Hello my darlings. I would like to thank anonkp, ,for the wonderful reviews. I would also like to thank those of you who have followed and favoured since my last update.
So this chapter is set at the beginning of season 2, episode 10 'Deliverance'. There is also a slight reference to an old UK commercial for Dime Bar chocolate that I couldn't help myself from adding if anyone picks it up, if not ignore this comment.
Anyway I hope you like it.
Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS: LA, nor any of the lines I have taken from the show.
Kensi was training with another agent when Deeks and Monty returned from the vets. She was surprised to see her partner walk in with a dog, but that didn't stop her from turning from sparring and moving towards him to stroke his arm in an attempt to continue the flirting she had started the previous evening. She was actually finding it rather entertaining how uncomfortable Deeks got by her attentions. Damn she should have done this before rather than hitting him, which always seemed to encourage his ridiculous behaviour.
"Hey Deeks. How are you today?" She asked in a flirtatious tone as she fluttered her eyelashes at him in a completely outrageous way making Deeks' eyes widen before he tried to unobtrusively take a step away from his partner. Oh this wasn't good.
Sam and Callen meanwhile were having a game of one on one basketball. Sam started when Monty barked gaining his attention, but Callen managed to maintain his focus on the game to become champion of the world. Or at least he did until he heard Kensi's voice sounding very unlike her voice. That caused him to miss his shot before turning round to see what was going on forgetting the game completely when he greeted with Kensi touching Marty and smiling seductively at him. He didn't like that. He really didn't like that. In fact he didn't like it so much he forgot to mask the glare he sent her way until he heard Sam's amused voice in his ear.
"Watch it G. I think your eyes are turning green." He said before he turned to Deeks and spoke in the hopes of diffusing the situation that had just sprung up. Obviously while G and Deeks had sorted things out, there was still one more person who needed to be let in on the plan.
"Hetty said you can't bring rescues here."
"It's not a rescue. It's a police dog and we're training." Deeks replied without batting an eyelid at that fact that Sam had seen Monty only an hour before and knew full well why he was there. It gave him a perfect excuse to walk towards the two men and away from Kensi. He really needed to find the time to talk to her about the whole flirting thing. He didn't think G ripping into his partner would do well with his plan on not telling her who his significant other was.
"He kind of looks like you." Kensi said with a smile as she joined the three men, not being able to stop herself from making the comment. I mean come on, they were both shaggy, and well, a little unkempt.
"You look like me?" Deeks asked getting down onto his knees to give Monty a well-earned rub as he continued talking. "You do because I'm your daddy, aren't I?"
Callen couldn't stop himself smiling at the scene in front of him, nor could he stop agreeing that there was a certainly similarity to Monty and Marty, they were both adorable and really cute in his mind. But he needed to keep up the cover they had, so wiping the smile from his face he spoke for the first time. "Well, they are clearly in love."
At Callen's words Monty turned his head to look at him at the same time as Deeks looked up as well, and Callen swore they both smiled at him and gave him those big eyed looks that they could both do that he couldn't say no to. Damn it.
"Clearly love is blind." Sam retorted smirking at G at subtle undercurrent those words had with reference to his and Deeks' relationship.
"You know what? One day this dog will save your life." Deeks replied seriously. He didn't appreciate the mocking G and Sam were giving Monty. Hmm, well he would just have to make G pay. "Come here, cover his eyes." he said to Kensi, but as soon as he stood up and let go of Monty rather than sitting there and letting Kensi come towards him, Monty ran across to Callen and sat down at his feet looking up at his other owner.
"At least one of you prefers me, right?" Callen muttered under his breath as he scratched Monty's ears just how he liked it. Of course his comment was heard by Sam who just rolled his eyes at him. Yep, G had definitely been bitten by the green-eyed monster.
Deeks followed Monty over to Callen, any excuse to be close to him, and while he didn't hear the words the other man had spoken, he could feel the tension rolling off the older man. As such he couldn't stop himself from giving him a look that clearly said 'really? I love you, remember'.
That look caused the tension inside Callen to release. He was being an idiot, Sam was right. Of course Marty hadn't had time to talk to Kensi yet, he had only just got to work after all. Her flirting didn't mean anything, and Marty would sort it out. He needed to just… calm down.
And Kensi standing to the side of Deeks and Callen frowned slightly as she watched some sort of silent conversation pass between them. What was going on? I mean Deeks was her partner, so how could he possibly be able to have silent conversation with Callen? Even she couldn't do that. In fact she was pretty sure only Sam and Hetty had that ability, so seriously, what was going on? But before she could think too much about it Deeks looked away and got Callen to cover Monty's eyes. He then proceeded to try and get his dog to find explosives which was apparently what he was trained to do. Not that Monty seemed to be in the working frame of mind, what with how he just lay down at Deeks feet. It was then Eric came in to call everyone to ops for a shooting that was related to the case they had worked the previous day, and with that, what she had seen between their team leader and her partner slipped completely from her mind.
Kensi and Deeks where detouring to the crime scene to drop Monty off with his handler, and Kensi had to wonder if this guy was the one who Deeks was in a relationship with. After all he had said Monty was his dog, and from what she knew police dogs lived with their handlers, which led her to the obvious conclusion that Deeks spent a lot of time with this Steve guy.
"So Steve, is he your boyfriend?" She asked on the way, trying and failing to come up with some subtle way to ask that question.
"What? No." Deeks replied with a chuckle at the idea that he was with Steve. I mean the guy was a straight as they come.
"Okay. So why is Monty your dog then?" Kensi challenged, not able to give up on the idea that easily.
"Because his girlfriend is allergic to dogs. Come on Fern, you're gonna have to try harder than that if you're going to work out who he is." Deeks replied with a smirk, wondering if and when Kensi would figure it out. I mean it had been seven months already and she didn't have a clue so far.
"Don't. Call me Fern." Kensi responded punching Deeks in the arm for the name and smirk on his face which clearly said to her that she would never figure it out. But that look alone made her determined to do just that, somehow. Not that she knew many cops, but she would find out who the man in her partners life was. She would, he had just laid down the gantlet, and she wasn't one to back down from a challenge.
"Okay, jeez." Deeks muttered rubbing his arm. She had one hell of a punch on her. But now she had brought up the subject, he guessed it was time for them to talk. "Speaking of my boyfriend, hmm, he didn't really appreciate your way of helping my cover last night." He said uncomfortably, he really wasn't looking forward to this conversation.
"What? How does he even know what I did?" Kensi asked in surprise. I mean last night they had been out with only the team, and if Deeks boyfriend was another cop… seriously how did he find out what she had done when he wasn't even there?
"Umm, he smelt your perfume on me when I got home?" Deeks replied with a cringe. He knew that that wouldn't hold up, mainly because he made it sound like a question. It was just he didn't want to lie to her, just not tell her who it was he was in love with. Was that so wrong?
"Oh come Deeks. You can do better than that." Kensi responded with a roll of her eyes at his lame ass attempt at coming up with an excuse. And she really wanted to know the answer to this question. Did he know someone else on the team? Was that how he found out? Did someone else know that Deeks was with a guy? But if so, who?
"It might have come up in conversation." Deeks replied with a sigh. This wasn't a lie. It did come up in conversation, he just wasn't mentioning that the whole conversation was about that. It was omission, not a real lie. The best way to keep a cover.
"You talked about me? Didn't you have anything better to do?" Kensi asked with a raise of her eyebrows. His words confirmed her idea that someone on the team knew who Deeks other half was and had told him. There was no way that her behaviour would come up in conversation unless the other guy had known about it before hand. No one would mention that innocently to their boyfriend after all. Not even Deeks was that stupid.
"Oh yeah, but we did that later." Deeks smirked in reply before turning serious once more. He really needed to get her to stop with the flirting. He didn't want to be the cause of any unbalance on the team, nor any friction between Kensi and G, even if she didn't know that it was there. They had to work together, he wanted the happy feel of the team they had before back.
"So I was thinking that maybe you could back off with the flirty stuff? I mean I don't see why we can't just be partners and friends. Go back to how we were before you found out?" he suggested hopefully.
"What with you pissing me off and me hitting you?" Kensi asked with a laugh. Though she could understand where he was coming from. If she was in a relationship with someone she wouldn't like the idea of someone else flirting with them unless it was for work. If she had known it would get back to Deeks boyfriend she would never have done it. But she hadn't realised, because her partner hadn't told her someone else knew. Hmm, they really did need to work on their communication.
"Yeah, though preferably with less violence." Deeks replied, though he said it with a jokey tone, knowing full well that wouldn't happen. But he was fine with that. He could blame G for his bruised arms, and maybe make him kiss them better every evening. Now that was a good way to spend some time.
"Huh, that's not gonna happen." Kensi responded with a roll of her eyes. There was no way she could go back to Deeks teasing her without having her own defence, no matter what his boyfriend thought about it.
"Okay, I'll take the hitting, just cut the touchy feely crap? Please?" Deeks begged sensing she was ready to agree.
"Sure. But I want something in return." Kensi replied. Because come on, she wasn't not getting something in return.
"What?" Deeks groaned wondering just what it was Kensi would ask for, and just what he would be willing to give her.
At that Kensi thought. The first thing that came to mind was the name of his boyfriend, but she knew he wouldn't give that up, and plus, he had inadvertently challenged her to find out who it was, and she would. So what else could she ask for?
"Hmmm, tell me something about him." She finally replied deciding that any information she could get on the guy would help her discover the truth.
At that Deeks was the one who was silent, trying to think of something he could tell Kensi that wouldn't give the game away. He knew she had asked so she could find out who he loved, but he wasn't going to make that easy for her. It took a while but he finally hit upon the perfect response. It answered her question, but wouldn't help her in the slightest.
"He's an armadillo." Deeks said smirking at his partner as she turned to blink at him. In fact she looked for so long he found his hand moving towards the steering wheel. Maybe they should stop having these sorts of conversations while she was driving, he would very much like not to die.
"What?" Kensi finally said turning her eyes back to the road and slapping his hand away.
"You know, all hard on the outside but soft in the middle." Deeks explained simply his smirk growing with his words. That could describe any number of people, especially those who worked in law enforcement.
"Oh my god, that is the craziest description I've either heard." Kensi answered in disbelief. She wondered what the hell went on in Deeks mind, but then she was coming to understand that she regularly had to wonder that.
"Accurate though." Deeks replied with a shurg and his usual sunny smile. He had given her what she wanted, so now she had to do as he had requested.
"Accurate coming from your mind." Kensi muttered but she did it with grudging respect that he had answered her question without actually giving her anything. Not that she really expected anything less. I mean the guy had kept his relationship a secret from her the whole time they had known each other. He was good.
With that the conversation turned to one filled with their usual banter before they dropped Monty off with Steve, who smiled a lot at Kensi thinking she was a woman Deeks was trying to impress with the Russian books. Kensi noticed the looks and it confirmed Deeks words that Steve was definitely not the guy he was dating. Oh well, she would find out who it was. Hmm, maybe if she could find out who it was who knew in the office she could get them to tell her. Oh yes that was a plan. The only question was, how to bring up in casual conversation that she knew Deeks had a boyfriend without her partner never trusting her again? She would have to think about that. But have no fear, she would come up with a plan, and she would find out who it was that was such an important part of her partner's life. It was her new mission.