Hi guys :)

This is probably the final chapter, because after all this is about the teams-view of their relationship and I´ve pretty much got all of them. Once again thank you for the nice comments. That was inspired by my teacher telling me that I can´t have the right answer to the question if I wouldn´t ever listen to her. Anyway, I hope you like it and reviews would be great

xoxo

Hetty

Henrietta Lang, despite of what everyone thought of her, was not all-knowing. Not at all. Yes, she had certain knowledge at her age abut a lot of things. And yes, through her years of living and working in different countries and working for different agencies with different partners all the time, she had in fact learned a lot.

But it happened every so often, that something, or someone, surprised her. And the people, who surprised her the most, and made her question her knowledge all the time, were her agents.

While it appeared that she had done one back-ground check on every team-member and knew the rest from sheer wisdom, she in fact just … paid attention.

She picked up on the small things. Things, that others didn´t notice or didn´t seem to think that they were important. And when she got these informations, she built her suspicions, based on the clues people not-knowingly sent her. And over time, the suspicions were either confirmed or destroyed, by more clues.

She listened closely. She made sure to look into people´s eyes every time they spoke with her or with others. She paid attention to the body-language of others in different situations. But mostly, she picked up on stories.

Through a conversation, people often share little stories, which aren´t even the slightest bit meant to be the heart of a conversation. But those little stories tell so much. It doesn´t matter how guarded a person is, or how many walls he has built around him, the small things always managed to make their way out. People tell so much more about their life unconsciously than they to consciously.

Maybe that´s what made her so good at her job? People, especially teachers at school and parents, always tell you to listen. But only a few people really do. And she had to say that there have been so many situations in her life, where simply listening closely, had not only helped her, but even saved her life.

She had picked up on that during one of the most important missions in her life.

She was young, hadn´t done a lot of undercover-work. And she had been so proud, that she was chosen to do this job. She had to observe the target, really only that.

At that time she was still shy and she didn´t know whether to tell her commander that she thought that he had heard wrong. They hadn´t had the technology they had now; it was her word against his.

And she would have let it go, hadn´t she noticed that, while he was yelling at her, he also closed and opened his fist all the time. A nervous habit she had noticed he would always do, when he was unsure of what to do or rather if he was right or not.

In the end, she told him he was wrong and got kicked off the mission. She wasn´t wrong. The bomb detonated and more than a hundred people died.

That day, she swore to always listen closely, to observe people and even more, to have faith in her own decisions. And over time she got better. She listened more, she noticed more, she got to know more.

She wouldn´t have known about Callen´s desire to have someone to spend his life with, hadn´t she noticed the longing looks he gave Sam when he saw her with Michelle, or the look in his eyes when he saw a couple being simply happy.

She pieced it together when he once looked at a hugging couple, sighing quietly ´I want that´

She wouldn´t have known about Nell´s father being an alcoholic if she hadn´t noticed how during a night out she would never have more than one drink. But what gave her away even more was that whenever there was a case involving an alcoholic, she would be, despite her happy attitude, have a look of hatred for that person.

She pieced it together when her family visited her for Christmas and she had a fight with her father, after seeing him drinking eggnog.

She hadn´t known about Eric being troubled by a past relationship, until he once said to Deeks during a conversation about surfing ´Yeah I know what it feels like … you know … the waves. You forget about everything, you´re happy … she knew.´

She pieced it together when she saw that every year, on the same day, he requested a day off.

She wouldn´t have known about Sam, having lost a child once, hadn´t she noticed how he was so much more protective and passionate whenever a case involved children. But what gave him away the most was that one conversation he had with Callen about graves where he told him ´It´s a shame what people do with their loved one´s graves these days, his is beautiful´.

She pieced it together when she saw a flight ticket for Afghanistan, a day before the week he every year went on ´vacation´

She wouldn´t have known about Deeks´ and Kensi´s relationship, hadn´t she picked up on the small changes as well as the big ones.

She had to admit, they were covering it well. But she knew better.

The fear in their eyes, whenever the other was in danger. The silent support they gave each other through difficult situations. The longing looks that were given when they couldn´t be as close as they wanted to be. The teasing, that was ever present, but not in any way hurtful, rather loving. The defending that was more clearly. Kensi´s hand that kept wandering onto her stomach. The heightened protectiveness. Deeks hand that wandered every so often onto Kensi´s back.

The happiness that was shared just as much as the pain. And finally the love, that was told through silent words, looks and actions.

She had known from the beginning that there was something between the two of them, she saw the signs. But despite her habit of noticing things, she still had to admit she was surprised as she saw them ´really´ together, for the first time.

She still wished it would have under better circumstances.

While questioning a suspect with Sam, Deeks had been shot. And when Hetty told her, she pieced it all together because of Kensi´s reaction.

The first time Deeks was shot, Kensi had been shocked and sad but she didn´t let it show. This time she nearly broke down and didn´t care who heard her. She nearly fell while trying to hurry to get to the hospital. Now they were all in the waiting area, their suspect dead by one of Sam´s bullets.

Kensi was sitting, with one of her hands protectively on her abdomen, crying silent tears. Sam was holding her in a half hug while Nell held her other hand. Callen was pacing around while Eric was sitting next to Nell.

And while she was observing the group she knew, that while everyone was hurting, Kensi clearly hurt the most. They waited too long, Kensi didn´t speak. Not until someone finally told them that Deeks would be ok.

Kensi was the first to see him and none questioned it. She knew that she shouldn´t be observing a private moment, but she still did.

Kensi walked inside his hospital room and he sat up, the pain that action caused him clearly visible on his face. They didn´t speak.

Deeks shifted over to make her space while she was already sitting down. He cradled her tear-stained face in his hands and kissed the top of her head. He looked at her and she nodded, telling him she was ok. She laid one hand onto his cheek and he nodded, telling her, he was ok. He laid one of his hands onto her stomach and they both smiled, tear in their eyes, pain visible … but yet … they smiled. They didn´t talk, they just looked into each other´s eyes.

And she would lie if she said, that she didn´t have tears in her eyes. Because she saw two people, who knew just as well as she did, how to pick up on small things, how to ask and answer questions without words and how to understand things without actually saying anything.