AN: Wow! I was floored by the response to the last chapter. Thanks for the feedback and the faith you've all put in me. I didn't want to make you wait any longer than absolutely necessary for this chapter, so at least there will be the beginnings of some answers here. That being said, chapter 4 won't be up quite as quickly (2-3 days?). Entire story is looking to be 6-7 chapters total.

"You weren't part of the plan," He finally breaks.

Kensi's eyes close and her body shudders. The textbook example of a woman broken and betrayed by her partner. She practically slumps back in her seat, and inhales sharply several times. Then she opens her eyes.

They stare at each other for a long moment afterwards. She has long streams of tears down both cheeks. His eyes are welling with their own tears. Finally he looks away. He glances at the camera and then shakes his head in defeat. He shifts in his chair, but the movement reminds him of his handcuffs and his inability to physically reach out to her.

"You weren't part of the plan," he repeats, his voice is dull and quiet. Defeated. "You were just supposed to be my partner. I needed to get close to you to earn your trust, use you to earn the trust of the team."

Kensi swipes at her face, wiping away the tears, but says nothing.

Deeks takes a long breath. "But I fell in love with you."

Kensi shakes her head and moves to stand up.

"No, please," he begs. "You need to understand. I was alone. For so long, I was alone." He hesitates for a moment and then sighs and continues. "I was approached by a man, years ago, and asked for information. It was low level. Insignificant... I knew it was wrong, but he paid well." Deeks pauses and swallows hard. "And I had nothing. My whole life I had fought for everything I had. And I was stuck in the LAPD, where everything was so fucking grey and cops around me were getting away with so much crap. So, I took his money." He licks his lips. "But then I was in too deep before I understood what was going on."

Kensi sits back in her chair and closes her eyes.

"He asked me to try to catch the attention of a federal agency. I volunteered for every undercover op I could that I thought would cross paths with one. Finally you guys took notice. Being offered the liaison position was a blessing and a curse. I expected you guys to treat me like the LAPD. But I...I found a home. For the first time in my life, I found a home."

"And you sold us out," she says coldly, the hurt in her heart burning in her tone.

"I tried to say no. But he threatened me."

"You could have come to us."

"I didn't want to admit what I'd done." He sniffs. "I was ashamed."

She stares at him for a long moment and then gives a stiff nod. "You should be."

"Kensi, please."

This time she does stand. She drags her chair back to the other side of the table.

"Kensi, please," he says again. "I love you. I know you love me."

"You don't get to use that against me," she tells him. "The man I love doesn't exist."

"You weren't part of the plan," Deeks repeats. "But you made me want to be better."

"You killed a man six weeks ago," she says bluntly.

"I...didn't want to." Deeks stares down at the table. "It wasn't supposed to happen like this."

"It was never supposed to happen at all," she whispers. "Good bye, Deeks," she says, leaving him sitting there as she turns for the door. She pulls the chair out from under the handle and lets herself out of the room.

Callen and Sam are waiting for her on the other side of the door. Sam pulls her into a strong hug without hesitation. Callen's right there with a hand on her shoulder.

"What can we do?" Callen asks. He's confused and angry at Deeks, but right now his focus is on Kensi. He'll deal with the rest once he makes sure she is okay.

"Get me out of here," Kensi pleads.

"Done."

Seeing as her home is closed off, and would also only serve to remind her of Deeks's betrayal, they take her back to OPs. Callen drives her in the SRX with Sam close behind. Kensi is silent for the entire drive. When they arrive, Nell and Hetty meet them at the door. Nell tries to hug Kensi, but Kensi brushes her off.

"I just need some space right now," she whispers, avoiding meeting anyone's gaze.

"It's alright, my dear," Hetty soothes. "Right now, you can have whatever you need."

Kensi nods and shuffles into the lounge area. She curls herself into a chair, facing away from them.

"We watched the..." Nell starts and then quickly trails off. "We saw what happened on the video feed."

Callen nods. "So did we."

"I still can't believe it."

"Mr. Deeks is a damn good operator," Hetty says. "I for one will admit he had me fooled."

"How badly have we been compromised?" Sam asks.

"I have Eric operating in shadow mode upstairs. He's going through all of our secure files to determine what information Mr. Deeks may have accessed. I'm sure it will take several hours or more."

"What do we do for Kensi?" Nell asks.

"Everything we can," Hetty says sadly.

Callen turns to stare at the defeated agent he's worked with for more than eight years. He knows after this she'll never be able to trust another partner or man in her life again. And being the partner of a dirty cop will stick with her for the rest of her career, especially considering she was open about her personal relationship with him. He feels a swell of anger on her behalf.

"Right now, we leave her be to try to begin processing everything that has happened," Hetty continues. "Nell, why don't you work at a station down here while Eric is busy upstairs. See if you can access LAPD records and determine if there is any information Mr. Deeks may have recently obtained that could compromise any of their ongoing cases."

"Okay. Should we be contacting them to...let them know?"

Hetty shakes her head. "Not quite yet. We should have more information first. I'll handle that when it comes time."

Nells nods her agreement and heads over to the computer terminal to work.

"And you two," Hetty addresses Callen and Sam. "I believe you have paperwork from our last case to finish."

Callen actually feels his jaw drop open at her words. "Paperwork? Hetty, are you kidding me?"

"Our lives just got turned upside down in the last six hours and you want us doing paperwork?" Sam adds on.

She nods. "I'm sure in the coming days and weeks there will be inquires as to Mr. Deeks's involvement in our cases and how badly we were compromised. Unfortunately, we cannot do anything about that until Eric is finished his analysis and the taskforce is finished with Mr. Deeks. Right now it's best to finish what we can so later we can focus on what's going on with Mr. Deeks."

Callen wants to argue, but finds he has no argument. Hetty's right; they have nothing better to be doing.

Hetty lowers her voice. "Plus, I'd like for you to stick close to Ms. Blye. Right now she needs space, but soon she will need the support of her team." Hetty gives a sad nod. "The remainder of her team, that is. She will need to know there are still people in this world she can trust."

Callen nods. He and Sam turn for their desks. Sam sits, but Callen hesitates and glances over at Kensi's sullen form, still curled in on herself on the chair. He bypasses the desks for the kitchen and grabs a bottle of water for Kensi. On his way back to her, he makes sure to make noise so she's not startled by his approach.

"Hey, Kens," he says quietly. He holds out the bottle.

She keeps her eyes downcast and her hair is blocking most of her face. She's absently toying with the ring hanging on the chain around her neck. "Thank you," she says quietly, taking the water with her free hand.

"We're here for you," he says quietly. "When you need us, we're here."

"Thank you," she says again.

He hesitates for a moment and then retreats.

Sam looks up from his desk and they share a worried look.

"She's not going to recover from this," Callen voices.

Sam shakes his head. "No, she's not. She'll never be the same. But we'll remind her every day that we're here and she can trust us."

"She thought she could trust Deeks."

"We all did," Sam says, shaking his head. His expression tells Callen he's just as shocked as Callen. And he's probably fighting to process it, just like Callen still is, too.

Callen turns for his desk, but catches sight of Granger speaking with Hetty. He must have just arrived at OPs from the boatshed. He heads over to them instead. They're speaking in quiet tones, and pause when Callen approaches, but make no move to send him away. They even wait for Sam to walk over as well. Still curled in her chair, hand clutched in front of her chest, Kensi glances at them, but makes no move to get up and approach. Instead, she looks away.

Granger shakes his head at the broken agent. "I didn't always agree with his behaviour, but I never questioned his loyalties, or his integrity."

"Neither did we," Hetty responds.

Granger sighs and turns his attention to Sam and Callen. "I was just telling Henrietta that Deeks is being transported to the LA field office for processing. After you left with Kensi he refused to provide any additional information without a deal. He's willing to give up the man he answers to, along with all of the information he compromised."

"What kind of deal?" Sam asks.

"Limited prison time. Consideration for the good work he's done with us and with the LAPD."

"They can't turn a blind eye to treason and murder," Sam mutters.

"No, they can't. And they won't. But Deeks is smart. And he's a lawyer. And he knows we need this information. He knows how the system works better than most."

Callen absorbs Granger's words and isn't sure how he feels about them. He wants the man who hurt Kensi to pay, but he finds he doesn't like the thought of Deeks in prison.

When Granger has no more new information to share, Hetty shoos them back to their desks. They go without argument this time. Kensi is still on the chair. She glances at them as they walk by, but she doesn't ask what news Granger brought with him.

Callen opens his laptop and tries to focus on his paperwork, but his mind won't let him. He keeps going back and forth between the agent who has worked with Deeks for six years, and trusts him implicitly, to Kensi's friend who just watched her discover everything she thought she knew about her partner and lover was false.

He feels the knowledge of Deeks's innocence with the frustration of not being able to prove it, and then he hears Deeks tell Kensi she wasn't part of the plan. He sees Kensi slowly break apart as Deeks admits his sins to her in the interrogation room. And he feels anger. But then he looks across the bullpen at Deeks's vacant desk and remembers the man who has sat there for just shy of six years. And his anger fades, because he knows Deeks. The man who followed Callen to Romania, the man who gave up himself and his weapon to save Callen's partner. Callen turns to stare at Kensi's quiet form. Deeks was the man who more times than he can count was prepared to lay down his life for his partner's.

He runs a hand over the scruff on his face, struggling to make sense of his conflicting emotions.

He's an hour into 'doing paperwork,' and he gives up. Something isn't adding up, and his brain isn't going to allow him to focus on anything else until he figures it out.

Deeks had said he'd gotten in too deep, and then been trapped providing information. But that just didn't make sense. He didn't have the personality to sell any level of information in the first place. Callen can remember Deeks not being able to hide from Kensi that he'd eaten one of her twinkies once. The man had an integrity and a sense of honesty that just didn't account for his explanation.

There had to be some other explanation. Was Deeks maybe protecting them from something?

He glances at Kensi again. He'd hurt her, sure, but maybe he was protecting her, too? Take the fall so your loved one is safe? Now that sounded more like the Deeks he knew.

He glances at his partner. Sam is already staring at him. The look on his face tells him Sam is having similar thoughts. Sam gets up and walks around the desks. He drops into Kensi's desk chair beside Callen.

"I don't buy it," Sam says quietly. "After everything he's done for us? With us?" Sam shakes his head, his head probably reminding him of Deeks's loyalty while being tortured, of Deeks's consistent sense of integrity.

Callen nods. "Do you think he's caught up in something...maybe something that followed him from LAPD and he's taking the fall the protect us? To protect Kensi?"

Sam takes a breath and then nods slowly. "I think that makes a lot more sense. That could account for the hidden documents."

"His LAPD assignments, interaction with NCIS, everything they think was purposeful could really just be coincidence," Callen adds.

"He has access to NCIS and LAPD information. But he's not the only one who could access it. LAPD does have less secure servers. Eric hacks them practically every week."

"Plus, Detective Monroe's death from that intelligence breach could be a completely isolated breach."

"Good point."

"There's just..." Callen trails off.

Sam sighs. "The fact that he killed someone. He didn't deny it when Kensi accused him."

"Not just someone; an NCIS intelligence analyst."

"Do we know anything about him?"

"Just that he's an intelligence analyst working out of the Navy Yard. Clean record."

"Okay," Sam starts. "Assuming he actually killed him. Maybe he was part of whatever Deeks is caught up in? Maybe he had no choice?"

Callen started to nod and then shook his head. "If he was that deep into something he would have come to us."

"Or at least to Kensi."

Sam's words trigger a spark in Callen's head. He turns his head and stares at Kensi's still form. "If he was stuck in something, she would know," he says quietly.

"She was as surprised as we were today," Sam points out. "She behaved-"

Callen turns his head back to face Sam quickly. "She behaved exactly as would be expected. She paced and she acted agitated. She checked in with us once in a while to see where we were at. She wasn't looking for support, she was looking for information. She was looking for sit reps."

Sam stares at him for a moment as his thought process catches up.

"Something else is going on, Sam," Callen practically demands his partner to understand. "Kensi should be pissed right now. The Kensi we know would be in the shooting range or destroying a punching bag right now. The Kensi we know would be plotting Deeks's demise right now. But she's 'taking space' without actually being away from anyone."

Sam let his gaze travel over to Kensi's still form and then back to Callen. "Hetty has us doing paperwork," he says.

"No, Hetty has us waiting."

Sam nods. "Only we don't know what we're waiting for."

"Kensi was in that room with Deeks the moment the taskforce left him alone." Callen shakes his head as he figures it out. "I thought it was a desperate play, but now..."

"It was calculated." Sam shakes his head and then turns to stare at Kensi for a long moment. He looks back at Callen. "Could that conversation have been for show?"

"How many times have we sent them undercover to play a fighting couple?"

"I don't know, G, that was different. I don't know that you can fake that kind of emotion."

"You can if you have to." He moves to stand, but Sam catches his arm.

"What if we're wrong?"

"Do you really think Deeks is a dirty cop?"

Sam shakes his head, but still looks uncertain about confronting Kensi.

"She put the ring back on," he states, realization suddenly setting in.

"What?"

Callen practically laughs as the pieces come together. "When she was in interrogation with him, she took the chain off her neck." He motions to Kensi's still form. Her hand is still clutched above her chest. "She put it back on. After she apparently found out he was a dirty cop. And she hasn't let go of it since she got here. She's in on it."

Sam stares at Kensi for a long moment and then looks back to Callen. And then he smiles. "We're not wrong."

"No, we're not wrong."

Callen walks quietly over to Kensi. He knows she doesn't hear him approach because she flinches when he crouches down beside her. "How you doing, Kens?"

She looks down at her lap. One hand is still clutching the ring over her chest. "Fine," she says quietly.

"Do you need anything?"

She shakes her head.

"Granger got here almost two hours ago. Didn't you want to know what was going on with Deeks?"

Kensi tenses and almost looks at him, but then shakes her head. She looks far more worried than devastated, and Callen is even more confident he's right.

"Or do you already know? Was it part of the plan for him to ask for a deal, knowing it would force him to be transported to the LA field office the moment we left the boatshed?"

This time she does look at him. She grits her teeth and releases a breath.

"What's the point in him being transported?" He thinks back to the day, the people in the boatshed with them, to Kensi's determination to lock herself in the interrogation room with Deeks. He remembers how he acted as if he didn't want to speak with her at first, how she pulled up her chair beside him, leaned in close, a hand on his back, and coaxed him.

"G," Sam warns gently.

Callen shakes his head. He knows he's right. She distracted everyone by acting like she was coaxing words from him, all the while she had her hand behind his back, out of sight of the camera. "What did you give him when you first got into the room with him?"

Kensi says nothing, but Callen swears he sees the corners of her mouth twitch.

He thinks back to that morning. Deeks had handed over his main service weapon and backup to Vance, but he had passed his sayoc knife to Kensi. Because it had been a gift from her, he had said.

He almost smiles. "Where's Deeks's knife?"

The corners of her mouth twitch again.

"That's what you gave him, right?"

Finally she allows her expression to break and a small, tired smile to win its way through. "And a handcuff key," she whispers.

In a moment, Sam is crouched on the floor beside him. Together, they crowd into Kensi's space.

Kensi swings her legs and sits upright, facing them, and shakes her head. "I knew we wouldn't be able to convince you for long." She looks at them both apologetically. "I'm sorry we had to lie to you. But we needed you to believe it to make sure everyone else believed it. And after six years, we knew the only way you would believe it was if I believed it."

Sam released a breath of tension. "You put on a good show."

Callen shook his head. "You were right. We were right there with you. It was only when you looked like you doubted him that we did."

Kensi nodded. "We needed you to react exactly the way you did. And then we needed you to leave with me, because we knew you wouldn't believe it forever. We'd hoped at least a little longer than now. We're not sure how long we need to wait now. You can't let on to anyone else that you know."

"Who else is in on this?"

"Just Hetty and Vance."

"Not Granger?"

She shakes her head. "No."

"So, what the hell is going on?"

Kensi opens her mouth, but quickly closes it, her attention suddenly on something past Callen and Sam. She inhales sharply and then releases the breath slowly. The worry in her eyes falls away with the tension in her shoulders.

Callen doesn't have to turn to know her partner is standing behind them. He does anyway, to find Deeks and Vance walking into OPs together. He's glad to see Deeks is no longer handcuffed, but he's shocked to see the detective sporting the beginnings of a black eye, with a sizeable gash across his cheek. The arm of his shirt is torn, as well as a slash across his chest. And there's what looks like dried blood on his right arm.

Kensi stands and strides over to the doorway to meet Deeks. "Are you okay?"

He offers his partner a lopsided grin. "I had everything under control."

"Is it over?"

He nods.

"It's over," Vance answers for him. "He did a fantastic job. We gained far more information than we could ever have hoped for."

Kensi smiles at that and reaches out her hand to brush at the torn fabric of his shirt, as if trying to ascertain the damage underneath. "You're sure you're okay?"

"I'm good, Kens," he soothes, and he wraps her into a tight hug.

They murmur quietly to each other as they remain wrapped in each other's arms, uncaring of their surroundings.

Callen breathes a sigh of relief at the dichotomy from the partners' last interaction. Then he looks to Vance. "What the hell is going on?"