Marty had only met Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs once before, but even with that single meeting the detective knew that this particular agent was no man to be crossed. It was Agent Gibbs who had fired the sniper shot that killed Nikolai's brother Nazar and prevented the mercenary from doing the same to Kensi the baby she had rescued.
Even now, when Marty was over 2,600 miles away from Washington D.C, and even when he was only viewing Agent Gibbs through a screen, he couldn't help but to feel slightly terrified of the older agent, especially when Agent Gibbs heard the news of Nikolai's escape.
Callen, being the team leader and having known Agent Gibbs the longest, was filling him in on the team's plans. As Callen went on about BOLOs and no-fly lists, Marty found himself feeling extremely happy that he wasn't the one relaying the information to Agent Gibbs.
As his thoughts wandered, Marty happened to catch a glance at Kensi, and was not at all surprised to see that her eyes were unfocused even though she was staring straight at the screen. It was as if she was seeing something far beyond the walls of the Mission. She was rubbing her left arm as well, and it was clear to Marty that her mind had returned to the attack of eight months ago. On a whim, he gently brushed her arm, pulling back slightly when she jumped at the touch. He quirked an eyebrow at her when she looked at him, but she merely shook her head. Marty didn't have much time to think about it, however, as Callen was barking out his name.
"I'm sorry, what?" Marty asked, casting his eyes back on the screen. In his peripheral vision, he saw Kensi do the same. Gibb's sharp blue eyes were fixed on Marty's, and the detective shivered.
"I said what the hell is LAPD doing about this damn breakout Detective Deeks!? You're the liaison officer, do your goddamn job!" Gibbs yelled. Anger bubbled in Marty's chest, and he forced himself to count ten, but even that could not quell the rage building in his gut, and like a pot boiling over, her just couldn't contain himself any longer.
"I am doing my job Special Agent Gibbs. I spoke with my LAPD correspondents the second I received the intel. I made sure that they gave us their full cooperation in helping us find this bastard. Believe me, I would never let my people, especially my partner down!" Marty was too upset to notice that he was practically roaring with rage. Suddenly, a hand was his shoulder, fingers digging deep in a not-too-subtle warning that he had gone way too far.
"Talk a walk." Sam's growled in his ear. When Marty tried to pull free, Sam's fingers moved to a pressure point, nearly causing the detective's knees to buckle. "I said, take. a. walk. Deeks. Kens, go with him, keep him outta trouble." The former SEAL gave Marty a rough shove towards the door. Kensi took up the movement, pushing her reluctant partner out of the Ops center while Callen took up the narrative with a clearly pissed-off Gibbs. Once they were down the stairs and on the main floor, Marty rounded on Kensi, his temper flaring once more.
"What the hell Kensi!?" he yelled, not caring who stared. " You can't push me…" Kensi cut him off with a low growl.
"Outta line Deeks." She snapped. "You are way out of line."
Marty snapped.
"Out of line!? Out of line!? he roared, his voice echoing in the wide space. "We've got a deadly criminal on the loose and that bastard upstairs has the gall to ask me if I'm doing my goddamn job!"
"He's worried about his team Deeks!" Kensi shouted back. "In case you've forgotten, Nikolai's brother kidnapped and almost killed a child, a child that belonged to two of his agents!"
"He accused me of not doing my job, dammit! He practically said that I don't care about protecting my partner!"
"Your job is to investigate murders, not protect me Deeks! I don't need protection, I'm federal agent, not some frightened witness! I can take care of myself!"
"You're disabled Kensi!"
As soon as the words came out of his mouth, Marty desperately wished that he could take them back. Kensi looked as if she had been struck, and the silence surrounding them made it feel as if the whole room were holding its breath.
"Kensi, I-"
WHAM!
Marty gasped, doubling over and clutching his abdomen where Kensi had struck with her injured arm. Kensi was breathing hard, her mis-matched eyes gleaming angrily.
"How's that for disabled?" she spat, before turning on her heel and rushing out of the room.
…
He drove, one hand on the wheel, the other holding an ice pack to his throbbing gut. He had no particular destination in mind other than any one that would take him far away from the Mission as possible. He couldn't go back now, not after what he had said.
How could he have said that? How could he have even thought that word? Kensi had spent her entire life having to be tough and self-reliant, and she prided herself on being one of the best agents that NCIS had to offer. To top all of this, Kensi had been going through months of therapy to fix her damaged arm. Yet, he had the gall to tell her she was disabled!
Marty ended up at a local beach, one he had surfed at many times before. He wished that he had his board now- surfing had always provided an escape from stress as well as a means to think things through. He settled instead on pacing the shoreline, his thoughts filled with self-loathing disgust.
So lost was he that it took him nearly five minutes to realize that there was someone watching him. His head snapped around and found Hetty standing no more than ten yards away from him, looking as out of place with her tailored pantsuit as, well, as a surfer in a business convention. Marty almost smiled at the simile. Almost.
Instead, he remained standing where he was, trying to decide whether to go and meet Hetty or to run away- slim as his chances of real escape were. Hetty solved this dilemma by crooking her index finger and giving him a look that clearly allowed no other option than for him to follow her. Head down, like a student following the principal into the office, he followed her to a shady bench overlooking the water.
"You left early Mr. Deeks" Hetty said calmly, as if simply commenting on the weather. Marty didn't see any way to reply. Hetty continued.
"I'm not going to lecture you on what happened, because I know that I don't need to. However, I will tell you and Ms. Blye need to talk. You two are partners and partners cannot be on edge with one another. I have seen far too many partnerships fall apart because of this kind of tension." Marty turned away, not willing to listen to another talk about how communication was the most important-
"Marty." He spun around, shocked. Hetty had never called him by his first name. "Kensi needs you right now, more than she will ever be willing to admit. The damage that bastard Nazar did was so much more than just physical- her emotional and mental capacities were damaged as well, no matter how much she denies it. No one goes through what she went through and comes out unscathed."
"She's told you all of this?" Marty wanted to know.
"No, I have been through it myself."
"Right, Romania."
"Among other incidents."
They sat quietly for a moment, the silence weighted with unspoken thoughts. Finally, Hetty stood.
"Officially, I should have taken Ms. Blye and you off this case the moment we received word of it. Don't make me decide I need to follow that rule now, Mr. Deeks. Now I expect you back at Ops in ten minutes." Hetty stood and made as if to move away, but then stopped and looked back at Marty.
"Your partner needs you Mr. Deeks. Go back to her."
Uh-oh, is this a rocky road ahead? Good thing Hetty's there to help!
Oh, and in case you're wondering, Marty will warm up to Gibbs. Eventually. Promise. ;)
Thanks to a review, I realized that I accidentally said that this was a sequel to "Indescribable", which many of you probably realized doesn't actually exist! I meant to write Inseparable, which does actually exist! So, my apologies, and I made sure to change the title in this story's summary.
Please review!
Yeah, sure, you becha!
