Henrietta Lange had been in the "spy" game for a number of decades. When she was finally ordered "out" for an easy "pre retirement position", she was not happy. Especially when she was told to form a "team" using agents they had chosen for her. She reviewed all the dossiers NCIS had sent to her. She even personally interviewed each and every candidate. Everyone would make a decent agent, but none would make a "world class" agent. Sure they all had the education, training and even experience to fulfill the general requirements, but everyone lacked one critical element. Yes, Henrietta Lange knew what made a "great agent". Decade's worth of experience had taught her that education, training and experience were required, but a "great agent" needed one other element. They needed to have been "broken" emotionally and to have survived. The only way to have survived meant that impenetrable titanium walls had been built around their heart and soul. They would never be guided by their emotions while in the field. It was the "proverbial missing link" necessary in Henrietta Lange's "spy" game. It was the one critical element Henrietta Lange required in an agent in order to train them to be "great" at the "spy" game. Education, training and experience were all important factors that could not be overlooked, but emotional numbness had to be present.
If NCIS wanted her to form a "great" team then they would have to wait for her to find her agents. They would not pick them for her. Ten months later, while lending her expertise in a drug case, a young agent by the name of Kensi Blye came to her attention. Two years later a young undercover LAPD detective sparked her interest.
Fourteen months later NCIS Special Agent Kensi Blye and LAPD Detective Marty Deeks became partners. Somehow, over the next 10 months, they learned to completely trust each other. Learning to trust was not unheard of for either partner as both had managed, occasionally, to do it with partners in the past. Kensi had done it with Callen and Sam. Deeks had done it with Jess. What was unusual was how quickly it had occurred. Trust for either partner, if it did occur, usually took at least a couple of years or longer to accomplish and even then it was not guaranteed 100% complete trust. The whole trust issue did not scare the two partners, something else did. NCIS Special Agent Kensi Blye and LAPD Liaison Detective Marty Deeks were slowly cracking each others emotional defences. There was no explanation as to how, it was just happening. The "team" knew when Marty had become jealous over Kensi using her "seductive voice" on a male suspect. Kensi became aware of it when she found it difficult to watch Marty kiss a former undercover contact. Still neither one would admit they had feelings for each other beyond the normal partner relationship. It was safer to deny the sparks and tremors each felt when they touched or made eye contact than face the reality of the "thing" they were cascading towards. Years of experience had taught both partners that denial was a great tool in the game of emotional control.
In life, people will draw on their "education" to aid them. There are situations though, where all the teachings in the world, all the life experiences you possess, everything you have witnessed, and the emotional walls you have built will not be enough to prepare you. In these times, pray that someone will be there.