First of all, I apologize for the slight delay in uploading this chapter. My laptop crashed before I had the chance to finish it. This chapter had been sitting on my computer for a couple days, waiting for its finishing touches, but my laptop decided to crash before I could upload. Anyway, it's only a day late so I hope you guys can forgive me. Without further chitchat I give you chapter 7. Enjoy!

I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it.
The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.
-Nelson Mandela

She's twenty weeks pregnant when Hetty finally puts her foot down demanding desk duty. Under loud protest she says goodbye to the boys when they go on their first case without her. Deeks is a little uneasy tagging along with Callen and Sam but he's happy Hetty didn't make him get a new partner. Yet.
They've decided on picking a new partner together and splitting their work time once the baby is born.

It takes a little time for both of them to readjust to the new circumstances. They have been working together for more than seven years now and it's weird not spending every waking moment together.
Fortunately they keep each other in the loop with lots of texts back and forth. So, when one day it takes Deeks a little too long to reply for Kensi's liking she's quick to call him. When he doesn't pick up, her worry becomes more prominent. Before she knows it the entire osp center is in turmoil because she demands to speak to Deeks. After forty five minutes of still no contact she begins to really panic and when she sees Callen come into the bullpen without Sam OR Deeks she stalks towards him "What the HELL is going on Callen?" she demands, hands on her ever expanding belly.

Callen glances towards Hetty's office and sighs "Nothing to worry about"

Kensi raises an eyebrow. She knows that tone, she knows that look. Something is most definitely going on here and she'll be damned if she didn't find out what it is, right this instant "Don't you dare tell me not to worry. I've been trying to call Deeks for hours and can't seem to reach him. Now here you are, WITHOUT Sam OR Deeks and you tell me not to worry. Tell me Callen. NOW!"

"Kensi, I need you to stay calm. You're pregnant" Callen answers calmly. Too calmly for her liking. If there's one thing he should know by now it's that you do NOT tell a pregnant woman to calm down, especially not one called Kensi Blye.

"I know I'm pregnant Idiot" she spits venomously, pointing towards her belly. She's getting more agitated by the minute and she feels a major headache coming on already.

Callen recoils and even manages to look a little scared, before he finds his footing again "Kens, calm down" he says again, reaching out to touch her hands

Kensi takes another step forwards, practically bumping into him with her belly "I am NOT calming down until you tell me where Deeks is"
she says, voice low, threatening. She's tired, she's cranky, she sick with worry and on top of that the little peanut has been kicking like CRAZY for the past twenty minutes or so, making her feel extremely uncomfortable. All in all, NOW was not a good time to go against the likes of Kensi Blye.

"Kens –" Callen tried again, but doesn't get very far before Kensi cuts him off with a loud shout of his name "CALLEN!"

She's practically fuming, steam coming out of her ears, ready for another round of verbal abuse when she hears a voice come from behind her "We don't know where Mr. Deeks is, Ms. Blye."

Whipping her head around she's met with something that makes her stomach turn. Hetty is looking at her with so much hurt and pain that she briefly wonders if this is Hetty's roundabout way of telling her Deeks died. But, as quickly as that thought came, she files it away. Hetty doesn't do roundabouts, she ALWAYS tells it like it is, good or bad. For once she's glad for that "What do you mean; we don't know where he is?"

"We lost contact" Hetty explains, quietly guiding Kensi into her office, away from the prying eyes of the group of spectators that seemed to have heard the commotion.

Hetty points to a chair but Kensi refuses to sit "How the hell can you lose contact between the three of you? And where is Sam or don't you know that either?" she spits, her anger quickly reaching its boiling point.

"Sam has stayed behind at the crime scene, trying to figure out what happened" Callen's voice is quiet, timid even. He's looking anywhere but at Kensi. This is the part of the job he hates, the uncertainty, the not knowing. He can only imagine what Kensi must be feeling right now, pregnant and alone, not knowing what happened or where her partner is.

"What happened Callen?" Kensi asks quietly after a minute, her anger slowly morphing into worry.

Callen swallows, this is the part where he needs to be careful. They might not know where Deeks is but they DO know he's alive, or at least he HOPES they know. Right now he's not really sure of anything other than that Deeks has gone missing "We don't really know" he admits, lowering his head in shame.

"What DO you know Mr. Callen?" Hetty cuts in before Kensi loses it. She feels her whole body shivering and the only other thing she feels is a hand that pushes her down on a chair, handing her a glass of water.

The voices she hears are muffled, like they're a mile away, and she has to strain to hear what they are saying. "We rolled up at the crime scene and found multiple bodies. Sam and I stayed with one body trying to determine what happened. I asked Deeks to check the rest of the house and I haven't seen him since"
Callen said, backtracking their movements since this morning.

"So he's still at the house?" Hetty asks, but from her tone Kensi knows she finds that highly unlikely.

Callen sighs "We thought he was but after a while we didn't hear or see anything so Sam went to go check it out," he answers, doubt laced in every word "We searched the entire house top to bottom but there was no sign of Deeks"

Kensi replays everything in her head, trying to figure out what might have happened. Deep down she knows he's okay, she FEELS he's okay. He might not be with them right now and she has no way to prove it but she just KNOWS he's okay. He has to be "Any signs of a struggle?" she asks, eyes focused on Callen

"Kensi" Callen says and she suddenly hears the lingering doubt and tiredness in his voice

"Callen, any signs of a struggle?" she asks, determination lacing her voice. She's trying her hardest to keep it together, to NOT lose it, not HERE, NOT at work, not when she doesn't actually know there IS anything to freak out over.

But the next words out of his mouth make her double over from shock "We found his badge and some blood spatters by the back door"

She suddenly clutches her belly, the baby whom just a minute ago was still kicking up a storm has suddenly gone quiet and she wonders if that's the irony of the situation. If it's because baby knows there's something wrong and it's trying it's hardest to not make things any harder than they need to be "O my god" she manages to choke out. And then the floodgates open, the tears she so bravely had been holding in for the past half hour streaming down her face in rapid pace.

"Please don't think the worst. Deeks is a great cop; he knows how to get out of tough spots. I'm sure he's fine" Callen tries to reassure her, placing a hand on her shoulder and wiping away some of the tears that are staining her face.

"You don't know that" she sniffles, still clutching her belly with both of her hands "He can be dead for all we know"

"I do know that Kensi" Callen says determinedly, "I know Deeks. He's going to do anything in his power to get back to you" he continues "and the little nugget" he finally adds, putting a hand on top of Kensi's stomach.

It's quiet when she suddenly whips her head up, looking towards Hetty and Callen who are quietly conversing in the far end of the office, she clears her throat, manages to find her bearing again "What now?" she asks.

"I go back to the crime scene, but I need you to realize you are not the only one demanding updates. I can't be worrying about you freaking out on me when there's no news for a little while. I will keep Eric and Nell in the loop and they will brief you. Deal?"

She knows it's Callen in detective mode trying to distance himself from the situation but that doesn't make the words hurt any less. She wants to tell him that, she wants to shout, kick, scream, that it's DEEKS for god's sake. A part of their team that's gone missing. A friend. a partner. a lover, he's talking about.
Instead she just quietly nods her head and whispers "Yes"

She sees his retreating figure and determinedly shouts his name before he gets a chance to round the corner. He whips his head back in her direction, eyes tired and questioning "Please bring him back in one piece"

"I'm not leaving until we've found him Kensi, I promise" he says determined. He had learned a long time ago that no man, dead or alive, get's left behind. In this case he would much prefer it if they found Deeks alive, not just for his sake, or the sake of the team, but for the sake of that beautiful woman in front of him clasped with her hands around her prominent belly and the little nugget inside of it. Nobody deserves to grow up without a father, and NO ONE especially not Kensi deserves to have to do this alone.

Kensi gives him a weak smile "Don't promise something you don't know you can keep" she whimpers, fresh tears streaming down her face.

"This is one promise I tend to keep Kensi" he says, before quickly making his way out of ops, back to the crime scene, back to the questions, that will hopefully lead to answers, and Deeks.

His head throbs, his hands itch and his eyes burn. Slowly trying to open them he squints around the room. He's not sure where he is or how he came here but there's one thing he knows for sure. He's tied up in a wheelchair and he's been injected with something that makes him feel extremely loopy.

Looking around the room more accurately he can determined he's in some sort of warehouse and he's definitely not alone. At the front of the room are two very burly looking men guarding the entrance, they seem to be loaded with heavy firearms. Deeks wrecks his brain thinking where he left his own gun. Wiggling left and right in the wheelchair he feels something hard on his right hip, relieved that for some reason his kidnappers didn't take his gun. A sudden buzzing in his left pocket startles him. He quickly realizes it's probably Kensi calling or texting him. He doesn't know how much time has passed but he's sure it's been more than enough time for people to start worrying and for Kensi to start freaking out. Feeling extremely guilty for not being able to reply, the thought of the team looking for him brings him some solace.

"I see you're awake Mr. Gentry" a tiny man with a long grey beard stops in front of him. Deeks sighs, he should've known that alias was going to come back and bite him in the ass one day. He had never been fond of the roll of Mr. Gentry, feeling like it was the easiest alias to lose himself in. Ever since Kensi and he became official he had promised to abandon the alias of Max and as far as the thugs where concerned Max Gentry was killed in a cafe shootout. Apparently the tiny man had recognized him at the crime scene and decided to take him out.

"You seem very much alive for a dead guy Max" the other guy, about two inches taller than the little one, said. Both men where now standing eerily close to him and Deeks quickly wondered what they where going to do to him "Being dead is overrated" he chuckled sarcastically

"You should know"

"So, tell me, what am I doing here?" Deeks asked. Both men had called him by his alias of Max Gentry so he had to assume his cover was still intact and the thugs hadn't found out he was a cop. 1 - 0 for him, he quickly thought.

"Just wanted to know what you were doing at my crime scene buddy. I mean, it sounds like the beginning of a bad joke. Dead guy walks into a crime scene"

Deeks let out a tiny sigh of relieve, but quickly covered it up with a cough. He needed to keep it together, slip into the alias of Max, coming up with a credible story to feed them "I needed a place to crash" he says steadily "I've been living on the streets ever since I 'died' and that particular house looked abandoned but extremely cozy" Deeks answered"You should've put a sign on the door saying occupied by the dead"

"That wouldn't have scared you away, being dead and all" One of the guys answered, bending forward, practically spitting the words in his face.

"Touché"

A loud rumble echoed through the warehouse "Fancy word for a sketchy guy" the other guy laughed, clapping him lightly on the shoulder.
For two bad guys they where giving him too much leeway for his liking to say what he wanted.

"I read Wikipedia sometimes" Deeks answered "But, you still haven't told me what I'm actually doing here. Tied up in a wheelchair"

"I'm not sure that's something you should worry about. You should worry more about the fact if we're going to let you live or not. You're dead to the rest of the world which means that nobody will miss you when we actually DO kill you"

There you go, that's more of the threatening lingo he's grown accustom to from bad guys.
"But why would you do that? I haven't done anything to you, have I?" Deeks raised an eyebrow, looking from one guy to the other. He was wracking his brain trying to come up with a reason for these two guys to kidnap him. It's not like he knew them or anything

"You really don't remember me do you?" Or maybe he did? He really didn't recognize their faces but then again Deeks had seen many faces in his time as an (undercover) cop that it was hard to remember them all "Should I?" he asked eventually, still drawing a blank.

"December 12th, 1996. Long Island beach house 312" Both men said in unison, apparently that startled them which gave Deeks a little time to recall the date.

Ah, now it all made sense. December 12th 1996 was the day the cops busted down his Long Island beach house and arrested ten guys for selling and distributing illegal drugs and weapons. At the time of the bust there was a weapon deal going down and Max Gentry was still a kid player in the whole game. One of the guys had shoved the gun into his hands, hoping to avoid jail time "I had nothing to do with that" Deeks lied. In all honesty he had anything to do with it, OBVIOUSLY"They all say that but YOU where the one holding the gun and I was the one who got locked up for TWELVE freaking years"

"That wasn't my fault" he lied, again. He was the main reason the guys had ALL been locked away.

"How did you get away Scot free?" the tiny man asked, genuinely curious.

Deeks didn't answer immediately, and that only made the men more suspicious, he had to come up with something quick "I didn't. They gave me three years probation and I had to wear an ankle bracelet for the entire time" he lied, internally berating himself for coming up with such a ludicrous lie.

"That's minor compared to the time we did" The other man, who Deeks had finally learned was called Theo, said.

"I don't know why they sentenced you like that" Deeks answered honestly. At the time he had thought twelve years was a little excessive for a gun deal that didn't even make it all the way through. Especially when a similar deal had given his lifelong best friend, Ray, probation and a job as a snitch.

"Bullshit" Theo spat, slapping Deeks hard across the face, making him recoil.

"No it's not. I really don't know" Deeks said, spitting out the blood that had accumulated in his mouth.

"BULLSHIT, Mr. Gentry, I know your little secret" Deeks looked up with worried eyes, did they really just play him just now? Had they had known he was a cop all this time? "You're girlfriend, Samantha, was a freaking COP. She cut you a fucking deal!" The tiny man shouted, lowering his hands to Deek's belt, rummaging at the back to get to the gun they apparently knew he held there.

"Ex girlfriend" Deeks said sarcastically, desperately trying to stay in character but finding it harder each passing minute.

"There's no Samantha to safe you this time. You're going to die"

Deeks closed his eyes, taking a deep breath "Can't we talk about this?"

A sarcastic chuckle escaped Theo. Handing the gun to his partner he said"No"

If Deeks didn't know any better he would've swore he saw a little bit of guilt and desperation in the other man's eyes

"Shoot him Greg" Theo demanded "Now"

Deeks closes his eyes again, feeling the barrel of the gun against his temple. His whole life flashes before his eyes and he feels the moisture dribble down his cheeks, realizing he's crying. He's never going to see his child being born, he's never going to see him or her grow up, see Kensi be the great mother he knows she can be and he's never going to marry the love of his life, but most importantly he's never going to be able to hold her one last time telling her that the last seven years have been the best of his entire life.

"Please don't do this. We can talk about this" Deeks pleads one last time, focusing his attention on Greg. That seems to be the one with the conscious, if he can call it that. He knows that he's screwed, he's tied up with both hands and feet and they're pointing his own gun at him. There's absolutely nothing left for him to do than to beg.

"No" he hears one last time. And then, just when he's about to surrender to his fate, all hell breaks loose. The warehouse gets breached with people from left to right and he hears gunshots from far away and feels men running past him.
He doesn't dare open his eyes until he feels a hand on his shoulder. His eyes trail upwards and he's met with the concerned eyes of Sam Hanna "Are you okay?" he asks.

Looking down, he realizes there's no bullet wound on him, and he's not in any kind of pain. "I think so" he answers.

"Let's get you to the hospital just to be sure" Callen's voice comes from behind him, two hands helping helping him up and out of the confinement of the wheelchair.

He wiggles on his feet a couple times, gives himself a quick once over and then focuses his attention back on his rescuers "If it's all the same to you I much rather go back to OSP and give my girlfriend and unborn child the biggest hug you can imagine"

"No problem buddy, no problem" Sam says, clapping Deeks on the shoulder "She'll be so happy to see you Deeks"

A/N Wow that was a hard chapter to write. I know I've said that this story would have his rough patches and I have mapped most of the story out but that doesn't mean it's not hard to write at times. It's one thing to write them fighting with each other, but outside forces tearing them apart is a whole other ballgame. And, since we're on the topic anyway. Let me just say something that will hopefully ease your worried minds a little.
I KNOW I've said (and keep repeating) that this story isn't a happy romantic one, I just want to say this story IS Densi, its endgame IS Densi. I'm not going to change that. They're going to be together for the remainder of this story, that's something I promise. What I can't and won't promise is that it's going to be all smooth sailing, but I'm pretty sure you guys have figured that out by now ;-)

I'm really proud as to how this chapter turned out and I'd love to hear your thoughts as well. If it's not too much trouble I would kindly ask you to review as well as favorite/follow this story. It's great knowing the story is getting so much attention with follows and favorites but it's a whole different kind of motivation when I actually HEAR (well, read) what you guys think of it.

See you all here next week? Same site, different chapter.

XoXo