Thank you for all the wonderful support! The views (and reviews) on the last chapter was absolutely insane! I really do appreciate it.
I hope you've all had a wonderful Christmas and will have an amazing (and safe!) New Years.
Chapter 37: …the Approaching…
"Kensi," the team leader called, grabbing his agent's attention as he sat on the empty table across from her. "You've been acting a bit…off this entire week. What's going on?"
He and Sam had discussed after work two day prior, that their subtle proddings and openings for Kensi to open up about whatever was bothering her was not going to get them the information that they felt they needed in order to help their friend. As such, they had agreed upon using a more direct way of gaining that information, whilst still, at least somewhat, respecting her privacy. After all, Callen had a responsibility to ensure that his team was on top of their game at all times, and felt that the way Kensi had been acting apprehensively was interfering with their ability to perform at the top of their game. They had felt that Friday noon would be best, since doing it just as they got off work would enable her to just leave, and they did not want whatever was bothering her to fester over the weekend, where they could do nothing unless a pressing case emerged, and even then, they would be busy working.
"Nothing's wrong. Why would there be anything wrong?" She automatically deflected.
"I didn't say anything was wrong," Callen corrected and could see his friend chastising herself for the slip. "Now can you tell us what's been bothering you?"
The young female agent sighed loudly, knowing that since she obviously had not been able to keep her worrying completely hidden, she was pretty much inclined to fess up to her friends and colleagues. "I'm not too sure, where to start." She weakly tried to avoid talking about it one last time.
"Why don't you start at the beginning?" Sam suggested softly, worry and caring evident in his voice. He really was a lot better at this stuff than Callen.
"Right…" she chuckled, taking a deep breath before delving into the explanation. "Well…there are a few things you don't know about me. One of them is that I used to be engaged to a Marine." Both of her teammates' eyebrows shot up in surprise. Normally she would have chuckled at her ability to force an expression that visible on to their, or at the very least Callen's, usual stoic faces.
"Anyways," she started back up after another deep sigh. "He was suffering from PTSD upon returning back home, I did everything I could; stalled my education so I could make sure he took all his meds, while taking him to all his appointments. One day when I woke up…one day he was just gone. No note, no nothing…I never really figured out what happened to him, I guess everything just became too much for him. That was until last weekend when he saw me at the beachfront."
"You don't think that was a coincidence," Sam deduced.
"No, I really don't," she admitted.
"That explains your visit with Hetty Monday morning as well," Callen added cheekily.
"But not the paperwork you were doing," Sam added as a curious afterthought.
"Right," she held back from rolling her eyes, because of course they had remembered that. "Well you both know about me and Marty right?" She waited for them both to nod before continuing, "Well, that paperwork was the documentation for me moving in with him."
"You what?" Callen asked incredulously.
"Kensi, why didn't you tell us?" Sam asked a lot calmer than his partner did. There was no hiding the slight hurt in his voice, which was caused by the belief of her not having felt that they were entitled to the information. Or that she downright did not want them to know.
She shrugged, "I guess it was a combination of the residual anger and annoyance from, when you really hurt Marty at the boatshed and I guess it was nice just having something to myself. Besides, neither you nor Callen ever really talk about your home life."
"That's because Callen doesn't have a home life," Sam commented, causing the female agent to chuckle.
"Hey-" Callen started before being interrupted.
"But you do," she shot back.
The large, retired Navy-SEAL nodded solemnly. Whilst her words had sounded angry, there was the same foundation of hurt that he, himself had used just a minute prior. It made him reflect on how he had treated his colleague-turned-dear-friend, causing him to realize that he never really talked with her about anything of his private life, but had still expected her to keep him 'in the loop' in regards to hers. "I guess I have been keeping you out of that." He finally agreed with her statement.
"You have," she nodded in concurrence.
"I'll try to improve on that," he promised and shot her a genuine smile.
"Thank you," she smiled back. "But back to the matter at hands; Marty and I have talked about Jack's reappearance and both agree that it just seemed a bit 'too convenient' that he suddenly popped up, where he did. I mean, with all the beaches in L.A. and all the different food trucks, he just happened to stumble upon me."
"I don't buy it either," the team leader said after a moment of silence.
The three spent the rest of the day working on possible reasons for the sudden reappearance of the once long-forgotten ex-fiancé. The two senior agents started theorizing possibilities, while Kensi bit the bullet and walked upstairs in order to bring her two other colleagues into the know.
...
"Hey babe," he yelled, when he heard the front door open.
"Hey you," she greeted him with a tender kiss once she had reached the living room.
"How was work today? Any world-saving action going on?"
"No, but I wish there had been," she admitted and plopped unceremoniously down on the couch, causing him to tilt his head questioningly. She sighed in preparation to answer his wordless question, "Sam and Callen had noticed me being…off. And that kind of forced me to tell them about Jack…and about me moving in with you."
He stood in front of her, with an expression painted on his face that she knew well. He was deep in thought. Being in a relationship with the shaggy lawyer, she had quickly realized that, while he may look and act as if he is extremely impulsive, admittedly, he is quite a lot of the time, she thought, but whenever he felt the need to, he would analyze and consider every option and potential problem, be that emotional or logical. It was what made him so good at his job; he was able to notice problematic areas that no one else would have ever even thought of.
"Did you tell the Wonder Twins as well?" He asked after a minute of deep thought.
Kensi looked at him with a lifted eyebrow, whatever she had expected him to ask that certainly was not it. "I did, yeah," she nodded, still not sure where he was going with it.
"And you're okay with all of them knowing?"
"I think so, yeah," she nodded slowly. "Wait, are you talking about knowing about Jack or about us?"
He shrugged, "Either...both?"
"I think so. I mean, Jack was a long time ago and sure it hurt a bit, when he popped back up, but I'm not ashamed of it."
"And what about me?" He asked surprisingly timidly.
"Never," she stood up quickly to embrace him. She reached around him and pulled him close, squeezing tightly as she rested her chin on his chest, so she could still look into his ocean blue eyes. "I love you, Marty Deeks and I will never be ashamed of being with you."
"Good to know," he chuckled nervously, kissing her forehead before resting his chin on top of her head.
Neither had any idea how long they stood embracing one another. Both deep in thought. Marty about what he had done to deserve such an amazing woman in his life, and Kensi silently cursing a certain Gordon Brandel for being the root of most, if not all, of Marty's insecurities, which still crept up on him from time to time.
...
Meanwhile, somewhere in Los Angeles, a tall man with a buzz-cut walked out of a hardware store. It had been the second last shop on his list, and as he opened the trunk of his car, he chuckled disturbingly in mirth at the different tools and accessories lying in front of him.
Slamming the trunk shut, he made his way to the driver's side, got in, and made his way to the last stop of the day. Smiling as he reversed out of his parking spot, he was still surprised by how quickly he was able to get a gun license. He reasoned that being a Marine had a large impact on that.
...
"Are you sure that you're going to be back in time?" He asked for what seemed to be the thousandth time.
"Callen assured me that it's just some security consulting," she smiled at his worry.
"Oh good," he claimed loudly. "But still…being called in for security consulting?" He asked surprised at her task.
She laughed at his confusion of the task, "Well, I think Callen said it was some Admiral, who threw his weight around." She shrugged. "Either that, or Hetty thought it was a good idea of having him owe her another favor."
"Right," he chuckled walking alongside her, as they made their way down the stairs. He had been told quite a lot about Hetty throughout his and Kensi's time together. Although he had rarely been told specific examples of her scheming, he was almost convinced that she was the master of the universe, or at the very least a high-ranking general in the Galactic equivalent of NATO.
"Be safe," he kissed her goodbye at the door.
"Still only a consultation," she reminded him jokingly.
"Be safe nonetheless," he kissed her one last time before releasing her. "See you tonight."
"See you tonight," she called back over her shoulder, as she walked down the driveway and got into her car.
Marty watched from the door until the silver vehicle was out of sight. He closed and locked it, before being surprised by someone behind him.
...
The one surprising him quickly leaped at him, knocking the lawyer down with surprising force.
"I love you too, Monty," he said laughing. The dog was now quite old and because of that, he had made it a point to always encourage any excess of energy it displayed. That was the reason he did not get up from his position, as he was supine in the hall and let himself receive several slobby kisses from the happy mutt, whilst scratching the rescue dog behind its ears.
Once he felt like he did not want to continue being showered in dog saliva, the lawyer sat up, but continued to pet Monty. "I guess since mommy is out, the two of us could take a long walk." He smiled as his companion's ears stiffened at the last word. "Wanna go for a walk, boy?"
His response was immediate, as the clever dog, with impressive speed for his age, immediately darted for his leash with his mouth bringing it over to his owner, who quickly fastened it and unlocked the door before the partners walked out into the Los Angeles late-morning sun.
...
He had pulled up just as the, by now, well-known silver Cadillac left the luxurious estate. He had planned just staking out the house for the day, and having Kensi leave made no difference to his plans, as she was not his intended target anyways.
He had just gotten settled in, with the music playing from his preferred radio station, whilst he watched through the tinted windows of his vehicle, when he saw the front door of the targeted building open. The man, whom he hated with a passion like a thousand burning suns, walked out onto the street, with an ugly pooch walking alongside him.
A sadistic smile formed on his face. He had planned to continue to surveille for the next few weeks, but he did already have all the 'equipment' he wanted, as such, and with the reasoning that he was unsure how often an opening like this would occur, he turned the keys in the ignition again, before pulling out of his spot to follow his target.
Oh no(!) a cliffhanger, sorrynotsorry!