A/N: Thanks again for all the lovely reviews. I still can't believe how big this story has gotten! I would like to thank you guys for being patient and dealing with my random updates. (ok, so there was one person who sent me a kind of rude message telling me I needed to update more often, but the rest of you have been fantastic.) I am a stay-at-home mom to 4 boys between the ages of 3 and 9. My husband works full-time and is also working on his masters part-time, so I manage EVERYTHING for my home and family. Writing happens when it happens. I am glad to have the time to write another chapter this week (for which you can thank my airheady brain for forgetting to buy laundry detergent yesterday) because I seriously doubt I'll have time to write next week. Hugs to you all! –Amy
Kensi and Deeks spent Sunday hanging around her house doing those domestic chores like laundry, bill paying, cooking, and cleaning up, but of course they were made more enjoyable by the fact that they were together and newly in love. Kensi also packed a bag with several changes of clothes to keep at Deeks' house for when they stayed there. Monday morning came too early for both of them and they had to rush through their morning routine in order to make it to work on time.
As they walked from the parking area to OSP Deeks couldn't resist teasing Kensi just a little bit before he had to behave himself. He slowed down his walk so that Kensi was in front of him. "Walking a little funny there Princess. Did you pull a muscle or something this weekend?"
Kensi whipped her head around and glared at Deeks. "You know full well why I'm walking funny. Now shut up and behave!" She said as she shoved her index finger into his chest. She quickly turned around and walked into the mission before she succumbed to those baby blues that were full of laughter and love for her. If she wasn't mistaken there was a little bit of pride in those eyes as well. "Jerk" she mumbled, while smiling.
"Hey Kens! How was your weekend?" Callen asked as she rounded the corner and placed her bag on her desk.
"It was nice."
"Did you do anything special?"
"I thought you wanted us to keep that out of the office" Deeks answered as he rounded the corner.
Just at that moment Sam came in from the gym. "Too soon man, way too soon."
Deeks just laughed and looked over at Kensi who was turning a brilliant shade of red. She quickly pulled out her laptop and then plopped into her chair without thinking about her soreness, causing her to wince.
Sam caught the wince and couldn't help but ask "You okay Kensi?"
Kensi fought the blush that she knew would give her away. "Yeah, fine."
Deeks decided to help her out; okay well maybe help wasn't the right word. "She pulled a muscle this weekend. The surf got a little wild yesterday."
She quickly looked to Sam and Callen to see if they bought Deeks' ridiculous excuse or if they caught on to what he was really saying. The boys didn't seem to suspect anything as they had begun organizing folders on their desks so she quickly sent a dirty look to Deeks who answered her with a wink. Ugh, that man. She would threaten to make him sleep on the couch tonight if she thought for a second she could bring herself to follow through on it.
A few seconds later Eric called the team upstairs and it was business as usual. Twenty minutes later Sam and Callen came down the stairs followed by Kensi and Deeks. Deeks was trying to argue that since his partner is a woman it makes more sense for them to be the ones going to the bikini bar and Sam and Callen trying to make him see that they were doing him a favor by going because if he went he probably would come back covered in bruises if he came back at all. Suddenly all conversation stopped when an unfamiliar deep, male voice called out "Hi Kensi."
Kensi, who recognized the voice, turned and found its owner before the rest of the team. "Hi Jack."
Jack walked toward her, taking a moment to check out the men who were with her.
Kensi noticed Jack looking at the team and sizing them up. "Jack, this is my team leader G. Callen, and this is his partner, Sam Hanna, and this is my partner, Marty Deeks. Guys, this is Jack." Sam and Callen grew even stiffer at the mention of the familiar name when Kensi introduced them to Jack. Deeks, who had been expecting this encounter tried to focus on supporting Kensi in this moment rather than giving Jack the beet down he deserved.
Callen, who had picked up on Kensi's stiff posture and the bulging vein between her eyes that she gets when she is stressed, asked. "Is this the Jack?"
"Yep" she answered emphasizing the p at the end of the word.
Jack didn't miss the coldness of the teams greeting and he sure didn't miss how the legendary G. Callen and the big black mad crossed their arms and stiffened further when they realized who he was. He also was very aware of the surfer Kensi had introduced as her partner. He kept his posture more relaxed than the others but there was a look of hatred that was in his eyes from the moment he saw him. That one knew who he was from the beginning, which meant Kensi had told him that he was coming. Interesting. He'd have to think about that later. He was happy that Kensi had at least talked about him, but clearly it wasn't positive. He had a lot of work to do and he'd have to get her away from her team to do it.
"What are you doing here Jack? This isn't exactly a place just anyone knows about, let alone visits." Sam asked
"Oh, uh, I was just talking to Hetty. We go back a ways and she was helping with some maintenance work I need to do with one of my aliases."
"Well, we'll let you get back to that so that you can go. Let's get out of here." And with that Sam put his arm around Kensi, a clear message of protection, and walked out of the building. Callen was right behind him, leaving Deeks to be the last out the doors, giving Jack a clear look of warning.
Kensi and the team had wrapped up their case by the time the returned to the mission that evening. Jack was thankfully absent, and when Callen offered to spot everyone drinks Sam, Deeks and Kensi all took him up on it. Once they were all settled into a booth at their favorite bar, beers in hand, except for Kensi who had opted for raspberry lemonade, giving the excuse that if she started drinking tonight she's afraid she wouldn't be able to stop. The guys nodded their heads in understanding, giving no indication that they thought anything was amiss. She was thankful for Deeks gently tapping her on the lower stomach when Callen was taking drink orders, reminding her it wouldn't be a good idea to drink with her possibly being pregnant.
Sam didn't wait long to bring up the elephant in the room. "So, Jack's in town."
"Yep." Was all the answer he was given. Deeks reached over and grabbed her hand, intertwining it with his and pulling it over to his lap. Kensi understood the silent support and encouragement to talk to the guys. "He called Sabatino this weekend and told him he was coming to LA to finally marry his long-time fiancé. Sabatino came over Saturday morning to give us a heads up."
Callen was shocked. "He came to do what? Does he actually still consider himself engaged to you?"
"Apparently" Kensi answered with a frustrated tone in her voice before looking to Deeks for reassurance. Deeks gave her a quick smile, letting her know it was going to be ok and then he leaned down and gave her a quick peck on the lips. When they broke the kiss they continued to look at each other lovingly before they were interrupted by Sam's voice.
"Man, that's going to take some getting used to!" Everyone burst out in laughter and the subject was changed until Sam and Callen got up to leave. Callen came over and put his hand on Kensi's shoulder saying "Let us know if you need any help with Jack.
"I will. Thanks."
Then Sam looked at Deeks "Take care of our girl and don't be afraid to ask for help if you need it."
"I won't. Thanks guys."
Kensi and Deeks left the bar and went to his place that night, quickly forgetting about Jack once they were alone together once again.
Jack sat outside of Kensi's house waiting for her to come home from work. He had snuck onto a computer while he was at OSP in order to get her address. Now, he just sat and waited, thinking over the events of the morning. Clearly he was not a favorite around there and would have to press his suit away from her team of body guards. Callen and Sam were clearly surprised by his arrival and protective of Kensi in a strictly plutonic way. The shaggy blonde though, he wasn't so sure about. He was hard to get a read on. His body language was relaxed, like he knew to expect me. Would Kensi have told her partner about Sabatino's message? She wasn't exactly a sharer so they would have to be pretty close. Sabatino said she was in a relationship. Could it be him? He didn't seem threatened or threatening at all until you looked at his eyes. There was so much in his eyes it was hard to take it all in. There was hatred and protectiveness, but not jealousy. Was he wrong to thing he saw possessiveness there? Surely Hetty wouldn't allow such a relationship between teammates. No, nothing like that could escape Hetty's notice and she wouldn't allow it. So who was this guy? Had Kensi ended things like he told her to? He was guessing she hadn't since it was now 12:30am and Kensi still wasn't home. Hopefully she was doing that tonight, now that she saw he really was back. Jack was thankful he put a plan B into place and even more thankful, that even after Hetty saved his ass by sending Kensi to Afghanistan, she still owed him a favor. All he needed was a little time alone with Kensi to remind her how great they were together.
Tuesday morning Kensi pulled into her parking space and looked over at Deeks while at the same time dropping her hand from the steering wheel and placing it on top of Deeks' which was resting on her thigh. They had both spotted Jack leaning against the building, no doubt waiting for her. "I'm going to have to talk to him sometime. I guess now is as good a time as any."
"I guess so. I'll wait here so you can signal me if you need your knight in shining armor."
Kensi smiled. "Your hair is extra shiny this morning."
"Yeah, that conditioner you brought over is pretty awesome." He pulls his hair forward and sniffs at it. "It smells a little girly though."
"You're an idiot." Kensi says as she rolls her eyes.
"Yes, but you love this idiot so what does that say about you?"
"It says I've got a soft spot for strays."
"Well, this stray has a soft spot for you too."
Kensi and Deeks got lost in each other's eyes for a moment, saying how much they loved one another without the use of words. Kensi smiled and whispered "I have to go. See you inside Lover." Kensi hopped out of the car and walked directly over to Jack while Deeks got out of the car, leaned against the car with his arms folded across his chest, not bothering to pretend to do anything other than watch his partner's back.
Kensi stopped a couple of feet in front of Jack, wanting plenty of room between them. "What do you want Jack?"
"Don't you know? Isn't it obvious?" Looking at Kensi's cold response he decided he better cut to the chase. "I want you Kens. You're all I've ever wanted."
"No, I think the last nine years would say differently."
"No, baby. I did that for you. I was getting better, making something of myself."
Kensi put up her hand to stop him. "Do. Not. Call me baby!"
Jack mumbled an apology and began talking again. "All those things we wanted to do. All those places we wanted to see, we can do that now. I've saved up a good sized nest egg and I bet you have too. We can live our dream. Travel the world. See all those places most people only see on TV."
"That's great Jack. I'm happy for you. But that's not my dream anymore. That's not what I want to do with my life."
"Your job is important to you. I get that. You can keep your job. We'll travel during the holidays. I know Hetty gives her team a month in the summer. We can go to some amazing places in a month!"
"Look Jack. You don't understand. My life is very different now. I'm different now. We're over. We've been over for a very long time. Now let me get to work and on with my life." She turned and walked through the doors into the mission.
Deeks, seeing Kensi walk away from Jack began to walk toward the mission too. He was stopped by a hand grabbing his arm just as he was reaching for the door. He turned to see Jack, an angry look on his face.
"What do you think you're doing?"
"Um, going to work last I checked."
"No, with Kensi. She doesn't ever come home last night and now you two come in to work together? Was she with you last night?"
"Look, you don't have a right to know where she or I were or weren't last night. She doesn't belong to you. I'm pretty sure she just told you that herself. Now, why don't you just accept the truth and move along before you embarrass yourself any further." He then shook Jack's hand off his arm and walked into the mission.
Things were not going as well as Jack had hoped, but he wasn't too discouraged. He was always able to sway Kensi in the past and he was pretty sure that his plan B would give him the opportunity to do so again. Once he had his hands and lips on her he was confident that her resistance would fall and she would be putty in his hands.
Kensi and the team spent the morning doing paperwork from the case they closed the day before. At around 1:00 everyone was finishing up and decided to go to lunch.
Jack was waiting. Hoping Kensi would leave the mission at some point alone so he could talk to her away from her clan of body guards. He watched her walk out the mission, and though he had his chance, until the rest of the team followed and they all climbed into their cars, Kensi and Deeks in the Cadi and Sam and Callen in the Challenger. He followed them a taco joint about 5 miles away and continued to watch. Kensi didn't even leave them for a bathroom break before they all headed back to the mission.
Sam was the first to spot their tail on the way to lunch. When he mentioned it to the team and pointed out the car it was Deeks who told them who it was. Kensi filled the team in on their conversation that morning. The team decided their best plan of action for now was to pretend to be oblivious and to make sure one of them was always with Kensi until they could figure out just how far Jack was willing to take this.
When the team to back to the mission they decided to do some sparring. At 3:00 Hetty came into the gym to inform Kensi that she needed to clean up and head home because she was needed for an op this evening.
"What kind of op?"
"Jack needs to make an appearance as his alias, Richard Williams. Mr. Williams is a drug dealer who is also a bit of a player. You will be posing as his girlfriend, Elizabeth. You will be going to a strip club so you will need to dress appropriately. I have an outfit all ready for you. You can take it home and get ready there. Be at the Rosings club at 8:00."
Callen wasn't about to let this happen. "Hetty, you do know their history, right?"
"Yes, I know Mr. Callen."
"And do you know that he has been making attempts to get back together with her, even resorting to following her and staking out her house?"
"I am aware. And I am also aware that this appearance needs to be made and that I owe Jack a favor that he has called in." Hetty put her hand up to stop the protests she could see were on everyone's lips. "I am also aware that Kensi has a reliable team around her which I have placed no restrictions on. All I'm saying is that Kensi needs to be there. If other people choose to show up that is out of my control. Just don't blow Jack's cover. That's all I ask." Then as quickly as she appeared she was gone, leaving behind a rather shocked team.
There you go! Have a fantastic weekend and don't forget to let me know what you think of this chapter. :)