Title: Partners in Time

Author: AnitaB

Author's Notes: Kensi and Deeks are dealing with his recent shooting in their own ways. But somewhere in the process, things will start changing for both of them. Kensi/Deeks romantic smut ahead (eventually, he's not allowed to bust open his stitches… again).

I own nothing from NCIS: LA and make no money. No infringement is intended and no money is made. Thoughts are inside of /\\.

Partners in Time

By AnitaB

Chapter one: Partner's Guilt

He'd never looked so hot in his whole misbegotten life. Droolable hot. Lickable hot. Biteable hot.

At least in her own head, she should be honest, completely honest. No man she'd ever seen in her life had ever looked so hot. Even wrapped in bloody bandages.

And the second he was healed enough that he wouldn't break open his wounds by walking along a sidewalk… or running and shooting… and saving her life… yet again… then Kensi was going to beat him half to death. She was going to unwrap all those bandages to find her scars on his chest and then she was going to hit him in the face. Just once, really, really hard. Right before she wrapped both arms around his neck and kissed him breathless.

And maybe if she was luckier than she had any reason to be, just maybe Deeks would kiss her back.

Right now she was going to bite back the urge to yell at him and get him back into his hospital bed as soon as she could. He wasn't even capable of standing without the wall for support. It was an excuse, but a reasonable one. So she wrapped an arm around his shoulders and helped him to the ground, bracing him upright against her side. Kensi couldn't yell at Deeks yet, so the hospital staff would have to do. "Can we get a wheel chair out here!"

"I ran down a flight of stairs and across the lobby to get to you in time. Give me a minute and I'll make the walk back to bed." He didn't even make it through the first sentence without stopping for breath three times, there was no way in hell she was letting him walk three fucking steps.

"Yeah right, Deeks. I think wimpy little girl guns are your kryptonite. Now Clark Kent gets to take a few minutes to rest right here on this lovely patch of sidewalk until Nurse Debbie gets here with your wheel chair." Kensi shifted against his back, her hand resting on his ribs to measure his breathing. "Maybe if you're nice to her, she'll redo your bandages and throw in the stitches you broke open before your sponge bath."

He laughed, a sharp little wheezing sound that both made her smile and put an ache in her chest. "Maybe after a few days under this earth's yellow sun, I won't need the stitches at all."

A tech appeared at her elbow with a wheel chair. /Think it took you long enough?\\ Kensi glared at him for a moment and changed her grip on the man in her arms. "Remind me to buy you a sun lamp, Superman, but right now we've got to get you off the ground." The tech and a nurse tried to nudge her aside, but Kensi wasn't about to let go now. The only person within five feet that had a chance in hell of out-stubborning her was the one bleeding on the sidewalk. "I got him, you get the chair."

Even so drained that she didn't know why he was still conscious, Deeks managed a smile as she moved in front of him to wrap her fingers around his biceps. "So this mean you're gonna be my Lois Lane, Kens?" She waited to respond until his hands got a solid grip on her arms.

"You got amnesia again? I'm Wonder Woman. Now, on the count of three we're standing. You ready, man of steel?" At his nod, she started the count. On three they pushed, braced and got him on his feet just long enough for the chair to be pushed against the backs of his knees. The pain on his face made her breath catch in her throat in time with his little breathless groan. "Almost there, just hold on tight."

Kensi stepped in closer, tightening her grip to help him balance on the way back down. He gritted his teeth at the impact with the seat, trying to cover it with a smile and a joke. "Not too tight. Wouldn't want to leave fingerprints on Wonder Woman's bones."

Now she didn't have an excuse for his skin under her hands, but she wasn't quite ready to pull back. Kensi laid a weak punch into the shoulder opposite the bandages. "Try me, tights boy. I could wipe the floor with you right now with one finger." All of her fingers were cold as she finally forced herself to let go of his hands. Turning to the nurse, she tried not to glare at the woman. It wasn't Debbie's fault that Deeks was a flirt. "Get him upstairs and keep him there this time." A quick glance at the road behind her showed Sam and Callen taking care of the crime scene like she should be doing. "I'll be right behind you, Deeks."

Trying to drag her eyes off him, Kensi turned just in time to see Sam start to smile and try to stop. There was no way in hell that she wouldn't hear about this later. "Hey, Kensi, come here a sec."

She shouldn't feel cold just because Deeks was getting further away with each second. He was safe. They were taking him back inside to patch him up. By the time she made it back up to her chair in his room, Deeks would be re-stitched and rewrapped. No blood on the outside and maybe enough pain medication on the inside to keep her from aching sympathetically. Nope, they'd have to put him out for her to completely lose the ache in her chest. And then he couldn't joke with her. "What've you got, Sam?"

"Dead people we haven't IDed just yet. Now get your scrawny butt inside that hospital. G and I got this, you go get your partner." She was smiling and she knew it. Kensi moved to hand Sam her gun, ballistics were necessary even on legitimate shootings, when he shook his head. "Keep it, it's not like we don't know where to find you both."

"Thank you," This time she didn't even wait for the elevator, just took the stairs two and three at a time. Kensi stepped into the room just as the doctor peeled back the gauze. Deeks was staring down at his chest with a look of morbid fascination. It made her look too. Not a good idea and if he kept looking so would she. Kensi rationalized the claiming of his hand between both of her own as a quick way to get his attention. "So what was the first really cool comic you bought?"

His eyes flicked down to their joined hands before he gave her a smile. "I actually shoplifted the first one. But don't tell Hetty."

"Your secret's safe with me." His fingers tightened on hers as the doctor did something that made him make a little pained noise. Kensi just squeezed back and kept talking. Distraction was part of the job. "But I wouldn't bet on her not knowing already. Hetty is just that good."

000

He watched the gun point at his chest, knowing that the second shot would finish the job the first one had already started. Marty Deeks drew in a sharp breath and waited to die on the floor of a mom and pop's. At least this way he wouldn't live to see the disappointment on Kensi's face at the story of him getting shot in a robbery. But he wouldn't close his eyes before it happened. And the cashier would tell her he'd been brave before the end.

The pain made his breath catch as he jerked halfway to sitting, but he wasn't on the floor. Deeks looked around for a mindless second before the rest of the day came flooding back. He was in a hospital room with a fresh set of bandages on his gunshot wounds that had been stitched up twice already. And he wasn't alone even at three in the morning. Kensi was asleep in the chair next to his bed, her fingers still holding his tightly. But at some point since they'd pushed the sedative into his IV, she must have let go of his hand long enough to eat his jello again. That was fine with him. He'd trade jello for the feel of her hand in his any fucking day.

/God, Kensi.\\ She was beautiful. But she was so much more than just beautiful. Kensi was strong, smart, a good fighter and a better shot. She was so much more than he was worthy of, as a partner or a friend. And she was here, sleeping at his side with her fingers twined through his in a grip he would never get enough of. "Kensi," Deeks twisted enough to run the fingertips of his free hand along the curve of her cheek.

"She's might just kill you if she wakes up like that." Sam's voice made him jump just a little but he didn't let his hands jerk against her skin. "You ever notice something when she crashes at the office? We wake her from across the room with her name or little basketballs made of paper." The black man leaning against his hospital wall mimed hitting the sleeping woman with a perfect arcing shot. Something in his back tightened in an automatic protective gesture.

His Kensi was a bit… tetchy… about personal space when she wasn't undercover. Deeks felt his lips curving on their own. "Which one of you did she hit the first time?"

"The first and only time, it was G. Poor boy had a black eye for almost a week. You shoulda heard the lies he told about how he got it." Sam let out a low chuckle and finally moved off the wall to take the chair on the other side of the hospital bed. "But that's not what I wanted to talk to you about."

Deeks had known this talk was coming when he'd been staring down the barrel of a gun. /Don't let yourself have a routine. Keep your activities varied and be aware of tails.\\ He let his fingers cling a little tighter to Kensi's fingers. It was his fault that his partner had almost been kidnapped and tortured, all because he took his morning run at the same time and stopped at the same store afterward. "I fucked up, Sam, I know that. They used me to get to Kensi, I nearly got her killed, and it will not happen again."

"Good, 'cause you didn't really have a choice in the matter. I will beat security measures into your head if it takes a two-by-four."

Deeks tried not to stare down at the woman still sleeping peacefully at his bedside. No beating would be necessary. He never wanted to watch her almost get dragged into a van again. He wanted to keep his partner safe. "What do I need to do first?"

The first lesson was less painful than he'd expected and somehow Kensi managed to sleep through the lecture. A short time later, Sam set a detailed map of Deeks' neighborhood on the bedside table and stood with a low-toned last reminder. "Remember nothing the same all the time. Different names, different locations, every single day."

"Got it," He glanced down to check on Kensi. Yup, her eyes were still doing the dreaming dance behind her eyelids. "Can you get Eric started on some extra names for me? I might burn through a few before I get the hang of this."

"I'm on it," Sam hesitated in the doorway a second and gave the injured man a smile. "But you should take Kensi's example and try for some sleep. You just got shot this morning. Goodnight, Deeks."

"Goodnight." The door swung shut silently and Deeks couldn't help but think about something Sam had say. And it wasn't the advice (read orders) about his security measures. It was Kensi. She'd been working with Sam and Callen for years, but she still lashed out at them. But when he'd touched her cheek, the sleeping woman had merely pressed a little closer. Deeks had only been her partner for a few months, but she had to trust him in order to be so vulnerable with him, to sleep holding his hand like a teddy bear.

He didn't deserve her, wasn't worthy of her trust and loyalty. But he would be. Deeks had meant what he said to Sam. He would not be a danger to Kensi again. He would become a partner worthy of her trust, worthy of her loyalty. He would be the one to save her, not put her at risk.

Even if it killed him. Deeks found his hand moving on its own, his fingers brushing a lock of dark hair off her face. "I promise you, Kens, I promise I'll be better."

She shifted, tucking the hand intertwined with his under her chin. Then her voice did something to his nerves. "Hmm, Marty, izzit time for work?" Kensi's eyes fluttered and her grip tightened. She was about to wake up and see him staring at her like… really he had no idea what was on his face, but he certainly wasn't ready to have her sharp eyes taking him apart. There was no way in hell that Kensi wouldn't be able to see something in his eyes, something he wasn't ready to deal with just yet.

"Shh, Kens, go back to sleep." He twisted in the bed, biting back a small pain sound in order to rub her back soothingly. "It's not time to get up yet."

She cuddled his fingers closer against her skin. "M'kay, 'night."

"'Night, Kensi." He kept rubbing her back until her breathing evened out and her hands relaxed. But he wasn't going to get much sleep himself. /Fuck, Kensi, what am I supposed to do about this?\\ It was at least an hour before he fell back to sleep and the whole time his brain was circling around and around Kensi's instinctual acceptance of him and the sound of his first name on her lips.

000