This story idea originated from an AU prompt where Kensi and Deeks meet outside of work, rather than undercover. There are definitely a couple more chapters to come. Enjoy!
- Hazel
"What's your name?" he asks suddenly, two seats down from her at the bar. The stranger gives her a soft, unassuming smile and Kensi grins right back. She finds no reason not to.
"Kensi."
He nods. "Pretty name."
"Thanks. What's yours?"
"Marty Deeks," he replies. "But you can just call me Deeks. Everyone else does."
Things are moving along rather quickly. She can't force herself to be bothered by that fact.
"Okay… Deeks, then."
"Uh-huh." He scoots over to the seat directly beside her, moving with a coolness and fluidity that she can't help but admire. "What are you drinking?"
Kensi looks down to her glass, which has just run dry. "Whatever they have on tap. I didn't even bother asking."
"My kind of girl." Deeks grins and signals at the bartender. "Two more beers, both on me? Thanks."
Kensi fiddles with her cup, swirling around the last inch of liquid as she tries to avoid his stare. Those blue eyes are piercing.
"You buy drinks for all the ladies, huh?"
Deeks shrugs. "Only the special ones."
She chuckles, taking a sip of beer. "Right."
He replicates her laugh. "I mean it! Not everyone catches my eye like you just did."
Even as a glass of beer is placed in front of her, Kensi refuses to look up. She can feel him staring.
"So… what do you do?" he asks as she remains silent.
Kensi sighs, hating the lie as it escapes her lips. "Art curator."
He laughs immediately. She finally looks up. "What's so funny about that?"
"You're not an art curator. There's no way."
"What makes you say that?"
"Art curators don't go to some shitty bar after a long hard day of working at the museum. There's no way that's a thing."
Kensi looks down and changes the subject. "Well… what do you do?"
He smiles. "Detective. LAPD."
A cop? She perks up immediately. This means one very, very awesome thing: she doesn't have to hide her identity ant longer. Not from other law enforcement.
"Can I see your badge?"
His forehead creases in confusion. "My badge?"
She rolls her eyes. "Just… show me. I'll explain in a minute."
Still looking suspicious, Deeks reaches into his pocket and slowly pulls out a shiny gold badge. She inspects it for about five seconds before handing it back.
"Alright… now I guess you can know that I'm a federal agent."
He perks up instantly. "You're a fed?"
"Yup."
"What agency?"
"NCIS."
"Wow." Deeks nods slowly, his grin widening. "So your cover is that… you're an art curator?"
"Yeah. Pretty great, huh?"
"Pretty unbelievable. And not in the cool sense, just in the 'that could never happen, this girl would never be an art curator' sense."
"You've only known me for about five minutes."
"I'm a pretty good judge of character, Kensi."
"I can tell."
He's subtly inching closer towards her, moving about a centimeter every minute.
"How's that?"
"Well you like me, don't you?"
He nods, grinning. "Definitely. I like you a lot."
"Good." They lock eyes and her breathing hitches for half a second. "I like you too."
"Good."
"Good."
"When are you gonna let me meet him?" Nell asks, almost giddy with excitement as they walk side by side into OSP.
"I don't know. He's… busy."
"I'm starting to think this guy is fictional. You won't even tell me his name."
She opens her mouth to respond, but is quickly cut off as Sam and Callen enter.
"Am I hearing correctly? Does Kensi Blye have a boyfriend?"
She rolls her eyes. "Not a boyfriend. Just a… um…"
"Boyfriend," Callen retorts.
She shakes her head. "Kinda. Not really. I don't know."
"What does he do?"
"He's a detective," Nell replies. "That's all she'll tell me."
"A detective, huh?"
"Yup. LAPD," Kensi says. "Isn't our new liaison from there too?"
Kensi's been curiously yet somewhat apprehensively awaiting the arrival of her new partner- she isn't always great with change.
"Uh-huh," Eric answers. "I think he's starting today."
"Maybe the guy will know him," she replies with a shrug.
"Yeah. Then we might actually get to meet him."
Kensi sticks her tongue out at Sam just as the automatic doors slide open and Hetty enters.
"I'd like to introduce you all to your new teammate," she says, gesturing to the man who's walking in just behind her. "This is Marty Deeks, LAPD."
Before the words have even escaped Hetty's lips Kensi and Deeks are already gawking at one another, each replicating the other's wide eyed stare.
"Oh my god."
"Kens?"
"Do you two…?" Callen looks back and forth from the agent to the detective. It only takes him a matter of seconds to put the pieces together. He practically bursts out laughing.
"Seriously? What are the odds of that?"
The rest of the team catches on rather quickly. Nell leans over to Kensi and whispers, "Is that the guy?" She just nods.
"I'm assuming that you two already know one another," Hetty states. Kensi swallows. Deeks nods.
"Kinda," she says.
He cocks his head to one side. "Yeah. But kinda might be an understatement."