Never Going Back Again: Chapter Two:
"I wish. I wouldn't mind working with someone who looked like Sean Connery. Or get to drive an Aston Martin." Sarah grinned cheerily at him. "The truth is more like we pore over computer screens all day. Not that anyone would believe that. But right now, I'm here to officially request that someone from NCIS comes to the City Mortuary tomorrow morning to formally request extradition of the body back to the US. That'll allow an application to go before the Procurator Fiscal and then we can get all the paperwork arranged. It's pretty much a formality."
"And you can close your file?" Sam asked, relieved that she seemed to have a decent sense of humour. Either that or she was used to dealing with guys who were stoned out of their skulls.
"Exactly. I can see you know how this works. The paperwork never ends. Even if most of it is electronic these days. You'll be doing me a big favour, letting me close this case at our end and hand it over to you."
"Fair enough. We can tie up those loose ends for you. Especially as Director Vance has personally requested the favour."
"Great. I hoped you'd understand. You'll be there tomorrow morning at 10am then? It's pretty easy to find – just go to the Cowgate, and the Mortuary is opposite the Holiday Express Inn."
A loud snigger came from the direction of the sofa. "I bet they don't mention that in their adverts. Just imagine the slogan: "You can always be yourself - at the morgue". Who could resist that when they're choosing their hotel?"
Sam resolutely ignored Deeks' witticisms. "We'll be there."
"Nice meeting you," Deeks said cheerily, as Sam showed Sarah downstairs.
"You need to go to bed," Kensi informed him sternly.
He beamed happily up at her. "Only if you come too."
"You're as bad as Callen. And stop taking advantage of me. You know I can't resist you when you lie there and look at me with those big eyes."
Not to mention the fact you look about sixteen with short hair. And what's really worrying is that I find it strangely appealing. Is that perverted or what?
"What do you mean "as bad as Callen"? I'm here to tell you he's one fine man." Nico breezed into the room, totally unconcerned that she was dripping water everywhere. "Sam told me to come straight on up," she announced. "God, I've missed you guys."
"Give me your coat. I'll hang it up over the bath to drip." Kensi was starting to panic about possible water damage to the parquet flooring.
"I was wanting a bath later," Deeks said.
"You'll just have to want. The doctor said you should stick to showers for the next few days, remember?"
"Not really," he admitted.
"They gave him pain meds, didn't they?" Nico sat down on the edge of the sofa and stared into his eyes. "Yup. He's sky-high."
"Hi Nico." He smiled dreamily at her. "Did you know Dad's back? And he's married."
"Hetty mentioned it, honey. She could have told me about your hair though. So could you, Callen. I hardly recognised him."
Callen shrugged nonchalantly. "I had other things on my mind. Not everyone is obsessed with Deeks' hair."
Nico ignored him. "You look kind of sweet with it all curly like that. It reminds me of when you were a little kid. And don't pout, Mikey - because it's true. And you know it."
"I'm going to go to bed if you all keep picking on me like this."
"Not before you tell me about this EJ Barratt and why Callen thinks she's trying to kill you all." Nico crossed her arms and looked at Kensi. "How about you start?"
Kensi heaved a sigh. "You'd better sit down too, Callen. Because things just got a bit more complicated. That was the friendly face of MI5, who are desperate for us to help them get a dead Marine expatriated back home. With what seems like undue haste. She was just that little bit too insistent about how it was just a matter of dotting the i's and crossing the t's and that there really wasn't anything to worry about. And that makes me suspicious."
"Me too," Sam said. "We're involved at the express orders of Vance. And whenever he's involved, I automatically see danger signs all over the place. And the crowning touch, just to make sure we complied with her request was really neat. Turns out he had details of none other than our old friend, Max Gentry, along with an obscene amount of cocaine."
Callen's good mood evaporated instantly. "Who outside LAPD and NCIS knows about Max Gentry?"
"A few low-lives," Deeks said wearily, the buzz from his medication disappearing at the mention of that name. "Most of them are either doing time or no longer with us. Ray, of course. And Nicole. And neither of them are likely to be doing much talking."
"Ray, I'll buy. Apart from anything else, he owes you big time. But Nicole? She could have her reasons."
"No way. She's not like that. Not like that at all. Nicole's… she's sweet. Kind of innocent." He shook his head vehemently. "It's definitely not Nicole. She'd never do something like that. Trust me."
Kensi sat silently, unable to stop thinking about how he had kissed Nicole in the boathouse and how adamant he was that she would never betray him. It was like pressing a bruise – you knew it was going to hurt, and yet somehow you did it anyway. They'd never spoken about that kiss, let alone how he felt about Nicole and wondering exactly what their relationship had been like, but maybe they should. Sooner, rather than later, before it began to fester.
"Which brings us back to EJ. Does anyone doubt that she'd murder a Marine in cold blood? Nope? Me neither. Which just leaves the question – why did she do it? What's her motivation?" Sam looked around the room inquiringly. "Don't all shout out at once."
"Maybe if you told me who this EJ is I might be able to help," Nico said "I'm guessing she's not exactly flavour of the month around here. She sounds like some sort of psychopath, if you ask me."
"She very probably is – only most psychopaths have more social skills than EJ. She's about as house trained as a rabid skunk on heat."
"And she's the one responsible for that fire last night?" Nico let her gaze settle first on Callen, then on Deeks and her lips drew together in a fine, hard line. "I can't wait to meet her."
"Me too. Just make sure we're all around though, will you? Because when Kensi punched her senseless, we all missed it."
"I can arrange that."
"Nico and Kensi as a tag-team," Deeks mused. "That works for me."