"I can't believe we wasted a whole day looking for someone who wasn't even missing," Kensi grumbled, tossing her bag back on her desk as they got back to the mission. After hours of questioning everyone in the gambling world they could find, Petty Officer Combs had shown up to his base as if nothing had happened. Once he saw all the chaos he'd caused, he had to come clean to everyone. He did have a gambling problem and was behind on paying back a bad bet. He'd gotten scared and taken off that morning when he thought he saw someone coming to hurt him, but it had actually been a random person. The real threat had come to his apartment soon after he left, but Combs had no idea about that. It was only luck that he hadn't been there at the time. The team left his command to deal with the rest of it, since it was out of their jurisdiction.

"Did you let Deeks know he didn't have to work his contact anymore?" Callen asked, dropping down into his seat and preparing to start on the paperwork for this case.

"No, I figured he would've beaten us back here," Kensi replied, staring over at her missing partner's desk. It was obvious he hadn't been back yet. Part of her didn't want to text Deeks, after everything that had happened earlier that day. She'd tried to talk to him and figure out what was bothering him, but he'd shot down every attempt she'd made. Kensi could admit that she wasn't the most open person either, but that was her trying and he'd just brushed her off.

Things had been weird with them since pretty much the beginning. They hadn't worked that closely together at first, and then he went away for months. After he came back, they'd had their ups and downs like any new partnership would. There was some teasing, but they mostly worked well together when it was time to get serious. It had been going well, or so she thought.

Deeks had been slowly becoming more withdrawn as the days went on, but she wasn't sure why. All of their cases had been solved without much trouble, unless you counted the almost weekly shootouts. But that was part of the job and Kensi didn't think it would bother him too much.

"He's probably out there taking his sweet time," Sam chuckled, leaning back in his seat.

"Actually, he texted not too long ago saying he had to go on an emergency LAPD case," Nell said, walking over to lean against Kensi's desk.

"He texted that? He didn't even call?" Sam asked, shaking his head in annoyance. Kensi pulled out her phone to check and see if she'd missed anything, but of course she hadn't. Even after making it clear this morning that she'd appreciate a heads up when he went out on ops for LAPD, he still just sent a text to Nell? Not even a call to Hetty?

"Why would he text you?" Kensi grumbled, trying not to sound too offended. It wasn't Nell's fault.

"Well, he texted earlier when he knew he was going to be longer than he thought. Maybe he thought it was the most efficient way to get the information to everyone?" Nell proposed.

"Or he just wanted to avoid having a conversation with me again," Kensi muttered, crossing her arms over her chest.

"What did you do?" Callen asked, raising a curious eyebrow in her direction.

"What makes you think I did anything?" Kensi shot back.

"Well, it's obvious now, with how defensive you're getting," Sam snickered.

"Nothing happened, but even if it did, I wouldn't tell you guys about it," Kensi said, jerking her chair back and sitting down in it. They weren't getting anything out of her, that was for sure.

"I'll have to have another little talk with Mr. Deeks and perhaps his LAPD superiors about this. I don't appreciate having one of my people snatched out from under me in the middle of a case, no matter how illegitimate it turns out to be," Hetty said, walking up from behind her with pursed lips.

"I'd hate to be the person in LAPD who has to have that conversation," Callen smirked, turning his full attention to working on his paperwork.

"Indeed, Mr. Callen," Hetty agreed, going back to her desk. Kensi got started on her own paperwork, glad that Hetty's appearance had distracted the rest of the team from questioning her further. She didn't want to admit that she was a little worried after the conversation she'd had with Deeks earlier that day. He'd seemed downtrodden in a way that she didn't recognize and the investigator in her couldn't rest without getting to the bottom of the cause. Kensi promised herself that she would sit Deeks down and make him open up to her, no matter what it took. Just as soon as he got back from this hopefully short op.


Deeks' head was aching and his whole body was uncomfortable. He could tell he was laying on something soft, but he had no idea where he was. Waking up this way felt oddly familiar, but his addled mind couldn't put the pieces together at the moment. What he did know was that this wasn't a good situation and he needed to find a way out of it.

"He's waking up," a woman's voice whispered, and everything fell into place again. Carly. Getting drugged. Russ. Deeks' eyes shot open and he looked around in confusion. He'd been sure in those last few seconds that he was going to die. Russ wanted to kill him and he'd been completely incapacitated, so how was he still alive?

Deeks tried moving, but he ran into resistance immediately. He looked up and saw his wrists handcuffed to the frame of a bed and moved his legs enough to know his ankles had the same accessories. He tried opening his mouth to call for help, but his mouth was sealed shut with something. Now was the time for panic.

"Mmmm!" Deeks grunted from behind what he assumed was tape. He pulled and twisted as much as he could, but he wasn't making any difference, besides tiring himself out. There was no way he was going to break himself free. There had to be another way.

"Don't hurt yourself!" Carly warned, walking into the room carrying a tray. She set it down on a table next to the bed and sat down by his side. She ran her fingers through his hair but he jerked away as best he could, not wanting to be touched while he was so vulnerable. "Oh, don't be like that. I saved your life, you know. You should thank me." Deeks wasn't the type of person to hit a woman, especially after witnessing the years of his dad abusing his mom, but in this instance he would have no qualms.

"I didn't want to hit you so hard, but I couldn't let you leave the house. I know once we get a chance to talk you'll understand. I could tell from the first time we met that we had a connection and I know you'll see it too."

"You are so delusional, Car," Russ snorted, stomping into the room. He stopped next to the bed and hovered menacingly over Deeks' defenseless body, but Deeks didn't react. He wouldn't give the other man the satisfaction. "I owe you for that cheap shot you threw at me earlier."

"Shut up, Russ! We made a deal, remember? If you want to keep using my house whenever you need to, you leave Martin alone," Carly snapped, reaching over to shove her brother. "Now, leave us alone."

"And remember what I said. This isn't going to end the way you want it to," Russ spat before spinning and walking away.

"He's always been such a spoil sport," Carly scoffed, picking up a towel from the tray she brought in. She carefully tipped his head to the side and dabbed the towel along his scalp. Deeks couldn't stifle his sharp inhale when she hit a tender spot and Carly winced in sympathy. "Got a bit of an owie. I don't think it'll need stitches, but don't worry if you do. I've been mending my own clothes since I was a girl and I'll be able to fix you right up." Deeks flicked his eyes toward his mouth, trying to signal for Carly to take the tape off. If he wasn't able to use his body, he needed to be able to use the last weapon he had left: his words.

"Do you want me to take the tape off?" Carly asked. Deeks nodded and Carly's grin grew even wider. "You see that? We're already so in sync that we don't even need to speak." Deeks held back his urge to roll his eyes. Upsetting her would just make things worse for him. He settled for softening his eyes, giving her a look he used when he wanted a favor.

"You have to promise not to yell, okay? Russ will get mad and I really want you guys to be able to get along again," Carly murmured, biting her lip in contemplation. Deeks nodded more vigorously, willing to agree to anything as long as progress toward freedom was made. Carly reached over and slowly peeled off the tape, running her fingers across his lips as she went along. Deeks had to stop himself from cringing from her touch.

"Thank you," Deeks whispered as soon as his mouth was free.

"I have to admit, that wasn't just for you. I've always loved your lips," Carly giggled, batting her eyes a little. Deeks wanted to scream, but forced his lips into the barest of smiles.

"Carly, what's going on here? What are we doing?" Deeks asked. He hoped that getting her to say what she was doing out loud would help her realize how wrong this all was.

"We're just getting to know each other," Carly replied, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "You never gave me a chance before, so when you came over to my house today, it felt like fate. I couldn't pass up this opportunity."

"But this isn't right Carly," Deeks said carefully, trying to make the woman see reason without being too aggressive.

"I can admit that not everything went the way I wanted it to, but we can get past it. I'm sure this will end up being a funny story we tell our kids one day," Carly murmured, setting her hand on his knee. Deeks felt a chill run up his spine at the mention of children. This was a lot more serious than a misguided crush and he needed to get out of this situation before it went further than he could handle.

"Hey Carly, could you bring me my phone please?" Deeks requested, knowing it was a long shot, but needing to try nonetheless.

"Why do you always want your phone? Is there some other girl you want to call?" Carly hissed, squeezing her hand where it still sat on his knee. He could feel her fingers digging into his skin and he was a little surprised by the strength behind her grip.

"No, it's nothing like that," Deeks assured her, trying not to let the little bit of pain show on his face. "It's just, my coworkers will wonder where I am when I don't go back to work. They worry and they might show up here and get the wrong idea. I don't want that to happen."

"Oh!" Carly giggled, releasing her hold and rubbing along his leg. He preferred the pain. "Don't worry about that. Russ already took care of that problem."

"What do you mean?"

"Russ overheard you talking at the station last night to one of your bosses. Something about having to finish up the paperwork so you could go back to your other job. You really do work too hard," Carly cooed, shaking her head a little. "He opened up your phone and saw a text you sent about being later than you thought. So he just texted them that you were going to be busy with your other job for a while."

"What?" Deeks whispered, feeling his chances slowly dwindling closer to zero.

"Don't worry, Russ wasn't rude about it," Carly laughed. "But now you don't need to think about work. You're officially on vacation."

Thoughts started swirling through Deeks' head. His best chance of getting out of this unscathed had just been ripped away from him. Would they know that it wasn't him texting? He'd always called Hetty when those sorts of things popped up, but would they assume that he went with this route due to his mood that morning? Did they even know him well enough to notice something was off? Would they care?

Deeks felt an overwhelming sense of loneliness crash down on top of him. The rest of the team would be going on as usual as he was fighting for his freedom, and they'd be none the wiser. How long would it take before they realized something was wrong? He had to assume now that no one would be coming for him. It was going to be up to him to find a way out of this situation.


Author's Note: This chapter was pretty tame, but let this be a warning of what's possibly to come with Carly and Deeks.