A/N: Okay, so here it is—Chapter 2 (although I admit I did end up changing the title). A warning though, this chapter is a bit slow and not much happens here, but trust me this chapter is totally necessary for the story to work as a whole. Thanks again for tuning in, and I really really hope that you guys will R&R as always. P.S. Oh, by the way—I received quite a few comments from you guys guessing as to what Kensi's secret might be, and I just want to say that some of you were right on track. But that's all I'm saying on that `Ciao`
SECRETS
-Chapter 2-
'The Eye-Patch'
"Look, I'm just sayin'—let me do the talking. Alright?" Deeks says, as he and Kensi finally stroll through the mission's front doors. The pair are almost a whole hour late for work, and are anxious about facing their boss.
"Why?" Kensi counters, eying her boyfriend carefully. She knows all too well that Deeks has a tendency to, more often than not, stick his foot in his mouth whenever he opens it. Understandably, she's a bit concerned by this. "I know you think you're so smooth and all, but-"
"Ah ha. So you admit it!" Deeks cuts her off excitedly. "You do think I'm smooth." He adds, flashing her the trademark lopsided grin he knows she loves.
Kensi shakes her head at her shaggy-haired lover, and let's go of a sigh. "Don't twist my words, Deeks. No good will come of it." She tells him with a tone of warning to her voice.
Deeks and Kensi turn another corner, and find themselves stepping out into the mission's main lobby area. Sam and Callen are already seated behind their respective desks in the bullpen. Sam seems to be absorbed in something on his laptop, while Callen is busily reading the sports section of the newspaper he holds in his hands.
The two junior members of the NCIS OSP team stop short of walking into the bullpen, and turn to look at one another.
Deeks chuckles in reply. "Go ahead. Deny it all you want, Fern. But you and I both know…it's true, true, true. Besides, given the significance of today, I'm sure Hetty'll go easy on us."
"You mean because it's your birthday?"
"Mmhmm." Deeks replies with a nod.
"Right." Kensi says, with a roll of her eyes.
"Mr. Deeks. Ms. Blye." Comes the voice of OSP's tiny operations manager, as she seemingly appears behind them from out of nowhere. Kensi immediately spins around on the spot, turning to face her boss with a look of clear uneasiness painted across her face.
Startled by Hetty's sudden appearance, Deeks visibly jumps on the spot while his hand flies up to cover his rapidly beating heart. "AH! Christ, Hetty—Please, don't do that. Seriously, one of these days I'm gonna put a bell on you so we'll know you're coming."
Behind them, in the bullpen, Sam and Callen snicker to themselves at the effect their boss has on the two junior members of their team. "So much for Deeks being smooth." Sam remarks, with a grin.
"Hetty wins every time." Callen replies, looking up from the article he's reading.
"How nice of the both of you to finally grace us with your presence." Hetty continues, looking between Kensi and Deeks, with her hands folded together in front of her.
"Hetty!" Kensi says, her thoughts suddenly running wild as she searches for an acceptable excuse, as to why she and Deeks are late, to tell her boss. "I-I know we're late,"
"Indeed."
"Yes, and well, I…uh, er…we…can explain. You see…we, uh, that is…I mean-" Kensi struggles, after all it's not like she can actually tell her boss that the reason she and Deeks are late is because she surprised him with birthday sex after he woke up, and then afterwards a quickie in the shower. No, of course not. That would just be plain creepy and gross.
Then a hand against her shoulder shuts her up, and she glances back to see her partner flash a brief smile before turning to attention to their boss.
"Hetty, it's my fault." Deeks says, coming to his partner's rescue. "Monty wasn't feeling too good this morning, and I wanted to drop him at the vet for a check-up. Unfortunately, Monty's vet is a little bit out of the way. Sorry." Deeks finishes, running a hand through his blonde locks as he waits for Hetty to respond to his explanation—even if it is basically a little white lie.
Hetty stares silently between the two partners for a beat before giving a nod. "Very well then. But, Mr. Deeks, Birthday or not—I'll thank you to be on time from now on. That goes for you as well, Ms. Blye."
Deeks and Kensi both nod in understanding, and then make their way into the bullpen where they drop their bags by their desks and start to sit down with their other teammates. Kensi quickly shoots her partner a silent thank you for saving both of their butts with Hetty, and he responds with another one of his lopsided grins as they take their seats near the others.
"Now, if everyone will gather upstairs—we have a case." Hetty tells them, and then without another word the tiny woman turns and heads for the stairs leading up to Ops.
"Huh?" Deeks looks confused as he watches Hetty walk away, but then a loud whistle sounds from the top of the staircase, and everyone looks up to see Eric peering down at them from above. The decorative eye-patch that the technical analyst is wearing does not go unnoticed.
"Seriously, how the hell does she do that?" Deeks asks, looking from Sam to Callen, and then to Kensi.
Callen folds up his newspaper and then sets it down on his desktop, as he stands to his feet. "She's Hetty." He tells the younger man.
"And that's all you need to know." Sam chimes in, following his partner out of the bullpen.
"Yo Ho Matey's!" Eric calls down, with a wave of his hand. "We got a case, so shiver yer timbers cause dead men do tell tales." He says with a grin.
Hetty passes by Eric at the top of the stairs, and gives him a quizzical look as she moves by into the Ops Centre. Meanwhile, down below Kensi and Deeks move to follow the senior members of their team as they head up the stairs towards Ops. "Hey Eric, what's the pirate motif?" Callen asks, as he and Sam approach the tech geek.
"Like it?" Eric asks excitedly, a huge grin spread across his face. "I'm trying out a new look…you know, to impress the ladies." He adds hopefully.
"All you needs' a parrot." Callen remarks, with a slight grin as he walks through the doorway into the Ops Centre beyond.
"Yeah, and you could call her Nell." Sam adds cleverly, giving the younger man a wink as he passes by.
Eric blushes with embarrassment.
"Ignore them Eric." Deeks says, with a grin, as he and Kensi finally reach the top of the stairs. "I think it's cool."
"Deeks is right. And besides, a little foreplay is a healthy part of any relationship." Kensi adds with a wicked glint in her eye.
"Um, right…uh, well, I-I guess we should go in now." Eric says, coughing loudly once, before ducking into the Ops Centre with Deeks and Kensi following close behind. If there is anything to be said about working for NCIS' L.A. Office of Special Projects it's that, whether you're doing field work or not, there is never a dull moment.
LALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALA LALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALA
Inside the Ops Centre everyone takes their usual spots, and waits to be briefed on the newest assignment, whatever it maybe, hoping against all odds for something with an easy-to-achieve resolution. After all, it is a beautiful Friday with an equally as glorious weekend predicted to follow, and everyone in the room has his/her own plans for how they will be spending their off days. That is, unless something unforeseen happens to alter those plans.
Take Sam, for example, he has plans to spend the entire weekend away at Disneyland with his family for his daughters' birthday. He knows that Michelle, his wife, would not be too pleased with him if he had to miss it, or worse cancel/postpone the whole affair all together.
The ex-Navy Seal's partner, G. Callen (or Uncle G. as his kids call him), also has plans to spend at least part of the weekend with them at Disneyland for the party. Then after that he will be headed for San Diego to spend Sunday with a certain member of NCIS' Red Team. Though the team leader will most likely never openly admit to it, everyone else pretty much knows that he and Paris Summerskill are romantically involved with one another.
Then there's the teams two junior members, Kensi and Deeks, who are planning to spend their weekend together in Malibu with Kensi's Mom, Julia, and her half-sister Chloe. Deeks also plans to get in some good surf time while they are down there, and Kensi wants to do some shopping with her Mom and Sister as well. It'll be a really good chance for Kensi to get to know her family even better, and as well for them to get to know her boyfriend.
As for Eric, well, suffice it to say that he has plans, though he doesn't quite yet know it, to spend the weekend with his wonderfully brilliant and beautiful partner, Nell Jones. He has caught the petite young woman staring and smiling at him in the most peculiar of ways several times since they both came in to work earlier in the morning, and he can't help but wonder at what might be going on in that gorgeous head of hers.
Where Hetty is concerned, well, let's just say that her weekend plans, as they usually are, are classified. This is just one more thing that adds to the overall enigma that is Henrietta Lange.
"So, Eric," Nell asks, as her partner sidles up to his computer terminal next to hers. "They say anything about your eye-patch?"
Eric casts a sideways glance at his partner, as he plops down into his seat. "Yeah. Apparently, I'm just missing a parrot and a hook." The tech geek replies, as he lifts the eye-patch up so that he can see through both of his eyes at once.
"Oh, well—hey, I know. Maybe next time you could try out a Shakespearean theme—or something close to it." She suggests, somewhat shyly. Eric just scoffs at that.
"Yeah, like you'll ever catch me in tights again."
Nell shrugs. "Just a thought. Though, I do recall your last tight-wearing adventure working out very well for you in the end." She reminds him with a devilish grin.
Eric is about to open his mouth to reply, but Hetty cuts him off quickly by clearing her throat rather loudly. "Mr. Beale, if you would be so kind."
"Hetty. Oh, right. Yeah." He replies, his fingers quickly dancing across his keyboard at his boss' request. An image and some appropriate information soon flashes up onto the giant plasma screen.
"Everyone, meet Navy Intelligence Officer Dexter Ryals." Eric says in introduction, as he turns in his seat to face the rest of the team.
"Name definitely fits." Deeks remarks, a wide grin growing on his face. Beside him, Kensi just rolls her eyes while Sam and Callen glare at him clearly unamused by his joke. Even though, given the Navy Officer's appearance in the photo on screen, he is not wrong. "Hey, I thought it was funny."
"Anyway," Eric continues. "Ryals' most recent assignment was working in conjunction with a technology development firm here in L.A., called BrightTech." Eric explains to the team.
"Catchy." Deeks remarks sarcastically.
"What were they developing?" Callen asks, his mind beginning to wander through the many different reasons why his team would be investigating this particular intelligence officer.
"The Navy's been in the market for a revolutionary, new Carrier-based Reconnaissance Drone. The idea behind it is to give the Navy a better, more undetectable, way to observe enemy targets without having to launch regular Recon flyovers—which always have the potential of alerting said targets to our presence." Nell explains easily, while still navigating through the files on her handheld terminal.
"His body was discovered just a few hours ago by the pool boy at the Grand Cayman hotel." As Eric relays this information to his teammates he brings up a crime scene photo which shows the dead Navy Officers' body floating face-down in the hotel's indoor swimming pool.
"The pool boy, one Marcus Bennett, immediately notified his supervisor, who then called LAPD." Nell chimes in, reading notes off of her own handheld terminal.
"And then LAPD called us." Callen finishes for the petite young tech analyst.
"Mmhmm." Nell replies with a nod.
Kensi is silently studying the photograph displayed upon the giant plasma screen, and her initial inspection of it draws only one question to the forefront of her mind. "How did they know he was Navy?" the female federal agent asks, drawing attention from her other teammates. "I mean, in this photo here, he's-" Kensi pauses for a moment trying to decide what is the most tactful way of describing the dead Navy Officer's appearance.
"-in his birthday suit?" Deeks suggests, as if reading his partner's mind. A second later, the shaggy-haired Special Agent yelps in pain, as Kensi gives him a sharp jab in the ribs with her elbow. "Yow, that's smarts." He grunts, rubbing his new sore spot.
Kensi rolls her eyes openly, with a shake of her head. "Naked. I was going to say naked." She corrects, throwing a glance over her shoulder at her partner/boyfriend.
"Sure you were, Princess. Sure you were." Deeks just smiles in return.
Hetty clears her throat, loudly, once again to re-focus everyone's attention back on the case at hand.
"Sorry." Deeks apologizes quietly. "But, ahem, Kensi's right. I mean, if he was found just this morning then we'd still be waiting on fingerprint results—trust me on that one." Deeks' insider knowledge of his former place of employment still serves him well even at NCIS.
"Well, if he was staying there as a guest someone would have recognized him, and told the police. I'm sure they'd have searched his room." Sam offers, merely pointing out the most obvious answer.
"This is all true, except he wasn't…staying there I mean." Eric answers, running his fingers over his keyboard once more. After a few seconds, some housing records appear upon the giant plasma screen.
"Come again."
"Ryals lives in D.C., but because of his work here in L.A.—he's been renting an apartment on the north side of town." Eric continues to elaborate for the team, as he and Nell scroll through their available information.
"That doesn't make any sense." Callen remarks, standing up a little bit straighter.
"And it doesn't explain how the police knew he was Navy either." Sam adds.
"We're getting there." Nell tells them, with just the slightest bit of annoyance to her voice. The young tech analyst presses a button on her handheld, and in seconds two new photographs appear on screen. Both are of a BrightTech name badge. "LAPD found this, and only this, lying near the edge of the pool where Ryals' body was found."
"Well, that certainly explains that." Deeks says, shifting from one foot to the other.
Hetty finally decides to step up, and say her piece before dismissing the team to do what they do best. "Director Vance wants us to find out whether or not the project Officer Ryals was working on has been compromised. And if so, by whom. And since we don't have a lot to go on—you'll have to fill in the blanks as you go."
…TBC…
Join us next time won't you
Stay Tuned for Scenes from our Next Chapter…
-Chapter 3-
'Lurker In The Shadows'
Kensi moves slowly through the darkened corridor, her weapon held out at the ready, as she glances from side to side in search of any potential dangers that might lurk just out of sight. She still can't believe that she and Deeks basically walked right into somebody's trap. She's not sure whether she should be impressed or annoyed.
She raises a finger and presses it to her earpiece, signaling her partner once again. "Deeks, where are you?"
"Elevator." Deeks' voice crackles over the com-link.
"You took the elevator?" Kensi questions in disbelief, slight annoyance creeping into her voice.
"Well, no. Not intentionally." He replies, and she hears what sounds like her partner banging on the interior elevator wall(s).
"What the hell does that mean?" she asks, as she moves further down the corridor. Her eyes soon land upon a door left standing slightly ajar near the far end of the corridor.
"Someone hit me from behind, and pushed me inside just before the power went out." Her partner explains.
Kensi considers this new information in careful silence, and the only sensible explanation is the one that makes her feel the most apprehensive. "Deeks, I don't think the power going out was accidental." She tells her shaggy-haired partner.
"Trap?"
"Feels like it." Kensi replies.
"Kens. Stay put. Don't do anything until I can get there to back you up." Deeks tells her.
Kensi rolls her eyes though she knows her partner can't see it. "Deeks, your trapped in an elevator. How are you planning to back me up exactly?" No response comes from her partner though, and the only sound she can hear over her com-link is static.
`Ciao`