Shattered
The news hit them hard. The team were sitting around one morning, laughing over a joke when Hetty walked in, her face grave, eyes red. She broke it to them, blunt, cold, the way it had to be done. Nate, the cool, calm psychologist looked shocked, his mouth open in horror. Sam sat with his hands clasped together, over his mouth. Dominic looked like he was going to cry, Kensi had been his partner, comrade in arms. Eric was sitting still, very still. But it was Callen whose Hetty's heart broke for; the colour had drained from his face. He was sitting with his mouth open. His eyes were glazed over. Shattered.
They hunted the killer ruthlessly, for hours on end, the days piled up. There was no trace. Finally they found him. A small scrap of paper was found. His DNA on it. They tracked him down to his house, he was running away. He fell and they caught up with him. Callen's vision was red all he could see were images of Kensi laughing and them having a good time and then this man destroying that. He tightened his grip on his gun and focused. Sam was calling him, his voice distant. Telling him to not take it, no matter how he felt he couldn't take it. It wouldn't matter, no matter how many times he killed him, Kensi couldn't come back.
He was taken to prison for murdering 14 women. Kensi was one of them. They walked back to the headquarters and were met by a commotion. Not in celebration of what they had done but of something else. Callen turned to look at Nate who was beaming, his eyes brimming with tears but a grin from ear to ear. Everyone was happy and smiling and in the middle of the commotion was Hetty; she was hugging a familiar figure with her back to him. Her brown hair was long and tousled, and she wore a black cardigan and jeans. Sam laughed and charged through the crowd, followed by Dominic to hug her. By the time the commotion had calmed down Kensi had disappeared into the locker room. She was standing by her locker, putting something away. Callen came up and stood next to her. Now, seeing her alive and the emotions were surfacing, they had been threatening all day but now he had to let it out.
"Why?" He choked, "Why didn't you tell me?"
Kensi's eyes filled up with tears as she shook her head. She put her hand up to his face and smiled. He took her hand in his and leant foreword, closing the distance between them. His lips pressed against hers and she melted into him, putting her arms around his neck, he pulled her body closer to him and held her around her torso. They both came up for air and he rested his forehead against.
"I thought you were dead, i couldn't work, I couldn't live without you"
"It's okay" She said, holding his face again, "I'm not going anywhere".
