This is my first attempt at fanfiction. I would definitely like to hear your thoughts on the first chapter and know if you would like me to continue or not. Thanks, Kenzie

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters...

Kensi awoke early in the morning and bolted out of bed upon hearing a noise, she did a quick run of the house with a baseball bat in her hand and upon finding nothing had taken a seat on her couch. There was no point in going back to bed when she had to be up in less than an hour. She secretly hated how whenever she heard a bump in the night she had to get up to investigate. Most people would be able to attribute the noise to a back firing car or to the wind slamming a screen door. But not Kensi, she had to be on high alert all of the time. She knew firsthand the dangers that could entail if she were to put her guard down for a second. Guns, bombs, kidnappings, and murder were a real danger for her and she had to take every precaution that she could in order to keep herself safe. She was completely aware that most people considered women to be damsels in distress, but she was anything but that. She sometimes wondered if this was the reason she had been single for so long. Historically, women liked a guy who had ambition and good financial prospects. In Kensi's opinion this just meant that women liked or even needed to be taken care of and didn't mind being completely dependent on another person. Kensi didn't need that, in fact, she was quite confident that she could take care of herself. Maybe being so radical and out of the social norm was keeping her on the market. Not that she minded at all, being strong and independent never killed anyone before. She had once confided to her team that she was the perfect first date girl but never should go on a second date. Kensi would go into the first date open minded and hoping that some kind of sparks may turn into something more, but they always turned out to be duds in her opinion. The guy would refuse to let her pay her part of the meal, no matter how much she would argue. Then as if that wasn't enough he would insist on walking her to her car. And just like that they had exhibited signs that they felt she needed to be taken care of and looked over. This by itself was enough to cause her to push him away. She could never allow herself to date someone who felt that they were her protector and provider. Sometimes she would wonder to herself if they knew that she should be the one protecting them.

Her phone rang and she picked it up off the coffee table, "Hello."

"Hey. I was wanting to get a quick work out in before work. You in?"Deeks voice sounded over the phone.

"Ummm. I don't think so I'll just workout after work. I'm not even remotely close to being ready to walk out of the house yet." She laughed.

"Oh really? Late night date last night?" He asked and Kensi thought she sensed a hint of jealousy in his voice.

"I guess you could say that." She answered and without giving him the chance to ask her to elaborate she hung up the phone. There was no point in explaining that she had gone on a date and that it had ended well before eleven o'clock. In fact, Kensi could not give a good reason for why it had ended so early. The guy seemed to completely be willing to accept a woman who wanted to take care of herself. He even allowed her to pay for her own meal and told her that he liked how she was so independent and that he thought their personalities would suite them very well in a relationship. Upon officially leaving that night he had even bid her farwell at the door and allowed herself to walk herself to her car. They had intended on meeting up for a movie at his house but halfway there she chickened out. It was then she realized that maybe it wasn't her being radical that pushed all of the guys away, and that it was more likely a result of her commitment issues. After this realization she had called him and when he had not answered left him a voicemail explaining something urgent had come up and that she would have to call him later. She knew she would have to make up a lie to feed Deeks or he would taunt her regularly. She finally got up and slowly got ready for work. She silently wished that upon arriving Hetty would have the team a case, that way there would be no time for idle chit chat and her deception about the night before would be unnecessary.

When she walked into the building she noticed Callen, Deeks, and Sam were standing in a cluster talking to Eric and Nell. She smiled, maybe her wish had come true after all. As she approached her teammates she could hear Callen say something about rushed and insignificant. Upon her arrival to the group she finally spoke, "We got a case?"

Deeks shifted uncomfortably and Sam looked her in the eyes. Callen is the one who spoke, "I guess you could say that."

Kensi was bewildered, "What's up?" She instinctively knew that something was not right and she wanted to know what it was.

"Kensi, who did you go out to eat last night?" Callen asked.

"I don't see why that would be any of your business." Kensi answered hotly. She couldn't believe that Deeks had come back and spread rumors before she had even told him anything. "If that is the case you are talking about then you should just forget it. My personal life is not an investigation and as far as that goes…" she was interrupted mid rant by Sam.

"Kensi, it has nothing to do with us trying to get into your personal life. But it does have everything to do with this." Sam motioned to Eric who touched a screen and pulled up a video before pressing play.

Kensi watched the video now more confused than ever. It was a video of the restaurant that she had been to the night before she seen her and her date go in. Eric fast forwarded it to when they exited. And slowed it back down, Kensi watched as they said their farewells and as she made her way to her car. She watched as she pulled out of the parking lot and left. She looked at the team still confused.

Callen was the one who elaborated, "We got a case. Body was found last night in a car, he had been shot. We seen the receipt from this restaurant and pulled up the security camera to see if he had been getting tailed and that is when we saw you two together."

Callen had been studying her face and was not surprised to see her hesitate before she spoke, "His name was Captain Mark James. I met him at the coffee house two weeks ago and we had spoken on the phone a couple of times. He called me last night and told me he wanted to tell me something in person and asked if I could meet him at dinner. I told him I'd go and when I got there I asked him what it was he wanted to tell me and he said he didn't feel comfortable telling me in such a public place. He said if I felt comfortable with it he would prefer us to go somewhere more private so we could discuss it. I told him I didn't have a problem with it and I even asked him if he could tell me what it was about. He told me it wasn't a huge deal. Once he had said that I pressured him until he spilled. At the time he said that he just wanted to ask me if I would accompany him to Hawaii on a business trip because I had told him I'd been there. He said I would be able to show him around and keep him from getting lost…but now I am not so sure that is what he wanted to tell me."

Deeks had not taken his eyes off of Kensi and when she stopped talking spoke seriously, "Kensi Captain Mark James died ten years ago in an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan."

Kensi's heart pounded as the words sunk in, "What do you mean he's dead? I was just with him last night."

"No you weren't Kensi. This is Captain Mark James." Callen responded as Eric pulled up a picture of the real Captain.