For the hiatus fic challenge on tumblr.
Theme #2 - season 7 speculation
Disclaimer - I don't own NCIS:LA or any of the characters
"Lunch orders due in two minutes or else I come back with one of my food truck surprises for you instead!"
Kensi chuckles at Deeks' announcement as Sam and Callen make their way back into the bullpen after spending the last hour in the gym. It's been a quiet day for the team and even though it's technically her turn to do the lunch run, her partner is getting restless and offered to take over so that he can "smell the ocean air."
As the senior agents rush to jot down what they want, Deeks looks over to her, "You sure you don't want to come, Kens?"
She shoots him a brief glare, "You know I need to finish this paperwork. Your paperwork, actually."
"Hey, it's not my fault you lost our bet," Deeks smirks at her.
Kensi sighs, "Just go get our food, Deeks. I'm getting hungry."
"Getting hungry?" he gives her a pointed look while he tries not to laugh, "Aren't you always hungry?"
All she can do is roll her eyes and shrug – he's not exactly wrong. "Just go."
"Going," he winks at her and grabs her car keys off her desk before turning towards the doors.
He has been gone for twenty minutes when Kensi's phone rings, disrupting the silence in the bullpen. Frowning at the unfamiliar number on the screen, she connects the call and walks out into the courtyard for some privacy.
"Kensi Blye."
"Agent Blye, this is Detective Rivera."
Kensi freezes and her eyes flash back to the bullpen and Deeks' desk, hoping he had miraculously returned in the last fifteen seconds.
"I don't know if you remember me. I'm with LAPD Internal—"
"I know who you are," Kensi's response is sharp, "What do you want?"
"Can we meet this afternoon? I just want to talk to you."
Kensi bites back the urge to immediately turn her down and takes a few seconds to think about it. They've been waiting for LAPD to make a move for months now; maybe this will help them figure out exactly what Rivera is after.
"Two o'clock, there's a Starbucks on the corner of Wilshire and Union."
"I'll be there. Thank you."
"Bye."
She hangs up with a huff and practically stomps back to her desk. Dropping herself into her chair, she doesn't realize the small scene she's making until she notices Sam and Callen are looking at her curiously.
"Everything okay, Kensi?" Sam sounds a little reluctant to ask.
"Yeah. Fine."
Callen and Sam glance at each other and back at her, clearly not believing her but before one of them can prod any further, they hear Deeks singing to himself as he walks through the mission doors. Kensi is immediately up and out of her seat as she rushes to meet him before he gets to the bullpen.
"We need to talk. Now."
It might be the urgency in her tone or the hard look on her face, but Deeks' eyes widen and he simply nods.
Kensi grabs the bags of food, hastily returns to their desks and drops them unceremoniously in front of Callen. "Here. We need a few minutes."
She's already back to where Deeks is standing and reaching for his arm when she hears Callen clear his throat, "Don't forget, there are cameras in the burn room!"
When Kensi pulls Deeks into a small alcove, secluded from the hustle and bustle of the main parts of the building, he can't help but let a small smile spread over his face when he thinks about the day he had discovered that this was in a camera blind spot.
"Did you miss me that much last night that this couldn't wait until we get home?" he teases, trying to lighten the very heavy mood, "I mean, I missed you too, but I think I can keep my hands to myself until we aren't at work."
Kensi shoots him a tired look and rubs her hands over her face.
"Kens, hey…what's going on?"
"Detective Rivera called me while you were out," she exhales, "She wants to meet with me."
Deeks is shaking his head before she even finishes talking, "No. Kensi, that…I don't think that's a good idea. We haven't even figured out what they want with me."
"I know, but I think that's why I should go." She's already planned this argument out in her head. "Maybe she'll slip and we can figure something out. It might be good."
He looks at her for a long moment and Kensi is sure he's going to keep fighting her on this. To her surprise, though, he nods slowly as his gaze drifts to the ground and he runs his hand through his hair.
"Okay," he looks back to her, his eyes meeting hers, "Okay. You're right, this might help."
Sensing her uneasiness, he risks the fact that someone may walk by and see them and he reaches for her shoulder to tug her closer, wrapping her up in a hug. He lets out a slow breath when he feels her hands move to his hips and some of the tension leave her shoulders.
He wants so badly to protect her from whatever is going to happen but he feels guilty for not talking to her about it and for the fact that she's on IA's radar because of him.
"You don't have to do this, you know," he keeps his voice low, "I haven't even told you anything…"
He trails off when he feels Kensi pull back to look at him. The understanding in her eyes calms him and he's relieved – and not for the first time – to have her on his side.
"I trust you. You don't need to tell me anything you're not ready to tell me," she assures him. "And plus, until we know what IA wants, it might be better that I don't know anything. Let's just see what Rivera has to say."
Deeks drops his arms from her shoulders and scratches at the scruff on his chin. "What time are you going? Do we need to postpone our date night?"
Kensi scoffs, "You think I would let this interfere with the dinner you're going to buy me at Crustacean? Never," she winks at him as he lets out a laugh. "Two o'clock, at a Starbucks downtown."
"What are you going to tell Hetty?" His voice is quiet again, knowing they can't risk their little ninja of a boss hearing her name.
"Not that I'm meeting with Detective Rivera," Kensi says with a quick shake of her head. "Maybe my lunch is going to give me food poisoning and I'll feel so sick that I'll need to go home."
"Sounds like a plan," Deeks nods in agreement as they both start to walk back towards the bullpen, "Sorry about that, by the way."
At the questioning look he gets, he leans down to whisper in her ear, "I'm sorry the lunch I bought you is going to make you fake-sick."
Kensi laughs and pats him on the shoulder, "You'll make up for it with my dinner."
. . . .
An hour later, Deeks tells her she doesn't look well as she stands up from her desk and makes a run for the bathroom. He plays the supportive partner-slash-boyfriend when she wearily drags herself to Hetty's office and requests to go home for the rest of the afternoon. And when Kensi is in her car about to leave, she smiles at the rapid succession of texts he had sent as soon as she had walked out.
Good luck.
Don't hurt her.
Call me after.
Love you.
. . . .
When Kensi walks into the coffee shop just after two o'clock, she immediately sees Detective Rivera seated at a table in the corner along the windows. Choosing not to order anything, Kensi weaves her way through the small tables until she's standing in front of Rivera who stands up as Kensi approaches.
"Agent Blye," Detective Rivera nods in greeting, extending her right hand out to Kensi.
Pausing for a beat, Kensi has to remind herself not to be hostile before finding out what the detective wants. "Detective Rivera," she offers a slight nod in return before shaking the proffered hand and taking a seat across the table.
"How are you? How's your caseload been?"
Kensi rolls her eyes internally. She really doesn't want to make small talk with this woman.
"Fine," she answers evenly, "depends on the day. You know how it goes."
Detective Rivera sits back in her seat, nodding as she eyes Kensi carefully. After a few seconds of completely uncomfortable silence, Kensi speaks up.
"Listen, Detective," she leans back in her own chair, mirroring Rivera's position, "with all due respect, you didn't ask me to meet you so that we could make small talk."
"No, I didn't," she affirms, "I want to talk to you about Detective Deeks; about his time at NCIS."
Kensi folds her arms across her chest and continues to stare at Rivera, silently allowing her to continue.
"How long has Detective Deeks been working with you?"
Kensi couldn't help the way her expression softened as she thought of Deeks first joining their team. "We had intersecting cases about five and a half years ago, and then he worked another case with us after that before going undercover for a few months. He joined us full time at the end of that op."
"Is he a good partner?" Detective Rivera doesn't look up as she makes a note on the pad of paper she holds in her lap.
"Yes," Kensi's reply is immediate. She takes a deep breath as countless moments from their partnership flash through her mind. "He's the best partner I could have asked for."
"Does he do a lot of undercover work with your team?"
So far, Kensi finds that she relaxing with each new question, they're seemingly harmless and easy to answer.
"Our undercover work isn't like what he has done for LAPD. They're usually very short term – an hour, a day, a few at most. Rarely do we need to go under for weeks or months at a time. And we almost always work with a partner or as a whole team."
Rivera nods, "What do you know about his time at LAPD, before he started his liaison duties?"
Kensi shifts in her seat, becoming cautious of where Rivera might be going with this. "Very little, to be honest. We worked with him on the MMA gym drug/murder case and then there was the human trafficking case when his cover was blown. Aside from an old alias that he has had to resurrect a couple of times, his LAPD work has never really come up."
The detective nods again and seems to be satisfied. "Have you ever known him to show questionable judgment or to demonstrate unethical behavior on the job?"
Kensi's eyes flash to the woman across the table, who, for the first time since this conversation started, has her undivided attention on Kensi. She feels the anger bubbling in her chest and she glares at Rivera.
"Deeks is a great cop and even more than that, he's one of the most honorable people I've ever known. I told you before, you aren't going to find anything that proves otherwise."
Pushing herself away from the table in an attempt to leave before this can go any further, the next words to leave Detective Rivera's mouth threaten to push Kensi over the edge.
"Given the nature of your relationship, don't you think your opinion of Detective Deeks might be a bit biased?"
Kensi stands up and squares her shoulders, clenching her jaw and her hands, "If that's what you think, why did you even want to talk to me?"
"We're just having a chat, Agent Blye," she says calmly, her unaffected demeanor is frustrating Kensi a great deal.
"Right," Kensi scoffs, "except it is starting to feel an awful lot like an interrogation. I am not going to listen to you question his character, so unless you're going to tell me what the hell you want with him, we're done."
The silent glare Rivera aims at her is the only answer she needs. Kensi shakes her head in frustration and walks out without a backwards glance.
. . . .
"Kens?"
Deeks pushes open the door to his apartment to find his girlfriend perched on his couch. There is a familiar look of frustration on her face and he has no doubts that it has been there since her meeting with Detective Rivera.
"Hey," he sighs, offering the slightest of smiles, "Not that I'm not always happy to see you here, but I thought you were going to your house so that I could pick you up for our date?"
She turns to look at him as he sits down next to her on the couch. "I'm going to. I was just so…angry after my "chat" and I wanted to talk to you and not ruin our dinner."
"What happened?" he rubs a hand up and down her back as he presses a kiss to her shoulder
It hadn't even been an hour after the time she was meeting with Rivera when he had received a handful of texts, each one sounding more irate than the last.
That sucked.
What a waste of time.
I don't even know what she was hoping to accomplish.
I'm so angry.
She's lucky I didn't hit her.
"I'm sorry," Kensi sounds defeated as props her chin on her hands.
Deeks shoots her a confused glance, "What? Why are you sorry?"
"I was hoping she was going to tell me something…anything," irritation is seeping back into her voice, "I know how much this has been bothering you."
"That's not your fault, Kensi."
"I'm still sorry," she tilts her head to the side, resting it on his shoulder.
"We'll just keep waiting, I guess," he exhales sharply, "Now, what exactly did Rivera say that has you so angry?"
While Kensi goes on a five minute rant about the details of her conversation with the IA detective, Deeks is trying to store away pieces of what she tells him. He hopes that maybe he can try to figure out what Rivera's angle is and what purpose her questions for Kensi served.
"I just don't know why she wanted to ask me about you if she already thinks that my opinion isn't valid because of my feelings for you."
Hearing the carefully masked sadness behind her frustration, he looks at Kensi and grabs her hand. Tonight, he wants them to put this aside and enjoy their date and each other. Standing up, he tugs at her hands so that she's standing in front of him, her expression relaxing when he smiles at her. After he drops a quick kiss to her lips, he pulls her in for a long hug.
"Kens, your opinion means the most."
She smiles against his chest, "That's just because of your feelings for me."
"Yep," he taps his finger on her nose before gently propelling her towards the door. "Now, I hear you have a hot date tonight, so go home and make yourself presentable. No jeans, remember?"
Kensi chuckles and turns around to face him as they reach the door. She reaches up to give him a kiss. "My date is pretty hot."
Deeks smirks, "He's also pretty lucky."
"He's also pretty sappy."
"You love him anyway," he teases, even though he knows it's the truth.
"I do," she gives him a soft smile.
"He loves you too," his tone is serious again as he pulls her close. "Thank you. For trusting me, for not pushing, for wanting to help."
"Always," the conviction in her voice sends a shiver down his spine. "Whatever this is, we'll get through it." She gives him one last kiss and heads out to her car.
As he watches her drive away, he can't help but wonder what's going to come of this investigation and what it might do to him and to them. Deeks turns to go back inside and replays her last words in his head.
We'll get through it.
"I hope so, Kens. I hope so."