A/N: Thanks to everyone who has reviewed, favorited or followed! You make me smile like a crazy person:-) So, without further babbling, here comes chapter 2!

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You tell all the boys "No"

Makes you feel good, yeah.

I know you're out of my league

But that won't scare me away, oh, no

Would you let me see beneath your beautiful?

Would you let me see beneath your perfect?

Take it off now, girl, take it off now, girl

I wanna see inside

Would you let me see beneath your beautiful tonight?

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Unfortunately, the following days didn´t exactly become easier for Kensi. No, they got worse. Their suspect, Nathaniel Turner, turned out to be a high-profile criminal who had set up an international human trade ring while disguising his traces through his company´s business. Although the team figured that out pretty quickly, it took another hook up for Kensi - this time with the suspect himself – and, as if that wasn´t enough, a dangerous fight between herself and the suspect to finally nail him down.

Coming back to headquarters after getting a confession out of Turner, a huge pile of paperwork awaited them. Instead of going into the details of her maybe somewhat overly violent hand-to-hand combat, Kensi headed to the gym to punch this case out of her memory. Indeed, after a few rounds she felt a little bit better. Exactly until the moment Callen walked in.

"Kensi." The way he approached, she didn´t like it. He acted as if he was trying to calm a nervous animal.

"I´m fine. Just didn´t sleep enough in the last week."

"Come on, everybody knows that you´re not fine. I´d leave you to deal with it, but I need you to be on top of your game. That fight today? That was wrong, Kensi, you should have waited for us to back you up. Not to mention the fact that, if Deeks hadn´t pulled you away, you probably would have killed that guy! Ever since that night you have been acting strange. And that´s just not possible, we need to be able to rely on you!"

Kensi felt her insides twist painfully. If she was entirely honest to herself, she knew that her behavior in the last couple of days hadn´t been textbook. Yet, she was the queen of denial. "I have no idea what you are talking about. I gained the trust of our suspect, received all necessary information and neutralized him. Sounds pretty much like textbook to me." However, she should have known that this wouldn´t convince him.

Because apparently, Callen´s patience was wearing thin, "You know what? Maybe you should take the rest of the week off. I don´t need you in here with that kind of an attitude. You got too close in this case. But it is finished now, and you need to walk away, get it out of your system!"

Feeling the anger boiling inside her, Kensi grabbed her sports bag and attempted to push past Callen, all the while muttering, "Of course. Just like you do. Push it all away to keep up the charade, ignoring all that has happened."

Upon hearing this, Callen quickly grabbed her wrist and held onto it although she tried to brush past him. "So this is about the kiss.", he stated. "Do you think I liked that? Of course I would have preferred another way to get out of there. But sometimes you gotta do what you have to do! And it has never been a big deal before! I mean, we have kissed before to get out of a tough situation! What´s your problem now?"

Instead of answering him, Kensi used her self-defense skills to quickly free her wrist from his grab and rushed through the main area of the office, hastily making her way to the exit and leaving a stunned Sam and Deeks behind.

"G, what was that all about? What´s wrong with her?" asked Sam while Deeks still watched the doors through which Kensi had just left.

"I have no idea.", was all Callen offered before disappearing in the direction of Hetty´s desk.

Deeks felt the strong urge to follow his partner, but he knew her well enough to know that, right now, she wouldn´t want to talk and he´d just get hurt for even trying to. Besides, Hetty wouldn´t be too pleased either. So he decided to finish his paperwork as quickly as possible and talk to her later.

A couple of hours later, he stood in front of her door, Chinese take-out in his hands. And, as if she had waited for him (what she probably had done), Kensi opened the door after a few seconds. Silently, she allowed him to enter and helped him to place the take-out on her table, which was, considering the amount of stuff piling up, not that easy.

As he settled himself on her couch (still not speaking), Kensi realized that he probably knew exactly what this was about. After all, he was the one who knew her best, he was the one who woke her from her nightmares, and he was the one who had experienced himself how trapped in memories she could become. He knew her. And right now, he wouldn´t stop asking until he got the answers he wanted.

"So, what happened behind the club?" He decided to cut right through and hoped that she would do the same, without hiding behind her `I´m fine´- mask. And to his suprise, she did.

"Bodyguards were coming closer, we had no where to go. So, Callen did the most logical, and started the whole `guy paid for a night of fun´-show. He started kissing me. Unfortunately, the guys enjoyed the show and we had to take it quite far, further than planned." She heard his sharp intake of breath, but she knew that she had to keep going, or otherwise she´d never finish. "Finally they interrupted us, and we could convince them that we weren´t looking for trouble, not at that moment and also not before, in the club. They believed us and we got away. So technically, nothing happenend, and still, I couldn´t get it out of my head."

"Kens, I get that. I understand that you were bothered, especially with what has happened to you. But when we go undercover and have to become intimate, you never seem to mind that much. Or am I wrong?" Deeks was at a loss here. He had no idea how to comfort his beautiful partner next to him.

"No, you´re not wrong. But Deeks, you are my partner. Even if we leave all the personal stuff aside, I still know you. I know what you are thinking, especially if we are undercover. But Callen..." Kensi trailed off, not knowing how to explain without making it sound like she didn´t trust her friend and superior agent. "He´s a professional and when he is undercover, nothing about him suggests he might be someone else, not even his eyes. I was used to that, but after working for such a long time with you, when one look in your eyes is enough to reassure me that you still have my back, that you would never hurt me... I freaked out. And besides, it was the first time after what had happened with Lt. Bride, that I was so close to another man besides you."

Finishing her ranting, Kensi took a deep breath and tried desperately to hold herself together. Unintentionally, she had just not only admitted a lot more personal stuff than she ever wanted, she had also touched the subject of her complicated relationship with Deeks. The latter one tried to keep up with all she just said, but basically, it was one thing that stuck with him: She trusts you. Better not fuck this up. But instead of running scared like he had so many times in the past, he took the challenge.

"Listen, Kensi..." But that was all he could say before she interrupted him. "No, please, Deeks. I... I don´t want to hear how you´re sorry for what happened to me or how I should trust Callen, or even how all I just said will affect us. Just... Just make me forget, ok? I wan´t to get them off my skin, just make me forget." She didn´t care that she begged right now. She knew he would understand, like he had so many times before.

And he did. Without saying another word, he leaned forward and kissed her slowly. After a few minutes, he picked her up and carried her towards her bedroom, never stopping to kiss her. For tonight, all he could do was to tell her through his actions that he loved her and that he would never use or hurt her.