Well this is me jumping on the post- Fighting Shadows bandwagon. Hope you enjoy! I may add other one-shots to this as the story arc surrounding this progresses. Enjoy!

-C

Deeks bit his lip with an odd culmination of emotions from the day's events suddenly becoming tempestuously more real. These two kids being detained by the FBI were maybe eighteen years old at the most? Sure, evidence of their potential crime was blatantly clear, as the bomb squad had just arrived on scene to inspect the car full of explosives. How easily it would have been for him to end up in a similar position. Ray Martindale certainly did.

He snapped out of his thoughts when he saw Sam approaching him. The march in the older agent's step was marked by the spike of adrenaline that still hadn't vanished. Deeks had seen him pull a lot of crazy stunts, but talking two potential terrorists down while riding a moving truck bomb? That was definitely at the top of the list.

"You good?" Sam asked, clapping a hand on Deeks's shoulder.

"Yeah I'm fine," he replied with a snort. "You're asking me after your James Bond scene right there?"

Sam turned around, now joining the detective in watching the two teens be taken into custody. "It wasn't good enough." He faced Deeks again. "Anyways I'm heading back to the boatshed to meet up with G. I think the FBI have it handled, but can you and Kensi wrap it up here?"

"Yeah, we got it. I'll see you later, Sam."

Deeks watched as Sam headed back to the SUV Kensi had been driving, took the keys, and drove away from the crime scene. It happened too fast. He was still figuring out what he was going to say to her. Kensi caught his eye, and jerked her head in the direction of the idling SRX. Right. They probably shouldn't be talking about this in the middle of an arrest. The two met at the car, both leaning against the hood.

"I caught a tail today during the investigation," Kensi began almost immediately. She dug a folded card out of her pocket and handed it to him. "At least we have a name to the face of the woman at the park this morning."

Deeks read the card several times over, making sure he was seeing things right. "Internal affairs?"

"LAPD is investigating you for something. She wasn't exactly up for sharing what."

Deeks looked back at his partner, who seemed determined in keeping her gaze forward.

"So she was following you?"

Kensi nodded. "Wasn't doing it for fun though. She assumed you were with me." At last she turned to him, the look in her eyes difficult to read. "What's going on?"

"I-" He was cut off as both of their phones began buzzing. Deeks sighed and checked it: a message from Hetty asking to speak with them both.

"Well that's just great," he muttered. "Do we know what we're going to say to her?"

"If she knows about us, then there isn't a whole lot to say," Kensi pointed out. "We'll just have to wait and see."

The car ride was quiet. Waiting for Hetty to appear was quiet. They had never been so silent around each other before. As Kensi predicted, the meeting with Hetty didn't go quite as expected. Next to nothing was brought up about their relationship (which they were thankful for, although knew it would eventually arise), instead only the concern Hetty held for their wellbeing during LAPD's investigation. And even after they were told to go home, they fell into silence once again.

"Do you want to go home first?" Kensi asked finally while stopped at a red light. It was at this point from OSP where they would take the route to either her apartment or his.

"What do you mean 'first'?" Deeks inquired.

"Before we go back to my place."
"Kens, I'm not putting you in danger. We can't do the back and forth thing until we know more about what's going on with LAPD."

"I'm your partner. And I'm not leaving you alone where I can't watch your back."

Damn her obstinacy.

"Look, we'll stop at your place. Grab a few things and Monty, and you can stay with me for a while. They have your residence on record, not mine," Kensi continued, already turning in the direction of his apartment when the light turned green.

"Kens-"

"Deeks," she interrupted firmly, shooting a fiery glance in his direction.

An hour later, to Deeks's disapproval, they were lying in bed next to each other. Deeks was on his back, watching the fan spin around and around, while Kensi watched him instead on her stomach with her arm draped over his hips.

"So the team knows," Kensi broke the silence.

Deeks turned his head so he was looking at her. "Yeah. Did Sam have a talk with you too?"

"Too? Callen said something?"

He shrugged. "Kind of. Something about knowing the risks. Overall not exactly cheerful but he didn't say he wasn't okay with it."

"Sam said pretty much the same thing except-" Kensi broke off abruptly.

"Except what?"

"Nothing. It was exactly like that."

Deeks smirked, because she definitely wasn't mentioning something, and he had a few ideas about what it could be. "So we're both trained federal agents, and we suck at keeping a relationship secret apparently. How do you think they found out?"

"They're highly trained federal agents too, for one thing. And the kiss on the ice rink was rather public," Kensi pointed out.

He managed to laugh a little. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

She started making little circles on his side with her fingers. The sound of the fan and the brushes of her skin on his was enough to make him close his eyes, savoring the fleeting sense of contentment.

"Are you okay?"

Deeks opened one eye. Kensi was still intently staring at him. "Yeah. I mean, all this is precautionary, right? We're not in any imminent danger."

"Then why did you lie to Hetty?"

He took a long moment. "It wasn't exactly a lie. I haven't even worked with LAPD full-time in five years, and I certainly can't think of anything that they would investigate especially if Hetty had to ask."

He felt Kensi relax a touch, but of course she had to go ahead and ask, "So what about before you joined NCIS?"

Deeks swallowed. This was an area of conversation he hoped he would never have with Kensi. He knew eventually she would start asking questions about his extremely obscured past, but not for a little while longer.

"That's a different story," he said quietly. "They could be using anything from my undercover work to my days as a public defender. I just don't know. What I do know is that nothing's going to happen to us."

She probably picked up on the faintest hint of trepidation in his voice. Kensi didn't comment on that though. "We'll get through this, alright? I'm not going anywhere and neither are you. Don't feel like you have to tell me everything now, or even when this is over, ok? I trust you." Kensi propped herself up on her elbow and planted a light kiss to his lips. "You're a good cop and an even better person."

Deeks wrapped his toned arms around her and pulled her close. "I'm glad we're good."

"One might say great, even," Kensi smiled. He watched as her eyes began to drift shut.

"Good night, Kens."

"Good night, Deeks."