Chapter 3

Kensi put another magazine in her Sig and aimed at the target. This was her third clip and she was still waiting for him to follow her, to try to apologize, to tell her what was going on, anything. When she finished with this one, she finally figured out he wasn't coming. She rested her head against the protective glass, thinking that he must have decided that he had no excuse to offer her. As mad as she was at him, however, she blanched as she remembered likening him to his dad. She knew he wasn't at all like the man he had dropped hints about over the years. She decided it was time to head back to the bullpen and a very uncomfortable conversation with Deeks. She stowed her gun in her waistband. She pulled the target back and was pleased at the nice center mass cluster on this last round. She put the protective gear away where it belonged and headed back to their desks, determined to have it out with him.

Walking back into the bullpen, she was surprised to find his desk empty. She turned to look at Sam to ask where he was but was stopped by the look on his face. He looked angry with her. Her stomach dropped as she wondered what Deeks had told him to make him look at her like that. She knew the two of them had gotten closer since they were both abducted and tortured by Sidorov. Sam had become protective of the younger man. "Where's Deeks?" she asked the room in general.

It was Callen who answered "Called in for an LAPD op that's going down at 1:00 this afternoon. He said he'd talk to us all later."

Sam looked at her and said "Would you care to explain that little episode from earlier?"

She didn't know how to start so just said the first thing that came into her mind "He's cheating on me, I know it." Not that that was really much of an explanation.

Sam just shook his head, he knew Kensi was insanely jealous of Deeks but this, this was too much. He thought back to her reactions to Nicole, Monica, and even Eva and Talia. He could kind of understand Nicole and Monica as Deeks had had quasi romantic relationships with them, even if it was only due to an undercover op, but he had only worked with the other two professionally. Callen had told him of her reaction to Sapphire on one of the first cases they had gone undercover with him on. How she just couldn't let it go, kept making snarky remarks putting the woman down, questioning his relationship with her. She had turned out to be a crook, but that wasn't what prompted Kensi's reaction to her. Deeks had even told him a story about her snatching his business card away from some little waitress they had been interviewing about a murder. Some kind of funky name…something like Star. Kensi had taken the card from her and ripped it up under the pretense that she was protecting the waitress from him. Deeks had admitted he had flirted a little with the girl and had thought Kensi's response was cute. If today's jealous reaction was any indication, Kensi needed to do some serious work on her relationship skills.

"And how do you know this?" asked Sam.

"I saw Deeks escorting a woman from his place this morning, he was practically making out with her on the street!" she replied.

"Let me guess. You didn't confront them, didn't give him a chance to explain, you just ran. Kensi, this time you really blew it. Caroline and her husband are friends of Deeks. She was just looking for help on a personal issue as her husband is out of the country at the moment."

She looked skeptical and replied "You know how good he is at thinking on his feet. How do you know he didn't just make that up on the spur of the moment? Or had an excuse ready to go if he got caught?" She wasn't ready to believe she had made such a horrible mistake and said things that were guaranteed to hurt him.

Sam was about to reply when Eric came bounding down the stairs from Ops. "Where's Deeks?" he asked, "I wanted to find out how things went this morning with his friend's landlord."

Kensi looked at him in dismay, Eric's words confirming the story Deeks had told Sam. She sat down hard, hearing her own voice in her head, accusing Deeks of cheating on her, telling him he was like his father. "Oh God, what have I done? Why do I always do this, assume the worst without knowing all the facts?" she asked.

"I don't have the answer to that, but you really hurt him this time. You know he hates thinking he could be like his father!" Sam snapped at her.

Callen piped in "This op came up quick and he didn't seem too pleased about it. He's going in as Max Gentry and you know how he feels about that alias. He's probably going to be upset about a lot of things when he gets home." She nodded, thinking she could pick up something from Yummy Yummy Heart Attack, some beer and ice cream for dessert as a peace offering. He had to forgive her, he always did. That thought gave her pause. What if he didn't, or couldn't this time?

They all turned back to work and the day dragged on slowly. Callen had updated Hetty about Deeks's whereabouts when she had returned to her office later in the morning. She had simply nodded and thanked him for the information. All of them were covertly watching the clock as 1:00 came and went. When it was close to 4:00, Sam became worried and said to Callen. "G, I thought this op was supposed to be quick and he was going to call us when it was done? We should have heard from him by now."

Callen just shook his head, "You know how these things go Sam. There's no time table. They're probably still processing everyone."

Sam nodded and went back to work, but didn't stop watching the clock. Kensi had given up even trying to pretend to work. She was worried about his safety with her not there to watch his back. She worried that she had ruined things between them, that he wouldn't be able to forgive her for this. She wanted desperately to call or text him but she didn't know what was happening and doing so could put him in danger. The team was not working on any active cases at the moment but still, no one left the Mission when quitting time came and there was still no word. Even Nell and Eric were hiding upstairs in Ops, waiting to hear something about Deeks. Hetty remained in her office, sipping tea and appearing calm, but they all noticed she was not working on anything either, just waiting like the rest of them.

Eventually the three agents couldn't stand sitting and worrying so went into the gym to work off some steam. Callen and Kensi worked on their knife fighting skills and Sam worked out on the punching bag. About an hour had passed when Hetty appeared in the doorway. She announced "I've just heard from Lt. Bates. The op is over but Mr. Deeks has gone missing."