CHAPTER THREE

Two hours later…

Kensi sighed as she drove into the OSP carpark and immediately spotted Callen & Sam waiting for her by the entrance. Both men had their arms crossed over their chests and were leaning up against the door frames wearing the same expressions they wore when they were about to interrogate a particularly bad suspect.

They watched her park her car and jump out of the driver's seat, their eyes not leaving the passenger's side door. After a few moments it was evident that Deeks was not with her and they turned their full attention to Kensi who was slowly and cautiously approaching them, knowing exactly what she was about to walk into.

"Where is he?" Sam asked with tightly clenched fists and anger evident in his voice. "I know he's back. G told me he was at your house! I thought you were smarter than that Kensi."

"How is this any of your business?" Kensi threw back defensively. She tried to push past them and get into the building but they put their arms in front of the door, effectively stopping her from disappearing into the Bullpen where she'd feel more confident and less cornered.

"It's our business because I don't want him near you," Sam replied. "Where is he?"

"I don't know," Kensi lied. She knew exactly where her partner was, he was at the boatshed hopefully talking to Nate and under protective custody until she could calm her NCIS brothers down enough that he could join her and not have to fear about him being threatened or actually killed by the team leaders. "And it's not your job to tell me who I can and can't be with Sam. You're not my father."

Sam took a step forward and placed his hand gently on Kensi's shoulder, "no I'm not your father but I am family and I will do whatever I have to do to protect you. We may not be blood Kens but you know how much we all care about you and the thought of you getting hurt again is absolutely terrifying."

"I understand that and I love you guys too," Kensi put her hand over Sam's and gave it a squeeze before removing it from her shoulder. "I know you're just trying to protect me and I appreciate everything you do for me but I'm a big girl. I CAN take care of myself."

"Kensi we never doubted your strength," Callen moved closer and tried to get Kensi to meet his gaze. "It's the thought of Deeks with you that we can't stand. We saw what he did to you and you haven't been the same since. We don't ever want anything like that to happen again."

Sam nodded, "we failed to protect you once Kens, we won't fail you again!"

"You… you think you failed me?" Kensi gasped in utter disbelief. "How could you possibly think that?"

"We left you at OSP alone with Deeks when he was clearly not himself. We underestimated him and we failed to stop him from hurting you." Callen answered sadly, a look of horror passed over his face as he remembered that awful day.

Kensi shook her head, "what happened was not your fault and it wasn't Deeks's fault either! He had just found out that someone he cared for had been killed by me and he lost control. It could happen to any of us…"

"We would never hit you Kens," Callen interrupted sternly. "Never!"

"Ok, try looking at it this way," Kensi shifted from one foot to the other and sighed. "What if someone shot and killed Hetty? What would you do when we found out who had pulled the trigger? There's a good chance that you'd put them in a body bag and I've got to say I probably would too but the point is we all lose control sometimes. Deeks didn't know what he was doing."

"It still doesn't excuse what he did to you," Sam stated, his voice was much softer now.

"No, it doesn't," Kensi agreed. "But he is getting help and he's very sorry for everything. I've forgiven him and I want both of you to do the same."

Sam and Callen shared a disapproving look between them, "I don't know about that Kens."

"Callen, you said I haven't been the same since that day, right?"

He nodded.

"I haven't been the same because Deeks hasn't been here! I lost my best friend that day and I finally have him back… If you love me as much as you say you do, please accept that I need him in my life."

The desperation in Kensi's voice and in her eyes was obvious. She was asking a lot of them; she knew that but she also needed them to back off of Deeks. She couldn't risk losing him again and if it came to it, she was willing to leave with him. She just hoped it didn't have to come to that…

"Please…."

"Ok," Sam finally gave into her pleading. "We can try and be nice to him but if he EVER does anything to hurt you, ANYTHING, I will finish him off myself!"

"I don't like it but I will back off," Callen hesitantly agreed. "But I'm going to be watching his every move and as Sam said, if he steps out of line even once, he's a dead man!"

Kensi grinned and breathed a sigh of relief, "thank you!"

"There is one more thing…" Sam firmly announced.

Kensi frowned and crossed her arms, "you don't want him in my house." It was a statement, not a question. She knew these men well.

Sam nodded, "we will tolerate him but we don't trust him. If we can promise to TRY not to kill him than can you please promise that you will not have him over without one of us knowing about it and not all night. Can you do that?"

"That goes for his house too," Callen quickly added. "Basically, if you're going to be alone with him you have to tell us first and check in with us regularly so we know you're ok. And definitely no overnight stays ok?"

"If that makes you feel better," Kensi couldn't help but smirk at them. "I will TRY to follow the rules for now."

"Good," Sam seemed much happier now, even Callen was more relaxed.

"You two are going to end up in an early grave if you keep worrying like this," Kensi teased. "I can already see the grey hair on you G. and the wrinkles on Sam! You both need to chill out more."

"Oh, and you don't worry about us when we're out in the field without you?" Callen quipped back playfully knowing she went crazy when she couldn't be with them to protect them from the dangers of their job.

"No, I don't worry," Kensi shrugged and turned to move past them.

"Eric and Nell say otherwise," Sam laughed.

Kensi screwed up her nose at him, "well maybe I do worry but not to the extent you two fuss over me! I'm a grown woman and a highly skilled federal agent. I'm quite capable of taking care of whoever is stupid enough to try anything."

"Kensi you are the strongest of us all but we're still going to worry about you," Callen said, smiling warmly at her. "It's what we do."

Kensi didn't say anything more, instead she simply smiled and followed the two senior agents inside, a feeling of relief and hope filling her entire being.

Maybe things will be ok now….

…

Hey everyone,

Sorry it's taken so long but here's an update :) I'm working on this story now so should have more updates posted soon. Thank you for following me and for all your amazing reviews! I hope you enjoy this new chapter.