I'm so sorry it took so long to update! This chapter was insanely hard to write. If you have a moment, please review and let me know what you think about it. Thanks again for reading!

-III-

Kensi found her voice first. "We better go," she said softly.

They both quickly moved away from each other and out of the car. Kensi smiled at him nervously as he came around the other side. She couldn't deny that she could still feel the electricity lingering on her lips.

As they made their way up to the front door, Kensi studied the little cottage. It was a small, lonely building, badly in need of repair, standing in the middle of an empty stretch of sand and sparse desert brush. In essence, it was an ideal checkpoint for a worldwide drug smuggling operation, as Kensi couldn't imagine that Miguel received a lot of visitors out here.

Callen gave her a sly smile. "You got a lock pick?" he asked.

Kensi laughed softly. "Yeah, but I do it a little differently now." She drew her gun and nodded at him.

Crouching into position, with Callen at her back, Kensi slammed her foot into the door with impressive force, splintering it open. Callen looked at her admiringly. "Nice," he commented.

As they both rushed into the house, guns drawn, Kensi felt a massive surge of adrenaline coursing through her body. She had always relished the danger and the excitement of this job, but she knew her heart was pounding harder than usual today. She briefly wondered, though, if it had less to do with the thrill of the investigation and more to do with her heated attraction to the man who had just complimented her method for breaking and entering.

"Clear," he called from the kitchen.

"Clear," Kensi said. She glanced around the living room. "It's immaculate," she said in surprise. She drew her finger across the thick layer of dust on the coffee table. "Except for the dust. It doesn't even look like anyone's been living here."

Callen opened the refrigerator and found it completely empty and wiped clean. "Not anyone that was planning on sticking around," he concluded. He opened the kitchen cabinets and found their contents to be exactly the same...nothing.

Kensi made her way down the hall and into the next room. It was a quaint little office with a small wooden desk, a couple of chairs, and an antique bookshelf. But there were no books, and when she opened the desk drawers, they were empty, too. Kensi's brow furrowed in confusion. It was so strange that the entire house was furnished but there was no evidence of anyone actually living there.

Just as she turned to leave the room, she caught her foot on a small knot in the rug. Wondering what exactly she had stumbled upon, she pushed the rug aside to reveal a small padlocked box settled into the floor boards. Carefully, she slipped on a pair of gloves and wiggled the box out of its resting place. She pulled the lock pick out of her back pocket and jiggled the padlock open.

Kensi's eyes widened as she shuffled through the papers inside. There were several recent bank statements for someone named Juan Sanchez, and from the account balance, she could see that he was a very wealthy man. She wondered who he was and how he came to possess such a fortune. Probably by smuggling illegal drugs, she decided. But then, as she dug deeper into the box, her eyes fell on an old, slightly yellowed photo buried at the very bottom. It was a photo of two very familiar men – and possibly the answer to what she had been looking for all along.

Kensi could not contain her gasp, and she tried to call for Callen, but her voice caught in her throat. She was so lost in shock that she didn't hear the low rumbling behind the wall. It was only a small vibration, but it was enough to start a spark. The room temperature burst into a sticky, stifling heat, and the walls suddenly began to quake violently. A small cloud of smoke sizzled out through a crack, and the first flames of fire hissed and spat in the corner of the room.

"Kensi, get out of there...now!"

She heard Callen yell, but it didn't register in time. Her fingers closed tightly around the photo, and the force of the explosion threw her backwards out into the hallway. Her body slammed into the wall, and she crumpled into a heap on the floor.

"Kensi!" Callen bolted down the hallway in fear, watching his nightmare play out before his eyes. In no time at all, the fire poured out of the office, surrounding Kensi's motionless body and quickly spreading into the other rooms. Coughing violently, with the smoke burning his lungs and the flames lapping at his feet, Callen gathered Kensi in his arms and frantically looked for the door. But in the midst of a raging inferno, he could not tell which way to go.

Completely disoriented, Callen stumbled through the house, supporting Kensi on his shoulder and desperately searching for a way out. He leapt to the side and dropped to the ground as a ceiling beam crashed to the floor next to him, spraying sparks in all directions. He could hear Kensi coughing and struggling to breathe, and he pulled her away from the burning embers as the entire house began caving in.

The fire surged towards the windows, greedily consuming fresh oxygen and rapidly mounting in strength. Callen knew he was fighting a losing battle. Almost unconcerned with his own life, the fear that he could not save her was driving his panic. Wiping the sweat from his forehead and the tears from his eyes, he forced his way through the path of fire until, at last, his fingers closed around a doorknob. He vaguely recognized that it wasn't the same door they had come in, and when he tried to twist the doorknob, it stubbornly refused to open.

With the smoke suffocating his strength, Callen threw himself against the door in a vain attempt to break it down. When it wouldn't budge, he backed up and drew his gun. His eyes could barely focus, and his fingers trembled on the trigger, but he didn't have time to think about what would happen if this didn't work. He blindly fired a cluster of shots somewhere into the vicinity of his target, and the bullets screamed and hissed as they exploded against the flaming door.

Callen threw himself into it again, ignoring the searing pain of fire splashing on his skin, and this time the door splintered in half. With the last ounce of his remaining strength, he dragged Kensi into the fresh air, coughing and gasping for breath. He couldn't run anymore...he collapsed on the sand and shielded her body with his. And behind them, the entire house exploded into flames.

Callen lay on the ground for several minutes, waiting for the dust to settle and the flames to dissipate slightly. He closed his eyes and held Kensi protectively against his chest, breathing hard, afraid to move, as her faint heartbeat was the only reassurance that he had defied his nightmare. When she finally coughed underneath him, he slowly raised his head. "Kenz," he whispered.

"I'm—I'm okay," she answered softly.

Callen gently ran his thumb over her cheek, her beautiful face marred by dirt and explosive residue. "You sure?"

"Yeah," she said more decisively. She struggled to sit up and was suddenly grateful that his arms were supporting her. "Callen..." She opened her fist to show him the very crumpled photo. It was dirty now and slightly scorched around the edges, but even in the explosion, she hadn't let go.

When Callen and Kensi returned to the boathouse, both of them streaked in dirt and blood and their clothes charred and tattered, Javier's jaw dropped. "What happened?"

"Someone didn't want us to find what was in that cottage," Kensi replied. "Whole place went up in flames."

"Are you okay?" Javier asked, touching her cheek tenderly.

"Oh, yeah, we're fine," Callen muttered indignantly. "Thanks for asking."

"Did you find anything before it blew?" Sam asked. "Drugs?"

"A photo," Kensi said softly, handing it to Sam.

"Miguel de Santiago and Juan Sanchez," Sam read on the back of the photo. "Who's Juan Sanchez?"

"My father."

"Your father?" Javier repeated.

Sam looked up in confusion. "But I thought your father—"

"I—I don't know…whoa." Kensi suddenly stumbled and sat back against the couch.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Javier asked worriedly.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she insisted. "I just…need to sit down."

Out of the corner of his eye, Sam saw Callen cast a worried glance at Kensi. She was slumped over on the couch, her head in her hands, as Javier hovered over her protectively. It did not go unnoticed by the two Los Angeles agents that Javier pressed a tender kiss against her cheek and softly stroked her hair. And when Javier reached for her hand, Sam suddenly noticed the diamond ring.

But before he could say anything about it, Callen cut in. "Sam, take Javier and check out the forensics on that house. I'm gonna see if Eric can get anything off this photo."

"G?"

"Just do it, Sam," Callen said in an unusually soft tone. "Please."

Sam raised his eyebrows. He wasn't sure he liked where this was going. With a heavy sigh, he turned to Javier. "Special Agent Fernandez," he called. "How about you and I take a little ride to check out that house?"

"Are you going to be okay here?" Javier asked Kensi. He turned to Sam and Callen. "Are you sure we should leave her alone?"

"Javier, go," she said softly. "I'm just going to rest."

As the three men headed out the door, Kensi lay back on the couch and closed her eyes. She would never admit it to either Javier or Callen – or Sam, for that matter – but she was actually in a lot of pain. Her body ached from being thrown against the wall, and she was covered in sharp cuts, bruises, and burns. She gingerly touched her forehead and realized that she was still bleeding.

"We better get something on those wounds of yours, dearie."

Kensi opened her eyes. The voice was commanding...and very familiar.

She smiled weakly as Hetty placed her first aid kit on the table next to the couch. The little lady opened the case and pulled out an ice pack and a bottle of little pink pills.

"Ice and aspirin," Hetty advised. "Callen and Sam can attest to it." She pulled out a roll of gauze and dabbed it with some funny colored liquid. Kensi gritted her teeth as Hetty wiped the antiseptic over her forehead.

"He's worried about you," the little lady said quietly. "He has nightmares that wake him up in a cold sweat...and you have them, too."

For some reason, Kensi wasn't at all surprised that Hetty knew about the nightmares. "Hetty, they're awful," she admitted. "I—I don't know how much more I can take."

"Perhaps they're trying to tell you something."

"They are," Kensi said. "I just don't know what."

Hetty took out another piece of gauze and gently cleaned the cuts and scrapes on Kensi's arms. As she made her way down to her dirty, bloody hands, Hetty noticed the diamond ring. It was still in perfect condition even after the explosion, and it almost seemed to shine extra brightly now.

Kensi blushed as she realized what the little lady was looking at. "Hetty, I'm—"

"Engaged to Special Agent Fernandez," Hetty finished. "I know." She nodded thoughtfully as she pulled out her box of bandages. She opened the package and gently applied one to Kensi's forehead. "Just don't forget where your heart really belongs," she whispered.

That evening, a harsh rainstorm with thunder and lightning blew in off the coast, and Kensi slept restlessly on the couch in the boathouse. She tossed and turned as the man in the photo haunted her dreams.

"Kensi!" His voice was sharp and angry. "Don't you walk away from me, young lady!"

The fiery teenager whirled around furiously. "Oh, sure, Dad, you go out and have fun with your friends, but you won't let me go out with mine!"

"Not when your friends include that boy...what's his name? Is he your boyfriend now?"

"What do you have against him?" she cried. "We're just going to a movie!"

"He's dangerous, Kensi. You stay away from him."

"Don't tell me what to do." She stomped up the stairs and slammed the door to her room.

Her father watched her go and shook his head sadly. "Kensi," he whispered. "Someday you'll understand. It's all for you...I did everything for you...always for you, baby girl."

Her eyes shot open, and her body jerked awake in fear. Her breath was coming in short bursts, and she could hear the waves crashing on the shore outside the boathouse. She heard her heart pounding, too, but she suddenly realized that it wasn't all due to the nightmare. She felt him before she saw him, moving quietly through the room, the lightning flashing against his blue eyes.

"Come on," he whispered in her ear, his breath on her skin making shivers race up her spine. He took her hand and helped her off the couch.

"Where are we going?" Kensi asked, still somewhat groggy.

"I don't know."

He drove for quite a while, but he didn't speak, and when she stole a glance at him, his eyes were completely focused on the road. She suspected that he was simply driving them in circles, making sure they weren't being followed, although anyone following them in this weather would have had to be completely crazy. The windshield wipers were going at top speed, and the torrents of rain were almost blinding. The water gushed over the road, the wind was shrieking and howling against the car, and thunder and lightning rolled fiercely in the distance.

When he could no longer see to drive, they ended up at a small motel on the outskirts of the city, listed under aliases that Kensi didn't think she would remember in the morning.

He locked the door behind them and shook the rain out of his eyes. They stood in the doorway for a moment, in silence, both completely drenched and neither one entirely sure what to say to the other. And maybe tonight, no words were needed. Hesitantly, he moved closer to her and brushed a loose tendril of soggy hair away from her face. He brought his hand to her cheek, and she sighed softly and leaned into his touch. She looked sad and tired, and a bloody bandage scarred her forehead, but as his eyes met hers, Callen didn't think he had ever seen anything more beautiful.

Wordlessly, she melted into him, and his lips crashed down on hers. He backed her into the bed, and they collapsed onto the mattress, entangled in each other's arms. Her lips were soft and tender, and she was driving his senses wild. He hadn't forgotten how much he craved her touch and the sensation of her body pressed against his. Their earlier kiss in the car had only left him longing for more, and Callen could feel himself about to lose all control.

She tore her lips from his, running her fingers along the scruff of his jaw, down his neck, and to the top button on his shirt. His breath caught as her fingers swiftly unbuttoned his shirt, the anticipation almost excruciating as she made her way to the last button and pushed it off his shoulders. He fell back against the pillows, pulling her with him, a stream of raindrops falling from her hair and running down his bare chest. Her fingers traced the tiny rivulets downwards, slowly sliding below his waist to remove the remaining barriers between them.

As the rest of his clothes fell to the floor, he captured her lips again for a deep, passionate kiss that left them both breathless. He felt her shiver against him, as much from his kiss as from the fact that cold rain was soaking through to her skin and her wet clothes were still clinging to her body. Gently, he rolled her over, drawing her arms above her head and trailing his fingers lightly down her body. She gasped, as she felt her clothes slowly being peeled away and the heat of his kiss against her damp skin. His hands tenderly caressed her curves, and his lips pressed soft kisses into the most intimate places. Every spot he touched burned with aching, insatiable desire for him. And so, lost in the height of passion, Kensi closed her eyes and her entire body shook with pleasure as he pushed himself deep inside of her, sending waves of fire straight to her core.

For one fleeting moment, all was forgotten except the sensation of their lovemaking and the comfort that they found in each other.

Hours later, Callen awoke to the sound of pounding rain against the window. The storm was still raging outside, and sheets of water were slapping against the glass. He could hear the fierce rumble of thunder, and jagged streaks of lightning lit up the sky.

Sleepily, he ran his fingers through the silky brown locks that lay draped over his pillow. He smiled as he breathed in her intoxicating scent, and he buried his face in her neck and kissed her gently. After the day's events, he never would have thought that he would end up in a motel room with her that night...tangled in sheets slickened with sweat, satisfying each other's most carnal desires.

The last time they had spent a night together, fulfilling each other, she had left on a plane in the morning. One phone call had wrenched his beautiful girl from his arms, driving her across the world to chase down her past. At that point in time, he had been prepared to lose a teammate. He hadn't been prepared to lose his heart.

And so Callen had spent the next night alone, lulled to sleep by the dull ache inside his chest. He could have sworn that his heart was no longer capable of feeling, but if that were true, then he didn't know what had shattered inside of him. For someone who had turned his back on all feeling…she made him feel again.