We were down on the street when Eric called Kensi to update us on the current situation.

"We've got two L.A.P.D. detectives stations at the warehouse entrance. They're keeping it sealed off for us." Eric said.

"Do we have any news on Sam?" Kensi asked.

"They're still operating on him." Eric said.

"Thanks." Kensi said, and then hung up.

"How did the shooter know exactly the place and time you were going to show up with Ella?" I asked. This was a question had been bugging me for a while now.

"It was a designated extraction point. My orders were to bring her there and rendezvous with an asset who would help us cross the border." Thapa said.

"Does this asset have a name?" Kensi asked.

"No name. Just an encrypted number. I called it the moment I had Ella, but it had been disconnect. You were right, sahib. Maybe I'd been giving my handlers far too much credit." Thapa said.

"So why would they set you up?" I asked.

"I told them I would not kill Ella. There was no plan B. Maybe the found a Gurkha more agreeable than me." Thapa admitted, slowing down and then stopping.

"And he's still out there." Kensi said.

"We must find him. I can to talk him, make sure Ella doesn't get hurt. He'll listen to me." Thapa said.

"As much as I like to wrap up this day with two Gurkhas singing "Give Peace A Chance" over a pitcher of beer, brother, I don't think that's gonna happen." I said.

Thapa's going to die Kensi. My words echo in Kensi's head. "Let's check out the warehouse." Kensi said, and then the three of us continue walking.

As we were approaching the warehouse, Kensi asked. "Can I ask for your opinion, Thapa?"

"Of course, Kay-Kay." Thapa said.

"No, no. He's on my side. Go find your own Gurkha." I said.

"Okay, so you're dating someone. You take them to meet your best friends and they freak out." Kensi said.

"Kat, Mindy, Mandy, Tiffany and Tiffany did not freak me out." I countered.

"Which leaves you wondering whether they accept all of you or just a part of you." Kensi continues.

"I don't even know what you're talking about." I said.

"Maybe it's insecurity." Kensi says.

"Insecure because of Love Actually, and my affinity for cupcakes?" I asked.

"Obviously defensive." Kensi said.

"Of course I'm defensive. You only see things from you're point of view Kensi, and not wanting to see things from the opposite side. That is unfair, and crazy." I said.

"Which explains why he just called me the one thing no woman wants to be called." Kensi said, gritting her teeth.

"Crazy." Thapa said, shaking his hands.

"Exactly." Kensi said.

"I did not call you crazy. I said that our current fight we are having is unfair, and crazy." I said.

"So, what is your opinion?" Kensi asked, ignoring my last statement.

"Cortana was never this insufferable." I said.

"What? Who's Cortana?" Thapa asked.

Kensi glared at me, but I just shook it off and said. "You know what? Go ahead. Drop a knowledge bomb on us. We can handle it. Tell us the truth. He's s guru. Watch and learn. Go for it." I said, but I knew this isn't going to end well for me.

"Gurkhas are like monks. We don't know much about relationships." Thapa said.

"I'm sorry, what." I said, pretending to be shocked.

"My strength lies in listening." Thapa said.

"And there it is." Kensi said.

"No." I said.

"That knowledge." Kensi said.

"No." I said.

"If more men listened like you, less women would be labeled crazy." Kensi said.

"Oh, man." I said.

"Indeed." Thapa said.

"Thank you." Kensi said, and then walked away.

"Listening is only part of the equation." I shouted after Kensi. To Thapa I said. "To be continued, Your Holiness," and then Thapa and I walked to catch up to Kensi.

As we rounded the warehouse to the front, I saw the unmarked car that the detectives were in, and I saw blood on the passenger door.

"Kens." I said, and then pulled my gun. "Kensi, we got blood on the door."

We approached the car, to see the two detectives were dead. Their throats slit. Kensi watched for any interlopers.

"Oh, this just happened. Those cuts are really deep." I said, looking at Kensi.

"The work of a kukri." Thapa said.

Kensi, pulled out her phone, and dialed Ops. "Hey, Kens. What's up?" Eric answered.

"Eric, both detectives are down. I repeat, both detectives are down. Send back up immediately." Kensi said.

"Roger that, I'm on it." Eric said.

Kensi ended the call, and then we entered the warehouse.

N.C.I.S. L.A.

After a shootout that claimed the lives of three rogue Gurkhas, the cavalry arrived. After giving our statements to the police, did we finally hear back from Eric.

"We cross-referenced the pics of the dead Gurkhas against military databases in India, England, and Nepal." Eric said.

"These Gurkhas were dishonorably discharged with in the last five years. Various charges include assault, theft and narcotics." Nell said.

"In many ways, Gurkhas are special. In others, we are as human as anyone one else." Thapa said.

"So what did these Gurkha's do after they're discharged?" I asked.

"Private military contracting work." Eric said.

"Hunting high-value targets, interrogations, counter-surveillance for VIP clients." Nell said.

"So essential the same thing they-re doing in the military, but with more money and less oversight." I said.

"And now there's a team of them running loose in L.A. Great. Thanks." Kensi said.

"Not a problem." Eric said, and then Kensi disconnected the call.

"So, I get why the players in India want Ella dead. They got the intel to find her, the resources to hire ex-Gurkhas. What I don't understand is why they would they target you instead." I lied. Kensi looked up at me, but I didn't acknowledge her look.

"I've been asking myself that same question, sahib. My handlers believed that this mission would be suicide for anyone else." Thapa said.

"Well, they're right. I mean, you're loyal and lethal. That's a rare combo." I said, agreeing.

"Which is all the more reason why they should help you get back safely." Kensi said.

"I have many questions. I would like to see how Ella answers them." Thapa said.

"I'll call Callen." Kensi said, as she pulled out her phone to call Callen.

"I can tell you right now, she's not going to give you anything." I said, but nodded for Kensi to make the call.

N.C.I.S. L.A.

OPS: Bullpen-

"You lied to Thapa earlier about not knowing why his handlers betrayed him." Kensi said.

"It's not my place to tell him how this mission is going to end." I said, and then walked.

"Deeks." she said.

"What?" I asked, turning back to face Kensi.

"Cortana was a low blow." Kensi said.

"What can I say? You pushed me to a breaking point because you wouldn't listen." I said, and then walked away.

I don't see it, but Kensi got mad at my parting comment. But then she took a moment and thought on my accusation and the possibility that she might have been in the wrong, to a certain extent.

I find Thapa in the shooting range, just…staring down range. I know how he feels, but it's not my job to reminisce or to help him feel better. My job is to get things moving along. I enter the shooting range and it was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop.

"Never heard this place so quiet." I said, upon entering.

"I think we've all had enough guns for one day, sahib." Thapa said, turning to look at me.

Fair enough. I thought, and was the expression that was on my face. "How are you holding up?" I asked.

"Thinking of my wife and children. My home. The uncertainty that waits from me back in India." he said.

I know the feeling. Was the thought that went through my mind, but I said. "Well, you know you always got a home here, right?"

"I've been walking the warrior's path for so long that home isn't a place anymore. It is a feeling." he said.

"What do you mean? What do you mean a feeling?" I asked.

"It is my wife's smile. My children's laughter. The friendship I never expected. I built my homes on these feelings so I would never have to leave." he said.

When Thapa admitted that we were friends, my mouth on the left side made a micro smile.

"So home is not in the heart. Home is the heart." I said.

"One day, I won't be a Gurkha anymore. I will be a feeling. Now you'll know where to find me." he said.

There's a moments pause before I said. "We gotta talk about your handlers. They hung you out to dry."

"There is something else a warrior carries in their heart, sahib." he said. Thapa paused a moment, I'm guessing for effect. Which worked because it got my attention. "An expiration date."

"Yeah, well. There's nothing we can do about that, right?" I asked.

"And yet we spend our lives trying to do so many things about it, when all we really need to be is ready." Thapa said.

I turned and looked down range and said. "Yeah."

"Two questions. Who is Cortana? And earlier you ready admitted that you were crazy. Why?" he asked.

"Before we answer those questions I want you to take a look at a piece of hardware for me." I said, as I pulled out one of my kukris.

"Oh, this is a fine blade. I'm guessing eighteen-forties." he said.

"Thirties, actually." I said.

"How can you be so certain?" he asked.

"Because I personally picked it before I went to London, England." I said.

"That's a bit much to swallow, but given the design of the blade and then hilt, I can believe that it's from that era." he said.

I rattled off a few things from that only Thapa would know. To which he said. "You win. You older than you appear."

"I said that I was crazy because when I was alive, I was married to a woman to, for all intent and purposes, Kensi is a doppelganger of." I said.

"You were admitting to being crazy because you were moving too fast, and with a woman you have an affinity with." Thapa said after a moments pause.

"Yeah. Come on, let's see if they have an update for us." I said, and then the two of us left.

N.C.I.S. L.A.

OPS: Bullpen-

It's been two hours since we left the hospital, and as I predicted, Thapa died. I'm going to call the morgue later. Kensi and I are in the bullpen packing up for the day, and I don't want to talk. But I have to talk, if not to give Kensi some peace of mind after our fight this morning.

"How are you holding up?" Kensi asked.

"Yeah, I've been, uh…I've been better." I said.

I could hear Kensi take a breath before she asks. "Your place or mine?"

I took a breath before saying. "Um…I was thinking about that, and I was thinking maybe we should, uh…I don't know maybe we should take a night off every now and then."

I saw Kensi let the breath she was holding, and then said. "I'm so glad you said that."

I was taken back by Kensi admission. "Really?" I asked. Kensi nodded her head. "Then why didn't you say it first?"

"Because we had that stupid first official fight this morning." she said.

"It can't be our first official fight because I don't remember what it was about." I said, joking.

"I remember exactly what it was about." she said, in matter of fact tone and a small smile.

"Well, I've completely forgotten it, Kay-Kay." I said, teasing my partner. Kensi's pearly whites were showing, and then playfully glared at me when I called her the nickname given to her by her friends.

And with that the levity of the moment is gone, and I'm staring off into the distance. I'm hoping that just this once. Just this once, that Thapa doesn't wake up. There were other times when I wanted people to come back after being killed. But for this one instance, I hope it doesn't happen. I was in my own world when Kensi asked. "Are you okay?" genuinely concerned for my well-being.

"Yeah, I was remembering about what Thapa told me about smiles. He said that smiles are…" I trailed off, but I remembered Thapa's last words. "Look for me in the smiles, sahib. You'll see me waving back at you." After the words finished, I changed the subject. Those words were meant for me, and me alone. "Never mind. I will, uh…I'll tell you later." I said.

Kensi gave me a funny look, and then said. "All right."

"So, um, getting through our first fight's a pretty big deal, right?" I said.

"I'd say it's pretty huge." she said.

"I mean, some would argue that this would be a call for celebration." I said, as I slung my bag over my shoulder and then walked over to Kensi's desk.

"Ha. But not—Not tonight." she said.

"Well, no, not to quote the Fairy Godmother, but technically, tonight ends when the clock strikes midnight, so…" I said, trailing off.

Kensi gave me her famous half smile, and I sobered up pretty quickly. I almost didn't hear her next sentence. "Heh. Just—Just call me if you wanna talk."

There was a moment of silence, and all I could do was stare at Kensi. "What?" she asked.

"Your smile is so perfect." I said, barely above a whisper.

Kensi didn't know if I was being serious or not, but she couldn't stop herself even if she wanted to. Kensi silently chuckled as she gave me another one of her half smiles.

"And there it is." I said. Kensi looking down at her desk, but the smile was still on her face. "Good night." I said.

"You should go home." Kensi said, and then left.

Kensi was out of ear shot when I said. "I'm already there."

N.C.I.S. L.A.

My apartment-

I got a call at six o'clock in the morning. I looked at the id and saw that it was from the coroner's office.

"Hello." I said, still waking up.

"Agent Deeks." the woman said.

"This is him." I said.

"Nothing strange happened over night." she said.

"Thanks. Have a nice day." I said.

"You too." she said, and then hung up the phone.

As I place my phone on the desk, and drift off to sleep, the last thought to cross my brain is that I got my wish. Thapa stayed dead. I know I probably should have had her call me later in the day, but I'm certain that Thapa isn't coming back. Then again, Thapa has been dead for about twelve hours.