"You owe me a sponge bath."
She raised an eyebrow at him. "Oh, really? How do you figure?"
"You promised me one the next time I got shot."
"Deeks, you were shot with a BB gun — not an actual bullet."
"It still hurt."
"You have a tiny bruise," Kensi reminded him tersely. "When you're actually bleeding, come see me."
"You two wanna wrap this up and maybe help us out here?" Callen's voice came through the comms they both wore.
"We're coming in," Kensi answered, all business. "Where are you guys?"
"Second floor," Sam's voice now relayed. "Southeast corner."
Gunshots exploded over the level above as Kensi and Deeks entered the bottom floor of the warehouse.
But two suspects managed to escape the chaos upstairs and were running for the exit below when the agent and detective cut off their route.
"Federal agent!" Kensi shouted, not for the first time that day. "Freeze!"
"LAPD," Deeks chimed in right behind her, his gun drawn just like hers. "Don't move!"
But criminals never listened. One fired off a round while the other bolted for the opposite direction.
"I've got him," Kensi tossed to her partner, going after the runner.
Taking cover behind some huge steel barrels, Deeks held his own against the remaining guy until the suspect — in a last-ditch effort — blindly fired his last bullet before taking off in the same direction his companion had fled.
It was a million-to-one shot, and it nailed Deeks right in the shoulder.
His bicep felt on fire. Yes, he'd been shot before — but not right there in the middle of his arm muscle.
"Kensi," he gasped into the comm in his ear, knowing he wouldn't be able to catch the guy now. "I think he's heading your way!"
His partner immediately responded through the technology. "Deeks? You okay?"
He was not even in the zip-code of okay. "Bullet," he ground out painfully, falling against the wall and sinking to the floor. "Real one. God, that hurts!"
"Hold on, Deeks — I'm coming!"
"Definitely worse than a BB," he managed to add just before everything went black.
He woke with a sharp inhale and a soft "Ow."
"Welcome back to the land of the living," a familiar voice greeted with unmistakable relief.
Kensi's face swam into focus.
Something was holding one of his hands immobile and he groggily realized that it was her hand pinning his to the thin mattress of the hospital bed.
It felt nice having their hands together like that, palm-to-palm. The two of them had grown even closer after nursing each other back to health from the flu several months ago, and he missed the frequent physical contact they'd shared during their respective recoveries.
But now her hand was in his, their fingers entwined. And to his disappointment, she now let go.
"You really need to stop doing this," she said lightly, covering her emotion at seeing him incapacitated again.
"What's that?"
"Getting yourself shot," she clarified. "It's not good for you, you know."
Deeks inhaled another deep breath, shifting a little in the hospital bed. "Maybe you should tell that to the guys who keep shooting me."
"Maybe my gun already did."
He didn't doubt that.
"Sam and Callen?" he asked about their other two teammates.
"They're fine," Kensi answered with a teasing smile. "They're better at ducking bullets than you are."
The retort on his tongue was forgotten as a nurse came in. But she wasn't as pretty as Kensi and she had a big diamond on her ring finger, so he didn't really bother with any flirting.
The nurse left and Kensi gave him a strange look, laying her hand on his forehead to check his temperature.
"What?"
Her hand dropped to her side. "I'm not sure…I think you forgot to flirt with the nurse. Are you dying?"
"Did you see the size of that rock on her finger?" Deeks replied. "She's either married or engaged, so what's the point?"
A brief smirk flitted across her lips. "When has that ever stopped you?"
"I draw the line at flirting with married women," he informed her seriously. "And some engaged ones, too. But if my single partner wants to play nurse for me again, I promise to flirt with her," he added impishly.
Kensi bit back her first response and asked instead, "How's your bullet hole?"
He tilted his head to look at his own left shoulder. "Hurts."
"Good thing it wasn't your right arm, or you'd really be crippled with a gun."
He smiled at the teasing lilt to her voice. "I'll have you know that I can shoot just as well with my left hand as I do with my right."
"But he can't duck worth a damn," a deep male voice sounded from the doorway as Sam strode in with Callen on his heels.
"Maybe if they added sleeves to bulletproof vests, it might help," Deeks answered with a grin.
"How you feeling?" Callen asked.
"Great. Kensi was just about to give me a sponge bath." Deeks winked at her.
She scoffed, coloring slightly. "I was not."
He chuckled. "You totally were."
"You're delirious."
"Delirious?" he echoed, milking her discomfort for all it was worth. "I think you mean delicious."
"And I'm leaving before this gets any grosser," Callen commented, moving back toward the door.
"No kiddin'," Sam answered in disgust, turning to follow his partner.
Kensi watched the other half of their team retreat through the door less than a minute after they'd arrived.
She couldn't help the amused grin that graced her face as she turned back to her own partner. "What kind of drugs are they giving you?"
Deeks smiled widely himself. "Don't know…but they sure are good."
When he was released from the hospital, Kensi insisted on being the one to drive him home.
Deeks didn't really care who drove him, but he was touched by his partner's attentiveness in his current state of injury.
She wouldn't let him have more than one of the massive pain pills the doctor had prescribed, and that was probably a good thing because right now he felt like swallowing the entire bottle to get rid of the pain his shoulder was still in.
"I smell like a combination of that warehouse and the hospital," he complained mildly in an effort to take his mind off the throbbing. "Like motor oil and disinfectant."
"No shower," Kensi automatically vetoed. "You have to keep your wound dry."
"Bath, then. I'll be careful."
"Bath," she agreed. "I'll start it — you go sit." She unlocked the door with his key and let Monty out as Deeks disappeared inside.
He sank into his couch, the irony not lost on him that this was quite reminiscent of the time Kensi had nursed him back to health after he'd caught her icky flu germs.
But he hadn't gotten a sponge bath that time. Maybe he would this time…
Deeks couldn't help a wry chuckle. That was one promise he never actually expected to collect from Kensi Blye no matter how long he lived.
Not for lack of trying, though.
He heard the bath water running, and hoped Kensi added some of the bubble bath that he liked to keep a handy bottle of.
"Bath's ready," Kensi informed him after a while, returning to the livingroom.
"Bubbles?" Deeks asked hopefully.
She smirked a little. "Zillions of them."
"Awesome." He dragged himself up off the couch.
"I'm gonna see if I can scrounge us up some dinner." And Kensi went to the kitchen.
She was happy to find a complete stir-fry meal-in-a-bag in Deeks' freezer, and set to work cooking it while he bathed.
She turned off the burner and the sizzling in the skillet died down just in time for her ears to pick up on her partner calling her name.
She set a lid over the food to keep it warm and went to check on him.
"Deeks? You okay in there?" she called through the closed door.
"Not really," he answered in a tired and stiff tone. "I think I need your help."
Oh, crap. She couldn't imagine what he needed her help with, but she knew it couldn't possibly be good.
Maybe he just needed a towel, she hoped. She could close her eyes and blindly hand him one, and force herself not to peek as he lifted his naked, dripping body from the sudsy water and…
She blushed at the image in her mind and shook it away, swallowing hard.
"Kens? Are you still there?"
She swallowed again, for a fleeting moment seriously considering walking away and leaving him to fend for himself.
But he was her partner, he was injured, and he needed her.
Suck it up, Blye, she told herself. You can do this.
With a deep breath, she turned the doorknob and stepped inside the bathroom.
Deeks was still reclined in the tub, looking a little pale and thankfully covered from the midsection down with fluffy bath bubbles.
"Believe it or not, I really didn't want to have to ask you this…" He gazed up at her pitifully with real pain on his face and a wash cloth in his hand. "But would you help me?"
Oh dear god…that sponge bath was going to happen after all.
The very thought completely paralyzed her.
"I just can't move my left arm very well to reach my right side," Deeks explained a little awkwardly.
Kensi swallowed the lump in her throat for the third time that day.
"You better keep your hands to yourself," she warned lightly to diffuse the tension she felt in the air.
He smiled through the pain. "I promise."
She was grateful that his claw-foot tub had ample space all around to allow her to kneel on the floor behind him.
Accepting the wet cloth, she lathered it with soap and forced herself to feign professional detachment as she ran it down his bare back and across his broad shoulders.
To his credit, Deeks didn't say a word. Not one single flirtatious comment that might make her abandon her task and threaten to drown him instead.
She smoothed the soapy cloth down his right arm, almost wishing in the back of her mind that there was no such material between her hand and his muscular flesh.
Maybe someday.
But for now, she dipped the cloth into the water and brought it back to his skin to rinse away the soap suds.
"Do you want your hair washed, too?" she asked nicely.
"Yeah…if you wouldn't mind," Deeks answered, surprised that she offered.
Kensi squeezed a small amount of shampoo into her hand and gently worked it into a lather in his hair.
Her heart was pounding. How many times had she stared down gun barrels and deflected sharp punches and kicked away slashing knives?
And yet somehow none of that compared to the effect she felt at helping her partner bathe. Because this was going to be the death of her.
But lord, what a way to go!
She reached for the nearby pan that she figured he used for rinsing his hair, and filled it with clean warm water from the tub faucet.
"Tilt your head back," she ordered softly.
He did so, closing his eyes as the water poured over him.
Kensi repeated the action with more clean water until the shampoo was all gone, very careful to keep the soap and water away from the bandage-covered bullet wound on his left shoulder.
"Conditioner?"
"Always," he confirmed.
She applied conditioner to his hair and rinsed again.
But Deeks didn't squint in time and some of the water ran into his eyes, making him jerk away suddenly and causing Kensi to somehow splat herself with the rest of the water.
She dropped the pan into the tub and faced him in concern. "Are you okay?"
"My eyes are burning," he choked out, squeezing them shut.
Kensi winced in sympathy. "Why didn't you close them?"
"I was distracted by someone's fingers in my hair," he admitted easily.
She sighed softly. The poor guy — first a BB, then a real bullet, then watery hair conditioner in his eyes.
And here she was, taking care of him again. Much like she'd done after he'd caught her flu germs from taking care of her.
She retrieved the pan and rinsed the soap suds away inside and out. Then she refilled it with clean water — slightly cool this time, and put the handle in her partner's grasp.
"Flush it out of your eyes," she told him. "And then I'll finish rinsing your hair."
Deeks forced his eyes to stay open as he hesitantly poured the clean water into them. As much as they burned, he couldn't help thinking that it was still better than pepper spray to the face.
"I think that's as good as it's gonna get," he said, handing the empty pan back to Kensi.
She finished rinsing his hair in silence, extra extra-careful this time to avoid both his shoulder and his eyes with the water.
On impulse she put her fingers into his freshly-rinsed hair and ruffled a handful of it loose from his scalp, sending water droplets everywhere and making Deeks laugh.
"Please tell me you can get dressed by yourself?" she asked in all seriousness, done with her task and standing to leave.
He briefly considered teasing her, but thought better of it since she was being such a good sport about helping him. "I can get dressed by myself."
Even through his reddened eyes he could see she was visibly relieved. Not that he could blame her…if he'd had to help Kensi get dressed he wasn't sure he'd be able to handle that either.
"Good." She left the bathroom, shutting the door behind herself.
Deeks pulled the plug from the tub drain and rose, careful not to strain the bandaged stitches in his left shoulder.
He wrapped a fluffy towel around his hips and faced the mirror.
He combed his hair out and then tousled it back into shape with another towel.
With his electric shaver, he shortened up the facial hair that had grown out over the past few days, thinning it to a nice barely-there stubble.
He finished with some soothing eye-drops, then he left the bathroom and entered his bedroom to get dressed.
Clad in his favorite comfy flannel pajama pants and a faded t-shirt, he found Kensi in his kitchen again.
She stood at the stove re-heating the lukewarm stir-fry, and it took him a second to realize she'd changed part of her wardrobe too.
"You're wearing one of my shirts."
She shrugged. "You got mine all wet."
"I did?" he echoed, confused. "When?"
"When you forgot to blink against the soapy waterfall."
"Oh. Sorry." Damn…Kensi in a wet t-shirt? He wished he hadn't missed that!
But now he had tangible fodder for his fantasy of seeing her clad in one of his t-shirts. Although his fantasy usually involved him taking his shirt off of her…
"It's just a shirt," Kensi replied casually. "It'll dry." She turned off the burner and pulled two bowls from the cupboard, filling them with stir-fry food.
Deeks grabbed two forks and sat down at the table.
"We should re-bandage your arm later," Kensi said, setting a bowl in front of him and taking one of the forks. "Keep it nice and clean."
He smiled inwardly at her use of the word 'we'. She didn't appear to be in a rush to leave him by himself anytime soon. And she seemed perfectly willing to play nurse for him again since he'd taken a bullet to the arm.
They ate their dinner together and then retired to the livingroom for a while.
"Monty, come here." Deeks patted the couch cushion beside him.
But his dog only lifted his head for a second before going back to sleep and totally ignoring him again.
"Traitor," he accused the canine with a pout.
Kensi looked at Deeks, amusement clearly written on her face. "Do you need to cuddle?"
He grinned unashamedly. "Yeah, I think I do."
Kensi was probably going to regret this, but she did it anyway. "Alright, come here." She sat on the end of the couch and waved a hand toward herself.
"Really?"
"Really. Come on."
Deeks couldn't believe his luck. "If you say so."
And like he'd done only once before in his life, he stretched out on the couch with his head in his partner's lap and his good shoulder lightly pressed against her flat stomach.
"Thank you," he said, quite pleased with this turn of events.
"Just don't make a habit of it," was all Kensi replied.
"Why are you being so nice to me?" Deeks asked suddenly and quite bluntly. "Who are you, and what'd you do with my real partner?"
Surprised (and a little offended), she looked down at him. "Do you want me to stop being nice to you?"
His blue eyes gazed back up at her. "No…I just want you to be honest. 'Cause let's face it, Kens — the pseudo-sponge bath, dinner, cuddling…this isn't you. So what's up?"
She sighed, answering quietly, "It was my fault. If I'd stayed with you instead of running after the other guy…maybe you wouldn't have gotten shot."
So that's what it was. Guilt.
"Or he might have shot you instead," Deeks argued simply.
"Or we could have shot him."
"Or he could've shot both of us," he continued stubbornly. "We can't afford to second-guess ourselves. It happened, it's done, we're both alive to tell about it."
"Yeah," she agreed softly. But next time, she wasn't going to be so quick to leave his side during a shoot-out.
Deeks lifted one hand to touch her face, his fingers trailing briefly down her cheek. "Don't blame yourself, Kens. I don't blame you."
She nodded silently, but that was easier said than done.
"I mean it," he stated firmly. "If you keep blaming yourself for this, I'm gonna kick your ass for a change."
Kensi exhaled a laugh. "I'd like to see you try it."
Deeks chuckled too and smothered a yawn. "Sorry…I guess that horse-pill's finally kicking in."
"Sleep," his partner told him, brushing soft damp curls off his forehead with gentle fingers. "I'm not going anywhere."
Kensi's bladder seemed to wake up just as Deeks drifted off to sleep. She held it as long as she could, and eventually slid out from under the upper half of his body without jostling him very much.
He appeared to still be sound asleep, probably thanks to the heavy-duty pain meds she was keeping a careful eye on.
When she came back from the bathroom, she knew there was no way she'd be able to reclaim her previous spot without waking her partner. So she took the other end of the couch instead, lifting his bare feet and resting them in her lap.
She had a small urge to see if his feet were ticklish, but she squashed it simply because he needed his rest.
He drifted back to consciousness, realizing even through his haze that Kensi's legs were no longer under his shoulders.
But his feet were propped on something that felt familiar, and he lifted his head to peer down the length of the couch.
Seeing the movement, Kensi turned her head toward him too, and a devilish grin appeared on her face as she tickled one of his feet.
"Hey!" Deeks jerked his very ticklish feet away from her hands and gingerly sat up. "There are other ways to take advantage of a guy's weakness, you know."
"Just testing your reflexes, partner," she replied easily. "Come here — I want to check your shoulder."
He shifted closer, holding his short sleeve up and out of the way.
She carefully peeled away the white bandage tape and lifted the square of gauze to inspect the wound beneath.
It looked pretty good — for a bullet hole, that is — so she taped a new sterile cover in place and pulled his sleeve back down. "Seems to be okay."
"At least until my arm falls off," Deeks added. "How long does gangrene take to set in?"
"Oh, you're funny," Kensi replied without a trace of humor. "Let it get infected, and you'll wish it fell off."
"You wanna check my BB bruise, too?" he asked with a playful grin. "Maybe kiss it and make it better?"
Her glance dipped to his right thigh where the BB had struck him the other day. "Thanks, but I think I'll pass."
"Suit yourself." He shrugged his good shoulder and leaned back on the couch, propping his bare feet up comfortably on his coffee table.
Kensi mimicked his pose, resting her boot-clad feet beside his. She knew she ought to go home and give him some space and some quiet…but for some reason she couldn't explain, she just didn't want to leave.
And Deeks seemed to sense that. "You wanna watch TV with me?" he offered, reaching for the remote control.
"Sure."
He found a movie and they watched it together…or rather, she watched the movie.
He mostly watched her.
Kensi could feel his eyes on her in the semi-darkness, and although she was pretty much used to it from him by now, it still unnerved her at times.
She turned her head to say something about it, but her words died on her lips as she realized just how intently he was gazing…and just how close their faces were to each other.
Deeks glanced at her mouth for half a second before he threw caution to the wind and closed the distance between them.
She held her breath as his lips brushed lightly across hers…once, twice — warm and gentle and incredibly sweet.
There was no denying the spark between them, the one that had presented itself from the very moment they'd met and had only kept on growing as their partnership built over time.
"Damn it, Deeks," she exhaled in a whisper as his lips released hers. "Why'd you have to do that?"
He searched for a reason — something that hopefully wouldn't get his ass kicked. But there was no reasonable explanation, no cover story to hide behind…it was just Deeks and Kensi.
And all he could come up with was, "Because I wanted to."
She just stared at him with dark eyes, stunned by the spontaneous kiss and the wealth of meaning behind it.
Well, at least she wasn't hitting him.
He took advantage of her shock and kissed her again, longer that time, and finally he felt her start to return it.
Encouraged, he deepened it. One of his hands found her waist and then his arm slipped behind her and his hand splayed open on her back.
And all of a sudden both of her hands were planted unyieldingly against his chest.
Breaking the kiss, Kensi pulled back, breathless. "What are we doing?"
"Kissing, I thought," Deeks answered easily, catching his own breath.
"We shouldn't," she insisted weakly. "We're partners. It's wrong."
"It doesn't feel wrong to me," he responded softly, disappointed that she thought it was.
But out of respect for her, he pulled his arm away and sat back to give her some space.
Her mind was in a whirl. Kensi didn't know what to say…what to do…what to think.
She sat back too, inhaling deeply and looking anywhere but near him.
Kissing her partner was wrong, she told herself. Letting her partner kiss her was wrong.
Then why did it feel so damn right?
She snuck a peek at him out of the corner of her eye.
Deeks was focused on the TV once more but it was almost as if he was looking through it instead of at it with an unreadable expression on his face.
Kensi already regretted pushing him back.
As stupid as it was to kiss her partner, somehow it felt even stupider to stop kissing him. Because she liked the feel of his arm around her. She liked the taste of his lips on hers.
And she liked the idea of herself and Deeks being more than just partners.
Kensi touched his forearm, her hand lingering on the hard muscle until he finally looked at her again.
"It doesn't feel wrong to me, either," she admitted quietly, her eyes focused intently on his in the semi-darkness.
His face softened into almost a smile. "You sure about that?"
She nodded. "I'm sure about that."
And to prove it to him (and herself), she allowed one of her hands to cup his stubble-covered cheek before she leaned up and pressed a small kiss to his lips.
She gave him one more for good measure…and thankful that he didn't push for anything further than that just yet, she drew back just a little and leaned her head against his good shoulder.
Satisfied with that for the time being, he tilted his own head to rest his cheek against the crown of her head.
His hand found hers, and their fingers twined together in the promise of something more.
The End.