Hey everybody- First off, a huge apology for the long wait on this chapter. It's been written since about October, but I've been revising it almost daily. I just couldn't get it to sit right! But finally, I think I've got it to a good place. Thanks again for all the reviews and the favorites. They've helped me get my butt in gear and fix this up! The next few should be up a lot sooner than this one was.

Disclaimer: They're not mine. But I thank CBS and Shane Brennan for letting me play with them.

Spoilers for Season 1 "Missing"

Again, thanks for the reviews, and enjoy.

She almost told him she needed him.

It was late when Kensi rested her head against the fence, unwilling to leave the relative safety of headquarters. She couldn't go home yet. At home there was no one to put up a brave front for, no one to hide her feelings from. There were only empty rooms and the long, stretching silence that allowed a person to think. And thinking wasn't something she wanted to do today. Because today they'd lost Dom. An agent. A partner. A friend.

Sighing, Kensi tried to tell herself that he might not be gone. After all, he was only missing, traded off to someone they didn't know and for reasons they couldn't understand. But dark thoughts about what might have happened to him were finding their way into her head, and all of her focus was placed on keeping them away.

Her emotions had run the gamut today, with the morning starting out hazy. The night before had been the most fun she'd had in a while, laughing along with the team as each one of them sang karaoke. Coming in this morning had been difficult for most of the team, herself included. Kensi felt like she was moving in slow motion, Hetty was strangely chipper, Nate looked like he'd been hit by a bus, Eric seemed like he had actually slept out on the beach, not just dressed for it, Dom must have been busy, because he hadn't joined them the night before, and somehow Sam and Callen weren't the least bit affected, that she could see. Tolerance, she supposed, and she envied them. It was looking like the hardest part of the day was going to be making it through an entire safety evaluation with the aftermath of a hangover. Until they got the call.

An 'agent needs assistance' call was never a good sign. And the fact that Dom wasn't answering any of his phones kicked Kensi's panic into overdrive. Panic turned to terror as she caught sight of pools of blood in his abandoned car. It wasn't until they found one of the kidnappers, dead from a gunshot wound, that her spirits rose. She managed to 'keep hope alive' as Callen put it after the kidnappers' sister, a nurse named Claudia, told them she'd seen Dom and had patched up a minor wound he'd had.

Kensi had gone in undercover as Claudia, and she was nearly bursting with the anticipation of getting Dom back as Callen carefully guided her through a maze of stairwells and doors. She should have known that the Taro brothers wouldn't bring Dom to the meet, just as they didn't take Claudia to her brothers. So when the dying criminal told them where they'd left Dom, she ran out of the building, Callen and Sam close behind.

The drive to the location they were given was passed in a tense silence by the three agents. Kensi gripped the cold metal of her gun tightly, putting marks into her hands as she cautioned a glance at the men in the front seat. Sam was gripping the steering wheel harder than she held her own gun, maybe picturing the neck of whoever had taken Dom. Callen, of course, was Callen, calm and quiet. She could always count on him for that. It was strange that for a man who made his life out of constantly changing, he managed to be a source of consistency in her own life.

The air was thick with urgency as Sam slid to a halt. Kensi could see the van in front of her, and the thought of Dom being so close made her leap from the car, following Sam and Callen forward, guns drawn. Her chest felt like it would explode, and as they opened the door, the anticipation reached the final boiling point.

And then there was nothing. The van was empty, with no sign that Dom had even been there. Kensi felt her heart plummet into her stomach as she stared at the empty space, unable to tear her eyes away.

She could hear Sam punch the side of the van with his fist, furiously turning away. Kensi felt the same way, but couldn't find the strength needed to mimic his actions. Instead, she turned her gaze to Callen, hoping that he would have some kind of answer. He was also breathing heavily, but his face remained blank as he looked around the area, finally locking eyes with her. She caught a glimpse into their depths, like a flash of lightning in a storm, and saw that he was just as angry as Sam and just as disbelieving as she was. And as suddenly as it had come, it was locked back away, replaced by the ever present shield. But what she had seen there would be burned into her memory of that moment forever.

Kensi heard the door behind her open, effectively bringing her back from the van on the ridge to the dark lot of OSP. Drawing in a breath, she turned expecting to see Hetty again, with another pep talk for her. She knew that Hetty meant well, and her talk had helped earlier, but Kensi didn't know what sort of words would help this time. Yet instead of seeing the short, old woman waiting patiently for her, she found her team leader leaning on the building, staring at her intently.

"Hey," she said, leaving the fence and stepping forward into the dim security light. In the low light, she could see his eyes had changed to a dark blue and were focused on her own brown pools.

Kensi both hated and loved it when Callen looked at her. He could tell you everything or show you nothing with his eyes alone. But with his legendary status, she always had trouble telling if what she saw inside the blue orbs when he did show something was really him, or a cover for what was truly inside. She tried to read his eyes now, but he kept them and his face impassive.

"Look," she started, pacing alongside of Sam's Challenger, "I know what you're going to say. You're going to tell me that there was nothing we could have done. And I know that. You're going to say that we're going to do everything we can to get him back. And I know that too. You're also going to say that he'll be okay. But there is no way we can know that, Callen. We can't," she nearly shouted, her heart racing as she stopped and turned to him. He simply watched her.

"Damn it," she swore, choking on tears that had held back all day. "Why him, Callen? Why Dom?"

There was no answer.

"I should have known something was wrong when he didn't come out last night. I should have tried to call him."

Still nothing. She wanted to be mad at him for taking this so much better than she was, but couldn't bring herself to do so.

"If I would have called him, I could have convinced him to come out and then he would be here with us and..." she trailed off, unable to think and struggling to even breathe calmly.

They stood that way for some time, letting the unusually cool and silent air surround them. Callen still didn't say a thing, but he didn't need to. For one glimmering moment, Kensi caught a glimpse of the man inside of the legend, the emotion that was rarely seen. Something in his eyes shifted, and she found herself nearly running into his arms.

Burying her face in his shirt, she could smell gunpowder, sweat, and something that was uniquely Callen. It made her feel safe, secure, and allowed her to shed some tears for the first time that day. Most people at headquarters had been tip-toeing around her since they'd gotten the call, and she could feel their cautious glances when she wasn't looking. She only needed someone to be there for her, and Callen was.

Slowly, almost as if he were second guessing himself, he reached up and brushed a lone tear off her cheek. It was a strangely tender moment, unfamiliar to both, but Kensi didn't feel uncomfortable. If anything, the moment felt almost natural, which surprised her less than she'd thought it would.

Kensi slowly lifted her head and gazed into his striking blue eyes. It was almost imperceptible as they moved, and she couldn't tell if he'd bent down or she'd reached up, but their lips connected in a soft, gentle kiss. There was no thought involved, no wondering about the aftermath. There was only the comfort that each looked to provide to the other.

The door creaked open behind them, bringing them both back from their temporary bliss. Kensi turned quickly and wiped her eyes, unwilling to be vulnerable to anyone else, and listened as Sam said something to Callen quietly. She turned and watched as Sam sent a slight nod her way, which she gave back, and got into his car to leave.

The silence returned once more as Kensi thought of what she should say. She wanted to say something about what had happened, but somehow felt that no explanation was needed. She wanted to ask him to stay at her apartment tonight, that she had a room he could use. She didn't want to be alone. But Callen was already turning back into the building, and she had a job she wanted to do in someone else's apartment. So she followed his lead, and let words simply float into the enduring silence of the night.

She almost told him she needed him.