Thank you so much for the great response to the first chapter. I am overwhelmed. Since I got so many favs, alerts and reviews, I wanted to get this chapter posted quickly. I'm really keen to get going with the story and get to the good stuff. I'll try to get the next chapter out soon as it follows directly on from the last scene in this chapter. It's a bit of a non-dramatic cliffhanger. Once again, I would love to hear what you all think of this. Reviews inspire me to write.

Legal Love

Chapter Two

Two weeks passed. Kensi didn't bring the divorce up once, though it remained at the front of her mind. She was hesitant to bring it up with Jack as she knew his PTSD still affected him. She had tried to help him, she really had, but the truth was he wasn't getting any better. She was getting to the point where she was starting to think that perhaps she couldn't help him. It wasn't that she wanted to give up on him; it was just that she didn't think she could spend the rest of her life going through this routine. It just wasn't working out.

"Jack," she said, looking up from her plate. She hadn't been eating; she'd just been toying with the food, trying to decide how to approach the subject of divorce. "Can we talk about what I said two weeks ago? I think we need to talk."

"Talk about what?" he asked in between mouthfuls of mashed potato. Kensi sighed and put her fork down.

"You know what I want to talk about," she replied. "The divorce."

She was determined to sort this out. She needed to get out of this stressful and emotionally draining part of her life. She needed to be able to move on.

Jack sighed too and stood up, taking his mostly empty plate over to the sink.

"So what? You just want to give up on us?" His voice was hostile now. Kensi could tell she had angered him.

"That's not what I want to do," Kensi replied, exasperated. "I don't want to give up on you, but this isn't getting any better, and I don't know what to do. I've tried with you, I really have, but you won't go to therapy and you won't let me help you and you won't help yourself. I can't go on like this, and I don't see either of us having a happy future unless something changes."

Silence fell upon them. Kensi was glad to get her feelings out in the open, but she could tell that Jack was not taking them well. She was a little anxious about his reaction. She had witnessed more than one of his violent outbursts, and while she wasn't afraid of him, her feelings for him made her hesitate, and it was that split second moment of hesitation that allowed the situation to get out of hand.

Time passed and still Jack said nothing.

"Say something," she whispered.

"You want me to say something?" he asked, his voice rising in anger. "You want me to say something? What do you want me to say? I support this? Yes, I want a divorce? Goodbye, the past few years have been fun? I won't say it."

"Jack," she pleaded, wishing that he could just calm down and discuss this rationally.

"You want a divorce? Good luck with that," he shouted before storming out of the room.

Kensi heard the front door slam. She didn't know when he would be back, but she knew she was going to sort this out once and for all. If he wasn't going to be mature and discuss this with her, she would take matters into her own hands. She would find a divorce lawyer the next day, with or without Jack.

...

"Is there anything else you would like me to do, Mr Deeks?"

Deeks looked up from the file he had open on his desk to see a fresh cup of coffee and half a dozen case files sitting on his desk and his personal assistant standing just off to the side. She was a pretty girl - young, tall, blonde and trying to finance her way through law school. Working for Deeks was just a bonus.

"No thanks, Stephanie," he replied with a wink. No one could ever say he didn't treat his assistants well. "You can take off now if you want."

"Okay," she replied gratefully. "Thank you, Mr Deeks. Oh and April asked me to remind you that you've got that five thirty meeting with the new client."

"Right," Deeks said, shuffling through the papers on his desk. He wasn't sure why the receptionist felt the need to remind him constantly about appointments, he had only forgotten one in his five years of being a lawyer and he was more than capable of using a diary, but he didn't let his exasperation show. "Divorce isn't it? I hadn't forgotten. I'll see you tomorrow, Stephanie."

"Goodbye, Mr Deeks," Stephanie called before leaving his office.

Deeks sighed and looked at the clock. Four fifty five. If it weren't for this last meeting, he could be thinking about leaving soon. Everyone else was heading home. It had been a long day, but it wasn't over yet. Deeks settled down and focused on the custody case in front of him, trying to figure out how he could get the seemingly impossible outcome his client desired. Soon he heard the sound of his phone ringing. He answered it to find it was April, the receptionist, letting him know his client had arrived.

"Send her in," he ordered.

Moments later there was a knock on the door, followed by April entering the room.

"I'm heading off now," she said. "You'll be the last to leave, so can you remember to set the alarm and lock up?"

"Sure thing," Deeks replied, winking at the receptionist. "See you tomorrow, April."

As April stepped back from the doorway, Deeks heard her muttering something to someone. Deeks looked up from his desk as his client entered the room. He paused for a moment, taken aback by her beauty. She was tall and gorgeous, with long brunette hair that gently framed her face. He couldn't help noticing her jeans that clung to her legs in all the right places. She wore them teamed with a white tank top that showed off her toned arms and flat stomach. She had an air about her that drew him in. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but there was something about her that was urging him to get closer to her. In short: Deeks was swept off his feet by Kensi.

Kensi was similarly taken by the man in front of her. She couldn't deny that this man looked good in a suit. There was just something about the crisp cut of the fine woollen suit combined with his shaggy blonde hair that Kensi found alluring. The sharp white collar, with the tie that was partially loosened, really set off the stubble that graced his jawline. He didn't look like your typical lawyer, but he looked like a damn good lawyer to Kensi.

She was glad for this man as he distracted her from the nerves she was feeling about being here. Jack didn't know she was there, he still refused to talk about the divorce, and Kensi had to be selective about the times she brought up difficult subjects with him. She didn't need him having another breakdown or going off the rails, but she needed to do this. She needed to get a divorce. As selfish as it may sound, it was time to think of herself. She had been putting Jack first for years now, but the times he did the same in return were becoming less and less frequent. She knew she ranked below PTSD as the most dominant figure in Jack's life. She had hoped it would change, but he didn't even seem to be making an effort anymore. Before they had gotten married he had promised to try to work through this and in return she had promised to help him. But there was only so much she could do to help him, especially when he had given up on helping himself. So it was time for Kensi to help herself.

Mentally taking a deep breath, she stepped forwards into the room, towards the man she hoped would help her clean up her life. Little did she know, he was going to do just that and more. Though she didn't know it yet, this man was going to bring her happiness that she hadn't experienced in years. This was the start of a new chapter in Kensi's life.