I own nothing. I wrote this awhile ago and completely forgot about it. Hope you all like it. Enjoy!

"You're our liaison, Deeks," Callen said calmly, "Are you telling me that you don't want to liaison with the other detective?"

"It's not that I don't want to talk to the other detective," I said shrugging, "I'm just hoping you will talk to her instead."

"Why is that?"

Clearing my throat I turned away from him and tried to think of a good excuse without telling him the truth. It was a very complicated situation that I didn't really want to explain yet.

"It's a difficult situation," I said looking at the ground, "It doesn't matter. Will you do it or not?"

"Fine," Callen said nodding, "But I want an explanation when I get back."

"Okay. And thank you, Callen."

Callen nodded his head once and walked through the door. Letting out a deep breath I closed my eyes and tried to clear my head. I knew that it wasn't good if I had too many thoughts in my head especially since we were on a case.

Walking out of the workout room I started toward my desk slowly. If I was able to keep everything in order until after the case I would be able to do something about the situation.

"It's not good to keep secrets from your team, Mr. Deeks," Hetty said from her office.

"It's not much of a secret," I said sighing, "I just don't like to talk or think about it."

"Tell me."

"It's nothing, Hetty."

"And I wasn't asking. Tell me Mr. Deeks."

"It was a long time ago. I know the detective that we'll be working with. Actually I went to school with her. She was my first steady girlfriend, we dated for almost all of high school."

"You sound like you really loved her."

"I do, I did. About halfway through our senior year she told me she was pregnant. Of course I freaked out at first, but I had always promised myself that I wasn't going to be like my Dad. She had only been pregnant for about two months when I found her crying in her bedroom."

"She had lost the child?"

"Yeah. A miscarriage, I didn't even ask what happened. We tried to be a couple for awhile after that, but it was hard on both of us. We haven't talked to each other since graduation. I've, sort of, been keeping track of her since then. You know, just to see how she's doing."

"And she's been doing well?"

"She is now. She had a little trouble before she got this job. I'd go into that, but I promised I wouldn't talk about it to anyone."

"You do realize you'll have to talk to her soon?"

"I know. I'm just hoping to get my head on straight before that."

"Then you might want to get to work on that quickly. I've told Mr. Callen to bring her here so we could all get on the same page in this case."

I froze when I heard Hetty say that. Seeing her for the first time in all these years probably wouldn't end well for either of us. She was my first love and I did still love her. At a time I had planned my whole life with her.

"I don't think that's a good idea," I said softly.

"Mr. Deeks, you have to face her," Hetty said calmly, "There is no way around this. The more you stall the harder it will be."

Nodding my head I turned and went to my desk. I knew that there wasn't a point in fighting Hetty on this. She was probably right anyway. Maybe things wouldn't end up in one of us being hurt again.

When I got to my desk I sat down and let out a sigh. Kensi looked at me in confusion and was about to ask what was wrong when Callen walked in. Feeling the need to make myself invisible I moved my chair against the wall.

From where I was sitting I could see her, but I was covered by shadows. I had a little more time to prepare. Just a couple more seconds and a few more deep breaths and we'd be face to face once more.

I looked her over and smiled sadly to myself. She had on dark jeans that hugged her body, a light pink tank top, and a dark red leather jacket. Her hair was down and in loose curls.

In looks she hadn't changed much. Her body was still curvy, her face round, pink lips shining with lip balm, green eyes highlighted with a little mascara and hidden behind honey colored glasses.

"Detective Gabriella Perry," Callen said calmly, "This is Special Agent Kensi Blye and our liaison Officer Marty Deeks."

Watching Gabriella closely I saw her jerk toward where I was sitting. Moving forward slightly I waved at her with a soft smile. Gabriella didn't move for a moment before she shook her head.

"It's nice to meet you Special Agent Blye," Gabriella said slowly.

"Kensi works," Kensi said looking at me, "Do you two know each other?"

"Yeah," I said standing up, "You look well, Gabby."

"You too, Marty," Gabriella said tugging on her sleeve.

My eyes instantly went to her wrist when she did that. It might have been a lot of years between the last time I saw her, but she meant too much to me still. Grabbing her arm I stared into her eyes looking for some sign.

"Gabriella," I said almost growling.

"We'll talk later," Gabriella said gently pulling away, "Where are we going to talk about the case?"

"Upstairs," Callen said eyeing me carefully.

Gabriella nodded softly and made her way upstairs with Sam and Kensi. I was going to walk with them, but from the way Callen was staring at me I knew that I should just talk to him now.

"What was that about?" Callen asked cocking an eyebrow.

"I know her," I said calmly.

"I got that, Deeks. What I meant was you freaked when she tugged on her jacket. Why?"

"I can't tell you. I promised her I wouldn't."

"I hope she's worth your trust, Deeks."

"Trust me, Callen. There's no one better."

Sighing to myself I made my way upstairs. When I got there I saw Hetty talking to Gabriella softly. Gabriella had a gently smile on her face that I loved. She only used it after I had done or said something that she claimed made her heart skip a beat.

"Mr. Deeks," Hetty said smiling, "It's nice of you and Mr. Callen to join us. Miss Perry will you please tell us all you know about the murders."

Gabriella nodded calmly and started to explain what she knew. I half listened to her knowing that if need be I could always ask Kensi later. I couldn't focus on the case until I knew what was going on with Gabriella.

When we were in school Gabriella used to joke that I was a 'Mother Hen'. She said that it made things more interesting. That was until I found out that she had been cutting herself.

I freaked out when I found out and had locked the two of us in her room until she explained everything to me. It wasn't long after that, that I had started to check her to see if she had done anything to herself.

I loved Gabriella with all of my heart and I wasn't going to lose her because of that. It had taken awhile, and a few trips to the local shrink, but she finally started to get better.

Then she had the miscarriage. I knew that it broke her heart and I tried to be there for her, but I wasn't handling the situation any better then she was. I should have helped her more, but I ended up leaving.

"Marty," Gabriella said knocking me out of my thoughts.

"Gabby," I said stepping closer to her.

Even after all of these years it was hard not to be standing next to her. My friends had often told me that we were already like an old married couple. I had laughed at that then, but now it seemed like they were right.

"I just wanted to let you know that I'm probably going to be around here for awhile, until the case is closed," Gabriella said nervously, "I thought you should know so you don't freak out if you see me again."

"I wouldn't freak out," I said softly, "Anyway, I thought we were going to talk."

"About what? Is there anything really left to say?"

"There's always more to say. We've grown up a lot Gabby. Please, all I'm asking for is one dinner at my place. I'll make sure to get triple chocolate brownies."

Gabriella laughed softly at me. Brownies was the only thing that I was ever able to bribe her with. We spent days at her house making brownies and talking. I didn't realize how much I could miss our too perfect life together until it was gone.

"You get the brownies and I'll get the ice cream," Gabriella said smiling.

"Ah, the two best foods in the world," I said before I could stop myself, "Too bad that's not what I want."

Gabriella's smile slipped off her face as I said that. A joke that had come so simple to us before was something that could now tear us apart again. I was royally screwing this up.

"Maybe I shouldn't," Gabriella said softly.

"You should," I said quickly, "And I want you to."