Welcome to Stepping Stones!

It is here we will travel through time and space, back to moments that changed Deeks’ life as we know it. But here is the fun part (drumroll, please)! Are you ready?

It will be Densi related.

Did I just hear someone squeal on another continent?

Now, I hope you enjoy the ride as I latch onto you and drag you back to a place some of us visited many years ago… Back to where it all began.

You are sitting on a bench, you realize. The lighting is slightly dim, but you adjust. The next thing you notice is the impossibly pungent smell of sweat, and dust, and… more sweat.

I know, I am making faces, too.

We are in a gym.

Men are walking about, acting as if everything is routine. They are comfortable here. And, although you would object otherwise, this is home to them. You notice gym bags near you and you pull out your cellphone. You pretend to text if anyone comes near, it matters little if you were typing gibberish or in Iranian, no one would know.

To your right, someone catches your eye. He is practicing his high kick in a white shirt and red shorts. You hold onto your best poker face as you recognize that shaggy hair.

But, before you can be accused of staring, someone comes up some stairs on your left, walking with a determined stride, the air about her delicate, but deadly. You remind yourself never to get in a fight with her.

You blink as she walks passed. Her hair is essentially wavier than you recalled, but her height and prominent features come alive off-screen. Though you are unable, you want to gasp.

Kensi puts on a façade of being slightly awkward and lost, speaking with the MMA gym instructor.

You place a hand to your ear. You can hear them, it is a miracle!

“Tracy,” she said, introducing her cover-self.

“His girl?”

“I guess..? We only just started dating, but, um… it was intense. So how can you guys keep training if, you know…” You watch as well as hear her trail off.

“We are marines. This is how we do it. I was Danny’s platoon Sergeant.”

“He talked about you a lot,” she grinned. While they talk, you glance towards Deeks, out of curiosity. He has obviously seen her, but he’s undercover, too. You catch him glancing her way a few times. He looks as if he wants her to be nothing special, because it’s his job to investigate the special, the strange, and the uncanny…

But we know that fate never plays fair.

The old Sergeant called his men, his team, over. The first three names are lost on you, but when he introduced Marty Deeks, you unconsciously raised your hand to your ear.

“…And that’s Jason Wyler. This is Tracy, Danny’s girl.”

“Yeah? How’d you find out?” Deeks sounds surprised, but you know that warning bells are going off in his head. He is probably wondering why all the pretty girls have to be bad.

“The police called me. My number is in his cellphone.”

“Danny had a lot of girls’ numbers in his cellphone.”

Kensi’s face looks calculatedly offended. “Well, I guess that mine was just the last one dialed.” You can tell that your detective has stepped too far. He knows it, too, for he looks at the men surrounding him. One of them pipes up, “Come on, Jason. We’re all feeling bad.”

You grip the edge of the bench, fighting the urge to jump into the show and alter the episode. Kensi turns away, as you knew she would, playing the guilt card.

“Maybe it was a mistake, coming here.”

“No, no, wait. Hey, hey, hey,” she pauses, hearing the head man’s pleading, “You come by here any time, okay?” She studies the Sergeant, then Jason, and you are squirming like a kid with ADD.

“Thank you,” she says at last.

“Thanks for stopping by.”

She had taken only a matter of steps when one of the guys stops her. She chats with him, pulling out a notebook to write down her number. You turn your head to see Deeks over by his workout bag, but he is not focused on training anymore. His gaze is dead set on the brunette.

Stop with the cheeky grins, Reader. We have to stay focused.

Let’s go.

You have been dropped in between houses. The windows across from you have been covered with bush and plant life. Upon turning, you find yourself looking into a living room. It is a bit blurry, but you can make out the shapes. Now, I already know that you are sick of time travel, but you will just have to get a grip, because Callen and Kensi are walking into the house.

Again, you find that you are able to hear as Agent Blye steps up to Danny’s computer. “Laptop… left on and not password protected. This is going to be easy… Maybe he’s got nothing to hide.”

You watch Callen disappear into the kitchen, his face serious as ever. But although he said something, possibly of relative importance, you don’t hear it. No, you are too focused on the sound of a car door shutting and steps coming up the front of the house. You can even distinguish the jingle of car keys.

Oh no! That’s—!

Your eyes are glued to the front door, watching Kensi snap around (possibly hard enough to give herself whiplash).

“Whoa,” says Deeks. If he had been surprised before, he is downright shocked now.

“Oh, my God, you scared me.”

Our detective’s mind must be racing. What are the chances that the suspicious woman from earlier that day would show up here? He is probably wondering if he can charge her with breaking and entering.

“How’d you,” he looks towards the window, forcing you to duck to the side, “get in here?”

The window is shut and bolted; you know he had already ruled that out.

“Danny gave me a key. What are you doing here?”

You watched him raise up his own key. “I live here. Spare room.” His face is carefully blank and he puts the key away. He starts to approach her. “Danny’s laptop?” His tone isn’t accusatory, only that of a void baritone… and he is weary.

In this moment, can you see the two of them being partners?

“I… emailed him some photos,” she steps around him, keeping distance between them, forcing him to turn his back on the kitchen, “Private photos.”

He glances over the laptop before turning his guarded eyes on her. “You mean like the two of you watching the sunset at Santa Monica pier, or the kind where you are not wearing anything but a smile.”

She gives him a rueful look, but keeps her eyes steady in a no-joking matter. “A certain kind of person finds private photos like that; they end up on the internet.”

“Wow. It’s definitely, uh, X-rated, then? Nobody under seventeen admitted?” He studies her for a moment, “Well played.” He walks towards the kitchen, turning his back and giving her, and you, a clear view of his weapon tucked into his pants. He pulls on his jacket to cover it up in the next moment.

“Yeah, Danny said that he met a girl. Said that she was hot.”

You follow and peek in through the kitchen windows. He checks the space, unsure of what he is looking for, exactly. Being a detective, he has to always be on his toes. The medicine containers have been touched and one of the windows to the backyard has been opened.

“You think that he meant me? I sort of assumed that he had others.”

“Oh, no, no, no. He, uh,” Deeks closes the window, “he definitely meant you. Talked about how the two of you used to party pretty hard together.”

You jog back to the other windows, gripping the white side-paneling.
Kensi tilts her head in that cute sort of way. “One thing leads to another, the next thing you know…out comes the camera.”

He comes to stand in front of her, “Right,” he says, having to look away for a moment, “except that he said that your name was Kate.” He shoves the laptop closed. It is obvious that he hates being lied to. “So, who the hell are you?”

Her demeanor never cracks for a moment. You know that she’s going to lie again, and you contemplate banging your head against the house’s siding. “I met him at a party,” she starts, “paid him for some stuff, but he never delivered. I came to pick it up myself.”

They continue to talk, but you hear another car pull up, another door slam.

You look back to see Kensi standing almost toe to toe with him.

Deeks is cool and composed as he says, “…Maybe you found some cash. Maybe you should empty those pockets.” It isn’t a question, and you can hear the invisible or else attached to the end.

Again, you feel the urge to barge in and tell them that they aren’t enemies, but you are saved from yourself when you hear someone jogging up the front walkway and then banging on the front door.

Deeks opens it to find Callen standing there, looking bored. “You call for a cab?”

“That would be me.” Agent Kensi walks right past Marty, ignorant of the fact that she just walked out on a fellow officer. “Thanks for stopping by,” he said. You watch as his eyes follow her, promising that this is not over…

Over? Hardly, because their relationship was just beginning.

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