A/N: I'm back! Sort of...December is nutso people. I'm too tired to write. Or even think about writing. But I've had this one on the back burner so I polished it up as a reassurance for you all that I'm alive and well. I know you were worried :) So this is an early days fic, sometime in the vicinity of late Season 1/early Season 2 before our most favorite couple learned that they were madly in love with one another. Enjoy!

"Oh my god, Kat! Tell us all about your new man!" Tiffany demanded excitedly over the din of the club.

Kensi took a sip of her drink and smiled. She hadn't been out with the girls in months and it was a nice change of pace. In fact, if her co-workers saw her here, they might not even recognize her, dressed in black lace and six-inch heels, a very pink, fruity drink in her hand. Here she wasn't Kensi Blye, Federal Agent. Instead she was KayKay, Party Girl Extraordinaire. Bubbly, fun, and all girl with not a duty weapon or murder suspect in sight. It was a relief to pretend to be someone else for a little while.

"Well…" Kat's eyes sparkled, "His name is Tim and he's a doctor."

"Ooh!" Kensi squealed appropriately loud with the rest of the group.

"Yeah, he loves kids and dogs and on his days off we go hiking and wine tasting." Kat sighed in contentment, her eyes taking on that rosy, dreaminess reserved for those in the early stages of true love.

"Oh my god, he's perfect!" Mindy told her. "If you don't marry him, I will."

"Not so fast, Min," Tiffany B. set her drink down, eyes flashing mischievously. "How's the sex?"

"Tiffany!" Kensi poked her friend's arm as Kat blushed.

"What? It's a fair question!" the woman cried. She had always been the most brazen of the bunch. "You said he's a doctor. Does he…you know…know his anatomy?"

Kensi was spared from hearing Kat's reply by the buzzing of her phone. She glanced at it quickly, intent on ignoring whoever it was, and then looked again with a frown. Why the hell was Deeks calling her on a Friday night?

"Whoa! Who is that?" Mandy asked, grabbing Kensi's phone from her hand and studying the face of the shaggy, blonde detective that had popped up on the screen.

"He's nobody," Kensi said, reaching to take her phone back.

Kat snatched it from Mandy's hand. "He doesn't look like nobody. Why's he calling you at 11:00 on a Friday?"

"Look at his hair! Oh my gosh he's like, a little surfer boy!" Now it was Mindy's turn to gawk. "Kens, is he your boyfriend? Have you been holding out on us?"

"No!" Kensi finally managed to get her hands on the phone. "God, no. He's just a…new co-worker."

"A co-worker who calls at 11:00 on a Friday?" Tiffany S. raised her eyebrows.

"Oh my god! It's a booty call!" Kat squealed. "Kensi, are you sleeping with the new guy?"

"No!" Kensi cried again. "It was probably a miss-dial. See?" she held up the phone, showing the entire group the now empty screen. "He hung up."

She hadn't seen Deeks in several weeks and she couldn't honestly say she had missed him. She didn't miss the jokes, the constant teasing, or that stupid, cocky smile that seemed to be permanently etched into his face. She didn't need a new partner anyway. She was a one-woman show and that was fine with her.

Her phone came alive again, Deeks' face once again smiling at all of them, and Kensi felt her aggravation with her new partner soar to new heights. Even when he wasn't in the room he managed to be obnoxious.

"It's totally a booty call!" Tiffany S. shrieked loudly enough for the entire club to hear.

Tiffany B. put a hand on Kensi's arm. "I have never been more proud of you."

"Shots!" Kensi yelled frantically, looking around for the bartender.

The girls turned their attention to him as a round of tequila hit the table, leaving Kensi to stew in her aggravation. Another look at her phone told her she'd not only missed two calls, but also a text from Deeks.

You up?

Kensi threw the phone into her purse. What could he possibly need? Whatever it was, he would just have to wait.

She pulled into her assigned parking spot at the apartment around 1:30 am, having hung around the club long enough to sober up before heading home. Stepping out into the balmy night air she yawned. The time with her friends had been great, but she was really looking forward to crawling into bed.

The prickling feeling that crept down her spine caused her to slow to stop as she walked toward her door, searching for what had set her on edge.

There. Her eyes landed on the front stoop where a dark shape slumped, human, judging by the size and shape.

Her hand reached instinctively for her duty weapon, which, of course, wasn't there because KayKay didn't carry a duty weapon.

Kensi forced herself to relax. It was probably someone homeless with no other place to go. Or a drunken college student. Either way, not a threat.

She moved a little closer. "Hey, are you okay? Do you need me to call you a cab?"

"Only if you're not going to let me come inside," a hoarse voice responded.

Kensi frowned. "Deeks?"

"Mostly."

She could barely make out his face in the dim light of the parking lot. "What the hell are you doing on my porch in the middle of the night?" She stalked toward him. "And why the hell did you call me like nine thousand times? Did it ever occur to you that I might be busy? That I might have a life?"

"Kensi—"

She ignored him, walking straight to her front door. "You know, just so we're clear, we are not friends. You don't get to call me in the middle of the night to pick your drunk ass up from whatever bar you crawled out of."

Shoving the front door open allowed the light from the inside hall to flood the porch. "Go home, Deeks. I don't have time for this tonight."

She turned around barely suppressed a gasp. The left side of the detective's face was swollen, his eye barely visible amidst the bruising. His clothes were torn and bloody.

"I'm ah, I'm not sure I can get home right now," he said weakly, trying to smile, despite the fat lip he was sporting.

"Oh my god," Kensi stared at him in horror. "What happened to you?"

"Just a minor disagreement," Deeks told her cheekily. "With a drug dealer."

"Why were you hanging out with a drug dealer?" Kensi asked in confusion, still trying to figure out what was going on.

"You know, I would be really happy to answer all of your questions, but maybe we could do it inside?"

"Um, yeah, okay, come in," Kensi pushed the door wide.

Deeks started to his feet and immediately sagged, a low moan escaping his lips.

"Whoa," Kensi instinctively reached to help him.

He leaned heavily on her, his gait unsteady as she walked him to the couch. In the full light of the apartment he looked even worse than she'd first realized. Pain lined his face and he let out another moan as he lowered himself onto the cushions.

Blood and dirt were matted into his hair and he appeared altogether extremely unwell. For the first time since she'd met him Kensi felt something other than annoyance at his presence; a twinge of genuine concern.

"Deeks, you need to go to a hospital," she said as she took in his pallor.

"Nah, I've had worse."

She found that hard to believe. "Let me uh, let me get you some ice.

Kensi headed to the kitchen, fumbling through her freezer for anything that resembled an ice pack, her hand finally landing on a bag of mixed vegetables. "Or…this."

She handed it to him and returned to the kitchen, grabbing a clean dishcloth and dampening it in the sink. Sitting closer to him than she'd ever imagined she would, she dabbed the wet cloth against his bleeding lip. He winced. "Sorry," she tried to continue more gently, "I really think you should got to the hospital."

"But why go there when I have such stellar service and resources here?" he held up the slowly melting bag of veggies. "I'll be up and going in an hour."

Kensi dabbed again at his lip and he drew in a sharp breath. "Maybe two hours."

"Deeks, where was your back-up? How did they let it get this bad?" She suddenly felt the irrational urge to hunt down his co-workers and demand retribution for how they'd clearly failed him.

"Back-up's a little hard to come by when you're deep under cover," he told her.

"You're lucky they let you out of there alive," Kensi growled. "Why did they do this to you?"

"They thought I was a cop."

"What?" Kensi pulled back in horror. "You blew your cover?"

"Not on purpose," he shifted and winced. "They wanted me to help with a beat down."

"So you blew your cover?"

"It was a fourteen year old kid. What was I supposed to do?"

He looked at her for an answer and she felt something inside her twist a little. As annoying as Deeks was…he clearly had a conscience. That was something.

"Well next time take some back up with you," she told him.

"I'm surprised. If they had taken me out it would have saved you the trouble of having me as a partner," he said it with as much of a smile as he could manage given his injuries.

"I may not want you as my partner Deeks, but that doesn't mean I want you dead."

She found she meant it. She didn't know him well, certainly didn't need him in her life, but that didn't mean he deserved to die, especially not at the hands of some jackass who beat up children.

"Glad to hear it," he told her. "So, now you know about my night. Tell me about yours."

"I was out," Kensi said nonchalantly.

"I can see that," his good eye drifted over the lace of her dress and she suddenly found herself pulling self-consciously on the hem. "Out with whom?"

"Friends." Even if he was hurt, she was not going to make this easy for him.

"I'm sorry. Big, Bad Kensi Blye has friends? Who go out dressed like…that?"

"Of course I have friends!" Kensi told him indignantly. How dare he come here, into her home, and pry into her personal life! "You don't know anything about me Deeks. I have lots of friends. Plenty of friends."

"I'm sure you do."

He seemed incredibly smug and she didn't like it. "I do!" she frowned at him. "We go out and have a great time."

"Uh huh. What exactly does Kensi Blye do with her friends on a Friday night?"

"That's none of your business."

"Come on, Fern. You can tell me if you were out on a date. I won't judge."

"I was not on a date!" Kensi ground out.

"Yikes. Didn't end well? Is that why you're here and not…you know…?"

She gaped at him. "You're a jackass. I'm going to get changed. And when I get back you'd better be on your way home."

She stood without another word and headed for her bedroom. Yanking the black lace dress over her head she let it fall on the floor in a heap as she searched for something more comfortable, anger coursing through her veins.

He was so infuriating. She didn't care if he had been beaten to a bloody pulp. He had no business questioning her personal life.

"You've officially overstayed your welcome, Deeks!" she called as she walked back through the door. "I hope you called a cab, because if not you can just walk home!"

His eyes were closed, his breathing raspy. All her annoyance disappeared. "Deeks? Hey. Deeks, talk to me."

His eyes opened but they were glassy, unfocused. "Kensi—"

He vomited. Blood.

Kensi's heart began to pound as she reached for her phone. "This is Special Agent Kensi Blye with NCIS. I need an ambulance at my location. We have an officer down!"

She was sitting alone in the hospital waiting room when Hetty appeared.

"How is Detective Deeks?" she asked immediately.

"He's um, he's still in surgery. He's got some internal bleeding," Kensi replied.

"Hopefully it's not too severe," Hetty eyed her. "You should know Ms. Blye, I've been speaking with the LAPD. They would like the detective back in the field as soon as possible."

"Back in the field?" Kensi repeated. "His cover was blown."

"Apparently Mr. Deeks never actually gave himself up. The LAPD seems to think he'll be back in their good graces in no time. Or whatever the drug dealer equivalent of 'good graces' is."

"You think they're going to let him back in after that?" Kensi cried. "They almost killed him! The LAPD didn't seem to care very much when those thugs were dismantling his face, but now they want him back?"

"Agent Blye?" Deeks' doctor interrupted her tirade, still pulling off his scrubs.

"How is he?" she asked immediately, her anxiety about the situation still considerably higher than she would have expected. But she couldn't shake off the image of Deeks' pale face, his agonized cries as the loaded him into the ambulance, the amount of blood he'd lost in such a short period of time.

"We were able to repair the damage and expect he'll make a full recovery. He was very lucky," the doctor told them.

Kensi nearly sagged in relief. He was all right. He was going to be fine. She wasn't sure why it felt so important that he be fine, but…it was.

"Well thank goodness for that," Hetty nodded in satisfaction at this news.

"He's going to be pretty uncomfortable for about a week. He should take it easy, especially for the first few days."

The overhead system paged the doctor and he apologized. "I'm sorry, I have to go. If you have any further questions the nurses can help you."

Kensi turned back to her boss, her eyes set. "He's not going back out there."

"I quite agree."

Kensi blinked. "You do?"

"I've already spoken with LAPD and informed them that Mr. Deeks is now under our jurisdiction. They will simply have to complete this operation without him."

Kensi was surprised at the satisfaction that settled on her at those words. Deeks wasn't safe at LAPD, that much was clear. They didn't have his back there. Somebody needed to straighten them out and apparently Hetty agreed. "Thanks, Hetty."

"No thanks necessary Miss Blye. I'm afraid I need to be on my way. I assume we will see you later today?"

"I'm just going to stay until he wakes up. He's my…" Kensi swallowed, the word getting lodged in her throat, "partner. He shouldn't wake up alone."

"Take your time. Work will still be there in a few hours."

"Agent Blye?" a nurse approached. "He's awake."

"Thanks," Kensi told her.

"Tell Mr. Deeks I expect him to report straight to NCIS as soon as he's fully recovered," Hetty directed.

Kensi nodded. "Absolutely."

She followed the nurse to Deeks' room. He was propped up on the pillows looking pale, but slightly more alive than when he'd been spewing blood in her apartment six hours prior.

"Hey," she said quietly.

"Hey," he seemed to brighten on seeing her. "Sorry about your carpet."

"What?" Kensi asked confusion.

"I'm a little fuzzy on the details but I think I threw up on it."

"Oh. Yeah. No it's fine…it was…old."

"So, is LAPD standing outside the door waiting to drag me back?" He looked resigned and defeated just thinking about it.

"No," she told him firmly. "Hetty took care of it. It's done. You're with us now."

His good eye closed briefly and she watched some of the tension drain from his body. When it reopened he gave her a weak smile. "You almost sounded like you meant that. I thought you didn't like me."

"I don't," Kensi said quickly. "But if Hetty says you're in…then I have to trust her judgment."

He smiled. "You like me, Fern."

"Don't call me that," she growled.

"Just a little. Admit it."

"Nope. Tolerating you. Barely. That is all."

"Will…someday…" he mumbled his eye sliding shut once more.

Kensi glanced up worriedly at the nurse. "It's just the medication," she said with a reassuring smile.

Kensi sat back in the chair and watched him sleep. When he was quiet…he wasn't so bad. Maybe she could learn to like him after all.

A/N: I'm not going to lie, I LOVED writing the Cupcake Girls. I think it is hilarious to imagine Kensi interacting in that way with them and there may or may not be more Cupcake Girls fic in my future. Hope you enjoyed! Leave your love in the reviews!