Disclaimer: I do not own anything associated with NCIS Los Angeles. I only own my original characters. Thank you to Bob Dylan for letting me use the title of one of his songs.
This story is a continuation of It's All Relative but if you haven't read it that's okay as this story is a stand alone.
A big THANK YOU to AuggieDeeksNico for your amazing editing skills and don't forget to read her story MMA.
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Times They Are A Changing.
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His heart stopped thinking about losing Sam as a partner but he knew Kensi would be crushed losing Deeks.
"If they can't work together, Mr. Hanna is an NCIS agent but Mr. Deeks is not, I would terminate the liaison position."
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Chapter 1 – Game Changers
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For a while Kensi thought she was being followed. She noticed the blue jeep in her rear view mirror about five minutes after she left the resort. Special Agent Maureen Atkinson was in the car behind her on the highway and the jeep was two behind Maureen. When they stopped at a service station, the jeep continued on. There were no markings on the jeep except a small bumper sticker on the side passenger window. It was kind of faded and all Kensi could make out was – Nobody owes you anything.
Maureen confirmed she had seen the Jeep too and promised to be careful. Back on the road Kensi noticed it again. It stayed further back this time and followed Maureen on the off ramp. Kensi called her on the car phone and warned her. Maureen promised to be careful and hung up.
The drive back to LA gave Kensi a chance to reflect on the past week. She started the weeklong team building retreat with unresolved anger. One of the big reasons for the anger was because Deeks wasn't there with her. She wasn't sure where Deeks sat with NCIS and Granger was reinforcing the fact. She fought hard with Hetty to let him come on this retreat. But Granger had said no, he wasn't an NCIS agent and Hetty couldn't or wouldn't go against Granger. Every time she looked at Granger, the anger got stronger. Then there was Sam, not back on active duty since being shot, but Hetty deemed him fine to come on this retreat. Maybe her anger wasn't just targeted to Granger and Hetty.
This was the first time since Deeks' trip to Jordan that they had been apart for more than three days. Even when Deeks and Sam were held by Sidorov, it had only been two days. It had been the longest two days of her life. Now, his job was in jeopardy and more in Sam's hands than his own. On top of that they had just bought a house with his cousin Dr. Sophie Cooper. Deeks and Sophie had spent the week painting, pulling up carpet and minor repairs. They were waiting for her to help pick out furniture and finish unpacking. Deeks told her before she left that she wasn't getting out of all the fun. Since he and Sophie had done most of the dirty type work, she was definitely going to pull her weight before she went back to work.
The only upside of the week was meeting fellow NCIS agent Maureen Atkinson. Kensi found a kindred spirit in Maureen. Around the same age and similar backgrounds, Maureen was married with a couple kids and her husband was also in law enforcement. Kensi thought that if Jack had stuck around and they had got married, their kids would be about the same age. But Jack hadn't stayed and she was rebuilding her life with Deeks and kids were definitely somewhere in the future. Maureen had everything that Kensi wanted.
Having a bit of an uneasy feeling, Kensi tried to call Maureen when she pulled up in front of her new home. The call went straight to voice mail. She remembered that Maureen was having dinner with her husband and children and didn't worry about it. She sat in the SUV for a few minutes and looked at the house. It was perfect for them, two stories with an apartment in the basement and a converted coach house in the back for extra income, only a few blocks from the beach, a good size fenced in yard at the back for Monty, an easy commute for everyone to work and still within the two mile radius of the place that Deeks had grown up in. Hetty heard they were looking for a place and suggested this place. Sophie was taking the coach house and eventually they might rent out the basement. But for the moment they could handle the mortgage payments on their own. According to Hetty, it was a NCIS safe house back in the 80's but was compromised and became a rental. Whatever it was in the past, it was her and Deeks' future.
She got out of the SUV and walked up the sidewalk from the street. Deeks' car was in the driveway but she didn't see Sophie's truck. She got to the door and realized she had to ring the doorbell as she didn't have a key yet. After she rang the bell, she could hear Monty's nails clicking of the floor. They decided to replace the carpet with bamboo flooring. She heard Monty bark a couple times then stop and then Deeks' voice.
"Knock, Knock"
What? Okay, she'll play along. "Who's there?"
"Wood"
She could hear him unlocking the locks. "Wood, who?"
"Wood you like me to let you in now?" Deeks opened the door and leaned on the door frame looking sexy as hell. He was barefoot with thumbs in the front loops of the old pair of jeans that were slung low on his hips, a thread-bare blue t-shirt hugged his muscular upper body ,hair messy , beard a little more scruffy than usual and a wide smile on his face.
"Well aren't you a sight for sore eyes." Kensi steps inside the house and crouches down to pet an excited Monty. After a few kiss from him, she stood up again. Before she had a chance to look around, Deeks closed the door and took a few steps towards her. Suddenly her back was against the door and his soft lips were on hers. He smelled like a weird combination of the ocean, paint thinner and saw dust. His hands were on her hips until one started to move up under her shirt and towards the front clasp of her bra. Before she knew what was happening, he had her bra undone and was cupping one of her breast.
"Hey, what are you doing?" Her pulse began to speed up and she tried to move away but she was actually enjoying it.
"Coppin' a feel. I haven't seen you in a week." Deeks whispered against her lips.
Kensi continued to kiss him but her hands started wandering too. She placed her hands on his hips and in one quick movement, flipped him around so now his back was against the door. She grabbed his waistband and pulled him closer to her and slid her hand down the front of his pants and gripped him.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa." He tried to side step her. "What are you doing?"
"Coppin' a feel. I haven't seen you in a week." She laughs as she moves with him.
"Yeah, well you keep that up and this will be over pretty quickly." He whimpered under her skillful hand.
"Really?" She stepped forward pinning him against the door, chuckling just a little.
"Oh, yeah" He arched his lower body towards her but his head was still against the door.
"Where's Sophie and when is she back?" Her mouth was on his skin, at the tender spot where his neck met his shoulder. She gave him a love bite on the neck and then licked the spot and he moaned with pleasure.
"Um, sorry having a hard time thinking." He lowered his head panting against her forehead.
"Something is definitely hard here." She smiled as he thrust his body towards her again.
"Kensi, please." He pleaded.
"Think Marty." Oh, she wasn't going to make this easy on him and squeezed him a little harder.
"Sophie, Mexico, Monday." The things she was doing to him. God, he couldn't even put a sentence together.
She gave him one final squeeze, released him and brought her hand up out of his pants and took his hand in hers and guided him away from the door. "Good cause I want to christen every room in the house."
And so they did.
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Deeks leaned his head against the side of the hot tub, beer in one hand. He took a long slow drink and sighed. He glanced over at Kensi who was looking just as relaxed as he was.
"That was a big sigh." Kensi opens one eye. "What's up?"
"Just thinking."
"Hmm, that's what I smelled."
"No, that was Monty." Hearing his name Monty popped his head up. He was lying on the deck between them, head on his paws and the ever present tennis ball beside him.
"Ha, won't work this time. What's going on in there?" She reaches over and kisses him on the forehead. She had a feeling although he looked relaxed this conversation was turning serious.
"When you were away on the retreat last week, Hetty came to visit me." He set the beer down on the deck that surrounded the hot tub.
Kensi sat up a little straighter and put her beer down too.
"I know we've talked about this before but she came with the papers for me to become an agent." He ran his fingers through his drying hair. He was pretty sure she would agree with his decision but sometimes she would throw him a curveball.
"What did you tell her?" Kensi moved closer to him. This was a major bone of contention between them. She wanted him to become an agent but he always side stepped it.
"We sat and talked for a long time. With everything that has happened in the past months and Granger being a hard ass, Hetty thought it was now or never. So I signed the papers and resigned from LAPD." The final sentence came out in a bit of a rush.
"Marty that's wonderful! I know this is the right thing to do." Kensi exclaimed. She wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him a kiss on the cheek. She sat back again but still stayed closer than she was before.
"You're not mad at me for resigning without talking to you first?" He was relieved and pleased with himself for making her happy.
"This actually isn't a new topic for us, we've argued about it for years." She gave his side just under his armpit a pinch.
He let out a little gasp but chuckled at her action. "I know we have but it just didn't seem right until now. Anyways, I did it and it can't be undone."
He gave her a big toothy smile and hoped to the hell she was with him in this.
"You did it alright. Now what happens?" She picked up her beer again and took a drink.
"Since I've work with NCIS for years now, Hetty was able to get me into the next training session in Georgia. I won't have to go through the usual six to nine month hiring process.
"When do you leave?" She had missed him so much in the last week.
"In two weeks and the training is 56 days." He closed his eyes waiting for her response.
"Eight weeks!" Her voice raised a few octaves. How was she going to survive without him for that long?
"It sounds shorter when you say 56 days. I know that's a long time and I'm going to miss you."
"I'm going to miss you too. Can I come down on the weekends?' Her mind was already reeling making plans and travel arrangements.
"We'll have to check with Hetty, but I don't think so." He sounded disappointed.
"Have you told anyone else?" She moved even closer.
"Nope, you're the first. The time will fly by when I'm gone and just think of the homecoming we'll have." Wiggles eyebrows
Kensi moved to straddle him and gave him a long smoldering kiss. "We sure will."
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It was strange driving to the Mission alone on Monday morning. She and Deeks came in on Sunday afternoon and cleaned out his desk and locker. There were no guarantees he would be assigned to this team after he finished his training. Hetty was using her considerable influence to make it happen.
Callen was already at his desk when she arrived. He was reading the paper and looked up as she approached "I hear congratulations are in order."
"Thank you. I love the new house." She wasn't sure how much he knew.
"Well, that too. I mean about Deeks, took him long enough."
She tried not to look at Sam's empty desk but failed. "Guess the timing was finally right."
"Sam's on desk duty starting today." Callen folded the paper, stood up, walked over to the coffee table, placed the paper down. Turning back to Kensi, he knew this was hard for her. Kensi and Sam had never been close on a personal level. It wasn't until recently that Sam had let her and Deeks in on his family situation. Callen wasn't sure if it hadn't been for the bombs and Sidirov, if he would have then. However, when they were down a team member after they lost Dom, Sam and Kensi had worked well together. But her loyalty and love was with Deeks now.
"Does Sam know?" He started to the coffee station with the coffee cup he picked up from his desk.
"No, I didn't know until Saturday and we don't exactly do couple things together." Kensi just couldn't see that happening.
They both turned to see Sam enter the bullpen.
"Good morning, Callen, Kensi." He laid his laptop bag on his desk and also started to the coffee station.
Kensi returned to her desk and opened her laptop. She looked up to see Sam and Callen returning to their desks coffee in hand. She watched as Sam opened his laptop and started his morning routine. He made no eye contact with her and didn't even glance or comment at the empty desk beside him.
Her attention was momentarily distracted as Nell entered the bullpen area. Dressed in one of her more colorful dresses, she looked ready to start the day with her every present tablet in her hand. She leaned against the pillar beside Kensi's desk and with a huge smile on her face asked.
"So Kens, when is the house warming party?"
Sam's head popped up from behind his laptop. "House warming for what?"
Nell nervously glanced at Kensi. She hadn't realized that Sam didn't how."
"It's okay Nell, we haven't told many people." She gives her friend a sympathetic look. "We're thinking next weekend. There are some small jobs we want to finish up first."
"You and Deeks bought a house?" Sam's looks around and checks his watch. Clearly disgusted, "How can he be late with you two living together?"
He shakes his head and looks at Callen for support. Clearly not getting any, he looks around the room. Realizing his mistake but not willing to apologize, he returns to his laptop.
Kensi places both hands on her desk slowly stands up, anger clearly in her movement and expression. Nell sensing danger and not wanting to be in the middle, quickly turned towards the stairs and made a hasty retreat.
However, before the situation could escalate, Hetty enters the bullpen. Sensing the tension, "Good morning." She looks each agent in the eye.
Callen and Sam return her greeting and Kensi slowly sits back down before replying.
"Ms. Blye, is Mr. Deeks enjoying his vacation?"
"Deeks is on vacation?" Sam leans back in his chair and looks at the desk beside him.
"Yes, Mr. Hanna. He was owed a couple weeks and some lieu days from LAPD, so when he resigned..."
"What? He resigned from LAPD?" Clearly confused he looked to Hetty for answers.
"Yes. He resigned last week when you were at the retreat."
"Oh, so that's why he wasn't at the retreat." He nodded like he had it all figured out.
"No, Mr. Hanna, that's not the reason Mr. Deeks wasn't there. That was an NCIS retreat, Mr. Deeks is not an agent." Hetty refrained from adding yet to the end.
Sam notices the desk next to him is empty of Deeks personal belongings. He gives Callen a surprised look.
"Mr. Deeks also signed the papers last week to start his training with NCIS in Georgia in two weeks."
Before anyone could reply, they heard a whistle from the top of the stairs. They all turned to see Eric. "We got a new one."
The three agents stood and followed Hetty up the stairs.
Sam reached for Kensi's arm and stopped her on the landing. "Kensi, look I'm sorry."
She shook his arm off, "You always think the worst of him."
Not giving him a chance to reply, she races up the stairs past Hetty and Callen and enters OPS.