Happy Birthday, Hermionesmydawg! I heart you more than I heart this dumb show (which isn't difficult sometimes but still that's a lot!).

Deeks used every ounce of concentration to focus on the target ahead of him. He fired round after round, pretty pleased with his accuracy. All four team members were in the firing range, including his partner. Kensi was to his right, also showing impressive marksmanship. However, his focus was wavering as he noticed a pattern to her shots. Every single paper target ended up with a grouping of holes at the poor unfortunate two dimensional figure's crotch. Now she seemed to only do this when she was upset (very upset) with him, but the problem was that he had no idea why. He tried to ignore it, figuring he was just being paranoid. Maybe she was bored. Maybe she was hungry. Maybe she was mad at someone else.

Finally, after emptying her last clip, she placed her gun on the tray in front of her, and stormed out of the range without a word to anyone. By this time, Sam and Callen both noticed her firing pattern. They chuckled and shared knowing looks as they all took off their ear protection.

"Wow, great job, you guys." Deeks said, looking everywhere except at Kensi's target.

"Especially your partner, right?" Sam nodded towards the now vacant lane.

"I know I'd feel safe with her in the field." Callen said with a smirk. "Bad guys would be dropping their guns left and right to cover their junk."

"Yeah, she seemed to have some... um... impressive accuracy today..." Deeks nervously ran his hand over his jaw.

"Okay, Deeks. That's enough. Spill it. What'd you do?" Callen was obviously enjoying this, loving it when anyone other than himself was in trouble.

"What do you mean what'd I do?"

"Obviously you did something or else she wouldn't be that upset." Sam reasoned.

"How do you know she's upset?"

Sam rolled his eyes. "I don't know. Maybe we should ask the dozen or so crotchless victims she left in her wake."

"Yeah..." Deeks cringed. "That was pretty disturbing."

"Hell hath no fury." Callen teased.

"Look, I'm sure it's nothing and it'll probably all work itself out eventually." Even as he said this, Deeks knew how ridiculous it sounded.

"Listen to me. I'm the only one here who's married..."

"To who?" Deeks interrupted. "Michelle or Callen?"

Sam glared. "You want more than one federal agent with deadly aim mad at you?"

"Sorry." Deeks sighed. "Please, do continue."

"Trust me on this. You definitely did something. I've only seen one person have that effect on her and that lucky person is you."

"But what did I do?"

"If you honestly don't know, then you better figure it out and fast. Then apologize."

"Thanks... I think."

All three of their phones chirped at the same time. Eric was calling them to ops.

"Well, duty calls." Sam patted Deeks on the back. "Hopefully you can get this all sorted out before you end up trapped in a car with her all day."

"Thank you. Thank you so much."

As his luck would have it, he and Kensi were sent across town to interview a witness to a shooting. And to make it even better, there was stand-still traffic on the way. She hadn't said one word to him since leaving the mission and his racing mind wouldn't stop churning up images from her session at the range this morning. He winced, seriously debating whether or not he should just open the car door and run for his life.

Taking Sam's advice, he figured to fastest way to find out what was bothering her was to simply ask. He took a deep breath to steady himself. "Are you okay, Kens?"

She just stared straight ahead.

"I mean, that's kind of a stupid question because you stormed out of the firing range this morning after shooting the junk out of every target in sight and I know you only do that when something's bothering you."

"Or someone."

"Someone." He was relieved to finally hear her respond, but he was also more than a little scared. "Okay, now we're getting somewhere."

There was more silence, but he could see her tough exterior starting to crumble. She gripped the steering wheel tighter, closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Deeks... I'm..." She paused, like the words just wouldn't come to her.

"Kens, you know you can - "

"I'm late." She finally blurted out. "That's it. That's what's bothering me. I'm late."

"Late..." Deeks was going over every possible meaning of the word late. His brain seemed to grind to a screeching halt (much like the traffic outside), not understanding what should be blatantly obvious.

It seemed she would have to spell it out for him. "You know... I'm late as in 'I might be pregnant' late."

"Pregnant..."

"Yeah, that thing that happens when two people - "

Deeks held up his hand. "Yup, I... I got it."

Kensi let out an exasperated breath. "This is all Sam's fault."

"Um... what... how exactly is this Sam's fault?"

"Because he and I were talking about how things happen that you don't plan. Including kids. He said kids happen. And now I'm late and it's all his fault."

"Are you sure you know how babies are made? Because I'm almost entirely positive that's not how it happens."

"Shut up. You think I don't know that? Of course I know it's all your fault."

"Okay, now that's more like it."

"I can't do this. I seriously can't do this. I'm going to have two Deekses in my life. Two Deekses who never shut up. Constantly babbling and bothering me. This can't be happening to me."

"Kensi, Kensi, stop." He reached over and grabbed her hand. "Look at me."

She turned and met his gaze. Her anger and frustration and uncertainty began to melt away. His messy blonde hair, those perfect blue eyes, his slight smile... she couldn't help but smile back, amazed at how easily he went from being the source of her frustration to calming her with just a look.

"It's going to be okay. No matter what happens, we're in this together. Partners, right?"

"Partners." She whispered.

"So..." He ran his fingers along the back of her hand and up her arm. "Do you know anything for sure yet?"

"No, not yet. I bought the test, but I was hoping I wouldn't need to use it. You know... that it would just start and I could stop worrying about it."

"Stop worrying? I think we all know how that's been working for you."

She rolled her eyes. "Oh, touché."

"So how about we just find out if there's a reason to freak out before we start freaking out."

"Hold off on freaking out? Easier said than done."

"Then how about we find out as soon as possible? When we get home tonight?" His other hand brushed her wavy hair behind her ear.

She smiled, feeling a weight being lifted from her. She was still filled to the brim with anxiety, but now that he knew as well, she felt a little bit better. "Okay. We'll find out and then freak out. Maybe. Depending on what we find out."

Deeks smiled back at her, right before leaning over to kiss her. They were getting lost in each other, forgetting their surroundings until a long horn blast from the car behind them startled them and they broke apart.

"Um... looks like traffic's moving." Deeks chuckled.

"It is, partner. Well, here we go."

Deeks loved being the big spoon. Being so close to Kensi, smelling her hair, feeling her entire body next to him, listening to her breathing slowly even out as she drifted off to sleep. He loved the last few moments of the day when everything was calm and quiet and they were completely protected from the dangers of the world.

However, tonight she wasn't asleep like she normally would be. He couldn't see her face, but he knew her eyes were wide open.

"So..." He whispered as he kissed her neck. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." She sounded anything but fine.

"You sure?"

"I... I think so."

"I would have thought you'd be doing cartwheels in celebration." He chuckled. "You know, after the almost meltdown from earlier."

She gave him a slight jab with her elbow. "Very funny."

"I'm being kind of serious. I was expecting you to be... I don't know... more relieved."

"I am. I mean, it's how it should be. We're not ready to be parents. So, yeah... it's a good thing. Definitely... a good thing." She rolled over so she could face him. "How about you? You okay?"

"Yeah, I am." He placed his hand on her hip and brushed his thumb over her bare skin. "You're right, about not being ready, but I hope one day we will be."

"Yeah, I hope so, too." She traced her fingers across his chest and down his arm.

"I have to admit... I did let myself get a little excited at the idea."

She smiled. "It may surprise you, especially after the way I acted today, but I had a moment or two where I thought... maybe... just maybe, it would be nice if I really was pregnant."

"Really?"

"Yes, really."

"Wow." He grinned as he drew her closer. "I know we haven't seriously talked about this before, but I always figured you didn't want to start a family."

"Yeah, I thought so too. For I long time, I thought I'd be content to never be a mom. And I think I still feel that way. But... there are times where I feel like maybe someday I might want to. Especially knowing that you would be such a great dad."

He felt a tightness in his chest. Cupping her cheek, he guided her lips to his and gave her a sweet lingering kiss.

"You know what, Kens? No matter what, I'll be happy as long as I have you. Whether than means ninja assassins one day or not."

She smiled, blinking several times to stop tears from forming in her eyes. Oftentimes words failed her when she wanted to express herself and this was one of those times. So she decided to just show him instead as she hooked her leg around his hip and kissed him fiercely.

Sam was right when he said that things don't always go as planned. At the time he said it, it scared her to death. But she was starting to realize that even if something unplanned happen, even if it was scary, maybe these unplanned things could turn out to be really really great. And it was because she had him by her side. He made it all worth the risk.

"So, I take it you want to practice getting pregnant?" He smiled as she pushed his shoulders back and straddled his waist.

"Yes, lots of practice."

"You saying I need the practice?" He stuck his lip out, but his fake pouting wasn't fooling her for a second. "Just be gentle with me. I'd hate to end up looking like one of your targets from this morning."

She smiled against his lips. "No promises."