The morning came far too quickly for either of them. "come on Kensalina, time to get up."
"Mmmmmph" She grumbled, snuggling further into the crook of his neck. If there was one thing he had learned since the start of their relationship, it was that Kensi was NOT a morning person. She HATED being woken up, especially if it was before seven, and it was currently around five thirty.
"Come on, Princess," Deeks started, rubbing her back and pushing her hair out of her face. "It will be worth it. We'll have the beach practically to ourselves this morning."
Her beautiful eyes finally fluttered open and met his. "That's because it's not morning yet." She grumbled. He was reminded of the morning he woke up snuggling with her rear end on the couch and couldn't help but smile.
"I'll buy us breakfast after, come on now." He said as he started pulling the covers down and sitting up.
Half an hour later, he was able to coax her out of bed and into a swimsuit with the promise of coffee to drink on the road. He handed her a cup as they walked out the door and they were on their way.
Usually Deeks would simply walk down to the beach below his apartment, but since the waves there were a little rougher and Kensi was just learning, they usually went a little further south on the beach. Kensi also needed to rent a board and wetsuit, so they pulled into a parking lot near a rental station.
As soon as they pulled in, they knew something was wrong. There was police tape around the rental shack and law enforcement everywhere.
Kensi and Deeks exited the car and approached an officer. Deeks had worked with Officer Brady a while and he was one of the few cops that actually liked working with Deeks. "What's going on?" Deeks asked.
"Looks like the shop owner was shot and killed along with a customer this morning. We're not sure why, but it wasn't a robbery."
"Do you have an ID?" Kensi asked, hoping it wasn't the owner, Kimberly, who was a sweet woman in her mid fifties.
"Not yet, but you're welcome to take a look around. I'm assuming you're not on duty?" Officer Brady stated.
"Nah, we have the weekend off, but we've come down here a few times. We were just going to go out and surf for a while." Deeks informed him.
"I'm going to go call in to headquarters to update them. Let me know if you two catch anything, a lot of our weekend crew are newbies."
Kensi and Deeks headed into the crime scene, slipping on gloves that were handed to them. Inside the little shop, there were two bodies and a lot of blood. One was a young man, probably in his late teens or early twenties and another man in his thirties.
While momentarily relieved that neither of them was Kimberly, Kensi couldn't help but feel slightly sick at the scene. It looked as if it was a random shooting. No money was taken. Somebody seemed to just want one or both of these men dead.
"Doesn't look like there's much in the way of evidence." Deeks noted.
"This is going to kill Kimberly, knowing this happened in her shop." Kensi said as they walked back out onto the sand. They removed their gloves and just as they were getting ready to head back to the cars, Kensi grabbed Deeks' arm.
He turned around to look at her and noticed she was looking at a girl sitting about 25 yards outside the crime scene simply staring off into the ocean.
"Witness?" Kensi asked.
"Possibly." He replied as they ducked under the police tape.
They approached the girl, who looked up as they came closer. She had long wavy/curly blonde hair and bright blue eyes. She appeared to be in her teens. They could see she had been crying.
Kensi crouched down in the sand next to her. "Hi, my name is Kensi Blye, I'm an NCIS agent. Do you know anything about the shooting that happened this morning?"
The girl nodded. "My friend, Matty, he… um we…..went…went in to get a board for me." She started crying again. "I… I was just changing in the bathroom and then I heard the gun shots….." She started sobbing and Kensi reached out to comfort the girl. "I was so scared! They left and when I came out of the bathroom I saw…." She couldn't continue anymore and broke down. Kensi pulled the young girl in for a hug and she clung to her like she was a lifeline.
Kensi looked up at her partner who looked angry. She knew he had a soft spot for kids and the fact that these two innocent lives had been ruined, one by death and the other by loss, was probably killing him.
"Shh, it's okay, we're going to find whoever did this." Kensi tried to sooth the girl.
Eventually the girl's sobbing slowed to occasional hiccups. "Did you say you were NCIS?" The girl eventually asked.
"Yes, well, I am. My partner, he's a liason between LAPD and NCIS." Kensi explained. The girl turned around, fully looking at Deeks for the first time.
Her eyes went huge the moment she saw him, which only served to confuse both of the adults.
"I'm Marty Deeks." He said as he joined the two girls down on the sand. The girl continued to stare at him, seemingly in shock.
"I…I… Um my name is Faith… Faith Brandel, and I'm your sister."
Continue?