"Please, please, please?" Kensi begs with her bottom lip in a pout and her hands together in front of her in supplication.
"He's your boyfriend. You take him out," is Sam's response, but the half smile he wears gives Kensi hope.
"I would. I was. But then I got this super cryptic text from Kat, and she's only in town tonight and wants to meet up, and Deeks and I already had plans."
"So bring him with you," Callen offers, Sam's smile mirrored on his face. Messing with Kensi about silly stuff is a pastime he never gets tired of. What they do for a living is full of enough stress that when an opportunity for ribbing in non-life threatening situations appears, Callen is happy to dive in.
"No, but I can't," she explains excitedly. "Kat said she needs to talk, and it sounds like girl time, but if I tell him I'm breaking our plans he'll be disappointed, but you guys could give him an alternate plan and then everyone would have a fun night, and I wouldn't be in the doghouse."
"So you have this all figured out?" Sam asks. Kensi quickly nods her head up and down, her pout turned to a smile and her eyes wide with expectation. "And what, pray tell, are you suggesting we do with your boyfriend tonight if we, you know, say yes."
"And that's still a big if," Callen points out.
"Well," Kensi thinks for a second. She hasn't gotten that far into the plan. "Well, there's that whisky cigar bar downtown that sounds good. Or the one with all the TV's on the south side where you can watch the Clippers game – they have great nachos. Or…"
"Stop," Sam says, putting his hand up in fake surrender. "We'll do it."
"Who's this we you're speaking of," Callen joked.
"You tell him about Kat and we'll swoop in with alternate plans. But this isn't going to become a habit."
"Got it. Thank you."
"And you buy lunch tomorrow," Sam continues.
"Yes. Absolutely. Whatever you want."
She probably would have continued to agree to whatever conditions got heaped on her at that point if not for winning a reprieve from the sound of Eric calling them to Ops. They make their way up the stairs and hear the briefing on a case, or maybe not case. Deeks joins them after only a few minutes, his workout taking the same amount of time as Kensi's, but his shower routine apparently taking longer.
A Navy Petty Officer with ties to intelligence analysis for a SEAL team was injured in a home invasion last night. The description was an organized crew larger than would usually hit a residential location, and every piece of technology was stripped from the scene. The Petty Officer was squared away and swore that she had absolutely no classified information at the house to take and that she hadn't been asked any questions, just roughed up a little when she resisted.
NCIS was asked to take a look at it and rule out any work related connection to the break in. Deeks and Kensi get assigned the crime scene while Sam and Callen are going to talk to the Petty Officer's supervisor.
On the way back down the stairs, Kensi breaks her plans with Deeks. She explains how strange it is that Kat is in town unannounced, and how it sounds like she needs to talk, and how she's only there for the one night, and Kensi really wants to be there for her friend. And she plays it cool waiting for Sam to come to her rescue.
"You getting ditched for the evening there, Shaggy."
"It looks like I am," Deeks replies.
"Well Callen and I are going to grab some beer and watch the Clipper's game at that Top of the Key place on Allante."
"That rooftop spot with the firepits and the ridiculous nachos?"
"That very one, although that description fits many, many places in LA," Callen offers.
"Well," Deeks eyes the two men suspiciously as that is not usually their scene or cuisine, and the invitation for guy time was not a common one. "Since my ladybird seems to be ditching me for the evening," he threw over his shoulder grandiosely at Kensi, "that sounds like a plan."
It turned out the break in was just a random home invasion. The Petty Officer had been away for a mission and someone thought the house might be empty. Her return had been a surprise to the crew, and they panicked and knocked her around a little trying to intimidate her. By the end of the day her things had been recovered, the crew was in custody, and everyone was happy for a day with no gunfire and no dead bodies.
Kensi approaches Deeks sweetly, running her hand along his side. She gives him a gentle kiss by the lockers in the bullpen when no one is looking. She apologizes for bailing on their plans and he smiles, telling her she can make it up to him when she gets home.
"I did like that ocean blue lacy set you put on this morning," he all but growled as his eyes become dark and stormy.
"Well then maybe tonight you can help me take it off," she purred. She takes his hand and wraps it around her as she turns to put her back to his chest. His other arm snakes across her body, and he is all around her. It's her favorite feeling. He leans down to kiss her exposed neck and she angles her head to the side to give him better access. Another kiss, and then she needs to go. "We good?"
"We're good," he tells her. He's a sucker for her smile and she knows it – lost completely in the way it lifts his mood and his outlook. He's never told her, but he's sure that her love makes him a better man. He watches her grab her bag and go, turning the corner to head to the Audi, her attention already on Kat and the mysterious meet up.
The men make their way to the bar. They are out on a roof patio with TV's and fire pits and plenty of basketball fans. Both LA teams play tonight, and there's no shortage of patrons. They order drinks and food and mostly pay attention to the game. Sam can't help but notice Deeks peek at his phone every once in a while.
"You are so whipped," he tells Deeks.
"Oh and like you aren't," Callen throws back, uncharacteristically defending the Detective.
"I'm just saying – his girl is out having a night with a girlfriend. Kensi is capable, well, make that deadly, and they saw each other an hour ago. Deeks needs to be present here and enjoy himself."
"Oh – no – I'm enjoying this for sure. Men time. Drinking with men. A drink among men," Deeks rambles. "Also, sitting right here so no need to talk about my in the third person."
"So what's the problem?" Sam asks.
Deeks hasn't really put his finger on it yet, but there's absolutely a feeling of something out of place. Not just Sam and Callen inviting him out, which he is guessing Kensi had something to do with, but the whole night. The girl tornedo that is Kensi, Kat, Mindy, Mandy, Tiffani and Tiffany isn't really a one on one, no-notice thing. They hunt in packs and text endlessly before a visit to plan every aspect of it. This is off in a way his brain can't make peace with.
But then he looks at his friends and follows Sam's advice: be present. He pushes unease to the back of his mind, grabs a nacho and takes in the sunset.
"No problem. This is great."
In an hour they are on their third drink. They are laughing. The Clippers are winning. And then they start to notice a buzz on the rooftop. People hear a rumble that sounds like thunder, but it's a clear night and they can see as far as the smog allows. Then they start to hear a sound in the distance. It never gets close, but it gets louder. Sirens. What they lack in proximity they make up for in numbers. There are a lot of sirens.
Their brows furrow involuntarily – a hazard of the job. Their minds are triangulating the sounds. Then the smoke tells them they are right. They exchange glances, and Deeks reaches for his phone, but before his hand touches it, it emits a tone the agents have never heard before.
"What is that?" Callen questions him.
"Mass casualty alert from LAPD. Something happened."
Then they get the alert on all three phones from Eric. They drop cash on the table and head to the Ops Center. Deeks looks around the room, seeing that Kensi isn't yet back to the mission. He knows how annoyed she'll be to have to cut sort her evening, but he's happy that he'll get to poke at her for being the last one back. He's actually thinking of obnoxious but endearing things to say when Eric starts speaking.
"We don't know very much." City camera footage begins to fill the screen. "At 8:10 this evening a bomb exploded at a bar on the south side of town, on Lornita."
"We weren't that far from there when it happened," Sam tells the room.
But Deeks freezes in place.
"What bar?" He asks curtly, but also not completely clearly.
"What?" Eric asks, not having heard him.
"I said what bar. What bar was the bombing at?" He doesn't really ask this time. He demands.
Eric looks at his tablet. "Razzle."
Deeks head snaps to Eric as if looking at him will change the answer. A beat passes and Deeks grabs his phone, hitting speed dial one and putting the phone to his ear.
"Pick up pick up pick up pick up," he repeats to the universe. It's obvious to the room that the call goes unanswered. He redials, now shifting his weight and looking up at the ceiling.
"Deeks?" Callen asks without actually asking a question. The anxiety now pouring off the detective is enough make it clear to everyone what's wrong.
"Did Kensi answer the alert?" Sam asks Eric.
"No. She hasn't responded."
Deeks thinks about chucking his phone across the room, but right now it's also his lifeline to her and he can't bring himself to do it. "Razzle," he tells the room. "Kat asked Kensi to meet her at Razzle."