A/N Please read the first story in this series "The Plan." If you don't you just might be a little confused.
Just a reminder that I own nothing. Kensi and Deeks are just so much fun to play with!
Sunday morning rolled around and was laced with clouds and rain. This was rare for LA but was not unwelcome. They took the opportunity to stay in bed most of the day. They were either making love or lying wrapped in each other's arms, talking about seemingly unimportant things about each other. They both knew how important it really was to know these things. It was part of what made the other tick and every little bit of trivia learned brought them closer together. No one on the planet knew them better than they knew each other. It was sobering to realize how close they truly were.
About mid afternoon, they fixed lunch and watched a movie on TV. Afterward, Deeks sensed that something was bothering Kensi. He muted the sound and asked, "What's wrong Princess?"
She looked up at him and sighed, "I'm just sad our weekend is almost over. We have to go back to the real world and I… I wish we didn't."
"Me too," he agreed as he pulled her into a hug. "But don't think for a second that what we've found this weekend will disappear because it won't. We may have to get a little creative to keep it just between us, but I have no intention of ever letting the best thing that's ever happened to me out of my sight."
She hugged him tighter but seemed to have something else on her mind.
"What else is bothering you?" he asked.
"It's just… well… I know we've been together for less than a week but… I don't… I don't want to go home alone and sleep without you," she finally blurted out. "I know it sounds silly."
He laughed lightly and said, "It's not silly at all. I was thinking the same thing and have been trying to think of a way to work this out and not blow our secret."
He kissed the top of her head and offered a solution. "We obviously alter our routines regularly anyway so sometimes we'll stay at your place and I'll leave early enough to stop by here and take care of Monty. Sometimes we'll be here and you'll go home in time to get ready for work. We live close enough to each other that we can even get away with telling the guys we're 'carpooling' from time to time. We'll work it out Princess. Like I said, I don't want to let you out of my sight." He pulled her chin up and looked into her eyes. "We'll start tonight by staying here. I'm too tired to think about going anywhere. You, Fern have absolutely worn me out!"
She laughed and kissed him lightly. "We need to set some basic guidelines and code words for work."
"Code words? You mean like if I say the word 'firetruck' that means 'I want your body right now'"?
"No!" she said smiling. "I mean if one of us thinks one of the guys is getting suspicious, then we need a code word so we can do damage control."
"How about we just send one another a text that says 'fix it'?"
She rolled her eyes and said, "Okay, but we have to make sure we keep up our daily arguments. Nothing can change. We also need to talk about going on occasional dates with other people," she proposed.
"That's easy. I'll just talk about my evening with you and tell them your name is 'Crystal'… and that you're a nurse."
She punched him again and said, "Fine, I'll tell them I'm going out with "Jason" and that he's a male stripper."
He laughed out loud and said, "I could get miles and miles of material out of that one!"
They ultimately decided that 'Jason' was in pharmaceutical sales. 'Crystal' remained a nurse. They spent their evening doing their own backstopping for their new 'covers'. They had a light snack and went to bed early. Evidently he wasn't that worn out after all.
He showered, she took care of Monty then they drove to her house. He dropped her off to get ready while he went to get coffee and donuts for everyone. He drove to the mission and took the long route. He arrived about fifteen minutes before she did.
"Good Morning!" she said as she entered the bullpen.
"Mornin'," they replied.
"How was your weekend Kens?" Callen asked.
"Great, how was yours?"
"It was fine, so tell us about dinner with Mom. Deeks wouldn't tell us much."
"We had a great time. Mom sends her regards."
"That's it? Deeks offended her didn't he? I told you to be on your best behavior," Callen remarked as he looked at Deeks.
"He did not offend her. As a matter of fact, she thought he was a perfect gentleman," Kensi said defensively.
Deeks was worried. She hadn't been here five minutes and was already defending him which was not something she did very often.
"Deeks? A perfect gentleman? He's a better actor than we thought," Sam said smiling.
"I said she 'thought' he was a perfect gentleman. You know how he can charm the women… until they find out about the 'real' Deeks," she grinned.
"Well Crystal thinks I'm a perfect gentleman if you must know," Deeks said with his crooked grin.
"Where did you find this one?" Sam asked.
"She's a nurse and let's just say we had a fantastic weekend."
"G. Change the subject quick or we'll hear more than we bargained for."
Kensi was trying her best not to smile. She put on her best annoyed look and commented, "Are you sure she's a nurse? Crystal sounds like the name of one of your stripper girlfriends."
"Laugh all you want, this one's a keeper." He sat down and started working on his stack of paperwork.
"I think he's serious G. Deeks has a real girlfriend? Will wonders never cease?" Sam was genuinely surprised.
"Let's see how long it lasts before we get all excited about it," Callen looked at Kensi to see how she was reacting to the news of his new girlfriend. She was working on her computer and didn't seem bothered at all. Maybe his suspicions about them were way off base after all.
They had been immersed in paperwork for about twenty minutes when Eric whistled them upstairs.
Deeks had been pleased with how his 'cover' had worked out this morning but as he followed Kensi upstairs, he found he couldn't keep his eyes off her tight jeans and it took all of his will power to keep his hands off of her. He settled for standing close to her in Ops.
"We've got a problem guys," Eric said ominously.
"Our mysterious kidnapper from last week was being transferred by the FBI when he was assassinated by a sniper at long range."
"So that means the group wasn't working alone. Someone is trying to tie up loose ends," Callen stated.
"We've already informed Commander Samuels. He has put his team in lockdown and each of their families has been taken into protective custody," Hetty informed them.
"How many families are we talking about?" Deeks asked.
"There are seven team members but only six of them have extended families," Nell replied.
"So basically, until we can figure out who's behind this and arrest them, these families have no lives and are in their own prison of sorts," Deeks clarified.
"Yes," Hetty stated simply.
"Kensi, you and Deeks check out where the kidnapper was shot. Sam and I will go back to the warehouse where Brandon was held. Maybe we missed something."
They left Ops and went to their respective crime scenes.
Kensi drove as usual but as soon as they drove off, Deeks reached for her hand and held it tightly. "This is going to be harder than I imagined," he looked over at her and smiled. "I can't keep my hands to myself."
She just grinned and said, "Focus Deeks." She brought his hand to her lips and kissed it softly.
"That is so not helping!"
They arrived at the murder scene, introduced themselves and were shown the adjacent rooftop where the sniper had taken the shot.
There was nothing there. No shell casings, no footprints and nothing where fingerprints could be lifted successfully.
They thanked the FBI agents on the scene and headed back to OPS.
He watched them as they walked the rooftop looking for clues. They were good, he thought. If he didn't already know they were sleeping together he wouldn't have guessed they were lovers. They were also good at their job. They checked things he thought would have been overlooked. They even checked the stairwell for fingerprints. There were too many there to even try to pinpoint the ones from the sniper. Still, if his had been there, red flags would have gone up and questions would have been asked. Good thing he had worn gloves. Now that the last of the crew had been dealt with, he would turn his attention to others means of getting the information he needed.
He had watched from a distance when they had raided the warehouse last week and taken Brandon back. He had been about to meet with the crew when he drove up and saw NCIS agents enter the warehouse. He hid behind a nearby building and watched it unfold. His view was of the back door. It was too late to do anything but watch and wait. He couldn't be connected with these men in any way. He had witnessed these two take care of the boy until the ambulance arrived. Now he knew their names. He also knew where they both lived. Fate must be smiling down on him. It was just by chance that he had seen them in the sidewalk café on the beach Saturday. This was going to be easier than he thought. He just had to make sure he timed it perfectly.