C 130, OVER THE PACIFIC OCEAN

Kensi is furious. Granger won't tell her anything other than to not contact anyone, not even Hetty. She's been on this C 130 for close to 13 hours. The C 130 is built for transport and cargo, definitely not comfort. She feels every bump, drop, and dip. She's been told to get some sleep, but it's pretty hard to get sleep when one doesn't know where she is going, what she'll be doing, or when she'll be returning to LA. She closes her eyes trying one more time to get some sleep.

"Ms. Blye?" Granger leans over and touches Kensi's shoulder. "Agent Blye?"

Kensi jumps at his touch. Looking up at Granger she realizes that she must have actually dozed off.

"Yes?"

"We're just about an hour out and I wanted to brief you a bit before we land." Granger says as he sits down beside Kensi.

"Finally." Kensi says in a clipped voice unable to hide her impatience. "I don't appreciate being left in the dark."

Unperturbed Granger says, "It wasn't necessary to brief you so soon, not as soon as we got on the plane. What would be the point?"

"Well, Assistant Director," Kensi states annoyingly, "I like to be thoroughly informed before I go out into the field, especially if that field is in another country."

"Agreed, but I still won't be briefing you fully here on the plane. I'll give you the rest of the info at the safe house."

Anger in her voice Kensi raises it just a bit, and furrowing her eyebrows replies, "Is this how this is going to be? Are you going to feed me bits and pieces of info when you feel like it? This isn't how I operate. I'm already uncomfortable away from my team, my partner."

Unfazed by Kensi's growing temper Granger says, "Relax, Agent Blye, you'll be assigned a new team once we get to the safe house."

"Relax?" Kensi says as she begins to get up out of her seat.

Granger stops her, grasping her forearm firmly, and slowly pulling her back down. Kensi stares at him. He releases her arm. "Yes, Ms. Blye, relax. You'll know everything when you need to know."

Kensi, resigned to her current fate, takes a deep sigh and nods her head, "Why me and why this operation?"

"Let's just say you possess a particular skill set that is crucial to the success of this mission."

"And what is that?"

"All in good time Agent Blye." Granger pauses briefly. "We'll be landing in Afghanistan shortly. Immediately upon arriving we'll drive to the safe house where you'll meet your new team and get acquainted. All of you will be fully briefed tomorrow morning." Granger gets up to leave.

"Assistant Granger?"

Granger stops and turns to face Kensi. "You may not contact anyone Agent Blye. This is a very delicate mission and we cannot risk any unnecessary communication. Your team, stateside, will be briefed by Hetty if and when she deems it essential. With any luck you'll be back with your team back in LA in a few months. Now try to get some shut eye."

Kensi nods again, leans her head against the back of her seat, closes her eyes, and tries to look as though she is going to take a cat nap. Calm and cool, that's how she wants to come across to Granger, however, inside she is absolutely freaking out. Granger, satisfied, turns and walks towards the cockpit.

SAFE HOUSE, MORNING

Kensi is the first one up the next morning. She quickly dresses and goes out into the kitchen to make some coffee for herself and the other members of her new team.

"New team", she says aloud with a short chuckle. They had gotten to sleep late last night, spending the evening talking and trying to form bonds and build trust. "Trust, really?" Kensi asks herself. She stops looking in the kitchen cupboards for the coffee maker and instead looks through the lace curtain and out the large kitchen window at the still sleeping neighborhood. She thinks back to when she first met Deeks. "Deeks . . ." she says with a smile. How long had it taken them to build trust? Days? Weeks? Months? Months. Definitely months. And now she was expected to trust this new team in a matter of days. "Right."

She finally finds the coffee maker and makes the Afghanistan version of American coffee. It isn't StarBucks, Trader Joes, or Dunkin Donuts, but it is caffeine, and right now that is what she needs. She sits down at the kitchen table and looks out the same window from earlier. The neighborhood is beginning to wake up, cars passing, individuals coming and going. She takes a sip of her coffee and whispers, "Life goes on . . ."

"Good morning." says a cheery voice as it rounds the corner.

"Morning, Matt."

"I smell coffee."

Kensi points in the direction of the coffee maker.

Matt makes a B line to the mugs resting in the dish drainer by the sink and helps himself to one and pours a heaping, steaming cup of coffee, black no sugar. He blows over the top of the coffee several times and takes a large gulp. "God, that's awful." He sits down across from Kensi and says, "How did you sleep? Because my bed totally suu-"

Kensi stops him, "Shhhhhhh . . ."

"Not a morning person?"

Kensi looks at him and puts her finger over her lips in the universal sign for quiet.

Matt grins and whispers, "I get it." He gets up and goes into the living room.

Kensi follows him with her eyes until he's out of sight. He might as well know now, first day in, that she's not a morning person.

A few minutes later she hears Matt whisper to the second member of the team, Zach, "She's not a morning person." Kensi grins.

"That's okay," Zach whispers back, "I'm not either." He comes walking around the corner of the kitchen from the living room scratching his head and smoothing down his unruly dark curls. He pours himself a cup of coffee, quickly exits the kitchen, and plops himself next to Matt on the couch in the living room.

The house is peaceful, the only sounds coming from the coffee maker and the kitchen sink's drippy faucet. Occasionally, a car goes by. Each team member lost in their own thoughts.

Suddenly, the quiet in the house is disrupted by the sound of someone outside the exterior door, first trying to open the door and finding it locked, then using a key to get into the house. Kensi, Matt, and Zach each go into high alert and reach for their hand guns, which not surprisingly, are nearby. They silently creep up near the door and with unorthodox hand signals they decide who will open the door, where the others will position themselves to cover their teammate, and who will help with taking down the unknown assailant. Matt, standing in front of the door with his weapon drawn and pointed towards it signals to Kensi with his other hand; one finger, two fingers, three fingers. Kensi reaches for the door handle and opens it quickly, Zach who's on the other side of the door frame reaches out and grabs the assailant, throwing him to the floor and holding him down. Matt moves in closer to stand over the fallen man with his gun near the man's head.

The man finally speaks. "Well, it's good to see that you guys are working together so soon after meeting."

Zach rolls the guy over.

"Granger." Kensi says with a hugh sigh of relief, "What the hell."