Hey guys, Guen here, back from the...writers block :) So this is my first foray into NCIS:LA, and I have to say that I am super excited to be here. This one is Deeks/Kensi, and they are my absolute new favorite not-quite-a-couple couple. This takes place sometime after episode 2.15 "Tin Soldiers", so I guess just to be safe I'll say there are spoilers up to and including that episode. This came about when my mind started contemplating the more serious side of Deeks a la 2.1 "Human Traffic", and what might bring that side out in him. This is what I came up with. Enjoy!

She's supposed to be the girl that he doesn't have to worry about. So why is it, he wonders, that since he's joined this issue-laden family they call an NCIS team, worrying about her is what he's been doing more often than not?

She can take care of herself, as she's so prone to remind them all, but he can't help but sometimes see her as the damsel in distress. She is the only girl, after all, and though she's highly trained, she's still smaller and weaker and therefore worthy of protecting in his book. He tries not to examine too closely the overwhelming need he feels to be her knight in slightly dented armor.

Even as he glances down at the text message he'd received only moments ago, and his gut clenches in what can only be described as dread, he wonders what sort of trouble she's gotten herself into now.

SOS. Back room. Fern.

That's all it says and he tries to remember as he buttons his pants and throws on yesterday's shirt that if it was a real and true emergency she would have sent out an "Agent Needs Assistance" Alert and he would not be the only one searching for his car keys at two in the morning.

It's six blocks to the club where they'd done their first…second?... undercover op together. The op where he'd labeled her Fern and she'd glared her mismatched Kensi "I'll get you back later", glare. He hopes he hasn't misread her vague clue as to her whereabouts. He prays that this partner thing has panned out far better than anyone else seems to think it has, and that he's not on some wild goose chase while she's in trouble somewhere. And with each block he tries to forget the times he's come too close to blowing the partnership, to losing his partner. The time he let her get kidnapped by the Russians. The time he left her alone with that lying skeezeball Talbot, and she almost had her brains bashed in. The time he ran too far ahead and was unable to stop her getting hit by a car. The time he got made at a bar and almost blew her cover. He shakes his head in disgust and prays to every deity he's ever heard of that this is not the time he shows up at the wrong club and something terrible happens to her.

He pulls up to the valet outside of BALM and hands the young man his keys before heading for the doors.

"Joe," he says with a nod to the bouncer.

"Tim. Or is it Detective Deeks this time?" the larger man replies with a small smile. "Haven't seen you around here since that trouble with the high society chick."

"Been busy," Deeks replies. "Hey, I'm actually looking for someone, heard she might be here tonight. You remember my friend Fern…er, Agent Blye?"

Joe smiles. "Feisty brunette. Yeah I remember her. She came in about an hour ago. Haven't seen her leave."

Deeks lets a slow smile spread across his face. The less trouble Joe suspects here, the better. "She alone?" he asks.

"Seemed to be," Joe replies. "Your lucky night, eh?"

"It just might be," Deeks sighs, patting Joe on the arm and entering the club.

It takes a moment for Deeks's eyes to adjust to the muted lighting in the club, a moment longer to orient himself and spot the doorway leading to the private rooms in back.

The walk across the crowded club takes way too long in his opinion. Various patrons and employees stop him to say hello and welcome him back. He wants so badly to just shove them aside and run for the back where Kensi is supposed to be, but he knows he can't make a scene. They are only two agents, after all, and not even on official business. The last thing he needs is to get arrested for starting a brawl and spend valuable time explaining things to his not-so-understanding LAPD coworkers.

So he grits his teeth and attempts to make polite, if brief, conversations with those who stop him, until finally he is crossing the threshold into the back area of the club.

Now what?

He takes a few deep breaths and tries to think, but it's hard to think with the knowledge that somewhere close at hand his partner might be in danger. He realizes that this line of thought is getting him nowhere and, though it's hard, he pushes any personal concern he might feel to the back of his mind.

It wouldn't exactly be in his best interest to just start opening doors. People tend to get a bit irate when you interrupt their private time at BALM. He takes a few steps forward, listening closely for any sign of his partner. Of the doors that are closed, none looks more promising than any other and he is about to screw the risk and start busting them all down when something outside the final door catches his eye. He stares at it for a moment before bending to retrieve it. It's Kensi's cell phone. She's left him a bread crumb, clever girl. He smiles briefly at his partner's foresight before moving closer to the door.

He can hear the sounds of a struggle from inside the room, shoes scuffing on the floor, flesh meeting flesh, a grunt, a groan. His back teeth clench, and his muscles are so tight with the effort to remain in place that he feels as if he might snap in half at any moment.

No matter how much he wants to, he can't just break the door down, he tries to remind himself. He has no way of knowing how many people are in the room, if they are armed. He has no backup. Barging in might very well get his partner into even more trouble than she's already gotten her pretty little self into.

He holds his breath and listens more closely. The scuffling has stopped and he hears a growl that belongs unmistakably to his lovely partner.

"Let me go," he hears her demand. "Now."

He doesn't hear the other person's reply, but Kensi's gasp of pain has him drawing his weapon and edging the door open slightly. It wouldn't do to barge right in, but he has to know what he is dealing with and he can't stand there another moment and listen to her being manhandled.

The break in the door reveals a dimly lit lounge. Three well-padded couches fill the center of the floor, and there is a private bar in the far right corner. It is the far left that draws his eye, however.

There she is in the corner looking outwardly calm and collected even as he can see the anger and panic swirling in her dark eyes. He thinks back to another room, another time when Kensi was in need of rescuing, and all he can see is thin red lines and an impending doom. Just as quickly as that thought comes, it is replaced by another; it is not a bunch of criss-crossing lasers holding her in this corner, but a flesh and blood man. This he can fight, this he can defeat, and he is all-too-willing to prove it.

"You don't actually think you'll get away with this, do you?" He hears Kensi ask the man, even as he silently glides up behind him.

"I think there's nothing you can do," the man chuckles, "and there's no one else here who cares."

"Think again, asshole," Deeks grits out as he places the cold barrel of his government issue Beretta against the back of the guy's head.

The other man freezes, but even as the elation of a job-well-done begins to fill him, Deeks senses that they are no longer alone.

Kensi confirms his suspicion a half-second later. "Deeks, behind you."

He spins even as the new addition to their little party knocks the gun from his hand and strikes at his head. The blow misses by centimeters and Deeks quickly maneuvers far enough away to make an attack of his own.

Meanwhile, the interruption has been enough to break the concentration of Kensi's captor and Deeks senses her use the opportunity to break his hold. Here is where he can stop worrying about her. Here, where she is within sight, within grasp, and doing what she does so well. Kicking ass.

Even as he makes a well-placed kick to his own bad guy, Deeks muses that he should probably just sit back and let her take care of the two men on her own. He grins despite the arduous fight he's currently involved in.

He manages to knock his sparring partner unconscious just as silence falls on the other side of the room.

"Kenz?" He calls, not looking up from where he's disarming his unmoving opponent. "You okay?"

For a moment she doesn't answer and he quickly glances up to find her watching him.

"Kenz?"

"Hmm? Yeah…I'm good."

He gives her a lopsided grin and stands up, moving to her side.

"So, you wanna tell me how you got into this mess?"

She's not small, not like the girls he'd dated back in high school while he was trying to prove himself. A late bloomer, his mother had called him. The skinny scrawny guy all the jocks had picked on. He'd shot up his junior year, filled out just about in time for graduation. By then he'd gotten himself a "type". Short girls, small ones that made him look and feel bigger, more like a man. And though he'd clearly overcome that gawky stage of adolescence, his type had stuck. And while Kensi Blye was clearly not some nymph-like princess, he didn't feel like any less of a man standing next to her. In fact, if she kept requiring saving like this, he just might have to reevaluate her damsel in distress potential.

"That," she says, pointing to the man who had held her against the wall, now lying unconscious at her feet, "is Nigel Himlay. The man we've been trying to corner for weeks."

He takes a second look at the man and discovers that she is correct, it is the man NCIS has been after.

He cocks an eyebrow at her. "And you just happened to run into him on the way to get a refill on your martini?"

Her eyes shift in that way he's learned reveals she's about to tell a whopper.

"Something like that."

"Bullshit," he states, crossing his arms over his chest. "Try again."

"He was here, I was here…" She makes a motion with her hands that tells him he's supposed to fill in the blanks on his own. He already has.

"You knew he'd be here." There's no question in his voice because he knows it's the truth even before he sees her eyes shift again.

"No, Deeks, how could I…"

He raises a hand to cut her off. "Do not lie to me, Kensi. You knew he'd be here and instead of calling in the team, you decided to pull a Callen and lone wolf this one."

Her eyes narrow, but she doesn't argue.

"What the hell, Kensi?" He throws up his hands in disbelief even though by now he's come to learn that you shouldn't discount any crazy, off-the-cuff scenario wherever Kensi Marie Blye is concerned. "Have you got a fucking death wish?"

"I had it handled," she grits out, hands on hips, and he ignores the myriad of negative emotions fairly pouring off of her.

"Then why the cryptic text?" He asks.

"I thought a little backup couldn't hurt. You are my partner, after all."

He's in her face before he can stop himself. Hand raised between them though he knows it's probably a dangerous move. "Couldn't hurt? A little backup couldn't hurt? How in the hell were you planning on getting out of this one on your own, Blye?"

She opens her mouth to speak, but he cuts her off. "And don't even let the words 'I had it handled' pass your lips again, because you won't like my reaction."

"You're on dangerous ice, Deeks," she grinds out from between gritted teeth. "Get out of my face."

"I'll get out of your face when I think I've put some sense into you. Damnit, Kensi, you could have gotten yourself killed."

She rolls her eyes, then focuses them somewhere beyond his left shoulder. "I figured my partner would have my back."

"Your partner?" He almost yells. "Your partner had no fucking clue you were here. Your partner was sleeping soundly in his nice cozy bed until he got your fucking cryptic text message. Your partner drove here with every worst case scenario flashing though his mind. It took every bit of strength your partner possesses not to barge in here and shoot that fool," he finishes motioning almost violently to the man on the floor.

She stares up at him silently, the look in her mismatched eyes nearly undoing him. It's no longer anger he sees there, or even denial, but guilt, and regret, and maybe a hint of fear.

"I'm sorry," she whispers as she breaks his gaze and glances down at her hands. "I know I should have called you guys, but…" She shrugs. "I got the tip and it was late." She glances back up at him. "I thought I could handle it."

They stare at each other in silence for what seems like hours until the man behind Deeks starts to stir with a groan.

"I guess we should take them in, huh?" She says meekly. And it's that totally un-Kensi-like meekness that has him doing what he does next.

His hand rises seemingly of its own accord and touches her cheek almost reverently. It drops just as quickly and he's moving away from her, securing his subject even as she bends to put cuffs on her own.

"Let's go," he says and leads the way out of the room.

So there you go. I'd say they're a bit out of character, but I really don't think they are. We've seen the serious, almost intense side of Deeks before, and I think that even Kensi is smart enough to give in and apologize when she knows she screwed up. More to come, so stay tuned. And don't forget to let me know what you thought! Like I said, I'm new to this particular fandom, and reviews can only help me to improve. Thanks for reading!