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"Wow! You got it bad, don't you?"
"Good evening to you, too. Got what bad?"
"The 'I-Miss-Marty-Deeks' blues," Nell responded as she stepped inside her friend's apartment.
"I do not. I'm not sure what you're talking about."
"What's with the buffet of Twinkies, Ho-Ho's, Ding-Dong's, cheesecake and ice cream? If that doesn't scream 'GIRL MISSING HER GUY' I don't know what does!" Nell laughed as she pointed to the kitchen table.
"That's all for us. Girls' Night, remember? I wasn't sure what you would be in the mood for," Kensi defended herself.
"Are you serving a side of dentist after all those sweets?" Nell smiled at her friend. Kensi had a bigger sweet tooth and smaller hips than any woman she knew. "Here, I brought pizza and beer."
The women filled up plates of goodies, grabbed a beer each, and sat on Kensi's couch. Kensi started flipping channels on TV while they ate.
"So how's the new partner?" Nell asked. Kensi rolled her eyes as she swallowed her pizza.
"You really have to ask?"
"Well, I haven't had the opportunity to talk to her and get to know her. I've only seen her in ops a couple of times for a case briefing," Nell explained.
"Just don't my friend. Don't talk to her – it only leads to drinking and headaches," Kensi warned then took a drink of her beer.
"Kensi!" Nell giggled. "Is she really that bad?"
"I'm not sure how she became an agent in the first place, or why Hetty thought she would be a good match for OSP. I don't know much about her, but I do know she has a lot of learning to do." Having finished her pizza, Kensi took a bite of her cheesecake covered in chocolate syrup.
"I can help with that. Before coming here, she was in Rota, Spain. It was her first assignment as an agent after basic training. She graduated from the University of Florida with a degree in political science," Nell rambled off as if she were reading her résumé.
"I thought you haven't talked to her," Kensi pointed out.
"I haven't. Hetty had me do a thorough background check on her and cross-reference everything in her file before she would approve Agent Lowry as your partner."
"Temporary partner," Kensi corrected her before drinking some more beer.
"Fine, temporary partner."
"Anything interesting in her file? Anything I should know about? Can she shoot well enough to save my ass if needed?"
"Nothing special. No unusual incidents or citations. It sounds like she had a quiet assignment in Rota. Um, she's single, no kids, kind of like us," Nell concluded. She picked up her beer and took a drink.
"Speaking of single, what's up with you and Eric?" Kensi asked with a smile.
Nell blushed and tried to hide the growing grin on her face. "Me and Eric? Uh, we're good, I guess. Yeah, we're good." She answered quickly and then moved her beer bottle up to her lips.
"You know you're gonna have to give me more than that Ms. Jones. I am trained in interrogation techniques," Kensi reminded her friend.
"So what do you want to know, Nosy Blye?"
"Are you guys getting pretty serious? Are you in love?" Kensi batted her eyelashes and made a ridiculously goofy kissy face as she said it.
Nell playfully swatted Kensi's shoulder. "Yeah, I guess we're getting serious. I mean, we aren't seeing anyone else."
"And you are spending all of your time with him," Kensi stated, not asked.
"Maybe…" Nell said with a really big grin. Suddenly Kensi gasped.
"Oh my gosh Nell! No way! You guys are living together already?"
Nell nodded. "Yep! Officially since last weekend. I've been dying to tell you, but things have been so weird and I know you've been dealing with a lot since Deeks left… Which reminds me. What happened between you guys? Have you heard from him since he left?" Nell changed the subject before Kensi could pry more intimate details about her and Eric's relationship.
"Happened? Why do you think something happened? He went back to LAPD, and now I have to work with Jenny," Kensi answered simply. She emptied her beer and set the bottle on the coffee table.
"Yeah, that's not going to work on me either. You might be trained in interrogation tactics, but I am an intelligence analyst. I am trained to comb over every piece of information for the real truth." Nell put on her most serious game face – as serious as a girls' night let her be. "Spill it Blye. I know you are not telling the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth."
"What, are we in court now?" Kensi chuckled.
"I don't know. Did you do something wrong with the detective? Something naughty?" Nell smirked, raising her eyebrows.
"Nell! I object to this line of questioning!" Kensi pretended to be offended at the question.
"Well, I object to your objection!" Nell shouted at her, barely containing the laughter bubbling up inside her. The two women looked at each other in a silent stare-down. Then Kensi started laughing uncontrollably – the hold-her-sides-and-tears-streamed-down-her-face kind of laughter. It took mere nanoseconds for Nell to join in. Soon the two women were sitting on the floor in front of the couch, rocking from side to side in laughter.
"It's so good to hear you do that again," Nell said when they finally calmed down.
"Do what?" Kensi asked as she wiped the tears off her cheeks.
"Laugh like that. I haven't heard you – or anyone around there – do that in a really long time." Nell smiled and climbed back up on the couch. "But you're still not getting out of the question. What happened between you guys?"
Kensi got up and headed for the kitchen. She needed some comfort food before she started talking on this subject. She returned with two bowls of ice cream, for her and Nell.
"He came over here the night before he told Hetty he was going back to LAPD. He wanted to tell me in person about his plans first."
"That was nice of him. Go on," Nell urged.
"Well, we ended up talking, like really talking. We hadn't done that in a long time, not since before everything else happened..." Kensi confessed.
"Like before you guys kissed, right?" Nell interrupted.
"Yeah, before he kissed me. Wait, how did you know about that?"
Nell pointed to her ear. "Comms, girl. You all wear them, we hear them all."
"Right. So we talked. He ended up telling me that he is in love with me, and then he said he was leaving NCIS. How's that for a good talk?" Kensi frowned at the memory and shoveled in some ice cream.
"Whoa! Hold up! He told you he loves you? As in those actual words? Kensi, that's huge! I can't believe you didn't tell me this before!" Nell exclaimed. "Although we all kind of knew already," she added quietly.
"What? What do you mean you all knew already?"
"Kensi, come on. It's so obvious. Everyone can see how much you two mean to each other, and I'm not talking professionally. Since the day you two became partners, we've been taking bets on when you guys would finally admit your real feelings. Did you tell him the same thing – that you love him?"
Kensi sighed. "Yeah, I did, but not right away. I was just so – surprised – I guess, between him telling me he loves me and then that he's leaving for a while. My brain was all over the place."
"So how did you leave things? I mean, you told him you love him, and he still left? What now?" Nell took a spoonful of ice cream and waited for her friend's response.
"He said he needed this time away to figure things out so that hopefully we can have a future. I'm not exactly sure what that means, but it's what he wants and needs. I couldn't change his mind."
"That's it?"
"Well, then I grabbed him and kissed him before he left," Kensi admitted, smiling.
"Mmm hmm. I knew there was more. You guys will make it. Just try to be patient Kensi. Let him work out his demons before you guys start a real relationship."
"Thanks, Nell. You know, it feels good to actually talk to you about this. I've been holding too much inside lately. Time to let it out," Kensi said.
Nell started to giggle again. "As long as you don't let it out like you did in the bullpen with Callen and Sam. That was terrifying!"
Earlier that evening, across town…
Sam waited in the precinct parking lot until Deeks came out. Deeks saw him standing near his car and questioned his motives for being there. This was not the way he wanted to start his weekend. Sam explained that they needed to talk; it had been too long with things unsaid between them.
Deeks leaned against the side of his car and folded his arms over his chest. "So talk. I'm listening."
"I know life kind of sucks right now, at least more than it did before Siderov, but you didn't have to leave NCIS. Things are slowly getting better. And you know you didn't have to dive in that pool after me. It's my fault for everything that's happened to you," Sam tried to apologize.
Deeks let out a sarcastic chortle. "Are you kidding? Did you have a death wish? That's what I'm trained to do – save people's asses - even if you piss me off."
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said all those things to you, or at least not the way I said them. I was upset with Michelle being pulled into the op again, and frustrated that I wasn't working with G like usual," Sam shrugged.
"You're sorry? So you get stuck working with the screw-up stand-in on the team instead of your boy toy Callen, and that's your excuse to attack my character? To tell me I'm not the cop YOU think I should be? I've been doing this a long time and I don't need your opinion," Deeks glared at Sam.
"Maybe you do need to hear a few things. All I see you do is joke around and laugh. You're never serious, and this is a serious job. We need people who can commit and not be running off their mouth all the time."
"You want me to be serious? More stoic and boring, like you? Yeah, no thanks. I have my own style whether you like it or not. I don't require the Sam Hanna seal of approval to do my job. I am successful without you." Deeks pushed off the car and reached for the door handle.
Sam stood in front of Deeks and pointed at him. "You were doing solo ops before you came to NCIS. You were supposed to be part of our team, but it seems you wanted it both ways: to be a cop and an agent. You can't commit to NCIS fully but you don't want to be with LAPD all the time either. You can't play for both teams, Deeks. How do we know we can truly rely on you if you can get called away by the city at a moment's notice? That's not the way a team works; that's not the way you form a lasting bond of trust. It's not fair to any of us, especially Kensi."
"You know what? This is the most messed up apology I have ever heard. And you leave Kensi out of this. This is between you and me only." Deeks ran his fingers through his hair to avoid punching the former SEAL.
"No, it's not. See that's part of being a team – we are all affected by each other," Sam explained, trying to stay calm and not raise his voice.
"You mean like how I was affected by having to save your ass in that pool, and how I was affected by sitting tied to a chair taking hell but not EVER giving up your wife? You mean that kind of teamwork that I don't know how to do?" Deeks stared straight ahead at Sam.
Sam looked at the ground and spoke quietly. "Yeah. God why is this so hard? I wanted to apologize to you Deeks. Tell you I'm sorry for everything that I did – for what I said, how I said it and everything that happened after." He raised his head to look back at the detective, hopeful that his true intentions had gotten through to him.
"Well, you did say it and now I know how you really feel about me. It doesn't change how I will do my job, but at least I don't have to try so hard to make you like me." Deeks didn't want to fight any more. He wasn't at NCIS any longer, so Sam should feel relieved.
"Deeks, I'm being serious, alright? I am so sorry, and I'm not sure how else to say it or what else to do to show you. Thank you for saving my life and Michelle's. Thank you for not saying anything to that jerk Siderov. I don't know what I would do if something had happened to her."
"Well, nothing happened and you have your happy little family again. You get to go home to the woman you love. I don't get to go home to the wom-" Deeks cut himself off before he revealed anything. "Go, enjoy your life Sam. You can stop feeling guilty about everything. Apology accepted," he said with an even voice. Deeks got in his car and drove off.
Sam walked back to his car and sat down in the driver's seat. He shook his head. He knew there was a lot more healing – personally and collectively – for both of them.
Thanks for reading. As always, I would appreciate feedback, reviews, messages, etc. Let me know what you think, please! There are several more chapters to go in this story, so no worry about it being over soon.