Learning to Walk Again

Chapter 19

The day at the forest turned out to be better they could have hoped. They no longer needed to run or hide or look over their shoulders and worry that the man standing in line behind them, buying his morning coffee, was there to kill them. A tremendous weight had been lifted and they could now enjoy life as it was meant to be enjoyed.

When Hetty gave them the news in the middle of park, Kensi fell to her knees and cried. Poor Havoc didn't know what to do. He walked around in circles whimpering and looking up at Deeks and then back down at Kensi.

Deeks slowly helped Kensi to her feet and then onto a bench and just held her. She had been carrying all this pain and anguish, for so long, that the sudden release was a little more than she could contain.

Hetty soon gave the couple all the details regarding the operation. She made sure to emphasize that Callen and Sam are recovering and would soon be fine. One day Kensi and Deeks would properly thank them for everything they did, but for now Angela and Adam would live on and wait to see their old friends another time.

What was starting to sink in was the consequence of their faked death. Officially Kensi and Deeks are deceased and they have been for many months. This was not something that can be undone quickly and cleanly. All their possessions were gone. The houses sold and their friends and family had all mourned their loss.

As well as their death had served them and the operation, it now created other problems to overcome. This would take time to sort out and everyone knew it.

Whatever it took Hetty to orchestrate their fake death, disappearance and re-location, it surely would take twice as much effort to being them back to life.

They had decided to leave everything status quo for now and take the appropriate time to plan the new life they had been gifted. Hetty was also going to look into the possibility of adoption and what that would entail. Deeks was happy at the school, as was Kensi at the store. Of course they had to maintain their aliases for now and they had requested that Hetty not tell anyone else other than Nell, who already knew.

XXX

It was several weeks later when working in the back room of the store, Kensi heard a noise coming from the alleyway, just outside the back door. Stepping out into the laneway, she noticed someone riffling through the garbage bins and throwing trash on the ground as they searched the containers.

"Excuse me. I hope you're going to put all that trash back into the bins when you find what you're looking for."
The person stopped, straightened up, turned around and glared at Kensi. This person was a teenage girl, about sixteen years old and dressed in worn, dirty cloths that were way too big for her. Kensi saw someone very familiar looking back at her with dishevelled hair and a dirty face, but with two glowing brown eyes.

With a sneer the girl fired back "Mind your own fuckin' business and leave me alone."

By now Havoc had stepped outside as well to see what was going on. He stopped next to Kensi and looked at this girl with his sad eyes. He knew she was no threat to Kensi so he just looked on.

"Oh, so now you're going to send your dog after me if I don't leave?"

"I never asked you to leave. I asked you if you were going to clean this up once you were finished and no my dog will not chase you away either."

The girl was taken aback by this lady's response. The girl was confused and stood there just looking at this well dressed lady and her dog, not knowing what to make of her statement. In all of her days living on the streets she was always met with hate and contempt. People would throw things at her, or run her off with bats or sticks. Other people would be afraid of her and call the police, but this lady was different. She wasn't chasing her; she wasn't afraid of her and she wasn't upset at her digging through the trash, only the mess being made.

"I'm not sure what you are looking for but I can't have this mess in the laneway. Please put it all back before you leave."

"What if I don't? What are you and Rin Tin Tin goin' to do about it?" the disdain in the girl's voice was heavy and directed at the only other figure in the alleyway.

"Well I guess we'll have to clean it up, won't we?"

The girl gave Kensi another sneer followed by the finger and then took off out into the street leaving a serious mess behind. Shaking her head, Kensi started to clean up the laneway as Havoc walked to the street looking for the girl.

"Yeah, I know. She was just hungry and a little angry at the world. Nothing we can do for her unless she lets us. I'm sure she'll be back Havoc, so don't worry about her." The dog sat and continued to watch the street.

Over the next week, this girl showed up again several times, making sure that she made enough noise to alert Kensi of her presence in the laneway. The first time Kensi ignored the noise and waited until she became tired and left. The second time Kensi and Havoc stepped back out into the alley to see her. "How long are you going to keep doing this?"

Again with a sneer, the girl responded "As…long….as…. I…fuckin'….want."

A small smile appeared on Kensi' face and then disappeared just as fast.

"Okay, but if you're looking for food, I have plenty inside the store. Just come in, out of the alleyway and you can have as much as you want. At least it would save me from cleaning the laneway again."
"I don't want your hand out. I'm not a beggar. Screw you lady and your stupid dog."

Turning quickly, the girl took off down the street.

"Well Havoc, that went better than I thought. I think we're making progress." Kensi said with a sarcastic grin.

Later that night she recounted the story to Deeks and wanted his opinion on the girl and the situation they were in.

"Well, I think she likes you in her own strange way. Why else keep coming back? The food in the dumpster can't be that good. Wait, or is it?

What have you been throwing out?"

"Deeks… Adam. Wow, who ever. I don't put food out for her like I'm feeding an animal. I would never do that. I would like her to trust me and come in the store and eat something good."

Kensi stopped to think for a moment. "I see something in her and so did Havoc. He likes her and he's a pretty good judge of character."
"Well, I know you can relate to her, so do what you think will work. It could take some time to get her to trust you, but it sounds like she is worth it." Deeks knew exactly what was happening and he was going to be as supportive as possible.

XXX

By the end of the third week, the cleaning up after the girl was gone had become minimal for Kensi. Something was changing, their relationship was changing. It was a Friday night around six when Kensi hear a load commotion coming from the laneway. Stepping out to see what was going on Kensi found the girl on the ground with a bleeding nose and three older boys, more like young men, a few feet away, yelling at her.

Havoc immediately ran over to the girl, placed himself between her and the boys. He then started to growl and show his teeth as he stared down the three aggressors. "Fica!" was all Kensi said as she looked at the girl to see how bad she was hurt.

"Get the fuck back in your store bitch and take that animal with you! This is none of your business." Said the biggest of the three boys.

"Well, I'm getting a little tired of people telling to mind my own business when I'm standing right in my own alley.

So I think you three need to get moving and leave her alone."

The three boys were standing in the middle of the lane, with the tallest one in front and the other two on each side of him, effectively blocking the path to the street.

"Really. So you think we need to go. Or else what? You think that mutt is going to protect you and her? You're just another rich bitch that needs to be put in her place."

Kensi could see the glint of the blade coming from his hand and that changed everything.

Her eyes narrowed; her hands slowly clinched; her nostrils flared slightly taking in more air and her jaw locked with tension. These poor boys picked the wrong alley and the wrong lady to mess with. They were about to find out just how bad things were going to get for them and it was going to be quick and painful.

With a slow and calm voice, Kensi spoke, maintaining eye contact with the leader.

"Well no, he's not here to protect me. He's here for you.

He's giving you a warning to back away now before it gets worse, but he only gives one warning and then you're on your own."
"What the fuck bitch. You lost your mind? Worse! For who?

You think I care about that stupid dog?

First I'm going to carve him up and then me and my boys, well… we goin' to have us a little cougar meat for dinner, followed by this little thing for dessert." He let out a small laugh as he said it, looking behind him at the other two who were smiling and nodding their heads. That was his first mistake.

Kensi stepped forward and said "Alright, if you don't want to listen to my dog then he's just going to watch. Senta." Havoc slowly sat without taking his eyes off the leader as he emitted a low growl while still showing his teeth. The girl, who was still on the ground, looked on in horror. For the first time in a long time, she was genuinely afraid, but not for herself.

All the attention had now shifted from the girl on the ground to the lady near the door.

"You kidding me bitch. You think we won't cut you up?

Alright, it's your funeral. Let's do this."

With that statement the leader lunged at her with the knife; that was his second mistake. Anticipating this move, Kensi stepped to the side, grabbed his wrist, twisted it and his arm behind his back, hard and dislocating his shoulder. The pop that it made was followed by a scream. The girl recoiled and watched the knife drop to the ground and landed in front of Havoc who was now standing over it. Once the boy was on his knee in excruciating pain, Kensi came up hard with her knee catching his nose and breaking it, sending a spray of blood across the ground and knocking him out. The second of the three tried to punch her in the face but that missed as well as Kensi pulled back, turned and drove her elbow into the side of his face, knocking him to the ground. Before the third one could decide what to do, Kensi had already kicked him hard in the crotch and he went down in a heap of pain. The second guy was now starting to get to his feet when he encountered Kensi' right foot to the side of his head from her spinning kick. He went down for a second time and he stayed down.

The girl was still frozen in her spot watching this lady take on three men without breaking a sweat. She couldn't believe what had just happened.

When she finally realized that the boys were not going to get up, she scrambled to her feet, wiped the blood and tears from her face and took off down the street as fast as she could. Kensi watched as the girl disappeared around the corner and then looked back at Havoc who was still had not moved from his spot.

"Good job boy. Vem. We need to call the police because I'm definitely not going to clean-up this mess."

After placing that call, Kensi called Deeks to tell him what had happened and to let him know that they were alright.

The girl, well they would just have to wait and see about her.

XXX

A couple of days later there was a knock at the back door of the book store. Standing there was the girl looking a lot less defiant and sporting the cuts and bruises from the encounter with the boys.

"Hey, are you okay? I wasn't sure if they hurt you."
"Yeah, I'm good. Uh…I just wanted to…you know…"

Havoc was now next to Kensi and sticking his nose out to see the girl. When she saw the dog, her eyes lit up. Kensi picked up on this and decided to take a chance "Why don't you come in and sit down for a minute."

The girl hesitated, nervous, not really sure if she should take such a big step, but when Havoc moved closer and pushed his head into the girl's hand, forcing her to pet him, she seemed to calm down just enough to take down a section of her wall and trust someone for once.

"What's his name?"

"This is Havoc and I'm K.. Angela. Come in." The girl didn't offer her name but she did push through into the building. Angela followed her to the sitting area "Sit down if you want. Are you hungry? I have some bagels, fruit, cheese…"

"Yeah, that's good." She was scratching the dog behind the ears and smiling as he leaned into her hand. "Havoc huh. Thanks boy. You're really brave, kinda like your master." Angela was walking toward the small kitchenette but she could still hear what the girl was saying to the dog. Smiling to herself, she put together a plate of food and brought it out. The girl attacked the food with gusto, ploughing through it in big bites, but not forgetting to share with her new found friend, who just happened to love cheese.

Angela was leaning against the door frame looking at the scene before her. She knew at that moment that she was going to do everything she could to help this girl get off the streets.

"Emma."

"Sorry, what was that?"

"My name is Emma." She said a little louder. "Do you own all these books?"

"Yes, these books are all part of the store and I own the store. If you want to look around, please feel free."

Emma stopped chewing and looked right at Angela "You're pretty cool for an older lady, I don't mean your old…just that …well older than me."
Emma was a little nervous, this was uncharted water for her. Most adults didn't want to have anything to do with her, let alone come to her rescue or feed her.

"I think I know what you mean.

Emma, you are welcome here any time you want and for as long as you want. Without restrictions. You know you can use the front door as well."

The girl half smiled as she chewed another piece of bagel and looked around the store thinking. Maybe this lady wasn't so bad, maybe she actually was a good person.

"Okay, maybe I can hang out here, when I'm not busy…you know, when I have time…maybe even work for you, you know for a few bucks… for helping out."

Kensi smiled, a heart felt smile, something she hadn't done in some time.

"Sure, not a problem. I know Havoc would love the company."

Nodding her head as she chewed on the food, Emma looked relieved and happy. She had made two new friends today something that hadn't happened since her mother passed away.

After several minutes of silence, Emma looked up at Kensi and just stared at her for a few seconds. A thought had run threw her mind and she needed an answer.

"Are you a cop?" Kensi looked at her with wide eyes and a smile on her face.

"Do I look like a cop?" How else was she going to answer that question? This girl sure wasn't stupid so Kensi needed to tread carefully here.

Emma just kept staring at her not really satisfied with the answer.

"No I'm not a cop. I learned to fight a long time ago to protect myself from guys that got a little to friendly. I think you know it's not a nice place out there and if you are going to survive, you are going to need a few skills."
As soon as those words came out of her mouth, Kensi immediately knew she was in trouble.

Emma smiled, a small one be it, but still a smile and tilted her head to one side, still looking at her knew friend. With a low voice, Emma asked "So can you teach me?"

"Now don't go getting any crazy ideas. It takes a lot of time, effort and commitment to learn to fight like I do." Emma still just stared at her and made a face that basically said "And?".

"No, no, no. This is not something to be taken lightly."
"I won't take it lightly. But you need to teach me."
Giving it a little more thought, this could work out better that Kensi had hoped for. It could be a win – win scenario.

"Okay, I will teach you how to defend yourself. Key word there is 'defend', not fight. So I need you understand that. Second, I will need to know more about you and if it's acceptable to your parents."

That hit a nerve. Emma's head dropped and she was staring at the table not sure what to say next. If she ran, like her instinct told her to, she would lose her new friends. If she stayed, then how much can she tell this lady before everything went sideways?

Kensi knew what the kid was thinking – stay or run? How was Emma going to handle this, was the million-dollar question in Kensi' mind?

"Emma, are you alright? Did I say something wrong?" Kensi had to push this and better to do it now then later.

"No. It's just that I'm late and I gotta go. I'll see you later, okay?"

"Sure, okay. I'm always here."

With that, Emma was quickly out the back door, down the alley and up the street without looking back.

Inside, the store became very quiet all of sudden. "We almost had her Havoc. Almost."

As Kensi rubbed the back of the dog's head, she quietly hoped that she hadn't scared the girl off.

XXX

That night during dinner, Kensi was recounting her day with Emma to Deeks.

"I hope she'll be back. I thought we made a connection."

Deeks felt her frustration.

"What would you have done?"

Kensi thought about it and he was right. She did the only thing that made sense to her. If Kensi wanted to help Emma, she needed to be very patient with the progress of the relationship. This wasn't a race that you sprinted to the finish. It was going to be a long, slow and probably painful marathon type of encounter, but one that was definitely worth the effort.

"Just tell me what you need me to do and it's done." Deeks had always supported Kensi, well almost always, so he wasn't about to bail now, not when a girl's life was hanging in the balance.

"I really want to stay here and now more than ever. We need to let things settle down before we go back to LA anyway."

"We stay as long as we need to stay."

As they walked through the park, hand and hand, with Havoc step in step with Kensi, they felt a little lighter. Well, they were actually lighter since they had left their weapons at home for the first time since they moved here. But there was one other thing that was different tonight from all the other nights, the people that they encountered were more inviting and open toward the couple with the dog. Word must have got out that the woman and the dog were not to be messed with, which left Deeks with a big smile on his face as he went along for the ride.

"Looks like word has got out and you're a celeb."

"Stop it! Let's not make this into more than it is." She said through clenched teeth.

Kensi was not comfortable being in any type of spot light so she needed to down play this, especially with Deeks. They continued their walk around the park and then the neighborhood not really talking about anything in particular, just enjoying another day together.

At the opposite end of the park, under a tree and in the shadows of the night, was a young girl watching, with interest, the movement of the threesome. As she looked on, a tear formed and slid down her cheek. As she wiped at it with a dirty sleeve, she turned and slowly walked in the opposite direction.

I know this took time to get out, so thank you for hanging around and waiting for it.