A/N: Written prior the day of the season 14 premiere (but before it aired).

"Deeks, you're here early," Callen observed as he walked in with a cup of coffee in one hand and a paper bag in the other.

"Yeah, needed to catch up on some paperwork," Deeks explained. "Besides, I was already up. School drop-off you know."

Callen made a face that Deeks interpreted as relief that he wasn't responsible for any drop offs.

"Got it. What about your other, better-looking half?"

"A training. We were supposed to do it together, but there was only room for one, so I'll have my turn next week. She'll be in soon."

"Sounds good," Callen said, pulling his cell from his pocket when it buzzed. "Hmm, looks like both of our partners ditched us. Sam had to take his dad in for a blood test."

"Slackers," Deeks joked, grinning slightly as he looked at his laptop long enough to submit an expense report. "Is Mr. Hanna, ok?"

"Yeah, Sam says it's just routine. But," Callen reached into the bag. "That means you get his breakfast sandwich."

"Sweet." As they munched on their sandwiches, Callen shared his recent engagement woes which included dodging Arkady's various requests for the wedding, and resisting the urge to elope.

"I knew it was going to be rough, but I didn't anticipate that Arkady would have an opinion, a very extravagant opinion, on everything while Anna doesn't care about any of it," Callen told him, sounding truly fed up.

Deeks chuckled in sympathy, but also relief that he wouldn't have to make any of those decisions ever again.

"I do not miss that part of getting married at all. Good luck to you, brother," Deeks said, crossing between their desks to give Callen a supportive pat on the back. "Just keep thinking that no matter how many crazy families are involved or how many wild swans they want to bring, it'll all be over soon, and then you get to spend the rest of your life with the person you love most."

"That's surprisingly touching. Wait, wild swans?"

"The swans will have to wait for now, Callen," Kilbride interrupted dryly, stalking into the bullpen. "The FBI just found a body that matches the MO of Robert Griffin and his gang. If you'll recall—"

"They abducted people, and put on a sadistic show while mutilating their bodies," Deeks filled in quickly. His sandwich suddenly felt like barbell in his stomach and he grimaced as Kilbride nodded.

"Thank you for summary, Deeks. That is correct. As you can imagine, we'd like to get these guys for good this time, and as quickly as possible. And since this was a joint case last time, FBI would like our assistance again.

"Of course. I wasn't directly involved last time," Callen told Kilbride, but I know the case."

"Not one I ever wanted to revisit," Deeks said honestly, paperwork and wedding conversation immediately forgotten. "What do we need to do?"

"The victim, Harry Pulver, was found late yesterday outside a condemned school store. FBI Agent Rand is on scene with her team. She'd like us to start interviewing anyone Pulver had contact with in the last few weeks."

"Got it."

"Good. I'll send Sam and Kensi when they arrive."

Three hours in, and so far they'd learned that Harry Pulver was was respected at work, and had a few friends and family, but otherwise kept to himself. It made sense why Griffin would target someone like him. According to his sister, she hadn't heard from him in a week, which wasn't all that unusual. No one had missed him until days after he was taken.

Their next stop was a greenhouse and nursery Pulver had called 8 days ago. As soon as they walked in, they were greeted by a woman with long curly hair, a green apron tied around her waist.

"Hi, how can I help you?" she asked with a friendly smile.

"Hi. We're Agents Callen and Investigator Deeks with NCIS," Callen told her, holding up his badge. Her smile faltered ever so slightly, but she recovered quickly as he added, "We have a few questions."

"Oh sure, whatever we can do to help. Let me just check something in the back."

"Don't move and put your hands on the counter," Deeks shouted unexpectedly. "Callen, she's—"

Whatever Deeks was a second too late as the woman at the counter jammed a taser into Callen's chest. He gasped, reaching for his gun, but his hand refuses to follow his commands as his body shook with spasms.

As he fell to the ground, he heard Deeks fighting off someone behind him. The sound of a gun firing echoed in his ear before he lost consciousness.

Kensi hands were clamped into tight fists, nails breaking through skin as she tried not to shout at Sam to go faster. He'd already broken half a dozen law, including speeding through multiple red lights.

It still wasn't fast enough. Deeks' request for assistance had come through over half an hour ago, and he would never use the alert without an extremely good reason. It had to be bad.

They'd left before Fatima could tell them more than Deeks and Callen's last location, and that they'd been investigating the Robert Griffin case. That last part terrified her. She'd seen what Griffin and his gang were capable of.

"Don't worry Kensi, they'll be ok," Sam told her, even as his jaw clenched. She didn't respond, unable to tell herself such lies.

They reached the nursery in another 10 minutes, and she hopped out of the vehicle before it fully stopped, ignoring Sam's shout of warning. Her stomach sank even further as she took in the scene.

There were emergency vehicles everywhere, FBI agents, LAPD. She searched until she spotted Callen sitting on the back of an ambulance, two EMTs working around him, relief filling her.

When he saw her approaching, he brushed off the EMTs, hopping off the ambulance with a slight waver in his step before he recovered. Blood covered the right side of his face, descending from a cut above his eyebrow.

"Callen, where's Deeks?" she asked when he stopped in front of her, relief fading as she realized Deeks wasn't there. There was more blood on his sleeve, down the front of his shirt, and based on his battered face, he'd been in a hard fight.

He looked down and pressed a hand to her stomach.

"I think Griffin and the other took him," he answered quietly. Fear shot through her. There hadn't been any reported deaths. Surely someone would have given them warning.

"What do you mean think?" she demanded. "What happened?"

"When we walked in, there was a woman at the counter. I think it was Cindy Ferguson, but I didn't recognize her right away. Deeks just have though, because he tried to give me a warning. She tased me, and someone attacked Deeks before we could move."

"So you just let them take him?"

"I passed out for a minute and when I came too, two men were dragging Deeks out of the room. Another was dead. Deeks shot him."

"Oh my god." Her knees shook as the name brought up images of mutilated bodies. The world shifted and grayed around her, and for a second, she thought she might pass out.

"I went after them, and tried to fight them off, but I couldn't. They'd taken my gun, and one guy shoved me in the wall. By the time I got back up they were gone." He shook his head.

"I'm sorry, Kensi," he murmured, grasping her shoulder. She glanced up, not acknowledging his apology.

"Those monsters took Deeks," she said, voice shaking with horror, fear, and rising anger. Shaking off his hand, she stared at Callen in disbelief. "How could you let that happen? You were supposed to be watching his back." Her voice had risen to a shout, but she didn't care. Not about the people who were watching them or Sam's soft admonishment behind her.

"Kensi if I could have—"

"But you didn't," she interrupted. "You were supposed to have his back," she repeated quietly. "And you didn't. Now he's in the hands of killers who enjoy mutilating people for sport. That's 100% on you."

Callen's face fell in despair, but she squared herself against any compassion or guilt. She had more important things to worry about his hurt feelings.

Stalking past him, Kensi ducked under a length of caution tape.

"Kensi, where are you going?" Sam called after her. If she'd look back, she would have seen him lay a comforting hand Callen's shoulder, but she had one focus right now.

"I'm going to get my husband back," she said grimly. And she would tear down anything and anyone who stood in her way.

A/N: I know Kensi is being highly unfair and dramatic here, but I don't care. She's terrified for Deeks and speaking from that terror, anger, and fear. She's not thinking particularly rationally at the moment, and I greatly enjoyed writing it.