I KNOW I SAID I WOULDN'T START ANOTHER NEW STORY… BUT I COULDN'T RESIST THIS ONE.
DON'T OWN IT.
Deeks knew that each and every one of his teammates (and boss) had a façade. He himself included. But none of them could be potentially dangerous, except for his partner's. His was just to joke around, even in the face of danger. And, he had to admit, he had a natural talent for it. Callen's was complicated. Deeks was sure it involved moving residences one a week, eating donuts, and being mysterious. Sam used intimidation, but Deeks knew that deep down, Sam was a very empathetic, compassionate man. The amount of respect each and every one of them had for Hetty was her façade. No one would dare mess with her (except for maybe Callen). Kensi, however, did pose a problem. She refused to admit to weakness, which included injuries. If she was hurt, she wouldn't get it checked out, and potentially die. And since she did such a good job of covering up pain, no one (except for maybe Hetty, but she would never call her junior agent out on it unless Kensi was in mortal danger) could tell. Deeks was starting to catch on, though.
He knew it was a stupid idea. The other thing he knew was that after this confrontation, he might not be able to have children. Inwardly, he groaned at the sight. Kensi was sitting at her desk, writing furiously and with much more force than necessary. He knew it had been a bad day for her. They had gotten the frantic call of 15 year old May Henson saying that her father hadn't come home that night. Her father was a marine, and his CO had said that he hadn't shown up for training that morning, either. The dad, Lieutenant Harriman Henson, had gone out the night before. A few hours later, a John Doe had been found, with a bullet hole in his head. He had then been beaten to such extremes that dental X-rays and DNA were the only way to confirm that the corpse was, indeed, Lt. Henson. At first, NCIS had dismissed May's call, assuming she was just overreacting. But when the positive ID was told to Hetty, she immediately sent her team down. Luckily, they had solved the case in one day, but they all knew the toll it had taken on Kensi. As usual, she kept insisting that she was fine, but Deeks knew better. He also knew better than to push. It took all of his strength to wait until everyone else, including the janitors and Hetty, had gone home, to talk to her. But he knew it was worth it.
"Hey, Kensi." He said casually, making like he was packing his stuff up.
"Hey." She replied, scribbling something out.
"Are you on question 7?" Deeks asked. Kensi only grunted in response, obviously concentrating.
"I just wrote 'child is fine and going into foster care. Aunt volunteered to have custody.'" Deeks said.
"Yup." Kensi said.
"Did that help?" Deeks asked hopefully.
"No." Kensi said.
"Why not? I just gave you the answer." Deeks said, trying to get up their usual banter.
"Because May's not fine!" Kensi yelled.
"Ok, then you can write what you want." Deeks said, putting his hands up in surrender. He went into the gym, where there was a door he could peek out of to watch. He now knew that she was in an extremely bad mood, and very angry. Deeks knew that that meant she was upset. And she has every right to be, Deeks thought. 10 minutes later, he saw her packing up her things, and walked into the bullpen again.
"I just realized I forgot my tape." Deeks said, going to his desk.
"And I care because?" Kensi snapped, throwing a book into her bag.
"Uh, sorry. You ok?" He asked.
"Fine." She replied curtly, then took off to the door.
"Not so fast." Deeks said, stepping in front of her.
"Do you really think that's a smart idea?" She challenged.
"No, but I'm wearing a cup." Deeks said, amazingly keeping a straight face. Sighing, Kensi said,
"What do you want?"
"We need to talk." Deeks said, struggling to keep eye contact under her glare.
"No we don't." Kensi said, trying to push past him.
"I'm not going to take no for an answer."
"You can't make me talk to you!" Kensi said, even though it sounded childish. She folded her arms, and dared him to challenge her.
"I can when it involves my safety." Deeks said.
"First Amendment: Freedom of speech. Or in my case, freedom of no speech." Kensi said.
"Are you really quoting the Declaration of Independence?" Deeks asked, momentarily distracted.
"Bill of Rights." Kensi corrected.
"Whatever."
"Yeah."
"I still want to talk." Deeks pressed.
"I don't see how any of this involves your safety." Kensi said.
"If you'd just listen to what I have to say, you'd get it." Deeks said.
"Fine."
"Promise not to interrupt." Deeks said.
"Yes, Deeks, just get this over with." Kensi said, exasperated.
"I'm not trying to insult you or anything. I just want to say that before I start." Deeks said. At the time, confronting Kensi about his worries seemed like a good idea. Now? Not so much.
"Deeks, I'm a big girl. I can handle an insult." Kensi joked.
"Yeah, that's the problem. You can always handle whatever's been dished to you. That's what I love about you, Kensi. You're resilient and strong." Deeks explained, stopping so that she could get a word in. She was practically exploding trying to keep her mouth shut.
"Then what's the problem?" She asked.
"You may be able to handle it, to get through it, but that doesn't mean you don't hurt. You never complain about anything. If you broke your wrist, I doubt I'd know about it. And what if we got into a fight with some thugs? You can't use that hand, which means we're seriously screwed. You're the better fighter out of the two of us. Not only is it dangerous for you, it's dangerous for me." Deeks explained.
"I get your point." Kensi said.
"It's just, this façade you have, with all your walls, it gets dangerous. Like today, I know you weren't okay. You can deny it, but you were right back to that day, Kensi. I saw you staring into space when we walked into that house. All I'm asking is that when you're not okay, please don't say your fine." Deeks said hopefully, holding his breath.
"I'll compromise." Kensi said after a few moments. "If anything's physically wrong, I'll let you know. But if I'm just having a bad day, I can't make you any promises. But it goes both ways."
"I can do that." Deeks said, suppressing a smile.
"Good." Kensi said, flashing him a dazzling smile. Then, she punched him in the shoulder. Hard.
"What was that for?" Deeks asked, rubbing his shoulder.
"Did you really think I was going to let you talk to me without giving you some form of punishment?" She asked, barely keeping a straight face. Even though she looked furious, Deeks knew she was close to laughing.
"I man can only hope." Deeks shrugged.
SO, WHAT DID YOU THINK? FEEDBACK IS ALWAYS APPRECIATED. J