When I was a little girl, my father told me a story he had heard when he had visited China. He called it 'The Red String of Fate'. He said that the gods would tie an invisible red string around the ankles of those who were destined to be together and that this invisible red thread was infinitely long, could tangle and stretch but it would never break.

As I got older, I'd always wanted to find that one person I was meant to be with, because my father was always so adamant that he and my mother were destined to be. That he was lucky enough to find her— the one person in the world regardless of distance, time or anything else meant just for him. But when my mother had said she had fallen in love with someone else and that we were leaving, I felt so hurt and so angry at her betrayal. But also so angry at myself because I was stupid enough to believe such a naive concept of an invisible red string existed. So for years after I ran away from my mother and after my father died, I stopped believing in this concept of meant to be.

But when I met Jack, I thought "This is it. He's the one." He was so sweet, charming, and funny and looked at me like I was the only thing mattered in the world. And just like that I started to believe again. But then he went away and when he came back he stopped being so sweet, charming and funny and worst of all he stopped looking at me like he used to. He was so unlike the Jack I fell in love with and I tried... I tried so hard to help him get better but all I got was heartache in the end. And for the second time I stopped believing.

Then I met Deeks, and I immediately I knew something about him was off. Callen had said I was stuck, smitten, whatever and he couldn't have been more right, Deeks was definitely something else. I've never met a person who in so many ways drove me up the wall, but in so many others was the one of the most selfless and caring people I know. He's had my back from day one and I trust him with my life and somehow along the way he has wormed his way into my life and charmed himself a little into my hear—

"Hey, Kens. Whatcha typing there?"

I look up from my laptop to see my partner staring intently at me from the entrance of the now empty bullpen with his hands in his pockets. I shut the lid of my laptop, but not before saving what I've just written. If Deeks were to ever get a hold on these journal entries, he would have an unlimited source of blackmail material on me and I can't have that. These journal entries after particularly tough cases like today's are one of my few little secrets I like to keep to myself. They are in a way cathartic, so my thoughts don't one day drive me insane.

"It's nothing." I say, grabbing my bag as I stand up. "You ready to go, Shaggy?"

"Uh, yeah, let me just grab my stuff and we can head out. Still up for a movie and Thai?" he asks.

"How about we get Chinese instead?"

"I don't mind, just as long as it's something edible, I'm absolutely starving. But really though, are you okay? You looked a little upset just then"

He's standing in front of my desk now with his bag slung over his right shoulder, watching as I put the laptop into my bag.

"I'm fine, this case just got me thinking of a story my dad told me when I was a kid." I reply honestly. "Ever heard of the red string of fate?"

"No, but do tell"

"Okay, so there's this invisible red string that th—"

"How do you know it's red when it's meant to be invisible?" Deeks interrupts.

He's smiling now, and I can't help but roll my eyes and smile back. As we leave the Ops Centre I can't help think that just maybe my father was right, that the red string of fate does exist and that sometimes it takes time to unravel all the tangles to find your way to them.

A/N: So this is my first ever attempt writing a fanfic, hopefully it wasn't too terrible and that the characters weren't too OOC nor the format of the story was too confusing. Any mistakes are mine, and feel free to let me know what you guys think. With that said I hope you all have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year :)