The next morning, Deeks woke up before the sun rose and was ready just as the sun started to intensify, and as he found his way towards the masses that were waiting to hear word about who would bring their Princess back to them sweat started to bead on his neck. As the crowd's chatters got louder and louder, Deeks became more and more nervous with each passing second.

Deeks was well aware that he was known for his cockiness, but bringing Princess Kensi back to the anxious kingdom was admittedly near impossible. She was notorious for her excellent survival skills, tracking in particular. If she wanted to, she could disappear. And he feared she had.

"Sir Deeks?" a small voice called out behind him. Deeks turned around to find the queen's lady-in-waiting, Nell Jones. Deeks raised his eyebrows as if to say "Yes?"

"Sir, please bring Ken.. I mean Princess Kensi back safely. She's my best friend and it would break my heart if something happened to her." Nell's voice broke at the end. Deeks felt his heart soften when he realizes that Nell was just a concerned friend and didn't have any ulterior motives.

"Don't worry, Lady Jones. Kensi will be back before you know it." Deeks added a grin for good measure before she blushed and scurried away. Moments after Nell left, the legendary prince, G. Callen, arrived.

"So, you're the lucky guy that gets to bring my sister back. Good luck, man. You're gonna need it. She can be a bit... defiant when she wants something, if you know what I mean." Callen grinned, but their was an undeniable truth behind his words, evident just behind his smile.

"So I've heard," Deeks said, thinking back to the battlefield. Both men shared a short chuckle.

"Hetty sent me to get you. You ready?"

No. "Absolutely."

"Your reputation precedes you, Sir Deeks," Prince Callen said, but Deeks couldn't tell if he meant it as a compliment or not. "For the record, Hetty would've never stood for you against Granger if she didn't like you and feel you were up for a challenge."

"Thank you, Your Highness."

"Callen, please. Just call me Callen."

Once Callen started heading down, Deeks took a deep breath. Had he really just had a casual conversation with the infamous Prince G Callen?

Down at the palace courtyards, Deeks was stopped by Hetty and she whispered, "Bring Kensi home, Sir Deeks." Deeks nodded silently and stepped away from the crowd and their whispers, most of them expressing their discontentment that he of all people had been chosen to bring their beloved leader back. Deeks ignored the chatter and stepped into the stables where he found the stable hand, Eric Beale, feeding Monty a sugar cube. Eric was one of his closer friends; he was blonde, had a sharp jawline, and was a commoner, though his intelligence was grossly underrated.

He grinned at Deeks when he approached, leading Monty out to him. Deeks gulped as he threw one leg over the saddle, adjusting himself. "No sweat, right?"

"No sweat," Eric agreed easily, even though Deeks knew that just like himself and everybody else in the kingdom, Eric was bound to have his doubts.


The only thing harder than pushing herself to the point of exhaustion was extracting herself from the cold ground after only an hour of sleep. She stopped trying to get the kinks out of her neck abruptly when she became aware of someone else's presence, and from her peripheral she saw an extremely broad man standing in the shadows, seemingly unmoving.

"Well, would you lookie here! If it isn't it the lovely Princess Kensi Blye. Watcha doing so far away from home, sweetie?" The man leered at her, and shiver ran up her spine as she calculated her options. Thinking quickly, she lunged for her bag behind her, rising to her feet staring at the man with her signature death glare.

The man laughed. He laughed. Oh, now she was pissed. "Aw, Sweetie. Don't be scared! I'm just gonna see what you have in that bag of yours!" He made a move for the bag before he saw the dagger in Kensi's hand.

"Oooh! Princess Kensi gonna fight me? Let's see what you got!" The man tried to throw a punch at Kensi but she deflected it easily and punched the man in the jaw, adding in an extra kick to the groin for good measure, mostly because he called her 'Sweetie'. The man groaned and fell, and she grabbed her bag, running. She heard the man yell, "Hey! Catch her!"

Multiple men that size? She was amazing at hand-to-hand combat, and one guy was no problem. But three? Or four? These guys were something akin to giants, even bigger than Sam. Her weight was her disadvantage, and the only thing she could think to do was run. Her whole body seemed to groan in dissatisfaction as she recalled that the last time she slept for more than an hour at a time was nearly three days ago. But, in despite of her body being pass the point of fatigue, she continued to run, only stopping when she felt something sharp hit her in the back of the head and knock her cold.

Kensi woke up later only to find her satchel lying empty in front of her, the men long gone. When she tried to get up, she found herself bound by ropes to the tree behind her. Her head pounded and her back ached, and when she felt warm blood trickle down the side of her face she realized the guys must have knocked her out with a slingshot of sorts and stole her belongings before tying her in place. Considering the durability of the rope that was rubbing into her dress which, thank God, was still in tact, she probably wasn't getting anywhere for awhile. Which meant, in short, that she was screwed.

Great.


She'd been fighting against the ropes for probably a good hour, but the burns that the material was rubbing against her ribs were enough to make her want to scream out in pain. She even yelped once, and Princess Kensi Marie Blye does not yelp.

The sun was setting, her eyes were squinted close to shut, and her body was begging her to sleep (as if she could in the position she was in). Her head pulsated in time with her heartbeat, the headache growing from a dull throb to an excruciating stabbing sensation, and she knew that if she didn't starve to death on this tree first then the pain in her skull would surely be the death of her. Whatever they'd hit her with had to have been just sharp enough to draw blood, and catapulted so quickly that it efficiently knocked her out but didn't kill her. She wondered if that had been their intent, or if they hadn't wanted the death of a princess on their hands. Of course, if they left her to rot they might as while have put an arrow through her heart.

She watched the first stars of the night start to speckle a darkening canvas above her, and once again she struggled against the binds. It was to no avail and caused more harm then good; her skin was already raw and bleeding through the now worn fabric of her dress. Her head had stopped leaking crimson liquid onto her shoulder, and it now sat in a dry patch against the side of her neck. It was torture in and of itself, waiting for death. She half wished that somebody would come and save her, even though she doubted an arranged marriage was any better than her fate as of then, tied to a tree.

Kensi was still young, nearing twenty three. Being a princess didn't exactly leave much time for focusing on romance, but she knew that the last thing she wanted was to settle somebody else's deeds by ruining her own life so that this 'Jack' could rise in power as a prince and an eventual king. She didn't know him or of him, his reputation, his occupation, anything. How was she expected to marry him? Going to sleep next to a stranger every night was unappealing, to say to least.

Just as she'd started to tell herself that dying a painful death pressed against a tree as opposed to marrying an anonymous may not be as bad as she'd originally thought, she heard the unmistakable sound of a horse's hooves hitting the hard ground of the forest. She didn't call them out, and when the sound faded she raised her chin defiantly, even hmphing. She was ready to face her fate after a mediocre and adrenaline fueled, albeit short, life. But, fate be it, a neigh and a horse's noisy gallop started to fill her ears again, and Kensi sighed. Being a damsel in distress was her least favorite persona, and yet, there she was.

"Damn, Princess Kens... is that you?"

"It's Princess Kensi, and watch your language. I am your authority, and you will respect me," she grumbled in response to the shaggy man standing in front of her. Why did he look so familiar?

He snorted, probably in disbelief. "Why did you tie yourself to a fern?"

Gritting her teeth, she clenched her jaw, asking for patience. "Don't be an idiot. Some guys stole my stuff and tied me to a tree."

"Do you want down?"

"What type of question is that?!" Kensi demanded, wishing he would stop with his antics and just untie her, dammit. Couldn't he see she was not in the mood?

"No need to get so snippy," the man replied, extracting a knife from his side. As soon as he cut the binds she nearly face planted, but he caught her with an arm around her waist, to which she hissed. Not because of the proximity, but because of her injury. It stung unlike anything she'd ever felt before.

"God, Kens..."

"Princess," she corrected weakly, bracing herself with his shoulder as he kept an arm around her waist to help her balance. Swallowing past the pain, she released his arm and swayed as she tried to stand up straight, somehow not toppling to the ground. "Thanks for helping me, Sir... Sir-"

"Deeks," Deeks supplied. "Marty Deeks, at your service.

"Sir Deeks," Kensi repeated, finishing her earlier thought. "I'll be on my way now. You can report to my brother and mother that I'm feeling awesome, and I'm safe."

"I'm not much on lying." Deeks frowned, examining her injuries more closely. "I was sent after you. I have to bring you back to the kingdom. And plus, you need medical attention. Come on."

"No," Kensi answered easily, making to take a step but nearly collapsing when she turned away from him. He was behind her in a matter of seconds, holding on to her hips until she was secure. She shrugged his hands away, this time succeeding when she tried to walk away.

"Princess," he called after her, and she didn't so much as acknowledge him. "Kens, the easy way or the hard way. I'll give you until the count of three to turn around and let me take you back home."

"What are you, my mother?"

He patiently ignored her and started his countdown. "One."

"Bye, Deeks."

"Two."

"Deeks..."

"Three!"


That's the end of chapter 2! Be sure to review!

s-sdensi and MontyTheDog