Author's Note: I'm really sorry that I took me this long to write this chapter. I ended up rewriting it three times. I introduce the case in this chapter and the first idea I had in my head didn't work as well as I wanted it too. I'm sorry if it's not the most realistic case, I can't really fact check a lot of things. Thanks for all the support on this story. Honestly it will probably take me this long to update from now on because of school. Please review and share your thoughts. Thanks again ~Willow

Kensi sat on the couch with her eyes trained towards the TV.

The latest episode of Top Model was on, but she wasn't really paying much attention to the episode she had been looking forward to all week.

She was lost in thought. She had been thinking about the same thing for what felt like hours. How was she going to tell Deeks that he was going to be a father?

It had to be perfect. So many good moments in their lives had been brought about because of the evil in the world, and this moment was going to be nothing but smiles and happy tears.

The question of how still remained. Kensi had come up with a few ideas, but none of them seemed right.

So she waited. She sat on the couch imagining what was going to happen when Deeks walked through the door.

Every little sound made her jump and look towards the door, but it was never Deeks.

She heard a creak somewhere, and she whipped around to face the door. When she looked towards the door she realized how dark it was outside.

She hadn't allowed herself to look at the clock and count the minutes until he arrived. Doing that always made the hours seem like days.

She decided it was about time to check the clock.

She turned on her phone, and the screen told her that it was 10:30 pm. She was shocked. She turned her phone off and then back on again to see if it was a glitch. Where was Deeks?

She didn't have a text from anyone on the team or a missed call. Her stomach dropped. She typed in her password with shaking hands and called Hetty.

She didn't really need to ask where Deeks was because she knew in her gut he had gone undercover. If only she had postponed the doctor's appointment until tomorrow.

Hetty picked up the phone on the first ring.

She answered with the words, "Your partner is alive Miss Blye. He was thrown into a last minute undercover operation that I cannot explain to you over the phone. I'll brief you when you arrive."

Kensi was already hurrying to lock the door to her house when Hetty hung up.

Kensi quite possibly broke every traffic law in the state of California to get to headquarters, the excitement about telling Deeks he was a father pushed far from her mind.

When she arrived at work she made herself take a calming breath before going in.

The team was probably stressed with whatever case they were working on and her absence had left them a team member down.

She took a deep breath and exited her car.

Hetty was waiting for her when she entered OSP. Kensi couldn't hold back her questions, so she was asking them before Hetty had a chance to speak, "What's the case? How dangerous is his position? Is everything going smoothly? Why didn't you tell me sooner? Hetty, when is he coming home?"

"Ms. Blye if you wish to be briefed you will have to let me speak."

"I'm sorry Hetty. He's out there alone, it worries me."

Hetty led Kensi to her desk and asked her to sit.

"Deeks is not alone Ms. Blye."

"Who's with him?"

"An old friend from the LAPD requested his help on a case and they went undercover together to infiltrate a smuggling network that has been on our radar for some time now." The way Hetty said 'old friend' made Kensi wonder how Deeks was roped into the case.

"So what's the situation, I mean how was he pulled in."

"He was called in by his other, less authoritative boss. Deeks was not pleased when he was ordered to go in without informing anyone on our side. He told me straight away and I told him to go in. We are watching his back, Mrs. Blye."

Kensi sighed. She wondered when, if ever, Deeks would become a full-time NCIS Agent.

"So what's the case?"

"A man, known to us as the Naf Tuug, has recently expanded his once small human trafficking enterprise into a global enterprise. He made a lot of friends when taking his business global. He claims he now has a network that can get anything to its destination. He does his homework on his clients and it takes a lot to get in his inner circle. He talks through proxies and no one outside of his inner circle knows his true identity. He is good friends with heads of gangs and cartels. He knows a handful of arms dealers personally, but he doesn't have very many friends in his preferred shipping industry. He's having his annual dinner tomorrow night and he has invited some new recruits to join. We think he is looking to train someone to help him and not compete with him in his human trafficking exports. A few weeks ago a task force was set up to infiltrate this dinner. Agents from ATF and DEA are represented on the task force with a handful of the LAPD's best undercover officers. Deeks is also there to represent our interest in the case. We believe Tuug has a Navy contact, and we believe he is using our ships to transport illegal good in and out of this country.

"How have I never heard of this guy before?"

"He tries to keep his enterprise from the law enforcement and he is a very private man. We have no real identity for him, and we have no picture to match to the name. We believe he is from Somalia because of his code name, but we don't know much for sure. We have heard whispers of the soul snatcher trade growing, but we didn't know until recently how much the 'Soul Thief' had grown his business"

"Why Marty? LAPD doesn't really need him and they don't seem the type to reach out to NCIS if we haven't voiced an interest."

"A man Mr. Deeks once worked an undercover op with reached out to him. This man, Matthew Billingsley, has been heading up the task force focused on taking down Naf Tuug. Detective Billingsley was assigned to head up the task force after LAPD discovered a shipment of children in a storage container. None of the evidence linked back to Naf Tuug, but it linked to his network. Billingsley had two detectives go undercover and try to infiltrate the operation by associating themselves with people Tuug has done business with in the past. Both agents were killed within twenty-four hours of trying to make contact with Tuug's operation leaders. Two more officers established themselves further into the operation and were able to get Deeks and Billingsley invitations to the dinner and pre dinner meet up to be vetted. These agents will be at the dinner as well."

"Who are the Agents?"

"ATF Agent Lisa Wesley and DEA Agent Talia Del Campo."

Talia. This really is a case that just keeps on giving.

"What's the plan?"

"Deeks and Billingsly are going undercover as brothers who run a small trafficking ring. Wesley and Talia are going undercover as their wives. Once we get them inside tuug's inner circle we're sending in the SWAT team, and we are shutting down the whole operation."

Kensi had so many questions running through her head. These men were dangerous and Deeks was right in the middle of their organization. She should be undercover as his wife, not Talia.

Kensi shuddered. She did not like this case one bit. Going undercover as a horrible person really took its toll on you.

Eric came running down the stairs from OPS, interrupting her thoughts. Hetty, we have a development in the case.

Kensi sprinted to OPS with Hetty right behind her. She joined the team upstairs and waited anxiously for information.

"What do you have Mr. Beale?"

"LAPD received this package just a few minutes ago."

Eric pulled up some pictures of a box containing a tongue and ten fingers.

Kensi gasped when she saw the pictures. Was it Deeks?

"It was delivered by a man who said he was paid a hundred dollars to drop it off. He also was told to deliver the message, 'your detective is dead'."

Kensi couldn't listen to Eric talk details any longer, she wanted to know which detective was dead.

"Eric, please, is it Deeks?"

"I'm sorry I should have specified it was Billingsley, DNA confirmed."

"Yeah Beale, you should have led with that!" Nell interjected.

Kensi let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding in. Sam walked up behind her and gently placed a hand on her shoulder.

She sighed as she asked, "Has his cover been blown? Do you know if he's okay?"

Nell answered trying to calm her friend, "He hasn't made contact, but we have a video feed and he seems to be fine."

She pulled up the video transmission from Deeks' camera. She could see him only slightly in the dim lit room, but he looked fine.

"Does the sound work?" Kensi asked. She wanted to hear her partner's voice to see if he was really okay.

"No, we aren't getting a very good signal," Nell replied glancing at Kensi. "This is the best we can do."

"Can you read what he's saying?" Callan asked Kensi. He wanted to better understand the situation.

Kensi tried to read his lips, but she couldn't get a good read on the conversation.

"Sorry guys, the angle is off."

"What do we do now?" Sam asked.

Nell came up beside her and gently took her hand and gave it a squeeze.

"I'm sorry, I know you must be worried sick. If it were me," She said slightly gesturing to an oblivious Eric, "I wouldn't be able to stand it."

Kensi gave her friend a weak smile.

"I'm doing alright. As long as I know he's safe at the moment I can breathe."