Kensi and Marty both have busy jobs. She's on call pretty much all the time, and he usually works a minimum of sixty hours a week.
Within the first month of dating, they both have to cancel dates last minute. He has an emergency with a client. She tells him there's an issue with a drug approval she needs to work on. In actual fact, she spends most of two days working with Renko while Callen and Sam are in Sudan on a case.
For the first time in her dating life with this job, though, she is dating someone who understands. He may not know what her job actually is, but he understands it's busy and not always within her control. There is no judgment when she cancels, just like there is no judgment when she is too tired to go out.
In early December, he calls her in the afternoon.
She is at the boatshed watching Sam interrogate a suspect. She leaves Callen watching the video feed and steps as far away as she can for privacy.
"Hey," she answers the phone.
"Hey, you," he greets. "How's your day going?"
She thinks to the car chase that morning and the short-lived shoot out. "Pretty average. You?"
"Not too bad. But I just got a call from my mechanic."
She frowns as she recalls him saying his truck was going in for servicing.
"Looks like they need to keep it for a few extra hours tonight to wait for some parts. Can we reschedule?"
They have plans to go out that night. Kensi is looking forward to a normal night.
Kensi glances towards the other side of the boatshed. Sam is making progress on getting a confession. There are no other loose ends to tie up. "How about you tell them to keep it overnight. I'll pick you up and we can go for dinner."
"And how do I get back to work tomorrow?" He flirts.
"I guess you'll just have to stay overnight so I can drive you."
"Sounds great." He chuckles, but then his tone changes. "Are you sure you're okay with this?"
She frowns at his uncertainty. "Of course. I suggested it."
"Thank you, Kens. This means a lot."
She brushes off his gratitude and asks for his work address. She promises to be there as soon as she can after work.
Callen offers her a nod as she rejoins him.
"You've been seeing this guy for a while now," he comments. It's a typical Callen comment. He is giving her the option to respond or not.
She chooses to respond. "Yeah. Little more than a month, I guess."
He turns more attention towards her, surprised she engaging in the conversation. "That's well past the first date," he comments. "You broke your own rule."
She smiles. "I made an exception."
"Good guy?"
She nods. "I like him," she says simply.
"That's good. You need more to life than this job," he says.
She snorts. "You're one to talk."
He grins at her. "Fair enough."
Their conversation falls away as Sam pushes their suspect to the point of a confession.
00
Kensi arrives at Marty's office in good time. The outside is pretty much exactly how she expected; an older brick mid-rise, well-kept but not fancy. A very government-looking building. The sign in the lobby displays the many government services operating through the building. She gets on the elevator and goes to the fourth floor.
At the reception desk, she speaks with a kind woman in her sixties with grey hair and a raspy voice, named Lucy. She knows who Kensi is immediately and sends her into the maze of desks with excellent directions.
There are no isolated offices, but the desks are separated by cubicle walls. Despite her previous conceptions of a Public Defender office, the desks are quite large and relatively private.
She finds Marty's desk with ease, across the floor against a window. The desk can only be described as organized chaos. There are several stacks of files and paperwork littering the surface. He has notes pinned to the wall of the cubicle.
"You got some prime real estate here," she announces her presence. "How did you score a window seat?"
He startles in his chair and turns to face her. "Kens," he greets. She's noticed before that he has begun to shorten her name. It doesn't happen all the time, but she likes it when it does. He stands and ducks his head to press a kiss to her lips. "Hi. Sorry, I didn't expect you this soon."
"Made good time." She motions to the desk space behind him. "I'm guessing this is your desk?"
He huffs a laugh and then nods. "Yeah." He scratches his nails along the scruff on his cheek.
Kensi frowns at the action, knowing it means he is nervous or uncertain.
He sighs and moves so she can see the whole thing. "It's not much, I know. But we meet with clients in conference rooms on the other side of the office, and I spend a lot of time in court and-"
"It's great," she cuts him off. She's not sure why he is suddenly so timid about his job. "And you scored a window seat," she repeats.
He shrugs. "Well, I've been here a long time."
"You must have a ton of cases," she comments, angling her head towards the piles of case files.
He sighs and she can see his tiredness. "Too many," he admits.
She steps up on her tip toes and kisses him. "They're lucky to have you."
"Thanks."
She steps forward, closer to his desk. There aren't many personal effects, but there is picture of Monty pinned to the wall beside his computer screen. It makes her smile. "That's cute," she comments.
He chuckles. "Lucy, who works at the reception desk, told me I needed more personal touches. She asked if there was anyone special in my life. When I said yes, she said I needed to bring in a picture for my desk. She wasn't entirely impressed when I brought in a picture of Monty."
Kensi laughs. "Is this the same Lucy who I met at the reception desk, who seemed to know exactly who I was?"
He pretend-winces. "She knows everything about everyone. And she knows when I'm hiding something from her. Hell, she knew about our blind date before I even met you."
She raises an eyebrow.
He nods. "Really. We call her the office mom. She's always asking about our plans, making sure we have a life outside of work, trying to make us better ourselves. She's set up at least two of the guys with their girlfriends, and one woman with her husband. When one of the interns was sick for a while, she forced him to go to the doctor, and it turned out he had a heart condition, which they caught early enough to treat. Plus, she brings in treats, organizes get-togethers outside of work and keeps us sane."
"I like her."
"Yeah, she's awesome."
Kensi continues to take in the details of his desk area while Marty logs out of his computer and organizes his files for the next morning.
When he's ready to go, he leads her back through the maze of desks to the front. About half way there, they encounter two lawyers discussing a case. A young man in his mid-twenties, probably fresh out of law school, and an older woman who looks well-experienced.
"Marty," the man greets.
"Off for the night?" The woman asks.
Deeks stops them and nods. "Yeah, actually leaving on time today. Well, almost."
They both smile in understanding and then look expectantly towards Kensi. She suddenly has the distinct impression that Deeks isn't exactly known to bring girls by the office.
Deeks clears his throat. "This is Kensi, my…" He trails off in his introduction, suddenly unsure.
"I'm his girlfriend," she speaks up for him. She knows that was what he had wanted to say. They just haven't had the discussion yet.
Both lawyers are friendly as they shake her hand and introduce themselves.
"You found a good one," the woman tells her.
Kensi smiles. "I think so."
They continue on their way out of the building, stopping to say goodnight to Lucy, and reach her car. Marty doesn't say much after leaving his floor.
She wonders if she overstepped by calling herself his girlfriend. She wonders if she should have waited for a discussion.
Once they're both settled in the car he shoots her a smile. "I like that you're my girlfriend," he tells her.
She smiles, both relieved and happy. "Me, too."
00
They pick up Monty and takeout, and head to her place for the night. They eat beside each other on the couch as they watch old recordings from Kensi's DVR. Marty is already an expert in watching America's Next Top Model with her.
When she's finished eating, Kensi sets her carton down on the coffee table and leans back against the couch. She wants to talk to him about his behaviour today; wants to understand what he was worried about. She's just not sure how to bring it up gently.
He glances suspiciously at her. "You okay?"
"You were weird today," she responds. Then she scrunches her nose, annoyed at herself for her bluntness. "It seemed like you didn't want me to come to your office?" She tries to pose her sentence as a question.
He sighs and puts down his own takeout carton. "Part of me didn't," he admits.
She is surprised he has admitted it so easily. She is also wary of why he wouldn't want her near his office. "Why?"
"I know what I do isn't glamourous. But it's what I choose to do. It's not a stepping stone job for me. And in the past, people haven't always understood that."
She nods in understanding. "By people, you mean women."
He nods. "I guess I didn't want to change your perception of me."
"Marty…" She murmurs.
"I'm a lawyer, but I don't make the big bucks. I don't take on rich clients and work out of a fancy office. I don't have the perks of belonging to a firm. It's who I am. And that's not going to change."
"Okay," she says.
"Are you sure? Because in the past…"
"Women have tried to change you?" She finishes for him.
He nods.
She stares at him for a long moment as much of his earlier behaviour now also makes sense. His confidence in meeting her, but then his assumption she wasn't interested when it took a few days to call. His reluctance to show her his office or talk about his work. His habit of always making sure she can opt out of a choice he makes.
"I don't want to change you," she tells him. "I kinda like you the way you are."
He closes the distance between them and kisses her.
She kisses him back for a long moment and then settles against him. "I'm sorry you haven't been accepted before."
He hesitates for a long moment before speaking. "When I was in Law School, I was dating this woman, Laura. Her dad was a lawyer, family was wealthy. I was the scholarship kid." He pauses for a moment and she snakes her arm around his waist, encouraging him to continue. "We were together for over a year. I thought… I thought I was going to marry her. And I was always open about wanting to be a Public Defender. She always laughed, like it was a funny thought to her, but always said she would support me no matter what."
Kensi sighs, knowing where this story is going.
"When it came time to graduate," he continues, "she wanted me to come work with her at her dad's firm. I said no. She accused me of being naïve and all sorts of other things. Asked me how I was going to make a real living that way. Told me… Told me it would embarrass her to be with me if I didn't become a real lawyer."
"Oh, Marty. I'm sorry." She hates the embarrassment and self-deprecation she can see in his eyes. And she hates the woman who caused him to feel that way. Kensi understands all too well how hard it can be to reveal her true self in this world.
"What I do is important to me," he tells her. "I've wanted to help those who need it the most since I was…" He trails of for a moment. "Since I was someone who needed help the most."
Kensi sits up and turns to meet his eyes. He now looks both determined and uncertain. He will not be changing who he is, but he is afraid who he is will make her walk away.
She kisses him. "Thank you for telling me this. And don't worry, I don't expect you to change."
He smiles at her, but it's a somber smile. "There's a lot about my past that…"
She shakes her head. "You don't have to say anymore right now. When you're ready to tell me, I'm ready to listen. I'm a pretty good judge of character, so I know what I'm getting into."
He smiles for real at her. "Well, ditto. You have any skeletons in the closet, and I'm here to listen."
She smiles back at him, hoping that he really means it.