A/N: Now we go back to their beginning. Kensi doesn't want a partner - but Hetty always gets her way, because let's face it, Hetty is the boss and she is awesome. Tag for 2.1- Human Trafficking. This one is again from Kensi's POV.
"I don't need a partner, Hetty."
Hetty's owlish eyes blinked up at me from behind her round glasses. "Sit down, Miss Blye."
I briefly thought of refusing her but I knew that would be useless as our leader always got her way. Crossing my arms in a final act of defiance, I plopped down into the chair across from her desk and waited for 'the speech' – the one how it had been too long since I'd had someone to watch my back, that I couldn't keep tagging along with Sam and Callen, that two teams of two were much more efficient than one team of three. I'd heard it all before, multiple times, ever since Dom had –
I swallowed and raised my eyes to hers.
"I don't see any reason to repeat myself, Kensi. You know the reasons why you need a partner – and I think Mr. Deeks will fit the bill quite nicely."
I snorted. "An undercover cop? One that's fallen out of favor with his own department? Hetty, he's not even NCIS."
Hetty nodded thoughtfully and took a sip of tea. "I'm sorry, where are my manners? Would you care for a cup?"
I shook my head. "No, thank you. After today, I feel in need of something much stronger."
"No doubt your new partner feels the same."
"He's not-" I gritted my teeth. What was the point in arguing?
"I've sent an address to your phone. Mr. Deeks will be there in thirty minutes. He will be expecting me, but I don't think he will be disappointed to see you instead."
"You sure about that?" I scoffed, but squirmed under her stare. "What am I supposed to do when I get there?"
"Talk to him, Miss Blye. He lost his partner today – something you are all too familiar with."
"I don't want to talk about Dom."
"I'm not asking you to. Just listen, let him talk."
"You mean, I'm being sent to debrief him?"
Hetty shook her head at me, and I thought I saw sadness in her eyes. "No, Kensi. Mr. Deeks needs a friend, and in time a partner. Is this something you can do?"
"I – I don't know. I'm not good at interpersonal stuff, Hetty."
She smiled as she took another sip of tea. "Perhaps your new partner can help you with that."
I snorted. "Doubtful."
"Did you miss me, Fern?"
I gritted my teeth and moved a black checker across the board. "Don't call me that."
Deeks chuckled as he dropped into the seat across from me. "It's a perfectly good alias, and in a place like this, do you really want me to call you-"
My hand shot out and slapped his away from my black checkers. "Good point, Dale." I looked up to meet his piercing blue eyes.
He grinned. "Touché."
I waited until he had a shot in his hand before asking how he was.
"Well, let's see. In the past twenty-four hours, I've been nearly blown up in a car, lost my partner, had my cover blown and beaten up by some very tough hombres, topped off by exposing my boss as a dirty cop – yeah, just another day in the life of Marty Deeks, undercover cop."
I studied his face while he was talking, noticing how his jaw clenched with anger and pain, and his eyes darkened with emotion, though the words were spoken in a light, almost teasing vein.
When he'd finished, I cocked my head to the left. "Do you always do that?"
He downed his shot in one gulp. "Do what?"
"Use humor as a defense mechanism?"
"Uh, wow. I don't think you know me nearly well enough to start-"
"Sorry, I just think it's important that if we're going to be partners that I know how you deal with-"
"Partners?" He repeated the word, his finger waving back and forth between us. "You and me, Fern? I think I need another drink." Deeks grabbed the untouched shot next to me and downed it as well.
"Why? Am I that terrifying?" I bared my teeth in a grin.
He shook his head slowly and I watched as the humor slipped from his face. "I'm just not sure that I'm ready for another partner – I mean, look what happened to Jess."
I pushed past my own feelings he was bringing back. I couldn't think about Dom, not now. Hetty told me that Deeks needed a friend – and I was going to try to be one. "She knew the risks, and I know it's not much comfort now, but she helped you expose Frank. That was her part of the operation, wasn't it? Find the dirty cop while you focused on Lasik?"
Deeks nodded.
"Then she did her job, and you did yours. When we talked to her, we could tell there was something she was holding back – now we can see that it was her operation to expose Frank. I also saw how much she cared for you. She was really worried about you, Deeks. She wanted you to be okay-"
"We never slept together-"
"Uh, okay," I stammered, not quite sure what to do with this information.
"It was part of our cover story. We met at her apartment and posed as lovers so that Emilio's people would think she was dirty and feeding me information – but in the end, it didn't work. Frank was the dirty cop and he made us both to Emilio and Lasik. If you, Sam, and Callen hadn't found me today, I'd be dead too."
I reached across the table and knocked my knuckles against his. "But we did, and you're not."
He nodded. "I just don't know why I'm alive and Jess is dead."
I swallowed hard as Dom's face swam before my eyes. "I don't know, Deeks. I really don't."
An uncomfortable silence fell between us and Deeks signaled the bartender for two more shots. After our glasses were refilled, Deeks looked at me, his eyes dancing. "So, partners? I don't know how to be an NCIS agent."
I slugged him in the shoulder and he fell back in his seat, groaning. "That's because you're not NCIS, you're LAPD."
He was still rubbing his shoulder. "Really? Is this the sort of abuse I can expect as your partner? Do Sam and Callen get this same treatment?"
I fluttered my eyes at him. "I would never hit Sam or Callen outside of the sparring ring."
Deeks stuck out his lower lip. "Then what makes me so special?"
I shrugged a shoulder and lifted my shot glass. "You're my partner."
A/N: If you remember watching this episode, it ends with Callen and Hetty, even though the episode revolves around our beloved Detective. I just needed to fix that.
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