LEFTOVER LOVE

Summary : Kensi and Callen got together, got married and got separated. A year later, a case involving their wedding reception is brought to their attention. In the midst of all this, will Callen and Kensi stay apart or will they find the leftover love between them?

Disclaimer : If you guys think I own NCIS : LA, think of all those Kensi/Deeks moments and think again.

Leftover Love

Prologue : The Big White Shindig We Call A Wedding

"Hey Kensi, d'ya think Hetty will call you Agent Callen now?"

"I don't know, Eric," The young agent says casually, whirling around to come face to face with a video camera. "But if I hear you suggesting it to her, I will cheerfully beat you to death." She smiles brightly. Behind the lens, Eric groans and heads off to annoy her guests, muttering something about how no bride should make death threats on her wedding day.

Still smiling, Kensi straightens out her white summer dress and walks up to her co-host. "So, you plan on telling the others why they're here? Because I'm pretty sure Eric's told half of them the wrong version." She complains good-naturedly.

His blue eyes narrow as the corner of his lips curl up in a smile. "Might as well," He shrugs nonchalantly. "Could get a few laughs out of people calling you 'Mrs. Callen'." This earns him a half-hearted slap to his shoulder, followed by a quick kiss.

"Say that again, I'd really like it." Sarcasm drips from her voice, something that has proven just as deadly as venom in the past. He laughs shortly before placing a hand on the small of her back, leading her to the main table, next to the relatively small cake and glasses of various drinks.

He's figuring out a way to get everyone's attention when his partner quickly and efficiently solves his predicament.

"Hey guys!" Sam Hanna calls out, his booming voice quickly turning approximately thirty pairs of eyes towards him. "I think our host here has something to say." At this, the aforementioned thirty pairs of eyes, now each holding a glint of curiosity, quickly turn towards Callen and Kensi, both of whom are standing closely, Callen's arm protectively wrapped around Kensi's waist.

"Thanks, Sam." Callen nods before addressing various members of their lives: distant family members of Kensi's, old but close acquaintances of both parties, the DC team, and of course, their relatively small team. "So," He starts. "Thanks for coming today, guys. Kenz and I really appreciate all of you flying to L.A for the day."

"Hey, it's free booze. Couldn't turn that down!" Tony DiNozzo's comment quickly causes a round of good-natured, light-hearted laughter from their easy-going friends, one that only increases in volume when Tony receives the all-too-expected slap to the head, courtesy of his boss and Callen's longtime friend, Gibbs.

"Yeah, you heard Tony." Kensi says dryly, rolling her eyes while smiling. "Alright, so just to clarify, because I'm sure Eric's been telling you guys all the wrong things," She shots the sheepish tech a look. "We're not getting married today."

A playful round of "Aww"s and Abby's wail of "Why not?" express the group's disdain. When they quiet down, Callen speaks up and addresses Abby.

"Because Abs," He grins. "We got married yesterday."

Kensi's P.O.V – Present Day

It's August the 7th.

I shut the door behind me, heading for the kitchen. My bag is tossed carelessly in the general vicinity of the couch; my jacket soon follows.

Clutching my sole bag of groceries, I slowly and meticulously sort out everything that I'd carelessly picked out, having been miles away during the actual trip to the store. My thoughts are taking over me; this is something I absent-mindedly note as a bad thing. After all, in our line of work, you either focus or you die. It's as simple as that.

But it's only Saturday, which means that I've got all day today and tomorrow to clear my mind before going back to work on Monday. And trust me, I will clear my mind. I've had plenty of practice.

Sighing, I tear open some fresh produce and place it in an air-tight container; it'll most likely be weeks before I think of this again, and by then it would've gone bad if not for this preventive measure. I've learned the hard way that it's not cheap to buy groceries and then let them rot away in your fridge. And it sure as hell isn't convenient when you're putting together a sandwich or salad after a long day only to find that all your tomatoes are spoilt.

But then again, single me before this never did care about all this. People say getting married makes you mature; I think it just gives you a better head on your shoulders. One that considers fresh produce infinitely fascinating, now that I'm alone again.

Catching my line of thought, I groan and pull away from everything, closing the refrigerator door behind me.

Oh heck, I've become that lady.

Before you know it, I'll have cats. Lots and lots of cats.

"That was nice of you to invite all of us here," Ziva David comments, half an hour after their impromptu announcement.

"Couldn't get married and not throw a party." Kensi grins. "Abby would kill me."

The Israeli smiles understandingly. "That she would."

A fair distance away, Eric is filming a seemingly oblivious Nate who is obviously trying to psycho-analyze a young lady, probably a cousin of Kensi's. "Operative word: trying."

"And failing miserably at that." Hetty interrupts Eric's gleeful narration. "Mr. Beale." She says pleasantly.

"Uhh…erm…ahh…Hi, Hetty!" Eric stutters, hurriedly turning off his camera. "I was just…you know, recording the party and stuff. Figured it'd be fun to watch…and I could give Kensi and Callen a copy."

"That is quite thoughtful of you, Mr. Beale." Hetty muses. "Have you taken to filming well-wishes for the couple?"

"Erm…actually, no." Eric admits sheepishly. "I'll go do that now. Thanks, Hetty!"

Hetty considers calling out to the young tech to record her wishes, but decides against it. After all, she'll have plenty of chances to do that later. For now, it was time to go talk to Abby and keep her from spreading her excitement to everyone else.

For all she knows, young Abigail might've spiked the drinks with her own beverage of choice.

And you'd better trust Hetty when she tells you that this is not good.

Not good at all.

Callen's P.O.V – Present Day

It's August the 7th.

Banging around the kitchen trying to make something for lunch makes me feel a little more normal; at least the place isn't eerily quiet as it has been these past few months.

The banging goes on for a few more minutes until I lose my appetite, having stumbled upon some leftover stuff of hers. Picking up my phone, it takes all of my willpower to dial Sam's number, and not hers.

I expect him to pick up immediately, because that's just Sam.

But he doesn't.

Frowning, I hang up and dial again…until I remember Sam's words from yesterday. G, I'm gonna turn off my phone and crash the whole weekend. Really.

It had been a long week, and I'm sure the coming week won't be any easier, so I hang up again and let Sam have his rest. Big guy's been undercover four of out five days, trying to break in some drug ring run by a few Marines who just so happened to have killed another few Marines.

Wandering around the empty house, I find myself missing her, missing all the noise in the place. And most of all, I find myself hating the fact that we'd left this so…unfinished. Neither of us can move on from this; not that we would, anyway. But still. At the time we'd thought that keeping it simple, keeping it clean would have helped with the pain, not add to it. We'd told ourselves, we'll talk about this some other time.

And now it's too painful to even bring up.

Guess some other time isn't coming soon.

It's days before Eric Beale stumbles upon the footage from that day.

With Callen and Kensi gone for a two-week long honeymoon, – Hetty's wedding gift to them – the office is quiet, eerily so. Nate is off doing…well, whatever it is that Nate does. Sam is doing paperwork, though not without a fair amount of displeasure which he feels the need to express every few minutes.

To which Hetty replies, "Why Mr. Hanna, I do believe it is a good thing to be so…in touch with your inner feelings." Which just sets Sam off again. And then Hetty wanders off, as she's known to do, leaving a grumbling Sam alone.

Which leaves Eric. He's running a few searches from their recent cases, keeping tabs on Kaleidoscope… and going through his video camera. Which leads to the wedding footage. Or reception. Or whatever it is they're calling it.

Reviewing the footage, he finds that Callen and Kensi really did keep it simple. It was by the beach, of course, with everyone in casual wear, something for which he had felt immense relief; his khakis were safe!

The small crowd mainly just lingered, talking and catching up, everyone playing along for Abby's benefit. Tony DiNozzo quickly established his reputation as the funny flirt, something which found him to be on the receiving end of quite a few Gibbs-slaps. Along with the formidable glare of Ziva David, who actually kinda intimidated Eric, truth be told.

But somehow, the newlyweds had kept it simple and them, despite Abby's best efforts to persuade them into throwing a huge affair, Abby-style. Smiling to himself, amused at the enthusiastic Goth's rapid talking on the screen, Eric burns the footage to a disc. Pulling it out when it's done, he pulls out a marker and neatly labels it.

Callen & Kensi, August the 7th.

And that's it, guys! The long-awaited prologue to my second…wait, I think the one-shots count…okay, my fifth CaKe fic. I hope it lives up to everyone's expectations, but let me know what you guys think!

If you're wondering how Uncharted Waters fits into this, well, it's their backstory. I considered fitting the whole thing into this fic, but eventually decided it was better off as a one-shot. Do you think I made the right call?

As for P., the first few will most likely alternate between Callen and Kensi, though not evenly, but I'm sorta getting a third person vibe for a few scenes I have planned…so...what do you think?

Alright, so let me know what you think of the prologue and everything in my note by…you guessed it!...leaving me a review or a PM, as usual. Or you can e-mail me, tweet me or hit up my homepage. Go to my profile for all the deets!

Hope to have the first chapter up soon. If you guys are really lucky, it might be up tomorrow, but I promise the latest will be by Wednesday. And if you read THTOYL, no, I will most probably not be updating this every day as I did with that. I'll try my best though!

E Salvatore,

May 2011.