Six Months Later…
Deeks, Callen, and Sam stood just outside a big two-level complex just across the U.S./Mexican border. The whole complex was surrounded by a brick wall, and sealed up with a heavy wrought iron gate at the front end.
A brisk wind kicked blew past the men and kicked dry desert sand up into their faces. They all shook it off afterward, and the returned to their preparations for the coming assault.
Deeks looked around at the other men that had joined the NCIS team, as he readied his assault rifle for action. Theirs was a joint takedown of the drug cartel leader who had murdered 3 naval officers in L.A. within the space of about a week. The five other men with them were from a Marine Spec Ops unit.
"These guys are serious aren't they?" Deeks remarked as he eyed the heavy armaments the men were carrying. He would be lying if he said he wasn't a little bit nervous about this mission.
"What's the matter Deeks?" Sam teased the shaggy-haired man federal agent as he readied his own assault rifle. "Not scared are you?"
Deeks laughed, albeit somewhat nervously, at Sam's proposal that he was scared of a little intense firefight with a bunch of Mexican drug dealers. "Me? Scared?" Deeks countered. "Not in the least…maybe a little nervous, perhaps, but scared—never."
Sam chuckled. "If you say so."
The team's radio transmitters crackled to life, and a familiar voice was heard over the static. "Deeks, ignore Sam. You'll do just fine."
Deeks smiled at the sound of his girlfriend's voice in his ear. He pressed a finger to his earwig receiver. "You uh…you eavesdropping there, Babe?"
Back at the mission in L.A. Kensi, Eric, Nell, and Hetty were all standing by for tactical support in the Ops Centre. Eric and Nell were using a government satellite to monitor their friends out in the field.
"So what if I am?" she replied through her headset—an item which Eric provided for her use. "You gonna do something about it?"
Deeks' voice rumbled over the static of the long-range radio transmitters. "Not a thing." He replied. "Just good to know there's an angel watching my six." He added humorously.
Kensi smiled, and ran a hand over her protruding belly. "Any time."
Kensi, who was now six months into her pregnancy, had been forced to step down from field duty until after the baby was born. This was only a minor setback to the female federal agent, who insisted on making some sort of contribution to her team's work until she finally took off for maternity leave.
"Now, just stay focused on the mission, and everything will be okay." Kensi told her boyfriend over the radio.
"Can do." Deeks replied. "But you know…I wouldn't mind getting an answer to that question I asked you last night." Deeks said over the radio.
Eric, Nell, and Hetty looked at Kensi. Nell and Eric knew what Deeks was referring to, but Hetty was still in the dark and wondered for a little bit what question Deeks meant. There were at least a thousand different possibilities, but the older woman finally hit on it and it made her smile.
Outside the compound the leader of the Marine Spec Ops team signaled to Callen that they were ready to proceed. Callen picked up his assault rifle, and turned to Sam and Deeks.
Deeks still had a finger pressed to his earwig transmitter. "I mean, so I'll know just in case I don't make it out of-" he started to say over the radio.
"Just be safe, okay." Kensi interrupted her boyfriend rather abruptly. Deeks could hear the nervousness in Kensi's voice when she spoke.
"Can't promise anything, you know that." He told her in response.
There was a long silence from Kensi's end, and it caused a slight uneasiness to grow on both sides. "Just…make it through this mission in one piece, and I'll give you my answer." She said finally, in a quiet voice.
Deeks knew that she worried about him being so far away, and her not being able to be at his side as a good partner should be. So he decided to put on a brave face, for her, and give her what he knew she needed.
"I'll do my best, Sunshine." He said in a quiet voice.
"That's all I'm asking." She replied.
"You two finished?" Callen asked, as he held his assault rifle up in front of him.
"Yep." Deeks replied. "All set, and ready for action." He added.
"Good. Everybody load up." Callen yelled over all of the men that were there with him. He pointed to the single black SUV that set nearby. "Sam, Deeks. Inside." Callen said commandingly. "We'll breach the front gate. McGarver, you and your team will cover the rear. Once we're inside, you all know you're targets—take'em out."
After that Callen, Sam, and Deeks filed into the black SUV—Sam drove. They rolled towards the front gate, moving out of their hidden cover, and gradually began to pick up speed as they went.
Kensi, Nell, Eric, and Hetty watched the action from the Ops Centre via infrared satellite imaging. Kensi ran a hand over her belly once again, and prayed for the safety of her team and her boyfriend.
"He'll be fine, Ms. Blye." Hetty said quietly to the pregnant brunette.
Kensi nodded. "I hope you're right, Hetty." Kensi replied just as quietly.
The SUV crashed through the wrought iron gate, and as soon as it emerged on the other side the doors flew open and the three men inside lept out, guns at the ready. McGarver's team came in behind them, and together they all stormed the compound.
The next several minutes were some of the most intense minutes they had experienced in a while. "This sector's clear." Someone called out over the radio. It was probably one of McGarver's men.
"Ditto here." Came a second voice just a short while later.
"Sam, I see him! Cardoza's on the move—I'm in pursuit." Callen's voice rang out clear across the radio waves.
"Copy that, right behind you G." Sam replied to his team leader.
The team located in the Ops Centre back at the mission followed the images appearing on their viewing screen that indicated the positions of every member of their teammates as they moved through the compound.
Several minutes later, a desperate call for help buzzed through the airwaves. The call came from Colonel McGarver himself. "I got a man down…can't move him…pinned down by gunfire in central courtyard."
"Stay put Colonel, I'm headed your way." Came Deeks' voice soon afterward.
"Mr. Deeks, I would advise against taking any sort of action without adequate back-up." Hetty cautioned the younger man over her radio headset.
"Hetty's right." Nell chimed in. "I'm tracking Hawke and Duncan near your location. They can be with you in-" she started.
"Not enough time…you heard the Colonel." Deeks interrupted. "Kensi, what do you think?" Deeks asked, as he continued towards the Colonel's location.
Kensi was silent for a long moment, and didn't say anything.
At the compound, Deeks reached the center of the complex and stood just on the edge of the area leading out into the courtyard. Deeks took cover behind a low sectio of stone wall, and waited for an opening in the shower of lead that rained down from the balcony above.
"I can't get an opening!" Deeks yelled.
"Deeks stay put." A voice came to him over his earwig radio. "We're sending back-up your way." Hetty told him.
Deeks thought for a moment after hearing the Colonel say they were running out of time. "Wait, I've got an idea." He said over his radio back to his Ops manager.
Somehow this whole scenario seemed very familiar to the shaggy-haired man as he readied himself for what he would do next.
"Colonel, you're about to get a huge opening. I suggest you take it." Deeks called to the Colonel just several feet awasy.
"Roger that." The Colonel replied.
"Deeks?" Kensi's voice reached into Deeks' ear, and he could clearly hear the worry in it. "What are you planning?"
Why is it always me? Deeks thought to himself, as he steadied himself.
"Kens, remember the hospital…after I was hit by that car." Deeks said over the radio. It only took a few seconds for Kensi to catch on to what her boyfriend was saying.
"Deeks, don't-" she tried desperately.
"Sorry Babe. Forgive me." Deeks replied.
Deeks counted to three, and then popped out from behind his place of cover. He managed to squeeze off two shots before taking 4 more in retaliation from the enemy thugs.
In just the few seconds it took for Deeks to go down, the Colonel popped out and expertly dropped all three of the gunmen perched up on the balcony.
Back at Ops, everyone was shocked by what they had heard over their radios. "Deeks." Eric was repeating the federal agents' name over his headset. "Deeks, come in."
"Deeks." Kensi tried. Please, please be alive.
"Colonel McGarver." Hetty spoke into her headset. "Request status report on Agent Deeks."
There was a long silence that followed, and it made everyone involved feel real uneasy about the situation. Then they heard the familiar groan across the airwaves.
"Deeks?" came Kensi's worried voice.
Deeks rolled over onto one side, and then hoisted himself up to his knees. "I'm still here Sunshine." He groaned, as he pulled the four slugs from his bulletproof vest.
A sigh of relief rolled over the brunette's lips as she stood there in Ops. "Damnit Deeks." She swore under her breath. "Don't ever do that to me again." She told him.
Kensi removed her headset, handed it to Eric, and then exited from the Ops Centre. Eric, Nell, and Hetty watched in silence as the pregnant federal agent excused herself from the action.
"Kensi?" Deeks voice came over the radio again.
"Uh, she's not here anymore." Nell replied slowly. "I think you might be in some trouble when you get back." She added.
"I'll speak to her, Mr. Deeks." Hetty said. "Don't worry." With that, Hetty also exited the Ops Centre.
Hetty found the younger woman standing outside the mission struggling to re-compose herself, but without much success. The female federal agent had undergone such a drastic change in just the last year or so, and Hetty knew she still struggled with how overwhelming her emotions could be at times.
"He has good instincts." Hetty said, folding her hands behind her back as she stood at Kensi's side. "And a good heart." Hetty chanced a glance at the brunette.
"I know." Kensi said with a sniffle. "But, I still worry that-"
Hetty nodded. "You worry, because you're afraid of how things might turn out should you be forced to go on alone." Hetty deduced quietly. The tiny woman had always had a knack for reading people, and wasn't shy about using that talent whenever necessary.
"I'm that transparent hunh?" Kensi said with a nervous chuckle.
Hetty smiled a soft, warm smile at the female federal agent. "How long have we known each other, Ms. Blye?" Hetty asked.
Kensi thought for a moment, but really couldn't come up with an exact figure right off the bat. "I dunno…long enough?" she replied as she wiped some fresh tears from her eyes with the back of her hand.
Hetty nodded slightly. "Long enough indeed." She said with a smile. "The day I can't tell what's going on in your head, is the day I leave NCIS." She added.
Kensi gave a small chuckle at the tiny woman standing next to her.
"Tell me something, Ms. Blye. This unanswered question that Mr. Deeks mentioned earlier—you are hesitant, are you not?"
Kensi only nodded in response to the tiny woman's question.
"Why is that?" Hetty asked next. "I mean, you two obviously care for one another, and there are stacks of After-Action-Reports in my office that serve as a testament to how much he trusts you." Hetty pointed out. "Do you not trust him the same?"
Kensi looked up at the Ops manager with a look of disbelief. She couldn't believe that Hetty would doubt her feelings for Marty Deeks. It just wasn't something the pregnant brunette ever expected from Hetty.
"Hetty…there isn't anyone I care for or trust more, on this planet, than Marty Deeks." Kensi said quietly. "No one else gets me the way he does." She added. Hetty only smiled a little and gave a slight nod as she watched the woman recall all of the things she loved about her boyfriend.
"I'm a control freak, Hetty—like big time, and Deeks doesn't mind. It doesn't bother him the way it does other guys." Kensi explained in a quiet voice. "He laughs whenever I freak out over something, and somehow that smile just…sets everything right."
Hetty stood silently by and listened intently to every word the younger woman said.
"I'm not always as vocal as most people about my feelings—I rarely ever say, you know the 'three little words' you say when you're in a relationship, but he never doubts or questions how I feel about him." Kensi continued. "When I'm with Deeks I feel grounded and secure, like I can be myself without being judged or feeling ashamed." Kensi paused for a brief moment to ponder what she'd just told her Ops manager.
"I can't imagine my life without him in it, Hetty." Kensi admitted to the tiny woman. "I…I love him."
Hetty smiled up at the female federal agent knowingly. "Knowing all that makes you want to feel closer to the one you love, as opposed to further apart…don't you think?"
Kensi stood in silent thoughtfulness for a long moment absorbing and processing Hetty's words, before speaking again.
"I guess you're right." Kensi admitted. Suddenly things seemed so much clearer after her little chat with Hetty, and now she was absolutely certain of what she needed to do next.
"Come on." Hetty motioned towards the doorway behind them. "Let's go check on those boys, shall we?"
Kensi nodded, and then followed Hetty back into the mission. They made their way up the stairs and into the Ops Centre once more. The duo was greeted by sounds of victory coming from their team out in the field.
"Say again." Eric said over the radio. He was trying to clean up the spotty reception they were getting because of too many people on the radio at that moment.
"I repeat," came Callen's voice once again. "Cardoza's in custody. Mission accomplished." He told the team back at Ops.
Kensi picked up her headset from Eric, and repositioned it on top of her head. "Good work guys." She said into the headset, with a smile. "Is Deeks around-" she started.
"Still here Sunshine." Deeks' voice came through loud and clear, and there was a twinge of worry just on the edge of it. "Kens, I-"
"I'm over it." She told him without a second thought on the matter. "Its in the past now. Let's leave it there, okay?"
"So we're good then?" Deeks asked slowly.
"Yeah, we're good." She replied. More than good actually. "And Deeks, that other thing you were asking about earlier…my answer is yes." She said softly.
Deeks was silent for a long moment.
"That is…if the offer is still on the table, I mean." She added, as she waited for his response.
"You sure its what you want?" he asked. He wanted to be 100% sure that it was in fact what she really wanted.
"Absolutely." She replied sweetly.
There was a brief pause, and then Deeks' joyful cheers could heard across the airwaves, and everyone in the Ops Centre clapped and cheered as well. "Wooooo Hoooooo!" Deeks cheered loudly from the other end.
"Eric," Deeks said finally, after he'd stopped to catch his breath a little bit. "If you would do the honors please." Deeks said excitedly over the radio.
"Sure thing Bro." Eric replied. Eric nodded to Nell, who then reached down into her nearby purse and produced a small, red box. She handed the box to Eric who then handed it too Kensi.
"Deeks left it with us on the off chance something like this might happen." Nell explained.
Kensi opened the small, red box and inside was the prettiest little engagement she had ever seen in her life—mainly because this one was hers.
"Its perfect." She said into her headset. "I love it."
Outside the enemy's compound, Callen and Sam were loading a handcuffed Cardoza into the backseat of the black SUV. Callen looked across the top of the car at his partner.
"I don't get it." Callen said to Sam. "What did she say yes to?"
"I-" Sam started to speak, but was interrupted by a smiling Deeks.
"Tell all the ladies back in town, Boys." Deeks said excitedly to the two men. "This stud's officially off the market." He told them, as he pulled open the door opposite the side that Cardoza was sitting on. He slid inside the car, and closed the door with a smile.
"Hmph, We'll I'll be damned." Callen said, looking across the top of the car again at Sam.
Sam just smiled at the news. "Can't say I didn't see it coming, just didn't think it would be so soon." He remarked. "He better be good to her though." Sam added, loud enough for Deeks to hear.
"That's right." Callen agreed, just as loudly. "Or else we'll have to break his arms off."
"Hey!" Kensi's voice sounded in their ears over the radio. "That's my fiancé you're threatening you two. I'd be watching your own asses if I were you." She told them.
"Roger that." Sam said into his radio piece as he slipped behind the wheel of the black SUV.
"Yes ma'am." Callen added as he slid into the passenger's seat at the same time. Then within mere seconds Sam had them off and headed for home.
…The End…
…Stay Tuned folks, more shorts one the way shortly…