A/N: Thanks again to everyone who has followed and favorited this story! And the reviews are just so kind. I wish I could give you all hugs and cookies to show my appreciation. The best I can do, however, is give you another chapter. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS: Los Angeles

Kensi was certainly not ready to get into anything with anybody right now. She just wanted to finish out her senior year and graduate without drama. It was simple and easy.

This guy was really just offering her a better drink than the stale keg-fed plastic cup in her hand. If he offered anything more, Kensi had no problem turning him down. He was undeniably good looking, and charming, yeah, but Kensi Blye was not the type of girl to fall for charm.

She mentally kicked herself. Why was she reminding herself of these things? She'd been repeating the rules to herself since Jack left: No boys. Focus on school, training, and spending time with friends before they all went their separate ways after graduation.

Yet Kensi followed the guy—she didn't know his name—through the throngs of coeds, all in some state of inebriation. Kensi noticed that the girls' eyes followed him through the crowd, unbeknownst to him. He was probably one of those guys that had one-night stands every weekend and left the girl without a number or another word. She knew the type. Before Jack, she was the type. Now, well, she didn't know what type she was.

She didn't get a chance to figure it out, however, when a hand grasped her wrist, pulling her up short. Kensi turned, tensed to shake off some handsy guy, but it turned out to be Monica. "Kensi!" She exclaimed, stumbling a bit. Her sweaty hand circled Kensi's wrist, and her other hand was holding a red plastic cup, out of which liquid sloshed when she waved her arm in wide gesture. "Are you having fun?"

"Uh, yeah, I guess." Kensi looked over her shoulder for the guy, who had disappeared into the crowd.

She turned back to her friend. Monica was practically hanging on Kensi's arm and she leaned in close, her breath hot on Kensi's face. She whispered in Kensi's ear, "Jennifer's mad at me." She drew out the last syllable in a whine, making Kensi back away from the grating sound.

Kensi sighed, "Why is she mad at you?"

Monica huffed exasperatedly, "I don't know." She gestured wildly, spilling more of her drink. She looked down at her soaked hand and then into her cup. She drained the last of her drink, which Kensi now realized was definitely not beer, and threw the cup at a table a few feet away, missing it by quite a bit. Monica shrugged and then looked at Kensi. "She was yelling. It's not like I wanted her boyfriend to grope me."

Kensi was starting to realize that Monica was not as drunk as she was acting. This was her MO: get slightly drunk, yet act wasted. Kensi had no idea why she acted this way, even though it had been like this since they met their first week of college. At first Kensi had thought it was meant to attract guys, but while Monica was undoubtedly boy-crazy, she had more dignity than that. And as close as they had grown over the past three years—nearly like sisters, to use the cliche—that was one thing Kensi just could not figure out about her friend.

As usual, Monica could tell that Kensi had figured out her act, and she rolled her eyes. But just because she wasn't plastered did not mean that she wasn't drunk. Monica stumbled a little when she backed away from Kensi. "She really is mad at me."

"But I thought you guys were just getting over the Adam thing."

Monica waved her hand dismissively, "You know Jen, she's always mad at me for something." She looked over her shoulder and then leaned in conspiratorially, "She's sleeping with Adam again, so I'm not surprised Landon is looking elsewhere, even though I'm totally not interested."

Kensi just smiled and shook her head at her friend. Monica laughed and then nudged Kensi. "How about you? How's your night going?"

Kensi shrugged.

"Oh, come on. I saw you with that surfer guy."

"It's not like that."

"Kensi! He's so hot! Why didn't you go for it?" Monica threw her hands out and almost hit a girl in the head. The girl gave her a dirty look and backed away with her friend. Monica didn't even notice.

"Because I'm not looking for anything right now. And because you grabbed me before he could show me where the real bar is."

Monica's smile slipped. "Oh, sorry."

Kensi raised any eyebrow.

"For not letting you get a decent drink," Monica clarified in mock irritation. "Look, I haven't tried to set you up with anyone since Jack because I respected that you need time to heal. But Kensi, it's a new school year. We're seniors! Why not try to get back into it? There is not a single guy on this campus who would say no to a date with you. Even the gay ones."

Kensi smiled slightly and shook her head. "I'm just not looking to start a relationship. Finish school, finish training-,"

"- and get the job," Monica finished for her. "I know. God. But can't you at least try dating?"

Kensi didn't want to have this conversation, especially at a packed house party. It was growing late, and while the party was still in full swing, Kensi was getting tired. "Monica," she started.

"Fine…okay, whatever," the other girl conceded. She looked around at the party and then back at Kensi. "You ready to go? This is ridiculous; I don't know how the freshmen find out about these things. It's not like they know anybody."

"I'd bet Landon and his buddies invited them," Kensi said. Monica snorted at that and turned, grabbing Kensi's hand as they wove their way through the crowd.

As they left the house, Kensi looked behind her, hoping to catch a glimpse of the scruffy blond mop of hair, but only seeing a mass of teased and highlighted heads instead.

He'd lost the girl a while ago. She'd melded into the crowd, something he wouldn't think would be easy for someone like her, but she just kept surprising him. The biggest surprise would be if I knew her name, Deeks thought wryly to himself.

Deeks' phone buzzed in his pocket and he fished it out. Paul's name flashed across the screen, and a little envelope told him he had a text message.

Where are you?

Deeks was in the kitchen, and he told Paul so. A few minutes later, Paul appeared in the kitchen, looking glum.

"She's not here."

Deeks patted his friend on the back, "I'm sorry, man."

Paul sighed. "The thing is, I thought this one was for real. We had so much in common, you know? And it was so easy to talk to her…"

Deeks just nodded. He was used to riding the waves of Paul's near-misses with women. He was consistently being stood up, for seemingly no other reason than he was a nice guy. Girls usually met him at the surf shack, thinking he was cool and laid back. And he was, when he was in his element near the water. But when he got around to actually asking a girl out, Paul was so nervous and such a nice guy that girls either got scared off or they realized he wasn't the chill surfer guy they thought he would be. It was beyond irritating. Deeks just wish they would see Paul for who he really was: a sensitive, ambitious guy who just wanted a little love in his life. There was nothing wrong with that, was there?

Deeks really didn't want the answer to that question. It was too insulting to Paul.

"You'll find her one day. This just wasn't the right one," Deeks consoled his friend.

"Yeah, I guess," Paul replied, a grimace pulling its way onto his face. "Do you just wanna go home? This party's really lame."

"I couldn't agree more," Deeks answered.

The first day of classes dawned bright, hot, and humid. Kensi, however, woke up far earlier than the sun was supposed to rise. She was drenched in sweat, even with the window wide open and fan pointed at her bed on full blast. It didn't help that she'd had another nightmare.

After her dad had died, Kensi didn't sleep a full night for almost a year, imagining various ways that the car wreck could have happened, and then dreaming about them. She was torturing herself, and her therapist told her so, after CPS found her living on the streets and sent her to live with friends of her dad's. After she assimilated into their family, had a good bed to sleep in, and was well fed, the dreams started to fade. They went away completely once she met Jack, and came back when he left on tour, but this time, she was imagining Jack's death instead of her father's. And then he left, and Kensi went through a bout of insomnia during the spring semester, unable to sleep because she became so afraid of the force of the dreams that she wouldn't sleep. They were only just starting to fade again, but tonight—or this morning, she guessed—something must have triggered it. Probably the alcohol, Kensi reasoned.

She decided not to go back to sleep, deeming it too futile in the heat and her state of mind. Instead, she dressed in her workout clothes, scarfed down a banana, left a note for Monica, and drove down to the beach for a run.

When Kensi was younger, and her dad was still alive, they'd moved around a lot, as most armed forces families did. They'd stayed on the west coast though, to stick close to her dad's tactical team, Kensi guessed. Regardless of where they ended up, there was always water. Kensi took comfort in the ocean being so close; it meant she was somehow close to home, close to him. Her dad loved the water, and he'd taken every opportunity possible to take Kensi to the beach when she was young. She'd learned to swim in the waves of the Pacific, and their house at Pendleton had been on a cliff overlooking the sea. It was Kensi's favorite house they'd lived in for that very reason. It was also the happiest her parents had been, so there was that, too.

When she took to the streets, Kensi stayed close to water. It was too easy to get lost in the city and caught up in the politics of gangs and cartels. And then CPS found her and sent her to the other side of the mountains, and Kensi felt boxed in by land, unable to escape. That's why she had chosen this school that was so close to the ocean: As transient as water was, it was Kensi's anchor.

Now, she pulled into the parking lot at the beach. It was mostly empty, except for a few early morning surfers, their towels littering the sand. It was still dark, though thin tendrils of light were starting to come up over the mountains. It would be even hotter once the sun came up, Kensi realized. The only light on the beach came from the surf shack at the north end of the sand. Kensi thought she remembered that they served coffee to the surfers, and made an amazing smoothie.

She dropped her towel and water in the sand and started to stretch. Her hair was already sticking to her neck and face, and Kensi readjusted her headband. She ran and did drills for nearly an hour before the heat became too much. The sand was sticking to her arms and legs; not an inch of her body wasn't slick with sweat. She wiped a hand across her forehead and felt the grittiness of the sand cling to her face.

Kensi still had an hour or two before her first class, but she decided it was probably time to be getting back. The water looked so inviting, though, so she took off her shoes and waded in, the cool wetness drawing her body temperature down a little. She was up to her knees when she looked out over the waves. A few guys were surfing in the early September waves. It wouldn't be too long before the waves were at their highest, the Santa Anas spurring them on, and making the beach crazy busy in the mornings.

Kensi sighed. She liked the beach quiet, with her and the few hardcore guys who surfed every morning. The beach bunnies and wannabes always came out in the fall, thinking they could take advantage of the benefits of the high waves, whether it be for surfing practice or "working out", which was more like taking stock of the half-naked guys in the water.

Kensi waded back to the sand and walked barefoot up the beach towards the surf shack. She'd decided to treat herself to a smoothie, since it was so hot. That, and she just wasn't ready to leave yet.

She always felt closer to her dad when she was at the beach. Kensi didn't believe in spirits and higher beings, but his memory just felt stronger with the salt-tinged breeze blowing her hair out of her face. It felt like he was with her, if that was possible. And today especially—her first day of the last year of college—it felt significant, and like something she would want to share with him, if he was still alive.

When Kensi approached the surf shack, the guy behind the counter had his back turned, his wild hair was haloed by the light behind him. The beach was still clinging to night, the gray light only just started to bring out the colors in things, so the shack was still the brightly lit.

"Hey," Kensi greeted the oblivious employee. He turned, startled.

"Hey. Sorry. Didn't see you there," the guy replied. He was scruffy, the surfer type, obviously. But his open face didn't mark him as the pretentious "dude, that's so rad" SoCal guys. He seemed too nice for that. "What can I do for you?"

"Do you guys still have those smoothies? The lime and raspberry ones?"

He smiled an easy, shy smile. "Of course. What size?"

"Medium, please."

"Coming right up." The guy turned and began throwing ingredients in the blender. He turned back to her, "Milk?"

Kensi scrunched her nose. "No, thanks."

The guy started the blender and looked out across the waves, watching the surfers for a few moments before her turned off the machine and poured it into a plastic cup with a cap on it. He handed it to Kensi, who patted herself down before realizing she didn't have her wallet.

"Shoot, I left my money in the car. Be right back," she told him. She took off across the sand, jogging lightly. After retrieving her wallet, she slowed her pace, walking back. She noticed that a surfer had come up to the shack and he and the guy behind the counter were having an animated conversation.

"Hey," Deeks greeted Paul, coming out of the water with his board still strapped to his ankle. His hair flopped wetly into his eyes and Deeks shook it out of his face.

"Hey," Paul said. He stood up and turned away from putting something in the fridge. "Good waves?"

Deeks unstrapped his board and leaned it against the shack. He unzipped his wetsuit and peeled it down to his waist, all the while saying, "Yeah. They'll get better over the month though. Wait until the winds come in. Think they'll get as big as last year?"

Paul seemed distracted when he said, "Maybe."

"What's up?"

"Did you see that girl?" Paul asked immediately, the words bursting out of him.

"What girl?"

"The one who was just here. She's getting money for her smoothie. She'll be back in a minute."

Deeks grinned, "Wow, you moved on fast."

Paul colored slightly. "She's not like the one from last night, Marty. This one's amazing. Sexiest woman I've ever seen."

"Since when do you put the most stock in sexiness?" Deeks asked teasingly. He reached across the counter and helped himself to the coffeepot and a cup. He poured himself the drink and took a sip.

"I don't," Paul retorted. "That's just the first impression. Hey, she's coming back."

He nodded over Deeks' shoulder and Deeks turned to look, but Paul grabbed him and said, "Don't look! She'll think we're talking about her."

"We are talking about her," Deeks pointed out, but he did as his friend said.

"Talk me up?" Paul asked quietly and desperately. His usual ease was again being disrupted by spotting a girl. Deeks caught himself from telling the other man to chill, and he nodded instead.

"And Marty? Tone down on the charm, okay? I think I might actually have a shot with this one," Paul said even more quietly. Deeks raised an eyebrow at him, but Paul didn't even notice. He was smiling over Deeks' shoulder.

Deeks turned and there she was. The girl from the party. She was wearing running clothes. Shorts bared her long, athletic legs, and she wore a loose gray t-shirt with USMC emblazoned on the front. Her hair was falling messily out of her ponytail and sticking to her face in the heat, despite the slight breeze coming off the water. Her cheeks were flushed in a post work-out rush. She looked even more beautiful than she did last night.

She came up, recognition lighting in her eyes when she saw Deeks.

"Hey," he greeted.

"Hey," she replied.

They looked at each other for a moment before Paul piped up. "Do you know each other?"

The girl shook her head, shrugged, and came closer. "Not exactly," she said, handing a few bills to Paul. He turned and grabbed her smoothie from the fridge. He put it on the counter and the girl slid it toward her. Paul watched her all the while, Deeks noticed. Man, he had it bad. Well, he conceded, he'd be blind not to.

"We met at a party last night," she explained, seemingly oblivious to Paul's gaze. She turned toward Deeks. "And I never got your name. Kensi Blye," she said, holding out her hand.

Kensi. "Marty Deeks," Deeks said, shaking her hand. "Nice to finally meet you," he said, grinning.

He looked over her shoulder at Paul, who was frowning.

"Sorry about leaving you hanging last night," Kensi said. Paul's frown deepened. "I got held up."

Deeks shook his head. "Don't worry about it." He looked at Paul again. "Hey, have you met my buddy Paul?"

Kensi turned to Paul. She smiled at him, a dazzling smile. It nearly knocked Deeks over and he wasn't even the one it was directed at. Paul was floored. Deeks watched the infatuation become even more embedded in his friend's mind and grimaced slightly.

"Hey, Paul. Kensi," she held her hand out and Paul shook it wordlessly, though he smiled. "Thanks for the smoothie."

"Uh, yeah. No problem," Paul answered. He was trying too hard to be conversational, Deeks noticed. "Do you come here often?" Deeks cringed internally.

Kensi raised an eyebrow, her smile faltering slightly. "No. Not too much. Busy, you know?"

"Oh, yeah, I know what you mean. Do you go to the university?"

Kensi nodded. Deeks couldn't tell if his friend knew how uncomfortable this conversation was, or if he was still trying out of desperation. Either way, it was incredibly awkward.

But Paul continued. "Us too. We're at the law school. How about you?"

Kensi glanced at her watch, which did not go unnoticed by Paul. His eager attempt at conversation had obviously gone stale. "Um, forensics and criminology," Kensi answered, still looking at her watch. She looked up and said,"Speaking of, I am going to be late to my first class if I don't head back now."

Kensi turned her dazzling smile on Paul and Deeks and said, "It was nice to meet you. Both of you. Thanks again for the smoothie." She said this last part to Paul and then jogged across the sand toward the parking lot, leaving both men staring after her.

I sense some discontent forming between Paul and Deeks! Check back next Sunday to see what happens!

Please continue to review. This is all a big learning experience for me, so critiques are very helpful for me to write what you, the readers, want to read. Kind words are always motivating, as well!