"He tried to cure me of it, and caught the flu himself," Kensi explained to Hetty over the phone. "Yeah, I'll take care of him. And I'll try to be in tomorrow."
Finally ending the call, she set her phone down and gave Deeks a look of part sympathy and part amusement.
"What?" he grunted.
"Missed me that much, huh?" she teased. "Get yourself sick too, so we end up spending twice as much time together?"
"Actually…" He sat up to make room for her on the couch. "You were supposed to get well so I could be the hero for doctoring you. My getting sick wasn't part of the plan."
Kensi sat down sideways to face him, raising a gentle hand to his forehead as he'd done to her for the past several days. "Well, you're definitely hot."
He grinned at her with one eyebrow raised at the implication.
"Feverish," she amended firmly.
"You said I'm hot."
She gave him a tight smile, rising to her feet. "And you can play patient and nurse all by yourself."
"No, Kensi!" he backtracked in protest as she abandoned him. "Wait — I'm sorry! Please?"
She turned back to look at him once before disappearing into her bedroom. Ignoring his presence in her apartment for a while, she brushed her teeth, showered, and put on a fresh set of clothes.
When she came back, she found Deeks in the kitchen where he now stood at the counter opening a can of chicken broth to pour into a small pan.
"That better not be for me," Kensi commented, reaching past him into the cupboard for a clean water glass.
He sniffed. "It's not."
She took pity on him. "Go sit down — I can do that."
Deeks let her take the pan of broth and set it on the stove, but he turned the burner knob himself to make sure it was on the right temperature to avoid scorching the broth.
"How much garlic do you use?" Kensi asked, opening the small jar of creamy minced garlic and peering inside.
Instead of answering, he came up behind her and reached around on both sides. Kensi was a tall woman, but even barefoot Deeks still had several inches of height on her. His left hand covered hers on the open jar as his right hand picked up a spoon.
It was a bold violation of her personal space…and any other time, Kensi would have given him an elbow to the gut to remind him of the boundaries that were supposed to exist between them.
But she just couldn't be mean to him while he was sick — and she really wasn't as opposed to the physical contact as she often tried to make him believe — so she allowed him a free pass this time.
Deeks stuck the spoon into the jar and pulled out a glob. "About that much."
Kensi peered up at him over her shoulder with a smile playing at her lips. "You could have just said 'a spoonful'."
He grinned down at her, awfully close. "Where's the fun in that?"
Kensi eyed him for a second longer before turning her attention back to the saucepan on the burner. "You gonna stir it in, or what?"
Her left hand was still held captive mid-air between Deeks' left hand and the jar, so Kensi turned the tables on him by putting her free hand over his to control the spoon.
The small jar of remaining garlic was seemingly forgotten until Kensi's hand finally moved to set it down. And even then, neither one of them let go of it immediately.
Deeks was walking on dangerous ground, and he knew it. Blame it on the fever — he could always claim delirium if necessary.
The prolonged contact between them was starting to affect Kensi, and she felt her cheeks grow warm as the hard muscles of her partner's chest and stomach pressed lightly against her shoulders and back.
She needed to put some space between them. "Why don't you go back to the couch?" she suggested, focusing her eyes on the pan of broth and garlic bits. "I'll bring you some when it's ready."
Deeks nodded. "Yeah…alright." His left hand slid away from hers, and his right allowed her to take the spoon.
Cool air rushed at her back as he stepped away, and Kensi wondered briefly if Deeks had felt the same goosebumps that she did.
She shook the thought from her mind and reached for a clean coffee mug, filling it with the steaming broth.
The garlic and broth smelled good — she was curious to see what it tasted like without a stuffed-up nose.
She brought the mug to her lips and took a sip.
The garlic was so strong she almost choked! Eyes watering, she grabbed her water and guzzled it down.
"Oh my god," she gasped. No wonder that stuff had cured her — that much fresh garlic could knock the congestion out of anything!
"Everything okay in there?" Deeks called out.
"Fine!" she croaked back, filling her water glass again.
"You tasted it, didn't you?" he laughed at her.
Kensi came through the doorway balancing the mug of broth, the glass of water, and a bowl of cereal. "How can you drink this? It's horrible!"
He laughed again at the expression on her face. "Not being able to taste it really helps," he answered, reaching for the mug. He took a large gulp. "Mmmmm."
Kensi shuddered, rejoining him on the couch with her water and cereal. "Gross."
"It does its job," Deeks replied easily, cupping both hands around the warm porcelain mug.
"Yeah, well...drink up, and then I'm driving you home."
"Aww, no more slumber party? I was looking forward to a good pillow fight."
She socked him with a small decorative couch pillow.
"Ow — I wasn't serious," he reneged. "And you almost knocked the cup right out of my hands."
"Oh, I wasn't anywhere near the cup. And it's almost empty, anyway."
He finished the last swallow, and the cup joined the coffee table.
"Put your shoes on," Kensi ordered him. "You're not riding in my car barefoot."
He sniffed and looked over at his discarded shoes. "Home's too far away. I think I'd rather stay here."
He started to lay down again but Kensi caught him. "No! No-no-no-no — Deeks!" She pushed against his shoulder to prop him back up. "No. You need to go home to sleep. And you probably need to let Monty outside for a while, too."
At the mention of his dog, Deeks sighed. "You're right. He's been shut inside since last night."
"And you don't want to find any 'surprises' on the floor," she pointed out.
"Party pooper," he accused, shoving his feet into his shoes.
He climbed out of the car with a dull throbbing in his head. He looked at the distance between himself and the front door of his apartment, and turned an entreating eye to his partner. "Could you carry me?"
A smile quirked at her lips. "You big baby." But she came around the car anyway and ducked under his arm to support him with her shoulder.
Deeks leaned on her gratefully but keeping in mind that Kensi still wasn't completely back to normal strength yet, herself.
Monty met them at the door, overjoyed that his master was finally home to let him outside for some bladder relief.
"You go on," Kensi told Deeks, slipping out from under his arm. "I'll take care of Monty."
"Thanks," he sniffled, his feet dragging him to the bedroom. He dropped heavily onto his bed, spreading his arms out to the sides at a diagonal with the mattress and closing his eyes.
He hated having the flu. It didn't wipe out his energy reserve like it did to Kensi — and yet he actually wished it would because that would still be better than what he normally went through with it.
Because when Marty Deeks had the flu, it usually plagued him with a contradicting mix of fatigue and restlessness. A feeling like he was antsy to do something, but too tired to actually do it.
And medicine only made it worse, which was why he preferred to doctor himself with nutrient-rich chicken broth and minced garlic.
He heard the front door shut, and Kensi rattled some dog food into Monty's bowl. Then he heard soft footsteps and his mattress dipped slightly.
Déjà vu, but in reverse. This time it was Kensi who perched on the edge of the bed.
"Do you want to drink some more garlic?"
He gave a two-syllable grunt in the negative.
"What — are you afraid of taking your own medicine?" she teased with a playful poke to his side.
He gave a congested sigh. "No…I just don't want any more right now."
Kensi wasn't going to force it on him. "If you change your mind, let me know."
"I thought you were dumping me here and taking off."
She shrugged a shoulder. "Thought I might stick around for a little while. I seem to recall my partner doing the same for me when I was sick."
He smiled. "That's 'cause your partner's awesome."
"Oh, yeah? So is yours."
"Yeah, she is," he agreed seriously, opening his eyes again to look at her. "You don't have to stay if you don't want to."
"Trying to get rid of me?"
"No…I just thought you might have better things to do than sit here staring at your handsome but flu-infected partner."
Kensi laughed softly. Boy, he sure did have a thing about his looks. The worst part was that it was actually more honesty than it was vanity.
"Get some rest," she said, rising from the bed. "I'm going to see if Monty wants to go for a walk."
"Have fun," Deeks answered. "Kensi?" he called before she could leave.
She came back to stand by his head. "What?"
"Bring me a blanket?"
She just looked at him. "Deeks…you're laying on your blankets — just get under them."
"Too much work," he responded tiredly.
Kensi sighed. "Move over."
Deeks rolled onto his stomach to occupy one-half of the bed, and Kensi managed to tug the blankets down enough so that he could poke his legs under them without too much effort. But first, she had to yank his shoes off his feet.
It didn't seem to bother Deeks to be in bed with his jeans on, so Kensi pulled the blankets over him for warmth.
"Now rest," she ordered, giving his blanket-covered backside a spontaneous slap before leaving the room for good.
Deeks grinned to himself. Someday he was going to get away with slapping her rear, too.
Kensi took Monty out to circle the block a few times and bark at the squirrels.
Deeks was fast asleep when they came back, and Kensi didn't see any reason to stay longer, so she snuck back out and locked the doorknob behind her.
She'd check on him again tomorrow evening after work.