A/N: Wow...I am completely floored by the overwhelming response I got for this story. Thank you so much to everything gone all wrong, melzabub, Rebel Magnus, Takoh, Mickey-Phil, mrs seely booth, Miss Rose Kalakaua, tjn1, CrazyWomanLovesYou, Building Castles,sillymissy98, MitchieRae, andrewjeeves, Haleybug52, and Nina.4444 for adding this story to favorites or alerts. Thanks also to those special few who reviewed: Takoh, DizzyDrea, Rebel Magnus,sillymissy98, and TwilightPony21. You guys are the best!

Chapter Two: New Beginning

Eric and Nell's house is a small, simple affair tucked away on one of the quiet streets of the city. There's ivy and honeysuckle trailing up the walls, giving the whole place a nice, homey touch – and I can clearly hear the videogames Eric is playing inside. I can't help but smile; it seems he hasn't changed.

"Brace yourself," Deeks tells me as we approach the door. "Nell's in her first trimester, so she'll be more emotional than usual – she'll probably scold you for staying away so long, then squeeze you half to death."

"Nell's pregnant?" This is definitely a surprise. I can't picture the short redhead carrying Eric's baby.

"Yeah," Deeks replies with a sheepish smile – clearly, he remembers that he forgot to mention this when he was telling me about everyone's lives. I let it slide, though, and he rings the doorbell.

The sound of the videogames don't cease, so I know it's Nell coming to open the door when I hear footsteps. I inhale deeply and exchange a look with Deeks – who knows how she's going to react? She hasn't heard from me in seven years.

The door opens, revealing Nell's youthful, pretty face. She hasn't changed. Not as much as Deeks and I, anyway. She opens her mouth to greet Deeks, and then she notices me and the words die in her throat. I can see her mouth my name – I am a lip-reader, after all – as her eyes widen in amazement.

Then she raises her voice and yells into the house, "Eric Arthur Beale! Get over here right now!"

Obviously, having his wife address him by his full name signals something dire, because the videogame sound effects cut off immediately and abruptly, and a second later Eric's rushing to the door to find out what's got Nell in such a state.

Like her, he stops when he sees me, his mouth agape, his glasses askew. And I feel like I've been transported back in time seven years because, like I said, neither Eric nor Nell has changed in any discernible way.

Eric breaks the silence first, with a stunned, "Kensi," followed by a hug – despite Deeks' prediction that Nell would be the one to squeeze me. "It's so good to see you," he says when he lets me go.

Then Nell does hug me, squashing me just as hard as Deeks said she would, mumbling her own heartfelt greeting. In that moment, I understand that they didn't just lose Callen after that op seven years ago – I realize that they lost me, too. I all but disappeared off the face of the earth, leaving them to wonder what had become of me.

When Nell finally pulls away, I'm shocked to see her eyes glistening with tears.

"Aw, Nell," I say. "It's just me."

At this, she glares at me incredulously. "Just you?" she repeats in disbelief. "Kensi Marie Blye, do you have any idea what it felt like when you left?"

"Um…" I'm speechless – really, what can I say? I look to Deeks for help, but he just shrugs. Clearly, he wasn't kidding when he said Nell was more emotional than usual. "No?" I offer.

Nell sniffs, disapprovingly, but I can see she's glad I'm back. "You owe me a wedding, Kensi."

I'm completely confused by this, and Eric isn't much help. He just shakes his head with a small smile when I look at him for an explanation.

"I do?" I ask.

"Yes," Nell responds. "You were supposed to be my maid of honor, but no one could find you. I had to do without one."

At this I'm really lost for words – and yet, strangely touched. It's becoming more and more obvious to me now that perhaps running away to Philadelphia wasn't the best idea. It seems that, while I'd been trying to forget my old life, the team I'd left behind had done anything but, going so far as to make an effort to remember me.

And I realize that while I remained stagnant, unable to move on – I haven't so much as been on a real date since Callen died, let alone in a relationship – the people I left behind did move forward with their lives. They moved on from the tragedy that affected all of us.

Very healthy, and good for them. But in my defense, though they all cared for Callen, he never meant as much to them as he did to me.

Plus, none of us has gotten to Sam yet.

"Eric," I say, "do you still remember how to trace people who don't want to be traced?"

He looks at me suspiciously. "Yeah…" he replies slowly. "But I'm not allowed to do that anymore. I'm a civilian now."

"Not anymore, you're not," I inform him. "We've got a case."

"We?" Nell inquires.

"Yes, we," I affirm. "We're putting the team back together."

Eric's jaw drops. "The whole team?" he questions.

I wince. Same old Eric, all right – right down to his oblivious senses that occasionally result in insensitive comments. Nell elbows him for me, and he recognizes his slip and tries to take it back.

"Oh, I mean…well, you know what I mean," he fumbles.

Deeks raises an eyebrow, but doesn't say anything. It's simply not necessary – all of us know the team can never really be whole again.

"So who've we got so far?" Nell asks.

"Just us four right now," I reply. "Sam and Hetty haven't been informed yet. I plan to catch the next flight to D.C. to bring Sam back, but I need you to track down Hetty."

"That might be difficult," Eric says, "especially since no one's heard from her since she resigned."

"Well, that's why I came to you," I say. "You know Hetty, and you know how to locate people. She must be somewhere."

"I couldn't locate you," he points out. "And Hetty's better than you are. How do you expect me to find her?"

"For starters, I know she's in San Diego." Do I ever. Vance's letter wasn't just a commission to solve Callen's murder. He also gave me some information to help me get started.

Eric gawks at me for a couple of seconds before he snaps back to himself. "Okay…knowing that, I could probably find her…"

"Good," I say. "So do it. And while you're at it, run a search for Jason Baxter as well."

Eric was about to say something else, but now he pauses. "Who's he?"

"He," I reply, "is the guy who murdered Callen."

Nell sucks in a breath, inhaling sharply as she glances at Eric. And as for Eric…well, if he wasn't on board with the plan before, he is now. This new information has bolstered his resolve to get involved.

"You've got it," he says. Then he hesitates. "But I'd need access to Kaleidoscope – and to a lot of technology that I don't have at home."

"You've got it," I remind him. "At an old water administration building that was condemned years ago."

"The office?" Nell whispers incredulously. "We're going back to the OSP?"

I nod my confirmation. "We are. Vance has given us the full run of the building again. It may need some clean-up, but it's ours for the case."

Even Deeks is surprised by this. "I thought we were going to run this investigation from an impromptu base somewhere."

"Well, we're not." I look around at them all – Eric's incredulous face, Nell's star-struck expression, Deeks' obvious surprise – and straighten up, taking command of the beginnings of the new old team. And I say, "As of this moment, the NCIS Los Angeles Office of Special Projects is on full active duty again."

A/N: I'm in a rush, so I've gotta go. I may not be able to post tomorrow, but I'll try my best. If you don't see a chapter tomorrow, it means I really couldn't. But there will definitely be one on Monday.