"You know him?" Deeks had caught sight of the expression on Callen's face as he looked at the corpse and had seen the spark of recognition there.
"Not really. But Nell did." Callen had to move away from that awful smell. It was something you never, ever got used to, no matter how many times you encountered death. A choking, cloying sweetness, rank with undertones of decay, it seemed to seep into your clothes, into the fibre of your being, as if serving as a reminder that death was inevitable, that you could not cheat time, no matter how hard you tried. In the end, you could not hide and death would find you.
All the wonder and joy of the honeymoon seemed to dissipate in that instant, as he related the few brief days of happiness Nell had enjoyed and her obvious excitement and joy, followed by her devastation. At least they now knew that he hadn't run out on her, although that would be cold comfort and absolutely no consolation at all.
"This is coming back down to earth with a vengeance." Kensi could only imagine how Nell would react to the news. Everyone around her was moving forward with their lives, and just when Nell thought she had it made, it turned out that the taste was not so sweet after all. And Nell deserved to be happy, to find that someone who made her life complete – everybody did. Was it really asking so much – to want to be happy?
Sam pulled out his cell. "Eric? We've got a problem."
"Kensi and Deeks decided to stay in France?"
"Worse than that." Sam's face was set and immobile as he briefly relayed their gruesome discovery. "Do not say anything to Nell, understand?"
"Trust me on that one." Like he wanted to be the one to ruin his partner's life, Eric thought. He wouldn't have the first idea how to go about breaking that sort of news with any degree of tact or diplomacy – he dealt in facts, in absolutes. His job was to relay information and to seek out new sources of information and he was great at that. He was even better at working in the hidden corridors of power, of finding back doors that lead to secret repositories of information, the 'haunted attics' the authorities pretended did not exist. And if all else failed, he could simply pull the plug and stop the information flow. That was actually pretty great, like being in total control, only Hetty rarely allowed him to use this power. Still, just knowing he could do it, that he could literally break the internet was a buzz.
Facts and information were simple – Eric could deal with those. Even when the facts were horrific, like right now. But emotions – they were completely different. Emotions scared Eric, because they were uncontrollable and worked outside facts and logic. He tried to stay away from emotion and he'd been doing a pretty great job until George came along and opened him up to the possibility of love and sharing the rest of your life with someone. Together they had voyaged to places Eric had never even dreamt of. He was still coming to terms with how powerful emotions could be, how they could make a rational man who dealt in absolutes turn weak with just a simple glance.
Emotions were invidious. It was becoming almost impossible to stop the gradual build-up of ties between his personal and private lives these days, like some neural network that kept growing. That inter-dependency was slightly worrying. Eric had been a loner for many years, leading a virtual life I the solitary confinement of his room where he had hacked away to his heart's content and for years his only relationships had either been online, or casual encounters and one-night stands. And then everything had changed in an instant when he joined NCIS. For the first time in his life, he was not only working within the bounds of authority, he was accepted and welcomed. That was fine. It was more than fine – it was great. And then it started to get complicated when he started to make bonds with the team. That had to be viewed as positive, but it was also negative. It was hard to stay detached and dispassionate when you cared about the people involved, when you realised the bullets were directed at real flesh and blood, that people you cared about could get hurt – or die.
Things had taken another step when Nell had joined NCIS: OSP. At first he had tried to keep her at arms length, but Nell had been persistent, had refused to take 'no' for an answer. She'd just persisted and after a while, Eric had stopped resisting. She was probably his closest friend, the woman who knew him better than he knew himself in many ways. Nell complemented him perfectly, and if he'd been straight, Eric might even have fallen in love with her. Nell deserved to be happy, and he didn't want to be the one who broke her heart. Hetty could have that particular pleasure.
"Eric's going to take care of the details." Sam joined the rest of the team, who were standing a discrete distance away from the car – and carefully upwind. "I don't suppose you bought any duty-free alcohol, did you?" The sun had to be over the yard-arm somewhere in the world and after seeing what death had done to Ben, Sam felt in need of a drink.
"Sorry – we barely made it to the airport on time." Kensi gave Deeks a significant look.
"Enough information already." Sam really didn't need to hear any more. He could well imagine why they'd been delayed. Just wait until they had a family – they'd look back on these blissful, childfree days at laugh at how free they had been back then. Mind you, Kensi and Deeks would be able to afford round-the-clock child care without thinking twice, so maybe it would be different for them, just as so many things were when you didn't have to worry about money. The rich really were different – they were cushioned from the everyday worries of life. Some times Sam thought that Deeks didn't know he was living, because he had everything he wanted.
And then he remembered. Sam mentally retracted all of his uncharitable thoughts, as he remembered that if things had been different, then right around now Kensi and Deeks would have been waiting for the birth of their child. Denise had taken a series of photographs of them at the wedding, holding baby Callie and looking down at her adoringly. He knew how much pain lay behind those smiles. So what if he was running on less than four hours sleep a night and wondering how he was going to manage to pay the bills each month? Sam had two healthy children and that was a prize beyond anything. There really were some things that money could not buy. And no amount of money could save you from heartbreak.
Just when Sam was beginning to think the day could not get any worse, it did. Someone up there had clearly decided that the fortnight of inaction while Kensi and Deeks were on honeymoon was well and truly over and that real life was to return with a vengeance. It started innocuously enough, with a call to Deeks cell.
"Hey honey! Yeah, we're back. And we got you the best present ever. No, not Godiva chocolates, even better than that." His face fell almost comically. "You're kidding me? Please say you're kidding me, Nico?"
That got their attention as effectively as any three-minute warning.
"We're at LAX. No, it's not a problem. We'll be with you as fast as we can. Just hold on."
"You want to share that?" Callen asked, trying very hard not to jump to any conclusions, but at the same time wondering why Nico had called Deeks.
"Yup, I'll share – but later. We're going to have to get moving. Anyone see a patrol car around?" Deeks was searching around frantically. Taking callen's car was out of the question, but LAPD were usually well in evidence around the terminals of LAX, so it shouldn't be too much of a problem to hitch a lift. "Sam – can we leave you here? That was Nico and she said the baby's coming – and coming fast."
Grabbing hold of Callen's elbow before the older man could say a word, he started to sprint back to the terminal building.
"Do not lose that luggage, okay?" Kensi warned and then took off after them.
"First babies take ages to come! Everyone knows that!" Sam bawled at their departing back, but to no avail. Great. He was left here with a pile of luggage and a dead body. And he'd be the one who was left with all the paperwork too.
"Shit! Where are the cops when you need them?" Deeks couldn't believe his eyes. Here they were, with no transport and no sign of a friendly patrol car.
"Cab. We'll get a cab." Callen started towards the queue, only to be pulled back.
"Cabs can't break the speed limit without getting pulled over," Deeks reminded him. "You want to be getting a traffic violation when your baby's being born?" Just then a patrol car appeared, so he didn't bother waiting for an answer, but just threw himself into the road, gesticulating wildly.
"Marty! Be careful." Kensi had a vision of herself as a grieving widow after 2 weeks of marriage and it was not an attractive proposition. Luckily, she was spared the sight of a large Deeks-sized hole in the windshield, as the officer braked sharply and Deeks dashed round to the window. He appeared to be doing some fast talking, along with a quick flash of NCIS ID, because after less than a minute, they were being beckoned forward.
"Nico's in labout?" Callen had gone ashen, despite the dash across the parking lot.
"That's what she said. And I don't think she was kidding." Deeks looked at him in concern.
"Why did she call you?"
"Maybe because she was afraid you might be driving and crash the car? Or pass out?" That looked as if it might still be a distinct possibility.
"I'm fine." Callen said unconvincingly, and then breathed in deeply. "Why's she not going to the hospital?"
"Because the paramedics said the baby was coming too fast." LAPD were doing them proud, cutting through the traffic at warp speed and with sirens blaring. 2It wasn't safe to move her and they'd deliver the baby at home."
"Sam said first babies are always late. And that labour goes on for hours."
Deeks looked at him sceptically. "And you believed him? Sam says a lot of things."
"We'll be there soon," Kensi said consolingly. This was so not how she'd imagined her return from honeymoon.
"We'd better be." Callen knew his life would not be worth living if he missed this.
"Ten minutes at the most." Deeks brought up their home number on his cell and then handed the phone across. "Why don't you talk to her?"
It had seemed like a great idea, and talking to Nico calmed Callen down, right up to the point when she yelled so loudly that he thought his ear drum might just have ruptured.
"Can you go any faster?" Deeks asked, having heard the piercing shriek. Half of LA had probably heard it too. It was beginning to look as if ten minutes might be too long.
"The paramedics are there, aren't they?" The last thing Kensi wanted to do was to arrive at Callen's house to discover that she was supposed to take charge, purely because she was a woman. What she knew about giving birth could be written on the back of a stamp, with room to spare. She was pretty sure there was no need to boil water though – unless you wanted to give a nervous father something to do.
"Oh yes." One of them was talking to Callen right now, trying to calm him down, but with little success. Callen looked as if he was on the verge of hyperventilating. Deeks hoped that when they arrived, he and Kensi could keep a discrete distance away from the scene of the action. Nico was his oldest friend, but there was no way he wanted to have to watch her give birth. No way at all. He'd never be able to look her in the eyes again.
When Callen finished the call, he leant back against the seat and closed his eyes. "I'm going to be a father." It was only just beginning to sink in that the baby was really on the way.
Kensi decided that this was a good time to change the subject, in the vague hope of distracting Callen's attention for a few moments. "Killing Ben and then putting his body in your car makes it look awfully personal."
"How could you not notice?" Deeks asked curiously. "I mean, he was pretty ripe."
"We did notice," Callen protested. "Sam moaned about how bad the car smelt the whole way to the airport. And the body definitely wasn't there yesterday."
"Why kill Ben in the first place? The guy was a student, you said? Doing some hospitality work at weekends? Why would anyone want to kill him?" It didn't make sense, Kensi thought. Unless Ben had some dark past. But Hetty would have checked that out – she was very protective of Nell, especially since she'd been framed and then arrested.
"Think about it," Deeks said slowly, as the puzzle pieces started to slip into place. "There's one common factor to all of this: our wedding. Ben was working at it, and that was where he met Nell. Callen was a guest. And Tad was killed on his way to the wedding. Two deaths – one common factor. Our wedding."
"Or you," Callen reminded him. "You could be the link."
"Bugger." Hetty's bad language was catching. Deeks looked across at Kensi. "Welcome back to reality, Mrs Deeks. It's probably not too late to get an annulment."
"Dream on." Kensi reached across Callen and took hold of his hand. "You are not getting rid of me that easily. We're in this for the haul. For better, or for worse, remember?"