A/N: It appears that I lied to you folks (not in a bad way though, as you can tell by the upload!). I really thought it would take me a while to get the next chapter written, but this just came to me, and once I started writing, there was no stopping. Hope you've all had a great start to your weeks, and that you'll enjoy the chapter!


Chapter 28: Explanation

Kensi kept sending worried glances towards the scruffy man sitting next to her in the passenger seat. The car ride was silent, as the otherwise talkative man had turned introverted, quietly staring at the tall, blurry buildings, they drove past on the way to the boatshed. She placed a hand on his thigh, tenderly caressing him, her thumb running back and forth in a calming manner. He broke his glaring from out the window and turned his head, looking at the hand before turning his gaze to her, sending her a timid smile.

She hated seeing her confident man turned so nervous, trapped in his thoughts. She knew from unwanted experience, that he could take a beating in stride, courtesy of his deadbeat father, which eliminated the blackened eye as a reason for his introversion. As such, she deduced that his current apprehensiveness had to stem from a combination of having been this close to the business end of a gun in combination with going to the boatshed, both of those would have brought back the reminder of the horrible night where a terrified eleven-year-old boy lost both of his parents.

They pulled into the parking lot overviewing the waterfront. Kensi turned off the vehicle but made no move to exit it, instead she turned in her seat to face the quiet man next to her. She grabbed his hand, tethering him to her, "You don't have to do this right now. We can wait a bit, go to the beach or something first if you'd like."

The fact that she knew, he would want to go to the beach for comfort brought the first real smile from him since the whole ordeal, "I want to help." He started assuring her, "And you need this information, right?"

She nodded at him, proud that he was such a resilient person, steadfast on doing the right thing. "We do, yeah… But it can wait a little," she assured him.

"We'll do it now, I don't want your case to stall because of me," he smiled assuringly at her.

She looked into his deep, blue orbs and saw nothing but sincerity, as such, she nodded and smiled at him, certain that he was all right for now. "Okay, let's go inside then."

She led him into the main room and sat down next to him on the same couch, just like they had a few months ago. Kensi quickly greeted the few NCIS agents who were already present in the boatshed, since the two culprits they had managed to capture alive during the rescue was in an interrogation room each.

Whilst they waited for the arrival of the rest of Kensi's team, the two sat next to each other and talked about everything and nothing. He found a sense of calm returning to him, even though he had had his past put on display in this place, it was also the place where his feelings for the woman currently sitting next to him truly started to take root. As such, he decided to focus on that, the nonsense they had spoken last time they were here and the feeling of safety and contentedness being around Kensi had given him.

The easily recognizable sound of her teammates banter alerted the female agent of their arrival, and a feeling of nervousness filled her, unsure of how Marty would handle talking to them again, since their less than stellar last meeting.

Marty stood as he, too, had heard the voices of the arriving agents. She followed his lead, but looked warily at him as she was standing next to him. His features would have seemed neutral to anyone who did not know the man well, his face a well-practiced mask, hiding his true feelings. Kensi, however, both knew him well and her undercover experience had honed her abilities to spot any change in expressions no matter how miniscule. As such, she could see how his jaw had tightened and she knew he stood a bit straighter, than he usually would.

The ex-Navy SEAL and former CIA agent casually walked towards the two standing in front of the couch. Callen seemed open enough, even to the point of looking slightly apologetic as he neared them. Sam, however, was having a hard time containing a slight scowl, obviously still upset at her for keeping something from him and the team.

The female unconsciously took a small step in front of Marty, protectively shielding him from the arriving agents.

"Kensi," he started, nodding to his female agent, having noted her protective stance. "Mr. Deeks," he reached to shake the hand of the man, whom he now knew to be Kensi's boyfriend.

"Agent…" he drifted off, having forgotten the name, but happy that he greeted him so respectfully this time.

"Callen," the older man smiled at him.

"Pleasure to meet you… I think," the lawyer smiled unsurely at the man, still uncertain exactly where he stood in regards to the two agents, after all, they had tainted his image in front of his, now, girlfriend and that was without even mentioning the illegal way in which, he assumed they had gotten the information from the sealed file.

Deciding to push that line of thinking to the back of his head, his eyes turned to the larger African-American agent standing next to the man, whom he had just greeted. "Deeks," he said, reaching forward to shake hands with the tough agent.

The larger agent looked unsurely at the hand in front of him for a few seconds before reaching to shake it, "Hanna," he gruffly greeted, the handshake uncomfortable from the large man's pressure.

As opposed to the blond man standing in front of him, Sam did not bother hiding his uncertainty of the man in front of him. Intellectually, he knew that it was not the lawyer, who had kept his relationship from him, but for some reason, he projected his annoyance at his coworker to the man, whom she shared a relationship with, it was that projected annoyance combined with the assumed character of the lawyer. Based on his unkempt appearance, which did not sit well with the uptight military man, Sam did not have high regards for him so far, and he did not hide his disapproving expression.

If looks could kill, Sam would be dead on the spot. The glare Kensi sent her male counterpart left no doubt to what she was feeling about the less than warm greeting he had offered her man.

"Kensi said you're up for answering some questions?" Callen interrupted the stare, making sure to keep a friendly tone of voice, as he took the attention off his partner.

"Yeah," he nodded at the senior agent.

"Alright, why don't you take a seat," Callen started, gesturing to the couch behind the lawyer. "I'll just grab a recorder, and we can get started."

He unbuttoned his suit jacket and sat down on the old furniture as suggested, Kensi sat down next to him and made sure they sat close enough for their legs to touch. She placed a hand on his thigh, silently showing her support for him. Sam was still standing, his expression still disapproving as he looked at the two sitting on the couch.

A minute later had the lead agent sitting across the couch on one of the well-worn chairs, Sam finally taking a seat as well.

"So where do you want to start?" The lawyer asked, when none of the agents immediately spoke up.

"Why don't you start at the beginning?" The larger of the two male agents asked in a tone, Kensi did not appreciate, earning him another darkened glare from the female agent and a sideways glance from his partner.

"Well," Marty took a deep breath before beginning his recount of the events. "We were in a meeting, discussing a potential new project for Minerva Precisions, my workplace, with some representatives from the Department of Defense, when the armed men rushed into the room yelling for us to raise our hands and comply with their orders."

Kensi squeezed his thigh in support, she was having a harder time dealing with the recount of events, than Marty currently had telling it.

"They started asking questions regarding some other project we had been working on," he continued.

"What project?" Callen prodded.

Marty looked to his left at Kensi, he knew the agents would have a high security clearance, but felt himself wanting her approval before giving them the sensitive information anyways. He continued upon receiving a slight nod from her, "An innovative missile tracking software."

The three agents looked at one another, thinking back on the first case they had with the work at Minerva Precisions. The flash drive that the men had beaten the shaggy lawyer over, had contained similar information, and in their line of business, coincidences did not sit well with them.

The lawyer pulled them out of their thoughts, as he continued narrating the events, "They got frustrated when we told them that wasn't the reason we were there."

"And you didn't tell them anything about the missile tracking software?" Sam questioned in an accusatory manner.

"No I did not," the answer sounded professionally, although Kensi could sense the annoyance at the suggestion.

"Why would they have thought you were there for the software?" The lead agent questioned, drawing attention away from his partner's less than tactful question, but also wanting to know as much as possible before interrogating the two men waiting for them.

"We were actually supposed to be discussing that, but our head of security changed the plans yesterday, he is still wary from the last security breach and changed the meeting location to DC next week," he chuckled to himself. "I guess he was right in being cautious."

Kensi nodded along, she already knew that he would have to travel to DC next week, as he had told her during dinner last night, she just did not know what it had to do with. Because of their mutual secretive jobs, conversations about work would often be vague between the two.

"That's why they went through all the documents there," Callen deduced.

Although it was not a question, Marty answered anyways, "Yeah, they got really frustrated, when they realized that we had told them the truth. I heard one of them talking about, how they thought it might've been a setup."

"If they thought it was a setup, they would send people out to scout the floor," Callen said to no one in particular.

"That explains why they had people stationed at the stairs," Sam concurred.

"Why'd they hit you," Kensi suddenly questioned, unable to keep herself asking any longer. The question had lingered in the back of her mind, ever since she first saw his bruised face in the office.

"When we heard the shots, the man who had stayed went to grab Daphne, a new employee who was there to learn the ropes of how these things usually went," he shook his head at the thought. "She was absolutely terrified, so I stepped in between her and the man."

Kensi felt herself swallow hard at the thought. He had put himself in danger to protect someone more vulnerable than himself. She felt her heart soar at the thought of the valorous act, but at the same time, her heart clenched at the thought that he could have gotten much more hurt.

"He hit me with the gun, but I kept insisting he should take me instead," the bruised lawyer continued. "Not even a minute after, you three entered the room, and you know the rest." He shrugged at the end of the sentence as if to say 'no big deal.' Kensi knew it was a defense mechanism of his, to downplay what he went through.

"I think that's all for now," Callen stood up and the rest followed his lead. "If you think of anything else don't hesitate to call… I think you already have Kensi's number," he joked.

Kensi looked at him, glad for his attempt to lighten the atmosphere, which was starting going downhill, courtesy of one indignant special agent.

"You're welcome," Marty assured, shaking the lead agent's hand. When he went to shake Sam's, he realized that the larger agent had already turned around and headed towards the small kitchenette in the boatshed.

Kensi felt anger flare at the disrespectfulness her friend showed towards her boyfriend. She was not sure exactly what had ruffled his feathers, but it did not matter to her. She would have unpleasant words with him once Marty left.

Callen looked apologetically at the two standing across from him, "I'll call Eric, see if he has anything on the captured guys, then me and the big guy will start interrogating one of them."

Kensi smiled at his excuse to give her some space with her boyfriend, and hugely appreciated it. "I'll be there in five," she assured her boss, not wanting to push her boundaries either, even though she would much prefer to stay in the company of her shaken boyfriend.

She finally allowed herself to grab Marty's hand, squeezing it tightly and pulling him outside of the boatshed, away from the ex-Navy SEAL with an attitude problem.

"I'm sorry about Sam, I'm not sure why he's acting like-"

"A pouting child," he interrupted with a chuckle.

She sighed deeply, "Something like that, yeah." They were both silent for a minute, before she spoke up once more, "How are you doing, babe?"

"Babe?" He cocked an eyebrow at the new name.

She smiled coyly at him, glad her plan for a distraction had worked, but she still wanted and honest answer to her question, "How are you doing?"

"Pretty good right now, honestly," he looked her in the eyes, so she could tell that he was being truthful.

"I don't really want to leave you right now," she confessed, smiling sadly at the blond man.

"And I don't want to be a hindrance to you doing your work," he countered easily, before chuckling. "Besides, you can think of solving this case as redeeming your boyfriend's honor."

She could not help but laugh at his humorous perspective, shaking her head before she regained control of her voice. "Oh that's what you want me to do, huh?"

He nodded easily, "You are my knight in shiny armor," he laughed and opened his arms invitingly.

She stepped into his embrace and reveled in the comfort that holding him tightly brought her. After a minute, she separated slightly and stood on her toes to kiss him tenderly.

"You need to get back to work," he told her as they parted, their lips touching slightly. He saw the reluctance in her eyes, and decided to add to the statement. "I expect to see you tonight at my place, if you aren't forced to work through the night."

"Okay," she finally agreed after a moment of silence. "I'll see you tonight, then."

She pecked his lips before turning back towards the boatshed, pushing thoughts of her shaggy haired lawyer to the back of her mind, indignation towards her coworker now back at the forefront.


I hope this answered some of the questions about why Marty was, once again, in a dangerous situation. We should get more information still in following chapters.