Deeks grabbed coffee and breakfast burritos and started his day at the boatshed. He made himself at home waiting for Kensi to appear on the screen. He told Eric and Nell where to find him in the event that he was needed, but shy of a specific assignment he intended to stay planted in his spot all day. There was no surprise when Sam and Callen showed up as well. He pushed coffee and food their way as they all got comfortable.

Hetty must have expected them to have been there, too, because on the table there were also three copies of an account of the last ten weeks that Kensi must have given the night before. It was a high level first cut at what happened – all in broad strokes – but enough to give context to the discussion that they were going to hear today.

Deeks got a genuine smile on his face when Kensi appeared on the screen. She came into the debriefing room dressed in the outfit he had packed for her. Now he was sure Hetty had delivered the bag and was happy to see he guessed right on what she would want to wear. Or maybe it was the only clothes available to her, but either way he felt like he had at least done something to be there for her – to convey his support. That was all he wanted.

A man and woman entered the room with Kensi and sat on the opposite side of the table. The introduced themselves as CIA, and confirmed that they'd read the statement she'd given. Overall, CIA couldn't have been happier with her. They had a few questions about Alawi that Kensi had little insight into, but were basically thrilled she had brought him in alive. They wanted first interrogation rights to see what they could learn about Hezbollah, but they'd have to negotiate that with FBI since they were making a determination on his prosecution. The first debrief was a cake walk.

The men watching on the screen could feel Kensi relaxing a little as it ended. After a break, the second debrief began. This one was FBI. They seemed pretty pleased as well. A domestic terrorist attack had been averted, someone on the FBI's Most Wanted List had been found, an entire cell had been dismantled, and there was a great chain of evidence to assist if they opted for prosecution. It took a little longer than the CIA discussion but was just as cordial. Kensi joked about getting the bounty, and they said they would talk to Hetty about increasing her Christmas bonus.

A case interrupted the view party and they missed the DHS debrief. There were more questions about the man in Alawi's cell who had already gotten into the country. DHS was also very interested in how the cartel moved that group of people across the border without scrutiny. There inquiries were more pointed, but really interested in finding gaps in their process and intel. That's how Nell and Eric described it as they had watched the debrief from Ops. Granger looked into the camera when DHS was finished with Kensi.

"ATF tomorrow morning and DEA tomorrow after lunch." Granger was actually wearing an earwig, which he almost never did, and Nell confirmed the schedule. All in all it was a successful first day.

Sam, Callen, and Deeks missed the ATF briefing the next morning for case activity as well. It had been a little more contentious. ATF was frustrated that they hadn't been keyed in on The Rising op that kicked this whole thing open. They wanted information about The Rising and The Phoenix and their clients and merchandise. Kensi had some of that to give, and Granger took that debrief with her underscoring the NCIS decisions to keep the arms syndicate in play and keep the op off the radar. With the op over, Granger was in a position to offer ATF all of The Rising documentation and merchandise, and that went a long way to repair any inter-agency tension.

The guys brought their lunch back to the boatshed and settled in for DEA. They half expected to see Jacobs asking Cardenas questions, but DEA sent two agents they didn't know. Granger got called away to for a discussion with the Director, and was handling a situation in another room. He tried to delay the discussion until he could be there, but eventually the DEA agents were tired of waiting and when their agitation at the delay hit the boiling point they decided to just dive in.

"So how did you come to be an honored house guest of Antonio and Elena Cardenas?"

Everything about the tone told Kensi what she needed to know about the conversation she was about to have. She had hoped they would all go as well as the CIA and FBI, but clearly that was not the case. Ten seconds in and it felt more like an interrogation. Hetty had been called back to Ops and Granger wasn't back, so she was on her own. Sure, there were NCIS protective agents in the house, but the room was not on her side.

She didn't look at the camera she knew was broadcasting the debriefing to Ops and the boatshed. She just hoped for good vibes from her NCIS family and told her story. She explained everything in the briefing - all the things that they already should have known. She tried to convey patience with her tone. She tried to be concise in her description.

They suggested that the op took longer than it needed to. She told them she didn't choose the pace of the operation. They intimated that for all the time she spent there she didn't gather very much information about the inner workings of the cartel. She reminded them that Alawi was the target and everything else was a means to that end. They said that staying in the Cardenas family house was unusual and implied that she was a trusted friend. She said that Antonio wanted her off the grid from others.

"Maybe it showed that you were in bed with the Cardenas the whole time."

"What?" Kensi asked indignantly, getting her first look at the warping they were doing to her story.

"We'll come back to that. Let's play show and tell," DEA Agent Miles said with a fair amount of hostility.

He began holding up pictures, one after another, and Kensi would tell them who they were as best as she remembered or knew based on her time there. Cristina. Antonio. Elena. The children. Some of the security personnel. Alejandro.

"He has a nickname, doesn't he?"

"Tejo. The family calls him Tejo."

"And how about you? What did you call him?"

"I don't think I called him anything," Kensi answered non-committedly.

"You know Tejo has a bit of a reputation. Little bit of a ladies man. Liked to whore it up in town. Until right around when you got there. Can't help but wonder if maybe he wasn't getting his whore needs met at home. Maybe you were in bed with the Cardenas in more ways than one."

"Shut your mouth."

"That wasn't a no, Agent Blye." If a stare could actually bore holes in someone both of these men would've been done for. She geared up to let them have it, but they quickly moved on holding up the last picture and it stopped her in her tracks.

Eric deSoto.

"Eric deSoto. That was Cristina's boyfriend. He was the source of the leak that burned Callen. He was the one who shot me." Kensi's expression got distant as she remember the look on his face as he fired his second shot. He'd meant to kill her.

"I doubt that," DEA Agent Contrero answered, returning Kensi's anger to full boil.

"That's absolutely the truth," she countered, grabbing the picture out of his hand and putting in on the table, her finger pointed down on his image. "This is the man who exposed a member of my team and shot me."

The DEA agents thought they had her, and decided to finally share the source of their hostility. The man in the picture was not, as she claimed, a confident of a cartel heiress, but rather a DEA agent named Eric Manuel. "He was undercover in the Cardenas Cartel and we lost contact with him three months ago. He's gone deep cover and you are calling him a traitor."

"I'm telling you he isn't undercover, he's crossed over. He's just plain dirty."

"Or maybe he figured out that you were helping the Cardenas family and you killed him."

"Are you out of your mind?"

The agents took out a tablet and showed a clip of the footage from the Alawi takedown: specifically the short clip where Antonio pulled Kensi aside and took a bullet for her.

"Evidence seems to show that your connection to the Cardenas Cartel ran a lot deeper than an op. Maybe not only were you in bed with them, maybe you were in bed with both of them. You're lucky we haven't asked for you badge yet."

"Hetty has my badge and gun. You want them, ask her. I dare you." And just as Kensi stood up to do something probably career derailing to one or both of the men, the door opened and Granger entered, grabbing the one closest to him.

"You are out of line, off base, and done. Get the hell out."

"We aren't done here…" the other man argued, but Granger corrected him.

"Done. Out."

Kensi grabbed the second agents arm as he was being unceremoniously ushered out the door. Her voice was pointed in anger but clear.

"Do you know what he said, what I heard him say? deSoto or Manual or whoever he was. He bragged to Antonio and Alejandro. He said 'I warned you about Callen from NCIS. I handed you Olivera from DEA, and I got you Nelson from FBI. And then after enough time with Nelson, I gave you his partner, too.' You run that down and then tell me who the dirty agent was. And he's dead, by the way. He helped Tina attack Antonio's home and he died there with her."

When the door closed with the DEA visitors on the other side Granger came face to face with Kensi. Her eyes were fixed at some indeterminable point on the wall, and she refused to make eye contact. Her body was starting to shake and she hated that she was stuck here in this room with no way out and on camera.

Her eyes went sideways to where the camera was, and although she never turned her head, Granger understood her situation. He reached up to his comm and told Nell to kill the feed. When the light on the camera was off he reached and put one hand on her shoulder, offering no words and no embrace – just a hand to steady her. When he thought her breathing was back to normal, he spoke to her, still not making her look him in the eye. "Callen recognized the picture of deSoto when he saw it on the feed. He was Manuel. They worked a Joint Task Force together years ago. He knew Callen and sold him out."

She nodded, glad to have the leak understood and closed.

"You're done here, Blye. Why don't you let me drive you home and you can start to get back to normal." He waited, and there was no response. "Blye, want me to take you back to the mission or to your house?"

She shook her head. "I'm fine."

"You are definitely not fine, Blye, and that's ok. Take a few days and decompress." He produced a card from his pocket and held it out to her. "Protocol says we need to monitor you after returning from an op like that. Call this number by 1600 every day and check in. Take as long as you need."

She nodded her understanding and made her way around him to the door, walking out of the room and out of the house.