DOUBLE TAKE

Chapter 28

Los Angeles — one month on

Detective Marty Deeks walked into the mission and wondered where everyone was. Even Hetty's desk was vacant. He placed his bag on his desk and noticed Sam and Kensi weren't in. He walked up the stairs thinking if anyone was around, Eric and Nell would be in. It had been six weeks since he had seen their Technical Operator and Intelligence Analyst.

"Hey Deeks, good to see you." Eric greeted him as he walked through the sliding doors.

"Hey Eric, me man. Good to be back. How are you? Anything interesting happen while we were away?"

Eric shook his head. He knew something very interesting had happened while Deeks had been overseas, but it wasn't his news to tell. He really didn't want Kensi angry at him for telling Deeks either. It had to come from her.

"You're hiding something from me, Eric."

Eric responded with a blank face.

"Ok, if you're going to play it like that, perhaps then you can tell me where Kensi is?"

"She's out," was all Eric would tell him.

"Out where?" He wasn't going to give in that quickly. "Look, it may be three in the afternoon, but I've just been cleared to return for work from the doc, so I thought I would come in, but if you're not going to tell me..."

"Welcome back, Mr Deeks," Hetty said as she walked into Ops. "I hear you've been cleared for duty."

"Hi Hetty. Yes I have. I was just wondering where Kensi was." Then he noticed Nell was also missing. "Where's Nell? This place is like a ghost town."

"I agree with you, Mr Deeks, the place has been fairly quiet in your absence." She smiled at the Detective. "Miss Jones is visiting her family in Ohio until George is released from the hospital in D.C." Callen and Jackson had been transferred a week earlier to D.C., where they could be closer to home. Their injuries had been so bad, even Callen had to admit he needed to stay in hospital after a month since their rescue. "Here is the address where you will find your partner. Sam is spending time with his family after being away for so long."

Deeks took the piece of paper from their Operations Manager and raised his eyebrows as he was puzzled by the address written on it. "A swimming pool?"

"Yes, Mr Deeks. If you hurry, you will catch her there." Deeks quickly turned and left the Ops Centre, grabbing his keys on his way out the door.

Thirty minutes later he pulled in next to Kensi's SUV. He walked into the complex and found his partner sitting up in one of the stands watching some children swim up and down the fifty metre pool. As he approached Kensi, she spotted him. A large smile appeared on her face.

"Deeks, your home." She stood and hugged him. It feels so good to hold him again, she thought to herself. She stood back and studied him. She had heard how he had been shot in the arm but she still looked for any evidence of any other injuries.

"I'm fine, Fern. You can stop worrying about me," he replied. "It's so good to see you again." He smiled at her, as he watched the tension leave her face and body. "I've been been cleared for duty again."

"Good."

She seemed distracted, he followed her eyes to where her attention had been taken from him to. He saw a young girl wave to her and noticed Kensi returned the wave. The girl ran over to them shivering as she was wet from swimming.

"Hi Kensi, Mom said you were picking me up today." Piper turned and looked at Deeks. "Hi, you must be Marty. Kensi talks about you all the time. She's missed you. I'm Piper."