The Ballad Of Mona Lisa

Song Fic

I don't own NCIS:LA or Panic! At The Disco or The Ballad Of Mona Lisa...

Chapter 1

'She paints her fingers with a close precision

He starts to notice empty bottles of gin...'

Kensi, with her tongue between her teeth and concentrating fiercely, her feet curled up underneath her on the couch as she put the finishing touches on her long, red fingernails, smiling at the deep, wine red, shiny coat. She spared a glance up at the television which was showing an episode of The Glee Project. She loved reality TV and loved Glee - what could be a better combination?

Finally satisfied with her nails - they were pretty, yet not long and cumbersome enough to inhibit her efficiency with a gun, she sat back and watched the rest of her show, slowly sipping her beer and quietly singing along with the songs she knew with a smile on her face.

And she woke up to the buzzing of her cell phone.

Opening one bleary eye, and then the other, the television cast a blue, flickering light over her, a dull fuzz of noise reaching her ears. A few empty beer bottles sat on the coffee table next to a half eaten bowl of Cheetos and a bottle of red nail varnish.

She reached for her phone, finding it easily from the lit-up screen, and flipped it open. 'OPS. Briefing thirty minutes. Eric.' She groaned and rested back against the couch before swinging her feet to the ground.

Her phone buzzed again, signalling another incoming text. She flipped the phone open again and read the text. 'Want a lift? Deeks.' She smiled. Deeks knew that she'd have gone home and had a few drinks after the day that they'd had. He had probably a better way of dealing with things like that. Take the dog out for a long, long walk until he'd thought everything out so thoroughly that there was nothing to think about, exhaust them both and then conk out.

'Sure. Thx.' Kensi texted back.

He shot one back. '10 mins. C U.'

She smiled and got up off of the couch before stretching and pulling her messy, sleep mussed hair into a somewhat neat ponytail and shaking crumples out of the clean skinny jeans hanging over the arm of the couch and putting them on after pulling off her comfortable pyjama pants. She pulled on her high heeled boots which always made her feel kick-ass, even if they weren't terrifically functional. She wandered into her room and found a clean white button-up shirt and put it on over her red camisole, not bothering to button it up. She found her black leather jacket and slipped it on, sliding her gun into the holster concealed beneath the jacket. She stepped into the bathroom and brushed her teeth quickly before splashing cold water onto her face to wake herself up, only to reapply the day-old make-up she'd just washed off.

And then there was a tap on the door.

'Right on time,' Kensi muttered, checking her watch and opening the door after checking through the window. 'Hey.'

'Hey.' Deeks smiled at her, taking in her slap-dash, tangled pony, perfect wine-red nails, matching crimson lips and long, black, mascara covered lashes brushing her cheeks when she blinked. 'Ready?'

She grabbed her phone from the shelf beside her and slipped it into her pocket before stepping outside into the moonlight and locking the door behind her. 'Yeah.'

He got into the car and she followed, sliding into the passenger seat.

'What time is it?' Kensi asked.

Deeks blinked at her. 'How much did you have to drink?'

She rolled her eyes at him. 'Only a few bottles of beer.'

'How many is a few?'

'Three.'

Deeks just kept driving.

'Four.'

Deeks chuckled. 'See what I did there?'

'Oh, trust me, I did.' Kensi prayed that he wouldn't go there.

A paused, and then 'Hey, Kens, are you okay?' He went there.

She sighed. 'I'm good.'

'You purposely didn't say fine,' Deeks said with a growl. 'Seriously, Kensi-'

'Deeks. Will you for once in your life believe me that I'm fine? Really and truly?'

Deeks sighed.

'Hey, I don't go around asking you whether you're okay or not,' Kensi said defensively.

'I care about you.'

'I care about you. I don't go asking if you're fine all the time.'

'Maybe you should.'

'Maybe I shouldn't because I know that it's annoying.'

Deeks pulled up into the OSP and looked at her. 'I know it's annoying, but I do it because I care about you. You know that, right?'

Kensi sighed and let her fingers brush the back of his hand in a simple, sympathetic touch. 'I know. Thank you. But you shouldn't worry so much. Okay?'

He grabbed her hand and squeezed it before letting it go. 'I'm not gonna stop. And I know you're not fine.'

'Ugh.' Kensi rolled her eyes and got out of the car. 'Come on, Deeks.'

Deeks sighed. That was as far as he ever got.

He got out of the car and locked it before running to catch up with his partner. 'Do you know what this is about?'

Kensi shook her head. 'I doubt we'd get called in at... 4 a.m. in the morning for a simple murder. It must be something pretty big.'

They walked into the OSP and into the bullpen, which was empty. A half-drunk mug of coffee sat still steaming on Callen's desk. A duffel gym bag sat on Sam's desk.

'I guess everyone's upstairs,' Deeks said.

Kensi draped her jacket over her chair and began to make her way to the OSP Centre. 'I guess.' She began to trudge up the stairs.

Voices could be heard filtering out the door of the darkened room, and Kensi and Deeks walked in, side by side.

'Mr Deeks. Miss Blye. Glad you could make it.' Hetty's tone was tense and cold, something that wasn't heard often.

'What's up?' Kensi asked, taking her spot at the table in between Callen and Deeks. Sam looked as tired as any normal person would at four in the morning, but Callen looked as wide awake as if it were a more normal time.

'There's been a fire,' Eric said, pulling up some footage of a burning building.

'Where?' Deeks asked. He didn't understand why they had been called in at four in the morning for a simple fire.

'I'm sure that you're all familiar with Agent Sara Murphy?'

Kensi, Callen and Sam all nodded, but Deeks shook his head. 'No. Who is she?'

'An NCIS agent,' Eric said, pulling up a picture of a lean woman with black hair and a friendly smile. 'Her house caught fire at approximately 3:48 this morning. Remains have been found in the house.'

'Oh, God,' Kensi said, paling. 'Hers?'

'Her ID on the table, her gun in the safe, her car in the garage. It's pretty safe bet-'

'But we're not taking anything to chance,' Hetty interrupted Callen.

'I was about to say that,' Callen muttered.

'Because this is one of our own,' Hetty continued as if Callen hadn't spoken.

'And no-one kills a cop and gets away with it, right?' Deeks asked.

Hetty nodded. 'Exactly. It's horrible even if it's a normal human being, but there's definitely no getting away with it when this is a law enforcement professional and one of our own.'

Callen nodded. 'Okay, the fire's been put out by now, hasn't it?' he asked, turning to Hetty.

Hetty nodded. 'Yes, Mr Callen.'

'Okay, Kensi, Deeks, you head over to the scene, find out what you can,' Callen said.

Kensi nodded tersely and moved out of the room, Deeks on her heels.

'Eric, Nell, pull all the records off of Murphy's computer,' Callen continued. The two nodded and began clacking away at their keyboards, neither speaking but the resolution strong. Whoever did this was not going to get away due to bad work on their part.

'And what are you and Mr Hanna going to do, Mr Callen?' Hetty asked.

Callen sighed. 'What we do best, Hetty. Figure out what the hell happened here.'

Well, what do you think? Let me know through a review. And please tell me about any mistakes, word misuses or things you think ought to happen.

And definitely check out this song. 'The Ballad of Mona Lisa' by Panic! At The Disco. It's awesome.

PurpleHipposRock!