Two

Chapter One

"Morning Kensi." Marty greeted her cheerfully as he slid into the passenger seat. " One of these for me?" he asked, pointing to the two cups of coffee perched on the dash.

"No, Deeks. They're both for me and I'm going to make you watch me drink them."

"Thanks, I think," he said as he picked up the cup and took a drink.

They were quiet as Kensi pulled into traffic. It was a beautiful morning and the best view was sitting right beside him. His own sappy train of thought made him choke on his coffee.

"You okay?

He just nodded hoping she hadn't noticed that he couldn't stop staring at her.

As the caffeine began to give him a little edge, he felt brave enough to start the conversation he'd been thinking about for the last few days. "The coffee's great but it would be better with donuts," he teased.

"I didn't get donuts, just coffee. I went through the drive thru." Kensi responded tightly without looking at him.

He laughed. "That was an interesting response considering I made a simple observation." After a short pause he added, "And it smells like a Dunkin' Donuts in here. Give up Kensi, where are they?"

Slumping against her seat she frowned at him and finally said, "behind the seat, but don't eat them all."

Marty reached behind her seat and pulled out a bag of donut holes. He popped several into his mouth before holding out the open bag so she could get some for herself. He thought carefully about what he was going to say. He had already decided she was in a pretty good mood, so taking a deep breath and trying to keep his voice casual he finally said, "Can you explain this whole no second date rule to me, Kensi?"

Her head snapped in his direction and her expression was part anger and part confusion. "Don't start Deeks," she pleaded. "It's only nine o'clock in the morning."

"Wait, Kensi. I'm serious. This whole donut thing has something to do with the no second date thing. Help me out here. I'm a guy and I just don't get it. Explain it to me. Please?" Knowing he was on thin ice he was very still waiting for her to respond.

Kensi could tell he wasn't going to let it go and really didn't want to ruin the pleasant morning with a fight, so she finally shrugged and started to speak.

"Okay. First dates are fantasy. Both parties are on their best behavior. A little nervous, you know? They see the world through rose-colored glasses. Everything is wonderfully romantic and perfect. It's like you get a free pass to be whoever you want to be."

After a slight hesitation she went on, "But on a second date everything is different. Reality steps in. You both start to wonder what this means. A second date smacks of possible commitment and things get tense. It's horrible and I just can't do it," she finished with a sigh.

There was complete silence for several miles before Marty spoke again. "Can I tell you what I think? Well, I'm going to so hold on," he continued before she could answer. "I think you've had a few bad second dates and now you have a pattern. You have a set of expectations and subconsciously you make your expectations come true. I also think that if you break the pattern just once, everything will change. The curse will be broken and you'll be golden." He grinned at her hopefully.

"You're serious about this, aren't you?" She waited for him to nod before continuing. "So, even if your theory were true – riddle me this. How can I have a successful second date to break the curse when I can never have a successful second date? It can't work!"

Marty was pleased that she was willing to talk about his idea because he had spent a lot of time preparing his arguments.

"Yes it can. All you need is someone who cares about you, knows what's going on and is willing to help you out."

"Deeks, I don't know anybody like that." Hearing herself say the words brought a look of sadness to her face that made his chest feel like there was someone standing on it. He really wanted to make that look go away.

"Yes you do." He flashed her a grin that was pure charm. "He's smart and funny and witty and handsome, charming, maybe even irresistible…"

He saw the exact moment when she realized what he was trying to say. Her eyes flew open wide and she turned to face him.

"You have got to be kidding. Deeks. No way, uh huh, nada, never. I am not going out with you once, much less twice. Are you nuts?"

"Ah ha! I thought you might feel that way. So here's the rest of my idea. We go under cover. Remember the first time we met? I was Jason Wiler and you were his girlfriend Tracy. We'll do these two dates as Jason and Tracy, well, without the negative parts of course. It might even be fun. Two successful dates and your problems will be solved. Golden, remember?" He smiled directly at her, putting every thing he had into it.

The conversation was giving Kensi the beginnings of a headache. She reached up and rubbed the spot right between her eyes as she tried to think. If she were honest, she really wanted to have a normal dating life. She thought some times about having someone to just be with after work and although Deeks' idea was crazy, there was something about it that gave her the tiniest warm spot in her belly. Maybe she was finally ready to be honest with herself.

The silence stretched on for minutes until Marty could hear his own pulse pounding in his ears. He had tried to convince himself that this whole plan was just about helping Kensi. But the little voice in the back of his mind kept suggesting there might be a selfish side to this as well. He kept telling the voice to shut up

"Okay."

Her voice actually startled him. He let out the breath he didn't know he'd been holding with a rush and tried to maintain a casual composure. Grinning he said only. "Good. I'll leave you a voice mail this afternoon." Relaxing back into the seat he added, "Donut?"

Kensi flipped open her cell phone at the chime then dialed her voice mail.

"Hey Tracy. This is Jason Wiler, We met awhile back at the gym-. I hope you remember me. I have a couple tickets to the LA Kings hockey game at Staples Center Saturday night. Just wondered if you might like to join me. We could do dinner after. So, ah, give me a call. Hope to see you soon.

Deeks listened to her response sitting on his balcony watching the sun set.

"Hey, Jason. Yeah, I remember you. I've never been to a hockey game but sure; we can give it a try. Let's meet somewhere I can leave my car. Let me know where and when. I guess I'll see you Saturday night."

He grinned at her need to drive to a neutral place to meet and tried to figure out if her voice sounded tired or nervous. Then he let his head fall back against the chair and couldn't stop grinning.