Challenge 8: Interactive Pairs

[ncisfreak943]

Rating: T
Word Count: 3, 227
Writer: ncisfreak943
Artist: sticksades

“Here is your target Deeks” Lt. Bates informs Detective Marty Deeks while showing him a photo of a woman. “This was delivered sometime last night.” As he says this Bates gestures at a mysterious package on his desk.

Throwing a curious/confused look at Bates Deeks asks “What is this? Who delivered it?”

“It was waiting on my desk for me this morning, listen” Bates pulls out a voice recording and presses play.

“Listen very carefully. What I am about to say has great importance. The woman in the photograph is very dangerous.”

As the recording plays Deeks looks down at the photograph and wonders how can someone that hot be so dangerous.

“She killed a man that goes by the name Kevin Smith. You won’t be able to find his body though. This isn’t the first time and it won’t be the last unless she’s stopped. More clues will be sent…”

“How do we know that it’s a legitimate tip?” Deeks asks as Bates reaches to turn off the recording.

“We don’t, that’s why you are going to go in and get close to her. See if you can find any evidence of a crime.”

“How would you suggest I do that?” Deeks replies

“The apartment next door to hers has become available. You are going to become a new tenant in that apartment. Then the rest is up to you. Here are the keys and your new identification.”

“Does this place allow pets?” Deeks asks, thinking of Monty.

“Yes, that mutt can go with you. You can even use him to your advantage. Get to work Detective, this should be a simple open and shut case. I expect results within the next 2 weeks.”

“Yes sir” with that Deeks walks out if the office and straight into his new life.

“Well Monty what do you think of our new home? Now we are going to have to set a couple of ground rules.” Deeks tells Monty as they are walking down the hallway of their new apartment building.

Hearing a door close further down the hallway he can’t believe his luck. All of a sudden his attention is brought back to Monty as the leash is jerked out of his hand. Monty apparently decided to make friends with his new neighbor, who also happens to be the target.

“Monty…Monty leave the poor woman alone” Deeks yells after the dog while running to catch up with him. When he does Monty has already commanded the lady’s attention.

“Why aren’t you just a sweetie” the woman tells Monty while petting him. A woman, whose pic didn’t really do her justice. Up close she appears soft, femine if he dared say that. Her wavy brunette hair frames her face, which at the same time seems to highlight her mismatched eyes. Wearing as simple tee and blue jeans, Deeks could definitely see some appeal there, if only she wasn’t a suspected murderer.

“I apologize ma’am, he got away from me.” As he bends down to grab the leash, Deeks flashes her his most pleasant smile, the one he knows all the ladies love but can’t resist.

“That’s alright, but I’d be careful if I were you” Kensi replies dead serious.

“Oh?” Just play it cool, she can’t possibly suspect already. Right? Quieting his internal monologue, Deeks squints his eyes, as if confused, possibly a little worried.

“Yeah, Mr. Williams down the hall doesn’t like dogs, he’ll complain night and day if you are not careful” She informs him. A beat later she smiles at him, which he can’t help but notice make her eyes light up.

Relieved he lets out the breath he didn’t know he was holding. Covering his relief, Deeks lets out a chuckle. Deeks turns on the charm with a smile. “Jason Wyler, I just moved into apartment B” He introduces himself while holding out his hand for her to shake.

“Kensi Blye” the woman replies while shaking his offered hand.

It seemed the universe was out to get her today. The only blessing she was afforded was that since her last op was over with, she got a few days off. Now if only she could find something clean to wear. Alas it was not meant to be, so she resigned herself to doing some laundry.
Just as she switched her load from the dryer to her basket Kensi noticed her new neighbor out of the corner of her eye. “No Monty today?”
“Nah he didn’t want to walk all the way down here and between you and me I think the basement scared him.” Deeks replies with a hint if teasing in his tone as he turns to face her.

“Well I won’t tell” Kensi says with a hint of teasing in her tone. “How are you this morning?”

“I’m good just got back from surfing and the waves were awesome...”

“So you’re a surfer, one of those guys…” She replies as she gathers her basket in her arms.

“One of those…” Deeks starts.

But before he could get another word out, she interrupts, “Yep. You could tell a lot about a person from their habits. Well, it was nice to see you again” She makes to leave but turns back toward Deeks. “Good luck with that” she says with a nod towards his own laundry that his basket wants to burst from the weight of it all. “These machines are really temperamental. If you’re not careful, your load will turn out pink before you know it.”

Baffled Deeks could only stare as she walks out of the laundry room.

***************

Not a week passes by before they run into each other again. This time their meeting is a little more public.

“Kensi I didn’t know you came here?” Deeks tells the back of Kensi’s head, surprise coloring his tone.

Turning around she puts a smile on her face “Deeks I didn’t know you came here either?”

“Well a certain hot neighbor of mine told me about a shop that sells the best doughnuts in town.”

Blushing Kensi excuses herself by saying “I have to get to work” choosing to ignore his hot neighbor comment.

“Report Detective, what have you learned.” Lt. Bates demands over the phone.

“Not much…I know she has an addiction to sweets especially doughnuts and Twinkies. She uses tide on her laundry. But that is probably
not what you are looking for.”

“Well that’s all very well and everything, but let’s not forget the reason you are there. Have you found any evidence of a crime?”

“No, she leaves her apartment at 7 in the morning and arrives back at various times in the evening.”

“Do you know what she has been up too?”

“No sir, as far as I can tell she’s just going about her day. Going to work and what not, I’m starting to doubt the legitimacy of our tipster. Have we located a body yet?”

“Not yet, keep your eyes open Detective. You have one week to find any evidence of a crime, then I’m pulling you out. You might want to step it up.”

“Here let me help you with that.” Deeks offers as he walks up and grabs a bag of groceries out of her arms when he sees her struggling to open her door in front of her apartment.

Now that she doesn’t have to juggle two bags and getting the key into the lock, Kensi unlocks her door and walks inside leaving it open for her neighbor to follow.

A pack rat. That is the first thing Deeks notices as he steps into her apartment. She is one of those people who keep whatever is given to her and keeps every keepsake in her life. As he walks in towards her breakfast bar, he notices that her kitchen overlooks her living room with a door on the far wall that is cracked open, allowing a glance at her bedroom. It strikes him as easily defensible with the open layout; there are not a lot of places to hide.

“Nice place you got here.”

“Oh… um… Thanks. Excuse the mess; I haven’t had the chance to clean today.”

“Or ever.” He mumbles.

Offended she demands, “What?!”

“What, no! What I meant was…. That…. Um….” For once he’s at a loss for words. Wincing he asked, “You heard that?”

A glare became is only answer.

“Okay…” he trails off as her gaze sharpens. Remember you’re in the home of a suspected murderer Deeks, don’t push it. “Sorry! I’m sorry. I didn’t mean…”

“Thanks for the help Wyler, I’ll see you around.” She cuts him off and starts to lead him out the door.

Once Deeks is in the hallway he turns quickly to face her, “Again I’m sorry, I have no idea where that came from.” Using his baby blues, he pleads with her, “Let me make it up to you. Say over dinner? Eight o’clock okay?”

She shuts the door in his face.

It was the perfect weather for an early morning jog before catching a few waves. Even though he is undercover, there is no excuse not to keep in shape. He thought the fresh air might help him come up with way to approach his target. Deeks was suddenly pulled out of his thoughts by Monty barking. He stopped for a quick second to see what Monty deemed worthy to bark about. And he couldn’t believe his luck.
“Fancy meeting you this morning,” He commented as he and Monty speed up to run right next to her.

Slowing down to a stop Kensi ignores him in favor of centering her attention on Monty, “Hey boy, having a good run?” She asks, while kneeling down to pet him.

In response Monty whines as if he knows what she is asking him. Normally Monty loves to sleep in. He thinks being up this early is a crime.
“You poor thing,” Kensi says in response to Monty’s whine. “Did the big bad man get you out of bed too early this morning?” She final looks up at Monty owner and smiles at the look her words put on his face, not realizing Deeks inner struggle.

For the most part Deeks was amused until she called Monty ‘you poor thing.’ He’s conflicted on how this woman could be capable of murder. Shaking his head to get rid of his inner thoughts and putting a smile on his face.

“So you jog? Maybe we could jog together sometime and get a bite to eat afterwards?” He asks with hope coloring his tones.

“Not in your dreams Wyler.” Kensi shoots back, “You’d think I’d go out with you after what you said about my apartment?” With that she pets Monty one last time, then gets up and jogs away, leaving Monty and him behind.

“Now what should I do?” Deeks asks Monty as he jogs in the opposite direction.

***************

Here’s hoping the Twinkies will work. He picked them up this morning on his way home, based on the advice of his fellow surfer buddies. They suggested flowers, but she doesn’t seem like the flower type. Maybe if this doesn’t work then he might try flowers. Leaving his apartment he walks next door to Kensi’s place. Knocking on her door, he knows she hasn’t left for work yet after seeing her car in the parking lot.

“What do you want?” Kensi snaps as she opens the door and glares up at him.

“Peace offering,” Deeks says while holding up the box of Twinkies. “Look I really am sorry about the other day. Forgive me?” Getting no response he pleads, “Please?”

Taking the box of Twinkies from him, she informs him, “Eight o’clock is fine with me.” With a cautious look on her face and then she shuts the door for the second time in his face.

Only one word comes to mind, “Sweet!”

Giving himself a mental pep talk he walks over to her place and knocks on the door. As the door opens he is shocked into silence for what seems like the hundredth time. She’s wearing a black mini with leggings underneath and a red top that compliments her.
Kensi laughs at the look on shock on his face. “You know, you can really catch flies with your mouth open like that.” Reaching up she closes his mouth with her finger, she asks, “Too much?”

“Noh…Noh…No not at all. You look perfect.” Shaking his head to clear it, he holds out his arm and says, “Shall we?”

“We shall,” she replies with a smile. She grabs her purse off the table by the door and locks up, all the while reaching out to grab his arm.
They then headed off.

**************

“The pier?” Kensi asks Wyler as they pull up.

“Yeah is that okay?” Deeks replies.

“Umm yeah, I’ve just never been before.”

“Well then, you’re in for a treat.”

They get out of the car and Deeks leads Kensi up the stairs and onto the landing of the pier. “Come on, we have a limited time before we have to go, reservations are at nine.”

“Mysterious. Okay, I’ll bite. What are we doing here?”

“You’ll see. Follow me.”

Deeks leads Kensi down the boardwalk of the pier and comes to a stop in front of the Ferris Wheel. Pulling money out of his pocket and handing it to the attendant he leads her over to their seat. As the attendant is strapping the bar closed Deeks looks over at Kensi and asks “Too Cheesy?” with a hesitant look on his face.

“No…It’s actually pretty sweet” Kensi says in reply to his hesitant look and giving him a smile to ease his fears. As the Ferris Wheel starts moving Kensi decides she wants to know a little bit about Jason Wyler. “So Wyler since we have a little time tell me about yourself?”

“Not much to tell really. Grew up in the same neighborhood all my life, had a mom and a dad and spent most days with Ray, my best friend. What about you? Any deep dark secrets?” Turning the attention off him and hoping to learn about her.

Laughing she replies “Nope, what you see is what you get.”

Yeah I’m not sure about that. A gasp broke out of his thoughts “What…” he trails off. They’ve reached the top and view is magnificent. Turning his head to look at her and seeing that she is looking at him, the moment is just too perfect not to pass up.

They both lean towards each other and suddenly they are kissing.

“Thanks for coming in” Lt. Bates says to Deeks. “We had another mysterious delivery, but this time he sent us a video tape.”

The first thing Deeks notices about the video is that there is no sound. The second thing is that the woman is definitely Kensi chasing a man that is most likely their victim Kevin Smith.

Kensi is chasing a man through this dark corridor. Suddenly they burst out onto the docks that are right next to the building.
It is obvious that whoever sent the tape also spliced the different security camera footage together.  Suddenly the figures stop running. The man obviously has nowhere to run unless he wants to take a swim in the ocean. He turns around and says something to Kensi and she pulls the trigger three times. The man is hit in the chest three times because Kensi never misses and he falls backwards into the ocean.
She walks up to the edge and seems to fire six rounds into the water and then when she turns around walks away you see a perfect image of her face.

“Well I think this is all the evidence we need.” Lt. Bates turns to Deeks from looking at the television.

“Arrest her.”

Deeks is watching the scene unfold from the window of his apartment not wanting to give himself away just yet.

Kensi is walking out the apartment building entrance when all of a sudden she is surrounded with cops shouting “LAPD…Get down on the ground and put your hands on your head.”

Kensi does just that not wanting to aggravate the police because they are pointing guns at her. She kneels on the ground and puts her hands on her head. One officer comes over to her and searches her, finding her gun at the small of her back and also finding her back up at her ankle.

Kensi is cursing herself because she left her badge in the glove box of her car. Although it wouldn’t do her much good because these cops aren’t giving her a chance to speak or even defend herself.

“You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney, if you cannot afford one, one will be appointed to you.” The cop reads Kensi her rights as he puts her in handcuffs and then proceeds to lead her over to the squad car. Putting her in the back he taps the roof so he can let the driver know it’s time to take the prisoner away.
Deeks takes a breath to prepare himself before he walks into the interrogation/interview room.

“Miss. Blye would you like to answer a few questions or would you like to wait for your lawyer to get here?” Deeks asks as he walks through the door.

At first Kensi is shocked the she gets mad and her eyes harden. “Let’s just get this over with.” Knowing that Hetty is on her way, a flag
should have been sent to Eric as soon as she was arrested.

“Have you ever met this man before?”

Choosing to remain silent, Kensi just glares at Deeks.

“Ok, how about you just listen then” Deeks reaches over and presses play on the voice recorder.

“Listen very carefully. What I am about to say has great importance. The woman in the photograph is very dangerous. She killed a man that goes by the name Kevin Smith. You won’t be able to find his body though. This isn’t the first time…”

Right when the recording gets to the part “this isn’t the first time” Deeks reaches over and turns it off and waits for her reaction.

Kensi just laughs in disbelief. “This is it? Is this all you have on me?”

Now Deeks reaches over and plays the video tape.

Suddenly the figures stop running. The man obviously has nowhere to run unless he wants to take a swim in the ocean. He turns around and says something to Kensi and she pulls the trigger three times.

And he presses pause when Kensi’s face comes into view after she pulled the trigger.

This finally gets a reaction out of her “Look you have it all wrong. This is just a misunderstanding. Someone is twisting the facts.”

Before Deeks can reply, the door opens and in steps Lt. Bates and a small woman who has a powerful presence.

“Detective Marty Deeks…” Deeks doesn’t hear a word that was said after that, instead he sat there speechless. He definitely doesn’t know what to say. This may have started out as an undercover op, but now he’s just a fool in love with Special Agent Kensi Blye of NCIS.