I don't own NCIS Los Angeles! My native language is Dutch and I'm dyslectic so sorry for any mistakes. Thank you for the reviews, alerts and favorites!

I feel like Sinterklaas (Dutch Santa Claus) giving this as a present to you on my own birthday ^^ Anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter and big thanks to my sister for checking it once again.

Chapter 14

The team looked at Hasting who was staring at his dead girlfriend in front of him, seeming to have a hard time to understand what just happened seconds ago. He glanced at the NCIS agents, whose guns were smoking. Callen moved towards the confused man and pressed his hands against the bleeding shoulder. The pain seemed to take Hasting back to reality.

'What happened?' Kensi asked the man. Only minutes ago Isabelle had tried to kill Hasting and just seconds ago she had shot herself through her head after being dangerously close to shooting Hasting.

'Why didn't you let her shoot me?!' Hasting said angrily as he tried to push Callen away from his shoulder. 'Why didn't you let her kill me?! I would have been with my family! I would have gotten peace…if only you let her kill me!'

'Mister Hasting, what happened?' Kensi repeated and Hasting shook his head slowly before answering her.

'I…I came home…and she was standing in front of the fireplace,' Hasting pointed at the place his girlfriend stood. 'She was looking at the pictures of…of my girls…oh my god…' Hasting held his hand in front of his mouth. 'How could she have done that for us?' Kensi glanced at her team members, already fearing what the woman had done.

'Why did she kill them, mister Hasting?' Deeks asked carefully but he was pushed away by the paramedics before they got an answer. They dropped down next to Hasting to take a close look at the wound. But Hasting pushed them away.

'I can survive this,' he told them shakily. 'I don't feel the pain.'

'Sir, we need to treat this wound,' the paramedic urged.

'I refuse!' Hasting shouted. 'I need to tell…tell what happened to my girls. Then I am ready. Then I will come with you. My girls deserve peace!' Kensi put her hand on Hasting's knee.

'They will get their peace when they know you are okay,' she told him. 'Not when you tell us what happened to them. Their peace lays with your safety. Go with the paramedics. We will find out the truth.' Hasting seemed to need time to let it all sink in but then he nodded at the paramedics. He was ready to be helped. Deeks wrapped his arm around Kensi's waist.

'You found the right words,' he told her and Kensi adverted her eyes to the ground.

'Someone once said them to me,' she mumbled.

'Isabelle Rhodens has been admitted several times because of mental illness,' Nell told the team. 'As a teenager she had tried to take her own life several times. She was delusional and didn't understand reality.'

'So when she met Hasting, she had these plans for them,' Eric said. 'They were in love, so they would get married and have children…'

'Unfortunately for Hasting two teenage daughters didn't fit in that picture,' Deeks mumbled angrily and Eric and Nell nodded. 'He probably had no idea who he brought into their lives.'

'And now he has to live with the fact his girlfriend killed his daughters,' Sam sighed. 'With the guilt of bringing the woman into their lives. He will never live the life he once had…not with that kind of guilt…' The silence fell as they saw their boss walking slowly towards them.

'Well done, all of you,' Hetty told them softly. 'I suggest you fill in the paperwork and then head home, all of you.' The last three words she stressed while she looked at Callen. The team nodded and Hetty walked away.

'She does not look good,' Deeks noted.

'Well the grandchildren of one of her contacts were kidnapped and killed,' Sam said. 'I think she hoped to reunite the family…'

'We all hoped that,' Callen replied and silently everyone went to their place to take the time to fill in the paperwork.

'Deeks…I held something from you,' Kensi blurted out when they were driving towards Julia's house to pick up Narah. Deeks glanced questioningly at her, urging to keep talking. Kensi took a deep breath. 'I found an assignment of Narah…one she did not hand in…one about a feeling she felt familiar with.'

'Which one did she choose?' Deeks carefully asked, knowing it would not be a feeling they were supposed to be glad with.

'She chose lonely…' Kensi answered him. 'Deeks…she feels lonely...with us. She feels that we are just temporary.' Deeks took a deep breath. Julia's house appeared in front of them and Deeks parked the car.

'We will talk about this at home,' he told her. 'With Narah.' His tone was forceful and Kensi wasn't used to the tone. She could not remember if she had heard it before. But it did sound hurt. It hurt him that she had not told him before. She watched him walked in front of her towards the house. There was anger in his pace.

'Ah you're kind of early,' Julia greeted them surprised. She did not notice the tension, or she had chosen to ignore it. 'Did you solve the case already?'

'Yes,' Deeks answered curtly. Julia glanced questioningly at Kensi, who simply shook her head.

'Are you staying for dinner?' Julia asked, not giving up that easily. 'I was just about to prepare something.'

'No, we should get home,' Kensi answered her. 'We have a few things to discuss…but thank you for the offer.'

'I will get Narah for you,' Julia said. 'She is in the study, trying to work out some assignment for school.' When Julia left Kensi turned to Deeks.

'Deeks…' she tried but Deeks put his hand up. Only a little, but enough for Kensi to noticed and to keep her mouth shut.

'We will talk about it at home,' he told her bluntly.

The drive home was in dead silence. Kensi glanced at Deeks, to see if she could talk to him. If she could apologize. But his gaze was fixed on the road and nothing could change that. Narah wasn't looking at neither of them. She was staring only at her hands.

The first thing Narah did was run towards her room, leaving Deeks and Kensi at the uncomfortable silence. As Deeks glanced up, Kensi tried to make contact with him. And when it did not work, she stepped towards him, forcing him to look up.

'Deeks, I am sorry I did not tell you,' she told him. 'But it felt like I had read her diary…invaded her privacy. I could not tell you…not yet at least…'

'So you waited,' he concluded and Kensi slowly nodded. 'You made me worry about her…Guess about what could be wrong…I told you about all that I imagined…and still you did not think to tell me?'

'I did not know what to do with that assignment!' Kensi replied, her voice raising. 'I was not supposed to read it! It was because I cleaned up that I found it!'

'You never clean…' Deeks said, sounding calmer.

'Well we are in your apartment and I know you don't like the mess,' she told him and she took a step closer to him. Deeks looked into her eyes and he sighed.

'You were wrong to keep it from me,' he told her and Kensi nodded.

'I am sorry,' she told him and Deeks stroked her cheek.

'God…I can't stay mad at you,' he told her and he kissed her lips gently. 'And I kind of respect that you wanted to give Narah a sense of privacy…but her behavior has gone on too long and we need to talk to her about it.'

'You went through my stuff!' Narah shouted furiously and Deeks put his hands up, hoping it would calm her, but it did not work. 'You had no right to go through my stuff!' Kensi put her hand down, firmly, and it made Narah look at her.

'You left it on the table, for everyone to read,' Kensi told her, angrily but still calm. 'I just wanted to see if any of the papers belonged to us. The assignment fell out…'

'So you read it?' Narah asked furiously. 'Who told you it was okay to just read my stuff? It was not for you to read!' Tears were threatening to fall from the girl's eyes.

'That's right,' Deeks said. 'Kensi had no right to read it…but we are worried about you. You hardly say anything, you don't speak to your friends and suddenly you are the perfect student – not that we mind – but it's not you, Narah. And you should not hide in your schoolwork if things don't go as planned…'

'I do not hide!' Narah spat out, like it was venom. 'And maybe I'm trying to prepare!'

'Prepare for what?' Kensi asked.

'Prepare for my leave,' Narah answered. 'You have read my assignment…everything I have is always temporary…but I don't want to be passed on and on! I don't want to be a second hand child!' The anger glare on her face was replaced by a saddened look. 'I want to stay…' With those whispered words she jumped up from her chair, kicking it to the floor in the progress and she ran towards the door. Once throw open, she ran straight through. Kensi tried to run after her but Deeks stopped her. Confused and angrily she looked at him.

'Let me go, Deeks!' she shouted. 'We can't let her go!'

'Yes we can,' Deeks replied calmly. 'We have to.' He let Kensi go and grabbed Monty's collar. He crouched down to the dog's height. 'Go get her, boy.' And he pushed the dog towards the door. Monty quickly ran out, just like Narah had done.

'You're sending a dog after a distressed teenager?!' Kensi yelled angrily at him, not seeing any sense in that action. 'Are you fucking stupid! You can't just send a dog after her!' Deeks ignored her, which made her only more furious, and he walked towards his laptop. After he turned it on, he gestured Kensi to come.

'Does it make more sense to send a dog with GPS after her?' he asked her gently, pointing at the moving red dot on the screen. 'Monty will find her and we will know where she is.'

'Unless he doesn't get to her!' Kensi told him. 'Have you thought about that? He is a dog! Not a human being! Dogs get distracted by food or other dogs…'

'Monty is a police dog,' Deeks argued. 'Trust me, he will be with Narah…and if you want, we can go after her now.' Kensi glared at him but she nodded. Even though she found Deeks' plan idiotic, she wanted to be there for Narah.

'Where are we?' Kensi asked confused as she and Deeks walked towards an old apartment building. If it wasn't for the laundry hanging from several balconies, Kensi would have thought it was abandoned. Deeks glanced around. Then he pointed upwards. Monty was lying in front of some stairs, four stories up. He could see a hand resting on the dog's back and he hurried upstairs. Narah was sitting near the window, looking inside with tears running over her face. Deeks sat down on the stairs without saying a word. As he glanced down, he was surprised to see Kensi still standing next to the car. She was just looking up at them, and as she saw he was looking at her, she nodded. She was giving him the chance to handle this. So Deeks sat there on the stairs, keeping his eyes on Narah, whose tears kept falling. Monty didn't seem to think about moving a muscle. He stayed next to the teenager as she was the most precious thing the dog has ever owned.

'Are you wounded?' Deeks asked carefully; he needed to know. Narah slowly shook her head and he nodded. She took her eyes away from the window and she looked at Deeks. She looked for a long time and without saying a word.

'I waited here two days,' she them told him. 'Two whole days…just sitting here. Not moving a muscle as she had told me. "Wait here till I come back".' Her eyes felt like they were boring right through him. He had not seen such a piercing look from the girl. It felt like he was feeling her pain.

'She just left me…' Narah whispered and her lip began to tremble. 'She knew she wasn't coming back and still she left me waiting here…telling me to wait for her…and if it wasn't for Social Services…I would be still waiting for her…right here.' She looked down to the spot she was sitting in.

'We won't let you waiting,' Deeks told her and it was more than just telling her. It was a promise to the heartbroken teenage girl.

After they had gotten home safely with Narah, Deeks and Kensi were lying in their bed. Narah had directly fallen asleep from all the emotions and Deeks had to carry her inside, into her bedroom.

'Deeks, do you think we failed her?' Kensi whispered softly when she lay in his arms.. Deeks glanced at her and kissed her softly on her head.

'How do you mean, Kens?' he asked. 'We gave her stability. A family to live with.' Slowly Kensi raised up from his arms and she sat up, looking down on him. Deeks sat up at well, looking questioningly at her. He stroked her arm. 'What is this about?' Kensi slowly shook her head.

'Not really something,' she lied to him. 'I just ask myself; do we do enough for her? I mean, are we role models for her? Someone she can look up to?'

'Kensi, what is really going on? Did she mention something?'

'I don't think we're enough for her this moment. She needs something more permanent. Something that can't be taken away so easily…' Deeks stroked Kensi's cheek.

'She won't be taken away from us,' he assured her. 'We are her foster parents. They don't have a reason to take her away…' Kensi looked at him, for quite some time. Not saying a thing and it worried Deeks.

'What if I want to make it more permanent?' she eventually asked him. Dumbfounded. Deeks looked at her.

'You mean you want to adopt her?' he asked stunned.

TBC.

Oh dear oh dear, that is going to happen?

Hope to resolve this 'cliffhanger' soon as I am getting ready to move once again. I won't keep you all waiting though (I hope!)!