![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
helsinkibabyTitle: Revelations
Author : helsinkibaby
Artist : ascendant_angel
Fandom : NCIS Los Angeles
Type: Het
Rating: PG
Word Count: 11,494
Pairing: Nate Getz/Kensi Blye
Characters: All the NCIS LA team.
Warnings/Spoilers: None
Summary: When Kensi is late for work one morning, the team gets a big surprise.
Author's Notes: Not sure how case-y this is, but this is my entry for the case story big bang.
Part One
When Kensi sees the car close behind her in her rear-view mirror, she thinks she's imagining things at first, that the conversation she's going to have to have with Hetty first thing - or maybe later, considering she's going to be late - is playing on her mind, making her needlessly paranoid. One too many Sam Hanna lectures have her well trained though, so she flicks on her turn signal, pulls into the next lane. When the car makes the exact same manoeuvre, that's when she starts to feel the hairs standing up on the back of her neck. She goes straight into defensive driving mode, changes her route, at the same time grabbing her cell phone from the passenger seat where she'd thrown it in case Hetty asked one of the team to give her a "where the hell are you?" phone call. She just about gets the code for agent in need of assistance punched in - and seriously, in this day and age, they can't come up with an easier way of doing things? - when her car is rear-ended forcefully. The impact knocks the breath out of her, a second jolt follows and then there is a parked car coming up at speed. She thinks someone must be looking over her because just before the screech of metal on metal rings through her ears, she punches in the fourth number for the second time and she sees the alert registering, but then she is flung forward in her seat. She's dazed, knows she needs to run but can't, not even when her door is wrenched open and she's dragged out of the car. She gets a glimpse of a marked man pulling her in front of him, then another with a fist coming quickly towards her and then there is only darkness.
When she wakes up, she is lying, gagged, on a cold, concrete floor, hands bound behind her, legs bound at the ankles. She moves her head slightly, not eager to let anyone know she is awake, opens her eyes just enough that she can see she is alone in a large room. The ceiling is high, the walls bare and it looks for all the world to Kensi like an abandoned warehouse.
Slowly, her every muscle protesting, she twists her body around, moving her arms, legs, thrusting her tongue at the gag to try to loosen it. Much to her surprise, there is a slight amount of give in the ropes around her wrists and she uses that for all she is worth, rubbing and pulling and doing everything she can to break the bonds. She doesn't know how long it takes, doesn't know what higher power is looking out for her, but eventually, she feels a strand go and from there, fear and adrenaline do the rest. Once her hands are freed, she removes the gag, shakes her arms to get some feeling back into them, tries not to wince at the rope burns around her wrist, knowing they will fade in time. Something that does surprise her is the state of the rope her captors used - old and worn, it wouldn't have stood up to much use; someone like Sam would have broken it in much less time than it took her. "What is this, amateur hour?" She can hear the other agent's voice in her head and it makes her smile. Then it galvanises her into action because if Sam Hanna knew she was standing here wasting time, he'd tie her up again just to teach her a lesson.
She makes short work of the ties around her legs, stands with difficulty and makes her way towards the door. Slowly, carefully, she pushes down the handle, sees a corridor in front of her and what looks like a fire door at the end of it. She stands perfectly still, listening and when she hears nothing, she makes her way down the corridor quickly, staying low, ready to bolt at the slightest noise.
No-one bothers her, and when she gets to the fire door, she wonders if it's going to be alarmed. A quick calculation tells her that's the least of her worries and she pushes down the lever, blinking as the bright light from the morning sky hits her eyes. There is a loud alarm from the door, but no shout of warning and she takes one step away, then two, and then she is running as fast as her shaky legs can carry her.
She keeps running, keeping track of where she's turning until she comes to a corner bodega. She slows, takes a deep breath and smoothes down her hair, pulls her shirt sleeves over her wrists and goes calmly inside. The woman behind the counter, a kindly looking woman with white hair, probably old enough to be Kensi's grandmother, gasps when she sees her and Kensi rattles off an explanation about how she'd been car-jacked and she doesn't know where she is and could she please use her phone to call her husband?
The woman nods, thrusts a handset at Kensi, ushers her into a back room and Kensi dials Nate's cell number before she's even stopped walking. When she hears it ringing, she holds her breath and when there's a click, when she hears him say, "Hello?" she sags against the wall.
"Nate?"
"Kensi?" The word is almost a shout and she bites her lip against a sob of relief. She can't fall apart, not now, not yet. She hears commotion in the background, hears him confirming that it is indeed her, hears Eric saying something about tracing the call. "Kensi, do you know where you are?"
She nods, even though she knows he can't see her. "I was car-jacked," she tells him, just in case there are listening ears on the other side of the wall. "I found a bodega, asked to use their phone..." She names the location of the street, then says, "I think I passed that warehouse that Sam used to work in too... the one a couple of blocks over? The fire alarm was going off like crazy..."
If the shopkeeper is listening to her, Kensi hopes that she'll write it off as shock, but Nate, and whoever else is listening understands exactly what she means. "I'm on it," she hears Nell saying, and she realises that she's been put on speaker.
"Kensi, are you ok?" It's Nate again and she can hear the worry in his voice. It brings tears to her eyes and she forces them back. No falling apart. Not now, not yet, she reminds herself.
"A bit shaken, but I'll live," is all she'll admit to and his reply of "OK," means more to her than the brevity suggests it should.
"OK, I've got a lock on the phone." It's Eric's voice. "Sending co-ordinates to your phone, Sam."
"Kens, we're on our way." It's Sam's voice, capable, reassuring, and Nate's voice follows immediately.
"We'll be with you soon," he says. "You stay safe."
Then the phone clicks off and all Kensi can do is wait. The shopkeeper, after a couple of moments of silence, enters the room with a bottle of water and a candy bar which Kensi takes eagerly. For once, she can't face the candy but the water is welcome and she sips it slowly, keeping one eye on the sliver of the front door she can see from the back room.
Then the bell above the door rings and a tall man walks in and she's moving before she even registers why. She barely hears him say something about his wife and then she's in front of him, her arms around his neck as he pulls her close against his chest. Closing her eyes, she buries her face in the crook of his neck, feels her feet being lifted off the ground as he slides both arms around her waist and holds her tightly.
All too soon, she feels his grip loosen, the slight movement bringing the realisation that Callen and Sam are probably close by, watching all this, and she takes half a step back. Nate still has his arms around her though, won't let her move any further away as he looks down at her with worried eyes. "Are you ok?"
He's asked her that any amount of times since they've known one another, the most recent being ten days ago when they'd woken up in Vegas with rings on their fingers. Then, as now, she is able to smile at him, tell him honestly, "Getting better all the time."
The smile he gives her is more relief than anything and with a wave over her shoulder to her benefactor, she allows Nate to lead her out the door, towards the waiting car. It's Sam's Challenger and she relaxes even more when she sees it - somehow, having Sam around always makes her feel safe. Making her feel safer still is the sight of not only Sam, but Callen and Deeks waiting beside the vehicle, eyes moving from the sky to the street to her and Nate. She can almost see their hands itching go for their weapons and she gives the three of them a tight smile as she climbs into the back seat. She hears Callen saying, "Let's go," as Nate climbs in beside her, knees almost up to his chin. Deeks gets in on her other side and she shoots him a grin that fades quickly when he sees his gaze riveted on her knees. She looks down, confused and that's when she realises that she is still holding Nate's hand, so tight her knuckles are white.
When they arrive back at the mission, Sam parks the Challenger as close to the main entrance as he can get. Kensi is following Sam and Callen up to Ops, ready if not eager to face the music when she realises that Nate isn't moving, moreover that he is squeezing her hand, a silent message to her to stay still too. Sam is the first one who notices, turning his head and raising an eyebrow in question, looking not at Kensi, she realises quickly, but at Nate.
"Guys," Nate says, and she is startled to realise how hoarse his voice sounds. "Give us a minute, would you?"
Deeks opens his mouth to say something, Callen narrows his eyes, but Sam's lips draw up in a smile of what might very well be understanding. "We'll see you up there." It's no accident, Kensi is sure, that he takes a step back to allow Deeks and Callen to go ahead of him and she finds herself smiling at him, never having pegged Sam for the romantic type. Then again, he's very much the guardian angel type, so maybe that's what this is. She turns to Nate, about to share her observations with him, but the look in his eyes stops the words in her throat.
He takes in a shuddering breath, lets it out slowly as his left hand finds her cheek, thumb sweeping a path over her skin. The weight of his touch, of that emotion in his eyes, has her eyelids fluttering shut and she has to force them open so that she can look at him. "I'm ok, Nate," she whispers. "Really."
"Yeah, well," Nate's voice is shaky, "That makes one of us, at least." He tries to smile, to make a joke, but she's not having that, whispers his name as she winds her arms around his neck.
They stand like that for a long moment and when he pulls back, he takes her face in his hands, brings his lips to hers. In deference to where they are, the kiss is gentle, almost chaste, tongues only touching for the barest of moments but under the circumstances, it's enough to have Kensi's head spinning. "I love you," Nate tells her when he pulls away and her smile up at him comes easily.
"I love you too." His hands slide from her face to her shoulders, down to her hands, squeezing them tightly. Something cuts into her hand and she glances down in some surprise to see his wedding ring on his finger. He follows her gaze and shrugs.
"I wasn't exactly thinking about taking it off," he tells her and she grins, liking the sight of it there. "Of course, now everyone knows..."
Kensi lifts an eyebrow. "I figured," she says. "I got the agent needs assistance off... they would have called home, you would have let the machine get it, but picked up when you heard Eric..."
"Nell."
"When you heard Nell talking... from there, it wouldn't have taken much." A pause, a squeeze of his hands. "Are they pissed?"
"I think stunned is the word." His hands slide around her waist. "But they were too busy trying to find you to grill me about it."
Kensi sighs. "Guess it's time to face the music then." She chuckles without humour. "I was so geared up for that this morning..."
Nate squeezes her hand. "Maybe it's better this way... we're a team, remember? We do things together."
"Together then." Hand in hand, they head up the stairs.
*
When Sam, Deeks and Callen arrive back into Ops alone, Nell's heart stops for a terrifying moment before Sam says, "Nate and Kensi are downstairs....they'll be up in a minute." Something about the tone of his voice makes Nell smile, dart a quick look at Eric and see that the same expression is on his face. "Anything on the warehouse, Eric?"
Eric shakes his head. "We found it because of the alarm, sent Logan and Gardner over to check it out. No-one there, no clues to speak of and no leads from the ownership papers... the head office of the company that owns it isn’t great at answering their phones; I'm waiting for them to get back to me to see who had access to it."
"No luck with facial recognition?" Deeks sounds hopeful but it's Nell's turn to shake her head.
"No security cameras on the warehouse," she reports. "We're looking for their car on traffic cams going to and from it but nothing yet."
Just then, the doors to Ops slide open and Kensi and Nate walk in. Nell stifles a gasp when she sees Kensi, because her jaw is turning a mottled shade of purple and her cheek is scratched to hell. As she walks in, she pushes back a lock of hair, allowing her shirt sleeve to rise up and the lines around her wrist are red and raw. She looks like hell, but she is holding Nate's hand and as Nell looks at them, she sees him squeeze her hand, sees Kensi's eyes light up.
Eyes forward, Nell, she tells herself. Ops is not the place to go all gooey-eyed and romantic.
"Ms Blye." Hetty breaks the silence, walking towards Kensi, voice ringing with relief. "It is so good to see you." She embraces the younger agent and when she pulls back, Nell can see a twinkle in her eye. "Or should I be calling you 'Mrs Getz' now?" Nate actually blanches, Kensi gets a fixed grin on her face and to her left, Nell hears Eric choke back a guffaw. "Never mind, we'll discuss nomenclature later. Tell us everything."
Kensi takes a deep breath and obliges, but can tell them nothing that they don't already know, can give no other details about the men. "How did they know where you live?" Sam demands and all Kensi can do is shake her head.
"We were on vacation, Sam, we only got back the day before yesterday, late... I didn't see anyone following us... did you?" She looks at Nate and he shakes his head.
"Would you have even noticed?" Deeks's mutter isn't so quiet that it can be missed and Kensi looks like he's slapped her. Nate, on the other hand, clenches his jaw and Nell is taken aback; all the years she's known Nate, she's never seen him look like that before.
It falls to Callen to diffuse the situation. "OK, we need to know where you were, what you did and when." He makes a face, but winks as he says, "Obviously, there are some bits you can skip."
Nate visibly relaxes but Kensi still looks stricken as he begins to speak. With all eyes on Nate, Nell is the only one who notices as Kensi slips out of the room and she gives her a couple of minutes before touching Eric on the shoulder, tilting her head towards the door and whispering, "I'll be back."
The ladies' locker room is deserted, and for a second, Nell thinks she's mistaken. Then she turns the very last corner, sees Kensi sitting on a bench there. "Knock knock," she says quietly, pretending not to notice as Kensi jumps slightly, bringing two hands up to her eyes.
"How did you manage to find me here?"
Despite her appearance, Kensi's voice is flat, emotionless, but Nell just shoots her a grin and raises an eyebrow. "What, are you kidding me? You think you're the only one who has a bad day and hides out in the ladies' locker room?" That brings the barest ghost of a smile to Kensi's face, even if it doesn't quite reach her eyes. Taking her chances, Nell sits down on the bench beside her. "I'm serious. Some of us were trying to find a spare locker... have a little red wine and chocolate stash..."
"You think Hetty would go for that?"
Nell purses her lips. "I'm fairly sure Hetty was the one who came up with the idea." Which is so absurd that it has to be true, which it actually is. Kensi tilts her head, as if considering it, and Nell knows the exact moment she chooses to accept it as fact by the flicker of light in her eyes. "I guess you could use that right about now."
Kensi leans back, lets her head find the wall and closes her eyes. "What I could use," she says slowly, "Is for them to stop looking at me like I'm going to break. I hate it." There is untold venom in her voice which surprises Nell not at all, even if she doesn't agree with what Kensi had just said. After all, Kensi is used to being in control and today, she's been the furthest thing from that. Nell opens her mouth but before she can say anything, Kensi cuts across her. "And please don't tell me that they're just worried about me. I hate them worrying about me...feeling like they have to look out for me. I've spent years trying not to be the girl on the team and now..."
"Seriously?" Nell is not the kind of person to interrupt anyone, especially when they have something they so obviously need to get off their chest, but there are some things, she believes, that just have be to shot down. "Kensi, do you think for a moment that we would have reacted differently, done anything differently, if that agent needs assistance call had been for Sam, or Callen, or Deeks? They're not worried about you because you're a woman; they're freaked out because they thought they were going to lose you." She looks down at the floor, scuffs the toe of her sandals against the tiles. "We all were."
The last is said more quietly and Kensi responds with a sigh, leaning forward and resting her elbows on her knees, rubbing her hands over her face. "God, I sound like such a bitch," she mutters and Nell shrugs as she claps her on the back.
"Yeah, but we're used to it." The words surprise a laugh from Kensi, surprised but genuine, and she grins widely at Nell.
"That is the most normal interaction I've had all day. Thank you."
Nell scoots back a little on the bench, brings one knee up underneath her. "Don't you think," she says slowly, carefully, "That it might be a little less to do with the whole 'damsel in distress' thing and the fact that none of us got an invite to the wedding?" Kensi's cheeks flood crimson and Nell beams at the reaction. "I mean... you should have seen the look on Deeks's face when he saw the ring on Nate's finger... I thought he was going to have a stroke. And Nate, he didn't even blink, didn't react... he was so worried, Kensi..."
Kensi shakes her head. "I know. I know." She sighs. "Seems like we spend most of our time worrying... me about him, him about me... I'm kinda sick of it actually."
Nell bites her lip, as if that would keep the words back, then decides to hell with it. Life is just too short. "OK, so I wasn't going to ask, but..."
Kensi's eyes actually sparkle, which takes Nell aback since she'd always thought that that was something that only happened in crappy romance novels. "You're wondering about me and Nate." It's a statement, not a question, and she nods, trying not to appear too eager and probably failing completely.
"I'm not even going to try and lie about it," she tells Kensi frankly. "We've gone to bars together, checked out guys together... you got hit on at a monster truck rally, for crying out loud! And now you just rock up with a secret marriage? To Nate?" Kensi's cheeks darken still further but she's smiling and Nell leans forward, an identical smile on her own lips. "I don't care that there's no wine, no beer, but seriously...spill."
Kensi takes a deep breath, looking up at the ceiling. "Me and Nate... ok, so I joined NCIS in 2006... came here a year later. That's when we met. And I thought, yeah, kinda cute, but not really my type. And anyway, the whole working together and being the new girl, and the only girl and him being the shrink..." She bites her lip, shakes her head. "I was not even thinking about going there."
"So what changed?"
"We just spent time together... I mean, we had to, with ops and debriefs. But he wasn't ... I mean, he wasn't like other shrinks. I could talk to him... about anything. We ended up spending time together outside of work... and one thing just led to another." She shrugs, pulling her legs up to her chin, resting her head on her knees. "But it wasn't constant... that would have been just too easy. He would freak out about the whole professional, ethical dilemma, about the job and Macy and Hetty... I would freak out about being in a relationship, let alone with a co-worker... we'd agree to call the whole thing off and then a few days, a few weeks later, we'd be back where we started."
"And marriage? How does that even work?"
"Vegas." Nell's jaw drops at the matter of fact tone of Kensi's voice. "We were there last week... Nate's college room mate was getting married to a girl from there... Nate was best man. So there we were, me in a very cute dress and heels, Nate in an honest to God tux... and there was dancing, and alcohol... and Nate's a really good dancer. Really good. And somewhere along the line, it seemed..." Her voice trails off. "It seemed like the thing to do."
Nell's eyes widen. "He just asked you? In the middle of the wedding?"
"No." Kensi bites her lip. "I... kinda asked him."
For once in her life, Nell is well and truly speechless. With little or no chance of her framing any type of reply, she is almost glad when her cell rang. Fishing it out of her pocket, she rolls her eyes at the caller ID. "Eric." Putting the phone to her ear, she hears him sounding more than a little panicked.
"Nell? Is Kensi with you?"
"Yes, Eric, Kensi is with me. We're both on the premises and we're perfectly fine." She shoots Kensi a "what are you gonna do?" look, gets a sympathetic grin in response.
She hears him shout the same to someone, then he comes back to her again. "Good, because Nate was about to have a coronary." Eric's wry tone makes Nell chuckle but when he continues talking, when his voice drops as if he was saying something that he didn't want to be overheard, the chuckle dies in her throat. "Listen, can you get up here? I've found something... and I don't want to report until we're all here."
Nell frowns. Anything Eric found should have been reported immediately, especially when it involved the kidnap of an NCIS agent. She can't imagine what would make Eric want to delay and that fact has her jumping to her feet. "We'll be right there."
*
Walking into Ops, Kensi doesn't miss the look of relief on Nate's face and she bites her lip at knowing that she was the one who caused it. Nell goes right to her chair, slips into it and glances over to Eric, gives him a little nod and it's then that he turns around, faces the rest of the team. "So," he begins, and Kensi's stomach twists because she's never heard Eric sound like that and give good news. "I scanned traffic cams and Kaleidoscope and it looks like we got lucky... I got a partial shot of one of the faces... not much, but enough to get a hit." He takes a deep breath and Kensi is acutely aware of Nate stepping up so that he's standing right behind her. Eric presses a button on his tablet and the view screen fills with a mug shot.
"Jason Carroll."
Strangely enough, it's Nate who speaks and all eyes are instantly on him. Kensi can't remember the last time, if ever, she saw Nate look like that - face pale, eyes narrowed, jaw clenched. He knows this guy, Kensi realises, and not just from this morning.
"Jason Carroll, Naval computer analyst, convicted five years ago of doing things that he really shouldn't have been doing, made a deal for testimony against those higher up the food chain, released on good behaviour last month." Eric keeps it succinct and Sam asks the obvious question.
"Nate, you know this guy?"
Nate nods. "I testified at his trial... I believed that he was more involved than he said, and I argued against that deal to the agent in charge of the investigation."
Eric presses a few more buttons; prison records flash up on screen, making for harrowing reading. "Based on what happened to him in jail, I'm not so sure you're wrong," he says. "But they couldn't prove anything, which is why he was released... he's staying in a low rent apartment downtown; his wife divorced him three years ago."
Sam shrugs, looks at Nate. "You took his wife, he takes yours?"
"It makes sense but..." Nate shakes his head. "I literally have not seen that man in five years. How did he know about me and Kensi? You guys didn't even know about me and Kensi."
"I...uh... I may have an answer for that." Eric suddenly looks very uncomfortable. "Nate, based on what you told me about where you and Kensi went yesterday, I looked into surveillance footage from the area... and this is what I found." With the press of a few buttons, the screen changes and Kensi finds herself looking at the entrance to the grocery store not far from her apartment. As she watches, the electronic doors slide open and she and Nate emerge, arms laden down with bags, smiling and laughing. She remembers the conversation, knows exactly what she was saying and she hopes that if anyone can lip read, they'll be decent enough to never tell.
They go out of shot and seconds later, the door opens again, and Jason Carroll appears on the screen. His face is drawn in an angry scowl, eyes following her and Nate as he steps after them. Eric freezes the footage and Kensi stares at him. "I never saw him," she says, amazed at herself. "Damn it, I should have known someone was following us."
"You can't have been expecting it," Nell offers, but Kensi's not having that.
"We should always be alert... isn't that what you always tell us, Sam?"
To her surprise, Sam shakes his head. "Believe me... I'm out with Michelle, with our daughter? I'm not always alert." Cue surprised looks from all, and he holds up a hand. "Mostly alert. But I have moments."
"So, we know how he found Kensi, where he took her... now we just have to figure out who helped him." Callen is obviously trying to hide a smile at Sam's admission, but it gets much easier when Nate holds up a hand.
"I just... I'll be back."
He walks out of Ops without a second glance and Kensi knows instantly what she has to do, where she has to be. "Excuse me."
She follows him down the steps, out into the courtyard, the exact path she once took when Dom disappeared. When she finds him, Nate is leaning back against the wall of the mission, staring at the sky, taking several deep breaths. Kensi stands beside him but doesn't touch him, waits for him to speak. "I can't believe this," he finally says. "I didn't expect... I mean, I don't know what I did expect... but it wasn't this."
Which makes perfect sense to Kensi - after all, if anyone was walking around with a target on their back, it was more likely to be her. She'd put more than a few people away who were bound to be holding a grudge; even now, she could put together a list of a dozen good candidates without blinking. "Nate, this wasn't your fault," she tells him and he gives her that Nate look she knows so well - head tilted, eyebrow raised, brow furrowed - and disagrees with her.
"Kensi... I know you don't need me to protect you. You've proved enough times that you can take care of yourself." Nate shakes his head as if helpless and she can see the turmoil in his eyes and it breaks her heart. "And this job is dangerous, I know... but this is the first time that you've been in danger because of me."
"Nate..." She takes his hand in both of hers. "You can't think like that."
"You were taken this morning because someone saw you with me and decided to use you to get to me... and I don't know how I'm supposed to deal with that."
She takes a deep breath, lets it out slowly, then moves so that she's standing in front of him, holding his arms firmly. "First of all? It's not I. It's we." He blinks but she doesn't, holds his gaze so that she can be sure he's understanding her, reminding him of his own words to her barely an hour ago. "We're a team, Nate. You and me, and we deal with things together. Second? This job is dangerous. We meet people every day who do horrible things, terrible things and it's our job to stop them. You can't predict what they'll do, what will happen... we just do our best... and we hope it's enough. And at the end of the day, we go home. Together."
Nate sighs, but some of the tension has gone from his shoulders, a lot of the turmoil from his eyes as he slips his arms around her waist, holds her loosely. "That's quite the pep talk you've got there," he says quietly and she shrugs her shoulders as she slides her hands up to his shoulders, then to around his neck, lacing her fingers together.
"Yeah, well, I just asked myself what my husband would say."
"Oh really?" Nate raises an eyebrow, lips drawing up in a smile at her flirty tone.
"Turns out he's kind of a smart guy. Which is obvious, I grant you, I mean, he did marry me..."
Nate chuckles, pulls her towards him and holds her tight, burying his head in her hair. She feels as much as hears him whisper, "Best thing I ever did," and while it's tempting to make a quick quip, she settles for closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, breathing him in.
"I was scared too," she whispers but before Nate can say anything, there's the distinct sound of a throat being cleared behind them. Jumping apart, Kensi turns to see Nell looking more than a little embarrassed.
"Sorry to interrupt," Nell says, sounding as embarrassed as she looks, hooking a thumb over her shoulder in the general direction of Ops. "I was sent to see if things were ok... and to say that if they were, you guys should come in because we might have a lead."
Nate takes a step towards her but Kensi stops him with a squeeze of her hand. "We'll be in in a second," she says and Nell nods, turning and disappearing quickly. When Nate looks down at Kensi, a question in his face, she meets his look with a question of her own. "We're good?" she asks and he smiles.
"Yeah," he says, bringing their joined hands to his lips. "We're good."
*
When Nell comes back into Ops, Sam keeps his eyes on the door, waits for Kensi and Nate to come back too. They arrive barely a minute later - and yes, he did count, thank you very much - and Sam notes with some relief that, while both still look as if they've been through hell, they are holding hands and there is certainly a more relaxed look to Nate than there had been a few minutes ago.
When Eric sees them coming in, he starts talking straight away. "So, leads are like buses. You wait all day for one, then two come along at once." Sam opens his mouth to hurry him up, but before he can say anything, Eric, perhaps seeing his look, dives right in. "Turns out that Jason Carroll's ex wife, Susan, didn't show for work today. I got the traffic cams up near her house and found this." A touch of the tablet and they see a woman getting stopping her car at a stop light, a man running up to the side of the car and getting in beside her. The gun in his hand is clearly visible, but so is his face. Eric's fingers fly across the tablet and then a mug shot turns up. "Mike Robinson, ex-cell mate of Jason Carroll. Comes across as pretty high on the psycho scale. And he works for the company that own the warehouse that Kensi was in this morning."
"And he's on the list of people who have access to the warehouse," Nell adds.
"So, how do we find him?" Callen cuts to the chase.
"This is his address...sending it to your phone." Eric is talking to Sam and he and Callen are heading for the door the second the first part leaves his lips. As Sam gets to the door though, he realises something.
"Deeks," he says. "You're with us." Callen gives him a questioning look, and even Deeks looks surprised, but Sam doesn't waver. "Don't even think of calling shotgun," he orders.
Deeks, still looking surprised, follows them out and slides obediently into the backseat of the Challenger. Once they're on the road, Sam doesn't really have a plan for the talk that he knows the police detective needs to hear; he figures that somehow, someway, the subject will come up organically.
Turns out Callen must have worked out his game, because he's the one who brings it up - and for a man who respects the privacy of his fellow agents, that is huge. "So, what do you think about this?"
Sam raises an eyebrow, glances over at his partner, gets a nod of understanding that only comes with years of team work. "I take it you're talking about Kensi and Nate?"
"What else could he possibly be talking about?" Deeks is trying to keep his game face on but it's too bad he's got a pretty crappy game face. What looks a lot like anger and frustration bleeds through every syllable.
"You think it's a good idea?" Callen is continuing playing his role, and Sam wonders if there's a little bit of him that actually means this. "I mean, Hetty looked ready to spit nails... Granger's head is probably going to explode."
Deeks gives a "humph" the like of which Sam hasn't heard since his daughter was a toddler being told to eat her broccoli. "His and everyone else's," he mutters.
Sam shrugs, decides it's time to cut to the chase, to both of them. "Honestly? I don't think it's any of our business."
He glances in the rear view mirror as he talks, sees the other man's head shoot up, eyes open wide. "Two of our friends..." he begins, "Our co-workers get married in secret and you think it's none of our business?"
"I don't think anybody's marriage is any of my business," Sam tells him frankly. "But I'll tell you something, Deeks...did you see Nate's face, in Ops? Before we knew where she was?" The memory, even now, makes him shudder. "I've seen that look. I've worn that look. And I know what it means. He loves her. That's good enough for me."
"You turning into a romantic on me?" Callen breaks his silence and Sam shoots him a glare, shakes his head.
"It's nothing to do with romance, or being soft," he declares. "Just watch them together. They're a good match. A good team, they always were. Besides, Hetty's the one who sent Nate off undercover, he's not full time with us anymore... work wise, I don't think Granger has a leg to stand on."
"What about Hetty?" Callen's question is serious and Sam lifts one eyebrow.
"I'll have the dustpan ready to pick up the pieces she leaves of them."
Callen grins at that and even Deeks is able to raise a smile as Sam turns a corner and pulls up to the kerb. "That's Susan Carroll's house on the left," he says.
"And that?" Deeks is pointing to a familiar looking car parked further down the street. "Is the car that took Kensi."
"Number plate missing," Callen notices and Sam shakes his head.
"As if they thought that would fool us. Pitiful, man. Just pitiful."
Years of teamwork mean that Sam and Callen have developed a shorthand, to say nothing of an understanding that requires no speech. Deeks has been around them for long enough to know how they work together and he falls in behind them, each of them playing their part as they make their way to the house. Sam uses a scope to look through one of the windows, sees Susan Carroll tied up in a chair, two men talking beside her. He nods as Callen and he and Deeks enter the house first, Sam following them.
Carroll and Robinson aren't even holding guns and in a matter of seconds, they are on the floor in handcuffs without a shot being fired.
"Pathetic," Sam mutters to himself. "You're under arrest," he says louder then, over the protests of the two men, something about role playing and "Fifty Shades of Grey," as Deeks unties Susan Carroll who is shaking her head vehemently. "Oh yeah?" he adds. "What about the Federal Agent you took this morning?"
That stops the two men talking abruptly and Robinson turns furious eyes on Carroll. "You never told me she was a Fed," he hisses and Carroll has a look of shock on his face.
"I didn't... I mean...."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Deeks hauls him up off the floor and starts to bring him out. "Tell it to the judge."
*
When Sam calls with the news that Susan Carroll is safe, that Carroll and Robinson are in custody, celebrations erupt in Ops. Eric and Nell exchange high fives, Kensi sags with relief as Nate pulls her into a hug and even Hetty raises a smile. The moment doesn't last for long, though, because when Hetty speaks, everyone snaps to attention. "Miss Blye... I think we'll have that word now." Hetty beckons Kensi with a curl of her finger and Kensi falls into step behind her. Nate follows her, and they both stop when Hetty does, freezing when she turns around and narrows her eyes at Nate. "Alone."
Nate actually blanches, swallows hard. "Yes, Ma'am."
Kensi follows Hetty down the stairs and into her office, sitting down quietly opposite Hetty and waiting for her to speak. "I called you Miss Blye," Hetty begins. "Or is it Mrs Getz?"
"Still Blye." Kensi gives a nervous smile. "Mrs Getz is Nate's mom... and he seemed pretty freaked when I asked what his opinion on the subject was."
Hetty raised an eyebrow. "Having heard him on the subject of his mother, I don't blame him for not wanting a second Mrs Getz in his life." Kensi's smile this time is more genuine, fading when Hetty leans over. "And yet... here you are."
Kensi meets her gaze, holds it. "Here I am," she agrees. Hetty presses her lips together firmly, brings a finger to her lips and Kensi knows interrogation technique, knows she should wait it out, but she can't. "I love him, Hetty... I do. It surprised both of us, we didn't plan it, didn't mean for it to happen... but he makes me happy. He makes me better. And I can't imagine my life without him." She shrugs helplessly. "So I married him."
"Which is all well and good... but Jane Eyre never did the job that you do."
"That's not going to change, Hetty... Nate knows who I am, what I do..."
"And later? When children come along?" Hetty is leaning back in her chair now, eyes not moving from Kensi's face.
"We haven't talked about that." It takes every ounce of training Kensi's ever had to sit still, not to fidget. "But I wouldn't allow any changes in my personal life to compromise my work, Hetty... you know that."
"Indeed I do, Miss Blye...so, my final question." There's a long pause where Kensi finds herself holding her breath. "If I said that I couldn't allow two of my agents to be involved... if I said, in effect, that it was your job or Nate..."
"Nate." The word leaves Kensi's lips before she has time to think about it, certainly before she realises that she's just interrupted Hetty. She bites her lip at the realisation - people have been assigned to Alaska for less.
Hetty's face is perfectly still, then breaks into a broad smile. "I was hoping that's what you would say."
Kensi frowns, blinks in confusion. "Wait, am I being fired?"
"On the contrary, dear heart." Hetty stands, comes around the table to stand beside Kensi. Kensi automatically stands up and when the older woman holds out her hands to her, she finds herself returning the warm hug. "And my warmest congratulations to you... to both of you." She looks over her shoulder. "Mr Getz, I assume you heard all of that," she calls. "Come in, won't you?"
With red cheeks and an abashed look, Nate does as he is told, receiving another hug from Hetty. The visual of them hugging makes Kensi giggle and she bites the inside of her cheek to keep it back. When he steps back, looks down at Hetty, Nate stands beside Kensi, takes her hand in his. "We're sorry you had to find out about it this way," he says and Hetty waves a hand.
"Mr Getz, I understand why you couldn't tell me that you two were together. And I certainly understand the allure of a Vegas wedding." Her eyes took on a faraway look, her smile turned distinctly devilish and Kensi turned an astonished look on Nate. "But that's another story for another time. Mr Getz, I need to talk to you about your role here...in private, I'm afraid."
Kensi squeezes Nate's hand. "I'll see you in a while." When Nate squeezes her hand back, she knows he's nervous and she shoots him what she hopes is a reassuring smile before she walks away. She's got a funny feeling that it might not have turned out that way, not if the look he gives her is anything to go by, and she promises herself that she'll make it up to him later.
She passes by her desk without sitting down, instead heads to the far corner of the mission, sits down on one of the couches there and curls her legs up underneath her. Suddenly, the day seems to have caught up with her and she can hardly keep her eyes open. Yawning, she makes herself comfortable, pulls a blanket across her lap, closes her eyes and waits for Nate and she's not sure how much time has passed when she hears someone say her name.
"Deeks."
"I didn't mean to wake you."
Deeks sounds as sheepish as he looks and Kensi sits up on the couch, pushes her hair out of her face and wipes her eyes. "I wasn't asleep," she tells him, which is almost the truth. Had she been there much longer, she would have, in all likelihood, fallen asleep but she hadn't quite been there yet. "Really," she insists off his amused smile, the way he lifts one eyebrow.
"Whatever you say, Kens." He looks over his shoulder towards Ops. "They're just wrapping up some stuff...and I saw Nate in with Hetty...I just wanted to see how you were doing."
The mention of Nate's name, the tone of Deeks's voice, has Kensi swallowing, sitting up a bit straighter and drawing her legs up underneath her. "Deeks...I would have told you myself," she tells him honestly, hopes he knows it's the truth. "After Hetty, I was going to come looking for you... I didn't want you to hear about it through the grapevine..."
Deeks chuckles without humour. "Well, I can't exactly hold that against you, under the circumstances." Another humourless chuckle. "Of all the people I thought would have a quickie Vegas wedding...you were not on the list. Me, definitely. But not you."
Kensi feels her cheeks darken but she can't deny that it's true. She wants to say more, wants to explain herself but she's not sure how Deeks has been taking the news - though what with the looks and the barbed comments, she fancies the answer is 'not well' - and the idea of telling him what she'd told Nell earlier, how it had seemed right, how she'd just known, doesn't sit right with her somehow. So instead of telling him that, she takes a deep breath as she looks down, notices her fingers picking idly at the blanket covering her legs, forces them to stop. "Are we ok, Deeks?"
It's the only question she wants an answer to and she's well aware she might not like the one she gets. Deeks, though, only gives her that easy going smile of his. "What, because of our 'thing'?" He puts air quotes around the word and when she opens her mouth to say something, he holds up a hand to stop her. "It's ok, Kens," he tells her. "It hasn't been like that between us for a while now...guess I finally know why."
"Deeks..."
"Does he make you happy, Kens?" The question is posed as seriously as she's ever heard Deeks speak and she can't speak past the sudden lump in her throat so she just nods instead. Deeks's voice is quiet and suspiciously husky when he adds, "Well then... I'm happy for you. Really."
Their eyes meet and hold for a long moment and it might have lasted longer if not for the fact that Nate approaches them, eyes darting between them, brow furrowing in worry. "I'm not interrupting anything, am I?"
Deeks grins as he looks up at Nate. "Just trying to talk the little woman here into letting us throw you a post wedding bachelor party." His voice is his normal voice, upbeat and cheery, and in that moment Kensi knows things are going to be fine.
"Oh no," she says. "No way."
Deeks grins up at Nate who shakes his head. "I'm going with my wife on this one," he says and Kensi suddenly realises that that's the first time she's heard Nate refer to her in conversation as his wife. It makes her grin, a grin that grows even wider when she hears Sam's voice.
"A very good idea," he says, clapping Nate on the shoulder. "I didn't get to say congratulations earlier... but congratulations." He shakes Nate's hand, goes over to Kensi and gives her a warm hug. "I'm glad you're ok," he whispers in her ear and she hugs him back just a little bit tighter then.
When Sam steps away from her, she sees that the rest of the team have joined them, and handshakes and hugs are exchanged before Hetty arrives, bottle of champagne in hand. Nell is at her side, a tray of glasses in hand and Hetty pops the bottle, pours everyone a glass and hands them around.
"Our lives hold many secrets," she says seriously, holding her glass up high. "The cost of doing what we do can be high... and when we find someone in our lives who can share our secrets, who makes our lives better, we owe it to ourselves to embrace that. So I would like to raise a toast... to Nate and Kensi."
"Nate and Kensi."
The toast is echoed by everyone and as the glasses clink, Nate leans forward, presses his lips against Kensi. She returns the kiss, impervious to the catcalls and whistles lobbied their way.
They've earned this kiss today, and she's going to make the most of it.
Author : helsinkibaby
Artist : ascendant_angel
Fandom : NCIS Los Angeles
Type: Het
Rating: PG
Word Count: 11,494
Pairing: Nate Getz/Kensi Blye
Characters: All the NCIS LA team.
Warnings/Spoilers: None
Summary: When Kensi is late for work one morning, the team gets a big surprise.
Author's Notes: Not sure how case-y this is, but this is my entry for the case story big bang.
Part One
When Kensi sees the car close behind her in her rear-view mirror, she thinks she's imagining things at first, that the conversation she's going to have to have with Hetty first thing - or maybe later, considering she's going to be late - is playing on her mind, making her needlessly paranoid. One too many Sam Hanna lectures have her well trained though, so she flicks on her turn signal, pulls into the next lane. When the car makes the exact same manoeuvre, that's when she starts to feel the hairs standing up on the back of her neck. She goes straight into defensive driving mode, changes her route, at the same time grabbing her cell phone from the passenger seat where she'd thrown it in case Hetty asked one of the team to give her a "where the hell are you?" phone call. She just about gets the code for agent in need of assistance punched in - and seriously, in this day and age, they can't come up with an easier way of doing things? - when her car is rear-ended forcefully. The impact knocks the breath out of her, a second jolt follows and then there is a parked car coming up at speed. She thinks someone must be looking over her because just before the screech of metal on metal rings through her ears, she punches in the fourth number for the second time and she sees the alert registering, but then she is flung forward in her seat. She's dazed, knows she needs to run but can't, not even when her door is wrenched open and she's dragged out of the car. She gets a glimpse of a marked man pulling her in front of him, then another with a fist coming quickly towards her and then there is only darkness.
When she wakes up, she is lying, gagged, on a cold, concrete floor, hands bound behind her, legs bound at the ankles. She moves her head slightly, not eager to let anyone know she is awake, opens her eyes just enough that she can see she is alone in a large room. The ceiling is high, the walls bare and it looks for all the world to Kensi like an abandoned warehouse.
Slowly, her every muscle protesting, she twists her body around, moving her arms, legs, thrusting her tongue at the gag to try to loosen it. Much to her surprise, there is a slight amount of give in the ropes around her wrists and she uses that for all she is worth, rubbing and pulling and doing everything she can to break the bonds. She doesn't know how long it takes, doesn't know what higher power is looking out for her, but eventually, she feels a strand go and from there, fear and adrenaline do the rest. Once her hands are freed, she removes the gag, shakes her arms to get some feeling back into them, tries not to wince at the rope burns around her wrist, knowing they will fade in time. Something that does surprise her is the state of the rope her captors used - old and worn, it wouldn't have stood up to much use; someone like Sam would have broken it in much less time than it took her. "What is this, amateur hour?" She can hear the other agent's voice in her head and it makes her smile. Then it galvanises her into action because if Sam Hanna knew she was standing here wasting time, he'd tie her up again just to teach her a lesson.
She makes short work of the ties around her legs, stands with difficulty and makes her way towards the door. Slowly, carefully, she pushes down the handle, sees a corridor in front of her and what looks like a fire door at the end of it. She stands perfectly still, listening and when she hears nothing, she makes her way down the corridor quickly, staying low, ready to bolt at the slightest noise.
No-one bothers her, and when she gets to the fire door, she wonders if it's going to be alarmed. A quick calculation tells her that's the least of her worries and she pushes down the lever, blinking as the bright light from the morning sky hits her eyes. There is a loud alarm from the door, but no shout of warning and she takes one step away, then two, and then she is running as fast as her shaky legs can carry her.
She keeps running, keeping track of where she's turning until she comes to a corner bodega. She slows, takes a deep breath and smoothes down her hair, pulls her shirt sleeves over her wrists and goes calmly inside. The woman behind the counter, a kindly looking woman with white hair, probably old enough to be Kensi's grandmother, gasps when she sees her and Kensi rattles off an explanation about how she'd been car-jacked and she doesn't know where she is and could she please use her phone to call her husband?
The woman nods, thrusts a handset at Kensi, ushers her into a back room and Kensi dials Nate's cell number before she's even stopped walking. When she hears it ringing, she holds her breath and when there's a click, when she hears him say, "Hello?" she sags against the wall.
"Nate?"
"Kensi?" The word is almost a shout and she bites her lip against a sob of relief. She can't fall apart, not now, not yet. She hears commotion in the background, hears him confirming that it is indeed her, hears Eric saying something about tracing the call. "Kensi, do you know where you are?"
She nods, even though she knows he can't see her. "I was car-jacked," she tells him, just in case there are listening ears on the other side of the wall. "I found a bodega, asked to use their phone..." She names the location of the street, then says, "I think I passed that warehouse that Sam used to work in too... the one a couple of blocks over? The fire alarm was going off like crazy..."
If the shopkeeper is listening to her, Kensi hopes that she'll write it off as shock, but Nate, and whoever else is listening understands exactly what she means. "I'm on it," she hears Nell saying, and she realises that she's been put on speaker.
"Kensi, are you ok?" It's Nate again and she can hear the worry in his voice. It brings tears to her eyes and she forces them back. No falling apart. Not now, not yet, she reminds herself.
"A bit shaken, but I'll live," is all she'll admit to and his reply of "OK," means more to her than the brevity suggests it should.
"OK, I've got a lock on the phone." It's Eric's voice. "Sending co-ordinates to your phone, Sam."
"Kens, we're on our way." It's Sam's voice, capable, reassuring, and Nate's voice follows immediately.
"We'll be with you soon," he says. "You stay safe."
Then the phone clicks off and all Kensi can do is wait. The shopkeeper, after a couple of moments of silence, enters the room with a bottle of water and a candy bar which Kensi takes eagerly. For once, she can't face the candy but the water is welcome and she sips it slowly, keeping one eye on the sliver of the front door she can see from the back room.
Then the bell above the door rings and a tall man walks in and she's moving before she even registers why. She barely hears him say something about his wife and then she's in front of him, her arms around his neck as he pulls her close against his chest. Closing her eyes, she buries her face in the crook of his neck, feels her feet being lifted off the ground as he slides both arms around her waist and holds her tightly.
All too soon, she feels his grip loosen, the slight movement bringing the realisation that Callen and Sam are probably close by, watching all this, and she takes half a step back. Nate still has his arms around her though, won't let her move any further away as he looks down at her with worried eyes. "Are you ok?"
He's asked her that any amount of times since they've known one another, the most recent being ten days ago when they'd woken up in Vegas with rings on their fingers. Then, as now, she is able to smile at him, tell him honestly, "Getting better all the time."
The smile he gives her is more relief than anything and with a wave over her shoulder to her benefactor, she allows Nate to lead her out the door, towards the waiting car. It's Sam's Challenger and she relaxes even more when she sees it - somehow, having Sam around always makes her feel safe. Making her feel safer still is the sight of not only Sam, but Callen and Deeks waiting beside the vehicle, eyes moving from the sky to the street to her and Nate. She can almost see their hands itching go for their weapons and she gives the three of them a tight smile as she climbs into the back seat. She hears Callen saying, "Let's go," as Nate climbs in beside her, knees almost up to his chin. Deeks gets in on her other side and she shoots him a grin that fades quickly when he sees his gaze riveted on her knees. She looks down, confused and that's when she realises that she is still holding Nate's hand, so tight her knuckles are white.
When they arrive back at the mission, Sam parks the Challenger as close to the main entrance as he can get. Kensi is following Sam and Callen up to Ops, ready if not eager to face the music when she realises that Nate isn't moving, moreover that he is squeezing her hand, a silent message to her to stay still too. Sam is the first one who notices, turning his head and raising an eyebrow in question, looking not at Kensi, she realises quickly, but at Nate.
"Guys," Nate says, and she is startled to realise how hoarse his voice sounds. "Give us a minute, would you?"
Deeks opens his mouth to say something, Callen narrows his eyes, but Sam's lips draw up in a smile of what might very well be understanding. "We'll see you up there." It's no accident, Kensi is sure, that he takes a step back to allow Deeks and Callen to go ahead of him and she finds herself smiling at him, never having pegged Sam for the romantic type. Then again, he's very much the guardian angel type, so maybe that's what this is. She turns to Nate, about to share her observations with him, but the look in his eyes stops the words in her throat.
He takes in a shuddering breath, lets it out slowly as his left hand finds her cheek, thumb sweeping a path over her skin. The weight of his touch, of that emotion in his eyes, has her eyelids fluttering shut and she has to force them open so that she can look at him. "I'm ok, Nate," she whispers. "Really."
"Yeah, well," Nate's voice is shaky, "That makes one of us, at least." He tries to smile, to make a joke, but she's not having that, whispers his name as she winds her arms around his neck.
They stand like that for a long moment and when he pulls back, he takes her face in his hands, brings his lips to hers. In deference to where they are, the kiss is gentle, almost chaste, tongues only touching for the barest of moments but under the circumstances, it's enough to have Kensi's head spinning. "I love you," Nate tells her when he pulls away and her smile up at him comes easily.
"I love you too." His hands slide from her face to her shoulders, down to her hands, squeezing them tightly. Something cuts into her hand and she glances down in some surprise to see his wedding ring on his finger. He follows her gaze and shrugs.
"I wasn't exactly thinking about taking it off," he tells her and she grins, liking the sight of it there. "Of course, now everyone knows..."
Kensi lifts an eyebrow. "I figured," she says. "I got the agent needs assistance off... they would have called home, you would have let the machine get it, but picked up when you heard Eric..."
"Nell."
"When you heard Nell talking... from there, it wouldn't have taken much." A pause, a squeeze of his hands. "Are they pissed?"
"I think stunned is the word." His hands slide around her waist. "But they were too busy trying to find you to grill me about it."
Kensi sighs. "Guess it's time to face the music then." She chuckles without humour. "I was so geared up for that this morning..."
Nate squeezes her hand. "Maybe it's better this way... we're a team, remember? We do things together."
"Together then." Hand in hand, they head up the stairs.
*
When Sam, Deeks and Callen arrive back into Ops alone, Nell's heart stops for a terrifying moment before Sam says, "Nate and Kensi are downstairs....they'll be up in a minute." Something about the tone of his voice makes Nell smile, dart a quick look at Eric and see that the same expression is on his face. "Anything on the warehouse, Eric?"
Eric shakes his head. "We found it because of the alarm, sent Logan and Gardner over to check it out. No-one there, no clues to speak of and no leads from the ownership papers... the head office of the company that owns it isn’t great at answering their phones; I'm waiting for them to get back to me to see who had access to it."
"No luck with facial recognition?" Deeks sounds hopeful but it's Nell's turn to shake her head.
"No security cameras on the warehouse," she reports. "We're looking for their car on traffic cams going to and from it but nothing yet."
Just then, the doors to Ops slide open and Kensi and Nate walk in. Nell stifles a gasp when she sees Kensi, because her jaw is turning a mottled shade of purple and her cheek is scratched to hell. As she walks in, she pushes back a lock of hair, allowing her shirt sleeve to rise up and the lines around her wrist are red and raw. She looks like hell, but she is holding Nate's hand and as Nell looks at them, she sees him squeeze her hand, sees Kensi's eyes light up.
Eyes forward, Nell, she tells herself. Ops is not the place to go all gooey-eyed and romantic.
"Ms Blye." Hetty breaks the silence, walking towards Kensi, voice ringing with relief. "It is so good to see you." She embraces the younger agent and when she pulls back, Nell can see a twinkle in her eye. "Or should I be calling you 'Mrs Getz' now?" Nate actually blanches, Kensi gets a fixed grin on her face and to her left, Nell hears Eric choke back a guffaw. "Never mind, we'll discuss nomenclature later. Tell us everything."
Kensi takes a deep breath and obliges, but can tell them nothing that they don't already know, can give no other details about the men. "How did they know where you live?" Sam demands and all Kensi can do is shake her head.
"We were on vacation, Sam, we only got back the day before yesterday, late... I didn't see anyone following us... did you?" She looks at Nate and he shakes his head.
"Would you have even noticed?" Deeks's mutter isn't so quiet that it can be missed and Kensi looks like he's slapped her. Nate, on the other hand, clenches his jaw and Nell is taken aback; all the years she's known Nate, she's never seen him look like that before.
It falls to Callen to diffuse the situation. "OK, we need to know where you were, what you did and when." He makes a face, but winks as he says, "Obviously, there are some bits you can skip."
Nate visibly relaxes but Kensi still looks stricken as he begins to speak. With all eyes on Nate, Nell is the only one who notices as Kensi slips out of the room and she gives her a couple of minutes before touching Eric on the shoulder, tilting her head towards the door and whispering, "I'll be back."
The ladies' locker room is deserted, and for a second, Nell thinks she's mistaken. Then she turns the very last corner, sees Kensi sitting on a bench there. "Knock knock," she says quietly, pretending not to notice as Kensi jumps slightly, bringing two hands up to her eyes.
"How did you manage to find me here?"
Despite her appearance, Kensi's voice is flat, emotionless, but Nell just shoots her a grin and raises an eyebrow. "What, are you kidding me? You think you're the only one who has a bad day and hides out in the ladies' locker room?" That brings the barest ghost of a smile to Kensi's face, even if it doesn't quite reach her eyes. Taking her chances, Nell sits down on the bench beside her. "I'm serious. Some of us were trying to find a spare locker... have a little red wine and chocolate stash..."
"You think Hetty would go for that?"
Nell purses her lips. "I'm fairly sure Hetty was the one who came up with the idea." Which is so absurd that it has to be true, which it actually is. Kensi tilts her head, as if considering it, and Nell knows the exact moment she chooses to accept it as fact by the flicker of light in her eyes. "I guess you could use that right about now."
Kensi leans back, lets her head find the wall and closes her eyes. "What I could use," she says slowly, "Is for them to stop looking at me like I'm going to break. I hate it." There is untold venom in her voice which surprises Nell not at all, even if she doesn't agree with what Kensi had just said. After all, Kensi is used to being in control and today, she's been the furthest thing from that. Nell opens her mouth but before she can say anything, Kensi cuts across her. "And please don't tell me that they're just worried about me. I hate them worrying about me...feeling like they have to look out for me. I've spent years trying not to be the girl on the team and now..."
"Seriously?" Nell is not the kind of person to interrupt anyone, especially when they have something they so obviously need to get off their chest, but there are some things, she believes, that just have be to shot down. "Kensi, do you think for a moment that we would have reacted differently, done anything differently, if that agent needs assistance call had been for Sam, or Callen, or Deeks? They're not worried about you because you're a woman; they're freaked out because they thought they were going to lose you." She looks down at the floor, scuffs the toe of her sandals against the tiles. "We all were."
The last is said more quietly and Kensi responds with a sigh, leaning forward and resting her elbows on her knees, rubbing her hands over her face. "God, I sound like such a bitch," she mutters and Nell shrugs as she claps her on the back.
"Yeah, but we're used to it." The words surprise a laugh from Kensi, surprised but genuine, and she grins widely at Nell.
"That is the most normal interaction I've had all day. Thank you."
Nell scoots back a little on the bench, brings one knee up underneath her. "Don't you think," she says slowly, carefully, "That it might be a little less to do with the whole 'damsel in distress' thing and the fact that none of us got an invite to the wedding?" Kensi's cheeks flood crimson and Nell beams at the reaction. "I mean... you should have seen the look on Deeks's face when he saw the ring on Nate's finger... I thought he was going to have a stroke. And Nate, he didn't even blink, didn't react... he was so worried, Kensi..."
Kensi shakes her head. "I know. I know." She sighs. "Seems like we spend most of our time worrying... me about him, him about me... I'm kinda sick of it actually."
Nell bites her lip, as if that would keep the words back, then decides to hell with it. Life is just too short. "OK, so I wasn't going to ask, but..."
Kensi's eyes actually sparkle, which takes Nell aback since she'd always thought that that was something that only happened in crappy romance novels. "You're wondering about me and Nate." It's a statement, not a question, and she nods, trying not to appear too eager and probably failing completely.
"I'm not even going to try and lie about it," she tells Kensi frankly. "We've gone to bars together, checked out guys together... you got hit on at a monster truck rally, for crying out loud! And now you just rock up with a secret marriage? To Nate?" Kensi's cheeks darken still further but she's smiling and Nell leans forward, an identical smile on her own lips. "I don't care that there's no wine, no beer, but seriously...spill."
Kensi takes a deep breath, looking up at the ceiling. "Me and Nate... ok, so I joined NCIS in 2006... came here a year later. That's when we met. And I thought, yeah, kinda cute, but not really my type. And anyway, the whole working together and being the new girl, and the only girl and him being the shrink..." She bites her lip, shakes her head. "I was not even thinking about going there."
"So what changed?"
"We just spent time together... I mean, we had to, with ops and debriefs. But he wasn't ... I mean, he wasn't like other shrinks. I could talk to him... about anything. We ended up spending time together outside of work... and one thing just led to another." She shrugs, pulling her legs up to her chin, resting her head on her knees. "But it wasn't constant... that would have been just too easy. He would freak out about the whole professional, ethical dilemma, about the job and Macy and Hetty... I would freak out about being in a relationship, let alone with a co-worker... we'd agree to call the whole thing off and then a few days, a few weeks later, we'd be back where we started."
"And marriage? How does that even work?"
"Vegas." Nell's jaw drops at the matter of fact tone of Kensi's voice. "We were there last week... Nate's college room mate was getting married to a girl from there... Nate was best man. So there we were, me in a very cute dress and heels, Nate in an honest to God tux... and there was dancing, and alcohol... and Nate's a really good dancer. Really good. And somewhere along the line, it seemed..." Her voice trails off. "It seemed like the thing to do."
Nell's eyes widen. "He just asked you? In the middle of the wedding?"
"No." Kensi bites her lip. "I... kinda asked him."
For once in her life, Nell is well and truly speechless. With little or no chance of her framing any type of reply, she is almost glad when her cell rang. Fishing it out of her pocket, she rolls her eyes at the caller ID. "Eric." Putting the phone to her ear, she hears him sounding more than a little panicked.
"Nell? Is Kensi with you?"
"Yes, Eric, Kensi is with me. We're both on the premises and we're perfectly fine." She shoots Kensi a "what are you gonna do?" look, gets a sympathetic grin in response.
She hears him shout the same to someone, then he comes back to her again. "Good, because Nate was about to have a coronary." Eric's wry tone makes Nell chuckle but when he continues talking, when his voice drops as if he was saying something that he didn't want to be overheard, the chuckle dies in her throat. "Listen, can you get up here? I've found something... and I don't want to report until we're all here."
Nell frowns. Anything Eric found should have been reported immediately, especially when it involved the kidnap of an NCIS agent. She can't imagine what would make Eric want to delay and that fact has her jumping to her feet. "We'll be right there."
*
Walking into Ops, Kensi doesn't miss the look of relief on Nate's face and she bites her lip at knowing that she was the one who caused it. Nell goes right to her chair, slips into it and glances over to Eric, gives him a little nod and it's then that he turns around, faces the rest of the team. "So," he begins, and Kensi's stomach twists because she's never heard Eric sound like that and give good news. "I scanned traffic cams and Kaleidoscope and it looks like we got lucky... I got a partial shot of one of the faces... not much, but enough to get a hit." He takes a deep breath and Kensi is acutely aware of Nate stepping up so that he's standing right behind her. Eric presses a button on his tablet and the view screen fills with a mug shot.
"Jason Carroll."
Strangely enough, it's Nate who speaks and all eyes are instantly on him. Kensi can't remember the last time, if ever, she saw Nate look like that - face pale, eyes narrowed, jaw clenched. He knows this guy, Kensi realises, and not just from this morning.
"Jason Carroll, Naval computer analyst, convicted five years ago of doing things that he really shouldn't have been doing, made a deal for testimony against those higher up the food chain, released on good behaviour last month." Eric keeps it succinct and Sam asks the obvious question.
"Nate, you know this guy?"
Nate nods. "I testified at his trial... I believed that he was more involved than he said, and I argued against that deal to the agent in charge of the investigation."
Eric presses a few more buttons; prison records flash up on screen, making for harrowing reading. "Based on what happened to him in jail, I'm not so sure you're wrong," he says. "But they couldn't prove anything, which is why he was released... he's staying in a low rent apartment downtown; his wife divorced him three years ago."
Sam shrugs, looks at Nate. "You took his wife, he takes yours?"
"It makes sense but..." Nate shakes his head. "I literally have not seen that man in five years. How did he know about me and Kensi? You guys didn't even know about me and Kensi."
"I...uh... I may have an answer for that." Eric suddenly looks very uncomfortable. "Nate, based on what you told me about where you and Kensi went yesterday, I looked into surveillance footage from the area... and this is what I found." With the press of a few buttons, the screen changes and Kensi finds herself looking at the entrance to the grocery store not far from her apartment. As she watches, the electronic doors slide open and she and Nate emerge, arms laden down with bags, smiling and laughing. She remembers the conversation, knows exactly what she was saying and she hopes that if anyone can lip read, they'll be decent enough to never tell.
They go out of shot and seconds later, the door opens again, and Jason Carroll appears on the screen. His face is drawn in an angry scowl, eyes following her and Nate as he steps after them. Eric freezes the footage and Kensi stares at him. "I never saw him," she says, amazed at herself. "Damn it, I should have known someone was following us."
"You can't have been expecting it," Nell offers, but Kensi's not having that.
"We should always be alert... isn't that what you always tell us, Sam?"
To her surprise, Sam shakes his head. "Believe me... I'm out with Michelle, with our daughter? I'm not always alert." Cue surprised looks from all, and he holds up a hand. "Mostly alert. But I have moments."
"So, we know how he found Kensi, where he took her... now we just have to figure out who helped him." Callen is obviously trying to hide a smile at Sam's admission, but it gets much easier when Nate holds up a hand.
"I just... I'll be back."
He walks out of Ops without a second glance and Kensi knows instantly what she has to do, where she has to be. "Excuse me."
She follows him down the steps, out into the courtyard, the exact path she once took when Dom disappeared. When she finds him, Nate is leaning back against the wall of the mission, staring at the sky, taking several deep breaths. Kensi stands beside him but doesn't touch him, waits for him to speak. "I can't believe this," he finally says. "I didn't expect... I mean, I don't know what I did expect... but it wasn't this."
Which makes perfect sense to Kensi - after all, if anyone was walking around with a target on their back, it was more likely to be her. She'd put more than a few people away who were bound to be holding a grudge; even now, she could put together a list of a dozen good candidates without blinking. "Nate, this wasn't your fault," she tells him and he gives her that Nate look she knows so well - head tilted, eyebrow raised, brow furrowed - and disagrees with her.
"Kensi... I know you don't need me to protect you. You've proved enough times that you can take care of yourself." Nate shakes his head as if helpless and she can see the turmoil in his eyes and it breaks her heart. "And this job is dangerous, I know... but this is the first time that you've been in danger because of me."
"Nate..." She takes his hand in both of hers. "You can't think like that."
"You were taken this morning because someone saw you with me and decided to use you to get to me... and I don't know how I'm supposed to deal with that."
She takes a deep breath, lets it out slowly, then moves so that she's standing in front of him, holding his arms firmly. "First of all? It's not I. It's we." He blinks but she doesn't, holds his gaze so that she can be sure he's understanding her, reminding him of his own words to her barely an hour ago. "We're a team, Nate. You and me, and we deal with things together. Second? This job is dangerous. We meet people every day who do horrible things, terrible things and it's our job to stop them. You can't predict what they'll do, what will happen... we just do our best... and we hope it's enough. And at the end of the day, we go home. Together."
Nate sighs, but some of the tension has gone from his shoulders, a lot of the turmoil from his eyes as he slips his arms around her waist, holds her loosely. "That's quite the pep talk you've got there," he says quietly and she shrugs her shoulders as she slides her hands up to his shoulders, then to around his neck, lacing her fingers together.
"Yeah, well, I just asked myself what my husband would say."
"Oh really?" Nate raises an eyebrow, lips drawing up in a smile at her flirty tone.
"Turns out he's kind of a smart guy. Which is obvious, I grant you, I mean, he did marry me..."
Nate chuckles, pulls her towards him and holds her tight, burying his head in her hair. She feels as much as hears him whisper, "Best thing I ever did," and while it's tempting to make a quick quip, she settles for closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, breathing him in.
"I was scared too," she whispers but before Nate can say anything, there's the distinct sound of a throat being cleared behind them. Jumping apart, Kensi turns to see Nell looking more than a little embarrassed.
"Sorry to interrupt," Nell says, sounding as embarrassed as she looks, hooking a thumb over her shoulder in the general direction of Ops. "I was sent to see if things were ok... and to say that if they were, you guys should come in because we might have a lead."
Nate takes a step towards her but Kensi stops him with a squeeze of her hand. "We'll be in in a second," she says and Nell nods, turning and disappearing quickly. When Nate looks down at Kensi, a question in his face, she meets his look with a question of her own. "We're good?" she asks and he smiles.
"Yeah," he says, bringing their joined hands to his lips. "We're good."
*
When Nell comes back into Ops, Sam keeps his eyes on the door, waits for Kensi and Nate to come back too. They arrive barely a minute later - and yes, he did count, thank you very much - and Sam notes with some relief that, while both still look as if they've been through hell, they are holding hands and there is certainly a more relaxed look to Nate than there had been a few minutes ago.
When Eric sees them coming in, he starts talking straight away. "So, leads are like buses. You wait all day for one, then two come along at once." Sam opens his mouth to hurry him up, but before he can say anything, Eric, perhaps seeing his look, dives right in. "Turns out that Jason Carroll's ex wife, Susan, didn't show for work today. I got the traffic cams up near her house and found this." A touch of the tablet and they see a woman getting stopping her car at a stop light, a man running up to the side of the car and getting in beside her. The gun in his hand is clearly visible, but so is his face. Eric's fingers fly across the tablet and then a mug shot turns up. "Mike Robinson, ex-cell mate of Jason Carroll. Comes across as pretty high on the psycho scale. And he works for the company that own the warehouse that Kensi was in this morning."
"And he's on the list of people who have access to the warehouse," Nell adds.
"So, how do we find him?" Callen cuts to the chase.
"This is his address...sending it to your phone." Eric is talking to Sam and he and Callen are heading for the door the second the first part leaves his lips. As Sam gets to the door though, he realises something.
"Deeks," he says. "You're with us." Callen gives him a questioning look, and even Deeks looks surprised, but Sam doesn't waver. "Don't even think of calling shotgun," he orders.
Deeks, still looking surprised, follows them out and slides obediently into the backseat of the Challenger. Once they're on the road, Sam doesn't really have a plan for the talk that he knows the police detective needs to hear; he figures that somehow, someway, the subject will come up organically.
Turns out Callen must have worked out his game, because he's the one who brings it up - and for a man who respects the privacy of his fellow agents, that is huge. "So, what do you think about this?"
Sam raises an eyebrow, glances over at his partner, gets a nod of understanding that only comes with years of team work. "I take it you're talking about Kensi and Nate?"
"What else could he possibly be talking about?" Deeks is trying to keep his game face on but it's too bad he's got a pretty crappy game face. What looks a lot like anger and frustration bleeds through every syllable.
"You think it's a good idea?" Callen is continuing playing his role, and Sam wonders if there's a little bit of him that actually means this. "I mean, Hetty looked ready to spit nails... Granger's head is probably going to explode."
Deeks gives a "humph" the like of which Sam hasn't heard since his daughter was a toddler being told to eat her broccoli. "His and everyone else's," he mutters.
Sam shrugs, decides it's time to cut to the chase, to both of them. "Honestly? I don't think it's any of our business."
He glances in the rear view mirror as he talks, sees the other man's head shoot up, eyes open wide. "Two of our friends..." he begins, "Our co-workers get married in secret and you think it's none of our business?"
"I don't think anybody's marriage is any of my business," Sam tells him frankly. "But I'll tell you something, Deeks...did you see Nate's face, in Ops? Before we knew where she was?" The memory, even now, makes him shudder. "I've seen that look. I've worn that look. And I know what it means. He loves her. That's good enough for me."
"You turning into a romantic on me?" Callen breaks his silence and Sam shoots him a glare, shakes his head.
"It's nothing to do with romance, or being soft," he declares. "Just watch them together. They're a good match. A good team, they always were. Besides, Hetty's the one who sent Nate off undercover, he's not full time with us anymore... work wise, I don't think Granger has a leg to stand on."
"What about Hetty?" Callen's question is serious and Sam lifts one eyebrow.
"I'll have the dustpan ready to pick up the pieces she leaves of them."
Callen grins at that and even Deeks is able to raise a smile as Sam turns a corner and pulls up to the kerb. "That's Susan Carroll's house on the left," he says.
"And that?" Deeks is pointing to a familiar looking car parked further down the street. "Is the car that took Kensi."
"Number plate missing," Callen notices and Sam shakes his head.
"As if they thought that would fool us. Pitiful, man. Just pitiful."
Years of teamwork mean that Sam and Callen have developed a shorthand, to say nothing of an understanding that requires no speech. Deeks has been around them for long enough to know how they work together and he falls in behind them, each of them playing their part as they make their way to the house. Sam uses a scope to look through one of the windows, sees Susan Carroll tied up in a chair, two men talking beside her. He nods as Callen and he and Deeks enter the house first, Sam following them.
Carroll and Robinson aren't even holding guns and in a matter of seconds, they are on the floor in handcuffs without a shot being fired.
"Pathetic," Sam mutters to himself. "You're under arrest," he says louder then, over the protests of the two men, something about role playing and "Fifty Shades of Grey," as Deeks unties Susan Carroll who is shaking her head vehemently. "Oh yeah?" he adds. "What about the Federal Agent you took this morning?"
That stops the two men talking abruptly and Robinson turns furious eyes on Carroll. "You never told me she was a Fed," he hisses and Carroll has a look of shock on his face.
"I didn't... I mean...."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Deeks hauls him up off the floor and starts to bring him out. "Tell it to the judge."
*
When Sam calls with the news that Susan Carroll is safe, that Carroll and Robinson are in custody, celebrations erupt in Ops. Eric and Nell exchange high fives, Kensi sags with relief as Nate pulls her into a hug and even Hetty raises a smile. The moment doesn't last for long, though, because when Hetty speaks, everyone snaps to attention. "Miss Blye... I think we'll have that word now." Hetty beckons Kensi with a curl of her finger and Kensi falls into step behind her. Nate follows her, and they both stop when Hetty does, freezing when she turns around and narrows her eyes at Nate. "Alone."
Nate actually blanches, swallows hard. "Yes, Ma'am."
Kensi follows Hetty down the stairs and into her office, sitting down quietly opposite Hetty and waiting for her to speak. "I called you Miss Blye," Hetty begins. "Or is it Mrs Getz?"
"Still Blye." Kensi gives a nervous smile. "Mrs Getz is Nate's mom... and he seemed pretty freaked when I asked what his opinion on the subject was."
Hetty raised an eyebrow. "Having heard him on the subject of his mother, I don't blame him for not wanting a second Mrs Getz in his life." Kensi's smile this time is more genuine, fading when Hetty leans over. "And yet... here you are."
Kensi meets her gaze, holds it. "Here I am," she agrees. Hetty presses her lips together firmly, brings a finger to her lips and Kensi knows interrogation technique, knows she should wait it out, but she can't. "I love him, Hetty... I do. It surprised both of us, we didn't plan it, didn't mean for it to happen... but he makes me happy. He makes me better. And I can't imagine my life without him." She shrugs helplessly. "So I married him."
"Which is all well and good... but Jane Eyre never did the job that you do."
"That's not going to change, Hetty... Nate knows who I am, what I do..."
"And later? When children come along?" Hetty is leaning back in her chair now, eyes not moving from Kensi's face.
"We haven't talked about that." It takes every ounce of training Kensi's ever had to sit still, not to fidget. "But I wouldn't allow any changes in my personal life to compromise my work, Hetty... you know that."
"Indeed I do, Miss Blye...so, my final question." There's a long pause where Kensi finds herself holding her breath. "If I said that I couldn't allow two of my agents to be involved... if I said, in effect, that it was your job or Nate..."
"Nate." The word leaves Kensi's lips before she has time to think about it, certainly before she realises that she's just interrupted Hetty. She bites her lip at the realisation - people have been assigned to Alaska for less.
Hetty's face is perfectly still, then breaks into a broad smile. "I was hoping that's what you would say."
Kensi frowns, blinks in confusion. "Wait, am I being fired?"
"On the contrary, dear heart." Hetty stands, comes around the table to stand beside Kensi. Kensi automatically stands up and when the older woman holds out her hands to her, she finds herself returning the warm hug. "And my warmest congratulations to you... to both of you." She looks over her shoulder. "Mr Getz, I assume you heard all of that," she calls. "Come in, won't you?"
With red cheeks and an abashed look, Nate does as he is told, receiving another hug from Hetty. The visual of them hugging makes Kensi giggle and she bites the inside of her cheek to keep it back. When he steps back, looks down at Hetty, Nate stands beside Kensi, takes her hand in his. "We're sorry you had to find out about it this way," he says and Hetty waves a hand.
"Mr Getz, I understand why you couldn't tell me that you two were together. And I certainly understand the allure of a Vegas wedding." Her eyes took on a faraway look, her smile turned distinctly devilish and Kensi turned an astonished look on Nate. "But that's another story for another time. Mr Getz, I need to talk to you about your role here...in private, I'm afraid."
Kensi squeezes Nate's hand. "I'll see you in a while." When Nate squeezes her hand back, she knows he's nervous and she shoots him what she hopes is a reassuring smile before she walks away. She's got a funny feeling that it might not have turned out that way, not if the look he gives her is anything to go by, and she promises herself that she'll make it up to him later.
She passes by her desk without sitting down, instead heads to the far corner of the mission, sits down on one of the couches there and curls her legs up underneath her. Suddenly, the day seems to have caught up with her and she can hardly keep her eyes open. Yawning, she makes herself comfortable, pulls a blanket across her lap, closes her eyes and waits for Nate and she's not sure how much time has passed when she hears someone say her name.
"Deeks."
"I didn't mean to wake you."
Deeks sounds as sheepish as he looks and Kensi sits up on the couch, pushes her hair out of her face and wipes her eyes. "I wasn't asleep," she tells him, which is almost the truth. Had she been there much longer, she would have, in all likelihood, fallen asleep but she hadn't quite been there yet. "Really," she insists off his amused smile, the way he lifts one eyebrow.
"Whatever you say, Kens." He looks over his shoulder towards Ops. "They're just wrapping up some stuff...and I saw Nate in with Hetty...I just wanted to see how you were doing."
The mention of Nate's name, the tone of Deeks's voice, has Kensi swallowing, sitting up a bit straighter and drawing her legs up underneath her. "Deeks...I would have told you myself," she tells him honestly, hopes he knows it's the truth. "After Hetty, I was going to come looking for you... I didn't want you to hear about it through the grapevine..."
Deeks chuckles without humour. "Well, I can't exactly hold that against you, under the circumstances." Another humourless chuckle. "Of all the people I thought would have a quickie Vegas wedding...you were not on the list. Me, definitely. But not you."
Kensi feels her cheeks darken but she can't deny that it's true. She wants to say more, wants to explain herself but she's not sure how Deeks has been taking the news - though what with the looks and the barbed comments, she fancies the answer is 'not well' - and the idea of telling him what she'd told Nell earlier, how it had seemed right, how she'd just known, doesn't sit right with her somehow. So instead of telling him that, she takes a deep breath as she looks down, notices her fingers picking idly at the blanket covering her legs, forces them to stop. "Are we ok, Deeks?"
It's the only question she wants an answer to and she's well aware she might not like the one she gets. Deeks, though, only gives her that easy going smile of his. "What, because of our 'thing'?" He puts air quotes around the word and when she opens her mouth to say something, he holds up a hand to stop her. "It's ok, Kens," he tells her. "It hasn't been like that between us for a while now...guess I finally know why."
"Deeks..."
"Does he make you happy, Kens?" The question is posed as seriously as she's ever heard Deeks speak and she can't speak past the sudden lump in her throat so she just nods instead. Deeks's voice is quiet and suspiciously husky when he adds, "Well then... I'm happy for you. Really."
Their eyes meet and hold for a long moment and it might have lasted longer if not for the fact that Nate approaches them, eyes darting between them, brow furrowing in worry. "I'm not interrupting anything, am I?"
Deeks grins as he looks up at Nate. "Just trying to talk the little woman here into letting us throw you a post wedding bachelor party." His voice is his normal voice, upbeat and cheery, and in that moment Kensi knows things are going to be fine.
"Oh no," she says. "No way."
Deeks grins up at Nate who shakes his head. "I'm going with my wife on this one," he says and Kensi suddenly realises that that's the first time she's heard Nate refer to her in conversation as his wife. It makes her grin, a grin that grows even wider when she hears Sam's voice.
"A very good idea," he says, clapping Nate on the shoulder. "I didn't get to say congratulations earlier... but congratulations." He shakes Nate's hand, goes over to Kensi and gives her a warm hug. "I'm glad you're ok," he whispers in her ear and she hugs him back just a little bit tighter then.
When Sam steps away from her, she sees that the rest of the team have joined them, and handshakes and hugs are exchanged before Hetty arrives, bottle of champagne in hand. Nell is at her side, a tray of glasses in hand and Hetty pops the bottle, pours everyone a glass and hands them around.
"Our lives hold many secrets," she says seriously, holding her glass up high. "The cost of doing what we do can be high... and when we find someone in our lives who can share our secrets, who makes our lives better, we owe it to ourselves to embrace that. So I would like to raise a toast... to Nate and Kensi."
"Nate and Kensi."
The toast is echoed by everyone and as the glasses clink, Nate leans forward, presses his lips against Kensi. She returns the kiss, impervious to the catcalls and whistles lobbied their way.
They've earned this kiss today, and she's going to make the most of it.
