The big reveal! Hope you like it – or love it (which would be way better) so let's all find out…

Disclaimer: NCISLA is not mine…but the premiere of s4 in Australia is next week yay!

Silent Secrets

Chapter 12

Turning over to see Kensi soundly sleeping next to him in his bed Deeks smiled to himself. It wasn't a smug I got her into my bed smile no, it was a smile of complete happiness. Finally, Kensi had admitted she really liked him, hell having first time sex was proof enough that their relationship had stepped up to the final notch. It hurt Deeks when Kensi wanted him to say over and over that he loved her. He got the feeling that she hadn't heard someone say they loved her, other than her family but that doesn't count. How anyone could not love Kensi Blye didn't make sense to him. He loved her more than he had ever loved anyone before and if he had to tell Kensi a million times to make her understand she was loved by him then he would gladly do it.

After getting up to go to the bathroom, Deeks wandered into the kitchen to get some water. Filling the glass he walked over to the coffee table and saw his laptop open and still running. 'I thought I turned this off..oh wait no I didn't' he chuckled at the thought of Kensi pulling him to the bedroom in a bit of a hurry. He ran his fingers over the keyboard to shut down what he was working on before Kensi had distracted him with a kiss, when he saw the little red flag next to a message on the screen.

"Oh my God", Deeks said aloud, he was shocked and surprised at the message from LAPD.

"Deeks, you okay? I heard you get up", a sleepy Kensi appeared around the corner rubbing her eyes.

"Yeah Kens, I'm sorry if I woke you. You can go back to bed" said Deeks, not able to take his eyes off the message staring at him from the computer.

"Deeks what is it? You look as pale as a ghost!" Kensi frowned, she was now very concerned at Deeks not even looking up at her when she spoke to him.

He finally looked up at his partner and waved his hand at her to come sit beside him, "Take a look at this".

Kensi walked over and sat down next to Deeks, where she read the message. She covered her hand in shock at the content of what it said.

"Is this true Deeks?" she sputtered.

"I'll need to double check all the details at LAPD tomorrow. After all these years I can't believe this Nichols case has brought this revelation up. I felt a connection to Sharni…I just didn't know it was because I knew her".

"It's a small world I guess Deeks. This is amazing if this message is real. It means Sharni has a real family, not the family she has lived with til now" Kensi rubbed Deeks arm.

"I don't think I'm gonna be able to get back to sleep. I'll be thinking about this Kens".

"Let's try to sleep anyway. As you said we can check the LAPD database tomorrow morning".

OSP CENTRE

Kensi and Deeks arrived at work together early the next morning and after grabbing a morning coffee and a donut each, they sat next to each other at Deeks' desk constantly moving from phone calls to emails to LAPD about the message they found last night.

Hetty who had always got to work very early was watching them working furiously at their desks, wondering what was going on. She had prided herself on knowing just about everything that went on in the OSP centre and this exchange had got her curious. She decided to wait until her two senior agents arrived to be filled in on the details.

Sam and Callen wandered in an hour later to see Kensi and Deeks oblivious to anyone in the room it seemed as Sam raised his grumble a little loud to the two young agents.

"Hey Kensi, I think you're in the wrong spot. Your desk is next to Callen's. Unless Hetty has changed our desks again without us knowing. Which she did last time".

Kensi looked up and gave a small wave of recognition of Sam, then turned and faced back to Deeks. Hetty walked over to the bullpen, also aware of something unusual going on.

"Hetty, do you know what's going on?" asked Callen.

"I do not Mr Callen. But I am very interested to find out" she answered, as she saw Deeks and Kensi hang up the phone.

"Care to let us know what is going on guys?" Callen asked.

Kensi and Deeks looked at each other before Deeks let out a huge sigh.

"I got a message on my laptop last night from LAPD. It was a message about Sharni Nichols".

"Is she okay Deeks?" Sam frowned, fearing someone had hurt her again.

"Yeah I called the hostel, she's fine"

"Then what is it?" Callen asked, seeing Deeks and Kensi glance at each other again.

"Sharni Nichols isn't Sharni Nichols" Kensi answered.

"I'm not following Miss Blye, can you explain?" Hetty spoke up.

"Sharni's real name is Sharni Conden. She's a missing person from twenty years ago. LAPD's facial recognition program got a hit on her when Deeks uploaded her file and details of the case we just finalised into the police database. Sharni was six years old when she went missing"

"So how does this relate to you, Deeks?" asked Callen.

"Because I know Sharni. I grew up next to her in the same street. When we were kids, we used to play together all the time. When she went missing, I vowed I would do everything to find her, joining the police force was a way of doing that. After I graduated from the academy, the Missing Persons Unit was where I asked to be transferred to first. I spent my first three years in the force madly looking everywhere for Sharni and got nowhere…until now".

"Oh wow…so Paul Nichols was the one who kidnapped her?" Sam asked.

"Yep. Paul and his wife, Stacy had Glen successfully but after Paul was diagnosed with cancer, his fertility dropped dramatically that they couldn't get pregnant again for a while. A couple of years after Glen, Stacy managed to get pregnant but sadly miscarried the baby after a few months. The unborn baby was a girl. Stacy was devastated, she really wanted a daughter. When it became clear that they were going to be unable to conceive naturally, it seems Paul went out of his way to give his wife the daughter she badly wanted. The opportunity to seize on that came when he kidnapped Sharni and raised her as their own daughter" said Kensi.

"And I saw the whole kidnapping happen in my own front yard where Sharni and I were playing together that day". Deeks mournfully said. "I couldn't stop it from happening", as he punched the table with his fist.

"Deeks, it's not your fault. You were a little kid, there's no way you could have stopped Sharni being kidnapped by yourself!" Sam reached out to him.

"Listen Deeks, Sam's right. There's no way you could have stopped it" added Callen.

"Mr Deeks, you may not have been able to help then. Maybe there is something you can do now. Does Sharni have her real family alive somewhere?" Hetty asked.

"We've been looking at that. Sharni's father is dead, but her mom is alive and she lives in San Diego. Sharni also has a younger brother too. She probably doesn't even know about as he was born after her disappearance…Hetty is it okay if I take a couple of days off to first tell Sharni about her real family and to also take her to see them?"

"Yes Mr Deeks, we are quiet with cases at the moment so that will be fine. I'll expect you to tell me how it all pans out though" Hetty said with a wink.

"Of course Hetty. Thank you"

The team dispersed from the bullpen, leaving Kensi and Deeks alone at their desks again.

"Feel like some company when you take that road trip with Sharni to see her family Deeks?"

Deeks smiled at his partner, "Sure Kensi…doing it the second time around is always better I say".

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