deeks pushed that there wasn't enough evidence to go to trial.

"I know what it's like to loose a parent," Kensi had snapped. Deeks didn't know. Her partner might have endured a dysfunctional childhood, but he hadn't suffered the death of a parent. Things like that, they changed you. Warped you, twisted you around inside. From there the fighting had escalated until they were going full at it in an alleyway behind San Vicente Food Mart, totally unprofessional and childish.

"You have NO IDEA!" Kensi had shouted at him, her face burning hot with rage. "Your life has been perfect! You don't know what it's like!"

Deeks had just stared at her with cold eyes, his mouth a flat line.

"You know what, Kensi? You used to be a good agent. Now I'm not so sure. You're selfish, Kensi. You're not thinking about the victim here, you're thinking about yourself."

She had spluttered, outraged, knowing it was true but too angry to admit that Deeks was right.

"You used to be a good agent," he repeated. "Now I don't know if anyone would want you as a partner."

Even now, almost a month later, the words stung. Kensi had considered Deeks more than just a partner-he had been a close friend. Maybe verging on something more. But since that investigation, their relationship had been irreparably damaged. The trust they had once shared was shattered, and no amount of coaxing from Hetty or gentle prodding from Sam or harsh comments from Callen could force them to function as the smooth team they'd once been.

At least I'm leaving him behind, Kensi thought as she folded a basketful of laundry in her apartment later that evening. Hetty had assured her that any 'costumes' she had to wear would be provided, something that put Kensi a little on edge. When she was a newbie, she'd been forced to wear revealing dresses, low-cut tops and even bikinis on assignments to draw attention towards her own body and away from other undercover agents. Sam and Callen had always made sure that she felt like part of the team, like she was one of the boys. Now she was headed into a potentially dangerous situation with no other teammates. This time, Callen and Sam wouldn't be there to get her back. On the upside…it meant a few days without Deeks. Maybe longer.

Almost without thinking, Kensi glanced at her wall calendar. October 8th was fast approaching, a date that she avoided recognizing at all costs. It wasn't circled in red or highlighted, but Kensi had never forgotten it. Every year, it approached like a train's headlight in a dark tunnel, unavoidable, inescapable.

Sitting there alone in her dim apartment, Kensi thought that maybe her sour relationship with Deeks wasn't the only thing that she was trying to escape from.

So I hope you all liked this chapter, I promise that there will be more to come. Leave me nice reviews, my lovelies…