Kensi walked a path around the estate. They asked her to stick to the landscaped areas of the grounds, and she did. At least it gave her some fresh air. She came up on the east side of the house to two large planters that had Bear's Breeches, Kangaroo Paw and California Fuchsia. This had become her favorite spot. Five weeks from home, and standing right there as the sunset was when she was the calmest. Eventually her brain figured out the appeal of this corner of the house – the Bear's Breeches were fragrant in the evenings at the end of the season, and they were the same flowers planted in Deeks' front yard.
Her mind drifted to her partner. She thought of funny things he did and encouraging things he said and how much she missed him. It would've been easy to blame it on the intensity of her situation, but her missing him was less about the danger and more about the way she felt when she was with him – confident and brave with butterflies in her stomach and longing everywhere. Just imagining being with him brought the slightest flush to her skin and a smile to her face.
"Does he know you smile like that when you think of him?" she heard as Alejandro approached. It wasn't startling, but was thought inducing, and after a pause she looked at him. The two weeks at the estate had been comfortable and maybe even relaxed. Tejo had often checked on her to make sure she was handling her stay well. He engaged her with the family hoping it would make her visit more comfortable. In reality, it was blurring the lines between Ally and Kensi and making it all much harder.
At that moment, with that question, under those starts, she lacked the discipline to stay mysterious or silent.
"No, I don't think he does." A slight sadness filled her eyes.
"Have you not told him, which would be an affront to love, or has he not reciprocated the feeling, in which case he is an idiot?"
That made her laugh. "The first one."
"Well then tell him," Tejo encouraged. "To not tell him is a crime."
"I have a bad track record." She instantly regretted it. There was too much Kensi and not enough Ally in this interaction.
Tejo stopped for a moment almost in her personal space. He told her that he understood as love had been fleeting and untrue in his past, mostly on account of him. But his heart had recently been lost to a woman named Sofia. She was caring and bold and he was drowning in her, and no one in their right minds would have seen it coming.
"If you never take the chance you'll never know," Tejo told her. "Past failure does not mean you won't have future success."
Kensi regarded him with surprise. "I didn't peg you for a romantic."
"The right person changes your soul." He let his words hang in the air for a moment, but then he was compelled by time to get to his original reason for seeking her out. "I don't mean to offend, Ally, but I need to make a request of you."
"What is it?"
"Our business meeting is about to finish, and the men will be coming out here to the patio to relax. There will be single malt and cigars and perhaps, … companionship. In the hope of avoiding any misunderstanding and to protect your privacy, as well as your virtue, Tony and I were hoping we could ask you to move inside for the evening." He called to one of the house maids. "Anna, can you please take Ally to the bar inside and make her a drink." Then with a deferential look he looked back to Kensi. "I hope you understand."
Kensi smiled. "It's flattering that you think I still have virtue to defend." It probably served her as much as them to keep a low profile. She still didn't know how deSoto made Callen and she didn't want to suffer a similar fate with absolutely no exit strategy. Tejo gallantly gestured to the door to the house and following Anna, Kensi made her way inside. She took the drink Anna offered and retired to her room. She opened the windows and heard the sounds of laughter and conversation outside while the cooler air and the scent of Bear's Breeches filled her temporary home.
She relaxed, drank her drink and thought about the unexpected wisdom Tejo shared.
It was about an hour later when Kensi heard the sounds of car engines from her room, and paid it no mind. Then there was shouting in the front and back of the house. In the area between the main house and the gathering the yelling got louder. The first sounds of gunfire got her mind racing, missing her partner and her Sig more than she could take time to dwell on. There was a large shoot out beginning, and the gunfire was getting closer.
She ducked behind a chest in her room deciding to hide rather than run. The dispute seemed to be focused on the business meeting. If it wasn't about her, better to stay hidden, but as she heard doors getting busted in and the movement of large men around the house she second guessed herself. Moments later she heard a scream, a woman's voice filled with fear, and then echoes of children's cries.
Hiding was no longer an option.
She checked the hallway and finding it clear she bolted for the second floor. There was a man she approached from behind, and catching him completely off guard she was able to slam him into the wall and kick him down the stairs she'd just come up. His knife dropped to the ground at the top. If he had a gun it fell with him and she didn't have time. She grabbed the knife and stepped into the nearest bedroom.
Elena was there shielding her children while a man grabbed her and pulled her away. He threw her down on the bed and took a moment to laugh at her, which proved to be his undoing. Kensi launched herself, knocking him down onto the bed as Elena scrambled away. She fought him using the handle of the knife to increase the force of her punch and using the blade to do the real damage.
When he was bleeding out on the floor she grabbed his gun and turned to check on the family. She heard a gunshot and felt a fire suddenly ignite on her left side. The momentum from her movement and the reaction from the impact of the bullet staggered and twisted her, making the second bullet from the hallway miss its mark. She got one shot off at the smug face of deSoto before her balance was gone and she fell. Her head hit the nightstand as she landed.
She heard one last shot in the hallway on her way down. Between the head contact, the pain from the bullet and the blood loss her vision was strained and her field of vision got smaller and smaller. She heard the children call out for Ally, and was grateful that at that moment there was someone close by hoping she would make it. She panicked that she would be defenseless and so far away from her team. She thought about Deeks never knowing what happened to her, and how angry he'd be that she didn't make it back to him.
Then she lost her battle with the darkness.
