A/N: Some whump and protective Kensi. Densimber Day 9.

"Alright Deeks, Hayes should be coming along any minute," Callen informed Deeks over comms.

Deeks didn't respond, in the middle of a tense conversation with an arms dealer. From their current location in the surveillance van, Kensi couldn't see him, but they could hear him negotiating with Dimitri Ostrovsky, the leader of the group.

Along with FBI Agent Morgan Hayes acting as his partner, Deeks was undercover as Max Gentry to set up a sale of military grade weapons. Despite Deeks' convincing performance and threats to leave, Ostrovsky was insistent that he would only continue the discussion once Hayes was present.

"Where the hell is Hayes?" Kensi demanded quietly, peering at the cameras as she paced nervously.

"He'll be there in a minute," Sam assured her. "I'm sure he just got held up by something."

"He better be," Kensi said darkly. As usual, Deeks was in an extremely dangerous position and no matter how good Hayes might be, she didn't feel comfortable being sidelined.

"Deeks can handle this," Callen added, glancing up briefly from his spot near the monitors. He had one side of a pair of headphones pressed to his ear. "He's managed deals like this a dozen times before."

"Mm. I'd just feel better if we could see him."

"Hold on, Deeks and Ostrovsky are arguing now." Callen held up a hand to interrupt, switching the audio to surround.

"Listen, I thought you were serious about this, Dimitri, but if not I can just leave," Deeks was saying, his tone dismissive and slightly irritated. Kensi could easily picture Max's irreverent, mocking expression. He'd used Max's cruelty on many occasions to get out of difficult situations. She just hoped it was enough this time.

"That was before you lied to me. You said that you had a partner, but he's not here. You said he had the cash to pay for my products, yet you're empty handed," Ostrovsky said in a silky, dangerous tone.

"Right, cause I'm going to bring several million dollars to an abandoned building when I'm outnumbered 15 to 1. I'm not that much of an idiot."

As they continued to argue, Hayes appeared on the camera feed, and Kensi relaxed ever so slightly in relief. There was a commotion as Hayes entered the building from the sound of it.

"Ricky, where the hell you been?" Deeks demanded and Kensi heard real anger in his voice.

"Relax Maxie," Hayes said in a negligent tone. "I had some other stuff to do."

"And I agreed to meet you at 8," Ostrovsky said. "Alex, search him."

"You put a freaking hand on me and I'll break your head open," Hayes threatened.

"What the hell does he think he's doing?" Kensi asked, horrified as the shouting escalated, Deeks trying to deescalate the situation.

"No idea. Hayes, stand down now," Sam ordered firmly. Hayes ignored him, or perhaps didn't hear, and made an explicit comment about Ostrovsky's mother.

"Ricky," Deeks cautioned as Hayes continued to taunt and threaten the other men. "Quit being an ass."

Suddenly, there was a gunshot and Kensi jerked like the bullet had hit her. There was a terribly long, charged silence.

"Oh my god," she murmured, cupping her hands over her mouth.

"The next bullet goes in your friend Gentry's head," a cold voice warned and Kensi believed him. She was shaking, both from the fear and relief that Deeks was alive.

"That doesn't give me much incentive to pay you," Hayes responded. "Max has always been a little annoying, but I'm kind of attached to him by now."

"Then how's this for incentive?"

A sharp cracking sound seemed to echo through the van and Deeks made a hair-raising sound that shook Kensi to her bones.

"Alright, that's it, we're moving out," Callen decided, hastily shoving some equipment away while Sam headed for the driver's seat. "Deeks, we're on the way. Stall as much as you can."

Kensi sank to the seat, hands trembling again as she prayed they weren't too late.

It was several hours later before they made it back to the mission. The trip to the ER alone had taken three hours while the doctor tended to Deeks' wounds. Just the thought was enough to leave her shaking with anger and residual fear all over again.

She clung to that anger as she strode into the locker room. Hayes was there, changing out of his cover clothes.

"Agent Blye this is-"

"Do you have any idea what you almost caused tonight?" she cut him off.

"You mean facilitating the take down of a highly dangerous criminal organization?" He shrugged. "You can thank me later."

"You're actions almost got Deeks killed." She spoke through her teeth, jaw so tightly clenched she thought it might snap. "You were needlessly reckless."

"Hey, it's a dangerous business," Hayes said, excusing his actions. "And from the sound of it, Deeks isn't exactly a stranger to playing hardball. His Max Gentry knows how to rile people up too."

"Deeks would never put a teammate in danger the way you did tonight," Kensi said firmly. "What you did was just grandstanding and completely negligent."

"Well then maybe next time Deeks will let me take the lead like I suggested."

"Excuse me?" She stared at him in disbelief. He seemed completely oblivious to her anger, or maybe willfully ignorant.

"I'm a senior agent, he's just a glorified cop," Hayes explained with a smirk. And that was the last straw.

She didn't give him a chance to say anything else, striding forward and slamming her forearm into his chest. He hit the row of lockers behind him with enough force to make him wince. He pushed back against her, but she held tight, applying pressure to his throat.

"How dare you," she hissed. "You nearly got my partner and husband killed over an ego trip."

"It wasn't like-" he started to protest, but Kensi didn't let him finish.

"If I ever find out that you pull something like this again, I will personally make sure you regret it for the rest of your life," Kensi told him, voice low and completely serious. She was gratified when his pupils widened slightly with fear.

"Kensi."

She hadn't heard Deeks come up behind her. She glanced over her shoulder and found him standing a few feet away. A line of stitches held a fresh cut together, his right arm was in a sling, and she knew there was a multitude of bruises and more cuts underneath his clothes. Her arm tightened on Hayes' throat in reaction.

"Let him go, Kens," he suggested gently.

"You could have died today." She choked on the last couple of words and Deeks nodded.

"I know, but hurting him isn't going to fix that. Just let him go and Sam and Callen will deal with him officially."

Reluctantly, she dropped her arm, taking a step away from Hayes. He sucked in a deep breath and muttered something about her being crazy. Kensi leaned towards him, lowering her voice again.

"Don't forget what I said because I meant every word. You will regret it."

Spinning around, she reached for Deeks, supporting him as he slowly walked back to the door. Kensi curled her fingers in his shirt, needing the reassurance of touching him.

"Thank you," Deeks murmured as they made their way towards the bullpen. "I'm not exactly in the best condition for exacting revenge." She knew he meant it jokingly, but Kensi was completely serious when she told him,

"That's what you have me for. That man will never get a chance to hurt anyone again."