Chapter 1 - Kensi

It was a normal Monday morning, same as any other, really. I woke up to the sound of my alarm clock announcing that it was six-fifteen in the morning and was set to be a gorgeous day in the mid to high eighties. Another gorgeous day in the City of Angels. Another normal day. Or so I thought.

You see, I didn't bet on getting married, today. I didn't really want to get married, nor did I mean to get married, it just kind of happened.

Yes, I know that marriage is something that you generally think a lot about; generally, for most women, on the day that they get married, they get up, get dressed in a pretty white dress and walk down the aisle.

But for me, it was different. I got out of bed, drank a cup of coffee, ate a stale doughnut, dressed in shorts and a tank top and went for a jog. Afterwards, I came back, showered, dressed in jeans and a white button-down shirt, had another cup of coffee and then headed off to work.

And you know why I did that?

I had no idea that I was getting married today.

…

'Good morning, Sunshine,' Deeks greeted me from his desk. For once, he was early.

'You managed to drag yourself away from the surf for once,' I said in amazement, pouring myself another cup of coffee.

'Didn't go surfing this morning,' he replied.

'Oh, let me guess; you've got a house guest that was more entertaining, right?' I asked, trying to keep the annoying pang of jealousy hidden so deep that he wouldn't see it.

'Actually, no. I slept in.'

I stared at him in amazement. 'You slept in? You never sleep in. You're always up at the crack of dawn to surf. It's like your biological clock is hardwired to your surfing schedule.'

'Then I wish his biological clock would inform him of the fact that he needs to get off of that board earlier than he usually does,' Sam said, coming into the bullpen. 'My God. He's here early.'

'Would you believe that it's because he slept in?' I asked.

'How can you be early if you slept in?' Callen asked, joining them.

'I slept too late to go surfing,' Deeks said as if it were obvious. 'So I came in early instead. I even beat Kensi.'

'Not a great feat,' I replied. 'I went for a run this morning. Took an extra loop. Took me longer.'

'You are a bit later this morning than usual,' Sam commented, checking his watch.

'But I still would've beaten Deeks.'

'You would've, if Deeks hadn't decided to "sleep in",' Callen replied.

Deeks chuckled and stretched out in his chair. 'Ah, great. More paperwork. I should've just gone surfing anyway.'

'And then you'd have to catch up on your paperwork,' I reminded him.

'I guess so.' He didn't seem so enthused by the thought of doing said paperwork, but picked up a file and a pen anyway.

'Or perhaps not, Mr Deeks.' Hetty suddenly appeared in their midst, leading Eric and Nell. 'Actually, not at all.'

'Why not?' Callen asked. 'Do we have a case?'

Hetty smiled enigmatically at them. 'Actually, yes.'

…

'This is Lieutenant David Paulson,' Hetty informed the team, motioning for Eric to pull up a picture of said man. 'He got married three months ago. Five months ago, his then fiancé, now wife, gave birth to a baby girl.'

'Wow. How touching. What does this have to do with us?' Callen asked.

'Lieutenant Paulson is part of a highly classified intelligence team. He's been working on an encryption/decryption program which the Navy eventually hopes to share with the US's allies in an attempt to more safely exchange information. Unfortunately, our enemies have also taken a rather large interest in this technology as well.'

'He's in danger, isn't he?' Deeks asked.

'Very much so. He's already got armed escorts to and from the base and home, and we've tried to persuade him to take up temporary residence in the security of the base, but this is a man who has done two tours of Iraq – he claims to be not afraid of anything.' Hetty shook her head and addressed Sam. 'You Navy men. You think that we think that there's a chance that you're scared of something and you go all macho and idiotic on us.'

'So, he's in massive danger from some of the most powerful countries on this Earth due to the fact that he's got knowledge of very, very powerful technology and he's refusing protection,' Deeks summarised. 'Oh, joy.'

'What are we going to do?' I asked.

'Well, we've been tasked with protecting the lieutenant and his family for the next month. The algorithm has almost been finished, it just has a few glitches that have to be worked out, hopefully in the next two weeks, and then it will be put to use and after that point, the lieutenant is going on terminal leave.'

Deeks blinked, confused. 'What's terminal leave?'

'He'll be leaving the Navy after the terminal leave time is up,' Sam said.

'After which time we will have no jurisdiction over the case, and any protection duties will be up to the FBI or Homeland Security,' Hetty said.

'So, we've got basically… a month, to stop the bad guys from getting to the lieutenant,' Deeks said.

'Yes,' Hetty replied.

'How the heck are we supposed to do that if he doesn't want any protection?' Callen asked.

'Oh, no, hang on, let me guess,' I said dryly. 'The house next door to theirs has suddenly become vacant, right?'

'Well, actually, it's the house across the street, but yes,' Eric said, pulling up the pictures of a nice house in a sweet-looking neighbourhood.

'So, we'll be taking turns to do surveillance?' Callen asked.

'Actually, that's where you're wrong,' Hetty jumped in.

'We're not going to be doing surveillance?' Sam asked.

'Well, some of you are. However, the others will be following leads in an attempt to neutralise the threats before they have a chance to attack,' Hetty said.

'Great. Who's doing what?' Callen asked.

'Well, we've figured that whoever is doing the surveillance should gain the lieutenant's trust by developing a relationship with him and his family,' Nell said. 'Well, actually, Nate said that.'

'Sounds like something that Nate would say,' I said. 'Well, have fun with that, guys,' I continued, looking at Callen and Sam.

'Why are you assuming that we're doing it?' Callen asked.

'Because you're the senior agents and you get to do all of the undercover stuff,' Deeks said.

'You're still sore about the Cayman Islands thing, aren't you?' Sam asked, grinning.

'No. Actually, I was rather looking forward to you guys trying to portray a gay couple,' Deeks said nonchalantly.

Callen and Sam stared at him, and finally Callen managed to ask, 'What makes you think that we'd have that as our cover?'

'Well, two guys over forty living together and being friendly with the neighbours…' Deeks began.

'You'd kind of have to be… together,' I finished.

'Lucky for you, Mr Callen, Mr Hanna, you won't be doing the undercover component part of this assignment.'

'We won't?' Callen asked.

'They won't?' Deeks asked.

'They won't,' Hetty confirmed. 'No, I believe that this would be an assignment better suited to the male/female partnership in this team.'

Deeks and I stared at each other and then at Hetty.

'Hetty, um, I don't know how to say this exactly,' Deeks began.

'This is a very, very, very bad idea,' I jumped in.

'Really bad,' Deeks emphasised.

'I don't see why it should be,' Hetty said.

'Because one of them won't survive it, and my bet's on Deeks,' Callen said with a wry grin. 'Sorry, man, but I know better than to bet against Kensi.'

'Oh, no, my bet's on me too,' Deeks replied before turning to Hetty. 'Hetty, if you have any interest in my ongoing health and wellbeing, you will not put me and Kensi on this assignment together.'

'Why shouldn't I?' Hetty asked.

'A whole month?' Deeks asked.

'She'd kill him in the first week,' Sam said.

'Week?' I asked, looking at the older partners. 'That's optimistic.'

'Try days,' Deeks said. 'Hetty, you are very much lowering my life expectancy.'

'Lowering your life expectancy?' Callen asked. 'Hetty, you're signing his death warrant.'

'Death certificate,' Deeks muttered darkly, sending me a sideways look through thick lashes.

'But I'm still sending them out there,' Hetty said with a smile. 'I think that this will be a good bonding experience. These two haven't done very much undercover work together.'

'We've done heaps,' Deeks said indignantly. He turned to me. 'Remember Ines? Fern?' He turned to Hetty. 'Have you completely forgotten how we met?'

A small smile picked up the corners of my lips. 'Tracey and Jason Wyler.'

'Exactly,' he said, pointing at me.

'You haven't done anything that hasn't lasted for a few hours at most,' Hetty corrected herself.

We exchanged a glance. 'She has a point,' I finally said.

'Most of our undercover work lasts an hour at most,' Deeks said.

'If that,' I continued.

'I guess we could use the practise,' Deeks said slowly.

'You do know that even if you said no, you'd still be doing this, right?' Callen asked.

Deeks and I looked at Hetty, who smiled at us. 'Mr Beale, Miss Jones, please set up covers for Miss Blye and Mr Deeks.'

Hetty suddenly left the room. 'Miss Blye, Mr Deeks, come to me in fifteen minutes. Oh, and Eric?'

'Yeah, Hetty?' Eric asked, looking up from his computer screen.

'Remember, they're married.'

Deeks and I stared at each other and then at the closing automatic doors behind which Hetty had just disappeared.

'Married?'

…

Please review… Pretty please?

A/N: You may have noticed that this story is in "first person" – This means, however, that when you're a writer like me (i.e. constantly changing) that the person who doing the talking is subject to change. For example, this chapter is from Kensi's perspective, while the next will be from Deeks' perspective. If it gets too confusing, let me know and I'll do what I can to make it more clear.

XD PurpleHipposRock