For @violetdoodlebug
“Sam, listen to me. You take Kensi and you get her out of here,” Deeks told him, blinking against the smoke that filled the air around them.
“No!” Kensi’s anguished cry split the air, her face contorted in pain. “We’re not leaving you!”
Deeks forced himself to ignore his partner and looked at Sam instead, his eyes pleading. He could see Sam calculating, trying to figure another way out of this. At last the SEAL nodded in understanding.
Relief, remorse, fear all hit him instantly but he didn’t have time to process any of it. He knelt by his partner’s side. “Listen to me,” he said hoarsely.
“Deeks, no,” Kensi sobbed. “No.”
He put his hands on her face, watching as tears slid down her cheeks. Pressing his lips to hers he briefly silenced her whimpered pleas. “I love you, okay? I love you so much.”
It was like his heart had been ripped out of his chest. “Go,” Deeks forced himself to his feet and looked at Sam. “Go now.”
Sam gathered Kensi in his arms and began to move toward the exit.
“Deeks!”
He could hear his partner screaming for him. With a broken sob he turned away. There was no other choice.
*******************
She was going to murder her boyfriend. Yep. She was going to murder him and call Nell to help her hide the body. “Deeks?”
He popped his head out of the bathroom. “Yeah?”
“Did you eat my last peanut butter cup?” She held up the empty wrapper she’d found in her nightstand drawer.
“Um…Monty did it,” Deeks told her before he disappeared back into the bathroom.
Kensi looked to where Monty lay on the floor, staring up at her innocently. “Your daddy is a liar, you know that right?”
Monty just wagged his tail, smacking it against the bed frame.
“You shouldn’t be eating peanut butter cups at 7:00am anyway!” Deeks yelled as he spat out a mouthful of toothpaste.
“What should we do to him, huh boy?” Kensi ignored her partner and continued speaking to their faithful pet. “Should we make him sleep on the couch?”
“I can hear you, you know!”
“Oooh, or we can kick him out until he brings us ice-cream and donuts.”
“I will replace your peanut butter cups,” Deeks told her as he returned to the bedroom. “I promise.”
“I don’t believe a word you say,” she told him flippantly. “You’d better watch it buddy or all of your precious surf memorabilia might just…disappear…”
“Hmm…” his eyes glinted, mischief lighting up the baby blues she’d come to adore. “Well I can’t let that happen. I guess I’ll just have to find a way to…make it up to you.”
Kensi’s breath hitched as he pulled her close. “It would have to be something pretty big,” she said carefully. “What did you have in mind?”
His hands found her waist, strong fingers making their way under the hem of her shirt. “Well, I don’t know. I thought I might just improvise.”
He fell back onto the bed, pulling her with him.
Kensi suddenly found that she didn’t really care about the peanut butter cups after all.
**************
When they finally got in the car forty-five minutes later Kensi had no regrets. She watched her boyfriend as he started the car, her heart so full she thought she might burst.
He caught her gaze and looked at her quizzically. “What?”
“I’m just…really happy,” she told him with a shrug.
He grinned. “Me too. But you know who’s not going to be happy this morning?”
“Hetty,” Kensi groaned. “She’s going to know why isn’t she?”
“Oh yeah. You should probably call anyway and let her know,” he said as they pulled into traffic.
“Me?! Why do I have to do it?”
“Um, hello?” Deeks nodded toward the steering wheel. “Driving here. Safety first, Fern.”
“It’s your fault we’re late,” Kensi grumbled as she reached for her phone.
“I’m sorry, did you not want the apology sex this morning or…?”
“Hi Eric!” Kensi said loudly, cutting him off. “Listen, we’re running late. Yeah, traffic.”
Kensi paused to listen to his response and made a face. “Well, just tell Hetty it was traffic…I know she won’t believe it but just try to be convincing. Eric. Eric. Put Nell on the phone.” Kensi waited while he handed it over. “Nell, hi. Can you please…great. Thanks.”
She hung up and looked at her partner. “Never call Eric to do Nell’s job.”
“What the heck?” Deeks slowed the car, his eyes focused on the road.
An SUV was stopped at a green light. “Come on,” Deeks growled as he honked the horn.
Kensi felt the hair on the back of her neck prickle in warning. “Deeks—“
The car moved and Deeks hit the gas. Kensi looked to her right and didn’t even have time to yell a warning as a pick-up truck slammed into their vehicle.
White light exploded before her eyes and she had the brief sensation of pain ripping through her entire body before she lost consciousness.
**********************
His head was throbbing. So was his shoulder for that matter. And his hip. Actually, now that he thought about it, everything hurt. Why did everything hurt?
The memory of shrieking metal and smoke came roaring back and Deeks forced his eyes open, his senses immediately on high alert. The car, the intersection, all of it had been replaced by brick walls and a cement floor, damp and cold against his cheek.
He groaned as he pushed himself upright, trying valiantly to get his bearings. What the hell was going on?
He put a hand to his head and winced as he found a cut oozing blood over his eye. His hip screamed in pain but it didn’t feel like anything was broken. Or missing, thank god.
There was a soft whimper behind him and he turned to see his partner sprawled on the floor.
“Kensi,” he rasped, dragging himself toward her.
The right side of her face was covered in blood and Deeks felt his heart begin to pound. “Baby, hey, wake up. Talk to me. Kensi!”
She gave a soft moan that bit right into his soul.
“Hey, open your eyes Kensalina. Come on.”
Her brow furrowed in pain and she let out another strangled moan that shook him. He’d never heard these sounds of agony from his tough-as-nails partner and he felt near panic at her distress.
Deeks tried to gather his wits about him. Pushing himself to his feet, biting his lip against the pain, he limped to the only door in the room and wasn’t surprised to find it locked. Solidly. He pressed his shoulder against it and let his full weight fall but it still refused to budge. Clearly whoever had put them in here didn’t want them getting out.
The only other possible exit was a window about 10 feet up on the wall, but it was small and covered with bars. If he could get them off there was a chance Kensi could get out but one look at her prostrate form told him she was in no shape to get anywhere on her own.
He checked his pockets for his cell phone but it was gone. It looked like they had taken Kensi’s as well. He reached up and tried to turn on his earwig with no results.
Kneeling beside his partner he used shaking fingers to find hers. Inserting it into his own ear he turned it on and heard a burst of static.
“Kensi?” It was Eric’s voice, faint and crackly, but there. “Where—ell–you?”
Deeks sagged in relief. “Eric! It’s Deeks!”
“—ks? What’s—on?”
“Listen, someone hit our car. We’ve been taken. Kensi’s hurt pretty bad. We need some help.”
He stood, moving toward the window, hoping for better reception. There was another burst of static and then Eric’s voice again, “Whe—ou?”
“I don’t know,” Deeks told him. “Some kind of warehouse. Eric, we’re in real trouble here.”
“—ang—n..” The line crackled and went dead.
Deeks tapped on the earwig frantically with no result. “Eric? Eric?! Damn it!”
“Deeks.”
Kensi’s voice was little more than a croak but her eyes had opened and he went immediately to her side. “Hey, hey are you all right?”
“What happened?” She tried to sit up and then grunted in pain.
“I don’t know. That truck came right at us and then…I don’t know where we are,” he told her. “How bad are you hurt?”
Her eyes had closed again and her breaths came out high and quick. “Pretty bad,” she said between gritted teeth. “My head is…spinning. And my side…”
“Okay, okay,” Deeks lifted up her shirt and thought he might vomit when he saw the dark bruising running down her ribcage and across her abdomen. She was bleeding internally, he was almost certain of it. The question was, how badly?
They needed help. Now.
He rose and went to the door, slamming his fists against it. “Hey! I want to talk to you!”
He needed to know what they were up against. Who, how many, and why? They were critical questions that had to be answered if there was hope of getting out alive.
“Deeks, what are you doing?” Kensi panted.
“Getting answers. Hang in there.”
He heard a heavy bolt slide out of place and stepped back from the door, making sure he stayed between Kensi and whoever was about to come in.
Two men, armed to the teeth with automatic weapons stepped into the room and Deeks felt his stomach lurch. Whatever this was, it was no simple smash and grab for a ransom demand. This was something serious.
A third man entered the room. Well-dressed, his dark beard trimmed and clean, and Deeks tried to figure out where he’d seen him before.
“Hello Detective,” the man’s accent was American, a surprise considering the circumstances.
“Listen, we are Federal Agents,” Deeks began.
“I am well aware of your role in law enforcement Detective Deeks.”
He turned and Deeks caught a glint of gold, an earring shining in one of the man’s ears and suddenly he knew were he’d seen their captor before. His photo was on the wall at the Mission, right underneath the words “Most Wanted.”
An American born to first generation Afghan parents he’d branded himself an upper crust terrorist. Fancy suits, expensive cars, he came off as a business man when in reality he was smuggling drugs and weapons in and out of the country on a daily basis and whatever funds he made went straight to whichever terror organization he felt like funding in the moment.
“You’re Farhad Hassan,” Deeks said.
“Very good Detective. Maybe you’re not as stupid as I thought.”
“What do you want?” Deeks ground out.
“What I want, is your assistance,” Hassan told him.
“Well, you’re out of luck buddy because right now I’m not inclined to help you with anything.”
Hassan nodded to one of his bodyguards and the man shoved Deeks out of the way, his hands reaching down to haul Kensi to her feet.
Her pained cry was Deeks’ undoing and he lunged only to find himself face to face with the other bodyguard’s rifle.
Anger burned up his spine as he turned back to face Hassan who looked completely unconcerned. “Have I piqued your interest now Detective?” he asked.
“Listen,” Deeks heard his voice break as Kensi let out another moan. “She’s really hurt. If she dies…”
“It really doesn’t bother me one way or another. Come with me now and maybe she’ll live. Stay and here and I can guarantee she won’t.”
“Deeks, don’t do it,” Kensi gasped.
One look at his partner’s face told him there was no choice. He needed to do whatever he could to buy them more time and this was it. His eyes went back to Hassan. “Fine.”
************************
Deeks followed Hassan down a hallway, around one corner and then another. He forced himself to take note of their location in the building, searching for any other exits along the way. He also took note of a number of highly flammable liquids and large amounts of fertilizer. This place was a literal ticking time bomb.
As they arrived at their destination they passed an open doorway and he caught a glimpse of what looked like a bedroom with a few scattered belongings inside. His eyes fell with surprise on the face of a woman. She met his gaze for just a moment before closing the door so quickly he almost thought he’d imagined the whole thing.
“Sit right here please Detective,” Hassan told him.
Deeks did as he was told, blinking against the glare coming in one of the nearby windows. It was then he saw the camera and felt his stomach turn. There was a very real chance that whatever they were about to make him do, it was going to involve treason.
“All you have to do is read what’s on this paper,” Hassan told him. “I’ve heard you have a flair for the dramatic so it shouldn’t be a problem for you.”
Deeks took the paper and his mouth went dry. It looked like they were going to be part of a ransom demand after all.
The camera began recording. “Whenever you’re ready,” Hassan prompted.
He took a breath and turned on the charm. “You don’t want a nicer setting, maybe something with a little less western afternoon sun?”
It was a desperate attempt to leave any potential clues that might help Sam and Callen.
“Just read what’s on the paper.” Hassan’s eyes had hardened but Deeks wasn’t deterred.
“I can’t get a little glass of water or anything first?” he tried again. “No? Okay then.”
He looked again at the paper and began to read. “My name is Detective Martin Deeks of the LAPD. My partner, Special Agent Kensi Blye of NCIS, and I are being held captive. To secure our release the government of the United States must return the weapons that were seized at the port of Los Angeles on September 18th, 2015. The weapons should be left in the empty shipping container number 4429-C56 at the port by 7:00pm today. If the weapons are recovered successfully Agent Blye and I will be released. I am unharmed but Agent Blye,” his breath caught and he had to force himself to continue, “is severely injured and will require medical attention so time is of the essence.”
Deeks looked up from the paper and saw the red light blink off.
“Very good Mr. Deeks. The emotion in your voice was a nice touch. We’ll have you out of here in no time.”
******************
She hurt. God, she hurt everywhere. Kensi was vaguely aware that she was drifting in and out of consciousness. But no matter how much darkness overtook her the pain refused to abate.
She remembered being dragged off the ground, the pain becoming so intense she thought she would vomit, but she couldn’t say how long ago that had been. She knew Deeks had gone with Farhad, and her fear for his safety rivaled the pain in her side and head.
What if they killed him? Why were they even here?
She couldn’t stop the tears that fell from her eyes, hot and wet against her skin. She didn’t have the strength to brush them away.
Cool, damp cloth touched her face, bringing her back from the brink of oblivion.
“Deeks?” her voice cracked as she slowly opened her eyes.
Not Deeks. A woman with dark features, her eyes concerned as she dabbed the cloth gently on Kensi’s face. “Who are you?” Kensi asked weakly. “Where is my partner?”
The woman didn’t answer and instead put a cup to Kensi’s lips. The agent managed to take only a few sips before she choked and had to lie back down, gasping for air. “Please,” she gasped, “please tell me where he is.”
There was the sound of the door opening and the woman’s face disappeared from Kensi’s view.
“Wow, ow, okay. I know how to walk into a prison cell on my own buddy.”
His familiar voice washed over her and Kensi cried out in relief. “Deeks!”
“Hey,” he knelt beside her, his hand seeking hers. “Hey are you okay?”
“Where did you go?” Kensi asked. “What do they want?”
She listened as Deeks explained, her heart beating so fast it felt like it would come out of her chest. The fear must have shown on her face because he squeezed her hand and tenderly stroked her cheek. “We’re going to get out of this Kens.”
“Promise?” she asked, the world beginning to grow fuzzy again.
“Promise.”
The next time Kensi woke the pain had grown worse and breathing had become something of a challenge. She could hear Deeks speaking with someone and she whispered his name.
“Hey, hey,” Deeks was beside her in seconds.
“How long was I out?” she croaked.
“Maybe an hour,” he told her. “How’s the pain?”
“Bad.” There was no point in lying. She knew he could see it on her face.
“I’m sorry.” His eyes showed his worry as he leaned in and gently kissed her forehead. “Hang in there.”
“Who was here?” Even in a fog of pain she was curious about who he’d been speaking with.
“It’s a woman,” Deeks told her, “and her baby. She doesn’t speak much English but I think she might be Hassan’s wife.”
“She has a baby? In here?”
“Yeah,” Deeks replied, running a hand through his hair. “She seems completely terrified.”
“Can she help us?’
Deeks shook his head. “I don’t think so.”
She shivered. The floor felt like ice.
“Are you cold?”
She nodded.
He stroked her cheek. “Don’t worry. Sam and Callen are coming. They always do.”
**********************
The hours passed at an agonizing pace for Deeks. Kensi’s periods of consciousness became shorter and less frequent. She wasn’t going to last much longer without help.
Deeks found himself praying to whatever god might be listening, begging for more time for his partner. “Please,” he whispered thickly. “You can take me. But please, don’t take her.”
He was met with nothing but silence and the sound of his partner’s agonized breaths.
The sound of gunfire started without warning and Deeks was immediately on his feet.
“What’s going on?”
Kensi had roused at the noise.
“I don’t know.” Deeks could feel his heart pounding. He had no way to protect either one of them. They were sitting ducks.
An alarm began to wail and suddenly smoke was seeping under the door. “Damn it.”
His eyes began to sweeping the room again in desperation. Maybe if he could get up to the window the bars would be loose enough for him to pry off.
A sudden banging on the door made both of them jump. “Deeks!”
“Sam!” the detective could have cried in relief. “We’re in here!”
“Get back!”
Deeks moved back, putting himself protectively in front of his partner. The door flew open with a bang and within seconds Sam appeared through the smoke. “Are you guys all right?”
“Kensi needs help.”
Sam nodded. “We have to get you out of here. They set the place on fire.”
Deeks swept his partner into his arms, her soft moans eating away at him. “Where’s Callen?” he asked as he followed Sam into the smoky hallway.
“Outside,” Sam said as he made a sharp left. “He and the team were trying to draw Hassan and the others out.”
“And instead they set the place on fire,” Deeks said. “Nice plan.”
“Hey, no complaints to the rescuers,” Same told him, throwing a smirk over his shoulder.
There was a bloodcurdling scream from somewhere in the building and they both froze.
“Hassan’s wife,” Deeks suddenly remembered. “We have to get her out.”
“Deeks, there’s no time,” Sam told him. “This place is so full of flammable material it could go up any second.”
“She has a baby, Sam. We can’t just leave her.”
Sam seemed hesitant. “I’ll go.”
“It’s a maze in here. You’ll never find her.”
“Deeks,” Kensi said weakly, her hand grasping the front of his shirt.
He set her gently on the floor and locked eyes with the senior agent.
“Sam, listen to me. You take Kensi and you get her out of here,” Deeks told him, blinking against the smoke that filled the air around them.
“No!” Kensi’s anguished cry split the air, her face contorted in pain. “We’re not leaving you!”
Deeks forced himself to ignore his partner and looked at Sam instead, his eyes pleading. He could see Sam calculating, trying to figure another way out of this. At last the SEAL nodded in understanding.
Relief, remorse, fear all hit him instantly but he didn’t have time to process any of it. He knelt by his partner’s side. “Listen to me,” he said hoarsely.
“Deeks, no,” Kensi sobbed. “No.”
He put his hands on her face, watching as tears slid down her cheeks. Pressing his lips to hers he briefly silenced her whimpered pleas. “I love you, okay? I love you so much.”
It was like his heart had been ripped out of his chest. “Go,” Deeks forced himself to his feet and looked at Sam. “Go now.”
Sam gathered Kensi in his arms and began to move toward the exit.
“Deeks!”
He could hear his partner screaming for him. With a broken sob he turned away. There was no other choice.
*****************
Kensi felt every step Sam took like a knife but it didn’t stop her from struggling against him. “Sam, we have to go back! Please!”
“We can’t, Kensi,” he said, his mouth set in a grim line as he charged out the door.
“He won’t get out!” Kensi cried. “Please, Sam, please!”
The world exploded for the second time in twenty-four hours but this time Sam was between her and the blast. He went to his knees, cradling her injured body against his, shielding her from the flames and debris.
“No.”
The word feel from her lips and she went completely limp, any strength she had left draining from her body.
This could not be happening. Not now. They’d been so close. So close to getting out of this nightmare.
“Sam!” Callen ran toward them. “What happened? Where’s Deeks?”
“He went back for Hassan’s wife.” Sam said, turning back to look at the building that was now engulfed in flames.
“Oh my god.” Callen’s words were soft, horrified.
“No, please no,” Kensi moaned.
“Kensi,” Sam seemed at a loss for words, his voice breaking. “Kens, I am so sorry.”
“He…I can’t…”
Kensi couldn’t breathe and it had nothing to do with her injuries.
“There!” Callen pointed.
Deeks emerged from the smoke practically carrying the woman and her child.
Callen ran to him, helping get them all further from the inferno.
Deeks collapsed next to his partner, coughing and wheezing, his face blackened by the ash.
“Oh god, Deeks,” tears slid down Kensi’s face as she reached for his hand.
“I’m okay,” he wheezed, his eyes finding Callen’s. “Kensi needs a doctor.”
“Yeah, I think maybe you both do,” Callen told him. “Why don’t you just relax and let us handle it.”
************************
It was quiet at the hospital except for the steady beep of Kensi’s heart monitor. They had taken her into emergency surgery to repair damage to her liver and spleen. That, along with the three broken ribs and severe concussion, was going to be enough to keep her in the hospital for a while.
Deeks had faired slightly better although the doctors were concerned about the amount of smoke he’d inhaled which had landed him in the bed across the room from his partner. That hadn’t stopped him from slipping out of his bed and into his partner’s the minute they were alone.
“So,” he croaked softly, voice rough with smoke, “worst day ever?”
“I mean, you did steal my peanut butter cups,” she told him, her eyes closed.
He chuckled and kissed her hair. “Well, I did apologize.”
“How did Callen and Sam find us anyway?”
Deeks had heard from the other members of their team at length while the doctors worked on Kensi. “Some tricky computer work on Nell and Eric’s part. Something about traffic cams and cell signals and IP addresses. I think Callen and Sam went pretty hard at one of Farhad’s former contacts too.”
“Oh.”
She said it so quietly he thought she might have fallen asleep. There would be time to tell her about the heroic efforts of their team later. How Granger had called in every favor he had at NCIS. How Nell and Eric had stayed on the phone for hours pinging their earwigs over and over, trying to get a signal.
“Please don’t do that again.”
Her soft request surprised him. “What?”
“Sacrifice yourself for me. Or anyone else.”
He looked down to find her eyes wide open and full of tears. “Kens…You know I’d do whatever I had to, to keep you safe.”
“I know. I just…sometimes I wish we didn’t have to make the choice.”
“Well, next time don’t get yourself so hurt,” he teased, attempting to lighten the mood.
“If you hadn’t taken the peanut butter cups we wouldn’t have been late,” she poked him in the ribs.
“Oh, you mean, these peanut butter cups?” He reached down beside the bed and pulled up a bag of Reese’s that Sam and Callen had smuggled in at his request.
Kensi smiled. “Thanks, Babe.”
“Am I totally forgiven?”
She kissed his cheek. “I’ll think about it.”
