Comminication Skills

I Will Wait

"Oh, Jaqoblynn," I murmured sadly, wiping an imaginary tear from my cheek. I was a natural-born operator. This would be easy.

She faked a concerned expression. "Kensi, what's wrong?"

I sat down beside her, pulling my knees up to my chest. "He-He kissed another girl," I sobbed, willing a few tears to slide down my cheeks. Soon it was more than just a few tears. I was amazed at how easy it was to cry over this. My earlier hurt and anger crashed over me like a wave again.

Jaqoblynn put a sympathetic look on her face. "Oh, I'm so, so sorry," she mumbled. "Maybe you would feel better if I helped you get back at him?"

I looked up at her. "You mean, like, retribution?" I asked her.

She smiled a little. "Retribution," she echoed slowly, as if tasting the word on her tongue. She nodded.

"Okay, like what?" I whispered.

"Um... Maybe you could get with someone else, too?" she suggested.

I looked down at my knees. "I don't really want anyone else," I confessed, surprised at the truthfulness.

She nodded thoughtfully. "Well, maybe you could hurt him back without actually hurting him?"

I didn't have to fake the confused expression on my face. "Yeah, I guess that could work. What did you have in mind?"

She smiled devilishly at me. "Maybe we could hurt someone he loves."

She sprang at me with her knife, but I easily deflected the blow by blocking her arm with mine. I stood and dragged her up by her arm with me. I wrestled the knife from her tight grasp and held it in one hand, holding onto her with the other.

"Come on, Jaqoblynn," I chided her. "You had to have known that we would never fall for that. We saw right through your little stunt with the glorified prostitute."

Much to my surprise, she was smiling. She threw her head back in a laugh, grinning like a maniac. "Please, Kensi," she said in the same patronizing tone, "you were never the target."

For a second, I was confused. And then I understood and slammed Jaqoblynn into the wall. She collapsed to the ground, knocked unconscious by the blow to her head. Just then, Deeks called out, "Jenna!"

I turned and sprinted out the door, only to stop short by what I saw. A shaking Anahi was holding a gun, pointing it at Deeks as he wrestled on the ground with another man. "No!" I screamed as Anahi's fingers tightened around the trigger.

I barreled into her, knocking her easily to the ground. Then gun spun out of our reach. She didn't try to fight back. Tears glistened in her eyes as she whispered, "I'm so sorry. I didn't want to, but they made me."

"Stay here," I growled.

I jumped off of her and turned. Deeks had the guy in a headlock and was winning, but the guy had a knife. I plucked the knife from his hand and kicked him in the stomach. The wind was knocked out of him and he gasped for breath.

Deeks let him go and then dragged him into the nearest room. I looked back at Anahi, who was sitting up with her head in her hands. "Anahi, go with them," I ordered her weakly. The look on her face was crushing.

She nodded, pushing herself to her feet and following them to the room. I went back into the pool. Jaqoblynn was just beginning to stir. A pang of guild hit me hard. I know she tried to kill me and create a distraction so Deeks could be killed, too, but she was still just a teenager. I didn't want to hurt her. I picked her up, hoisting her over my shoulder. She was tiny and weighed next to nothing.