New case

I guess so

"Can I tell him off now?" Kensi asked, determined to fix things for her friend.

"Why?"

"Because I asked you to." He answered.

"Fine."

"Thank you," he said softly.

"What's going on?"

"I think he believes us now." Deeks wasn't sure if that was good or not.

"Are you sure?"

He nodded. "Pretty sure."

"Okay."

KC slipped inside the house, knowing Deeks and Kensi had Alina.

"What did you do to him?"

"Nothing I wanted to." He rubbed Alina's back gently, feeling her tiny head on his shoulder.

"He should be in trouble."

"He has no family besides the team. Besides us. He's broken up from KC, you and I are pi...furious at him, and he's just found out that Sam watched KC get hurt and lied to him about it, then found out that Hetty could have gotten you both killed. I think he's punished enough for right now, Kens."

"He hurt her."

"And he's paying for it. What else do you want to do to him, Kensi? Flog him? He made a mistake. He trusted his partner. For that, he lost KC and has never seen his daughter. Can you think of a worse punishment?"

"No. And I guess he is trying to help me."

"He will. He just needs a moment to adjust. I've had almost a year to adjust to KC's part of it. You've had ______ to adjust to yours. To him, this is brand new. He needs to process."

"I guess."

"It's not easy to absorb all at once, either part of it."

"I know."

He opened his arm to hold her on his other side. She leaned against him.

"Before all this happened, after you left, I used to think Sam and Callen were lucky. I mean, they're close, but if something happened and they couldn't be there, they have Michelle and, at the time, KC. I was wrong. I love the fact that I never have to chose. I get to have my partner and my best friend." It was as close as he got to telling how he felt.

Kensi just smiled, not knowing what to say.

"G?" KC's voice was barely above a whisper.

"Yeah?"

"Do you want to talk about it?" She expected him to say no, as he always had before, but he didn't have Sam this time.

"Sure..."

She didn't sit, she perched, but he had her full attention.

"I'm sorry."

"To do your job, you have to trust your partner. And Hetty's always been like a mom, a grandmother, to you. I get that." She paused and then told the truth. "I just wish you'd been there. I wish it had worked out differently."

"Me too."

"There was no affair. Not with him, not with Deeks, not with anyone. You know that much, right?"

"Of course."

She would have liked to killed Sam for saying that and was glad Kensi had never found that out. "She is yours. She acts like you. Stubborn as the day is long." A small smile curled on her face.

"So are you."

"I've had to be, to put up with you and Kens. Now Alina." It occurred to her that he'd never heard her full name, that she'd named the baby after his sister.

"Alina?"

She nodded. "I thought you'd like that. I named her after your sister and my mom. Kensi's the godparent and guardian. If anything...if anything ever happened to me, she and Deeks would raise her."

"Makes sense."

She nodded. "I wish you'd change your mind one day. I know that I can't make you. I don't even know if it would make things right between you and me. Or between you and her. But I'd like her to know who you are." She didn't expect a response. "What are we going to do about Hetty? I meant what I said earlier. If we don't do something, someone's going to get killed."

"Let me worry about her."

"You know what I never got about you? One minute it's like you can't think for yourself without Hetty and Sam and then the next you don't need anybody. Don't want anybody."

"What do you expect? I've been alone my whole life."

"Callen, if you think that, you're stupider than I thought. No one is alone. You're not the only person who's lost someone. Deeks lost his father and God only knows what happened to his mother. Kens lost Donald. I lost both my parents and almost lost Ali. Most people build off that, but you can't. You won't allow it."

"I don't know how."

"Then for God's sake, let someone help you. If you don't want it to be me, that's fine. But someone."

"Then, you I guess."

"That's the only thing I want from you. That you let someone in. Love someone," she continued like she hadn't heard him.

(maybe repeat 'you' again, maybe say I did, or maybe just have the others come back in)

It was her turn to be quiet, brushing some of her long black hair behind her shoulder. "What are you going to do about Hetty?" She asked, quiet again.

"I don't know. What do you think I should do?"

"Can Deeks and Kens come in? Maybe they can help us."

"Sure."

She walked out to where Deeks and Kensi were sitting. "We can go in," she said softly. "Deeks, do you mind...Mind going ahead?"

"Okay. What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong. We'll be right there."

"Okay."

She waited for Deeks to go inside and then told Kensi what had occurred between her and Callen.

"Is that good or bad?"

"I have no clue. I was hoping you knew."

"It sounds good to me. Like maybe he is trying."

"I want to think that."

"It's going to take time. It'll work."

"We should go inside."

Kensi nodded. "Good idea."

They walked inside together.

"I'm sorry I doubted you Kensi," said Callen immediately.

"It's okay. I understand."

"So anyone have any ideas?" KC asked.

"No." Callen and Kensi said at the same time.

"Don't look at me. I don't even know where to start, with any of this," Deeks said, handing Ali back over to her mom when she got restless.

"Maybe we can try talking to her?" Kensi suggested.

"I don't think it's something she'd just come out and admit," Deeks told her gently.

"She doesn't have to. It could give us an idea on how to deal with it though."

"No one else has an idea," KC told her. "It's better than this."

"Thank you." Kensi smiled at Deeks, knowing she had won that possible argument.

"I'm not sure I like the idea of you talking with Hetty alone." Deeks told her.

"I'm not going. Callen is. She'll talk to him more than me."

"Deeks, go with him," KC urged.

"Good idea." Kensi hugged him tightly.

KC looked at Callen. "It's not that I don't trust you. It's that I don't want you hurt."

"I don't mind. The only person she seems to not want to talk to at the moment is Kensi anyway. I don't know why though."

"She may not want to talk to me when she hears what I have to say," Deeks admitted.

"Still. Give it a try."

"For us," KC tried, meaning herself and Kensi.

"Please Deeks?" Kensi asked him. He was her knight in shining armor.

Deeks nodded.

"Thank you."

Skip to Hetty?

Callen and Deeks walked in to Hetty's so called 'office'. She was seated at her desk and looked up as they approached.

"Hetty, we need to talk," said Callen.