In this chapter Kensi will be on her way back but I decided not to give her a much needed break but instead through her into the next assignment right away, may not be all too logical but somehow I liked the idea. I hope you, dear readers, like it, too;)

"Morning," Deeks mumbled when he entered the bullpen. As usual his eyes flew over Kensi's desk hoping to find any trace of her being back. But yet again, he was disappointed when he found nothing. He slumped into his own chair and sighed heavily.

He caught Sam watching him from the side.

"Isn't that the same shirt, you had on yesterday?" Sam asked him.

Before he could answer Callen joined in.

"You slept at Kensi's place again?"

They weren't agents for nothing, right? They noticed such things and they had seen him almost every day for the past three months. Deeks didn't get a chance to explain his actions though, even though he was quite sure they wouldn't understand him anyway.

A whistle from the staircase interrupted them.

"Come on up, guys, we got a case," Eric yelled in their direction.

Sam and Callen got up and walked to the stairs while Deeks was still in his chair fighting an internal battle of whether this was a good thing or not. On the one hand a case meant that they had something to do and that he didn't have too much time to think about Kensi and where she probably was right now. On the other hand it would be another case where he didn't have her by his side to watch each other's back. Sure, Eric and Nell sometimes came along but it surely wasn't the same. They weren't field agents. They would usually go out with them when they needed a tech for undercover work. It simply wasn't the same without Kensi there.

It's been almost 3 months now and all of them missed her. Callen and Sam missed their little sister and were worried about her safety. But Deeks – he missed his partner, his best friend, his girlfriend. He was just miserable without her. He started sleeping at her house from time to time whenever he had a really bad day and missed her so much that it hurt. He found it comforting to surround himself with her; even it was by just sleeping in her bed. He would lay down on the left side of the bed imagining she laid on the right side with him. He was quite sure that if it weren't for this reassignment they would have shared bed more often than not by now.

With a heavy sigh he got up from his desk and followed his two colleagues upstairs not knowing that someone else was currently briefed on exactly the same case while sitting on a plane back home.

It's been three months in hell for Kensi and she was more than happy to be back home in a short while. But instead of letting her take a breath and maybe some time for herself Granger had handed her a case file and told her she needed to be ready for this as soon as the plane landed at LAX. Her first instinct was to throw the file back at him telling Granger she needed to do something first namely get back to her partner. Three damn months had passed since they had exchanged that last text message before she had to leave. She didn't have any chance to get into contact with him even though she desperately needed to hear his voice again. She missed him so much and she prayed every single day that they could continue their thing exactly where they had left off. He had told her he would go every step with her and she hoped that hadn't changed over the past months.

She opened her mouth to protest but Granger only gave her a warning glare.

"Be ready for this, agent Blye."

So she closed her mouth again, opened the file and started reading. She read about an arms dealer who preferred to do his business in an upper class club in downtown LA. He always had the VIP section reserved for him and tonight he was supposed to meet a business man to finalize a weapons deal. When she read the name of the assigned undercover agent who was supposed to play the part of the business man her heart suddenly pounded faster – Detective Marty Deeks, LAPD.

When she read further she found out that Sam would pose as his bodyguard, Callen would stay at the bar watching from the distance. Eric and Nell would overwatch from their seats at OPS and then she read her own name. She would be posing as the business man's wife. She wasn't sure she liked this. They hadn't spoken in three months but she was supposed to slip into an undercover role tonight without even having the chance to talk to him as herself.

"I know you would have preferred to meet with your team beforehand but we only have tonight for this. He'll be gone by tomorrow morning. I had someone send some clothes for you to wear tonight and we'll drive to the club as soon as we land. Your teammates will be there already and you have to slip into the role immediately. There's time for everything else later. We cannot afford to fail here, understood?" Granger explained.

"Yes sir," she replied. She didn't really have a choice here.

So she would see Deeks again really soon. That's a good thing but he would be Thomas Blake and she would be Sarah Blake.

At OSP Eric was in the middle of explaining how they would approach tonight. Hetty interrupted him introducing their alias for the evening.

"Mr. Deeks, you'll be Thomas Blake, a business man who wants to buy these weapons, money is not an issue for him. Mr. Hanna will be your bodyguard," both Sam and Deeks raised an eyebrow at this. "Mr. Callen, you just stay at the bar scanning the surroundings for anything unusual."

All three men nodded and turned to leave.

"Gentlemen," Hetty interrupted them. "Before you go prepare, there's some more so hear me out."

They turned around and tensed up somehow. This didn't sound good.

"Assistant Director Granger said it would be helpful to get a female agent in this, too. Obviously, Ms. Jones doesn't have enough field experience, so Granger decided he would send another agent in. She'll take the part of Sarah Blake, Mr. Blake's wife." Their eyes went wide when they heard this. That's a joke, right? Nobody liked this idea. No surprise Granger came up with that.

"Hetty, we all know we're perfectly capable of doing this alone. We don't need another agent especially not someone we don't know," Callen said speaking for all of them.

"Mr Callen, I heard your opinion now but this is not something I will discuss with you. The agent will meet you at the club."

They all sensed that Hetty would not accept anymore 'opinions' on this and turned to the exit.

"Mr. Deeks," Hetty stopped him from leaving OPS.

"Yes Hetty," he answered not bothering to hide how annoyed he was with this new assignment especially the undercover with another agent part.

"I know this case will be tough for you but nevertheless I ask you to remain professional especially regarding the undercover work you need to do."

"I'm not sure what you mean by that?" Did she not trust him to remain professional with another woman? How could she even think he would do something other than be professional?

"Just do what I asked you to do Mr. Deeks and do not let your emotions cloud your judgment or your actions. Understood?"

"Yes Hetty," he answered though he still wasn't sure what she meant. Did she think he would betray Kensi?