A/N Here is the second chapter tonight. Hope you like it.


Half an hour later, they arrived at the mission. Kensi had arrived a while earlier and waited for Yana in the locker rooms. "You ok? I heard what you said in the car."

"Yeah. This is the first time that I didn't have to worry about some of the more horrid things they did at the parties appearing. Then again, this is only the second time that I've been under." Yana opened her locker and pulled out a change of clothes.

As Yana sat on the bench, took off the shoes and massaged her feet, Kensi studied her. She was tired, no doubt from fighting the memories, but she had a feeling that it was also from something else. Maybe from the undercover job she mentioned. "You still up for tomorrow night?" she didn't want to make Yana think that she had to come. It was up to her.

"Totally, like I said before, it's been a while since I've had a girl's night out."

"How about we make it a whole weekend?" Nell said suddenly as she entered. She was a little shocked as she saw a gun pointed in her direction for a second until Yana realised that it was her. "Sorry, I didn't realise I walked that quietly."

"I'm sorry Nell, I'm still getting use to the fact that no one here wants to put a bullet in me." Yana sat back down and rubbed a hand over her face.

"You were saying?" Kensi prompted.

"Eric and I just glanced at the stuff we got from the hard drives and it'll take a while to go thru it, and Eric said that he could manage it on his own. I need some new clothes and we might as well help you find a place to stay since you're here for a while at the same time. I think Callen would like his couch back."

"What do you mean?" Yana had ducked into a stall and changed out of the dress. She came back into the room with it hanging on a hanger.

"He comes in at night sometimes to work on reports and usually ends up spending what's left of the night on it. Since you've been sleeping on it, he's forgotten that you're there. He turns to go to it and finds he can't. A couple of times, he's camped out on his bed roll behind his desk, or he drives home." Nell sat down beside the young woman who was close to her own age.

Yana chuckled, "That would explain his various moods." She started to head out the door. "A full weekend sounds good. It would be nice to see more of the city and get a bit of sunshine."

"I have a spare room that has your name on it until we find you a place." Kensi said suddenly, "I'll just have to find it." she giggled as she said the last sentence, realising that she would have to do a major clean up.

"Thanks, Kensi." Yana headed out and took the dress back to Hetty, who enquired if she was alright. After reassuring her that she would be, Yana collected her things together. Kensi called out if she was ready and then the two women headed out.

When Kensi and Yana arrived at Kensi's place, there was a slight change of plans, a quick call to Nell and the three of them started the girls weekend earlier. The reason, Kensi found that she had never put together the spare bed for the simple reason that she had never had anyone stay with her before.

A clean-up of the living room while drinking tequila and eating ice-cream revealed that Yana loved Vampire Diaries, hated cookies and cream ice-cream and was on the fence about who was hotter, Callen, Deeks or Eric. It was near three am by the time they managed to get the bed together, somehow, after several bottles of alcohol, most of which was tequila. Yana fell into it and was asleep instantly.

Kensi sorted out the sofa bed for Nell and headed to bed herself. She woke up the next morning around nine and headed to the shower. After showering, she went to the kitchen and started to think about breakfast. She wasn't the best cook, but figured that after last night, the last place any of them wanted to be was a loud restaurant. She walked in and found Yana standing at the window, a cup of coffee in her hand. "Morning." She said.

"Hey, morning." Yana turned from the window and headed back to the bench to pour a cup for Kensi.

"Thanks," She took a sip "What do you want for breakfast?"

"I was thinking about bacon and eggs on toast." Yana had resumed her spot at the window.

Kensi thought she knew why. After spending the past eleven days staring at brick walls, she would want to look out over a nice flower garden too. While she didn't get that much time, she did spend as much time as she could in her garden. She was rather pleased with what she had been able to accomplish. "I don't think I have much in the way of that though." She got up and looked in the fridge and was surprised that there was bread, eggs, bacon and orange juice sitting there where she was sure there was nothing the day before. "How long have you been up?"

"A few hours." Yana put the cup in the sink "You want me to make it?" Something in her voice made Kensi reconsider her original answer that she was her guest. Yana was silently pleading to Kensi to allow her to make it.

"No, you go ahead, frying pans under the stove. I'll go and see how Nell is." Kensi backed out of the kitchen and headed to the living room. She shook Nell and after informing her that breakfast would be ready in a little while went to her room to retrieve her phone. She saw that there was a text message that Callen had sent at one point during the night asking if Yana was ok.

She called him from in her room and said that she was ok and that alcohol did nothing to dim her reflexes. Kensi had fallen back against her at one point and the younger woman had whirled around, ready to throw a punch until she saw that it was Kensi. She also mentioned that despite all the liquor, she hadn't said anything about her family, partner or her undercover job. Kensi knew that she had to talk to someone soon about it or it could blow up in their faces. The way she was reacting at things, it was like she had never been debriefed, like the job was still going and she told Callen as much.

"I was starting to think along the same lines. I'll talk to Hetty again about seeing if she can get Nate to come back. After everything that's happened this year, Javiar, Sam's wife going under again, I wouldn't mind talking to him myself." He heard Kensi gasp over the phone "I know, I've never said anything like that, but I think it's something I need to do so I can help Yana. She's a lot like me when I was her age after my first undercover stint." Callen finished up by asking Kensi to look out for her.

Kensi promised that she would. She didn't ask him to explain why it was Yana that had finally convinced him to willingly want to talk to Nate. Sam had been trying for years to get him to open up and Hetty long before that. She suspected that the only other person that had had a small chance was Gibbs from Washington. She had a feeling that he would have simply thrown her off track by asking her something else.

She walked back out to the smell of bacon and eggs that had just come off the stove. After the best bacon and eggs that she had ever had, Kensi drove the three of them to Rodeo Drive where they spent the next several hours walking the street, looking, trying and buying anything that caught their fancy. She watched Yana and noticed that she was often like a kid at Christmas, her eyes were wide and she was trying to absorb everything she could see at once.

After lunch and more shopping, Nell who had been multi-tasking showed Yana a list of rental properties that had high tech security and buzz-in doors. After a look at them on Nell's tablet, the three went to look at a couple before heading to a movie. The third one they looked at caught Yana's attention, and after finding the apartment and price to her liking, signed the agreement. It was fully furnished, on the third floor and over looked the pool.

After seeing a movie about baseball, they went back to Kensi's place to change for dinner. They went to a nearby restaurant and after an enjoyable meal, started to talk about what they would do the next day. Kensi insisted that Yana stay that night at her place and they would help her move her things into the new place the following day before doing some sight-seeing. Nell had been in LA for a while but had yet to see many of the city's attractions. Both she and Yana wanted to see the Tar Pits and the Chinese theatre.

Arriving back at Kensi's, they were shocked to find that it was nearly midnight. They quickly went to bed, keen to get an earlier start next morning than they had that day. Just as Kensi went into her room and Nell to the sofa, Yana called out to them. "Kensi, Nell, I had a really great day today, thank you. I can't remember the last time I had this much fun."

"No problem. I take it you didn't get a lot of free time while you were under?" Kensi had a feeling she was walking on very thin ice going there, but she had to try and get Yana to open up a little.

"No. From day one there were maybe three days in total that I didn't have one of them with me. And those days were spent trying to get in contact with my handler."

"How long were you under?" Nell asked from the couch.

"Too long. Again thank you. Good night Nell, Kensi." Yana entered Kensi's spare room and closed the door.

Both Nell and Kensi noticed the darkening of Yana's eyes when Nell asked the question. After looking at each other for a moment, they turned in.

Sunday arrived sunny with a high probability of becoming very hot. After a pancake breakfast made again by Yana, they packed Yana's things in Kensi's car and headed to her new apartment. After dumping her stuff on the floor next to couch, she turned to them and said "Why don't we head to the beach for lunch, after that we can do a bus tour and see the city at sunset?"

Readily agreeing, Kensi because she wanted to keep an eye on Yana for a while longer and Nell because she was having so much fun with the two of them, they went back to Kensi's, packed a picnic lunch and their swimming bags and headed out to the beach. After seeing Santa Monica Pier and walking along Venice Beach, they had lunch in the shade of the umbrella they had brought.

Yana was fingering a dream catcher she had bought while Nell and Kensi were trying to figure out the 3D picture in something that had caught Nell's eye when three men came up to them and asked if they wanted to play some beach volleyball. Looking at each other for a moment, they agreed. Nell and Kensi found out that Yana was extraordinarily good at it. She was hitting, lunging and piking it like a pro, even the men asked where she learnt.

"High school, I kept playing when I finished. It gives me something to look forward to at the end of a hard week's work." She saw the look her two friends shared and added, "My whole family insisted that I teach them, so I did. It was a large family." Then she served the next ball and the game continued for another hour before the women won. After the men shouted them a round of drinks, Kensi, Yana and Nell found a guided tour bus that had stop points at the tar pits and the theatre. The tour took a couple of hours and finished at a lookout point at the Griffith Observatory at sunset.

Drinking in the fading light, the three women lent against a rail looking out over Los Angeles. "You ok Yana?" Kensi noticed tears in her eyes.

"Yeah. Just really missing home at the moment. Realising that I've got my own place here, and knowing that I won't be leaving for a while, it's just hit me."

"If you want to talk, we're here." Nell said as she placed a hand on Yana's shoulder. She was surprised when Yana lent her head against it.

"Thanks Nell. You too Kensi. For today, this weekend, everything since I arrived."

"No problem."

The three of them watched the last of the rays of light fade from the sky before heading home.

The footage that Kensi had managed to get from the club revealed that the marine's friends had killed him and dumped him in an alleyway behind the club. When interviewing them the team found it was because he had been disgusted when they invited him to come in with them. Words were exchanged and a fight broke out. The marine had hit his head and his neck snapped when he fell against a wall. The men feared they would be kicked out of the marines and hid his body in a dumpster.


A/N: For those who like Nate and Arkady, they make an appearance in the next chapter.